{"id":47670,"date":"2020-07-23T07:56:53","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T07:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=47670"},"modified":"2020-07-24T02:09:57","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T02:09:57","slug":"the-jetliners-my-story-by-felix-fernando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/the-jetliners-my-story-by-felix-fernando\/","title":{"rendered":"THE JETLINERS (My Story) – By Felix Fernando"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE JETLINERS <\/strong><\/h1>\n

(My Story) – By Felix Fernando<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Having completed my Primary schooling at St. Sebastian\u2019s School in Hultsdorf, Colombo 12, I continued my Secondary schooling at St. Benedict\u2019s College, Kotahena, Colombo 13.
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\nQuite a few of my classmates were interested in music, and we would talk music during our breaks. When I reached my Senior Level, a certain Christian Brother once came up with the idea of playing music, on the loudspeakers, during our lunch breaks and we loved this idea. Songs were requested and played for 20c. per song. This became quite popular among the students. Hence the idea came up of having a Talent Show, and it would feature anyone who could sing or play an instrument. I decided to gather a two of my friends and perform on this show. We sang two songs, \u201cThree little Kisses\u201d & \u201cMoonlight Bay\u201d, with me playing guitar.
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\nStepping off stage, I was met by this guy who introduced himself as Colvin Perera (who had \u2018Lucien Merle\u2019 added to his name). He requested if I could back him up on two instrumentals, namely \u201cGuitar Boogie\u201d and \u201cQuartermasters Store\u201d, both of which I had heard before, and thus I agreed to do so. On completion of his act, he invited me to join a group which he was forming. Didn\u2019t I jump at the idea of playing in a group. The first rehearsal was on the Saturday morning at his home in Dehiwela. Dehiwela? That\u2019s quite a distance from Hultsdorf. How would get to Dehiwela from Hultsdorf? Simple! A couple of buses would take me there. Come Saturday, I approached my Mum for bus fare to Dehiwela, which was promptly refused. (I\u2019ve got to mention here that was the twelfth sibling of a family of 13.). Times were tough! Hence my mum\u2019s refusal. I had to take my next mode of transport, my faithful bicycle, which took me about 2 hours to get to my destination.<\/span><\/p>\n

(From here on, I will change the name \u201cColvin\u201d to Lucien.)<\/span>
\nHaving met Lucien, I was introduced to Anton de Mel (bass guitarist) and Aloy Backhouse (drummer). Also Jimmy Mortimer, who would be our vocalist. We rehearsed tunes made popular by \u201cThe Shadows\u201d and \u201cCliff Richards\u201d vocals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rehearsals were held at the Mortimer house in Mt. Lavinia, which meant a bit more bike peddling for me. There were days, when one of my tyres would develop a \u2018puncture\u2019. I would still continue my journey, and get it fixed by Jimmy\u2019s younger brother and friends, who would then use my bike to ride around the neighbourhood till it was time for me return home. There were days when rehearsals went on till late, but still I continued rehearsing on the promise that the boys would purchase a lantern (but the lantern would end up in flames due to the sea breeze). This meant my pleading with the \u2018cops\u2019 and showing proof of a burned-out lantern.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were quite a few days, rehearsals would continue with the absence of the drummer. On days like this, a \u2018pint-sized) guy would seen sitting on a side, and beating a good rhythm on a pile of old newspapers with a pair of sticks plucked off a \u2018guava\u2019 tree. This guy was Harris Jurangpathy. It was a bit frustrating rehearsing without a drummer, till the day came when we invited him to join us (on the proviso that he had to own a set of drums). A few moments later we would see him running up the road to ask his dad to get him a Drum set. Sure he got it, but the bass drum was so huge that all we could see was his head. Still drumming was excellent.<\/span><\/p>\n