Pointed Sticks!
I can’t continue my discussion of the greatest period of Vancouver music without mentioning Pointed Sticks. First, a video of the band playing in a Vancouver-shot movie, Out of the Blue.
This video shows them lip-synching to Out of Luck followed by a live performance of Somebody’s Mom. The camera focuses mainly on their one-time drummer, Ken “Dimwit” Montgomery, now deceased. I believe the scene was shot at the Smiling Buddha Cabaret, and it’s a great snapshot of Vancouver in its punk/new wave heyday.
I’ve got tickets for Saturday night’s reunion show at Richards on Richards, and a lot of old CITR retirees and scenesters will no doubt be in attendance.
If you can’t make the Stick’s show, then definitely go see Bev Davies photo retrospective of Vancouver punk at the Jem Gallery starting tomorrow. Bev was the concert photographer in those days, and I just bought her “Nardwuar vs Bev Davies” punk rock calendar for my wife and a friend.
Out of the Blue is a legendary film shoot from the days when Vancouver could barely scrape together one professional movie crew. Dennis Hopper directed this melancholy study of a teen girl (played by Linda Manz from Days of Heaven) from the wrong side of the tracks, who looks to lead the life of a punk rocker.
She meets a LOT of west coast lowlifes with ball-hugger jeans and bad haircuts (the 1970s Vancouver we all miss).
I met members of Hopper’s crew some years later, and to a person they all had serious substance abuse issues (apparently gained by working on that shoot).
You can rent the DVD of Out of the Blue at Videomatica. See also Google Video version of the Pointed Sticks.
Frank Frink
January 8, 2007 @ 4:42 pm
Hi Michael,
Hope you enjoyed the ‘reenactment’ at Richard’s.
That scene from ‘Out of the Blue’ was shot at a now unoccupied building/venue on East Hastings (800 block?) that was then called the ‘Viking Hall’.
Typical movie shoot – lots and lots of waiting around for something to happen (i.e. waiting for Hopper to get his nose of the powder).
Nice to see (the young) Dimwit there. What a drummer! Nick looks about 17. Hard to believe that’s about 26-27 years ago.
Michael Klassen
January 8, 2007 @ 9:35 pm
Wasn’t that an outstanding show? Funny to think they’re selling out halls in Japan, and in Vancouver the room was packed with 20-somethings singing right along with the old-timers.
Should also mention the backup band The Transmitters kicked ass. If anyone knows more about these guys, send me their MySpace or other links.