After the leaving THE PRIVATE EYES I went back to playing solo gigs and doing some studio as well as a little guitar modifying. I also worked in a piano rebuilding shop as a painter redoing finishes on black pianos. I was asked by a friend Kent Bonkoff whom I had been working part time with as a technician for the Quebec rock band OFFENBACH as well as the RCMP CONCERT BAND technical crew, to start a band. He had a bass player friend and I said I would tap my high school friend and drummer from the CLEARING days. So drummer/vocalist Brian Ward joined Kent Bonkoff on harmonica, guitar,sax and vocals with Dan Brasloff on bass and myself on vocals, guitar and piano to form LITTLE STICK.
LITTLE STICK was an absolutely fun band to play with. We originally rehearsed (again) in Brian Ward’s parent’s basement. Yes…still tapping mom and dad! It didn’t last too long and we moved onto the third floor of the condemned section of the building upstairs from CHATEAU MUSICALE where Kent worked and just next door from the famous STEVE’S MUSIC STORE down on St Antoine street in Montreal. We rented a run down rehearsal space and moved our B3 organ up the stairs with all our gear and started hammering out a repertoire. We played a mix of rock and roll tunes from RICK SPRINGFIELD to HUEY LEWIS and ZZ TOP. Down on the second floor was a real loud band we never got to know. the floor above us was the well known Montreal Punk band THE NILS and on the fourth floor was a guy who had set up a real comfortable hangout with all his music gear and lava lamps. He was living there illegally and was cutting and selling cocaine as well as freebasing most of the time.
We didn’t tour a whole lot. I was working at the piano shop as well as driving a truck at WEST ISLAND NURSERY which was a garden centre owned by my girlfriend’s dad so I could get away pretty easily. Both Kent and Brian had full time jobs so most of our gigs were what we call in-and-outs…where you load your gear drive out to the town you’re gigging in…set-up, play the weekend and head back home. We didn’t own any production gear so we rented all the time and I owned a van so most of our stuff fit in there. Of all the bands I played in this one was the most “teenager” style where we really didn’t have a plan…just flew by the seat of our pants all the time.
FIRE!
We had gained a pretty good reputation as a versatile band and good band but became known for another thing too. Fire seemed to follow us. On a freezing february point we had moved our gear out of the rehearsal place down on St Antoine to play the famous MAPLES INN in POINTE CLAIRE Qc. Several days later that building caught fire and was nearly destroyed. The fire had been unintentionally started by the freebasing occupant upstairs. if my memory serves right he was freebasing, had passed out and knocked his works over setting fire to the place. Also I believe it was a CHATEAU MUSICALE employee who ran up four flights of stairs and rescued the guy. While most of our gear was out for the MAPLES INN gig some stayed behind. When I went down to see the damage the front wall of the building had collapsed into the street and I could see the remains of our stuff covered in thick ice. Oh well…LITTLE STICK didn’t have insurance.
Next episode was THE MAPLES INN itself. Our gig there was great fun and when we finished the weekend we were told to pack our stuff and get it out. Well, we were gonna do that anyway so collected our money and off we went. Now…every band wants to be part of the legend that THEY were the last band to play THE MAPLES INN before it burned down and I’d like to say the same. But we were not, however a piece of my gear that we had forgotten there did get destroyed in that famous fire the next week on feb 7, 1985! I didn’t have insurance.
The EDGE
So…in 1987 when the EDGEWATER HOTEL, just down Lakesore Rd from THE MAPLES decided to close for good they laughingly said…”let’s get LITTLE STICK out of retirement for a reunion gig…everywhere they go either burns up or closes down”. It was a hell of a party. They paid us a fortune…so well that we took part of our money and hired an opening act to play before us! They sold everything in the place…chairs, tables, cash registers…everything. As a ‘thank you” the opening act bought a set of mounted Texas steer horns for me that are still hanging in my house today.