Jim Dandy vs David Lee Roth

In a previous article I compared Stevie Nicks to Annie Haslam, and this time I look at two unique singers that are almost alike in appearance and movement. Big Jim “Dandy” Mangrum was the lead singer of the early 1970′s Southern Rock band Black Oak Arkansas  and David Lee Roth was of course the lead singer of the band Van Halen, but the connection between those two does not end there.  Black Oak Arkansas released their first album in 1970 and by 1975 were a major act in North America, while David Lee Roth and Van Halen were just getting started in 1975, which is why many people, including myself feel that David Lee Roth is just an extension of Big Jim Dandy.

Jim Dandy is noted for his raspy voice, long hair, and wild,  stage antics which sometimes included miming sex with a washboard which he often uses to accompany his singing, and is credited with being a major influence on David Lee, which he does not deny. Both singers tended to use the entire stage as a platform and were not afraid to be a little outlandish and sexually provocative   David lee may have been the more successful of the two but Jim Dandy was first and of that there can be no denying.

The First two pictures show them  in their prime.

Jim “Dandy” Mangrum circa 1972

David Lee Roth circa 1976

The next two Pictures are the way they look now.

David lee

Jim Mangrum

Even as they age they seem to still look a little alike.   As for Black Oak Arkansas, I will be doing an entire story on them in the future.

Here is Black Oak Arkansas performing their song “Hot and Nasty” and Van Halen performing “Jump”.  You compare and let me know.

The Woods And the Other Side.

It was dark, it was dangerous and evil waited on the other side and it sat there inviting the mischievousness side of us all and for an 8-year-old it sure as hell was scary. As I entered grade 3 at Our Lady of Fatima school, the woods that sat behind the school were enticing but we were warned by the Nuns of a new menace that lurked on the other side A PUBLIC SCHOOL  that went by the name of Hillcrest and early that fall we all were warned about the dangers of going into that woodland that separated us from the heathens that ran that place, and worse the creatures that roamed the dark spaces of the woods.  The Nuns told us about the woodelves, and about the trees that could take on human form and eat the less than Pious among us, hell my older sister told me about a boy that ran into the woods during a lunch hour and was never seen again and that was enough for me as I swore I would never take the path that was inviting us all to enter., I sure as heck didn’t want my lifeless body to be discovered by the protestants and hung like a squirrel in their playground for all to see.  And for the rest of grade 3 we resisted the urge to go into the Woods and would live to enjoy our lives, but that changed the next school year, for we were a little older and one of us( I don’t remember who) had made a friend during the summer that was going to attend That Other School  and as curious 9 year olds will do we snuck off during a lunch period, gathered our wits and our liquid courage( okay, it was chocolate milk, but you get the point) we sharpened some sticks into what we assumed would become our weapons against the protestant menace and headed off into the path of the unknown, and the nuns were right, it was dark and smelly and scary but we soldiered on like the Holy Catholic Warriors that we were and after what seemed like an eternity,and perhaps a few stained underwear along the way, we came upon an opening to the other side and we stared dumbfounded  There were no Centaurs, no Bray Road beast, no Hydras and no Ogres, hell we didn’t even come across a snake during our great trek and there sure where none in the playground of the school that sat in-front of us, all we could see where children playing and laughing and ordinary looking teaches watching over them, heck they were just like us except that there teachers weren’t as scary looking and were not carrying rulers ready to hand slap the first person to act up, we all seemed to let out a big sigh of disappointment  at the sight. As a matter of fact the scariest things we ran into was on the trek back to our side of the woods when we ran into two Nuns that had been dispatched to retrieve us.

Our lives went on after that and of course we all wound up finding friends on that side of the woods, but never went though there while the Nuns were overlooking the site.  The woods are still there and the path is still the same but a lot else has changed there, a walkway is now running through the middle of it, house are being built around it and for some reason I can’t figure out why it took us so long to walk through there on that day as on Saturday I went for a walk out there and entered the woods and emerged 2 minutes later on the Hillcrest side, I guess it is all how you perceive it.

MacLean And MacLean

The Coronet Hotel had a long history of entertaining us on Saturday nights with top-notch music acts, but occasionally there was an act that was, well, different and they were(Gary) MacLean and (Blair)MacLean. Originally from Glace bay Nova Scotia the boys moved to Winnipeg and became Canadian Comedy superstars with their combination of music, folksy story’s and outrageous humour that was not family oriented at all.  They were nominated for Juno Awards and performed from coast to Coast from 1972 till 1998 and managed to record 7 albums of material as well, with the only instruments being the banjo, Guitar and Bongo Drums and even appeared at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival in Scotland.

Their blend of humour and music just mixed well with my generation, they were unafraid of anything and in fact were once arrested and jailed after performing in Kingston, there they were charged with Public Indecency. The song titles were never politically correct and had such names as “I’ve Seen Pubic Hair” (based upon the well-known “I’ve Been Everywhere”) and an original song, “Dolly Parton’s Tits”, which made the British music charts after it was used as the theme music for a British TV show, they even managed to get Burton Cummings and Skip Prokop to help out on their albums and in the 1980′s created a radio character called’The Champ” that some of you may remember “Brother” Jake Edwards doing. But the highlight of their show was the closing, it was a sight that had to be seen to be believed( And i saw it many Times) they did a song called Fuck ya that involved a”mutual heckling” routine in which the audience and performers jokingly shouted abuse at each other; the song would then be performed as a “sing-along” with the audience.  Again it had to be seen. Unfortunately neither brother is with us anymore as Gary Died in 2001 and Blair in 2008, but they have left us with many memory s and if you can stand the vulgarity I suggest you head to your local record store( Millpond Records and Books may have a copy or two) and pick up some of their material and give it a listen, after all, it’s only music, Right?

A list of Albums from MacLean and MacLean

• Toilet Rock (live at the Chimney, Toronto)
• Bitter Reality (1976, mixture of studio, and live at the Chimney, Toronto)
• Locked Up for Laughs (studio recording)
• MacLean & MacLean Suck Their Way to the Top / MacLean & MacLean Take the “O” Out of Country (split album: side 1 is live at the El Mocambo, Toronto; side 2 is a studio recording simulating a country music radio broadcast)
• Go to Hell (studio recording, title can also be read as MacLean & MacLean Go to Hell)
• Cruel Cuts (1986, studio recording)
• The Dirty Thirty (compilation)
• 2 in 1 (1992, re-issue of first and second albums on one CD; omits some tracks to make it fit)
• 2 in 1 (1992, re-issue of third and fourth albums on one CD)
• Live (2003, live at Watts, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, 1996)

Who Was Candy Darling? And Why is she remembered today?

If you are trying to figure out where you have heard that name before, you are not alone, for Candy Darling was a real person who was a seminal figure in the music and arts world of the 1960′s and early 70′s, even though she never wrote a song.  But where have you heard her name? Well Lou Reed’s Walk on The Wild Side was most likely where her name first came into your memory banks”Candy came from out on the island,In the backroom she was everybody’s darling”.

But Candy’s story is not a simple one, for you see she was truly more than just a women, she was actually considered a muse for Lou Reeds 1960′s  classic group The Velvet Underground, the song Candy say’s  from their début album was about her,and as well the classic Kinks Song LOLA was, according to rumour was written about her as well. The Rolling Stones song Citadel has Candy Mentioned in the Lyrics as well. She starred in Andy Warhol’s films Flesh (1968) and Women in Revolt (1971) as well as appearing in the mainstream movies Klute with Jane Fonda and Lady Liberty with Sophia Loren and  appeared as herself in a number of movies chronicling the Andy Warhol era and she also appeared on Broadway in her short life. Beside her musical connections she has also been portrayed in both film and Broadway, a bust was made of her,Candy Darling’s letters, sketches and journal entries were compiled into a book titled My Face for the World to See by Hardy Marks publications. Both the English rock Group The Smith’s And Antony and The Johnsons  have used images of Candy for Record Album covers, and in 2010 a Documentary called Beautiful Darling was released about her. However, she had a short life for in 1974 at the age of 29 she died of Lymphoma, a picture of her on her deathbed by artist Peter Hujar became a famous photograph that is still haunting to this day.

Her funeral, while low key did have the usual suspects attending and is remembered by those who were there for Gloria Swanson  Saluting Candy’s Coffin. So, why is Candy remembered so fondly, perhaps the answer is in her birth name,James Lawrence Slattery. You see Candy was born a Man but became a male to female Transsexual, and in an era where it was usually not promoted, she let everyone know who and what she was.

Spring and a Young Mans Fancy

It is amazing how things change in your life and as Spring advances it has never been more obvious.

As a Young man the incoming warm weather was a harbinger of good times to come. You would look forward to the young ladies getting out of their winter coverings and don the clothes of spring, you would look forward to beer runs through the back roads of the area with your friends and of course the eventual trips to Wasaga or Sauble beach. The fresh air of springtime would mean putting away the hockey equipment and pulling out the baseball bats and listening to the sound of the ball hitting the leather of the glove. It would be the smell of my Dad barbecuing steaks and burgers and the smell of fresh-cut grass. But now spring means something else.

You look out your window and as you smell the fresh air you realise that your yard is a mess and you are going to have to waste a full weekend just cleaning up the debris from the melting snow. And then you find spots where new grass is needed, a tree or bush needs to be trimmed or a branch or two needs to be removed that has been damaged during the winter. And instead of smelling the burgers and steaks cooking on the grill you have to clean and perhaps repair the BBQ that you know you put away in October in good shape.  You then notice that your car interior and exterior had a rough winter and needs to be spring cleaned, which is okay but it is no longer a souped hot rod that will impress the chicks, but a full size passenger van that you want to clean before the Wife starts bitching at you. And you don’t even want to think about the cleaning in the house that your Wife has lined up. The closest thing to playing ball for a few weeks is cleaning out the shed and moving all your summer stuff to the front and the winter stuff to the back, and putting your glove and bat near the front door, and the smell of fresh-cut grass, well first you have to get the lawn mower working and then it is you that have to cut it.  So it is spring and a young mans fancy turns to….rats, more yard work, thank God for Beer.

Garden of Paradise

“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”..Joni Mitchel’s paradise may have been paved over but mine had 2 houses put on it. This is a story about that.
And as Joni wrote in her song “Woodstock” “We got to get back to the garden”.
Now this garden sat beside the old family home on Cooper Street and during the 60′s it was like a haven to many of us, and it seemed to go on forever and ever, and to everyone in the family it was paradise. There was everything in it,peas,beets, raspberry and strawberry bush’s,potatoes, onions, tomatoes, rhubarb and just about anything else you could think of. And come August corn stalks so tall we little ones could hide in them, and we used to play constantly in the garden eating the fresh veggie and fruits much to our Grandmother’s chagrin, and the big Cherry tree beside it was just the icing on the cake.
Sunday dinners always meant fresh veggies and plenty of fruit for dessert, and I never thought that we were an ordinary working class family, I thought we were farmers, Gawd those were beautiful day’s and during the summer the sun setting on the garden would have made a beautiful postcard.
Ah, but those day’s are gone and as the Sixties came to an end so did the garden. First the far section was sold to build a house and for a few years the garden still survived and produced great product. But after Grandma McLaughlin’s passing things rapidly changed and a few years later we moved out of the big house and built another one right beside it that took up most of what was left of the Garden, even though my Uncle Alex stayed in the big house and kept a little version going, it was never the same. Now as I walk or drive past the property and I see flowers growing in the property’s I feel that we had a little something to do with that, even though Paradise has been paved over. Lord on day’s like this I miss that garden!

{Sort of} A Ghost Story

I grew up in a big old house in Hespeler, that to me was haunted. And

this is one of those story’s that could have been a great Ghost
Story, but since that would spoil the ending I will start a the
beginning.

It was a warm spring Sunday evening in 1967 and I had just finished
watching my Television programs in the living room with my family,
Gentle Ben,Ed Sullivan and Bonanza were the programs of choice. Off to
bed I went for a relaxing sleep, or so I thought. At around 3 am I
awoke to take a whizz when I caught out of the corner of my eye the
rocking chair under the window in my room was moving and a white-clad
figure was occupying the chair. Frozen in bed and now unable to pee I
pulled up the sheets on my bed over my head and shivered, hoping that
the ghost would leave soon. No such luck. Every 1/2 hour it seemed I
checked and that ghost was still there and rocking the chair back and
forth. Unable to scream or even mouth “HELP” i waited for
morning and eventually dozed off thankfully.
As dawn arrived and I opened my eyes my fear of the ghost turned to embarrassment and then shame at what I had gone through the night before.

You see, what had happened was this. Being that it was a warm evening
my Mother had opened the bedroom window before laying a freshly cleaned
white bed sheet over the rocking chair, that just happened to have an
arched back, that created a head like shape. That and the wind nicely
blowing in the window kept the chair moving and the newly dried sheet
flowing. So it was not a ghost at all and I made it clear to my Mother
that she should never do that again. Her only comment on the
situation…how did you hold your pee so long? And now that I
think about it..how did I? Amazing the things you can do at 10 years
old.

Getting Away with It.

Sometimes in life you get away with little things that stick in your mind, like the time I got pulled over and the Police Officer had some fun with me. It was back in 1977 and life was a little different then, the world was not as uptight and paranoid as it is now and occasionally you got away with little things and on that evening I did just that.

I was a college student working nights at Artex Woolens to get my spending money and that is when this story gets good. There had been a flood in the plant from a broken pipe and my father as boss had volunteered me to help clean up, and as this was a Sunday and after a weekend of partying  I was very tired as the shift ended at 1:30 Monday morning. So I fired up the Dodge,headed up Guelph ave, turned on to Queen street and quickly sped up to turn onto Cooper street. Suddenly in my rear view mirror I saw the Cop Car lights flashing and so I pulled over not more that 300 yards from my driveway. He got out and walked up to the car and asked me ‘what the hell are you driving so fast for”, I really had no reason so I explained what had happened and that I just wanted to get some sleep before school in the morning. He seemed to understand and let me know after a little lecture on safe driving that he would let me go with just a warning but drive safe from now on, I thanked him and assured him that I would indeed drive a little more cautiously from now on.   He started to walk back to the cruiser when he stopped, spun around and started to walk back to my car, and that grin on his face made my heart rise into my mouth as I was sure something bad was about to happen, and then he spoke these words.” Son, if I were you, when you get home take that bag on your dashboard out of the car and hide it”, so I looked and saw what made me go white, for sitting between the sloped dashboard and the window was a small baggie containing several rolled joints, the good old wacky tabbacky. The officer turned and walked away and I could hear him laughing thru the still summer nights air, hell I think he almost pissed himself he was laughing so hard. As for me,well, I drove those 300 yards slowly home,parked the car, got the bag out from the dash, went inside and changed my underwear. And for the longest time afterwords I always double checked my rides before going anywhere.

Keep Your Eye On The Sparrow

TV Cops have always been in fashion and during the seventies there were plenty to go around, but one of the best and a personal favorite of mine was Robert Blakes Baretta.

While the premise of a lone cop with a few friends in the underworld had been done before and has been done many times since ,Baretta stood out for me, whether it was the language ”You can take dat to da bank” and “And dat‘s the name of dat tune.” or that he drove  an old rusted Chevy Impala I don’t know, but the biggest gimmick was his sidekick Fred, A  Triton Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, a predecessor  perhaps to Sonny Crocketts Pet Alligator Elvis in the 1980′s show Miami Vice.  The show only ran for 4 seasons 1975-1978, but it’s combination of humour and violence caught my attention anyway.

Jack and the Chestnut Incident

In 1968 Hespeler was a small quaint little town with its own personality and we all existed peacefully together and there was always an air of calmness over our little piece of heaven, however in October of that year everything changed for me because that is when a stranger entered our lives and The Chestnut Incident happened.

Let me start at the beginning( makes sense don’t it?), as an 11-year-old lad one of my interests was the game of Kingers, a game that involved Horse Chestnuts and was played by almost all young boys and girls and dated back to the 1800′s and since Hespeler had many chestnut trees almost all of us played at one time or another and I was no different, and in my yard were two of the most magnificent chestnut trees in Hespeler and I used them to my full advantage. I always had a good sack of nuts ready to go in the fall and spent many hours baking , polishing and varnishing my nuts till they shone like the hub caps on my Dad’s prized Pontiac. I always made sure that the hole in the center was just the right size so it would not interfere with the molecular structure of my nuts.  And I had some good nuts indeed, I actually had one nut that became a 12 kinger, for those unsure, that means it won 12 times before being beaten. Most of us never lost more than a few nuts to each other and that is the way we enjoyed it until the new kid showed up with his hulking sack of nuts. None of us were sure where Jack came from but one day like hair showing up in the oddest places he appeared and wanted into our floating Chestnut games and even bragged about how his nuts could take down any old Hespeler boys nuts with just one swing, and the challenge was on. I am not sure who challenged him first but the battle did not take long and jack had his first victim and another piles of nuts to add to his collection, and this went on for over an hour until it was my turn. I reached into my sack and pulled out the biggest and shiniest nut in my bag and stared at Jack like we were mortal enemy’s and when the dust settled my chestnut lay beaten and battered as Jack did his grinning victory dance over my sack. As we all sat stunned, not believing that this had happened, Jack took his winnings, filled his bag with all the best nuts from Hespeler and slowly started to walk away, back to wherever he had come from and we all agreed never again to talk about the Chestnut Incident of 1968 and the mysterious kid named Jack.

Another Hespeler Video

My Formicidae Army

Rise my little ones Rise! City Council’s revenge will come back to haunt them. Their slow silent attack on my home has been thwarted and I will put my revenge plan into action. This morning the Formicidae(ants for those who don’t use wikipedia) that rose from the sink and the wall in my home that they sent in response will be turned against them. I will slowly train them, feed them and then set them on their way back to destroy what they hold dear.  I will train them to infiltrate City Hall and act as security until the time comes to devour my enemy’s( that might take a while). I will train them to attack the construction workers when construction season starts going up, they will crawl all over the workers causing fits galore. They will learn how to turn off fire hydrants and foil their attempts at running Cambridge out of water. I will set my ants into every restaurant that would not hire me and ruin their kitchens, I will teach them to battle the bees and Armageddon will happen in Riverside park. They will be trained to sniff out the crack dens in this city thereby improving the quality of life. They will be trained to fix the roof of the Preston Arena thereby thwarting their plans to silence our children’s good times.They will learn to destroy the roundabouts and force the planners to leave things alone. And when all this is done My army of Ants and I will be ready to take on the Mayors Flying monkeys and Rule this City with an Iron Fist, City of Cambridge , You will bow before me…aw crap, here comes My wife with the Ant Killer, son of a bitch, another great plan to rule the world down the drain. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

Yabba, Dabba, Cough.

Who didn’t love the Flintstones as a kid? They were the most successful weekly animated series until Homer and his gang at the Simpsons came along. And of course our parents liked them as well( I think my dad had a secret crush on Betty), and I will be doing more on the Flintstones at a later time, but when the show aired it was obviously a different time and as the following commercial shows, a different set of morals. OI wonder if something like this could happen today? Nah, I didn’t think so.

My First Family

My Sisters,Brother and I

The Music Of Spring

As spring slowly arrives, my thoughts turned to the music of spring, while Summer and Winter seem to dominate the music business, spring seems to be one that is not written about as much.  But I was able to gather some songs that invoke the coming of Spring. So here are my top 10 songs of Spring( remember, no wagering)

10. Return to innocence- Enigma 1994. I don’t know why but this song makes me think of spring and the chanting in it is very haunting.

9. Time Of The Season-The Zombie’s 1968. From the opening beat and the great vocals of Colin Blunstone, this song just speaks for spring.

8. Springtime Promises Pentangle 1969. This song written by the Great Bert Jansch is about a bus ride on a spring day, need I say more?

7. Another Spring Nina Simone 1969. This song is from one of the great Jazz singers of our time and while not well-known is a beautiful song about the hope of spring. It is just Nina and her piano.  ”Cos this old world has been fine with me really
And I’m thankful for seeing another spring
It’s gonna be better this time another spring
It’s gonna be groovier this time another spring
It’s what’s happening this time
So I’m thankful for letting me see another spring”

6.Daydream-The Loving Spoonful. 1966. This is most likely on everybody’s list.  Spring and daydreaming, they go together like chocolate and milk.

5. 59th Street Bridge Song(Feeling Groovy). Simon and Garfunkle 1966.  ”Hello lamp-post,
What cha knowin’?
I’ve come to watch your flowers growin’.
Ain’t cha got no rhymes for me?
Doot-in’ doo-doo,
Feelin’ groovy.”….who doesn’t feel groovy ona  sweet spring morning?

4. The First Day’s of Spring-Noah and the Whale 2009. From the beginning drum beats this song grabs you. It is a song about starting all over. Must be heard to be appreciated.

3. You Can never hold back Spring – Tom Waits 2006. What list is complete without a Tom Waits Song?

2. April in Paris -Billie Holiday 1956. Jazz Singers and Spring seem to work well and   this 1932 nugget was the perfect fit for Billie.

1.Here Comes The Sun- The Beatles 1969. George Harrison’s unforgettable classic is always on the list and once again it hits #1 on my list.

I hope everyone enjoys the spring.

New Hespeler vs Old Hespeler

A recent discussion on the Cambridge Times about Hespeler got me thinking about Hespeler and the differences between New Hespeler and Old Hespeler.

New Hespeler call’s them Motor Homes, old Hespeler calls them drive in houses, In New Hespeler they discuss Shakespeare and call him a “BARD”, in old Hespeler we just worry that the pickup truck that our Cousin “Bard” get’s returned in good shape. A conversation in new Hespeler may discuss new Asphalt for the roads, in Old Hespeler we just wonder what that has to do with our ‘rectal problems”,  A new hespelerite mentioned a cat scan and next thing you knew there were a bunch of old Hespelerites putting together a search party to look for the lost cat. New Hespeler may worry about Murphy’s law, in old Hespeler we just worry about not getting Murphy’s lawyer, New Hespeler worry’s about Corruption in Government, we in Old Hespeler call it old-fashioned values.  A new Hespelerite say’s they are unemployed, old Hespeler calls it semi retired.  And in Old hespeler we still use terms like Nincompoop,fuddle duddle and thimamagiggy and understand what they mean.   That is my view, and you’re welcome.

Then and Now

Shit, where did the hair go?

Who Knows Where the Time Goes( Another Woman in Rock)

This is another in my series about the Woman behind the songs, but this one is a little different.
My previous story’s have been about woman who have inspired a writer to pen his thoughts but what about a woman who has inspired many artists of both sexes to write an homage to her?
Arctic City…Magic Lady..Ringing down the years..Blow Away…Queen of Peace..Where Did my Life Go…Sandy’s Song..Boadicia…Song for Sandy..Angel of Avalon and Near November are just some of the songs that have been written and recorded for just one woman.
She was Born January 6th 1947 as Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny and passed away on April 21 1978 leaving behind a legacy that to the faithful is still strong. She was known as SANDY DENNY and was known as “the pre-eminent British Folk Rock Singer”.  She was a singer and a songwriter who performed with many of the best British Musicians of her era.She performed with the Strawbs, Fairport Convention and Fotheringay she released 4 solo albums and is the only woman to have appeared on a Led Zeppelin Album, as she shared a duet with Robert Plant on “The Battle of Evermore” from Led Zeppelin lV. Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris and Cat Power are just some of the musicians who have covered Sandy’s Material and two of her most famous songs are “Who Knows Where the Time Goes” and “The Sea and Nothing More”.
Despite the accolades and the fame she seemed never to be happy and fell into a drug dependent world and had problems dealing with life, and in March of 1978 she fell and hit her head causing her to suffer intense headaches and performed one more time after the accident but her husband was concerned with her Childs welfare and Sandys erratic behaviour left Sandy and took their Daughter to Australia a few weeks after the accident. On April 17th Sandy fell into a Coma and never came out of it and died 4 days later of a Traumatic Mid-Brain Hemorrhage.  The inscription on her headstone reads, “‘The Lady’” Alexandra Elene MacLean Lucas (Sandy Denny) 6.1.47 – 21.4.78.”
To get an Idea of her Music the Box set ‘Who knows where the Time Goes”(1985) is the perfect starting point for it. But what made her such a favorite of other artists and fans alike? Her voice for one was amazing and was described by one as “like a clean glass in a sink full of dirty dishes”. While with Fairport Convention she was regarded as a key figure in the development of British Folk Rock and her songs were called glorious melody driven invocations to the power of music. She was twice voted the best British female Singer and was considered one of the most versatile vocalists in the Industry.
I first heard her around 1975 and immediately became infatuated with her music and her voice and today I still listen to her material and wonder what would have been if she had of lived. All of her solo albums have been released on Disc and are available and well worth the hunt to find them.

My Family Episode #1

All I can say is I hope I am not descended from the guy in the middle

Rik and Me( A Canadian Ballad)

Brushes with famous people happen with all of us, we meet millions of people in our lifetime and sooner or later we intersect with someone who can be called famous. They may not be famous at the time, but become famous later in their lives and your little encounter will be forgotten by that person but in your mind it remains. And that is the heart of this story, a brush with someone who would become famous in the Music world, Rik Emmett of the Canadian Classic Rock Band Triumph. I am sure he has forgotten this encounter, but for some strange reason I can still remember it(cue the fade out and fade in)
It was the spring of 1976 and I was a 18 year old brash kid from Hespeler with a penchant for lippiness when I drank, and in this case a lot of drink. Drinking started early on that Saturday night for the gang as we were getting ready for a great night at the Coronet Motor Hotel. Rush were playing and Max Webster were opening for them and it was going to be a Rock and Roll night for the hespeler Boy’s, and nothing was going to get in our way. We got there early to make sure we got a good table and proceeded to down a few more beers, when the news arrived that pissed me off, Max Webster had to cancel their appearance and some new Canadian band called Truimph would open the show instead. After the getting over this we proceeded to look for some women to hit on and I found one particular good looking gal that I could try my Hespeler moves on and while it was a slow process, after a few Zombies I thought I was making headway when Triumph took the stage and ruined my evening. I slagged the band through their whole set and called the lead guitarist a wimp(or something like that), which I found out was a mistake. The young lady waited till just after the set ended and as the band was leaving the stage I made another rude comment about the guitarist and the band when she threw a drink in my face and the guitarist suddenly showed up beside me. It seems that the gal was Rik Emmett’s girlfriend and he was not too happy that I was hitting on her during his entire set and upon hearing how I ripped the band, that made him even more upset and he wound up, trying to take a swing at me, I ducked and fell over backwards into the waiting arms of the bouncers, Luckily they held me back as I am sure I would have done serious damage to him and ruined the band’s career(that’s my opinion). I was quickly escorted out of the Coronet, but managed to get a little pride back as I wound up puking on the bouncers boots and after getting my bearings back after the little shot to the head he gave me,I found the Van that Triumph were driving, and of course got my revenge on them, the van wasn’t locked and let’s just say that wasn’t beer spilled on the seats. But I wound up with a hate on for Rik Emmett and the rest of the band that took me a long time to get over.