I had just moved from central Victoria to Melbourne and I had no idea where to start. You might as well have put me in a barrel and thrown me over Niagara falls. So I began auditioning for cover bands and I had also landed my first day job. A clerk at an electronics company. As if that was not enough, I had just finished a summer romance which had left me a little dazed and confused.
Hi, my name is Nightingale.” She said with a big smile full of even white teeth. Her name was not Nightingale but she had this bent of giving everyone, including herself, animal names. She would get to know you for a while and then you would be christened with your new name. I was to become the Chameleon. A big frill necked lizard with iridescent colors that changed and flowed…whatever.
The year was 1981 and we met at the ‘Academy of Entertainers’. A dubious institution which was really just a front for a bunch of second rate music teachers. Nightingale and I had rocked up for a course in sight singing. It soon became clear that we weren’t going to learn much, as by the third lesson, we were still on ‘what is the major scale’ and so we nicked off. But a seminal friendship in my life was born.
So Nightingale was my first anchor. She lived in a funky part of the inner city called Windsor. This was an interesting place for a country girl to visit. It was a hangout ‘hood for wannabe actors, lost souls and screaming queens. With my typical easy going attitude I took it all in stride. So began my life long love of larger than life characters. © 2009 Riley Jordan All Rights Reserved
