A lot of the respect for Chick has come from what he has done for live music in this town. The Rainbow Hotel has had live music, seven nights a week, for the whole of chicks 14 year reign. Through that time there have been many obstacles and the most recent were those with the residents of the new flats across the road from the pub. One couple in particular complained regularly and resulted in all sorts of complications to work around including additional sound-proofing.

(Let me just take a moment to mention how revolting that kind of behaviour is. The Rainbow has been there for over 100 years and prior to Chick taking it over, it was an established jazz club. And then people look at the area and think that they like the vibe and atmousphere of the place and so they move there. Upon arrival they decide that they don't like the noise of the pub, music and people. But rather than realise they made a mistake and move, they think that to hell with everyone else - the world should change and fit around their needs. Never mind the other residents lived with it and didn't complain - they selfishly go about changing things with disregard for anyone else - it is vile behaviour. Anyway, this isn't about that.)

When I first arrived in Melbourne (in 1998), there were two Rainbow Hotels, one in Brunswick and one in Fitzroy, both were managed by Chick. I used to frequent both and when the Brunswick one was sold (it is now the Cornish Arms), the music focus was all put into the Fitzroy venue. I have seen a lot of music over the years there and have had my first introduction to a number of acts from being there at the right time.

Other than just being a place for solo artists and bands, there have been many collaborations that have happened there - never to be repeated nights of musical delights. It has always been a place to go and there are so many people I recognise from the place - lots of locals and people who appreciate good music.

I'd seen Chick around, but my first chat with him was when I took over maintaining the pub's website and went in one afternoon to introduce myself - that afternoon was the same as every other time I have chatted with Chick - it was damn funny. Over the years I've had many encounters with Chick and I think I have laughed at every one of them - he was a very funny and irreverent man and could cut through any subject and, in his grumpy manner, make it funny. He was supportive of all that he knew and you could see that it was mutual through the loyalty of those who knew him. He was a good man.

I am sad that he's gone, but I'm glad that I knew him.

Handout at the funeral:
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The Age - Wednesday August 20th

Publican Chick Ratten staged some memorable shows in his 14 years at Fitzroy’s Rainbow Hotel. Yesterday, the Melbourne music industry returned the favour by giving him an almighty send-off at the Fitzroy Town Hall.

It was an appropriate venue for his funeral, as many considered him the unofficial mayor of Fitzroy.

Ratten, who last week died of a pulmonary embolism aged 63, arrived in style: his coffin, bearing messages such as “Rock on, Chick”, was delivered in a horse-drawn carriage by tuxedo-wearing drivers. Led by a New Orleans-style funeral marching band, the procession wound up St David’s Street past his old pub, which he left last year, and past the new apartment blocks and complaining neighbours that nearly drove him out of business.

The two-hour service had everything: live music from two of his favourite blues singers, Chris Wilson and Dave Hogan, a recorded version of Somewhere over the Rainbow by the late Billy Thorpe, documentary footage of Ratten’s final days at the Rainbow and even a ferocious haka from his New Zealand in-laws.

His friends and family spoke of his three great loves: family, music and sport (he had a former life as a boxer and cycling coach).

Ratten was referred to as a rough diamond, straight shooter, feisty, grumpy and master of the one-liner.

“He was so good at finding the honest truth in anything.” Said master of ceremonies Chris Gollins.

They remarked on his support of the local music scene, staging shows seven nights a week for 14 years.

Broadcaster Brian Wise said: “Few people have done as much to support the local scene in the last 20 years as Chick.”

When Ratten and wife Ursula left the pub last year, Chick had two ambitions: to see the Tour de France and meet his hero Joe Cocker. He achieved both.

Herald Sun - Wednesday August 20th

Charles Keith "Chick" Ratten, uncrowned king of Fitzroy, was carried to his rest yesterday aboard a horse-drawn hearse as mourners gave three cheers and drinkers outside pubs raised their glasses.

Two black-plumed Percherons drew the hearse from the Rainbow Hotel in St David St past Fitzroy's terrace cottages and narrow lanes.

The Rainbow was the pub where Chick had dispensed beers - and profanities - for the past 14 years.

Then the developers and new flat dwellers, who took over the nearby factory buildings, drove him out with complaints about noise.

Chick tried sound-proofing the 1872 pub, but the musicians who made it their home just turned up the amps.

Finally, last December Chick walked out after a defiant street party.

He set off for Europe with two goals in mind: to meet Joe Cocker and follow the Tour de France.

He achieved both, but on August 7, in his rented campervan, Chick Ratten, aged 63, died of a pulmonary embolism, his wife Ursula by his side.

A jazz band played a soulful march as the cortege moved to the Fitzroy Town Hall, followed by about 200 mourners. Another 300 joined them there, some writing farewell messages on the casket before it was carried inside.

The tributes to the man one described as "a grumpy, irreverent, archetypal Australian who loved all of you," lasted for over two hours.

Joe Cocker was singing Up Where We Belong when they carried Chick out. "Rock on, Chick!" the crowd cried.

Herald Sun – Saturday 23rd August

Melbourne loves a good funeral, and there was no better example that the turnout for Charles Keith “Chick” Ratten this week.

Chick was a knockabout bloke with a colourful turn of phase, to say the least.

Born in Sydney, he worked as a wharfie and a roof tiler in New Zealand before going into the pub business.

Along the way, he’d been a champion cyclist, fought as a boxer for TV Ringside in the old House of Stoush Festival Hall, and coached the Kiwi track team for the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the World Cup.

Then he came back to Melbourne and for 14 years was mine host at the Rainbow Hotel in Fitzroy, which became a raucous, joyous, jumping home for musicians.

The joint rocked so much in fact that last December Chick walked out of the pub after battling complaints from developers and new flat owners who had gentrified the surrounding buildings.

He died on holiday in Europe having just achieved two aims – meeting Joe Cocker and following the Tour de France.

The musos played Chick out in Style this week, a band walking in front of the cortege as a horse-drawn hearse carried him past the Rainbow to the cavernous Fitzroy Town Hall.

About 500 gathered there for two hours of song and celebration, which included a haka by Chick’s New Zealand in-laws and wailing blues from Melbourne’s finest performers.

There’s never been an order of service quite like his, featuring a picture of Chick – hailed as the de facto mayor of Fitzroy – giving a defiant finger to the developers.

The back cover was devoted to some of his favourite sayings. Two of the printable ones : “There’s only two things I hate in life – warm beer and runny ice cream”

And the cry of the publican at closing time: “You don’t have to go home, but you ain’t staying here.