Oshawa's Last Night!

[UPDATE: MP3 at bottom of post!]

My good buddy D_W_ recently made me aware of his blog Everything Elevator; as I was perusing the archives there (full of awesome graphics), I came across the photographs above and asked if I could reprint them here. Mr. W_ generously agreed, and so here they is* - a couple of photos from the last time The Starkweather Fix ever played Oshawa, all the way back in July (18th) 1997.

The venue was one of the Polish Halls there (Banting? Olive? I can't remember), and it was quite the humdinger of an evening. Other than Ron the soundman, we were probably the oldest people there - the audience was all teenagers, pretty much. Crazy teens, wild energies, everybody into it. I remember most of the crowd being on acid. I know I was.

Anyways, in these photos we've got yours truly on the mike, and Mr. Dusty Bible on the guitar (also playing bass in Guitar Army). Dusty, for those of you who might not know, later moved to Nottingham, England, and was in a wicked crazy band called The Designer Babies. Apparently, he is now doing solo blues shows. I miss this guy something awful, he was great.

The drummer in the first shot is Mr. Jay Matuschka, who sadly perished while shooting the world's first combination surgery-porn film. He is missed. No, I'm just kidding, he's still with us. In the second shot here, he is replaced on the traps by Mr. D_W_ himself, who you'll recall from the first paragraph. I'll let you try and figure out what's going on here.

Billed as "Oshawa's Last Night", with a poster featuring then-Mayor Nancy Diamond that got some people upset, the show featured a bill for the ages: the droney Malediction (with Dusty's brother Paul, later of Shwa superstars Cuff The Duke), The Cleavers (by this point a trio, with Tex Ranger on bass and vocals), The Void (featuring Matt Mason, later of local legends Anagram), EOF (who I regret I can't say anything about, I think I was washing my dick while they were on, don't ask), The Starkweather Fix, and, headlining as I recall, the great Guitar Army (whose last show this was, I believe).

*D_W_ says the photos may have come from Julie, so thanks to Julie if this is so. Or even if it is not.

Update: I realised after I posted these pics that I actually have audio for the end of Starkweather's set that night. So here it is -- "Barrel of Monkeys", an improvised jam. That rowdy you can hear whooping it up at the end by the way is none other than Mr. Tex Ranger himself.

Another Update: More pictures from the night! Guitar Army! Commander Freakout Drum Solo! The Cleavers!