Tags
#70s, #bands, #bars, #CNTower, #Goddo, #HouseofLords, #localbands, #MasterJohns, #MaxWebster, #PicadillyTube, #QueensburyArms, #Rush, #TheGenerator, #Torontointheseventies, #Triumph, #YongeSt, comedy
I’m going to take you back now….to the ’70s. A 2-4 of beer was $5.25! A pack of cigarettes…..50¢! The CN Tower was being erected…which is what Scott and I were hoping for as we headed out to pick up “chicks”. Long hair, polyester shirts, platform shoes, and tight pants; you had your hair done at The House of Lords and you bought your boots at Master John’s. Yonge Street was mecca. The bars, the bands, the styles…we lived for Friday and Saturday nights when we’d head out to see some local bands. One of our favourite haunts was The Picadilly Tube – a $2 cover charge let you see some fantastic bands like Max Webster, Rush and Triumph. It was a great time for music! The Generator, The Gasworks, The Queensbury Arms were just some of the venues with great entertainment.
I hate to admit it but, just as you girls always thought, we used to play a game in the bar- a dare really – where your mates would egg you on to ask a girl to dance. We didn’t care what she looked like, what she was wearing, or who she was with – it was all about the dare. I remember one time my mates dared me to ask a girl who was sitting at a table with a bunch of big guys. All the tables were very close together so I had to sidestep my way through the crowd all the way across the room and, in front of the guys, ask her; “Would you like to dance?” Not surprisingly, she’d answer “No”. The guys she was with would start to laugh, my mates along with them, as I sidestepped my way all the way back to our table. When you did finally get someone to dance with you, who remembers that awkward moment when the band would hit a drum solo? You’d carry on dancing for a few minutes and then stop, look awkwardly at each other, shrug your shoulders, say “well, ok thanks” and go sit down. Or…the dreaded black light. You remember! If you were wearing white it would glow – loved it when girls wore white bras! I’d be dancing with someone, smiling away, then the black light would hit! I thought things were going well and wondered why I never did get a second dance with her. I didn’t find out until years later that capped teeth don’t show up under black lights so there I was smiling away like an idiot with no teeth!
I loved the Picadilly Tube, but soon we decided to upgrade, pay the $5 cover charge, and hit The Generator! Right away I noticed a table of guys and girls (mostly girls actually) laughing and drinking; it was THE party table! One of the girls, (who I later knew as Mary) came up to us at our table and, with her cigarette in her mouth, asked if we had a light. Cor! We’re in! Visions of the CN Tower came to mind. When she heard my English accent, she said her husband (we’re out!) was English and invited us to join her table. Scott didn’t want to; “how are we going to pick up chicks sitting with them?” he asked. I couldn’t believe it. “Are you nuts? They’re all at that table, come on!” So began my life-long friendship with the infamous Robert and his brother James. If you’ve read my previous blogs, you will remember Robert was part of the “Lack ‘o Nookie Trio” and over the years we had more laughs and fun times than I could list here. Robert and his brother would get into fights with EACH OTHER in the bar but if any of us tried to pull them apart, they’d join forces and start fighting us! They were wild, fun times; as Rod Stewart said “lots of drinkin’ and shaggin'” although in my case there was “more drinkin’ than shaggin'”. I can even remember, after one particularly rowdy night trying to pull Robert out the door of the club while the bouncer was pulling him back in to keep punching him!
This was also during the days where drinking and driving was acceptable, there were a lot less cars on the road, not that that means it’s acceptable but it was different times. Robert had a new small car, with a stick shift, and figuring he’d had too much to drink, he threw his keys to me (as if I was much better!). After winding my way down several circles in the Generator parking garage, my head still spinning, I headed out on the road. I got to the middle of the intersection at Yonge/Eglinton and the car stalled. Cars were honking and pulling right up to us on all sides – Robert and I jumped out, ran around the car (yes, like you see in the old movies) to switch places, and he was able to get the car moving.
A lot has changed since the ’70s; Picadilly Tube is gone, The Generator is gone but the bands still rock on!
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