Port Macquarie Panthers - Wed 31 Aug

COMING SOON

Coffs Ex Services - Tues 31 August

COMING SOON

Heading south

The team packed up and left Hatchling Productions HQ this morning. Here they are about to depart.

Rocklea (Bris) Brothers St Brendans - 28 August

Rocklea. The landlord gave us a great welcome with fruit platter, champagne and beer... we'd all like to say thank you. After the show, I sat down and talked to Spike fans for 45 minutes. They didn't want to leave. There was Paul who came all the way from Gympie... then went back again. Got to go and help pack the van. See you in Coffs Harbour. Day off tomorrow. We'll be talking to Phillip Adams on Radio National tomorrow night. PS. Paul asked me to sign one of his Goon Show CDs and I wrote, "Dear Paul, where's my 50 pounds?"

Southport Sharks - 26 August

The sound of the pokie machines are still ringing in my head, but for avid Goon fans, a great night was had by all. An old school friend of mine, Yvette Dempster was a surprise in the audience. She sent a note backstage to inform me that Sister Immaculata is still alive!!! She survived the nun exploding chair at St. Mary's Abbey School in Mill Hill, North London and all our other attempts to make her disappear.

The pick up a pen part of the evening inspired a wonderful man called Eddie Allman to start writing again. Eddie you can start by writing me a cheque!! Well that's all folks. Love, light and peace, Laura Milligan. And for all you insomniacs, have a good sleep.

Yamba Bowling Club - 25 August 2005

Fired by the previous night we headed off to the beautiful fishing town of Yamba. Goon fans of all ages settled in for yet another hilarious night of Goonery and memories. There was diverse talk with the audience after the show, from how to relieve aching feet with custard filled socks to one member of the audience not realising that Spike had passed away yet. I signed a lot of the T-shirts with the phrase "keep taking the tables". That's all for now.

Laura Milligan

Murwillumbah Regent Cinema - 24 August

Murwillumbah Regent Art Decor Cinema run by the fabulous Vince and his family had created the perfect backdrop for the start of the Spike is Back tour. The cinema boasted the best homemade pizzas and the tour gang kicked off the show with fresh spinach between their teeth. Murwillumbah is in the throws of 'banana madness' and was the perfect venue to kick off our crazy Spike tour. The audience was wonderful and at the end of the show banana goon chatter hummed in the foyer. Next diary update, Yamba, but for now, let's go bananas!

Laura Milligan

Getting ready to set off on tour

The Spike is Back! Pick up a Pen! regional tour of the east coast of Australia starts tonight in Murwillumbah, on the far north coast of New South Wales. Tomorrow night we head south to Yamba, then on Friday we're back up north for three shows in South East Queensland. (The film's director Cathy Henkel took Spike to Yamba last week - the photo shows him making new friends.)

The 'Pick up a Pen' subtitle relates to how active Spike was with his pen. Dad wrote 83 books and was a dedicated activist and prolific letter writer who took a stand on many, many issues that he considered important. The film highlights this aspect of Spike's legacy and I will encourage audiences to get active with their pens again.

Special Spike pens will be available along with other Tour memorabilia such as T-shirts, bags, badges and the DVD of the documentary, which also contains a wealth of extra material.

A life size Spike doll, with pen in hand, has been created to lead the Tour and will ride on top of the tour bus as it arrives in each town. I call this 'payback time' for those nights when we were children and Spike would wake us, tie us to the top of his mini and take us out bunny spotting!

The Spike doll will welcome fans as they arrive, start the show and may even sign autographs.

Watch Video ---> Laura Getting Ready