Singing journalist does Sinatra his way
Jockey dies during early track work A JOCKEY was found dead during morning track work at a Tuerong horse stud last week. Brian Mason, 50, was on a threeyear-old filly at Denistoun Park, Balnarring Rd, when he appears to have suffered a heart attack. Stable manager Trevor Andrews and another staff member became concerned when he did not return at 8.15am and walked out to find him slumped on the ground with the horse standing quietly beside him. He was unconscious and not breathing. Mr Andrews performed CPR until paramedics arrived and took over. Mr Mason, of Walpeup, was pronounced dead at 8.57am. He was wearing an approved riding helmet, vest and riding boots. Police said there was no sign of trauma. Mr Andrews said the jockey had been working at the stables for little more than a week. “He hadn’t worked for a long time and we were just getting to know him,” he said. “It was a very hard thing to cop. We kept his heart beating until the ambulance arrived.” Mr Andrews said stable staff members were shocked. “It was not a nice thing to happen.” The coroner is investigating the cause of death which may have been a heart attack. Stephen Taylor
VETERAN journalist and singer Barry Morris feels as though he grew up with singer Frank Sinatra. “His music has been a background musical score to my life,” Morris, a former jazz writer and sub-editor with Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph, said this week. Two years ago, he and his wife Jill moved to Mt Martha to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Born in 1941, Morris says he became aware of The Voice when Sinatra was recording hit after hit for radio, well before the advent of television. “It was his years with Capitol Records from 1952 to 1962 that he recorded some of his finest work on albums such as Songs for Young Lovers, In the Wee Small Hours, Come Fly with Me and Come Dance with Me,” Morris said. “It was only later that I realised what a superb singer he was. Of course, he worked with, and was influenced by, some of the great jazz musicians of the day. “I like the quote attributed to Bing Crosby, ‘Frank Sinatra is a singer who comes along once in a lifetime, but why did it have to be my lifetime?’” Morris, who used to sing at Soup Plus, the former jazz restaurant in Sydney, has “cleaned up” his vocal cords and is going for a “Thanks Frank” one-off gig at the Frankston Bowling Club on 23 April. He will perform some of Sinatra’s best-known songs as well as some not necessarily associated with the US singer.
Morris will work with seasoned jazz musicians in Neil Taylor (piano), Trevor Firth (reeds), Dean Addison (bass) and Allan Smith (drums). “Sinatra recorded some 2000 songs in a career spanning more than half a century. There was the young Sinatra,
FRANKSTON
His way: Journalist Barry Morris is singing a tribute to Frank Sinatra. Picture: Felix Stone
the middle-aged Sinatra and the older Sinatra – I hope to capture the spirit of Sinatra,” Morris said. Sinatra, the Vintage Years, City of Frankston Bowling Club, 6-9pm, Sunday 23 April. Details: 5945 7773.
Easter police beat POLICE will be out in force over Easter as part of Operation Nexus. They will target Frankston and Mornington Peninsula roads while looking for drivers speeding, drink and drug driving, not wearing seat belts and using mobile phones.
UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
BOOK YOUR VEHICLE IN BEFORE EASTER
NEW
50 CUSTOMERS WILL
CAR CARE
Minor Service Package From $129* On Standard Vehicles
$
4WD + Euro Car Packages From $189*
RECEIVE
A
VIP 800 PACKAGE
WORTH UP TO
15% Discount For Pensioners
*Conditions apply
12343334-HM12-17
FIRST
• Brakes • Suspension • Auto Transmission Service • Clutches • Batteries • Exhaust
Local Drop Off And Free Vehicle Wash With Every Service
MIDAS FRANKSTON
3/60 Dandenong Rd West, Frankston Ph 9770 0355 Email: sales@frankston.midas.com.au Frankston Times 10 April 2017
PAGE 7