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Monde Marie
Folkies
Mary Seddon
Contributors
Gallery
An Amazing Find
Article
(R. Berg)
Article
(S. Staley)
Reunion Comments
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Please post or e-mail your memories to Jane Burke for
insertion
to this page
We thank you for your help to keep this history
alive
Fond memories of Monde Marie Coffee
House
and Mary Seddon
page up-dated 8/7/2010
Michael Gooding:
gooding@bigpond.net.au
Many many thanks for putting
this reunion together. Mary
and 'The Mon' has always had
a very special place in my
memories
I Played Sunday and Thursday
eves at Monde Marie about
mid 1961 to 63 or so. All a
bit hazy..
I often played guitar and
sang with Ronnie Toft,
mentioned by others and we
also did weddings around
Wellington, together with
Peter (mandolino) and
others.
After finishing we would all
go to a garage in Karori and
continued playing and
drinking wine until dawn and
then we went to work. aah,
those were the days. It was
an 18yr old Kiwi lads
introduction to Europe, all
ably assisted by the
wonderful Mary Seddon and
her able-bodied (very)
staff. I think I recognise a
few names, and apologise in
advance for any untoward
behavior. Was fun, though!
I
now live in Sydney, and sing
baritone in two choirs, Bach,
Rossini etc etc. I found that I
had no real idea how to make a
decent sound, now have a
wonderful singing teacher. It is
very hard work, and as usual I
am about forty years late .
However, still have my guitar,
and recently bought a very good
banjo. I have been known to
regale the dingoes out in the
Simpson Desert with songs from
Monde Marie days..
Am looking forward to
catching up with those still
around. Name tags are a good
idea..
Geoff Skinner:
geoffskinner@xtra.co.nz
What an amazing day, buying
the 'Listener' as a one-off
and seeing the article on
'the Monde' as we called it.
I was a regular performer
over a long period of time
in the late sixties/early
seventies and have very fond
memories of Mary who was
unbelievably generous to a
bunch of long-haired
musicians who were
passionate about playing
folk music and fired with
the enthusiasm of youth.
Many of us had a permanent
'tab' for a curry at the
drop of a hat and the
evening were filled with
laughter, music and drinks
to beat the band! The fact
that it was illegal at the
time made it all the more
enjoyable.
I remember the Dubliners
coming down after their gig
in town and bringing with
them a large amount of
Jamisons Irish Whiskey and a
lifetime of songs, most of
which we had never heard.
Luke Kelly, larger than life
regaling us with poetry and
song well into the early
morning.
I used to perform with Bev
Alty in a late spot when all
the 'posh people' would come
down from the movies and
clubs to watch those
'scruffy hippies' show a
side of life that I suspect
was far removed from
suburbia. Eric McEachen,
Phil Calder, Steve Robinson,
Arthur Toms - the list just
goes on and on.
Recently I was in a small
club on the outskirts of
London to watch Eric Taylor
do a gig and this total
stranger came up to me and
said, "You are Kiwi aren't
you, and didn't you used to
play at a place in
Wellington called the Monde
Marie?" I confirmed this in
stunned amazement and it
turned out he used to travel
in from Lower Hutt on a
Friday or Saturday night to
hear us all play.
The reunion is a great idea
but I suspect name tags and
a few extra pairs of reading
glasses may not go amiss!
See you all then.
Kevin Smith:
KevinSmith@nzfashiontech.ac.nz
I enjoyed
reminiscing over
the article in
the Listener, as
to a country boy
transferred into
Wellington to
stay in the
National Bank
staff flat above
what is now
‘Logan Brown’ on
the corner of
Cuba and Vivien
the Monde was a
great place to
be.
On the night of
the
Inangahua
earthquake
Martin and I
chose the Monde
for our farewell
party as we were
leaving the next
day on the
Inter-Islander
to travel down
through that
area to the west
coast. Early in
the evening the
crowd had
enthusiastically
persuaded a
group of sailors
we ignorantly
presumed were
Japanese (I
think they were
Korean) to all
get up on the
tiny corner
stage and sing
“Sukiyaki?” a
popular song at
the time. We
insisted they
would know the
song and that
they all get up
on the stage so
they were
clutching each
other to stop
from falling
off. During the
performance, if
we can call it
that as they
didn’t know the
song, the entire
café was
standing up
dancing and
singing along
(also on the
built in seats
around the
walls) when
suddenly from
the kitchen came
an almighty and
prolonged crash
of crockery.
The earthquake
had struck but
most of us were
oblivious as we
all were falling
over anyway and
cheering loudly
as we knew the
‘Boss’ was going
to give the
staff member we
thought
responsible for
the major
breakage a real
roasting. Some
of our friends
claimed the next
morning when
they read the
newspapers that
they had known
all along that
there was an
earthquake but I
remember this as
just another
‘smashing’ good
time at the
Monde.
The next day we
did travel down
through
Inangahua in
Martin’s Mini
using the big
boards provided
to drive up onto
bridges or over
big cracks in
the roads and
that night we
slept on the
floor of the
public bar of
the Westport
hotel with lots
of other locals
whose homes had
been wrecked.
The Monde had
provided a great
farewell and an
exciting start
to our big
adventure.
John Lander: lander@xtra.co.nz
I performed at the Monde on and off when I was back in Wellington on university holidays in '64, and during '65 to '68 when I was based in Wellington, during the same era as the wonderful Val Murphy and Rod McKinnon. Geoff Hargreaves (the "Geoff" of our trio), also performed at the Monde right through to about 1970 I believe, well after I departed with my wife for a new job in Sydney. Geoff and I loved the bohemian atmosphere and folk scene at the Monde, presided over by the wonderfully eccentric Marie Seddon. and we brought many folkies to the Monde who were visiting from Christchurch.
John Geoff and Linda didn't perform as a trio at the Monde, but we performed at Folk Concerts in Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, and we were at the Monde at that great party for Josh White and Judy Collins. The trio also performed in Peter Capes' WNTV production "There's a Meeting Here Tonight" (refer attached article from the Listener), one of the earliest TV programmes of its type in NZ, and we featured with Val and Rod and other artists on the LP "Folk Concert Down Under".
I thought that the move to Sydney would end my folk "career", but my civil engineering career eventually took us to exciting Hong Kong where we lived from '76 til '83. British folk music was still extremely popular in HK at this time, largely because of the large number of UK expatriates working in HK at the time. It didn't take long before I was in a semi-pro group called Cobblers (refer attached Cobblers poster), with two scotsmen, and a lovely English gal (our Maddy Prior!). We performed at large concerts at the China Fleet Company with all proceeds going to the refugees from mainland China. Most concerts featured high profile folk groups from the UK as the main act, and we performed in the first half with one or two other acts. The most memorable of these was one starring the Chieftans, one of my all time favourite folk groups!
Looking forward to meeting you Jane, and other reunionists on 11 June
Christine Finnigan (nee Yelland)
I vividly remember my short stint at the Monde in 1966-67, when I was 25, and had recently arrived in New Zealand from England, via Chicago. I was flatting in Bidwill St and working at NZBC television in Victoria St., and my flatmate Lyn Bryant and I were set on for an evening shift one night a week, (at "above award" rates, as Mary emphasised at the interview, though that meant nothing to me) then on call for emergencies, of which there seemed to be quite a lot. I had led a very sheltered life, was green as grass, and really didn't know what had hit me when I found myself mixing with all these "alternative" people.
I was deeply into folk music though, and just loved being there and watching all these creative people performing my favourite things every night. A couple of years earlier, I'd made friends in London with Jacqui McShee, who later became the lead singer in Pentangle, and this helped to deepen my interest, though of course it was the 60s, when folk was king. Pentangle did come to Wellington once in the 70s, and I caught up with Jacqui briefly then, but the Monde was closed by then. Perhaps the new folk-rock was a bit too far out in any case.
Mary's personality certainly dominated the place though. The term "wobbly"
was brand new to me, and I quickly discovered the meaning of it, most nights I
was there, when Mary found she just "couldn't cope with all this", meaning
singers and/or staff who didn't turn up, food that was insufficient or below
standard, and if I remember rightly occasional visits by the police. But
she was very kind to me, and addressed most of the staff as "darling". Her
"posh" voice (I come from the North of England) floppy blond hair and colourful,
floaty clothes with their deep décolletage are things I could never forget. She
seemed especially interested in the fact that I was English, and
offered invitations to see her house in Wadestown to talk about music & books,
but she was far too "Bohemian" for timid little me and I declined, much to my
regret now, I might add. When
I read through the various recollections on your website, it seemed no-one remembered her nasi-goreng and cream trifles on the food side, and the film reviews she used to write for the Sunday Times, I think. Catherine de la Roche was another reviewer at the time, so I hope I'm not getting them mixed up.
The people I remember at the Monde, also mentioned by other people, were Frank
Scaglione, Jean-Claude & his brother, Arthur Toms, Val Murphy and also a more
senior waitress called Connie. I also remember the time when Peter Paul &
Mary were in Wellington, and Mary tried so hard to get them to come over to the
Monde after the show, but they chose the Chez Paris across the road, and Mary
was in tears. I think I worked there for about 6 months, eventually becoming
defeated by the high tension of the working environment, and the late nights,
washing up, mopping floors, scrubbing tables, etc. , when I had to get up for
work at 6.30. My friend Lyn didn't even survive that long. I remained in
Wellington, married in 1967 and have lived in Lyall Bay since 1973.
Looking back, it was a privilege to have worked for someone deeply associated
with the history of Wellington and New Zealand. Thanks for the opportunity
to write in.
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