In 1965 Yorkville Village was alive with creativity. There were musicians everywhere, street-corners, back rooms, funky warehouses, and in those rooming houses most of us called home. One group that caught my attention was Ottawas, The Staccatos. Their song Its A Long Way Home threw an arrow in a homesick kids heart (I was 18 at the time). I still have that 45 and I played it over and over on many a lonely night in the dead of a Canadian winter. But, as luck would have it, the band changed their name to the Five Man Electrical Band and had a huge million selling hit in 1971 with Signs. And my fortunes had propelled me into a rising booking agency in Detroit called DMA. They had me booking bands across Canada and signing any of the new recording acts that were making a splash on the airwaves. One of the first bands I reached out to was this group from Ottawa, and the rest as they say is history, as we booked them across Canada and the U.S. But for me the best memories were sitting on the floor in my Yorkville rooming house, spinning a record that was uniquely Canadian, and warmed a young rebellious kids heart on those cold winter nights.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 13:18:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015