NE Budgies

It was very sad to hear that my old colleague, Glenn A. Baker, passed away on Friday.
I first met Glenn while I was promoting a tour of regional New South Wales with Skyhooks. OL'55 was the support act on the tour, and Glenn was the band's manager. Following the Skyhooks tour, Glenn and I worked together to promote OL'55 on a 10-concert regional NSW tour. At the conclusion of that tour, Glenn asked me to join his management team as Tour Manager for the band.
I learnt a tremendous amount from Glenn. We spent countless hours travelling together in his old brown Datsun. We visited radio stations, newspapers and television stations throughout Australia's capital cities. Glenn introduced me to many of the key people in the entertainment industry, and the knowledge I gained as his wingman over those years has stayed with me throughout my careers.
Glenn had a journalist's mind and understood exactly how the media worked. He often said journalists were busy—and sometimes a little lazy—so he would hand them well-written, ready-to-publish press releases that made their job easy while ensuring the story he wanted told was the one that appeared. It was a simple but brilliant strategy that I have never forgotten. I also learnt the value of a free lunch as a business tool!
On a personal level, Glenn was a deeply spiritual man, devoted to his family, and incredibly passionate and driven. In my opinion, OL'55 would never have existed without him. He discovered the band—then known as "Fanis from Sydney's Sutherland district"—found and selected their frontman, Frank J. Holden (F.J. Holden), and then set about creating the phenomenon that became OL'55. Publicity, publicity and more publicity was always Glenn's mantra.
Of course, great publicity only works if the product delivers, and OL'55 certainly did. I toured with many artists during those years, and as a live act, OL'55 were among the very best. They were an absolute cracker of a band on stage and a joy to watch perform night after night.
Glenn also believed everyone needed a memorable stage name. Every member of OL'55 was given one. Even Glenn's own nickname, "Bakes", evolved into Glenn A. Baker. He insisted on including the middle initial because it made the name distinctive—and it certainly worked. Today, mention "Glenn A. Baker" almost anywhere in Australia and people immediately know who you're talking about.
His knowledge of rock music was simply extraordinary. He seemed to know the history behind almost every artist, recording and event from around the world. That encyclopedic knowledge became his trademark and made him one of Australia's most respected music historians.
One aspect of Glenn that many people may not know about was his business prior to the OL'55 days, importing obscure American vinyl records. He had an incredible ear for music and introduced many Australian artists to songs that otherwise may never have been heard here. He supplied OL'55 with a number of these such songs, and I know he also helped many other artists discover material and record songs that deserved a much wider audience.
Thank you, Glenn, for your guidance and the opportunities you gave a young bloke from the bush finding his way in the music industry. The lessons you taught me have lasted a lifetime. "Looking back now, I probably didn't realise at the time just how fortunate I was. As a young bloke from the bush, I was being mentored by one of the sharpest minds in the Australian music industry."
Rest in peace, mate.
The ticket below is from the OL'55 tour mentioned above in 1975. See less

I noticed these two baby c**k birds in the baby flight, are starting to show some of the qualities I like. They have a lot of filling out to do. For a grey green or grey to end up in a breeding cage here, they have got to have something special to offer.

I always reckon the babies look their best when they first drop out of the nest. If they look good at this early stage they will be sensational when the grow into adults.

We are so fortunate to do what we do for a crust. We have spent a day at Tenterfield in northern New South Wales, installing a new coffee equipment set up in a new store which opens next week.
Seeing a shop in an absolute state of chaos before it opens and wondering how the hell it will ever be finished on time is common when we deal with new businesses. The owners are full of hope and are taking a risk on a new venture and we wish them every success. Check out the wood floor boards, the weird shape of the ceiling in the new outlet, very unique but common in Tenterfield.
Tenterfield is such a beautiful town, it has a distinct main street that is yet to be destroyed by development. The shop facades, fascias, parapets and awnings are all a site to behold and reminiscent of times gone by. These type of towns are just wonderful, they are friendly, welcoming and appreciate visitors coming to or passing through their area.
Over the years I have done a lot of work/business in Tenterfield and love the joint. There is a lot to see and it well worth a visit if you want to see a beautiful Australian country town.

The work load over the past few months has been amazing, like, we have had 8 business we look after change ownership on the 1st of July, that's yesterday. Unfortunately with the amount of business on there is not much time for Budgie stuff, that is apart from feeding and watering, but still done well. I have stack of youngsters to sort through. The good thing is they are growing and growing and looking better and better, they will still be there when I get time to have a serious look at them.

My golfing partner for the day Greg McLeod and myself had a great win at the Manilla Open today, plus we won a few nearest to the pins on the Par 3s. Greg was playing off plus 2 and was off a handicap of 1 for the day.

I was over the moon with the game, I managed to shoot a 69 which is one shot less than my than my age for the round (18 holes) and that is a very very rare achievement for an amateur golfer. Although it did help that I had a birthday a bit over a week ago. It is a round of golf I will remember for rest of my life, the first time I shot better than my age.

Here is selection of 2026 young birds just coming through their first molt. These are from late pairings in the 2025 season.

Early 2026 Young Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

Here is a quickly put together short video with a bit of a critique on our winners at a recent show.

Armidale Winner 2026 A Video of the Major winners at recent Armidale Bird Show and a short critic of these birds.

The breeding season is coming to a close. It has been very productive, with lots of nice chicks coming on. It is good to give the breeders a good long rest to ensure they build up from the Catabolism they have gone through during the breeding season. This is especially true for the breeder hens.

Budgies 2025 breeders A video of Budgerigars that have been used in the 2025 breeding season.

All the best for Easter, I hope you enjoy happy, Holy & safe time with family and friends.
I decided to check out the progress of some of the baby recessive pieds, they have a lot of growing to, check a few out in the following video.

Manvell Budgies 2025 recessives Young 2025 recessives, very young and first time in training cages