No Hard Liquor For Condon

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30396, 21 March 1964, Page 1

No Hard Liquor For Condon

Eddie Condon, the American jazz musi- • cian,' drinks in hotel ibars; because of his ill-health, however, his glasses contain milk, not spirits, . “The day I return to America I go straight into hospital for a majbr operation,” be said in Christchurch yesterday, ' “You’ve got quaint drinking laws here,”. Mr . Condon conyncnted. “It is. a kind of 6 o’clock curfew; that is the time they start .getting rid of you.' “In the States that’s when they Start getting loaded.”

New Zealand’s drinking laws, he said, were decadent. In spite of his ill-health, Mr. Condon, who is 58, said he was hot thinking of retiring. ; : “I am too active to retire,” he said. “I’d go nuts in retirement. I’m. not one of those fellows who goes hunting or fishing, or who has other hobbies." The. only type of life Mr Condon said he knew was jazz and conversation. If he did not keep on at these, he would not know what to do,

Eddie Condon , is guitarist and compere of a jazz show, known as’ the All Stars, who gave two concerts in Christchurch : yesterday.. Mr Condon described the other eight members of his

line-up: Jimmy Rushing, vocal; Vic Dickenson, trombone; Buck Clayton, trumpet; Bud Freeman, tenor saxophone: Dick Cary, piano; Pee Wee Russell, clarinet: Jack Lesberg. bass and Cliff Leeman, drums, as “fellows who are all pretty normal.” “They are talented guys,” he said. “We have gag songs. “We play Dixie. “We have ballads. “We rehearse when the curtain rises'." Mr Condon said he brought only eight of his collection of 300 bow ties with him to Christchurch.. Addicted to bow ties and striped shirts, he is generally known (in America) as “Mr Bowtie.”