Milton Jewell

I shared studio space with Milton on Duncan St. Witty Intelligent Artist and all around nice guy.

David Ruben Piqtoukun

 I met David outside The Coloured Stone. Duke Redbird introduced us.
I said I was going to The Cameron House. Do you know John? he asked.
I said I did, I owe hin 50 bucks will you give this for me and gave me a fifty dollar bill,

Inuksuk built by David Ruben Piqtoukun in the lobby of the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C.

David Ruben Piqtoukun (1950-) is an Inuit artist fromPaulatuk, Northwest Territories. His output includes sculpture and prints; the sculptural work is innovative in its use of mixed media. His materials and imagery bring together modern and traditional Inuit stylistic elements in a personal vision. An example of this is his work "The Passage of Time" (1999), which portrays a shaman in the form of a salmon moving through a hole in a hand. While shamanic imagery is common in much of Inuit art, the hand in this work is sheet metal, not a traditional material such as walrus ivory, caribou antler orsoapstone. Ruben's brother, Abraham Apakark Anghik Ruben, is also a sculptor. Fellow Inuit artist Floyd Kuptana learned sculpting techniques as an apprentice to David Ruben.

Al Grossman

Al Grossman was a great friend.  One time he caught me smoking a joint with his nephew Sandy in the basement. Sandy split quickly and AL lit into me about it. He was giving me proper shit and I finally mumbled what about sandy/. fuck him Al said he's a relative but you You are a friend.

Al is wearing the  the T-shirt I created with the famous Grossman's peace sign T-shirt.
Bob Dylan and Joan Baez sported them at concerts.Don Owen found a camel driver wearing one in Timbuktu

Murray McLauchlan New York

In 1976 I invited Murray to come to New York with me for the July 4th weekend and the tall ships. I had to fly down to pick up the van for the SORC sailboat Bonaventure V. The boat was racing in the Onion Patch in Bermuda and coming in to New York to go up the Hudson river and Erie Canal etc. back to Toronto and they wanted me to drive the van back. Besides July the 4th is my birthday and where else to celebrate? An added goody was an invitation from the Canadian Norwegian ambassador to have a sail on the Christian Radich.
(This was compliments of my sister who worked at harbour-front in Toronto) we were using Murrays agent to book tickets. The trip got complicated, my bartender Laura wanted to go home to New York so I got a ticket for her and then Krash's girlfriend wanted to go to meet Krash who was sailing to New York, so I got a ticket for her. We no sooner were in the air than somebody phoned Murray's wife and told her Murray and Gary were going to New York with 2 women. (this caused serious problems) After much ado we got a hotel room and I went to pick up the boar's van for transportation. As it happened I got a free parking spot around the corner from the Hotel. In New York on July4th weekend etc etc. so we never moved the van until we left and took cabs. Laura took us to her old studio and the bar she used to work at. It was right at the Manhattan side of the Brooklin
Bridge which is a great a place to hang out. This was beside the Fulton fish Market which was having a fair so we ended up spending the evening at the fair. Spendoing was the operative word for Murray he went a little crazy. One of the Hanky Panks had a life sized stuffed bear as a grand prize. Murray decided he had to have it. After about 5 hours and 5 hundred dollars he finally won it. So there we were 2 o clock in the morning going back to the Hotel trying to stuff this giant bear toy into the cab. It wouldn't fit so after 15 minutes of trying Murray took a long look at the bear and said What the hell do I want with this and threw it on the street. As we
drove off the streets were empty.

After Hours & The Police

After Hours Bar Questions.
You must of gone to a lot of different Liquor Stores?
No, I went pretty much to the same store all the time, I was treated as a
valued customer and at Xmas, I was usually given a few bottles of wine as
a present. I remember picking up an order near Xmas one year. A wino watched
in amazement as they filled case after case of liquor. After a couple of
minutes, he gasped. Well if you got the money I got the time.
It should be noted that I was often offered stolen booze and I never ever
bought any. I was a bootlegger, not a fence. I also only bought premium
booze and charged premium prices.



The only exception was with beer. Again I used the same beer store all
the time. I was often offered cases of overage beer at slashed prices.
of course, there was nothing wrong with it it just reached 3 months old
and I went through it very quickly.

The police.
I had a funny relationship here because The Horseshoe was my local bar
and it was a police hangout. Half of them liked me and half of them hated
me. but I did get a speeding ticket fixed anonymously. There was even a
handful of police that drank at my bar and none of them ever grassed me.
But there were others.
My first bust was by a rookie cop in plain clothes who snuck in with the cast
of the second city. he just tagged on to the group and came in.
the next night he came back and I let him in He bought a drink with
marked money and went out and came back with the squad.
Later another cop told me he almost blew it. The night before he was so
happy to get in unnoticed that when he came out he's leaped into the air
and clicked his heels and drove his head into the low hanging branch of a

 a tree outside and knocked himself unconscious and spent the rest of the
night in Hospital,

More of Georgie.
One of the things about running an illegal bar was security. All the doors were double latched. but fear of fire was a concern so I had my backdoor rigged in such a way that a good push would open it just in case. So of course it was easy to pick. I came out on the roof one weekday night and there is Georgie and his partner.
Georgie, I say you are breaking and entering. "No, he says it was open.' No way but as I am talking his partner runs for the bar I stop him and push him back to the door. Georgie runs for the bar I stop him his partner runs etc. Finally, his partner says I see them selling drinks. Georgie says" We're busting you, Gary." Ok" say I
In we go I had about 20 customers. Frankie is working the other end of  bar. He comes down to throw the money in the box we had under the bar. Georgie says "Stop the bar is close.' "With you in a minute," says Frankie

"You are busted." says Georgie " "I said wait a minute," says Frankie picking up the money box for some change.
Then Frankie sees me and realizes what is happening. He panics and throws the box under the bar which knocks off a loose panel and it comes off and the money scatters all over the floor. Georgie and his partner start picking it up. I give Frankie the hi sign and he runs out the back door and in the general direction of 'away'.
Georgie and his partner ask "Where is the bartender?"  They ask everybody. Nobody knows. I am laughing. "Well you fucked this up Georgie, "I say. Give me back my money. He knows he is finished. He gives me back my money. "I am officially warning you . ." says Georgie. Ya, ya say I get out!

Billy Joel

Billy Joel Cost me my Job!
I loved doing the Lobsterman with Maclean & Maclean.
My last performance was at the El Macombo. We were doing the last set and as I was getting ready to go up to the stage I saw the manager whisk Billy Joel and his band to a reserved table.

So when I sang the Lobster song I stuck Billy Joel's name into it.

After the show we all got together and found that Billy Joel was a big fan of dirty Humor . The managent provided case of Heineken's and we drank and partied late into the night.  He raved about the show. But all that he could realy remember was me. The Macleans never asked me back to sing again.
http://macleanslobsterman.blogspot.ca/

Myrna Lorrie

Myrna Lorrie was a frequent visitor, She was a lot of fun and I caught a few of her shows and liked her music. She showed up on the arm of Jerry Reed one night. They had Rosanne Cash and one of the Eagles. They were there almost every night for a week or so.
Myrna Is Playing in Alberta



Myrna Lorrie (b. Lorraine Petrunka, August 6, 1940, Cloud Bay, Ontario) is a Canadian country singer.
Lorrie first sang publicly at age 12 on Fort William radio station CKPR. At age 14 she recorded the song "Are You Mine" with Buddy DuVall, which was released on Abbott Records. The song became a hit in both Canada and the United States; it reached #6 on the US Country Singles chart in 1955.[1] She then toured North America with Hank Snow.