A couple of pictures because.
Thornhill Fire
The fire at Thornhill Country club in 1971 - this is the curling rink.
Toronto Bands
Below are some photos of Toronto based bands from the late 1960s and early 1970s and some related tracks from the era. First up, 3 characters from the Toronto music scene: Bill Graham, Bernie Fiedler, Bernie Finkelstein.
The original lineup of Three's A Crowd was Brent Titcombe, Donna Warner and Trevor Veitch - originally from Vancouver they moved to Toronto in 1966. Their first single was the above Bound To Fly. This is taken at the Riverboat in 1965:
Brent Titcombe, Donna Warner and Trevor Veitch.
These shots are from 1966:
The Stitch in Time was the resulting of merging an Amherst band The Continentals (Donnie Morris and Pinky Dauvin) with a Nova Scotia band The Untouchables (Bob Murphy, Grant Fullerton and John Yorke). They moved to Toronto and became The Stitch In Tyme and the first single in 1966 was Dry Your Eyes / Point Of View.
Bob Murphy, Donnie Morris, Grant Fullerton, Pinky Dauvin and John Yorke.
The Paupers in 1967 around the time of the release of their first LP (Magic People), when they were back from touring the US. At New York’s Cafe Au Go Go from February 21-March 5 they supported Jefferson Airplane and by accounts stole the show. They played Monterey Pop June 16 1967 and the combination of mechanical failures and a bad acid trip spelled their demise (no footage appears to have survived). Skip Prokop went on to co-found Lighthouse.
Denny Gerrard, Skip Prokop, Adam Mitchell and Chuck Beal.
Kensington Market in 1968 consisted of (left to right) Jimmy Watson, Gene Martynec, Luke Gibson, Keith McKie, Alex Darou, They put out two albums (Avenue Road and Aardvark) and by 1970 had disintegrated. The single "I Would Be The One" went to #59 in the 1968 top 100.
Kensington Market in Kensington Market.
This is Sugar Shoppe at the Friar's in 1967. The group was made up of Laurie Hood, Lee Harris, Peter Mann and Victor Garber.
Carole Pope: "I'd fantasized about dragging Sugar Shoppe into a back alley and slapping them around because they were so insipid. But Garber had an amazing voice."
Luke Gibson, when he was a solo act in 1969. He was a member of Luke and the Apostles (who opened for Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead at Nathan Philips Square on July 23, 1967) as well as Kensington Market, after which he went solo.
Robbie Lane and the Disciples at the Friars in 1970. They started as Ronnie Hawkin's back up band, had a couple singles, and ended up as the band for Canadian CTV-TV's It's Happening.
Robbie Lane at the Friars.
Syrinx - John Mills-Cockell, Alan Wells, Doug Pingle and Malcolm Tomlinson in 1972. John Mills-Cockell was a member of Kensington Market (for their second album Aardvark) and a pioneer of the Moog synthesizer. Syrinx put out 2 albums (Syrinx and Long Lost Relatives). They were on of the first bands to use a synthesizer in live concerts; they opened for Miles Davis, played with Ravi Shankar and had a hit with Tillicum.
Images courtesy of the Toronto Digital Archives.
Suddon Collection
Here is part of the Suddon Collection of posters from the rare book collection on 5th floor of the Toronto Public Library - worth a visit.
Rough Trade
Images of Carol Pope and Rough Trade from 1975.
From left: Sharon Smiles, Carole Pope and Jane Cessine.
All images courtesy of Toronto Public Library.
Vancouver's Town Fool
Kim Foikis
The Fool
Joachim (Kim) Foikis was the official Town Fool of Vancouver.
On April Fool's day 1968 he received a $3,500.00 grant from the Canada Council to "to revive the ancient and time-honoured tradition" and so became Vancouver's Town Fool for one year. His aim was to “mock the four pillars of society: money, status, respectability, and conformity.”
In 1968 he visited Toronto City Hall:
He tried to get Toronto mayor William Dennison to wear the jester's hat and ended up getting kicked out. Foikis was apparently extremely skilled at his job.
The gathering out front of City Hall.
He visited again in 1969 for the Rochdale College annual Summer Festival - this is taken out front of the college:
On April 27 1969, he spent the last of his Canada Council grant on a party in Gastown for Skid Road residents.
He eventually lived in Rochdale College in 1974 and 1975.
He died in 2007 and the stories vary.
"I want to revive the fool of joy. I want all the world to be a stage - and get every other fool to laugh in the face of death."
Images courtesy of Toronto Public Library.