Pointed Sticks!

Friday night Stephen and I went to the Horseshoe Tavern ("where Stompin' Tom and ... uh... lotsa other people have played") to relive our youth and hear the Pointed Sticks, legendary Vancouver shoulda-been-pop-star-punk-cheesy-organ band -- the reunited Pointed Sticks, who, amazingly enough, are the original guys, more or less. The Sticks we knew had Dimwit (Ken Montgomery, RIP) on drums, but Ian Tiles, who played Friday, had also played with them in the old days (and had a marvellous f-band called Buddy Selfish and the Saviours, whose version of Twenty Flight Rock was super-fantastico, not to mention the boots he used to wear were divine. I heart Buddy Selfish)! It was a tad weird to be watching this show, with all the songs we loved when in our early 20s, but it was obviously a bit weird to be singing them, too! There were tongue-in-cheek comments like, "This is a fast one. Now, you can have a mosh pit if you like, as long as no-one gets hurt. We're all responsible parents now!"

We met a couple of friends (Alison and Alison's friend Alison) at the club, who used to see them in Edmonton, and they came and joined us at our table before the show started. "Are you knitting??" they say. Yes, on pointy, straight, 3 mm aluminum needles, but really, I stayed away from the mosh pit. Actually, since most of the audience were responsible parents, too, like us, there really was no mosh pit. No, I don't have a picture of my pointy sticks with the Pointed Sticks. And I only knitted in between sets!

I found our old slides, so let's have a few before and after shots.

Nick Jones, before (at Boating with Bud, 1982)


Nick Jones, 25 years later














Ian Tiles, before, with Bud Luxford himself, waiting to board Boating with Bud. Ian is the guy with the camera, Bud is the guy with the Boating with Bud T-shirt.

Ian Tiles, 25 years later, still with a camera!















And here's the back of the Boating with Bud T-shirt, white version:



















I think Nick Jones was at this point fooling around with Country Joe McDonald and the Fish, since the Pointed Sticks had broken up. Keeping track of those guys is not easy, since they all knew each other and had these crazy mix-and-match bands.

So, history aside, it was a great show! They were clearly having a good time, and we had a great time, too. They are going to be making 7-inch 45s -- yes, vinyl -- so we'll be keeping our eyes out for those!