IF VANCOUVER IS EVER to fully realize the wealth of its local original music, it must provide the live club venues that are the essential proving grounds for this invaluable resource. By TIMOTHY RENSHAW Until now, the North Shore has been little more than a north-end loop to the shag-hairdoed, macho poseur Top Forty circuit. Merciful- ly, that trend is changing. May 13 to 15, Whispers make their Vancouver club debut Monday night at Whispers. BLACK SHEEP | Specials of the Week! x Chicken Kiev § 5 95 MAY 12-18 & x 8 OZ. NY. STEAK @?° MAY 13, 85 ONLY (3-8) PM * We take res. for Mother’s Day * Flowers for the Moms * Try o - new lunch & dinner menu Book the loft for lunch meetings or private party Served 7 days a week From 3-8 p.m. Black Sheep 121 East 12th St.(off Lonsdale) North Vancouver 984-9595 WHISPER OF EXCITEMENT Showcase for new bands Cabaret, 1421 Lonsdale, kicks off what club manage- ment hopes will be a regular monthly showcase of original Vancouver-area bands. Tak- ing the lead from clubs such as the Savoy and the Railway, whose commitment to and success with staging good local talent has almost singlehandedly revitalized All souvenirs All Brassware «* * ee piano Baa malt losing Quit Sale | | Everything must go? | | “2S cf Framed pictures Collectible plates (Sale ends May 25/85) Sale iucludes shelving, showease & all fixtures igloo Gallery & Gifts faith in Vancouver music, and aware of the popularity of Club Soda’s Street Sounds weekly showcase series, Whispers has hired the ser- vices of Kim Champniss to bring the best in local music to the North Shore. Champniss, who works with S.L. Feldman & Associates and is responsible ‘photo submitted WEA RECORDING ARTISTS, luic Eyes, kick off Whispers’s New Sounds/North Side monthly showcase of the best in original, local rock and roll talent. The band (left to right), Miles Hiil, Tad Campbell, Phil Robertson, and Glenn Smith, will 984-4040 §3 - Friday, May 10, 1985 - North Shore News for Club Soda’s successful showcase of local music, says his mandate at Whispers is “to bring the best original sounds to the north side. We think the people of the North Shore are ready to support local music, and we want to transpose original uptown sounds there so they don’t always have to go downtown to hear those sounds.”’ Whispers will open their ‘‘New Sounds/North Side”’ format with a roar Monday night as they present Idle Eyes, the latest Bruce Allen Talent directed assault on power popdom. The band, managed by Payola$’ Cliff Jones, is signed to WEA Music of Canada. The release of its self-titled debut album and its first single, ‘‘Tokyo Rose’, has the five-piece band riding an un- precedented wave of mass media ballyhoo. Idle Eycs opened for Toto May é at the Queen Elisabeth Theatre. The band's Whispers appearance will be its first Vancouver club date. On May 14, New Sounds/Nortit Side will take an excursion into rock’s darker recesses with Poison- ed, featucing the angst-ridden sounds of Vancouver's own poet of the macabre, Art Bergman. Vancouver Magazine's Les Wiseman has calied Bergman “the most talented inan in Vancouver rock’n‘roli.’* Bergman’s !0 years slugging away in the bargain basement of Vancouver’s punk music scene in bands such as The A with Charley PAGE 56 Young Canadians and Los Popularos has, according to Champniss, given Bergman and his band a ravenous following that is ‘‘determined to push the band over the top’’. Poisoned has just released an independent five- song EP. Recommended for those with a taste for more than pleasant tunes and hap- py endings. Closing out this first New Sounds showcase Wednesday night will be M.T. Vessels, fresh from their triumphant Spotlight ‘85 victory March 6 at the Town Pump. Vessels, led by the lead vocals and intelligent lyrics of Bobi Muckle, crackle out an exhuberant and melodic brand of rock. Songs mix humor with the pathos in- herent in chasing rock star- dom and existence in the modern world. The band will release a 12-inch single on MCA Records in early June. Champniss says he is con- stantly searching for focal bands to fill the growing de- mand and opportunity for original local music, especial- ty opening acts, especially on the North Shore. Interested bands must play original music and should send a cassette to Champniss care of S.L. Feldman & Associates, Third Floor, 1534 West Se- cond Ave, V6J 1H2. The Whispers experiment is a boid gamble on the North Shore’s dedication to the of support local talent. Its suc- cess will benefit musician and music fan alike. “A TASTE OF ITALY” lop of The Tittt — may 27h. 1988 JOIN US for a celebration of May 7th Italy's finest cuisine. The menu is so deliciously authentic that it almost sings tenor and ence tried, you'll probably wish vou were born lalian. From sensational seafood. perfect pasta and home cooked favourites, a TASTE of PPALY at The Top of the Inn reflects the Halian art of making every occasion a very special one. Now that's something (0 sing about! Reservations recommended ZS at G89-9211, local 275 al) az | iN Vebdoy Sen a HS W. Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C.