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We have travel photos, souvenir collections, family reuinions, band
info etc.
Brandon 14th St.
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In the fall of 1971 Bev was
pregnant
and we decided we needed something a bit roomier than our 19th St.
basement suite. We found a second floor suite but it was ugly and
dirty. No problem! A work party came to the rescue! Jerry, Betty,
Donna, Dave, Jerry August and Betty Mae Campbell helped us scrub the
place down. We then got the landlord to chip in for paint and went
crazy. Blue bedroom, purple baby room with pink trim, stairway with
alternate steps painted blue and yellow.
I was working at Beaver
Lumber
until
November, then we were both unemployed for the winter. Great times! I
was quite busy playing in the band and we seemed to have no trouble
filling the hours. How did we do it? There was but one channel
available on our 12 inch black and white television, and one radio
station that played modern music (Only late at night as I recall.)
There was time to read, to sleep in, to play cards and watch re-runs of
Get Smart before supper.
Bev has a fond memory of waking up
when
I got
home from some gig and sharing leftover steak from supper. She seems to
think it was a regular occurance, but I don't think we had steak that
often.
To say that we weren't bothered
with a
consumer ethic would be understating it. I remember having the
opportunity to add to our income by working for the Post Office during
the Christmas rush, but when it came right down to it, we valued our
time more than we valued the extra income.
The clean-up crew.
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Other memories...
We had a New Year's Eve Party
for
the
band before playing at Souris. I remember the gig, because we taped
it, and because my band mates were quite impressed with our apartment.
The consensus seemed to be a bit of surprise as to how two people who
didn't work, managed to live so well!
Of course the big
event of
1972 was the arrival of Jonah Blair Storie on April 14. By March I had
started work at Grayston Hatchery (Again ! - it was the third of five
springs that I spent helping the Graystons with the care of thousands
of newborn chicks. It was just an opportunity that was there when I
seemed
to need it each spring.) In any case, after accompanying Bev to the
hospital on that fine spring morning, and seeing that nothing
seemed to be happening, I checked in at work. When I finally rushed
back (on my bicycle as I recall) Jonah had made his appearance.
It goes without saying that Jonah
was
the
centre
of our life that summer, and being the first grandchild on either side
of the family, he was one popular guy. (He still is.) But life did go
on. I finished at the hatchery and got a job at an B.A. Robinson, an
electical wholesaler as a shipper/receiver. Although bands like ours
were often not quite as busy in the summer, that year we had the
opportunity to be the house band at Danceland in Clear Lake, which saw
us there most weekends.
Note the rug - hand sewn from cheap samples.
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Ken, outside our 2nd floor suite on 14th St.
in 1972.
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We went with Leigh and Carol to see The Ides
of
March. They
had one hit (Vehicle), and they had impressed some friends at the
Led
Zepellin concert a year or so earlier.
Although their use of horns set
them apart from many rock acts. it was
their manic guitarist who stole the show. Attached to his amp by a
super-long curly cord he started the show bounding back and forth
across the stage. Sure enough, in the middle of the first song he
stepped on the cord and disconnected. Wireless rigs soon ended that
problem.
Gypsy impressed us and Blind
Justice
decided to cover one of their songs.
Blind Justice
- At the Souris Park Bandstand. 1972.
Ken, Paul Solon, Leigh Moore, Garth Scott, Jamie
Durward, Barb Good, Dave Hasselfield (out to the right.)
Leigh and I
re-connected via
e-mail many decades later. Jamie contacted me recently – he lives in
Calgary and directs movies as a retirement career. Barb became a
teacher – and I worked with her in Souris for many years. Dave is in
Winnipeg and we are Facebook contacts. I see Paul from time to time in
Brandon and Bev and I saw his current band in 2020.
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