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“A FIREFLY AT REST” by Desmond Kelly ‘the Star of eLanka’ He led “The Fireflies” band in Ceylon from 1963, a personal friend of mine, Milroy de Silva has passed on, in Vancouver, Canada, after a long illness, leaving family, friends & fans, deeply saddened by his death, at the age of 84. Milroy was indeed, a superb guitarist, self-taught, as most of us were in the good old days. I remember the time when he lived in Davidson Road, Bambalapitiya, practically right behind our little tenement home in Lorensz Road, and this is where I first heard a “special-style” of acoustic guitar playing which left me spell-bound with the skill & expertise he displayed. A “latin-rhythm strum”that was as individualistic as the man himself, to be quite honest about it, I have never seen a “strum” like it. In addition, Milroy was a superb ...

Jan 30, 2018 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, DESMOND KELLY Tagged "A FIREFLY AT REST" by Desmond Kelly 'the Star of eLanka' Comments 0

“AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR 2018” by Desmond Kelly ‘the Star of eLanka’ “The A.B.C”.,.to the fore, once again, supported by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, bringing you, the members of eLanka an “on-line” account of what I would term, a most prestigious “Annual-Event” that duly recognises persons chosen by their peers for spectacular achievements carried out for nothing other than making this huge multicultural Continent a better place for EVERYONE HERE, to live in. On purpose, I do not intend to “detail” the names and achievements of 32 different “contenders” for this “title”, I would probably have to keep writing until 2019 to complete “that”, anyway, all the names & achievements of these wonderful people will be in the early morning newspapers of tomorrow, the 26th of January, 2018, Australia-Day & the holiday it entails. However, let me start with the “name” of the holiday. As every eLankan (Lankan/Aussie) should ...

Jan 25, 2018 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, DESMOND KELLY, Home Tagged "AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR 2018" by Desmond Kelly 'the Star of eLanka' Comments 0

“WE’LL MEET AGAIN” by Desmond Kelly ‘the Star of eLanka’ We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t when, But I’m sure we’ll meet again, some sunny day, was a good old song (featured), currently, to announce that our Prime Minister, Mr.Malcolm Turnbull is about to meet, for the second time, in person, the President of the U.S.A., Mr.Donald Trump, and we do know that it will be in the White-House, on the 23rd of February, 2018 (this year). What the weather will be, on that particular day, I haven’t a clue, at the moment, because I have not been able to google the long-range weather forecast as yet, hopefully, it will be a “sunny day”. Why am I writing this ?, you ask. Well, I’ll tell you. They met, for the first time, if you remember, folks, to simply discuss the initial “telephone conversation” that took place between them, where the President ended the ...

Jan 25, 2018 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, DESMOND KELLY Tagged "WE'LL MEET AGAIN" by Desmond Kelly 'the Star of eLanka' Comments 0

“IT’S WHERE YOU LAY THE BLAME” by Desmond Kelly ‘the Star of eLanka’ Two lines in a Country-Music song of the 80’s say it like this. “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s where you lay the blame” That one was a Country love song, of course, but the correct English Phrase reads “it’s not whether you win or lose, it is HOW YOU PLAY THE GAME”. So, Australia won the “Ashes” this year by beating England & congratulations are in order for their effort in doing so. As I have said before, I am a Lankan/Aussie now, and so are my two eldest sons. In addition, I “added” to the Australian population, another daughter & youngest son, who are both “dinkum Aussies”. As such, we should ALL be “barracking” for Australian Sportsmen, Women & Teams, but, although most Aussies carry the “Cyclops-Syndrome” around with them, I don’t. Every ...

Jan 23, 2018 Posted by admin In Articles, DESMOND KELLY Tagged IT'S WHERE YOU LAY THE BLAME Comments 0

“DREAM-WORLD” (Revisited) By Desmond Kelly ‘the Star of eLanka’ The song is well-known, as is the “Songwriter”,who got into the habit of writing songs for “special girlfriends”simply because “presents”(decent ones), were too expensive to buy, in Ceylon at the time, and, although it got him into trouble, sometimes, this did not cost him anything at all. “Dream-World” was written by this songwriter at the birth of the fabulous 1950’s at number 38 Lorensz Road, Bambalapitiya, in Colombo, after this enamoured young man who was 15 at the time, had met this beautiful 14 year old girl who lived at number 10, on the same road. He had a dream one night, about this same young lass & the rest was easy. It was just after midnight, & while he had never studied the “theory” of music, “tunes” would come into his head, and he would then compose the ...

Jan 21, 2018 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, DESMOND KELLY, English Videos, Everlasting songs Comments 0

Man’s Best Friends By Desmond Kelly ‘the Star of eLanka’ The well-known phrase used to be in the singular, as far as “friends”was concerned, and they still are. Dogs of all sizes, breeds, temperaments, whatever, once you are “owned” by one, he/she is still quite possibly, the best companion man could ever have, and I talk from personal experience. I have had many dogs, male & female, during my life, until now. My biggest regret is, that because of a medical condition, and because of my “old-age”, I am not able to keep any pets at all, as if you have a pet, they rely on you to look after them. I have had, and trained, several German Shepherds, used them for my work as a Security Officer, have had about three of them as personal “pets” at home, in Melbourne, I have even “owned” a Great Dane, ...

Jan 17, 2018 Posted by admin In Articles, DESMOND KELLY Tagged Man's Best Friends Comments 0

ALERIC’S MILK-SHAKE-DUCK by Desmond Kelly ‘the Star of eLanka’ That is how silly the present Media is getting, folks. The Milk-Shake Duck going viral, and, serve them right, they ARE racist, because they forgot (on purpose)to mention Sri Lanka’s “Aleric”s”, without any doubt, whatsoever, the BEST Milk-Shake-Makers in the World, where, on exceptionally special occasions, this writer would share one, with one of the most beautiful girls of the 50’s era (from Ceylon, of course), after “cutting-College” (St.Peter’s of Bambalapitiya), making a bee-line for the ” Holy Family Convent”, also in Bambalapitiya, in the early PM, to help her carry her books, walk together on the beach, until we arrived at Kinross Avenue, which led up to the Galle Road, cross over, turn left, and there you are, Aleric’s. Nobody knew HER then, nobody knew ME either, but, had her father caught me there with her I would quite possibly ...

Jan 17, 2018 Posted by admin In Articles, DESMOND KELLY, Everlasting songs Tagged ALERIC'S MILK-SHAKE-DUCK Comments 0

DAVID AND GOLIATH by Bernard VanCuylenburg.

DAVID AND GOLIATH by Bernard VanCuylenburg. During the colonial period of the lat 1930’s, a tea plantation in the Madulkelle district Relugas Estate, was the place where what appeared to be a simple act of insubordination by an assistant superintendent, was to have far reaching consequences and wider ramifications not only for the company concerned, but for the colonial government of the time and a left leaning socialist political party called the “Lanka Sama Samaja Party”, (The Lanka Socialist Party) popularly known as the LSSP. The “David” in this case was a young assistant superintendent named Mark Bracegirdle and the “Goliath” was the government of the day – at first glance an uneven match. The Superintendent of this particular estate Mr.H.D.Thomas was badly in need of an assistant, and he petitioned the company accordingly. As was the modus operandum of the day, a young Englishman Mark Bracegirdle was recruited from ...

Jan 17, 2018 Posted by admin In Articles, DESMOND KELLY, Uncategorized Tagged DAVID AND GOLIATH by Bernard VanCuylenburg. Comments 0

“COUNTRY COUSINS” EXTRAORDINAIRE by Desmond Kelly ‘the Star of eLanka’ It has certainly been an extraordinary week for me. To start off, after many a long year, I have been able to contact a long-lost cousin, also living in Melbourne, someone who I remember as an extremely talented pianist, Audrey will not mind the mention of her name because, even though we have been “out of touch” for so long, it is good that, in the twilight of our lives, we have managed to find each other again. If the title of this article is mistaken for the fact that we are the ‘Country Cousins’ are the ones who originally migrated to Australia from Ceylon, a humble apology. Although I am not certain that Audrey loves “Country Music” like I do, music, in general, has been part & parcel of our families. Some of us also “sing” ...

Jan 14, 2018 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, DESMOND KELLY, English Videos, Everlasting songs Tagged "COUNTRY COUSINS" EXTRAORDINAIRE by Desmond Kelly 'the Star of eLanka' Comments 0

“ROCK EXPLOSION”& THE SHAKING HEARTS” – By Desmond Kelly ‘the Star of eLanka’ FROM A JACK TO A KING” What a way to start 2018.! Welcome my friends,fans, family and each & every reader of eLanka. It has been quite an year, now well & truly past, thank goodness. We, @ eLanka have tried our best to keep you up to date with all the news, both from Lanka & Australia. We have endeavoured to bring you “stories” that matter to everyone of us. We have had “top” health-hints from Dr.Harold Gunatillake, interesting excerpts from Victor Melder, dozens of photographs to look at in the special eLanka “Gallery”, “flyers” that practically fly out to you, special articles about “events” taking place, both in Lanka & Australia, you name it folks, eLanka has it. I’ll say no more. Please join us. To become a member, simply contact Neil Jayasekera at eLanka, ...

Jan 13, 2018 Posted by eLanka admin In Articles, DESMOND KELLY Tagged "ROCK EXPLOSION"& THE SHAKING HEARTS" - By Desmond Kelly 'the Star of eLanka' Comments 0