Temple

I first saw Ed Hulver and the Little People with Janey Sizmore at the old Indy Temple, sometime around 1999. The old Indy Temple occupied the second storey of that space on Edward St that reverts every few years to being a pub called Rosies. The Indy Temple has moved to the Valley now, and the psychic hold of Rosies has reasserted itself, right down to sticky carpet and fit but sour faced English backpacker girls complaining about the Commonwealth Games and trying to pick up. Drinks are still cheap.

We were at the Indy Temple because a mate's band was playing. It was an easy place for new bands to get gigs - that was the point. My mate's band changed its name weekly and I could only ever remember one of the names - Carmody. Carmody was a street near UQ, which is why I could remember it, but it only lasted as a band name for a couple of days, a couple of years before, so it was largely useless as identification. My mate played bass guitar. They had a lead singer with that great grunge soprano thing going on, and a song called Obi Wan. They had better songs but their titles are forgotten.

Ed's band played after my mate's. Even then Ed was a big man. He wore some sort of old op shop pseudo-military jacket, with epaulettes, but it was several sizes too small. He hadn't - couldn't do the buttons up, and the seams strained around his shoulders like he was the slightly less than Incredible Hulk. His band weren't even that little. The bass guitarist was this petite Asian chick but the rest were six foot white guys. Ed had a thick blonde mustache modelled on David Boon. He looked like a madman and he was already sweating like a pig just standing on stage with that stupid jacket, but when they started playing the whole place went off. I was even drunk enough to jump around like a nutcase, which was as close to dancing as I ever got. 

At the end of the set I went up for my round of - for some reason - bourbon and coke. Janey Sizmore followed me to the bar, and then dumped me while I was trying to catch a bartender's eye. She tried to do it discreetly but the music was loud enough I had to yell "Wha?" three or four times before the news made it to my brain. I stood numbly with a dumb you're-joking grin on my face as she walked away. She's married to a doctor now or maybe she is one.

After that the night ended messily; I'm told I placed a lot of spew at the intersection of Edward and Queen St, just at the bottom there where the mall starts, and then passed out in a taxi after singing the guitar line of Obi Wan over and over again.

I saw Ed Hulver on Rove the other night. He's bought a jacket that fits, and trimmed the moustache. He's doing well for himself, I think, even though I don't really like his music anymore, and he's turning into a fat John Farnham. Last poster I saw he had the Little People wearing green leprechaun hats. The Asian chick looked cute.