A Vancouver punk re-forms in Hard Core Logo

John Moore
BOOK REVIEW

Hard Core Logo. Michael
Turner. Arsenal Pulp Press.
$13.95

RECURRENT
nightmare.

It is the year 2000 AD,
the Rolling Stones are still hitting
the road every year or two, The
Who have re-formed for yet
another “farewell” tour; the
three surviving Beatles are
reuniting as a trio, disco is in its
third or fourth revival and K-Tel
Records is flogging a compilation
laser disc to exploit the nostalgic
memory of punk bands like the
Sex Pistols and The Damned. :

If that makes you wake up
screaming with laughter, it’s prob-
ably safe to read North Van-
couver-born writer and musician
Michael Turner's new book at
bedtime.

Hard Core Logo is the story of a

" scrappy seminal punk band of the
late.'70s vigorous alternative music
scene in Vancouver, lured out of
“retirement” for an environmen-
tal benefit, who risk one last
road-trip in an attempt to cash in
on their own Jegend.

Caustically witty and deeply

. sardonic, Hard Core Logo is a
warts-‘n-all portrait of now thirty-
something characters from what
used to be “the blank genera-
tion” (now Generation X, if you’re

_ keeping track) whose only tife

skills consist of a dubious profi-
ciency with instruments best left to
pimply 17-year-olds.

Behind the desire to cash in
lurks the deeper and more com-
pelling need to recapture some-
thing of the once-tasted glory of
rock ‘n roll, to re-experience that
all-too-brief 15 minutes of fame.

Using a scrapbook method that
juxtaposes monologues, inter-
views, invoices, conversations,
posters, photos and letters, Turner
achieves his most revealing and
hilarious effects simply by ironical-
ly playing the varied pieces of ma-
terial off against each other in the
ordering of the text.

He used a similar method in his
previous book, Company Town
{Arsenal Pulp Press), a portrait of a
north coast cannery row, which
was shortlisted for the Dorothy
Livesay Poetry Prize, but where |
Company Town seemed
frustratingly fragmentary at times,
Hard Core Logo shows how suc-
cessful this innovative technique
can be with the right subject.

It's perfectly tailored to reflect
the fractured, haywire existence of
a band on the run from itself.

At times, the book cuts deeper
than a high E string through an
uncallused pinky; its sketches of
venal agents, managers and
assorted mutant bottom-feeders
who make up the so-called music
industry are scathingly right on the
money,

A founding member of the Hard
Rock Miners, Turner has also been
one of the driving forces behind
the very successful “Reading
Railroad” series of poetry readings
held at the Railway Club on
Dunsmuir every month that have
been a much-needed shot in the
butt for the local literary scene.

(Call the club for the next date:

681-1625.)

Since rock evolved out of blues
in the 50s, every succeeding gen-
eration has reinvented it.

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BUS SaREeRRRRSISeRReeee

Despite the crushing weight of
baby-boom demographics and a
corporate culture committed to
“take the children of America for
everything | in their parents’
wallets’’ (Frank Zappa), its roots
remain in garages, basements and
crummy nightclubs.

Turner has captured its anar-
chistic essence in this backstage
collage and you won't have to try
weaselling past some steroid-
enhanced bouncer with the old
line, “I'm with the band.”

NIN ca OBS!

Public forum gets input
on arts facilities study

THOSE ATTENDING a recent
Arts Commission forum on cul-
tural facilities want to see a new
public art gallery created on the
North Shore, more storage and
rehearsal space for 's. 2! artists
and more affordable rates for
rental facilities,

The all-day forum held
Saturday, June 19 at Capilano
College was organized by the
North Shoré Arts Commission,
which was seeking public input
into its regional facilities study
for the North Shore.

Participants — about 55 in
total ~ saw a need for jocal
arts facilities to become “‘bar-
rier-free’’ (accessible to senior

citizens and to the disabled),
and more rehearsal space for
local non-profit bands.

“People said they want
Centennial Theatre to be more
affordable, that they want. to
see more pressure put on the
schools to become more flexi-
ble towards local bands,”’ said
Brenda Berck, the North
Shore’s cultural development
officer,

Berck added that if more
storage and rehearsal space
were available for artists,
“there's mo compelling reason
to have performance facilities
dotted all over the North
Shore,”

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