After watching the telecast of the 2006 ARIA (Australian Music Industry Awards), some reminiscing with old friends began about Oz music, past bands and singers, leading to a number of ... ‘I wonder whatever happened to......‘.

The name of John J.Francis came up. In our ragin‘ days we had seen John J perform at Sydney‘s Kirk Gallery, and at different ‘underground‘ venues, including several Uni/college gigs. He had also been a dj with a popular weekend mid-dawn program on the famed national Australian alternative broadcaster 2JJ / TripleJay-FM well into the 1980‘s.

Between us, our little band of ageing rogues (and rogue-esses) still had his original albums ... all except one that I used to own.

Thing was that I really liked his last major release, ‘Wassa Matta‘, but the album grew legs and walked. Hmmm ... you are out there somewhere? Still, I mean, I really, really liked it ... and figured that surely, these days, you could pick it up on cd ... no, you couldn‘t. Actually you couldn‘t get any of his albums on cd; they had never been re-issued. Heaps of compilation albums that had John J‘s hit single, ‘Play Mumma Play‘. On Ebay they were selling his best known album, Breaks, Works and Thoughts for $150 ... scary to think what the rarest of them all was going to cost. Didn‘t matta, couldn‘t find it.

I decided to contact John J and wrangle a copy out of him. After all, I was an aging fan :) and I‘m sure he would have a copy. But contacting him proved more difficult than I thought. What a road trip!

A phone call to the national offices of 2JJJ-FM produced no results, nor did his former label, Warner Brothers records as copyright had reverted back to John J. He had disappeared. I was concerned whether he was still alive. It was suggested that I try the Australian Performing Rights Association (APRA) as they handle artists song/publishing copyrights. APRA told me that he was indeed still alive and suggested, a letter addressed to him, sent to APRA would be forwarded to his current address.

I wrote and nothing happened until early 2007. I received a reply thanking me for my interest in his music but containing no return address and no Wassa Matta CD. Damn!!!!

But hey, a few days later, CD‘s of all John J‘s four albums showed up, including Wassa, with a short note of apology for forgeting to mail them in the first place. This time there was a return post office box number on the package ...

Cutting a long story short I kept in contact with John via email. He sent me some of his later stuff as he had continued to write and create music privately, as musicians do, and had also been doing award-winning digital art for over a decade. He had also worked in community radio and was a member of a local organisation that developed and provided community events for people with disabilities.

One of the funnier stories was that he continually wondered if his more current music was creditable; so he entered a song in a major contest for emerging artists of contemporary music conducted by Newcastle‘s ABC radio station, 2002. Newcastle is one of Australia‘s largest cities. He was surprised to find his song made the finals under the pseudonym of ‘Inigo Cada‘. Seems he still has it.

John J was in the vanguard of talented musicians that re-birthed Australian Music in the 1970‘s. He was responsible for music that was original and well-written. Music that couldn‘t be categorised. One minute contempary folk, thru progressive, thru classic rock ‘n‘ roll, thru country and experimental. Songs including a ‘surfers/alternative thinkers‘ anthem like Simple Ben. It is still an anthem today, after 30 years.

I first suggested creating a John J Francis website, mid 2007, but he wasn‘t that interested as he didn‘t believe anybody else would be interested in an aging Australian songwriter. A few subsequent attempts to convince him failed as well.

However, this suddenly changed a couple of months ago for reasons unexplained. He gave me permission to create and moderate his site as he knew websites had been a hobby of mine for a few years.

He said the site could make his music and artwork available for downloading but insisted it be on a free or donation basis. ‘Cyberbusking‘, he called it, ‘Music on the web is like a big city with a busker on every street, around every corner.‘

So, after a busy time organising, here we are.............busking on the web with John J Francis.

regards,

stoggy
‘just give me sunshine through to autumn ‘ :).

P.S. John J was/is not publicity or promotion prone. Consequently, photo‘s and other material is very light on the ground. If you have anything we could use please get in touch.