Ha ha, by a bizarre twist of timing - I have been putting together my life story (for my daughter more than anything else !) which has been quite the fun ride having been in the rock n roll business all of my life - and just yesterday I was entering a piece about playing at the El Mocambo in Toronto in 1977 !!! It is such a small world that we live in :)
Indeed! What a coincidence. Or more like a synchronicity. I'm going to try to dig up some pictures from my crazy days.
It is great that you are putting together your history for your daughter. I look back and think how cool it would be if I knew more about my family (grandparents, and great grandparents). I certainly plan to leave a stack of stories for my son.
I got the idea from my Dad - he had been in the British Army in the war, but he never ever spoke to us about his early life, he just kept it a hidden topic. So I only knew him from the time I was born. I think he felt our thirst for that knowledge and not long before he died, he started writing out his memories of his early life. It opened up such a great story, all of which were things I never knew about him. When he died, I managed to get it printed up into a little book - which we called 'The Life of Jack' - and we scraped up a bunch of photos from the days of the story - and had it ready in time for his funeral - we were proud of getting that done in time, but prouder of what he had done and who he was. I knew then that when my daughter came along (we adopted her from China when she was eighteen months old, so she has zero knowledge of her birthright past) that I had to give her everything I could so she has a thread to follow in life. Luckily I have kept a stack of diaries (remember them ??!) from my early days (quite revealing !) and also have a bag full of paperwork of tours I did and what have you - rock and roll mementos - but from them I am able to rebuild a ton of detail of things I did. When we are in the car and some song from the 70's or 80's (or 90's !) will come on, I will often chirp up with a story about my workings with the band or the song or the studio - I was blessed with being 'in the thick of things' in London during those decades - so I do have a ton of stories !! I know sometimes she rolls her eyes - not another one of Dads stories !! So I determined to actually authenticate the grand story, just so she knows they are for real :) And I have to say I have been absolutely loving the process......I am so far up to the end of 1978 and coming into the excesses (and high points) of the 80's - exciting times to come !!! It's funny but when you start a process like this, and you start scouring around for all the old photos and scraps of paper that show things that happened - it is exhilarating and exciting remembering information long forgotten about those days long ago. I hope I am doing it justice - time will tell !!
That is really cool what your dad started. It is history being passed on. With time I appreciate my parent's stories. I recall now my grandparents stories, how my grandpa ran from the Germans ( he was Polish). I wish I listened more now. Everything is historical. Your stories are a piece of history. I totally get the look on your daughter's face. There was a pic taken of Slayer doing a pose, and his daughter (Tom Araya's), looking at him like, "dad you are so not cool..." Lol.
I will be writing some of my wild stories here. They are purposely going to be behind a paywall so my son doesn't see them till he is 18. Lol. I second guessed myself with some things, but I think sharing genuine experiences even if they don't show you in the best light, serve to show a certain period of history and of that life. We all learn when we share authentically.
A small update - I used to manage Wang Chung in their infancy (early 80s) - but have always kept in touch with them - and they happened to be playing close to me last Saturday - so I took my daughter to see them and say hi and all that jazz - and it turns out they have just released a new record (yes I still call them records even though they are not) which was all recorded at El Mocambo quite recently. It is such a ludicrously small world - and I have always been fascinated by the old '7 degrees of separation' concept - it really does seem to hold true if you have the time and mental capacity to follow and research your paths of life !!
That is really cool. I keep in touch with some people. I bet if we went over a list of people, there would be a handful we met. Some places are totally gone. The Big Bop is gone. The downstairs was called the Kathedral, and I am the one who gave it the name. It started with K because hey, I like the letter K. The owner of the Big Bop now has a place in Etobicoke called the Rockpile. Some of the same people work there.
Ha ha, by a bizarre twist of timing - I have been putting together my life story (for my daughter more than anything else !) which has been quite the fun ride having been in the rock n roll business all of my life - and just yesterday I was entering a piece about playing at the El Mocambo in Toronto in 1977 !!! It is such a small world that we live in :)
Indeed! What a coincidence. Or more like a synchronicity. I'm going to try to dig up some pictures from my crazy days.
It is great that you are putting together your history for your daughter. I look back and think how cool it would be if I knew more about my family (grandparents, and great grandparents). I certainly plan to leave a stack of stories for my son.
I got the idea from my Dad - he had been in the British Army in the war, but he never ever spoke to us about his early life, he just kept it a hidden topic. So I only knew him from the time I was born. I think he felt our thirst for that knowledge and not long before he died, he started writing out his memories of his early life. It opened up such a great story, all of which were things I never knew about him. When he died, I managed to get it printed up into a little book - which we called 'The Life of Jack' - and we scraped up a bunch of photos from the days of the story - and had it ready in time for his funeral - we were proud of getting that done in time, but prouder of what he had done and who he was. I knew then that when my daughter came along (we adopted her from China when she was eighteen months old, so she has zero knowledge of her birthright past) that I had to give her everything I could so she has a thread to follow in life. Luckily I have kept a stack of diaries (remember them ??!) from my early days (quite revealing !) and also have a bag full of paperwork of tours I did and what have you - rock and roll mementos - but from them I am able to rebuild a ton of detail of things I did. When we are in the car and some song from the 70's or 80's (or 90's !) will come on, I will often chirp up with a story about my workings with the band or the song or the studio - I was blessed with being 'in the thick of things' in London during those decades - so I do have a ton of stories !! I know sometimes she rolls her eyes - not another one of Dads stories !! So I determined to actually authenticate the grand story, just so she knows they are for real :) And I have to say I have been absolutely loving the process......I am so far up to the end of 1978 and coming into the excesses (and high points) of the 80's - exciting times to come !!! It's funny but when you start a process like this, and you start scouring around for all the old photos and scraps of paper that show things that happened - it is exhilarating and exciting remembering information long forgotten about those days long ago. I hope I am doing it justice - time will tell !!
That is really cool what your dad started. It is history being passed on. With time I appreciate my parent's stories. I recall now my grandparents stories, how my grandpa ran from the Germans ( he was Polish). I wish I listened more now. Everything is historical. Your stories are a piece of history. I totally get the look on your daughter's face. There was a pic taken of Slayer doing a pose, and his daughter (Tom Araya's), looking at him like, "dad you are so not cool..." Lol.
I will be writing some of my wild stories here. They are purposely going to be behind a paywall so my son doesn't see them till he is 18. Lol. I second guessed myself with some things, but I think sharing genuine experiences even if they don't show you in the best light, serve to show a certain period of history and of that life. We all learn when we share authentically.
A small update - I used to manage Wang Chung in their infancy (early 80s) - but have always kept in touch with them - and they happened to be playing close to me last Saturday - so I took my daughter to see them and say hi and all that jazz - and it turns out they have just released a new record (yes I still call them records even though they are not) which was all recorded at El Mocambo quite recently. It is such a ludicrously small world - and I have always been fascinated by the old '7 degrees of separation' concept - it really does seem to hold true if you have the time and mental capacity to follow and research your paths of life !!
That is really cool. I keep in touch with some people. I bet if we went over a list of people, there would be a handful we met. Some places are totally gone. The Big Bop is gone. The downstairs was called the Kathedral, and I am the one who gave it the name. It started with K because hey, I like the letter K. The owner of the Big Bop now has a place in Etobicoke called the Rockpile. Some of the same people work there.
So glad to have found your writing. I’m so looking forward to reading and diving into your telos, and these insights. Thank you...
Thank you.