The Last Pogo Jumps Again

Okay, so if you haven’t visited before, here’s the deal. In 1978 we made a short film called The Last Pogo, about a very cool concert presented by legendary promoters (winners of a Toronto Arts Award) The Garys.   They pulled together some of their favourite Toronto/Hamilton bands:  Teenage Head, The Viletones, The Ugly, The Mods, The Secrets, The Cardboard Brains and The Scenics played, and by the end of the show, there was a near-riot.   Now it’s thirty years later, and we’re making a sequel-of-sorts, The Last Pogo Jumps Again, a documentary about ghosts from the past;  a cross between Michael Apted’s Seven-Up series and Christopher Guest’s This is Spinal Tap.   We’ve been shooting stuff since June 2006.   All the original bands from the show are on board, and then some, including Tommy Ramone and Cheetah Chrome. We’re trying to nail down what this punk rock thing was and is, aiming our sights on the specific period from September 76 to December 78, if you’re keeping track.

On June 15th, we’re going to show the original movie, The Last Pogo, in Toronto at the NXNE Festival; it’ll close the festival out at the National Film Board.   This will be the first time it’s been played in public in almost thirty years.  There’s more NXNE news: our buddy Chester LeBeaux is going to show his awesome “rock video” of The Scenics, one of the bands from The Last Pogo, on opening night. And on same said night, The Scenics themselves will be playing at Rancho Relaxo. So be there, be square, and all that stuff.

After a month of down-time, we’re back with a slightly slicked up and slimmed down website and all the stuff we’ve been doing since we last left you in March…

While we gone, The Scenics snuck into town. With Andy Meyers on the left coast on Salt Spring Island and the other Scenics scattered around southern Ontario, rehearsals were taped in Toronto, sent by passenger pigeon to Andy, who’d jam and sing and add and subtract notes and riffs and after a while flew to Toronto to meet the band, version 2008: long-time partner/co-creator Ken Badger, drummer Mark Perkell and bassist Mike Young. Gary Topp presented them at the original scene of the crime, the Horseshoe Tavern with lots of family and old friends there for the occasion. They had to duck out of an interview at CIUT-FM when technology failed and everything fell apart (through no fault of interviewer Greg Dick, I should add); they got lost in the wilds of Hamilton on the way to an interview with B.F. Mowat; charged through a sweat-soaked hour and forty-five at Club Absinthe, made the hearts grow fonder, and then back to Toronto (didn’t get lost this time) for a final last blast at the Dakota Tavern.

Here to have fun, make noise, and promote their awesome and audacious CD “How does it feel to be Loved”, (on ITunes!) a collection of live Velvet Underground covers, the Scenics were big and noisy and as hell-bent creative as ever, doing old tunes new ways and new tunes old school, and looking forward to coming back in June when for NXNE.

On Friday night directors Richard Fiander and Kire Paputts headed down to Healey’s Roadhouse (r.i.p. Jeff Healey) for the Teenage Head record release of their new album, Teenage Head with Marky Ramone, a collection of olden-goldies and total-effin-goodies redone with you guessed it, legendary drummer (two terms of duty with the Ramones; drummer with the most service) Marky Ramone. The former Ramones drummer couldn’t make it up here, but we got lots of good back-stage stuff, one-liners, antics and chatter and then the show for the sold-out crowd. Tight, fun, the kind of shows they’ve been doing off on and for, oh, thirty years (!). In June, they head out west for an all-too-rare trip beyond the city limits, so take note all you cowboys and cowgirls, yee-haw, Teenage Head are comin’ to town! But seriously, kids, you get a chance, go see them.

Awesomely enough, the next day we hooked up with…drumroll, please…Tommy Ramone, the last man standing of the original fabulous four, the first manager, the producer, the guy who helped with Band of Gypsys with Jimi Hendrix when he was a teenager, the one, the only. In town for gigs with his new bluegrass band Uncle Monk (named after jazz icon Thelonious Monk and painter Edvard Monck, and “because it sounds cool”). The interview was pulled together by uber-promoter and all-round good guy Gary Topp. Tommy offered up his theories on punk rock, the line from punk to bluegrass, a bit of Ramones 101 (”Joey and Dee Dee were there for fun. Me and Johnny were on a mission…to bring rock ‘n’ roll back to America”). At the end of the interview, Tommy signed the Pogo Mobile Unit’s bumper-sticker — and that’s why we’ll never wash our truck again.

Finishing up the weekend and saving ‘best ’til last, Brunton’s Ollie and Colin finally made visit #1 with legendary promoter Gary Topp who told tales of rock ‘n’ roll, Steven “Nazi Dog” Leckie, drunk cops, misadventures, the genius and genesis of punk and the lasting effect. With a steel-trap mind (and a firm-handshake, I might add) Gary talked about gigs by Suicide and The Contortions and Edie the Egg Lady and Mike DeVille, how Gus the cook would brandish a knife and threaten Nash the Slash when he’d play the Horseshoe (”too loud, too loud!”) — endless great stores and insights. He brought us down to a basement cubby-hole to file cabinets stuffed with handbill, newspaper clippings, pictures, all sorts of stuff.

Please bear with us — we’re still working out the kinks with the new website, digging up the old archives, and picking pretty pictures to show off. We plan to update at least weekly, so please check in later.

As Homer Simpson stares down the count-down clock, and Pogo HQ gets ready to move to bigger and reno’d digs; as the evil weatherman announce six more weeks of winter, Greg Godowitz heads for the hills in Calgary, Jeff Healey heads for the busy blues session in the sky; as we rally ’round the poor folks who lost their stuff in the Queen Street West fire and pray for pals entering hospitals; and as we all slowly thaw out from this record-breaking winter, we at Pogo HQ are posting our last despatch for a few weeks, ’cause there’s just too much going on, and we gotta get busy.

First up is a reminder of Nash the Slash’s birthday party on March 29th at Stratengers in the east-end of Toronto. Free admission, free food and free cake. How can you go wrong?! Give our beloved masked man props and birthday noogies. Many of them.

Next up is the new press release by the re-upped Scenics, busier than they’ve ever been, writing new tunes, getting set to release the second of three new releases this year (who do they think they are, Jandek?), and getting set to test the waters by dipping their toes in the murky clubs in Hamilton and Toronto, to wit: “April is the coolest month. Original Toronto New Wave band THE SCENICS are playing their first live shows in 26 years in support of their CD “How Does it Feel to be Loved: The Scenics play the Velvet Underground”.

“How Does it Feel to be Loved” was recorded live 1977-81 in Toronto’s Punk Clubs, has been getting great reviews and has been charting on campus radio ( #28 nationally, and #4 in Halifax, #9 in Hamilton #3 in Ottawa). The CD is distributed nationally by Scratch/Sonic Unyon, and is being released in the USA on April 15.

SCENICS APRIL SHOWS:
Sunday April 13 at the Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto:
Scenics supporting Carla Bozulich in an early show.
Scenics on at 8:45, Carla to follow at 10.Monday April 14 at Club Absinthe, Hamilton
(233 King St East)
Scenics on at 10 PM for two sets

Tuesday April 15 at Club Dakota, Toronto.
249 Ossington Avenue,
Scenics on at 10 PM for two sets

MORE SHOWS TO FOLLOW IN JUNE:
(Quebec film maker Chester Lebeaux’s Video for “I’m Waiting for my Man” has been enthusiastically accepted in NXNE, and the Scenics expect to follow).

In September, more gigs and the CD release of “Do the Wait”, the Scenics in the studio 77-79 and 2008.

The Scenics are available to talk about their music, those punk years, or their trip back to performing-whether that means heading out to a radio station in London or sitting in a coffee shop on clinton. We’re a lively, musically knowledgeable, opinionated chat: check our interview with Toronto journalist Liz Worth. We will be available for interviews from April 5 to April 15, and before or after that by phone or internet.

Contact: Andy Meyers
Selections from CD, live video from 1978 and “Waiting for my Man” video.

Let us know if you can make it to the shows.
Hope all is great in ‘08 for you!

-ANDY MEYERS
The Scenics

Margarita Passion visited Toronto recently and hung with pals Nora Currie and Dr. Anna Borque and Zero and Chris Haight and Liz Worth and The Last Pogo Jumps Again director Kire Papputs at the scene of the crime, the Horseshoe Tavern; we get daily calls from Rayme Mulroney, determined to get back to Toronto; Teenage Head are out touring, and getting set to release their album of old tunes with guest drummer Marky Ramone; The Mods are getting ready to jump back into the studio and do some old tunes new ways; Tommy Ramone is coming to town, and we’re hoping for a quick chat; Joey Shithead’s coming to town, and ditto; we have not yet given up on getting interviews with Stompin’ Tom Connors and Dan Aykroyd and Keith Richards; Steven Leckie keeps in touch weekly; Blair Richard Martin’s Guillotine video has gotten a half a million hits on YouTube; The Screwed continue to remind us on a regular basis that they’re now playing classic punk tunes better than the originals did. Pogo director Aldo Erdic is putting the finishing touches on his Diodes documentary, Pogo filmmaker Ollie Brunton is getting ready to take the plunge by chopping off his mop by the Poles’ original manager Bruce Appelby…and it continues.

The Pogo Mega Server had steam coming out of it’s various orifices for the past month as we continue to get, on an almost daily basis, more jpgs, clues, hints, gossip and rumours, and in a couple of weeks we find out if we can get any money from the Feds to get The Last Pogo Jumps Again rolling along — we need assistant editors…and researchers… and fleet-footed street-corner dicks to burn some shoe-leather and get us even more stuff…and we need shooters…because the world must know of the dynamic and underrated punk rock scene in Toronto and Hamilton and London, Ontario circa 1976 to 1978.

To steal some style from a favourite author of ours: “…we take refuge in our notes and piles of video tapes and stacks of photos…it’s premature to make a serious effort to turn these into coherent history. Maybe it will always be premature. Because the data keeps coming. Because new lives enter the record all the time. The past is changing as we edit and shuffle and transfer and, every so often, wonder — what the hell were we thinking?!” And we keep staring at Homer up there at the top of the page, and like, totally relate man.

Last but not least, the next time we make an entry it’s going to be on an all-new, factory-tested, sealed with a kiss website created by artist Clayton Hanmer and executed by a staff of underpaid pale worker bees. The past logo of the Last Pogo will be launched; sweat and blood and tears will flow, hilarity will ensure, and so on and so forth.

Hey, ho. We’ve gotta hunker down for a while, get organanized, have some meetings, shoot the shit, file away footage, and generally do some heavy lifting, so you won’t be hearing from us for awhile. As you can see from the expression on Homer’s face (above), time’s a tickin’, and we’re headin’ to the final stretch.

First, thanks loads to the dozens of people who’ve helped out so far (far too many to thank right now, but you know who you are) — this has really been a community effort. Not a day goes by that we don’t hear from someone, or someone sends us a jpg or clue or a hint. And we want more! So, if you were a part of the Toronto punk scene circa 1976 to 1978, and you’ve got photos or leather jackets or buttons or high-hopes or failed dreams or misgivings or mister givings or anything and everything — please get in touch at this email.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, here’s a reminder of a site that should satisfy many or all of your vintage punk-rock needs and desires — Punk Turns Thirty, L.A. photographer and gal-around-country Therese K’s awesomely fabtabulous site. Besides tons of great photos that Therese has taken, she writes a daily blog about her non-stop photo exhibit tour around the States, and of course, there’s tons of great photos to check out and buy.

The Last Pogo Mobile unit motored down to the Beaches apartment of Barry Farrell, ex of The Toys and The Existers for a uncensored two-hour show ‘n’ tell (salty language! lurid anecdotes! sex and drugs and rock and roll!), with tales of punk rock druggery and thuggery and playing for fun and clutches of moments with the likes of Mr. Shit and George Higton and The Dead Boys and Mike Dent and Dr. Borque and Mike Nightmare and Steven Leckie — and Stephen “Babyoil” Hall, Barry’s oldest pal, the big-dicked singer who rolled on glass, sprayed a Shock Theatre audience with a fire-extinguisher, went to the psyche ward in Whitby, finally pulled it all together — and then o.d.’d on heroin in the late nineties.

Like many — hey, most — of the people we’ve shot, Barry was the consummate host, drinks at the ready and a collection of handbills and ticket stubs and e.p.’s spread across the floor and the kitchen table. Locked ‘n’ loaded and ready for war. And he told us how Zoltan “Johnny Garbagecan” Lugosi got his punk rock moniker. And he gave Pogo Research & Development a nice pile of handbills to take to the lab for analysis. And promised to help get us in touch with a few more goats from the past.

Synchronicity: a 1977 ad for The Existers in George Higton’s Shades Magazine, with an big ad below for former Poles manager, man about town, hairstylist Bruce Appelby — who’s scheduled to cut off Last Pogo crew member Ollie Brunton’s shoulder-length locks over the March break. And when Ollie’s father Colin was 15, he was just starting to work with Last Pogo promoter Gary Topp of the fabled The Garys at the Original 99 Cent Roxy. Which lead on to the New Yorker, then the Horseshoe, then the movie The Last Pogo — and the rest is history, and the coincidences keep piling up. On another hand-made poster Barry showed us, there was a drawing of ’80’s Ace Tone rocker Dave Howard of the Dave Howard Singers, who oddly enough, had connected with director Brunton on Myspace only a few days before for the first time in … ever. When we left the building we ran into actor Kevin Bacon.

Barry’s history with the Last Pogo goes back to the Original 99 Cent Roxy Theatre, where he was one of the stoned regulars. Ex-Raving Mojo frontman (and The Last Pogo Jumps Again guest director) Blair Richard Martin — who’s making is own film about the Toronto punk rock scene, — pointed out that the bad seeds of punk and a peculiar sensibility for music & film were planted in the early ’70’s by Topp at the Roxy (and late the New Yorker, and the Horseshoe). And it’s way too much to get into in a blog. Wait for the movie, lol.

Apart from that: a nice note from Vic in England who didn’t get his Last Pogo t-shirt (those dastardly Canada Post thieves!), but who’ll get one next week, hot off the presses. Got a note from camera-operator Frank Polyak who used to venture from Scarberian to watch punk rocks shows in the late seventies, who sent us a photo of him in front of a voo-doo temple in Haiti. If you’d like to ogle Frank, or lust after the snazzy t-shirt he’s wearing in the shot, or even click on the picture and find out about voo-doo, then just hit this screen right about…here. Got a great handbill from Steve Travis — the front page of an issue of Johnny Garbagecan’s Torrana Punks — and a great beer-buying story about him and Leckie and Tank. Touched base with Nora Currie, got another lead from Paul Richmond, and everyday, watching the Homer Simpson count-down clock with that old sinking feeling. Again, if anyone’s got any leads on peeps, show ‘em our way, or they’ll have to wait until 2038, when we shoot the final film in the trilogy.

If you wanna check in on Dave Howard, then you just press the magic button, and a signal will be sent to a satellite in outer-space, which will bounce back to your internet server, and voila — all the news on Dave and his musical musings. Like, right here.