[font=Georgia]Gidday!
My name is Rod Jeffery, I live in a little village called Portland, just on 160klms (100 miles) west of Sydney and around 3,000ft above Sea Level. Consequently, I sometimes get snow in Winter with temperatures going as low as -7ºC and I get lots of sunshine in Summer with temperatures as high as 30ºC (or higher).
My darling wife, Shirley had lived here for just on 12½ years together until she passed away in recent times. She was both my greatest fan and greatest critic when it came to my singing and was the only reason that I ever took it up as a profession.
Throughout the late-1980s and on up to early 2003, I toured up and down the East Coast of Australia many times with either my own Rhythm and Blues band, BEACHHEAD'S BLUES or with Tony Barnard's ALL HAT JAZZ. On most occasions Shirley was there at my side enjoying the music and the touring lunacy of the times. When she wasn't, I just didn't want to be there.
In recent times (our twentieth Wedding Anniversary last December) it was discovered that I have prostate cancer which, in my case, will be terminal within the next few years. We decided to celebrate our birthdays together in Sydney back in June and friends got wind of it and turned on a benefit for me.
If this works, the following video footage was shot at that benefit. I hope you enjoy it!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8KPF1WYPOo[/youtube][/font]

Thanks so much for introducing yourself ... and I'm so sorry to hear about your wife.

All my best, and welcome,

Steve

[font=Georgia]Thanks Steve and cheers mate! [/font]

Welcome Beach!! I really love and enjoy your comments. Is a fact (for your speach) that You have a lot of knowledge this kind of music.

[font=Georgia]Thank you Berni! Much appreciated my friend.
My wife was the one who had most of the knowledge in truth. There was a very large age difference between us (she was 80) and she had been a jazz fan all her life.
Her parents saw one of the very first American Jazz bands to visit Australia back in the 1920s and their family home was constantly a venue for 'Jazz Jam Sessions' in the old days.
She was teaching both Latin and New Testament Greek voluntarily at a local church around the time of her death - mainly to imbue herself with the knowledge as well as her students.[/font]

[font=Georgia]Sorry I haven't been around for a while folks.
Truth is that I haven't been all that well and it appears that my cancer may now be out of remission, but I won't know for certain until I see my doctor again on May 15th. He will then refer me on to an oncologist who will decide what needs to be done at this time to try and slow the progress of the disease down and hopefully give me a little more time in the land of the living.
I and my band are doing the Gosford City Blues Festival on June 6 regardless of the outcome and I will be partying both onstage and off (afterwards) as if it had been my last gig.
Meantime, thank you for having me here and making me feel so at home! [/font]

Welcome back Beach. We hope God will keep you healty for many years among us! Keep swinging...

OH man, I wont give u the "I am sorry" speech cuz u seem to be someone who enjoys life more than 90% of the whinning spoiled individuals that i know.

Whtever happen to u , if u look back in ur past I am sure u will have the feeling that u completed the task of living well with the tools that were given to ya.

Good Luck and wellcome back

Hello again folks!
Pity I can't choose my own font on here anymore - bummer.
Don't know just how much longer I will be around unfortunately, although I do hope it's for awhile yet. However, the latest news on the cancer is that it has spread right throughout my skeletal structure and I am probably on the latter part of the journey.
Haven't done a gig since Gosford back in June and even had some dick-head slam into my car on my way out of the parking lot on the Sunday morning.
Had a great night the night before though when my old and dear friend, Dutch Tilders turned up onstage with me after having been flown in from Melbourne just to do a song with me. We sang a couple together before he climbed down and headed for the bar.
I was to return the favour a few weeks back when he was playing at a venue in Katoomba (just on 65klms east of me) but, unfortunately, I was just a little too ill to make the journey. They held a birthday party for his 68th in Melbourne last night.
Here we are at the Gosford Blues festival just after my set.

And onstage together.

I've just had to shave the beard off for an operation I'm having next Tuesday, in case they have to use a general anaesthetic and put an oxygen mask on me in the theatre.

I truly hate this and it will be back as soon as it will grow

They are unsure of using an epidural as some of the cancer cells could inadvertently be scraped off by the needle and inserted directly into my spinal fluid. They are also unsure about giving me a general as the anaesthetist is not all that certain I would come back out of it. Sorry for the bad news folks but I do hope to see you all again.

hey Rod! well, I was sure that I came to welcome you, but now I saw that I didn't. :/

the day you've wrote some other news about you, on May 05, I printed your avatar-photo and pasted on my moleskine, with the phrase about your wife "She was both my greatest fan and greatest critic", beacuse I'm already the gratest enthusiast of my Daddy-O, but I'm still learning how to be his greatest critic, just like your wife.

I hope to see you soon around here - with that majestic BEARD growing again!

JouJoux wrote:hey Rod! well, I was sure that I came to welcome you, but now I saw that I didn't. :/

the day you've wrote some other news about you, on May 05, I printed your avatar-photo and pasted on my moleskin, with the phrase about your wife "She was both my greatest fan and greatest critic", because I'm already the greatest enthusiast of my Daddy-O, but I'm still learning how to be his greatest critic, just like your wife.

I hope to see you soon around here - with that majestic BEARD growing again!

Thank you so much JouJoux. The beard has started to grow again and I hope it will be back in place before I wind up at the funeral parlour!

it will certainly be back, Rod! with a huge black moustache!