The older British guy in the photo store at Walmer and Bloor said when he was in college he used to watch Brian Jones at gigs. He isn’t bragging or looking for attention, came out when I wondered if he attended anything by any of the English legends at that time. Couldn’t help asking after realizing he was in his 20s in the 1960s in London. Fun to get closer to anyone who was at historical intersections. When I realized Lenny Breau lived in Winnipeg in the 60s I asked every hippie I met if they saw him. Very exciting to hear personal twisted stories about where he lived on Redwood, his musicianship and heroin problem. Same thing when I realized Neil Young went to Kelvin high school but the only person ever encountered who knew him was the neighbourhood bank manager. I was 15, inquiring about a loan, just wanted to figure out how anyone could come up with $500 to buy a Prophet 5 in order to make the cool sounds Jerry Harrison did on More Songs About Buildings and Food or the first Modern Lovers record. Bank manager said
“You want to know about a loan for buying an instrument?”
“Yes”.
“I’ve known people who made it and people who didn’t, take it from me you shouldn’t bother.”
“Who did you know who made it?”
“Neil Young” he said and added “I used to play in band with him.”
“You were in The Squires?” asked wide eyed. Long pause, pleased and surprised a kid heard of The Squires. For a second was no longer the bank manager.
“I was the drummer”.
10 years and 3 Junos later I went back to that bank looking for him so I could brag about not taking his advice. The tellers gave me such mean suspicious looks when I asked if they remembered him or knew where he worked now. They had no idea they were talking to a guy who knew a guy who used to play with Neil Young.