Kojak's four decades of ERIC BURDON MUSIC
Born in 1952, Kojak was around 12 years of age at the time that the music world was changed forever by the emergence of the big three British bands of the early 60's (The Animals, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles). What Kojak didn't realise at the time however was that he was part of a unique age group that was barely old enough to be interested in pop music when "The House Of The Rising Sun" hit the airwaves in 1964. Now in his 50's, Kojak looks back on 40 years of enjoyment of Eric Burdon's music and counts himself fortunate to be part of an age group which puts him amongst the youngest of people who can make that 40 year claim!
The realisation of this fact hit Kojak "like a ton of bricks" when he attended a performance of Eric Burdon & The New Animals at the Kedron-Wavell Services Club (in Brisbane, Queensland, AUSTRALIA) in April 2000. As Kojak entered the auditorium that day, his friend Brian (who is a professional musician and happens to be quite a few years younger than Kojak) looked around at the people gathering for the performance and commented that .... "it looked like someone was organising a Grey Mardi Gras" (his Australian sense of humour referring to Sydney's annual Gay Mardi Gras and playing on the gray coloured hair of those present). Almost everyone in the room LOOKED and actually WAS older than Kojak, and he had just turned 48! The enjoyment and adoration shown by the faces and body language of these "rock oldies" while Eric belted out 30 to 40 year old Animals (and War) hits in the year 2000 in such a remote corner of the world speaks for itself in terms of his status as a ROCK LEGEND.
Kojak spent his teen-age years from 1964 to 1969 at Boarding School (in Sydney, NSW AUSTRALIA) and it was there that he developed his now life-long fanaticism with the voice of Eric Victor Burdon (many people look at Kojak as a grandfather now with question marks in their eyes - they simply cannot understand his love of Eric's voice and endless enthusiasm for Eric's music).
During the entire 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's it would be very rare that a week passed without Kojak listening in awe to Eric's incredible voice. To this day, nothing for Kojak beats a darkened room absolutely filled with the sound of Eric's voice heading the late 60's tracks recorded by Eric Burdon & The Animals such as "Coloured Rain", "River Deep Mountain High", "To Love Somebody", "I'm An Animal", "Ring Of Fire", "Good Times", "White Houses", "Anything", "San Franciscan Nights" and "Sky Pilot".
Kojak has experienced Eric performing live on 4 occasions ... at the CrownCasino Melbourne VIC) in November 1998 as part of the British Rock Symphony - Australian Tour, with The New Animals in Kedron-Wavel Services Club (Brisbane QLD) in April 2000 (referred to above), and at Castle Hills RSL (Sydney NSW) and Twin Towns Services Club (Gold Coast QLD) as part of the Eric Burdon & The New Animals Australian tour in Novemebr, 2001.
Eric's performance in The British Rock Symphony in Melbourne in 1998 was an unbelievable night of rock entertainment. Thelma Houston and CBD were great, Russell Morris stood in for Glen Shorrock on the night and showed what an excellent live rock performer he really is (the sound of his voice and the style of songs he performed that night were a long way removed from the unique style and sound of his signature 1960's Australian hits "The Real Thing" and "The Girl That I Love"). Eric however was undoubtedly the star of the show - his brilliant stage presence and character has to be seen live to be believed. Kojak shook hands and spoke briefly with Eric after the show that night and Eric autographed his program - a big night for Kojak, as some 34 years had passed since "House Of The Rising Sun" and, having resided in Australia all his life, Kojak had long before resigned himself to the fact that he would probably never get to see Eric Burdon perform live.
