Damned but never forgotten

The Hamilton Spectator
Thursday, April 5, 2001
By Glen Nott

Art imitates life. Life imitates art. If this was a competition, Art would win.

Art Bergmann, that is.

Assembled in one storied room in downtown Hamilton Saturday night will be, to borrow a Johnny Cash line, the mud, blood and beer of Canadian rock 'n' roll.

This is a group that can count scars on scars -- drugs, disease, Daniels (Jack), debauchery -- but none can count higher than the 46-year-old Bergmann.

Not that he'd want to. Bergmann's not really a numbers person. But here are some interesting ones:

1954: Born in British Columbia to Mennonite parents. Grew up in Surrey.

1977-'84: With bands The Schmorgs, the K-Tels, The Young Canadians, Los Popularos and Poisoned, helps create the West Coast punk scene.

1984: Bergmann's first solo album, Crawl With Me, produced by John Cale of The Velvet Underground, is released and goes gold in sales in Canada.

1989: Juno award (yep, they caught up) for most promising male vocalist for his work on the legendary album Sexual Roulette. The single is Faithlessly Yours.

1990: Plays role of burned out, gun toting rock god in Bruce McDonald's stellar road film Highway 61.

1993: Kicks heroin addiction, an experience that translates into another album, 1995's What Fresh Hell Is This?, a phrase borrowed from Dorothy Parker.

1997: Moves to Toronto.

April 4, 2001: Gets a day off from his job at Rancho Relaxo, a happening restaurant and nightclub in Toronto.

Bergmann and his band don't play out often, which makes this show that much more special.

"I played a show with Teenage Head in Estevan, Saskatchewan in the '80s," he said. "And I really love Tom (Wilson's) stuff."

Like all the best gutter-dwelling music giants -- the Paul Westerbergs, Iggy Pops, Tom Waits -- Bergmann keeps making music that is fresh and original, and far from the grasp of mainstream.

"I've never been stuck in the spiky hair days," he says. "I say play four chords, even five. People always fault me for my complex arrangements, but I get bored."

He listens to radio, but doesn't often like what he hears.

"I listen to 102 (The Edge), but most of the music sounds the same. There's no humour, and there's got to be humour.

"Dark humour, though."

There will be plenty of laughs Saturday, not to mention some remarkable history on display. Gord Lewis, Steve Mahon and Jack Pedler will serve as a sort of house band.

Wilson and Tim Gibbons will sit in with them for some Florida Razors and Shakers material. Later on, the Head will play with singer Frankie Venom front and centre.

Lewis has had the lads together for some practices, and things have gone swimmingly.

"I'm getting calls from Detroit and Buffalo about this one. It's basically sold out," said Corktown booking agent Dan Quinlan. "Somehow the word got out. It's the who's who and it's pretty neat."

And somewhere weaved into this mix will be the night's emcee, Toronto rock pioneer Nash The Slash. Awesome.

The Corktown Tavern -- where only the furniture is plastic.

He has a gig in Hamilton, then Toronto, and then another one hundreds of miles north of Calgary.

Yes, Texas born bluesman Sonny Rhodes, safe and plump from a winter away from the road, is back and criss-crossing the world in the name of, well, travellin' and playin' and singin'.

Rhodes, a legend of the pedal steel guitar sound and its unlikely marriage with the blues, plays the Hudson (233 King Street E.,) tomorrow night. Cover for the show is $15.

Tonight at the Hudson, it's One Step Beyond. Jazz guitarist Jake Langley is in on Saturday night. Cover for those shows is $5.

Sonic Unyon recording artists Sianspheric play Raven (69 Augusta Street at John Street) tomorrow night, and will soon be releasing a new album, titled The Sound of the Colour of the Sun. Expect it in June.

On Saturday night at Raven, Hamilton's FLUX A.D. and Dale Morningstar of The Dinner is Ruined combine for the best double bill of the weekend in these parts.

Morningstar, incidentally, had a big hand in Gord Downie's recent trip down poetry lane, the album and book Coke Machine Glow.

Downie, of course, is the dancing guy with the funny thing in his ear for The Tragically Hip.

Richard Baxter is a drummer. Boy, is he ever.

The Quebec musician has made an album, Baxter's Drum World, which features his world-record 115-piece drum kit.

The album is all drums. There are African tribal beats and a bongo duel, and the final two cuts are the the cat's whiskers for drum solo enthusiasts -- The Jazz Ghost of Buddy is a five-minute, 20 second solo on a four piece kit, while Percussion "Krock" Soup is almost 18 minutes of solo work on the full kit.

Need to know

What: Damned But Never Forgotten, a massive rock 'n' roll review

Who: Teenage Head (Gord Lewis, Frank Venom, Steve Mahon, Jack Pedler), Art Bergmann and Band, Tom Wilson, Tim Gibbons, Nash The Slash (emcee), Dave Byngham, Buckshot Bebee & The Sapphire Fly Band, and Spoiled Rotten

When: Saturday, April 7. Doors open at 9 p.m.

Where: Corktown Tavern, 175 Young Street, downtown Hamilton

Tickets: $10 in advance at Dr. Disc, Rave Records and the club, or $13 at the door