I'd like you to meet my father.

This morning I went to a local Bowls Club where the Brisbane Steel Guitar Club was holding it's annual function and Dad was a guest appearance. The club managed to pull dad out of retirement about two years ago to guest star at the function and he was voted crowd favourite and asked to return the following day to back the singers that were appearing that day. Not bad at age 68. He's pushing 71 now.

Last year dad was unable to attend due to being diagnosed with Non Hodgekin's Lymphoma. The ensuring battle was long hard for all of us, not least of all him of course. He has enjoyed reasonable health since then (all of 6 months) and now it has been discovered that he has advanced Prostate Cancer. 11 biopsies last week revealed his prostate is totally full of cancer.
Now we await further tests to see if it has progressed any further and, if so, if he will live much longer or not.
It's a bitter pill to swallow so soon and has really shocked most of us close to him. He's a man that does not deserve this. I think he's about the most unselfish person I've ever known. Life without him around, when it begins, will certainly be a challenge for me.

So down I went this morning to help him get his music gear into the venue and set up, and took a few photos in case it's the last time he will play on stage again.






For those interested, here's a short history on my Dad written by my Uncle Graeme on his website
Quote Originally Posted by Graeme Ardern
Born in 1937, he came from a musical family background and learnt to play the Pedal Steel Guitar at a young age.

Murray started his own band when he was just 14 years of age.

His band was known for playing Hawaiian music and popular music of the time.

In the 1960s, he formed another band called 'The Supertones'. This band played everything from Island Music to Popular music from the 50s & 60s and were great with Rock 'n' Roll. People used to travel for miles around to attend dances venues & performances that his band played at.

He later formed a new group called 'Desiree' in 1977. As with the 'Supertones', he continued to not only play for their own gigs or bookings, but was in great demand to back many up & coming artists at the time, as well as some old favourites like Tex Morton, when he visited New Zealand and requested Murray to back him...

'Desiree' was a Show-band capable of holding it's own with the best in New Zealand. He also started the Tauranga Country & Western group and was instrumental in helping start other Country & Western groups New Zealand wide.

In the early 1980s, he decided to shift to Australia to live in Queensland, and he thought there might be better music opportunities over there as well, and in 1982, he formed the 'Country Knights' Show-band, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and this band played at venues like the Cherribah Resort at Warwick, and the Terranora Lakes Country Club, etc, and were in great demand all over the state of Queensland.

He has also taught music to both private individuals and at schools, both in New Zealand and in Australia, and although he has slowed down, because of health issues now, and no longer has a band, he still plays periodically at selected venues using electronic backing music to supplement the sound of his Pedal Steel Guitar. - Graeme Ardern