Conning Tower

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I shared this photo album recently on Facebook ('21/04/10) and got a great reaction from Mark Goodwin who now lives in Montreal:

"Again....thanks to the amazing Reg Quinton for archiving London, Ontario's music scene (back when I was a part of it, at least 😉 ) This is Conning Tower:  Linda Harvey (bass), Billy Wallace (drums) and me (geetar/vox). We went to London,UK shortly after this, imploded, and came back with our tails between our legs (or I did, in any case) I played an SG through a twin reverb (with one speaker) connected to a small Leslie cabinet. The amp and cab turned into a one-way plane ticket home......c'est la vie...

Spirit of 84...."

Conning Tower, and other projects by Mark Goodwin at the time (I recall Second Thoughts before this incarnation and the Magic Binmen somewhat later), was post-punk or alternative in some sense. Definitely edgy, but smart with a pop feel-good vibe. Music which was quirky, rythmic and intelligent -- sort of XTC meets REM without all the initials. Mark Goodwin and the band were very talented artists who ought to have gone far.

Conning Tower released a 7" single "Indian Dancing" in 1984 (two tunes credited to Linda Harvey and Mark Goodwin). I have that single somewhere in my collection but can't lay my hands on it.

See also my blog and photo album of the "Magic Binmen" which was a later incarnation by Mark.

This photo album is from a concert/show in a small bar, Key West, on Talbot Street in London. There were a lot of interesting shows in that club. Next door was the infamous Brunswick Hotel, the other way was the Cedar Lounge and across the street was the convenient LCBO.

Poscript: A posting on FaceBook by Mark Goodwin (20/03/20) had some discussion of the location for the pictures. I believe it was at Key West but others are sure the location was Bullwinkles (or Kelly's before it became Bullwinkles) on King Street in London. Mark says, "Makes sense. Particularly because I have no actual memory of playing Key West. I think that club became a thing when were in England." For my part, it doesn't matter very much, it was a long time ago and all those clubs are long gone.

Kate and I lived in an old house we had bought in Wortley Village which is within walking distance of the down town core. We would occasionally haunt shows like this one. At the time I had abandoned my Ph.D. and was getting back into working with information technology. 

I don't know the date for this show but I believe it was sometime in 1984. I have filed it in my blog on an arbitrary date.

This note/blog composed during April 2021; photos were scanned back in 2012.

63 Monroe, Firehall

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Our friend Dave O'Halloran (aka What Wave Dave on CHRW) has been sharing on Facebook, with our grateful permission, photos that we had taken of various bands back in the 1980's. Today, March 27, 2024, Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group:

"Here's some more in the face of the band shots from ace photo Reg Quinton.

This time it's 63 Monroe (likely 1982 or 83) at The Firehall. The Firehall was part of the Talbot Inn complex and is usually only remembered for the many blues acts that played there. In the mid to late 70's there were many bluegrass and folk musicians playing there. And then in the late 70's/early 80's they hosted a number of local punk/new wave acts among them NFG, Uranus (there's a picture at the London Music Hall Of Fame), Second Thoughts and 63 Monroe. There were probably others but I can only remember what I saw. They were usually well attended shows and dancing was allowed on the small carpeted area in front of the small stage. This is another timely post as The Final Firehall Reunion is happening April 7th. 63 Monroe morphed out of NFG, became First Date for a short period and then went back to being called 63 Monroe. Hope that makes sense. At this point in time they were heavily into the NYDolls/glam/Damned sound, plastered in makeup and dressed the part. Check any NYDolls album cover for reference. They were so into it they even named their house Babylon and had a loyal following of fans that would show up at out of town gigs. 2 of the members, Scott Bentley and Pete Dekoker still play under that name to this day. Their annual Toys For Tots Show are always loads of fun for a great cause.

This is only a portion of the pics taken by Reg at The Firehall. It appears that bassist Pete Dekoker was in a dark corner out of the stage lights so seldom appears in these pics. His input is essential the the band's sound. Drummer Jeff 'Rooster' Rooth passed away in the late 80's."

In the What Wave group later that day Dave adds:

"We were at just about every 63 Monroe gig in that era but don't recall this one. I do remember the earlier version of 63 Monroe with Mark Deroux and Peter Lambert in the band playing The Firehall maybe for a weekend? They had to play a couple sets and Mark was new in the band at the time and was playing so hard his fingers were bleeding! I was the idiot that kept yelling at him to keep playing as I was dancing like an idiot on the carpeted floor. Beans and beer make you do stupid things."

I recall the event. We had recently purchased a 16mm fisheye lens. I was really pissed with no inhibitions and right in there finding out what it could do. Nobody seemed to mind. I recall giving Rooster a print of him on drums from this session. Some of the guys would visit us at our home in Wortley village. We'd play Trivial Pursuit and drink my home made beer. Wasn't that a time? 

These would have been available light push processed film (probably HP5, I'd have to dig out the negs to be sure). Developed in our basement darkroom probably days or weeks later. My 2015 notes in this blog suggest this might have been 1983 but that would have been a guess. See that entry for more photos.

Usually I'd prune an album down to just the few photos I'm especially proud of and there are several here I really like. The close up above of Markii playing would make a great T-shirt. Dave is more encyclopedic in his choice of photos to share. But for an historical record here it is. Many thanks to Dave for his work organizing these photos and figuring out the location and time for many of these.

Ps. I've convinced Dave to stop using superlatives like "ace photographer". Kate thinks he means "ace" as in the movie "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" starring Jim Carrey.

— 2024/12/21 I have moved this post to the approximate date of the event ... sometime in 1984

Idiot Savant, LRAG

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Our friend Dave O'Halloran (aka What Wave Dave on CHRW) has been sharing on Facebook, with our grateful permission, photos that we had taken of various bands back in the 1980's. Today, March 27, 2024, Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario:

 

"Here's another blast from the past from the lens of top notch photog Reg Quinton. This time we go to the London Regional Art Gallery (Museum London) to catch a high energy set by Idiot Savant circa 1984.

Some of you might remember them as Suffer Machine, a name they later adopted, released 2 excellent full length albums and appeared on several compilations.

Idiot Savant's sound was an amalgam of post punk, jazz, funk, freeform and just about anything else that caught their attention spans. Live shows were always high energy grooves, everyone on the dance floor and an all for one mentality with everyone having a great time!

This is another timely post as singer Peter Tangredi will be onstage this Saturday night at Palasad with the Wabi Sabis."

I recall this event — see my recollections on Suffer Machine at LRAG (2021) in this blog. It was unusual to have an event in the LRAG, I suspect it was to nurture young artists of all sorts. We were living in Wortley Village at the time and had a foster child/teenager. He took some pictures as well with a camera loaded with B/W. There are other photos from this event in my collection. I would date this as either 1984 or possibly 1985 (I recall buying a 1984 Hyundai to shuttle our forster kid around to court dates).

One of these photos, a tight head shot of Peter in full throat, appears in the Graphic Underground, a 2012 book by Brian Lambert celebrating the artists, posters and music of that period.

Many thanks to Dave for his work organizing photos and figuring out the location and time for many of them. As the years pass memories fade.

See also Idiot Savant on Discogs where I see they've cribbed a photo from this collection.

— 2024/12/21 I have moved this post to the approximate date of the event ... sometime in 1984

Terminals, Victoria Tavern

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Our friend Dave O'Halloran (aka What Wave Dave on CHRW) has been sharing on Facebook, with our grateful permission, photos that we had taken of various bands back in the 1980's. Today, March 26, 2024, Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario:

  

"Here's another post from the fantastic lens of Reg Quinton. Reg was right in on the action for these shots!

This time it's from the basement of the Victoria Tavern circa 1984 with the Terminals. There were a lot of great shows that happened in the basement of the Vic and probably even more in the big room upstairs! There were several out of town bands that played there as well and we'll document one in a future post.

This is a timely post as 2 members of the Terminals will be playing this Saturday at Palasad as part of The Wabi Sabi's CD release party.

David Clark Mike Timmins Reg Quinton"

These photos have been shared before — see more photos of and my recollections (2021) on the Terminals in this blog. I've done a bit of cropping on these.

Dave notes the members: Laurie Wedge (bass), David Clark (vocals and guitar), Mike Timmins (vocals and guitar), Pete Timmins (drums). Gosh they were all so young then.

Many thanks to Dave for his work organizing these old photos and figuring out the location and time for many of these events. I had scanned these photos years ago well after the events and had quite a collection of "unknowns" that Dave has been working on. His efforts are very much appreciated.

There are some very poor quality photos here, out of focus, etc., but there are a few gems. Usually I'd prune an album down to just the few photos I'm especially proud of. Dave is more encyclopedic in his choice of photos to share. But, for an historical record, here they are. We are happy to share.

— 2024/12/20 I have moved this post to reflect the date of the event (sometime in 1984).

St Valentines Massacre

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I posted a call for comments to the Facebook group 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario in April of '21:

"I have a few photos of 10,000 Screaming Apaches and Bits of Food from, I believe, a Valentine's Day event (1984) at St Stephens Hall in Wortley Village. Jeff Patterson, who was the voice of 10,000 Screaming Apaches has been helpful with his recollections of the band. Anyone else have recollections of either band or the event?

We used to live in Wortley Village and it would have been an all ages event."

I understand that this event had quite a few bands with the Terminals headlining and I believe The Dormant Checker Effect played as well. Although I haven't bumped into any photos of these other bands. ... as yet. I believe this event happened on the Saturday following Valentine's Day and have filed this in my blog for that date. I may be wrong, it might have been the Saturday before. See the poster in What Wave #24 p. 50 for a listing of bands.

10,000 Screaming Apaches had Jeff Patterson (voice). He recalls that, "we used to jam at The Practice Place at 9 High street where I lived with the drummer, Jamie MacLean (October Crisis, Magic Bin Men). The guitarist is Tony Stafford and the bass player is Pete Kenney. Tony went on to form The Finks." I understand that Pete Feend, who joined in the discussion thread, was in the Finks as well. He provided some links to YouTube videos the Finks had made.

Bits of Food had Charles Vincent on vocals/bass (extreme mohawk fame), Warren Pratten on guitar, Galen Curnoe on drums/guitar, Owen Curnoe synth/drums.  I believe that later that year Frank Shaw assumed the vocals role. See Mark Favro's BOF Brief History (and see Mark's comment below).

St Stephens (of Hungary) was a Catholic church at the corner of Bruce Street and Wortley Road right across the road from the Landon Public Library. We lived a couple of blocks to the west, this was our neighborhood. The church is long gone, a coffee shop and condominium building are in it's place. It was an odd place for a concert of this sort but I suppose they were trying to keep the younger ones in the church. I wonder how that plan worked?

Some of the comments and reactions from those who remember the event:

Keith Ruck recalls that "[it was in the] basement of St. Steven's church if I remember correctly. Fuck was everyone young! ... those were some damn good times. The all ages shows were the only ones I could get in to in those days."

Ruby Canterbury recalls, "I remember going to the gig, it was in such a weird venue"

Pete Feend wrote,  "I was there for 1st time seeing the Apaches. My old band Redline had done a few shows with Pack O' 3s and I was checking out the new band."

Mark Favro spotted himself dancing madly in one of the photos. In the photo above that's him in the green shirt. He looks like he's having some fun!

Ian Trotter says, "I was a fan, these guys had a couple catchy tunes. 10k Screaming Apaches up over the wall, some reggae based tune about a New War, cover version of My Old Man's a Fatso...yeah they were cool"

James MacLean (who drummed for 10,000 Screaming Apaches says, "Great pics never knew any existed of this show Charles Vincent [of Bits of Food] always had great hair then!" 

Dave O'Halloran's gospel of that period, What Wave #24, tells me these bands were short lived.  However, they had fun and made music. That's something to remember.

These photos are from scanned slides taken at the time. The slides were scanned back in 2012. The pandemic of 2020-21 has given me the time to sort through them and document the event. This note prepared April 30, 2021. 

St Stephens

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Our friend Dave O'Halloran (aka What Wave Dave on CHRW) has been sharing on Facebook, with our grateful permission, photos that we had taken of various bands back in the 1980's. Yesterday (August 3, 2024) Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group:

"Some more Reg Quinton pics, this time it's; 10.000 Screaming Apaches, Bits Of Food and the Terminals at the same show circa 1984.

Thanx to James MacLean for identifying the venue as St Stephens Church, It was at the south east corner of Wortley and Bruce and hosted a few live events."

These photos have been shared before, see my blog entry on the St Valentines Massacre (2021). There's a lengthy discussion there as we tried to figure out the who, what, where and why. I'll not repeat that here, go read it in the earlier blog. Suffice to say there's rather complete details on the bands that performed and how we happened to be there. St Stephens church was torn down sometime after we left London. It's shops and apartments now.

There is one photo here of the Terminals that I had not shared before — it's out of focus. One fan recognized that it would have been Lori Wedge on bass (her back is to the camera). Dave is more of an archivist than me and likes to share all of the photos. That's fine by me!

— 2024/12/20 I have moved this post to the approximate date of the event.

Great Gallery Gig

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Our friend Dave O'Halloran (aka What Wave Dave on CHRW) has been sharing on Facebook, with our grateful permission, photos that we had taken of various bands back in the 1980's. Today,  August 4, 2024, Dave writes in 1980's Punk Rockers in London, Ontario group:

"Here's some more Reg Quinton pics, this time it's the Great Gallery Gig held at Museum London (then called London Regional Art Gallery) circa 1984.

Pictured are; Omerta, Bits Of Food and Dormant Checker Effect. Big Thanx to Mark Favro for identifying the bands."

Page Graham comments: "Holy Shit! Jeffrey and Philby...my radio co-hosts! I'm betting it's me dancing in between them, but the photo is obscured by the sax player. Keep 'em coming, Reg! I have ZERO photos of myself from this era. There's gotta be one in your archive..."

These photos, and more, appear with some discussion in my blog post Suffer Machine at LRAG (2021). I see that many of these slides show some deterioration. Mold grows on slides and leaves spots. Worse than dust or scratches as you can tell the film emulsion is rotting away. These were probably slides that we had developed ourselves.

Many thanks to Dave for his work organizing photos and figuring out the location and time for many of these. My 15 minutes should be over soon ....

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See also, Youtube videos shared by Mark Favro

• Dormant Checker Effect, Mutation Live (1984)
• Bits of Food, Live LRAG (1984)
• Omerta, Live LRAG (1984)
• Lubatunes, Great Gallery Gig (1984)

2024/12/20 I have moved this post to the approximate date of the event.