Wayne “Swampy” Jarvis was one of Australia’s most respected and longest serving road crew. He is regarded as one of the first “professional” roadies and went on to be an internationally regarded tour manager.
From his site: “He set standards and developed operational criteria that have become the Worldwide Industry benchmark for just about every activity involved with touring and concert production. He gave the industry, as a whole, a level of dignity, professionalism and compassion that is very often missing in this day and age.”
He unfortunately passed away back in 2004 and his family were forced by financial circumstances, to auction off his vast collection of Aussie tour memorabillia. Unfortunately Swampy was around in a time when most roadcrew didn’t have such luxuries as superannuation. His family have a site up which is a nice tribute to a well loved character and some of his tour passes etc are still available from eBay.
Have a look at his site for more info & links to the remaining items. There is a lot of history there waiting for a good owner and the proceeds go to a good cause, his family.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I had the privilege of working on some of Swampys tours through the 90’s and he always treated myself and the other guys with respect. A true gentleman, a rare man much missed.
he will probably remember Jeff Merryweather then…. shit, now i re-read the comments, did he die???? please let me know… he will be with my brother Jeff