AC/DC Fans Relish In Fremantle Arts Centre's Bon Scott Project

May 23, 2008, 16 years ago

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The following story is courtesy of Patrick Donovan and Andrew Murfett from Theage.com.au:

Fremantle musician and rock tour guide Jake Snell has taken many musicians to visit Bon Scott's heritage-listed grave at Fremantle Cemetery.

The most unusual experience he recalls was with US metal band TRIVIUM. When one of their members took a photo of the plaque, a flash resembling AC/DC's lightning bolt mysteriously appeared in the picture. "It's Bon's spirit!" they claimed.

Sticky made the pilgrimage to Bon's final resting place on the weekend and while there were no flashes of lightning, it was still a very moving experience.

When we were told of the rumour that Scott's ashes were not in the cemetery but had been scattered over the Indian Ocean where he loved to swim, we contemplated Scott's spirit swirling around with the Fremantle Doctor.

It certainly felt like that last weekend at the opening of the Fremantle Arts Centre's Bon Scott Project. As you drive into Fremantle along the Stirling Highway Bridge, Bon's lyrics flash on a sign and you can almost hear him sing, "I can see my name up in lights" from the song 'Rock'n'Roll Singer'. An installation of Scott's cheeky smirk called Apparition has been erected underneath the pylon.

The exhibition includes a blog, paintings, personal letters and a life-sized bronze statue which stood inside a windswept docklands studio waiting to be completed and moved to the harbour where Scott fished for crays. Local Fremantle sculptor Greg James explains how he built the $100,000 statue - paid for by fans - from steel rods, clay and bronze.

"Bon has been around the studio for a couple of years now," he says, pointing to a picture board of cut-outs. From the rock stance to the belt buckle, cut-off denim jacket and microphone cord wrapped around his hand, James had succeeded in capturing "the essence of Bon", though without Scott's signature forearm tattoos, glazed eyeballs and chipped tooth, it looks a bit polished. But it is close enough for those who knew him well. James says members of Scott's old band Fraternity broke down when they first saw it.

At the exhibition's opening, a lone bagpiper performed on the roof of the old mental asylum and a local supergroup led by guitarist Don Mariani from the Stems pumped out AC/DC tracks.

But not everyone is enamoured of the highfalutin analysis of Scott. Perth fan Terry Clayton thinks the exhibition is in poor taste. "There's not enough about the larrikin spirit in there," he says. "Why didn't they do part of the exhibition at a tattoo parlour?"

Read more here.


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