{"id":1666,"date":"2017-09-11T14:08:34","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T18:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/?page_id=1666"},"modified":"2019-11-25T18:35:53","modified_gmt":"2019-11-25T23:35:53","slug":"the-bands-of-thornhill","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/the-bands-of-thornhill\/","title":{"rendered":"the bands of Thornhill"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This is the final section of the blog post \u201chow the Queen Street West scene began, pt. 1: the Thornhill sound\u201d<\/a>]<\/i><\/p>\n

In the rec rooms, bedrooms, and garages of the \u201cThornhill weirdos,\u201d built upon a foundation of record collecting, TV viewing, and alcohol and drug consumption, emerged a number of musical groups \u2014 \u201cbands that lasted days, sometimes months and even years for some of us,\u201d as Martha Johnson remembers \u2014 that have been mostly lost to time until now. Former members have generously shared whatever visual and audio evidence of these groups remains (and I ask anyone else to share other documentation, as a comment to this post or in an email to me). Still, the material below is largely suggestive. While they seem audacious and in some cases unintentionally hilarious, none of the bands mentioned in this first blog post had themselves any major historical influence. Rather, what\u2019s remarkable is the level of DIY creativity, social reimagination, and collective goading that these groups embodied, as well as the later movement of a number of individuals into the Queen Street West scene years later.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thornhill Secondary bands<\/i><\/p>\n

Naturally, I begin with Steven Davey\u2019s groups. His friend John Corbett notes that Steven came to Thornhill with some early band experience already.<\/p>\n

Steven came from Montreal, so he was in a band called Grippen Mire \u2014 I\u2019m sure somebody told you about that one. It seems to me Grippen Mire appears in a Sherlock Holmes book. It\u2019s a real place in England. And they just liked the name. [John Corbett]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I estimate that by 1968 \u2014 within a year of arriving in Thornhill, and two years before graduating at grade 13 from Thornhill Secondary in 1970 \u2014 Steven Davey had found several outlets to express his musical ideas. He wrote songs and performed them solo on guitar. He found \u201creal musicians\u201d (in John MacLeod\u2019s words) like classmates Pete and Steve D\u2019Amico whose R&B group he played organ in. He taught songs to friends and goaded them into performing before others, even without the benefit of a formal group unit.<\/p>\n

I think [Steven] got me involved a lot in starting to play together in small trios. Like, I [was] in a trio with him, [but] I don\u2019t even know if we had a name. I think we played at, like, two parties. Me and Steven and another guy on drums; I\u2019m not even sure who that was, but I remember that was the first time I played together with an electric guitar. And we would play, I think I remember, we would play Pink Floyd \u201cAstronomy Domine\u201d for a half hour because it was very easy, and it sounded really cool, you know? [John Ford]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But he also formed bands, listed below in chronological order to the best of my understanding. The first two existed at the same time.<\/p>\n

The Teen Tempos<\/strong><\/span>: Steven Davey (guitar, vocals), Mary Ford (vocals), Sue LePage (vocals), John Ford (bass), John Betts (drums). This group drew upon the talents of two girls in the grade ahead of the boys. Mary Ford was John\u2019s older sister (they were two of nine Ford children).<\/p>\n

It was kind of like, in a way it was like forecasting the big revival of 50s music that was happening in the 60s. And they did \u201cBobby\u2019s Girl\u201d and \u201cDead Man\u2019s Curve.\u201d They did two or three songs like that, and they played it at this show in Thornhill.Yeah, Mary and Sue did costumes also, and they were like the back-up singers. [John Ford]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Teen Tempos are the only Thornhill band among this high school cohort with women as members until Martha Johnson took part in Marzipan in 1972 (see below). Until then, the Thornhill sound is pretty much a boy\u2019s club. Interestingly, Sue LePage kept up with costume-making after Thornhill Secondary and is now a celebrated costume and set designer<\/a> in Canadian theater.<\/p>\n

And Sue LePage, very creative person; she was a major<\/i> person to us. She cut all our hair, you know what I mean? \u201cCome here you guys,\u201d and give us wild-looking hairdos back in those days. [John MacLeod]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a good time to note another Thornhill Secondary student from the same grade as Steven Davey, John Ford, and Martha Johnson: Dawn Eagle, who organized (with Granada Gazelle) the second-wave feminist \u2018fashion show\u2019 Glamazon<\/i> \u2014 a seminal event in the Queen Street art scene. More about that in my next post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Corbett Davey Gillison<\/strong><\/span>: John Corbett (bass), Steven Davey (guitar), Barry Gillison (drums). The trio\u2019s name echoes the law firm-style nomenclature of Crosby Stills & Nash, but in fact they played hard rock. This marks the first appearance of John Corbett, who vies in the Thornhill sound with Steven Davey for having the longest r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of QSW bands. John MacLeod elaborates on the context for these first two bands.<\/p>\n

So Steven always had a band, always had a great band. He was getting reviews from the time he was a kid. He\u2019d get up in the school show: he\u2019d play a song he wrote on his 12-string acoustic, then he\u2019d get up [in the Teen Tempos] with Mary and Sue and John Ford and this guy John Betts, who was this absolutely phenomenal drummer \u2014 big, tall gangly guy \u2014 and do some early 60s songs, like \u201cBobby\u2019s Girl\u201d and stuff like that. Way before Sha Na Na. And then he\u2019d get up in the end with John Corbett and another guy and play like a power-trio boogie rock thing [with Corbett Davey Gillison] to end the school show. That was Steven Davey, right? [John MacLeod]<\/p>\n

I if remember correctly, we only did four or five songs. There was some sort of thing in the school auditorium gymnasium thingy, and you know, it went well. It went really good\u2026. I mean as far as \u2014 it was just a one-off gig. Barry Gillison, the drummer, I think wanted to be a jazz drummer, and just did us a favor for that one thing. But then we started just doing stuff. [John Corbett]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Flying<\/strong><\/span>: John Corbett (bass), John Betts (drums), Joe Peters (keyboards), Steven Davey (guitar). Perhaps telling of the impermanence of this group is that my informants couldn\u2019t concur on its name \u2014 was it Flying? Or was it Moop? “It was a couple of names, if I remember correctly,” says John Corbett. “That one was pretty short lived, if I\u2019m not mistaken.”<\/p>\n

\u201cKinks inspired,\u201d remembers Owen Burgess of this group.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Flying: John Corbett, John Betts, Joe Peters, Steven Davey (l-r). Photo credit: John Ford. From Owen Burgess’ collection.<\/p><\/div>\n

I think [Flying] might have started off with John Corbett on bass but ended up being a guy called Joey Peters on keyboards, who was a Thornhill guy. He kind of came from the same \u2014 Thornhill got sprawled out with the suburban thing developing. So these guys were way out east in Bayview Glen kind of thing\u2026 They played around, and it was kind of like after Corbett Davey and Gillison. And I do remember, common to what Ford was saying, that \u201cAstronomy Domine\u201d was always dragged out, so it was that kind of material. [John MacLeod]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unity Theatre<\/strong><\/span>: Johnny MacLeod (guitar), Carl Finkle (organ), Dean Moffatt (vocals), Peter Atkins (guitar), David Kirkland (bass), David Franklin (drums). Unity Theatre marks the first appearance of Carl Finkle, Johnny MacLeod, and Owen Burgess; the Thornhill sound now draws from the Thornhill Secondary classes after Steven Davey, Martha Johnson, John Corbett, and John Ford.<\/p>\n

The first sort of real group we had, we played at an annual function at the high school, you know, they put on a huge musical kind of thing each year, and so we were the rock band\u2026 I always remember we did \u201cWhite Room\u2019 as our big number for that night.\u201d [Carl Finkle]<\/p>\n

There was another band called Unity Theatre \u2014 from the George Orwell 1984 book, I believe there was a Unity Theatre in that. That was Carl Finkle, myself \u2014 honorary member\u2026 David Kirkland was the bass player in Unity Theatre, and he would later on become a DJ, I believe, or roving news reporter, I\u2019m not sure which, for one of the local radio stations. At the time he had the primo job of working at the local donut place, so he could provide the bands with garbage bags full of donuts at the end of the day. So yeah, he had a special place in our hearts. Then there was a guy by the name of David Franklin in Unity Theatre who played drums. There was a guy called Peter Atkins, as in Chet Atkins. Now, Peter Atkins went on to become an ophthalmologist and is probably retired and living the good life by now. But he played a Chet Atkins Gretsch double anniversary guitar, and he could play his butt off. He was the most nerdy guy you\u2019d ever want to \u2014 if you ever want an opthamologist who\u2019s got great hand-eye coordination, that was a good thing. He could play that guitar like Chet Atkins. He could flip on the mutes, and it just brings a chuckle to me, because \u2014 oh, the last guy in the band, pardon me, was Dean Moffatt. He was the bass player and the lead singer. But Peter Atkins could play a song like \u201cWhite Room\u201d and make it sound like Chet Atkins was playing Cream, by flipping on the mutes and playing the riffs with these little felt mutes on his guitar. So he had a bizarre sound. [Owen Burgess]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Waco Pudding<\/strong><\/span>: Steven Davey (guitar), Johnny MacLeod (bass), Kirk Rae (vocals, saxophone), John Betts (drums). Approximate dates for Steven Davey\u2019s next band are 1970-71, overlapping with his first year at York University. Ambitions for this project ran high, as Waco Pudding recorded a cassette of original songs in Martha Johnson\u2019s living room (put to tape by Owen Burgess). What\u2019s more, the group performed on local public access TV! This can only mean somewhere there exists video recordings of Waco Pudding \u2014 stay tuned.<\/p>\n

Like, the cable TV thing came along, and they had no content, and they had no money for content. So a bunch of kids would come along, and they would say, \u201cWe\u2019ll provide content.\u201d \u201cSure, here\u2019s the keys,\u201d in those days. So, they got us up on a local cable TV show with this one band where it was all original material. And Mary Ford and Sue LePage would make stuff for us\u2026 Anyway, a long story short, for those few months where we had free rein on the cable TV station, we used to go on there and do a weekly segment on this talk show, you know, where we\u2019d do a couple of musical numbers and so forth. And that got enough attention that it kind of emboldened us. [John MacLeod]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Waco Pudding: John Betts, Johnny MacLeod, Kirk Rae, Steven Davey (l-r). Photo credit: John Ford? From Scott Davey’s collection.<\/p><\/div>\n

Now, I think the name Waco Pudding comes partly from MacLeod\u2019s and my obsession with Blue Cheer. And their producer was Abe Kesh, I think was the producer\u2019s name, and he called himself \u201cWoco\u201d [pronounces it \u201cvoco\u201d<\/i>]. It\u2019s Latin, right, or W-A-C-O in quotes in the middle, so it was Abe \u201cWaco\u201d Kesh. John was taking Latin, I think, and he was going, \u201cIt\u2019s \u2018voco,\u2019 right?\u201d And Vincebus Eruptum<\/i> [pronounces it \u201cwinky-boos eruptum\u201d<\/i>] was the name of the Blue Cheer album. [Owen Burgess]<\/p>\n

The guy who was lead singer taught himself to play sax, which is kind of a key element in that Thornhill music. Because the way he played sax is what the Dishes did and what Andy Haas [of Martha and the Muffins] did in some respects. Although Andy, those two guys are great players. But that sax sound was a Thornhill sound element, right? And it recurs through a few bands. [John MacLeod]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rhumba Kings<\/strong><\/span>: Jim Hughes, Ross Edmonds, Douglas MacLeod, Bill Priestman, Roly Stow, John Betts. I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s much significance to this high school group, a rival to Unity Theatre, except for, first, the exit of go-to drummer John Bett (who, according to Owen Burgess, \u201cshortly after high school departed for the west\u201d). Second, the Rhumba Kings introduces four names appear that will recur in the Thornhill sound: Ross Edmonds, Jim Hughes, Douglas MacLeod (Johnny\u2019s little brother), and Bill Priestman.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thornlea Secondary bands<\/i><\/p>\n

Among the network of Thornhill kids I\u2019ve described, the first from Thornlea Secondary is a doozy: the Dishes<\/strong><\/span>. Trailblazers of the Queen Street West scene, their origin story is so important, interesting, and entertaining, I need both this blog post and the next to do it justice. Here I note that the Dishes fit the pattern of the Thornhill sound described for the previous groups, despite jumping my timeline ahead a good four years. The Dishes started in 1975 as a songwriting concern of Scott Davey (Steven\u2019s younger brother) and Tony Malone (n\u00e9 Anthony Seeley), two friends living in the new subdivision and attending high school a grade apart.<\/p>\n

[Tony] and I played in his parents\u2019 basements, just the two of us, for about a year and then started to add in the other guys when we figured, \u201cOh we could have a band,\u201d because all we did was just play in his basement and make up songs and play whatever we want\u2026 We eventually had five guys there in the basement making lots of noise. Like, you know, as soon as you have a drummer you\u2019re making lots of noise\u2026 Murray [Ball], who was our singer, who was a friend of ours, decided that he had to be there doing it too because he\u2019s our friend \u2014 and Murray\u2019s, you know, a persuasive guy, and so he wanted to be our singer. And my friend Ken [Farr] who I\u2019d been going to school through since I was in grade nine decided that he wanted to be in our band too, and he would learn how to play bass. And Murray decided that Michael Lacroix, who was a friend who he was dating at the time because they were gay men as well, had to be in our band even though he played nothing. And Michael decided that he would learn how to play saxophone from scratch and would take lessons to be able to play\u2026 And then he was in the band, and my brother Steve went, \u201cYou gotta have a drummer, and I have no band, and I want to be in your band.\u201d And that was it. [Scott Davey]<\/p>\n

Before we had a band we just hung out at my place constantly. We didn’t hang out at Scott’s place, it was not a friendly place for a kid’s party. Murray’s place was the friendliest place because his mom was amazing. She just adored us. So when we were sitting around we could smoke joints right in their living room. She preferred he would smoke at home rather than be out somewhere where he might get in trouble. And then she would sit with all of us with the biggest most beautiful smile on her face, giggling. Because she thought we were all the cleverest most inspiring bunch of kids that she’d ever met. And she genuinely loved us. So going to Murray’s place was absolutely the most comfortable. Mine was the creative place. Mine was where there was a piano and where we made music and could set up in my basement and make a bunch of noise. And Ken’s parents were lovely, but he had very little space. So we all had been to Ken’s many times, but his room was the smallest of any of us. So it’s like if you put two of us, three of us into his room, it was absolutely packed. So it wasn’t really a hang out place, but it was in the basement, and we eventually did co-op part of his basement for our band rehearsals. [Tony Malone]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Dishes: Scott Davey, Murray Ball, Ken Farr, Tony Malone, Steven Davey, Michael Lacroix (l-r). Photo credit: unknown.<\/p><\/div>\n

Steven\u2019s joining was the key moment for the Dishes because by this point he had left Thornhill a good five or so years previously; the milieus he had since joined and the people he met \u2014 the subject of my next blog post \u2014 made all the difference in the Dishes\u2019 short career. That said, the young Dishes were well embedded in the networks and pastimes of their older friends and siblings.<\/p>\n

One day after I had learned to play for about six months, I got to go with my older brother Steve to Martha\u2019s house, you know, and play with his friends and jam in their basement. So that would\u2019ve been like Martha and John Macleod, and maybe Owen Burgess, and my brother Steve. And I can remember, like, you know, they were gonna play, so they had a couple of amps in Martha\u2019s basement. And I can remember my brother Steve, who was a hipster, you know \u2014 we would all play a few songs that they knew, and my brother would want to play, like, Velvet Underground \u201cSweet Jane,\u201d because he\u2019s a hipster. And I can remember very distinctly Martha played \u201cMidnight Confessions\u201d by the Grassroots; that was the song that she wanted to play that she knew. And I knew \u201cWheels on Fire\u201d by Julie Driscoll; it was like the only song I knew, and we\u2019d kind of noodle along. But I can remember going and playing in Martha\u2019s basement as a kid. [Scott Davey]<\/p>\n

I was a really close friend of [David Johnson, Martha\u2019s] younger brother. I used to come over\u2026 They would have Tubular Bells<\/i> there; they would have the first Roxy album. I remember this really vividly: they would have the latest thing. [Glenn Schellenberg]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Schellenberg was the last member to join the Dishes, replacing Tony in early 1977 when he left just before the band was scheduled to enter the studio to record its first EP \u2014 the first vinyl to come out of the Thornhill sound. Incidentally, Schellenberg\u2019s recollection of Roxy Music\u2019s eponymous 1971 debut album confirms the British group as a common influence on the Thornhill sound.<\/p>\n

I remember being at Mark [Davey, the third and youngest brother]\u2019s house, and Steven would come home, and he would be completely unfriendly to Mark, and to Scott. He\u2019d be wearing these mile-high platform shoes. And he had this incredible album collection\u2026 Scott [and Steven] had this weird relationship where they would both have to buy, you know, the new Roxy Music album or something, because they didn\u2019t share records well. And then all of a sudden they were, like, playing in a band together. So I never understood that, because Steven just seemed to have contempt for everybody. He was like this total, total hipster, and was also a very good friend of Martha\u2019s. [Glenn Schellenberg]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Before I move the timeline back to where we left the Thornhill Secondary kids, I\u2019d be remiss if I didn\u2019t acknowledge that Thornlea Secondary students have played an outsized role in Canadian music after<\/i> the Queen Street West era. In the late 1980s, Noah Mintz and Paul Hayden played together in a Thornlea band; by the beginning of the next decade Mintz went on to form the group hHead while Dresser recorded celebrated solo albums under the name Hayden. Thornlea schoolmates of theirs Jos\u00e9 Miguel Contreras, Mark Goldstein, Liz Teear and Steve Berman formed By Divine Right in 1989; in 1997 they would record their first album and, in the new century, enter the constellation of groups that feed into Broken Social Scene. Finally, Thornlea grads Mike Ford (John Ford\u2019s younger brother by ten years), Jian Ghomeshi (now a controversial if legally acquited figure<\/a>), and Murray Foster formed Moxy Fr\u00fcvous in 1989.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Marzipan<\/i><\/p>\n

After graduating from Thornhill Secondary in 1970 and 1971, many of the kids I\u2019ve discussed began their reluctant movement into middle-class adulthood. College in the Toronto area awaited most of them. Steven Davey, Chris Terry, and Carl Finkle enrolled at nearby York University (only fifteen minutes south from Thornhill); Finkle transferred to what was then Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University); Martha Johnson attended Centennial College; John MacLeod attended Innis College at the University of Toronto (where he met Andy Patterson, who later formed Toronto punk band The Government). Jobs were taken: MacLeod worked at the post office; John Ford, Owen Burgess, and Ross Edmonds worked for Mr. Ford Sr\u2019s filmstrips company; Martha held a lab job at U of T. Relationships were even cemented, with high school sweethearts Martha Johnson and John Corbett marrying in 1972.<\/p>\n

All the while, their emancipation from the suburban bosom of Thornhill varied. Some moved into the city while others (Johnson, MacLeod, Finkle) commuted from Thornhill for periods of time. It\u2019s worth remembering that in the early 1970s Toronto was emerging out of its \u201cToronto the Good\u201d shell in fits and starts. The heyday of Yorkville (which was only a weekend escape for most scenesters anyway) was over, and Toronto\u2019s several institutions of higher education didn\u2019t necessarily sustain a college-town ambiance for the city.<\/p>\n

With their lives and the city itself both in transition, many of the Thornhill kids would convene back home on weekends for their usual pastimes. This was the setting for Marzipan<\/strong><\/span>, a \u201cbubblegum\u201d group composed of Steven Davey (guitar, vocals), Johnny MacLeod (bass), Carl Finkle (organ), Martha Johnson (clarinet), John Corbett (drums), and Owen Burgess (\u201chonorary member\u201d). Marzipan is significant for at least two reasons, the first being that \u2014 despite lasting only a few months, and never performing live \u2014 the band reflected a new level of purpose among its members, drawing upon the momentum that Davey and MacLeod brought from Waco Pudding. Over several weekends in the cold months of winter 1972, the sextet created music and hatched schemes. They even commissioned their friend Jan Thornhill (later an acclaimed illustrator of children\u2019s books<\/a>) to take publicity photos.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Marzipan: Martha Johnson, Steven Davey, Johnny MacLeod, John Corbett, Carl Finkle, Owen Burgess (clockwise from bottom left). Photo credit: Jan Thornhill. From Owen Burgess’ collection.<\/p><\/div>\n

Marzipan was one of our things when we were getting a bit more serious. And Steven Davey and Martha wrote a couple of songs. Or I\u2019m not sure who actually authored what, but you see Steven had something to do with it. They wrote a song called \u201cOh Lovey Dovey.\u201d It\u2019s one of my favorite stories, because they wrote this song, \u201cOh Lovey Dovey,\u201d and recorded it in my basement. Then Steven and I got a bright idea, \u201cWe should take this to a record company, right?\u201d And I don\u2019t know how we got the gall up to do this, but I think Steven phoned up Quality Records, which was a small label in Toronto, and they said \u201cOh yeah, come on down.\u201d And so we went, \u201cThis is great, we\u2019re gonna\u2026\u201d So we go down to the place. It was so embarrassing. The guy was sort of dumbfounded, and he didn\u2019t like it at all. I mean, it actually wasn\u2019t a bad song quite frankly, in the long term sense. But anyways, that was our first movement into the music business [laughs]. And we got rejected by some of the smaller record companies. [Carl Finkle]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Second, Marzipan marks Martha Johnson\u2019s formal entrance into playing music after years on the sidelines watching the boys.<\/p>\n

Well, when I was going to Centennial College taking psychology, I took the first student loan I got and bought a clarinet. I bought a musical instrument because I was still really interested in music. I should have bought a guitar. [Martha Johnson]<\/p>\n

Marzipan had a home cassette recording that I quite liked and always reminded Steven about it because he and Martha had written a really nice song on it. [Tony Malone]<\/p>\n

Steven got me to try my hand at songwriting, which produced my first song \u2018Baby Please Come Home\u2019. It wasn\u2019t much of a song but it was a start. The name we had for this particular band we formed with friends was \u2018Marzipan\u2019, perhaps a foreshadowing of the band that would also adopt a food item in its name that would form much of my music career. [Martha Johnson<\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Thornhill sound was still largely unheard and unknown to Toronto, but its impact would grow in the coming years to a transform the city\u2019s music legacy. To do that, however, it would first need to relocate and incubate in downtown Toronto \u2014 at the Ontario College of Art.<\/p>\n

Next \u2013 how the Queen Street West scene began, pt. 2: OCA bands.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ROAD MAP TO QSW:<\/strong><\/p>\n

how the Queen Street West scene began, pt. 1: the Thornhill sound<\/a>
\nthe Thornhill sound
\nsuburban dream<\/a>
\nprecocious urbanites: the Ross sisters<\/a>
\nthe starmaker: Steven Davey<\/a>
\nthe bands of Thornhill<\/a><\/p>\n

how the Queen Street West scene began, pt. 2: OCA bands<\/a>
\nthe Thornhill sound leaves home
\n how art came to QSW<\/a>
\n Oh Those Pants! bring the Thornhill sound to OCA<\/a>
\n the Dishes open up QSW to new music<\/a>
\n punk and art: the Diodes<\/a>
\n the Thornhill sound set loose on QSW<\/a>
\n the last house band: Martha and the Muffins<\/a><\/p>\n

sources, citations and updates<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This is the final section of the blog post \u201chow the Queen Street West scene began, pt. 1: the Thornhill sound\u201d] In the rec rooms, bedrooms, and garages of the \u201cThornhill weirdos,\u201d built upon a foundation of record collecting, TV viewing, and alcohol and drug consumption, emerged a number of musical groups \u2014 \u201cbands that lasted days, sometimes months and even years for some of us,\u201d as Martha Johnson remembers \u2014 that have been mostly lost to time until now. Former members have generously shared whatever visual and audio evidence of these groups remains (and I ask anyone else to share other documentation, as a comment to this post or in an email to me). Still, the material below is largely suggestive. While they seem audacious and in some cases unintentionally hilarious, none of the bands mentioned in this first blog post had themselves any major historical influence. Rather, what\u2019s remarkable is the level of DIY creativity, social reimagination, and collective goading that these groups embodied, as well as the later movement of a number of individuals into the Queen Street West scene years later.   Thornhill Secondary bands Naturally, I begin with Steven Davey\u2019s groups. His friend John Corbett […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":308,"featured_media":1670,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1666","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/308"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1666"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2095,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1666\/revisions\/2095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}