When Little Richard performed in Newcastle in October 1957, rock'n'roll history took an unexpected turn.
Little Richard was born again. He rediscovered God.
In declaring his faith, so the story goes, the rock star threw his rings into Newcastle Harbour.
When he left the music scene to pursue religion, the door was opened for Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and other stars, including Johnny O'Keefe in Australia.
The death of Little Richard last week led University of Newcastle archivist Gionni Di Gravio and music researcher Roland Bannister to write to the Newcastle Herald, outlining their position on this historic matter.
"The announcement of the death of Little Richard on May 9 triggered a frenzy of interest in his life and music," they wrote.
"There are endless versions of the story of his 1957 visit to Newcastle and his re-commitment to Christianity while he was here. Some accounts of these events are wildly inaccurate, some others are valuable despite some errors.
"We felt it important to document the events as accurately as we could.
"The nub of the story is: Little Richard did announce his return to Christianity here in Newcastle. He confirmed his retreat from his rock'n'roll life by throwing his jewellery into Newcastle Harbour from the vehicular ferry that ran between Newcastle and Stockton, probably on October 3, the day after his Newcastle concert."
The pair feel the story's importance.
"This is a great Newcastle story," they said.
"The story connects our city with the wider worlds of rock'n'roll and popular culture. It records an event that happened here and changed the course of rock'n'roll."
The pair have posted their research on the University of Newcastle Cultural Collections website, which you'll find at hunterlivinghistories.com.
Corona Cakes
Hamilton South's Carol Ryan says two of her granddaughters had April birthdays with "corona cakes".
Reyna, 15, blew her candles out with a hairdryer. Bronte, 16, used her taekwondo skill to "quickly hand-fan out her candles".
As Adamstown Heights' Glen Fredericks recently told Topics, blowing out candles is a big no-no in a COVID-19 world.
Carol also told us that Bronte's birthday came with a program for the day, similar to the ones found on cruises.
As the family has been on cruises [thankfully not the Ruby Princess], they know all about cruise programs.
Bronte's 17-year-old sister Paige set up the program, with morning activities like "omelette breakfast station, walking dogs with skateboards and a ping-pong tournament".
Viral Joke
This from comedian and actor Seth Rogan on Twitter: "Humans had a pretty good run".
- topics@newcastleherald.com.au
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