And
So It Began.....
The Unofficial Johnny O'Keefe Page
was created back in 1995 by Brendan
Hancock, a High School Student at the time. Who discovered a place
called the INTERNET and noticed there wasn't anything around on
J.O'K....
"
I had been a fan of "the wild one"
since I was around 8 years old, It was the mistake of thinking SHOUT!
The story of Johnny O'Keefe was a gangster movie that I
watched it and became addicted to the cool, rock 'n' roll sound that
was Johnny O'Keefe".
" I had been fortunate enough to of had a
stepmother who was living in the Sydney area when J.O'K was in his
prime. She told me first hand stories of his on-stage antics and the
magic that became the legend. The funny thing was, she didn't like him
that much (hmmm)
She once told me about going to the Sydney stadium to see teen heart
throb Fabian perform.
So after I
became a fan, slowly but surely the whole family became J.O'K fans. We
started fighting over the record collections, and of course I came out
on top."
When I got settled, I wrote a letter to Damian Johnstone, a very well
respected J.O'K historian, via a small Melbourne publication called
"THE BIG BEAT OF THE FIFTIES", Damian replied and made one
little boy very happy then and ever since. Damian sent photos of
the wild one in concert, as well as a few articles to put in my
scrapbook. To this day, I thank you Damian.
By 1995, I was heavily into computers and introduced to a thing called
"the Internet".
Construction.....
The whole
reason why the site was made was because there wasn't any others
around. Besides, I knew some poor kid would have to do an music
assignment on famous Australian musicians one day in the future, and
they'll need some help with information.
The
first site hardly had anything on it, (it
still doesn't, but I'm working on it)
But the entrance was grand, as the wild one yelled out the first five
words to SHOUT!.
For the
next 18 months nothing really changed, The H.S.C exams etc took
priority.
But in
late 1997, The J.O'K page found a new home, and a new look. Graphics
were updated ( I got some decent graphics software by this time)
and found a quicker way to load, and I got off my butt and did some
typing.
Currently
I am a student at the The
University of Newcastle, and construction of the page will be done
as often as possible.
The
Future.....
While I am trying to juggle this site with ongoing University work. It
looks like I have got into a bachelor of Design, therefore I might be
able to combine this site with certain parts of my university work.
At
present the future for the page looks set to be a very happy one. With
the huge increase of interest in Johnny O'Keefe and the era in which
he came. (Most likely due to
the increase of published media and the musical now playing) I
will be doing my best to keep up a good job.
Future Expansion of
the site are as follows:
*A
Major increase of Picture and sound Media. Downloadable for
educational and private use only.
*A
Whole new look, facelift for the site. Due to request from users the
look of the site will be more user friendly as well as printer
friendly.
If you
have anything at all to share or ask me, E-mail
me
