Ten years ago Thirsty Merc played a gig at the Marlin Hotel in Ulladulla NSW. Afterwards front man Rai Thistlewayte’s jacket went missing. Now the Hit Network’s Carrie & Tommy have solved the mystery, now they just need to safely reunite it with Rai.
Rai’s jacket was perhaps his favourite piece of clothing. He’d worn it to Awards shows, on album covers (see above) and, of course, it would join him on tour. Last year he made an impassioned plea on social media for its return as he’d never found anything like it before or since.
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This week, in the vein of Scooby Doo and Shaggy, Carrie Bickmore and Tommy Little have cracked the case. A listener Becky called in to the show and confessed that her late mother, a huge Thirsty Merc fan, had taken the jacket. Becky had been trying to return it without success and was now enlisting Carrie and Tommy’s help to reunite Rai and his jacket:
Tommy: “So your Mum was a big Thirsty Merc fan, and this was about 10 years ago?”
Becky: “She didn’t really tell me at the time that it happened. Maybe a few months later – I guess her and her friend, Lulu, had kept this to themselves for some time – and then she started gloating about it… being a massive fan of Rai.
“Mum was diagnosed with cancer, and she became overcome with a lot of guilt; she was like, ‘We need to get Rai’s jacket back to him.’ So, I’ve been trying for about 5 years to get his jacket back to him. Mum passed away last year.”
“At the end of the day, maybe he thought we were crazy fans. We got tickets to his concert, which got cancelled due to COVID. We contacted event managers, got nothing. Sent off emails and it went into the abyss. As time went on and Mum’s illness got worse, it wasn’t really at the forefront (of my mind).
“People on (his Facebook) post were saying all these weird things, like it’s probably at a thrift shop, but it was actually sitting in my closet.”
Carrie: “Becky, let’s get this jacket back to Rai. If you’re listening and you’re like, ‘Oh, Rai’s my mate!’ We’re trying to get hold of Rai. Becky, we’re going to do this for your Mum.”
Carrie and Tommy are on the Hit Network from 3-6pm weekdays and also on LiSTNR. Looking forward to part two and the jacket reunion.