Doug A Page

MMM November 1999

Malley-Mate Data Sheet
Name: Doug
Approx Age: R.I.P.
Nationality: Kiwi
Website: Aldienet
This page updated May 2008

I met Doug 25 years ago when he a surfie. He says that when we met I had this Kenwood Jumbo system with the biggest speakers he had seen and I was playing a Bachman-Turner Overdrive song. He knew he would like me. Back then he was known as the "nose of the north", but not anymore thanks to the wonders of modern surgery. So now its the "mouth of the south". We have been there for each other through the good times and bad times, the ups and downs, the ins and outs. It was Doug who talked me, who had never jogged more than 2 miles, into doing Round the Bays in 1979. I can't go for a walk, but Doug is now doing half-marathons. I talked Doug into playing basketball way back in the mid-70's. He still plays something closely resembling the game. It was our love for Radio Hauraki that drew us together in the early days. Doug has spoon-fed me reggae while I have tried to educate him on the finer points of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. When we moved to the States in 1980, Doug "I'll-never-fly-anywhere-that-costs-MONEY" and Pat came to visit and Doug was blown away by the all-oldies stations we had. And as a precursor to his current habit of hounding The Warehouse CD sale bins, we used to hit the shops for used LPs on a regular basis. A couple years later they bought a 5 acre farm in Drury. It came with an orchard of around 20 plum trees. They had plums everywhere and DOug kept saying: "And I don't even like plums". I reckon that things even out; so as I slowly grind to halt with CFS/ME, Doug is revving up and kicking into overdrive. I am lucky to get out of bed and Doug can't get into bed - up all night downloading mp3s (over 1350 downloaded songs and videos when he did his last download). He is up and out running or mountain biking at all hours. Add to that his daily workout at the gym, yoga and ballroom dancing. I am suspicious that one too many bricks fell onto his head while he was a boy working in the family brickworks down there in Christchurch. Maybe it was when the homemade acetyline torch he and his Greek friend exploded upon ignition. I try to calm him down for a few hours each Thursday when he comes over for our Rock 'n Roll evening. We play an assortment of music trivia games while listening to music. The winner being awarded "The Wide Yellow Duke". We began doing this back in the 70's when we listened to my 45s. From '93 until just a few months ago we went through my LPs (alphabetically, of course) then we are doing Doug's rather scratchy LPs as they are unearthed. But now he has to play me his "favorite" Napstered songs. He has an amazing ability to recall the lyrics to almost any song and he can also quote Monty Python verbatim. Mention a celebrity, preferably dead, and Doug will fill you in on all the sleeze. That memory extends to remembering every person he has ever met and for most of us that also includes the very contours of our cuspids and molars. He was brought up to always have an offering of something when visiting. So he would show up with Mallow puffs, ginger kisses or potatoe chips. But I am pretty certain that his mother didn;t tell him to then eat all of them. In Jan 1977 we camped on a Tairua mud flat with the Sanders and Aldies. 3 year old Lia got black ash on her white cardigan and was scolded for it. Doug loved it...pure white while camping!!!! Ear Story - 1980 On Christmas morning 1983 he was up vomitting. Hehad eaten 22 chocolate biscuits the night before. One of the ladies that he was seeing suggested that he fix his hawk-like nose. So he went under the knife. He harkens back to the days when he was in a band and his greatest ambition is to get enough nerve to busk. For everyone's sake, let's hope that he never finds the courage. In 2003, before his death, he did busk on Queen Street for a few minutes, borrowing a busker's guitar.

Click on photo to hear sound bite
Kids, Don't Try This at Home	Blinded by the Light	Did I?
The Duck		Report Card
Go to Doug's photo Gallery.