When I was a teenager growing up in Winnipeg, one of my favourite Canadian bands was Coneyhatch. I really liked their straight-ahead rock, and a couple of buddies of mine thought we were on the ground floor of something special when I came home with Coneyhatch's first record in 1981, which featured Canadian rock staples of the day like "Devil's Deck," "Hey Operator," and "Monkey Bars."
Over the years, my affinity for the band and its members continued -- I was lucky enough to meet Andy Curran a few times and see him perform as a solo artist and as a member of SoHo 69. Anyone like "No Tattoos?" He also wrote a bunch of lyrics for songs that appeared on Kim Mitchell's solo album Kimosabe, which I always thought was underrated. Curran's name pops up here and there because he now works with Rush and their record company.
I also chatted once over the phone with Carl Dixon -- he went on to play with April Wine and the Guess Who. He performed as a solo artist too, releasing a couple of CDs that didn't exactly put him on the proverbial rock map. But he continued to be a busy musician -- he often played an acoustic set and opened for other bands, April Wine included. I saw him open for the Killer Dwarfs at a club in 2001, and his version of "Pinball Wizard" was really good.
I was stunned to learn of a fundraiser happening at the Phoenix in Toronto -- seems Dixon was in a car accident in Australia. I really don't know any details, but it's cool that a bunch of Dixon's old friends from the '80s have stepped forward here. With Curran performing with Helix, Brighton Rock, Russell Graham from the Killer Dwarfs, it should be an interesting show for those of us to still sometimes pine for Canadian rock from the 1980s.
Here are a couple of links that will tell you more.......
Stay tuned for tomorrow's posting and the regular Thursday rundown of what's happing in the clubs in the Queen City this weekend......
http://www.topix.com/forum/ca/toronto-on/THJP0VJEC9V259HK6
http://www.bravewords.com/news/95683
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