The Last Pogo Jumps Again

It’s awesome that we get stuff like this sent to us;  courtesy Rusty Longtrucks a.k.a. Rusty Chambers a.k.a. Mel Torment a.k.a. Evan Siegel

Yea, well maybe a hacker got to us, maybe they didn’t:  The Pogo I.T. department have their hammers and blowtorches out and are in fix-it mode;  Pogo Cyber  Detectives are tracking down the IP address of the hacker; the authorities have been notified.   And The Last Pogo Jumps Again pushes on:   After interviewing Ken Badger of The Scenics in his lair in Owen Sound yesterday, we despatched transport out to Scarborough to pick up a ratty old cassette of recordings by The Swollen Members (no, not the hip-hop band;  the new-wavey punk band prone to wearing matching salmon-pink leisure suits circa 1977 – 1980ish.)   Evan “Rusty Longtrucks” Siegel had scoured his basement, dug up this little gem, and continues to search for more evidence, including but not limited to handbills, set lists, photos, and the straight-jacket he’d sometimes sport when fronting the band, when he wasn’t singing with his back to the audience or just staring at his shoes.  For a whole set.  The note is vintage Mel Torment:  “…cuts one two and three are the best…”;  alas, that’s all the tracks so far.    Today we drop it off to sound designer Daniel Pellerin for a touch-up, and then we’re off to interview Cleave Anderson.

The Scenics’ Andy Meyers’ tale of meeting Ken Badger by artist Gareth Gaudin, Magic Teeth Comics.

Copyright Michaele Jordana Berman – Cyborg, 2009.  Photo painting, Epson fine art print 29″ X 32″

From the press release: Michaele Jordana Berman, a multiplatform artist, is a name that many know, perhaps from different contexts, for she has excelled in more than one discipline to memorable effect. You may remember her as the sylph-like actress in Stefan Czernecki’s film Green Veridian Green. Then she bowled the Toronto art scene over with her exhibition Oceans of Blood at the Isaacs Gallery in 1976. Her large-scale airbrushed photorealist paintings related to her stay in the Arctic, where she drifted on the ice floes with the Inuit and the narwhal. The National Gallery purchased her monumental painting from this period, I Cry Tears of Blood. As the lyricist /singer Michaele Jordana in the new wave/punk band The Poles with Doug Pringle (originator of the “electronica” group, Syrinx) her fragile physicality, ethereal looks and riveting performance of songs such as CN Tower are graven into the musical archives of Toronto.

Now focusing on the persona of her daughter, interactive artist and actress, Ramona Pringle; Berman transforms images of her offspring in her latest series of digitally altered photo paintings.  Cyborg is a sample of her masterful vision with Ramona as both ‘nurse/technician’ and as ‘Cyborg’ – equally convincing and riveting.

In Berman’s words “I juxtapose and reassemble fragments of my photographic work, transposing images from their original context to produce composite frames that become frozen moments in time suggesting a larger narrative.

CYBORG, The Human Condition, like Michaele Jordana Berman’s previous acts of self re-invention, is as memorable as it is absolutely contemporary.

This new show opens this week at Headbones Gallery, 260 Carlaw, #102.  Opening reception this Thursday between 6 and 9.  The show runs until April 24.

As we were sharpening our pencils, jotting down ideas for our Easter Monday interview with The Scenics’ Ken Badger, the teletype here at Pogo H.Q. sent us a message from Andy Meyers, who forwarded the jpg you see above.  The Scenics’ dance hit that shoulda woulda coulda been — Do The Wait — is featured along with Simply Saucer’s Return of the Cyborgs Pt. 2 in this months CD giveaway.   And they’re in good company, sharing the bill with James Williamson, The Flamin’ Groovies, Johnny Thunders,  The New York Dolls, Sonic’s Rendevous Band, and Iggy & The Stooges.

Image from daymix.com

Pogo H.Q. is abuzz with activity as the editing continues, the last interviews are lined up, and the staff and crew are scheming up what sort of April Fool’s Prank they can pull.  Will we announce that The Last Pogo Jumps Again:  A Biased & Incomplete History Of Toronto Punk Rock Circa September 24 1976 To December 1 1978 will now be released in 3-D?  Will we blog that the final version will be over five hours long, complete with a fifteen minute intermission featuring dancing soda pops and suspicious looking foods?

Partay!

After the ritual goat sacrifice we’re planning for this Friday, Kire Paputts will be steering the Pogomobile up country to the stately abode of Ken Badger to get his take on being in The Scenics, and hopefully have him explain what inspired him to write the filthily suggestive lyrics to what could arguably be The Best Summer Song Ever:  In the Summer.  “Just like a d-d-d-d-d-d-dirty sheet, oh my these girls, yes yes these girls.”   (Hey — wot’s wrong with being sexy?)

Prior to our Good Friday shindiggery, we’ll be popping by to have one more chat with Cleave Anderson, ex-almost everybody, including Battered Wives, Blue Rodeo, Tyranna and a few more at that.  Inspired to drum after witnessing the first Ramones gig at the New Yorker on September 24 1976 — the start date of the history we’re exploring — Cleave continues to pound it out for retro-cover band The Screwed, The Raclones, and a few more at that.  We’ve visited Cleave twice already, but both times were foiled by feeble sound and other techy gunk, so we’re taking one more shot at it.

In between now and then we’ll continue to work the phones (operators on call 24 hours a day!) and pounding the pavement searching out the last stragglers we need to complete our Magnum Opus.   Hello, Michaela Jordana and Doug Pringle!  See you again soon, David Marsden!  Give us a ring, Carole Pope and John Paul Young! Hello William Gibson and John Waters! Come in Murray Ball!   Where are The Demics?   And please come and talk with us, Steven Davey.

They got booed and heckled at their first Toronto gig, opening for Talking Heads in September 1977.    But first-wavers The Scenics are taking another kick at the can after thirty years as they hit the stage of the El Mocambo Tuesday, October 13 to kick off a five date tour in synch with the release of their new CD, Sunshine World.    Seven measly bucks gets you in the door, and you get a copy of the CD as well, and you know that they’re going to play their hearts out, and of course lots of beer and old friends.

Sunshine World was culled from 300 hours of tapes The Scenics made during their run from 76 – 82, and features studio-recorded tunes from ’77 and ’78.    Friends of The Last Pogo Jumps Again still scratch our heads at the lack of recognition The Scenics got back in the day (sentiments shared by, amongst others, Scenic pals Talking Heads drum/bass combo Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz.  A few years after the Scenics infamously opened for The Talking Heads at The Garys’ New Yorker Theatere, Tina and Chris said to Ken and Andy after hearing about their woes:  “What? I thought you guys would’ve made it by now.”

Ironically, most people point to the opening gig for Talking Heads at the New Yorker as the first and final straw in their relationship with the other scenesters and musicians.

September 16, 1977;  courtesy Molten Core.

Everyone wanted that gig, and promoters The Garys — who would later manage The Scenics — thought it would be a great surprise to have this great band come out of nowhere (y’know, as opposed to ones that might’ve been around for two months, lol) and be the opening act.  A special treat for the loyal fans of this new thing called New Wave and Punk.   But…not so much.  There were rude catcalls from the audience — “Boring!” — and The Scenics lost potential friends and fans as soon as the handbill promoting the show was stapled around town.

The show itself was great, but there was real resentment, and The Scenics became outsiders in a group of outsiders.  It wasn’t like they were pelted with eggs, mind you, but apart from fast friends like The Demics and some others, The Scenics somehow didn’t fit follow the cryptically infused rulebook on emerging new-wave/punk rock bands.  But sticks ‘n’ stones and fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.  The Scenics just wanted to make music.  They didn’t dress the part, go to the right parties, or even do the right drugs.  It was all about creating music. They would rehearse and jam for hours upon hours week after week and play in every bar in Toronto, only to break it up in the early eighties, defeated by geography (Ken Badger lived in the country, and had a family and everything) and partially due to a pronounced lack of recognition, apart from their loyal yet tiny fan base. (Hi Gary!  Hi Blair!)

Courtesy Molten Core

Flash forward a few decades, and songwriting/frontman partner Ken Badger (he of the auto-asphyxiated singing style) sends songwriting/frontman partner Andy Ramesh Meyers a shoebox of tapes.  (The Scenics recorded everything.)  Andy starts to listen to them.  Obsessively.  Ken and Andy  put together an audacious collection of live Velvet Underground covers called How Does it Feel to Be Loved, and it gets critical kudos from colleges and newspapers, and a vote for the Best CD of 2008 for The Village Voices Pazz & Jop Poll from respected critic and ex-Creem Magazine staffer Jeffrey Morgan (author of the just-released official bio of Iggy Pop) who just drools over it, and it charts at colleges in Canada and the U.S.

Getting a taste of the kind of respect ‘n’ recognition that so ably avoided them during their initial run, The Scenics are inspired.   Andy and Ken call up former members Mark Perkell and Mike Young and start to make plans.  First up is the release of the Velvet’s cover CD, then a few gigs in Toronto (including The Last Pogo’s 30th Anniversary Bash.)   Apart from the new tour and the CD, The Scenics are also going to start podcasting Punk Haiku, Andy’s memoirs from the late seventies punk days, and will be putting together a new CD of new material soon.

Ken Badger in 2008;  photo by Edie Stiener

Andy Meyers in 2008;  photo Kevin Lamb

The staff at The Last Pogo Jumps Again had a chance to have a sneak read of the first one, and it’s great;  you’re right there.  One of our favourite stories is of their quest for the perfect drummer.   After going through a couple that didn’t work out, they get a new guy, and start to rehearse.  In the middle of a song, the drummer has an epileptic seizure, Ken later remarking “Gee.  I thought he finally got it.”  Check out their site in our list on the right hand side.

If you miss them in Toronto (don’t!) they’ll be in Ottawa, Montreal, London, and Hamilton in the next week.

For a much more thorough write-up of The Scenics, check out Steve McLean’s excellent blog.  Cut and paste this http://stevemclean.blogspot.com/2009/10/scenics-i-have-to-review-gaslight.html

Okay, so buy it already.  Twelve bucks.  Canadian!

As we continue to shoot and edit The Last Pogo Jumps Again, we thought we’d make a pitch to you, dear reader, to buy a copy of The Last Pogo, the 1978 punk rock doc that has an amazing batting average of .1000 with critics and bloggers.  1000!  That’s like Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth birthing a super-baby — with A-Rod acting as the doula — but without the steroids or massive amounts of booze and hot-dogs and secret over-the-counter crazy Dominican drugs!  But seriously folks:  not a bad word yet.  And it’s only twelve stinkin’ dollars!   That’s like eight or nine propped-up U.S. bucks.  And we’ve got cases of these things!

After feature articles in Absolute Pop, Exclaim, The Big Takeover and all the local Toronto rags, people said stuff like:  “Punker than you’ll ever be.” — Peter Howell, Toronto Star.   “A masterful disaster-piece.” — jspicer, Tiny Mix Tapes.  “It’s like watching a National Geographic special about some lost tribe.” — Kevin Quain, awesome Toronto musician, and our favourite “Now THIS is a fuckin’ documentary.”  — John Harvey, poet, ex pro-wrestler.

Japan’s Doll Magazine love us long time.  Thanks to Ian Warney, we’ve got a rough translation of the review we got recently.  Emphasis on “rough.”  And here ya go:

The title “The Last Pogo” makes you grin, doesn’t it?  Toronto Punk Rock has video of live show and staff interviews from Horseshoe in 1978.  The Viletones swears ’70′s punk like Johnny Rotten.  A stylish mods band called The Mods.  The Secrets strums on trash and R & R.   The Ugly were incredibly wild.  The audience gets excited by both boring and crazy playing by Teenage Head…etc.  This stuff is too good to believe it was 30 years ago!