A WALK THROUGH ROCK
Book explores great Canadian acts
Such was the depth of music talent in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, some of the best bands in the country were playing at your high school dance or local community centre.
In 1960s Ottawa, the Esquires were hot, earning a fat $300 per band member for weekly gigs. Drummer Richard Patterson, who died in 2011, was living well, a teenager taking taxis around town. Then, in the mid ’60s an Esquires manager insisted they do Beatles covers.
“So, we put on the wigs and Beatle boots one night and did four or five Beatles tunes,” Patterson says in a new book, As the Years Go By: Conversations with Canada’s Folk, Pop & Rock Pioneers.
“It was the worst thing we could have done. It was like crucifying ourselves in front of our fans.”
The shooting star experience of The Esquires was typical of the fleeting fame of myriad bands and solo acts from this era, as documented by authors Mark Kearney and Randy Ray (a former Citizen freelance writer).
In their prime, The Esquires would tour with the Beach Boys, Rolling Stones and Dave Clark Five, produced seven singles and an album. Later band members included Bruce Cockburn and Ted Gerow, who went on to be a keyboard player for Ottawa’s own Five Man Electrical Band.
Yet true stardom eluded them after The Esquires lost their originality in the tidal wave that was the British Invasion.
Background colour on The Esquires and about 140 other musical acts can be found in this gem of a collection. Like so many Canadian ideas, the concept was born on a cottage dock, Ray’s getaway in the Kawarthas, in the late 1980s. Over a beer, Kearney had noted a Rolling Stone magazine where-are-theynow feature on The Young Rascals.
Kearney pitched the concept of profiling Canadian acts like Lighthouse, Bobby Curtola and Mashmakhan (whose hit As the Years Go By became the book title). Ray was keen. So the duo turned the idea into a string of syndicated music columns appearing regularly in Canadian newspapers.
Without the benefit of internet or Google searches, Ray and Kearney interviewed every artist, or a band member or two, for their column series. So many musicians worked with multiple bands, it led to contact leads and more interviews.
Nearly two decades later, the writers reflected once again, updating much of their original research for this book, the 10th by the so-called Trivia Guys. Their interviews from the 1980s and early ’90s are becoming more precious as we lose some of these great musicians — including Denny Doherty of the Mamas and the Papas and Skip Prokop of Lighthouse.
The stories and band names will stir emotions for boomer rockers. Younger, modern artists might relate to the tales of broken record deals, nasty breakups and nearmisses of stardom.
For Ray, listening to a song by Stitch in Tyme, the Ugly Ducklings or Steel River is poignant on many levels. Ray’s first date with his high school sweetheart, Janis, was on Dec. 20, 1969, (trivia guy knows dates) to see Luke and the Apostles at Porter Collegiate in Scarborough.
Ray and Janis attended Wexford Collegiate together, later married and had three sons. Janis died of cancer two years ago in Ottawa. For Ray, and for others who came of age in the ’60s and ’70s, memories of music and high school dances prevail even as the years go by.
“The Paupers did If I Call You by Some Name,” Ray says, of the hit single.
“Janis and I danced to that in the gym, under the basketball net. Every time I hear that song I think back to the gym at Wexford.”
Another favourite — the Ugly Ducklings with Just In Case You Wonder.
“I challenge you to find a better lead guitar solo than in that song,” Ray says. “Unbelievable.”
Ottawa ties include journalist Sandy Gardiner, who coined “Beatlemania,” guitarist Gene Cornish (Young Rascals), David Bradstreet, Colleen Peterson, Les Emmerson and more.
As the Years Go By is available as an e-book on Amazon ($7.99), soft cover ($19.99) at triviaguys.com or randyray@bell.net (to avoid shipping).
Ray will be at the Indie Authors Book Fair on Saturday Dec. 9, from 2-6 p.m., St. David and St. Martin Church Hall, 444 St. Laurent Blvd.