Sometimes I write because I have the time and then I just see what comes out. Other times I am compelled by an idea. Generally I don’t do either lately because I have been pouring those thoughts into music or into the ears of my friends. But…now am truly compelled to write about something that happened on Friday.
=”http://www.hardstockforscottyhard.org/”
You can click on that last link for all the pertinent details. My friend…and a friend and fellow musician to many musicians in New York and Vancouver was badly injured and in need of help. He lives in the US and has no medical insurance. I am sure most of you know this is a bad thing if you are ever seriously injured and hospitalized for a long period.
It would be really hard to give you a full rundown of the how the whole event played out but I will attempt to describe the feeling of the event. Our goal was to raise the maximum amount of money for Scott. We did that. Sold it out. A minimum of expenses and lots of donated merchandise. That wasn’t all we got out of it. We got the biggest reunion and union of a Vancouver scene that began somewhere around 1978. I am ballparking it now because their were participants from the scene that came before that and from the times up through the early 90’s. My job was to put together a motley crew of performers from that time to perform as a “superband”. Usually those things don’t go so well but I can tell you it went well. Many thanks to the other Hard Ones: Doug Elliott, Pat Steward, Simon Kendall, Colin Nairne, Neil Osborne, Dave Genn, Dave Ogilvie, Brad Merritt, Paul Hyde, John Mann, Harlan Daumann, Barney Bentall, Dustin Bentall, Colin James, Ra McGuire, Connor McGuire, Wendy Bird, Brian Smith, Blair Calibaba, Tom Harrison and Brian Gibney.
After the bands started playing at 7pm you could feel something happening in the room and the vibe started to build through the night. Every time you turned around there was another gasp of surprise and joy to see someone you hadn’t seen in a long time. As Scott himself said, “it goes to show we had something special back then”. We were there to support one another when we were hammering it out in the clubs and learning how to do this rock n’ roll thing and we are still there for each other when push comes to shove. All my residual anger at the arrogance and complacency of this town is now gone. As some of you know I am ambivalent about this place. We smuggly market this place as the most beautiful spot on earth and never realize that beauty is determined by the people and the way they behave. During Hardstock it was proven that the people rose to meet that ideal. I thought our generation was a little too anti everything and self conscious but as we’ve all become wiser that whole veneer strips away. I felt like I was levitating.
Icing on the cake was my opportunity to fully take in the Pointed Sticks. One of the greatest bands EVER to come out of this country. Great songs and great people. If you don’t know about them and their history then go here.
http://www.thepointedsticks.com/