The Intersection - Eastside FM

Our special guest is journalist and broadcaster John Highfield. Best known for his 35 years on ABC Radio, it is not so well known that John was a teenage employee of the Lee Gordon organisation in the early 1960s. His recollections are fascinating.

Playlist

 Chubby Checker: The Fly

Australia may have "turned to America" during WWII, but culturally, it was still doggedly British. This changed in the 1950s. We look at one arbiter of the change -  Lee Gordon -  an American with a shady backstory who arrived in Sydney in 1953 and within a year had created the Australian concert circuit! And how! But it's a very strange story too, and poses a lot of questions....  

Hear choice samples from some of the acts Gordon brought to Australia; Little Richard, Eddie Cochran, LaVern Baker and more.

Playlist

Lee Gordon: Get The Message

Our special guest to discuss the themes of the White Australia Blues episode is historian Deirdre O’Connell. She has written at length on the Sonny Clay tour and its background. Her extraordinary 2021 book, ‘Harlem Nights – the Secret History of Australia’s Jazz Age’ was hugely influential in the making of this episode. This interview explores elements of the story that we heard in Part 1.

Playlist

Mitchell's Jazz Kings: Montemarte Rag

The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 heralded the White Australia Policy. This culture of whiteness would inevitably affect music in Australia. In this episode we look at the 1928 tour by Sonny Clay’s Colored Idea, the first African-American jazz band to tour Australia. We also look at ways the White Australia Policy continued to affect music even after the policy was dismantled.

Playlist

Louis Armstrong: Basin Street Blues

The Caretaker: Weeping Ballroom

A series focussing on the intersection between music and history, The Intersection traces the evolution of ideas, social norms and cultural forms in Australia – and the characters and events behind them.

Sometimes shocking, with dramatic twists along the way, be prepared for an immersive journey into the surprising moments that shaped our lives and tastes today, and the role that music, musicians, promoters, the media and audiences played within it.

An audio documentary, produced by Two Star Studios, sits at the heart of each weekly episode, followed by interviews with academics in the field.

As you listen, you’ll be captivated by music from different eras and genres – from 100 years ago until today – and will hear it in ways you’ve never quite heard it before.