Had a fabulous day in November with KATY MANNING (Jo Grant/Jones) and a bunch of enthusiastic fans at the SIRENS OF AUDIO event at the the Treacy Centre, in Parkville, Melbourne.

So many people there who hadn’t been in the same space for a long time and the energy was amazing. Familiar faces including many former Presidents of DWCV, and Sonic Editors, and also people that I’ve written about as I’ve gone through the history for the DWCV/Sonic timeline articles in this year’s Sonics. Great to see some for the first time in ten years and meet many others with brilliant stories from the past.

Katy Manning, at 77, is more sprightly, energetic and fired up than I am. She always brings a kind of full-on energy. She tells a story about how she shared an apartment in New York with Liza Minnelli when she was younger and they were the best of friends, and it shows. When she was introduced and came into the main room to talk to everybody, her energy is just like Liza Minnelli walking into the room… “Here I am, Hello, how are you,” a full-on the stage performance energy. In contrast to that, I arrived at the event early, wasn’t sure where to wait, there seemed no one around, then I turned around and there’s Katie and her good friend that was with her. Katie straightaway walks up, she says, “hello, darling”, gives me a great big hug, and we start chatting about things. Just a friendly, everyday person. Wonderful.

Katy was an absolute Star! Entertaining and delightful throughout the entire day. From the photo shoot, the interviews, the trivia session, the commentary on the last 10 minutes of The Green Death, to coping with the slowly rotating chair and finally the long signing session at the end.

I was fortunate to be in the front row so was able to take some video of her stories which I have uploaded to my Youtube Page for all to enjoy!

 

KATY MANNING: Moments In time! Is a Video Playlist at:

https://www.youtube.com/@avaorionmedia4145

 

 

Thank you to the organisers, THE SIRENS OF AUDIO, and to everyone involved.  They put on a brilliant event!  www.sirensofaudio.com