The Early Years
The Terrible Teens
Moving South for College & A Brief Career in Fine Stones
Entering Organised Crime--The Music Industry
Staring a Quarter Century in Australia
He Dies And Is Reborn
Doing his research, eliminating dictatorial, equatorial, arctic, communist and third world countries, he chose Australia and applied for residency. He was turned down by an older consular officer who oversaw his submission and judged his talents wouldn't translate to Australia. Even though Phil was healthy, had plenty of money and property, he wasn't necessarily a reasonable prospect to contribute to Australian culture. So naturally Phil decided the country that didn't want him had to be his new home.
He went for his second interview in New York when he was working shows with Stephane Grappelli and on showing up to the Australian Consulate a day before a sold out show at Avery Fisher Hall, discovered that the cranky old consular officer was on long service leave. To his delight, the replacement was younger, hipper and when finding out that the Aussie was an unabashed Stephane fan without a ticket, offered to let him meet Stephane after the show so he could understand what Phil did and how his talents would fit. The next morning Phil had his visa.
Instead of emigrating by plane, Phil decided to take a cruise ship which meant a month on the ocean but free freight for his possessions which by this time was 5000 vinyl albums, four guitars, clothes and not much else to haul over. So as a 'boat person' Phil went through the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, Mexico and the South Pacific with 15 stops before landing in front of the Opera House.
Not wanting to tour again and with no real corporate experience, Phil took another set of faked references and job history and applied for a few 'straight jobs'. Luckily, his observations on the major music retailer Palings 416 George Street store met with the approval of the progressive store manager and MD of the major chain and he was hired as the record store manager with 20 staff and two floors of product. He quickly revolutionised how the store was run, put in live music, a new stereo system and worked 80 hour weeks. Within two months the store was in profit for the first time in years and he was promoted to head of Sales and Marketing for the chain, taken off the floor, put behind a desk and within 30 days he was gone to travel Australia, vowing never to work for anyone again.
He decided to penetrate media as a vocation and with no journalism degree, no media experience, contacts or anything other than a golf ball typewriter through a bank loan, became a freelance journalist. He committed to live solely off his earnings as a writer for four years before deciding to veer off on another path within media. He figured that the best way to earn a living was to write about things other people didn't as well as for overseas publications which paid better than local ones.
He had to start somewhere so did articles on the business of music for RAM, a rock mag, and then started a series on music video for Australian Film Review as well as investigative pieces for the National Times, trades such as Billboard, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and an array of film and audio professional magazines such as Mix, Millimetre and others in a technical vein. He was also published in Esquire and the Los Angeles Times and then carved a path through Australian newspapers such as The Australian and Sydney Morning Herald.
But it was the discovery of a small portable computer in 1984 called the Tandy Model 100 with a 64K memory and a 300 baud acoustic coupler modem that allowed for a new thing called email on a 3000 user global network of music pros that rocketed Tripp to international media fame. He became somewhat obsessive with the new technology and while those who knew him said that email would never replace Telex and such a small computer was a toy, he learned to file stories electronically and travelled with world writing a combo of music and travel pieces.
But with his fourth year of freelancing coming to an end, it was time to get a 'real job' and Phil was enticed by companies he had written about on global media to switch sides and become a public relations rep for them. The timing was perfect as the country's leading recording complex, Studios 301, took him on with video guru Steven Priest hiring his services and leading rock acts Midnight Oil, The Church, Divinyls, Eurogliders and others having him handle overseas media. His portable computer coupled with one of the country's first mobile phones in a briefcase with a portable fax machine and printer made him a formidable publicist in the days when the leading flacks used Addressograph label slugs and mail. He created IMMEDIA! Public Relations with a staff of one, operating out of Chinatown.