Home County

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The Home Country Folk Festival is a long standing tradition in London's Victoria Park. Kate and I go every year if we can.

These are scanned photos from the event. I see Fred Eaglesmith, Valdy, Ian Robb and others.

Bergen, Norway

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In June of 2003 Kate met with some colleagues in Bergen, Norway. We had been in Krakow Poland for the annual KBS meeting and on our way home we visited Oslo and Bergen.

Bergen is a major port city on the west coast of Norway sort of due west of Oslo the capital city. Oslo is the largest city, Bergen the next in size. We stayed in the old city near the harbor and didn't get a sense of this being a big city -- in fact it has a very small town feel. Both cities are quite far north -- about the same latitude as the Shetland Islands which are well off the north coast of Scotland. This makes for long summer days. Albeit cool summer days. I hate to imagine what the winters are like.

Bergen is sheltered by mountains in an archipelago of islands and is a jumping off point for some steep scenic fjords. We were only there for a few days, Kate was busy with meetings, but I got to tramp around the old city a bit. We did get to do some things together -- like riding the Fløibanen funicular to a hilltop view of the city. We booked a cruise of the nearby fjords on the last morning but it was raining and cloudy -- we didn't get to see much of them.

We flew in from Oslo crossing over snow covered mountains in between. It's not terribly far as the crow flies (about an hour by air) but an awful long distance were you to drive over the mountains. It's about 8 hours by auto and you'd be driving over mountains and through some snowy stretches. Probably an interesting drive ... if you had the time.

We almost missed our return by air to Oslo after the morning of the disappointing fjord tour. We hadn't counted on the time it would take to get back to our hotel, pack our gear and take a bus out to the airport. The airport is about a half hour out of the city. We end up running through the airport at the last minute to catch our flight. This was in the days before 9/11 when airport security wasn't as anal. I suppose it wouldn't have been the end of the world had we missed the flight as there are lots of regular flights between these two cities.

Bergen is most famous for the pretty wooden warehouses that line the harbor. The "Hanseatic Wharf" (see the photo above) dates back to the middle ages when Bergen was the major trading port for Norway and a northern partner in the Hanseatic League. These days these old wooden structures house gift shops and the like. It's an interesting area to explore with lots of back lanes. There's also pretty lanes to explore up the hill sides into residential areas. 

Further down the wharf towards the sea is an area of historic castles and forts. Rosenkrantztårnet (a 13th century tower) and the Bergenhus Fortress are worth exploring. At the town end of the harbor there's a market, cafes, open pedestrian square and sturdy buildings of stone and brick. We had dinner one night in a restaurant overlooking the harbor. Seafood, as you would expect, is a specialty. Wine and alcohol are prohibitively expensive.

Bergen is an interesting city to explore.

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Ps. These notes and recollections were prepared in January of 2021 during the COVID-19 lockdown. Photos are macro photography copies of slides taken at the time.

Oslo, Norway

 

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This is only a place holder. Work on this blog and photo album will follow.

Ps. Photos were scanned during January 2021 of the COVID-19 lockdown from Fujichrome 35mm slides taken at the time. These are quick scans using a "Kodak SLIDE N SCAN Digital Scanner".

Krakow, Poland

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This note is a place holder. The album and note require a lot more work.

Kate's annual KBS conference was held in Krakow Poland this year.

Auschwitz

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Kate's annual KBS conference was in Krakow, Poland in June of 2003. I had a lot of time to explore the city but I also took the time one sunny day, with some friends, to go out of the city by train to visit the Auschwitz Concentration Camp at nearby Oświęcim. That's about 50km to the southwest from Krakow so it's only a short train ride.

This is the main camp of several (Birkenau is another famous nearby camp that's part of it) and this is a huge place — an industrialized "final solution".

There's the famous entrance gate with the sadly ironic motto "Arbeit macht frei sign" (translated as "work sets you free"). Inside the buildings there's exhibits to display photos of the victims and their modest belongings. What brought me to tears was the piles of luggage where each had a return address painted on by the poor soul who thought they might return.

You will have heard of at least one of the 6,000,000 who perished in the Holocaust. Anne Frank and the other seven were transported here from the secret annex in Amsterdam on 3 September 1944. All perished except for her father Otto who lived to publish her famous diary. See more at the Anne Frank House Museum.

From Wikipedia:

"The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an international memorial day on 27 January that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of one third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities between 1933 and 1945 by Nazi Germany, an attempt to implement their "final solution" to the Jewish question. 27 January was chosen to commemorate the date that Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army in 1945."  

The photo album, not for the faint of heart, has pictures of the gas chamber and the ovens used to burn the bodies of those who were killed there. For those who would deny the Holocaust I invite you take a trip to Auschwitz near Oświęcim.

These notes and photos were composed and scanned during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020/21 from slides taken in June of 2003.

Dead Rabbits

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Further to the Boot to the Head CD Release party at Call the Office (CTO), April 2003. I have this collection of photos of the Dead Rabbits who played that night. These were posted to the 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario Facebook Group where I asked for help identifying the players. Many thanks to all who commented and helped to revive distant memories.

Daniel Rudbal (of the Napalm Baby's) identified the band members: "Dave Lightfoot (bass) on the left, Wanda on Voice and Larry Brandt (guitar) on the right .. Kerry Piper would be drumming". There's some pictures of Dan singing that night with the Shmagpies and with 63 Monroe.

Mark Edmunds commented: "Wanda was Rockin it that evening. I still have the t-shirt and CD. Classic 🎶". I still have the CD as well but I must have worn out the T-shirt years ago. I've included a picture of the CD in the photo album.

I only saw the Dead Rabbits a very few times. I do recall they had a great logo (which I've included in the photo album) of dead rabbit being clutched by a punk hand. We used to have the button, but it's long gone.

I'm pretty sure the Dead Rabbits, and many of the other early 80's punk bands, had reformed for the Boot to the Head event. If Dave O'Hallaran is correct, he writes in What Wave #24 that the Dead Rabbits formed in the Fall of 1980 and folded sometime in late 1981 or early 1982. They had fun while it lasted, we did too.

Finally, this post composed and photos organized during the COVID-19 lock down of May 2021.

63 Monroe

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More photos from the Boot to the Head CD Release party of April 2003 at Call the Office (CTO). 63 Monroe, who headlined the event, were in fine fettle that night with Markii and Scott dressed to the nines. 

The original Boot to the Head celebration was at CTO on July 5/6 2002 and had a heady lineup to celebrate 20 years since the closing of the Blue Boot/Cedar Lounge. That event was organized by Danny Husband (of Napalm Babies and Schmagpies). This event was to celebrate the CD recording of that original show a year earlier.

63 Monroe had recently reformed, I believe they had reformed for the Boot to the Head event, and were the headline acts this night. Markii Burnaway had returned to the band and they stayed together for a couple of years -- including our 25th wedding anniversary. 

We had gone out to see 63 Monroe in their early NFG incarnation on our wedding night back in 1980 and had always joked that we ought to have them play at our anniversary. This event, only a few years before our 25th anniversary convinced us that we could and should!

This night Pete Dekoker and Mark Deroux (who died of a cancer in 2004) shared bass duties, I see Brad Lavard and (I think) Peter Lambert sharing the drums. Markii Burnaway and Brian McMillan share guitar duties with Steven R Stunning on vox. And, near the end of the show, a couple of young ladies got up to twerk with Scott. I didn't know twerking was even a thing then! 

Larry Brandt (of Dead Rabbits and Flying Squad) replied: "The two young ladies on stage are my daughter Cayleen, and her friend Danielle." Wow!

Nick McMillan observes, "Dang, dad looks pretty young aha!"

I've shared some of these before but have rescanned the color ones. If you have any comments, corrections, or memories to share please let me know. 

See also 63 Monroe at the Graphic Underground London event, October 2012.

Finally: this posting composed during the pandemic of May 2021.

Shmagpies

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In April of 2003 CHRW (Radio Western) and Call the Office (a local venue with a very long history) hosted a "Boot to the Head" CD Release party to celebrate the music of the early 1980's found at the Blue Boot/Cedar Lounge (a local dive venue at Talbot & King now long gone). Several bands reformed and played at this event including the Shmagpies pictured at left (click on the image for a photo album).

The Shmagpies has Mike Timmins on Guitar (also played with the Terminals), Dan Husband on Guitar (also played with Napalm Babies), Laurie Wedge on bass (also played with the Terminals) and Pete Timmins on drums (also played with the Terminals).

The picture at left has Daniel Rudbal joining in with the Shmagpies to sing a couple of tunes (probably from the Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop or maybe Black Flag). The CD has them doing Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Be Your Dog", there is a version of "Pretty Vacant"  with Dan singing and Pete DeKoker joining in on bass but it's not this event.  Later in the photo album you'll find Jamie Conyers (Baconhead) joins in to sing a couple of tunes. See also my blog page on "The Terminals".

Daniel Rudbal, Dan Husband (aka Danny Napalm) and Jamie Conyers were all in the Napalm Babies and Condo Christ. I understand that Dan Husband had organized the original "Boot to the Head" event (July 5-6, 2002) and a subsequent "Boot 2 the Head" event (June 17-18, 2005). I'm not sure who organized this CD release party in 2003.

Dan Rudbal has made quite an impression on fans. Marty Field writes, "Anytime hearing Mr. Rudbal sing is a blessing to me. I was blessed to hear and see October Crisis and Donnellys 4 in the 80s. I was blessed to have him at rehearsals for Donnellys 6. And I am blessed to call him a friend. Love you, Dan!"

I have photos of the Dead Rabbits and 63 Monroe at this event which I'll share in due course. 

I recall it being an incredibly fun night. A crowded, crazy time with people of all ages up front dancing and really getting into the music. That was the thing about the music, it was outrageously fun. And even occasionally musical!

At the time I was still shooting film but was having it scanned (they did a terrible low resolution job). One Friday morning shortly after the event I showed the pictures I had taken at work — the regularly scheduled talk about "Information Systems" had fallen apart so I filled in. 

At the time of this event Kate and I were long past punk music having immersed ourselves in Americana. However, we saw that these bands were playing and had fond memories of seeing some of them at the Blue Boot/Cedar Lounge and other venues around town when we were in London (e.g., we danced to NFG at the Cedar Lounge on our wedding night). We had left London for St Marys (I had left Western and was working at the University of Waterloo, Kate was still at the research park at Western). We were introduced to Dave O'Hallaran (What Wave Dave) at this event by a former colleague who worked with both of us at the Computing Center when I was at Western. It was really odd to discover that WWDave, we had collected his C90's and Zines, worked in the same department. With our noses to the grindstone we hadn't discovered our common ground!

I'm not sure of the exact date of this event; however, I know it was in April of 2003 and have filed it in my blog under an arbitrary date from that month.

Many thanks to the many music fans on the Facebook group "1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario", especially Dave O'Halloran and Daniel Rudbal, who helped to identify the band and players. You are appreciated!

This photo album and recollections composed during the pandemic lockdown of May, 2021.

Death Valley/Zion

 

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This is a placeholder. The album and note need a lot of work.

Hawaii & Australia

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Our first trip to Australia. We travelled through Hawaii and connected with an old classmate from Philosophy (Neil Farnsworth) who lives on Maui.

In Australia Kate had a special KBS meeting in Freemantle -- the port city to Perth in Western Australia. We explored the Margaret River wine region before the conference.

After the conference we flew back to Sydney where we rented a car for a drive up to Brisbane in Queensland where Kate had meetings with her colleague Ross Homel (they developed a book on bar room violence together). We explored the Hunter Valley wine region on our way north taking the inland route along the great dividing range. On our return we took the coastal route.

This is a placeholder. The album and this note require a lot of work.