I’m getting ahead of myself here. Before ‘Sax man and Woman’ were ‘Axe man’ and ‘Curly top’. Axe man was a guitarist who seemed to do nothing but play drills on the guitar, whether talking, eating or on the can. He also had a high opinion of himself, all of which is so unusual for a lead guitarist.
I first met him through guitar lessons and for all of the years that we knew each other, we would but heads. I was only 12 or 13 when we first met and so ill equipped to handle the ego of a 25 year old. I did my best but inevitably came off the loser.
Curly top was his new wife. Looking back I can see that she married (A) Because she loved him and (B) because it was the only respectable way to lose your virginity at that time. Curly top came from a religious background which seemed to haunt her rather than nourish her soul. (Many years later, I came across a guy who had shared a house with her, to find out that she and Axe man had divorced and that she was a practicing lesbian.)
Curly was quite a good singer and ruthless axe man was quick to remind me of this, in his own subtle, sledge hammer way.
Regardless of all these undercurrents, my brother and I became friends with them and we would lob around to their homey shack, once or twice a week. I can vividly remember us of all sitting in their 70s style lounge room, singing for hours on end. Both Axe and Curly were very good harmony singers, so I spent a lot of this time trying to figure out how to sing harmony so we could do 4 part. I was failing more than I was succeeding but I was learning.
