A dog called Hank (after Mr Williams) and a cat called Patsy (after Ms Cline) saunter around as Stuart Prince rifles through his rock'n'roll records. "My dog only listens to country music but he will listen to Elvis singing Hound Dog," Stuart says. "He can leave the room if he finds it (the music) not to his taste. He's very partial to all sorts of music but he does prefer country." Patsy however, likes the peace--and quiet of the garden. 'She would probably prefer to sleep out on the landing rather than be in the music room with Hank and me." Stuart's life seemingly revolves around rock and roll music. Apart from naming his pets after his favorite artists, he- does a two-hour rock 'n'roll radio program on community radio station 3WAY-FM, runs an annual rock'n' roll trivia night and has a music memorabilia collection, including a 70-year-old wind-up gramophone, a juke box and several old radios. But his most prized possession is surely his record, tape and compact disc collection, which boasts "thousands" of copies, all stored alphabetically. "They start at Roy Acuff and go right through to Warren Zevon," Stuart says. 'Anybody who has done anything from the 50s to the '70s, I have probably got something by them." Stuart says he has loved rock 'n' roll since it started'. He still has his first record - Rock Island Line by Stan Freburg - which he bought in 1956 at age 12. "It cost 10 shillings," he recalls. "That was heaps of money. I didn't buy that many records from early on because they were too expensive. "Most of the vinyl I have picked up in second-hand shops and a few specially shops who deal in this sort of stuff." Stuart, 55, says he has not counted his collection for more than 10 years and does not plan to catalog it. That would be "getting too serious". His collection includes rock'n' roll and country music from the '50s and '60s but there are some genres he will never add. "I don't like disco," he says 'I thought the '70s and '80s were fairly bland as, far as pop music went. I think there was a certain rhythm and beat from the '50s and '60s that contemporary music doesn't have, although it might be my age speaking here." Stuart and his wife Heather Martin-Trigg run a picture -framing business in Warrnambool and are both passionate about rock 'n' roll, which is just as well. "I have it (music) going all the time when I am working," Stuart says. "I have got a stereo system up in the workshop. 1 can load up five compact discs and that will last me half the morning. It's going all the time." Stuart says Bobby Bare was one of his favorites but picking a record from his collection to listen to was influenced by the kind of day he was having. "It's a mood thing," he says. "Sometimes you might feel like hearing some more rowdy music but if you have had a hectic day you might feel like listening to some more laid-back stuff like Don Williams or Emmy-Lou Harris." Stuart's introduction to the music world came in the 1950s via his crystal set, which he listened to "all the time', and he fell in love with rock 'n' roll the first time he heard Fats Domino sing Blueberry Hill. 'The rhythm and the beat were so different to the stuff that was being played at the time," he says". Stuart says Australia was lucky in the early days of rock and roll because radio stations played a greater range of artists. "A lot of the rock was done by Negro performers and a lot of it did not get played in America because of race discrimination," he says. "A lot of Negro rock was covered by white performers to 'clean it up' for the radio. It didn't happen here because the stations did not care what color the performer was." When Stuart's family moved to Geelong in 1956, rock and roll was starting to become prominent on Australian stations so his radio was even more precious to him. Not only could we get Melbourne stations but I could also get Sydney," he says. "I had a couple of heroes back then. (Radio presenter) Stan Rope [i.e. Rofe] was one of them. I could also get Bob Rogers and John Laws. "I was passionate about jumping around the dial picking up what was on." Stuart has followed in his radio heroes' footsteps by doing a two-hour program, Rock and Roll Trivia, on 3WAY-FM. "I thought that 1 was the only person who was interested in this sort of stuff," he says. "When 1 went along (to the radio station) I just thought I would be able to play some of this stuff on the radio, which is what I have always wanted to do. "I was really surprised to find that there was other people who liked this sound." Stuart intersperses the music on his program, which he has presented for nearly 10 years, with trivia about artists and the genre. "I look through my books to see what trivial things have happened this week who was born, who died - and I select the records according to the trivia." The station's annual rock 'n' roll trivia night is a highlight for Stuart who writes the questions and hosts. He says the quiz is treated quite seriously by the "purists" and he freely admits to being in that category.. "People ring me up, people I don't even know, if they are having a dispute (about rock and roll trivia)," he says. "I think they think that it's odd that I can remember that sort of stuff but yet I can't remember what 1 did yesterday." Stuart says this year's trivia quiz would include 100 questions on 10 subjects. "One of them will be on Elvis," he says. "We are going to have one on Warrnambool music and we have one that's about people who have passed on to the great recording studio in the sky." Stuart says while he was dedicated to the music there were others who have spent more time researching and studying the genre. . "Guys have done PhDs on the history of rock and roll music and there's lots of reference books around." But does he remember every one of his records? "Just about. I have a head full of trivia." The 3WAY-FM rock'n'roll trivia night is on tonight at the Warrnambool Golf Club from 8pm.
