The Last Pogo Jumps Again

In January we got some great photos of The Government (Flat Tire, Hemingway Hated Disco Music);  add Bobbe Besold as yet another of the terrific photographers there were in Toronto back in the mid-seventies.   Our total count so far is 612 photos spread over our four hour movie.

We discovered http://chuckmanothercollection.blogspot.com/ and John Chuckman’s awesome collection of postcards.  Unfortunately, not enough dpi to show on the big screen.

How cool was Yonge Street back in the mid-seventies?!  Note that this was even before the “famous” neon record that Sam the Record Man erected in the late seventies.   As with much of what made Toronto cool, virtually none of the stores in this picture still exist.

The Last Pogo Jumps Again co-filmmaker (along with Kire Paputts) Colin Brunton sketched out this rough map as a guide for Montreal artist (and ex-punker from the band American Devices) Rick Trembles in order to create a slicker full-colour map.

We tried (and failed) to get permission to feature a few seconds of the Bunuel/Dali short masterpiece Un Chien Andalou.  Too bad.  Many people will recall Nash the Slash performing for the first time at Gary Topp’s Original 99 Cent Roxy Theatre his musical accompaniment to the film.  Jaws dropped.  Five years later, Pogo filmmaker Colin Brunton would copy the famous eye-slitting scene for his first film, a short called Bollocks that he made with Liz Aikenhead.   Bollocks was in part shot at Club Davids, the infamous gay bar by night, punk bar by later in the night, and featured performances by The Viletones and The Ugly, and appearances by scene notables Wayne Brown and Mr. Shit.    Brunton purchased a sheep’s eye for the scene, just like Lou and Sal did;  a safety pin was used instead of a razor.  Good times.

A fascination with the 1976 – 1980 punk/new-wave scene in Toronto continued as (excellent) photographer Don Pyle’s photo album Trouble in the Camera Club was released in April 2011.

We got our first draft of the map of Toronto circa 1977 from Montreal artist Rick Trembles.   He also drew up maps of Southern Ontario, the U.S., and Canada, pointing out some of the punk hotspots, i.e. CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City in NYC, The Smiling Buddha in Vancouver and the cities Toronto, Hamilton and London in Southern Ontario.

In April 2011, co-filmmaker Kire Paputts packed up the equipment and took the bus down to Philadelphia (that’s just how we roll, people) to re-interview Toronto scenesters Freddy Pompeii, guitarist for the original line-up of The Viletones, and later lead singer of The Secrets;  and Margarita Passion, who used to own New Rose, the cool clothing and record store hang-out on Queen Street East back in the day.

Rick Trembles continued to awe us with his comic-strip rendition of the day back in 1977 when Joey Shithead and his band The Skulls (who would soon later morph into D.O.A.) borrowed the stage at the infamous Gasworks Tavern (the name “Gasworks Tavern” now copyright Mike Myers if you can believe it) from the power pop trio Goddo.  Needless to say, neither was impressed with the other.

Shock Theatre impresario, artist, filmmaker, LSD and music fan William “The Count” Cork showed filmmakers Brunton and Paputts the crypt at Mt. Pleasant Cemetary that he and Ugly singer Mike Nightmare slept in for a six month period back in 1978 or so.  Bill told us that a Vietnamese colonel told him that because they slept under the surface of the ground at a cemetary, they were able to become invisible.   Brunton and Paputts then think:  “Intervew of the year.”

In May, sad news:  super fan and collector Imants Krumins passed away.   Later in the year, the Forgotten Rebels would dedicate their live CD to him.  Much beloved in Hamilton and Toronto, we managed to snag an interview with him when we started this project in 2006;  Imants supplied us with tons of handbills and info.  He’s credited as “Lead Archivist” in the credits to our film.

In June 2011 one of the last band interviews was conducted when Brunton and Paputts drove down to the Beaches area of Toronto to speak with Michaele Jordana and Doug Pringle of The Poles.  Noteworthy for the anthemic single C.N. Tower, The Poles were always slightly controversial, but not how they’d like:  there were quite a few punkers in Toronto that didn’t feel that, somehow, they were as genuine, say, as The Viletones, Teenage Head, The Ugly, Scenics, Martha and the Muffins, The Secrets, The Mods, etc. were.   So — the question of validity was asked, feelings were hurt, and months later, after not being able to come to terms for a music license for C.N.Tower (ridiculous, by the way!) the whole segment and any mention of the band whatsoever was dropped from the film.

We found a photographer in NYC with the uber-NYC moniker Nicky L who licensed us some Super-8 footage of The Ramones at the New Yorker, September 1976.  With bootleg audio of the same show from Randy Johnston and Gail Wetton (who also gave us the ticket stub above), we pieced together the exact moment they hit the stage and changed Toronto music oh those three decades ago.  We’re currently trying to negotiate a deal for the music and are actually 3/4 of the way there.  But that last quarter is a bitch.  More on that later.  Ugh.

Cardboard Brains copyright Vince Carlucci.

After several somewhat unsettling emails from Cardboard Brains‘ lead singer and co-founder (along with guitarist Vince Carlucci) John Paul Young, we gave up hope of ever getting permission to use an original Brains song in the movie.  Boo!  We’re currently scratching our heads on how to solve that one, but hey — out of the 50 songs we wanted to license for the movie, we’ve only lost about four (and we’re still continuing to fight for three of those) so if our movie were, like,  The Toronto Blue Jays, and the filmmakers were the fourth and fifth batters?  We’d be knocking it out of the park!

Our very first Skype interview and our very last band interview, was with the lovely and talented Sally Cato, live from her apartment in NYC.  Former lead singer of The Concordes, The Androids, and later, post-Toronto, Smashed Gladys, Sally gave us a great intervew, and some Super-8 footage of The Androids to boot.  Hey-o!

Picked up a remastered live track of Drastic Measures from ex-Measures and ex-Dishes Tony Malone;  found some hilarious Super-8 footage of the Forgotten Rebels.  And in a thrilling coup, received permission to use an old SCTV clip of the Agoraphobic Cowboy, Rick Moranis.  Thanks, SCTV!  Thanks Mr. Moranis!

Nash the Slash, copyright Paul Till.

Photographer Paul Till sent us a few more pictures of Nash the Slash, for the ‘before and after’ style we’ve been using throughout the film with people we’ve interviewd.  Of course with Nash, he looks eerily similar in photos from 1977 as he does in the interview we did with him in 2007.  Nash was actually scheduled to play The Last Pogo in 1978, as, like the rest of the bands that evening (Scenics, Secrets, Cardboard Brains, Mods, Ugly, Viletones, Teenage Head) he was one of promoters The Garys’ favourites, but punched a wall in his loft above The Original 99 Cent Roxy Theatre and broke his hand.  

We had our third interview with Dishes and Drastic Measures songster Tony Malone in September, visiting him and his pit-bull Bella in Toronto’s west end.  We needed to clarify a point about The Dishes, arguably the first band in Toronto who felt New-Wavish, and who clearned a lot of decks on Queen West for OCA bands and others.

In October we recalled the death three years earlier of Teenage Head singer Frankie Venom.   Around the same time, we finally finalized the Teenage Head songs (seven versions of six songs;  hey, we don’t fuck around!) and completed the deal with Gordie Lewis.  In December we found some more footage (beautiful 16mm black and white) of The Original 99 Cent Roxy Theatre through Facebook pal Talis Briedis which we hope to incorporate.

And now we’re just waiting for a handful of release forms to come back to Pogo H.Q.  Once done, we start the sound edit and mix, and then scheme up the release pattern and festival plans.  Our near six year task is almost done.  Which is bittersweet.

Cheers

The lead character in John Barth’s first novel (written in 1954, when he was 24) spends an ungodly amount of time writing an essay about the death of his father entitled:  “An Inquiry Into The Circumstances Surrounding The Self-Destruction Of Thomas T. Andrews Of Cambridge Maryland on Ground Hog Day, 1930 (More Especially into the Causes Therefore).”

Having lost a fortune in the stock market, his father hanged himself. Todd Andrews, his son, himself susceptible to the suicide gene, starts to write about the reasons behind his father’s suicide, thinking of each and every reason, every tangent he can think of  — the infinity of the past — of how this could have happened, but it’s endless.  He no sooner concludes one theory than another pops up that demands his attention; every detail seems worthy of investigation.   It becomes an unwieldy project that might possibly never end; in an office crowded with peach baskets jammed with notes after years and years of work with no apparent end in sight and…whoa, whoa, WHOA, back up the truck a sec!

Huge boner had we wrapped this two years ago.   (From yesbutnobutyes.com.)

It was only a couple of years ago that we called it a wrap. But then we realized there were a few more folks we should chat with, and they lead to a few more, and then we found some great, lost footage of Demics and Scenics and Secrets and Viletones and Teenage Head and more and that lead onto other stuff, and so on and so forth and here we are, in our fifth (and final) year of production.

Time traveling back to ’78 for more deets. Wheeeeee! (Hollywoodlostandfound.net)

Like the peach baskets full of scribblings in Todd’s office, the offices at Pogo H.Q. have boxes full of tapes of the approximately 250 people we’ve interviewed, along with piles of photos that still need to be jpg-ed, and stacks of old handbills that have;  all of it threads in the seemingly unending production of The Last Pogo Jumps Again:  A Biased And Incomplete History Of Toronto Punk Rock And New Wave Music Circa September 24 1976 To December 1 1978.

Raggedy handbill, 1976;  courtesy of Robert Malyon.

Smoking a joint in the back row of his movie theatre The New Yorker, watching the out-of-synch Blank Generation, promoter Gary Topp twigged on the idea of bringing some of the bands from Amos Poe’s movie into town.  It was 1976.  When he tried to track down The Ramones, few people in the business knew who they were.

Photo by David Andoff.

A concrete stage was built in a few 18 hour shifts over the course of a weekend;  artist David Andoff sculpted a King Kong and painted a NYC nightscape above the marquee –  and “punk rock” officially arrived in Toronto on September 24, 1976 with Johnny Lovesin & His Invisible Band opening for New York City’s The Ramones.

Two years later, Gary would be long gone from the New Yorker, having had moved to the beer-soaked Horseshoe Tavern with partner Gary Cormier;  together they were known as The Garys.   On December 1, 1978, The Garys promoted The Last Pogo, the going-away party for their favourite local bands;  they were being kicked out, and the bar would revert to it’s country ‘n’ western roots for a spell.  The Scenics, The Cardboard Brains, The Ugly, The Secrets, Teenage Head, and The Mods were set to play the historic gig.

Steven Leckie at The Last Pogo.  Photo by Edie Stiener.

Reluctant to join in at first, Steven Leckie ended up crashing the party with his latest version of his ground-breaking Viletones.   And all hell broke loose.   It was captured on film, recorded for an album — and then forgotten for years.   This is the specific time period we’re zeroing in on for our sprawling documentary The Last Pogo Jumps Again:  A Biased & Incomplete History Of Toronto Punk Rock Circa September 24 1976 To December 1 1978.

A pig farmer is showing off his farm to a visitor.  He points out a huge pig, glowing with health, lounging in the corner of his stall (which was, frankly, a pigsty, hyuk hyuk hyuk.)  The visitor asks him why the pig looks so much better than the others.  “Well,” said the farmer, “This here’s my favourite.  I feed the other pigs plain old slop, but this one’s going to be a prize-winning pig, and I treat her right.  So what I do every morning is walk her out to the apple orchard.  We search the trees for only the freshest apples — I won’t feed her one that’s bruised or wormy — and we go like this from tree to tree to tree until she’s finally full.”   The visitor was stunned.  “Uh…doesn’t that take an awfully long time?”  The farmer chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.   “What’s time to a pig?!”

Which is a long way of saying that The Last Pogo Jumps Again has become a bit of pig;  we’ve been feeding her goodies since June 2006, and she’s getting nice and fat — but soon it will be time for the slaughter when we chop her portly four-hour length in half,  killing babies and moving on.  (“Killing babies” is a term editors and filmmakers use when they have to edit out parts that are great but just not what the doctor ordered.)

Odds & sods: we grabbed a noisy interview with Walter Lure (of The Heartbreakers & Waldo fame) at Sneaky Dees last night; he was backed by Teenage Head’s Steve Mahon and Gord Lewis, with Battered Blue Screwed drummer Cleave Anderson, and Steve Saint helping out on vocals;  Alex Topp sat in and played keyboards for openers New York Junk, featuring home-town beauty queen and former B-Girl Cynthia Ross…the cut line for The Last Pogo Jumps Again is going to be “A Biased and Incomplete History of Toronto/Hamilton/London, Ontario Punk Rock from September 24, 1976 to December 1, 1978″….

Discovered a new blogger called Son of Spam who blogged a story about John-Paul Young and The Cardboard Brains in Model Citizen Zero Discipline, and added them to the links…Andy Ramesh Meyers continues his Saturday night radio show from 7 to 9 on cfsi-fm.com, and ponders the five date tour coming up with his band The Scenics…spoke to Nash the Slash yesterday to confirm that he got his name from Laurel & Hardy‘s short film Do Detectives Think?;  after noodling on the ‘net for a bit, the Pogo Research & Development Department discovered that it was actually a narrator of a 1960′s compilation of Laurel & Hardy movies who may have erroneously called the character Nash the Slash; our researchers discovered that the character’s name was actually called The Tipton Slasher;   we’ve since been in contact with a Laurel and Hardy expert who is trying to find out what the deal is…

The Tipton Slasher (a.k.a. Nash the Slash);  photographer unknown.

Yuppers.  Three years ago today we started shooting our feature documentary The Last Pogo Jumps Again.  We’ve amassed a hundred plus hours of interviews; secured yards of rare footage of the “never before seen” variety; and have jammed our external drives with tons ‘o’ jpgs.   We’ve captured a dozen or so sets of old-school bands from the back in the day, and watched as our hard-drive collapsed in a fit and die on the floor.  The Last Pogo Jumps Again survived, and will be released sometime when we’re about four or so.

Kire wearing the colours at the Berlin Wall

Co-director Kire Paputts is hard at it, piecing together all the stuff and trying to make sense (or not) of it.  Co-director Aldo Erdic is finding bits of time between shooting his own stuff to compile the many hours of footage he has, the goldmine being the pile of stuff he’s shot of Greg Dicks‘ interviews on CIUT-FM’s Equalizing Distort series:  Viletones, Ugly, Mods, Zero4, Teenage Head, and a screwy let’s-bail-before it gets any worse debacle with The Scenics.

Co-director Brunton is focusing on getting the last interviews, and flogging The Last Pogo dvd (only three cartons left people!  Hurry up and order already!)  We’re also trying to get our hands on some pretty awesome footage holed up in the archives of the CBC and MuchMusic;  stuff we’re sure you’ve seen on your Internet Machine — but that would be great to see, y’know, full screen and only second-generation.  At a hundred bucks a second, it’s a little intimidating, but we’re doing our best dripping honey in The Man‘s ear, hoping to catch a break.

Make sure you hit The Ugly, The Mods, The Superstitions and DJ OPP tonight, and keep on keepin’ on.

The Mods at The Edge, ’79 or ’80;  courtesy Cindy Holmes

Not a heck of a lot of shooting happening lately, but we’re starting to get the word out that we need more stuff.  Stuff as in high-res photos and handbills, and of course hints, leads and clues.  Co-director Kire Paputts has been hard at it the last month, organizing and editing the footage, and that’s no mean feat: we’ve got about a hundred hours of new material;  a pile ‘o’ archival footage; and we haven’t begun to touch the couple of hundred hours of stuff that co-director Aldo Erdic has been shooting the past few years.

Thanks to Cindy Holmes for the shot of The Mods above, taken at the Edge in ’79 or ’80.  For those of you new to the site or the city, The Edge was the club infamous promoters The Garys started after they were given the boot from the Horseshoe;  the last show at the Horseshoe, of course, was The Last Pogo — available here on DVD !

Fanzine Razorcakes gave us a nice coupla thumbs up in their May 14th blog, likening The Last Pogo movie to…well…here’s the review: “As much as a fan that I am of Canadian punk rock, I have to admit that my knowledge and collection are lacking in bands and information from the Eastern part of our country. I can tell you anything you need to know about The Subhumans, DOA, SNFU, Nomeansno, or Dayglo Abortions, but other than Teenage Head, The Viletones, and Forgotten Rebels, I really have no sense of history as to what was happening out there at the dawn of punk.
Well, I wonder no more, as The Last Pogo has been released on DVD to fill in some blanks for me. Originally filmed in 1978 at the Horseshoe Tavern on the last night of punk bands after being kicked out, the movie showcases just what was going on in Toronto back then. Of course, Teenage Head and The Viletones are here, which is to be expected, but I was truly taken aback by how much I dug the other bands on here, especially The Scenics.
Visually, the film is a sight to behold: classic grainy, ‘70s film at its finest featuring a bunch of weirdoes in a really smoky bar playing strange music. I love it! It really reminds me of a live Stompin’ Tom Connors movie from the same era. Something about the vibe of this film is distinctly Canadian and I like that. I’d like to think that in any city across this country that a riot would break out if you cut Teenage Head off after one song. This is a great little history lesson that I would recommend to anyone.”

Hmmm, what else?  Make sure to catch the original line-up of The Mods, and the newly reformed The Ugly, featuring Tony Torture, Sam Ferrara, Steve Koch and frontman Greg Dick;  The Scenics are busy mastering their next cd-thingy, featuring tracks from their demo tape in 1976;  Blair Richard Martin is putting the finishing touches on his short history of the original Toronto punk scene, and should be available free of charge somewhere in cyberspace very soon;  and how about them Jays, eh?!

The Last Pogo Jumps Again co-director Kire Paputts sends us this note from Europe:  “I decided to take on the Gladiators. Next stop, Greek philosophers.”

Fast Eddie Smith, photographer and bon vivant, is fashionable in Rome.

Nat Records, Tokyo, Japan

Sorry, no time to chat!  Busy looking over a few hundred hours of footage, thinking about the missing pieces of the puzzle that was the punk rock scene in Toronto1976 – 1978, and starting to put together our feature doc THE LAST POGO JUMPS AGAIN, schedule to be completed in 2009.   There’s a million details.

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The Last Pogo (1978) is available at indie record stores in North America, Spain, and Japan — or on-line here.  Just click on the “Store” page, click in PayPal or write a money order (for only $12.00, cheap!), and a uniformed government worker will hand deliver your own copy of The Last Pogo:  The original 25 minute 1978 movie featuring Teenage Head, Viletones, Ugly, Mods, Secrets, Cardboard Brains and The Scenics;  a scorching 20 minute set by The Scenics in 1978;  a 30 minute commentary by Chris Haight of The Viletones and Secrets;  and a couple of hidden features.

Canada: Toronto: CIRCUS BOOKS & MUSIC 866 Danforth Avenue at Jones, 416-925-6116 CRIMINAL RECORDS 493 Queen Street West Toronto, ON M5V 2B4, Canada (416) 364-5380 ROTATE THIS 801 Queen Street West Toronto, ON M6J 1G1, Canada (416) 504-8447 HITS ‘N’ MISSES 860 Bloor Street West Toronto, ON M6G 1M2, Canada (416) 535-7817 FRANTIC CITY (formerly BABEL)  123 Ossington Ave, Toronto ON M6J 2Z2 (416)533-9138 SOUNDSCAPES 572 College Street Toronto, ON M6G 1B3, Canada (416) 537-1620 PAGES BOOKS 256 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M5V 1Z8 : 416-598-1447 WILD EAST 360 Danforth Avenue Toronto, ON M4K 1N8, Canada(416) 469-8371 SUNRISE RECORDS across Canada SUSPECT VIDEO, Markham Street, Toronto TUNEOLOGY, Main south of Gerrard, Toronto THIS AIN’T THE ROSEDALE LIBRARY, Kensington Market, Toronto.  Waterloo: Orange Monkey, 5 Princess St. W., 519-886-0939  Ottawa: CROSSTOWN TRAFFIC, 593-C Bank St  Ottawa Ontario  K1S 3T4 Oshawa: STAR RECORDS, 148 Simcoe Street South, Oshawa, ON L1H 4G9 (905) 723-0040 Hamilton, Ontario:  CHEAPIES RECORDS, 67 King St E., Hamilton ON, L8N 1A5, Phone #: 905-523-0296 DR. DISC, 20 Wilson Street, Hamilton, Ontario. CANADA L8R 1C5 Phone #: 905-523-1010 London, Ontario: GROOVES, 353 Clarence Street, London, Ontario, N6A 3M4, 519-640-6714, SPEED CITY, 299 Springbank Drive, 519-858-2680 Victoria, B.C.: Ditch Records, 635 Johnson Street, 250-386-5870 Vancouver, B.C.: ZULU RECORDS, 1972 W 4th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. (604) 738-3232 SCRATCH RECORDS, 726 Richards Street, Vancouver, B.C. (604) 687-6355 HMV MEGASTORE, 788 Burrard Street, Vancouver, B.C. (604) 669-2289 Nanaimo, B.C.: FASCINATING RHYTHM, 51 Commercial Street, Nanaimo, B.C. (250) 716-9997 Edmonton: Megatunes, 10355 Whyte Ave, 780-434-6342, Freecloud, 10764 101 St., 780-429-1476 Calgary: Melodiya, 2523A 17 Ave SW, 403-246-8916, Sloth Records, 1508 4 St. SW 403-265-6585 Saskatoon: Vinyl Diner, 628 Broadway Ave., 306-525-4040  Winnipeg: Music Trader, 97 Osborne St., 204-475-0077 Regina: X-Ray, 2323 11th Avenue, 306-525-4040 Kingston: Jungle, 123 Princess St 613-547-1544, Montreal: Sonik, 4050 Berri  Fredericton: Backstreet 506-458-8832  St. John: Backstreet 506-693-9425,  Halifax: Divorce 2687 Fuller Terrace

US. COBRASIDE DISTRIBUTION, Glendale,  Calfornia, Phone (818) 548-9001 CARGO RECORDS AMERICA INC., 1525 West Horner Street Chicago, Illinois (888) 508-5265   INTERPUNK at www.interpunk.com,

Spain: BOWERY, C/ Luna, 18, Madrid, Spain. Phone 91-532-8360

Japan: ITA/NAT RECORDS, Tokyo, Japan;  RECORD SHOP ANSWER, Hase BLD NO. 2 NAKA-KU NAGOYA-City Aichi 460-0011 Japan, 052-241-0667

France:  SUGAR & SPICE, Paris, France, sugarandspice.fr

Things are humming at Pogo H.Q. and all the bands lined up for the Last Pogo 30th Anniversary Bash are busy rehearsing, paring down their sets, picking out their clothes and avoiding various friends and long-lost relatives who’re hoping to get onto the guest list.  There’s still a handful of tickets left, so scoot down to the Horseshoe, Hits ‘n’ Misses, Rotate This or Soundscapes — or get on-line at Ticketmaster, fork over ten big ones, and feel safe and secure that you’ll get into the show.

The Last Pogo Jumps Again directors Colin Brunton, Aldo Erdic and Kire Paputts are scouting the Horseshoe Tavern tonight, doing what you call a “tech survey” to make sure there are bright enough bulbs in various spots for the four or five cameras we’ll have on hand the night of the party.  (“How many punks does it take to change a lightbulb?  1…2…3…4!”)

Pogo publicist Woody Whelan (or Pogolicist) continues to work the room with The Last Pogo director Brunton, continuing to line up interviews on TV, radio and print, and the Pogo Mail Order Room is awaiting more orders.  So order today!

Don’t miss legenday ex-Dead Boy Cheetah Chrome as he joins locals The Screwed for a show this Thursday, November 20th at the Dakota Tavern in Toronto, and a couple of nights later in Hamilton at a new place called This Ain’t Hollywood.  (And really, if there’s any place that ain’t Hollywood, it’s Hamilton.)

Speaking of Hamilton, local hero and Simply Saucer head honcho Edgar Breau makes a rare Toronto appearance tonight at Mitzi’s Sister.  Edgar will regale the the crowd with an eclectic mix of solo and Saucer tunes.

And speaking of “ain’t”, the bookstore that London’s The Guardian voted as the 8th best bookstore in the world, iconic Toronto hot-spot for words ‘n’ stuff, This Ain’t The Rosedale Library is now stocking dvds of The Last Pogo at their new location in the heart of Kensington Market, 86 Nassau to be specific.