| DAYGLO BUDDHA TWISTERS |
| This was never really a band, in the sense that we never played any gigs, but it certainly was an interesting musical (and personal) interlude. Antoinette Malherbe (ex-Mining Town Cowboys keyboardist and singer) had an elder sister, Veronique. Stunningly beautiful, she had been a source of long distance admiration for me ever since first seeing her at a party wearing a red velvet dress that relegated Kelly le Brock to the cheap seats... But, now I digress. Besides her more obvious assets, Veronique was a hyperactive writer/photographer/artist/ part-time model and fearless women's rights crusader. In one commendable incident, she apprehended a rape suspect and tied him to a tree in Yeoville! She was also an aspirant song-writer with a very well rounded, if not pitch-perfect voice.. Together with Wayne Raath, Antoinette, Veronique and I began rehearsing in the by now well lived-in practise room at 56 St George St. With songs like Ken Doll (featuring the memorable line, "Your weakness is blue Smarties,") the stage was set for something fresh and exciting. Unfortunately, personal differences between Veronique and Wayne were insurmountable. While Ant coped with her sibling's domineering mien and I stayed aloof, the other two became increasingly difficult to work with. The final straw was when Wayne flicked water at V in a heated argument and she retaliated by throwing an |
| empty coffee mug at him, putting a large dent in the upper horn of my Stratocaster, which Wayne was playing at the time. Suddenly, I was no longer aloof. More to the point, I was verging on murderous. Words were exchanged. Veronique stormed out of the room. There was a loud bang, followed by an even louder wailing sound. Resignedly, we trooped into the hallway, to discover V sitting on the floor, rocking in agony, in a pool of blood. It transpired that she had aimed a vicious high kick at the front door to the house as she exited, forgetting that there was a glass pane in it. Ant and Wayne (now even more pissed off - it was his door after all) bundled her into the car and rushed her to the Jo'burg General Hospital to have her badly lacerated ankle stitched up, while I was left to my own dark thoughts amid the debris of the guitar, the door and the Dayglo Buddha Twisters! As a postscript, it didn't all turn out bad. Ant and I became romantically involved (all too briefly, but sweetly nonetheless) and Veronique eventually found a guitarist, Steve, with whom she was musically compatible. As far as I know, she performed some of her songs at the opening of her art exhibition, and they were well received, so more power to her elbow. |
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| Veronique, Rockey Street, Yeoville |
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