August 10, 2006

‘Bye Bye Bon Scott’ Exhibition

( http://www.see.com.au/blog/archives/2006/08/abye_bye_bon_sc.html )

Hi SEE friends,

The quick summary is this:

James Young went to Leonard Joel’s Auctions in Melbourne in April this year and bought Bon Scott’s ex-wife Irene Thornton’s collection of private Bon letters and family photo album. Now I’ve had them framed and am displaying them for free at my workplace and its public cafe, SEE. Worth a look. Spread the word...

Wednesday 9 August is the first day of my ‘Bye Bye Bon Scott’ free exhibition at SEE of the never-before-seen Bon Scott letters and personal family photo album.

All photos and correspondence will be on public display at SEE, 25 Nott Street Port Melbourne, from 7.30am to 3.30pm Monday to Friday until Friday 29 September 2006.

I attach some key images, one complete card and the Bon signature sign-off from which my exhibition takes its name.

Check out the Patrick Donovan article in The Age at:

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/08/09/1154802962874.html

Here are some random quotes from me: I bought the Bon letters and photos because you can’t spend money on anything better. As a devotee of Australian rock n roll I would’ve been spitting chips if they went overseas to a rich German fan. It’d be like selling Ned Kelly’s helmet to the Yanks! These items have moved from Irene’s flat in Oakleigh to my work in Port Melbourne and that’s as far as they’re going. And I know how much these will mean to other true fans, so bugger the risk, they’re going on the wall for all to see and marvel at. Leonard Joel Auction House thankfully doesn’t attract informed rock n roll fans, so I reckon the figure the generous Irene and I settled on is worthy of a feature piece on The Antique Roadshow. I couldn’t afford one extra cent and my wife wants to kill me, but fuck me if it aint the best money I’ve ever spent. I mean what would you pay for Shakespeare’s private letters and personal photo album? I passed on the shaving mirror at $11 500, but I had to take Bon’s letters, Bon’s photos and a bit of Bon Scott himself home with me to the heart of rock n roll in this world: MELBOURNE, Australia! How can you not worship at the altar of the man who wrote “I’m gonna be a rock n roll star, yes I are.” To me Melbourne is the spiritual home of rock n roll in Australia, arguably the world. As Angus Young says, “If you can make it in Melbourne, you can make it anywhere.” Bon Scott and AC/DC are inextricably linked to Melbourne. I mean Bon and family migrated to Melbourne Australia when he was just five years old and he grew up in Sunshine. When AC/DC adopted Bon as its lead singer they spent the pivotal formative years of their existence living together in East St. Kilda where they wrote the first two albums and established the literal rock foundations for everything that followed. And as everyone knows, the greatest rock n roll clip of all time AC/DC’s “It’s A Long Way To The Top If You Wanna Rock n Roll” was recorded on a flat bed truck in Swanston Street Melbourne, a stone’s throw from AC/DC Lane and Cherry, the world’s most celebrated rock bar. As the head of Albert Records, Fifa Riccobono (the Queen of AC/DC royalty) says, “Those Melbourne years for AC/DC were the early ones, but they were important. Real important.” Melbourne is the spiritual home of rock n roll and appropriately, it’s the spiritual home of Bon Scott too. And here’s the spiel I wrote to accompany the exhibition:

Bye Bye Bon Scott

A free exhibition of Bon Scott’s never-before-seen private letters and photographs (recently sold at auction by Bon’s wife Irene Thornton)

At SEE we believe in using creativity to inspire people to think differently and make positive change possible. This exhibition compliments our thinking and our Manifesto (which you can read on the glass wall beside the entrance to our café.)

At SEE we believe in the power of the Three Bs. Belief. Belonging and Behaviour.

Believe in something.

Create a sense of belonging.

Change people’s behaviour.

We believe in Bon Scott and AC/DC. Read these letters, explore these photos and you may feel a sense of tribal belonging and connection to Australian rock n roll. It may even change the way you think and behave.

About this rare collection:

There’s not much to it really. I’m a massive fan of AC/DC and Ronald Belford ‘Bon’ Scott.

When he’s only true love and only wife Irene Thornton recently auctioned off their personal photo album and the letters Bon had written to her in the mid-70s, I just had to have them. I mean Bon aint gonna write any more letters! Right?

I just had to keep them in Australia and had to share them with other AC/DC fans.

So here they are, from me to you from Bon and Irene.

I hope you brought a tissue, cos there will be tears.

These photos and letters capture in an incredibly emotional manner exactly who rock legend Bon Scott really was. A lonely man on the brink of mega stardom who loved and missed his wife and home. A man with a heart of gold who knew he was mischievous, who knew he was on a highway to Hell, but a man who knew what he was gonna do…

‘Ride On’

It's another lonely evening
And another lonely town
But I ain't too young to worry
And I ain't too old to cry
When a woman gets me down

Got another empty bottle
And another empty bed
Ain't too young to admit it
And I'm not too old to lie
I'm just another empty head

That's why I'm lonely
I'm so lonely
But I know what I'm gonna do -

I'm gonna ride on Ride on
Ride on, standing on
the edge of the road
Ride on, thumb in the air Ride on, one of these days I'm gonna
Ride on, change my evil ways
Till then I'll just keep dragging on

Broke another promise
And I broke another heart
But I ain't too young to realize
That I ain't too old to try
Try to get back to the start

And it's another red light nightmare
Another red light street
And I ain't too old to hurry
'Cause I ain't too old to die
But I sure am hard to beat

But I'm lonely
Lord I'm lonely
What am I gonna do -

Ride on
Ride on,
got myself a one-way ticket
Ride on
Ride on, going the wrong way
Ride on, gonna change my evil ways
Ride on, one of these days
One of these days

Ride on
Ride on
I'm gonna ride on
Ride on, looking for a truck
Ride on
Ride on, keep on riding
Riding on and on and on…

Bye Bye Bon. We miss you and we’ll never forget you,

James Young
SEE Director
AC/DC fan for life.

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