A Brief History of School Dances in the Early Years of AHSS
by Paula (Long) Bentley (Class of '78)
Posters courtesy of Aaron Currie (Class of '78)
by Paula (Long) Bentley (Class of '78)
Posters courtesy of Aaron Currie (Class of '78)
School dances were just one way in which the high school provided much more
than an education for the students.
than an education for the students.
School dances were a big deal at AHSS in the late 60s and the 70s.
One of the unique things about AHSS is its location “in the middle of nowhere”, and a unique thing that the school did was to run a bus to dances. The bus followed the same route as the late bus – mainly up and down Highway 11, with smaller buses branching out. One of the side routes was from Trout Creek to Loring, stopping in Commanda, Golden Valley, Arnstein, and Port Loring. If you lived along the route, you had to catch the bus in one of the towns, but after the dance the bus would drop you off at your driveway. If you didn't live along the route, you had to get to the nearest town to catch the bus, and then get picked up afterwards. Few students had their own vehicles, but sometimes they could borrow the family vehicle to go to the dance.
(If it sounds to a modern audience as if the school was providing a designated driver for students who wanted to drink, it seemed that way to some of the students at the time as well. Of course, underage drinking was discouraged, but there were no breathalyzers at the door and no off-duty police officers in attendance. Some students recall being given a stern talking-to from teachers about being intoxicated, but do not think that parents were called to take their inebriated children home from the dance. One alumnus, let's call him George, said that you were allowed to enter the dance as long as you could walk in under your own power, and “you were allowed three tries.” I imagine that the teachers remember it differently.)
An advantage of going to high school with hundreds of people from various towns scattered around the Almaguin Highlands, was the chance to make friends with people one might not have met otherwise. But then it was a struggle to see them outside of school hours. Sports teams from one town played those from another, but there wasn't always time for friendly discussion in the arena or on the field.
If you had a romantic interest in someone from a town
on the other end of the school district, school dances
were perfect chances to see each other.
on the other end of the school district, school dances
were perfect chances to see each other.
The Bands
In the earliest years, local bands would play at the school dances.
These bands included:
The Beachcombers from South River (Al Tiernay, Ron Tiernay, Darrel Wilson, Jeff Tough and Doug Maeck).
Justus (Carl Barry, Gary Boyes, Greg Meeks, Jim Farrell, Mike McVeety, Gord Russel, and others).
Tom Frederick and Dee (Stripe) Lawrence also had a band, with others.
In later years we had more prominent and well-known Canadian bands that, while on a small town tour in rural Ontario, would come to AHSS.
We know for certain the names of some of the bands and where we have the exact date of the dance we have noted it.
This may not be a complete list.
Please let us know if you have any details to add.
Sometimes people's memories play tricks. In asking people about the dances, someone remembered Mott the Hoople, and someone else mentioned Rush. Those bands did not grace the AHSS stage. Other bands remembered include Lighthouse, Triumph, Nickelodeon, Mashmakhan, and Crowbar.
Some of the bands we can confirm that played at AHSS were:
Edward Bear (April 2, 1976)
Charity Brown (May 7, 1976)
The Stampeders (November 5, 1976)
Studebaker Hawk (December 3, 1976)
Hellfield (January 29, 1977)
Hot Roxx (February 11, 1977)
Wednesday (April 15, 1977)
Major Hoople's Boarding House
Greaseball Boogie Band (later became Shooter)
James Leroy and Denim
Octavian
Mankind (November 8, 1979)
Others remembered, but unconfirmed:
April Wine
Thundermug
Frank Soda
Scrubbaloe Caine
Bull Rush
Sea Dog
Martha and the Muffins (this was in 1982, after our early years window, but noteworthy)
Why would these great bands deign to play in high school gyms? Those that were on their way “up” in the business would join the circuit for the exposure. Teenagers as a demographic were beginning to have more disposable income, and were valued for their potential as future fans. Those that were on their way “down” in the business would join the circuit because they still wanted to play, and they were not being offered the large venues.
These bands included:
The Beachcombers from South River (Al Tiernay, Ron Tiernay, Darrel Wilson, Jeff Tough and Doug Maeck).
Justus (Carl Barry, Gary Boyes, Greg Meeks, Jim Farrell, Mike McVeety, Gord Russel, and others).
Tom Frederick and Dee (Stripe) Lawrence also had a band, with others.
In later years we had more prominent and well-known Canadian bands that, while on a small town tour in rural Ontario, would come to AHSS.
We know for certain the names of some of the bands and where we have the exact date of the dance we have noted it.
This may not be a complete list.
Please let us know if you have any details to add.
Sometimes people's memories play tricks. In asking people about the dances, someone remembered Mott the Hoople, and someone else mentioned Rush. Those bands did not grace the AHSS stage. Other bands remembered include Lighthouse, Triumph, Nickelodeon, Mashmakhan, and Crowbar.
Some of the bands we can confirm that played at AHSS were:
Edward Bear (April 2, 1976)
Charity Brown (May 7, 1976)
The Stampeders (November 5, 1976)
Studebaker Hawk (December 3, 1976)
Hellfield (January 29, 1977)
Hot Roxx (February 11, 1977)
Wednesday (April 15, 1977)
Major Hoople's Boarding House
Greaseball Boogie Band (later became Shooter)
James Leroy and Denim
Octavian
Mankind (November 8, 1979)
Others remembered, but unconfirmed:
April Wine
Thundermug
Frank Soda
Scrubbaloe Caine
Bull Rush
Sea Dog
Martha and the Muffins (this was in 1982, after our early years window, but noteworthy)
Why would these great bands deign to play in high school gyms? Those that were on their way “up” in the business would join the circuit for the exposure. Teenagers as a demographic were beginning to have more disposable income, and were valued for their potential as future fans. Those that were on their way “down” in the business would join the circuit because they still wanted to play, and they were not being offered the large venues.
The dances were organized by the AHSS Student Council. Here are social convenors Jim Farrell and Mike Armstrong working on a promotional poster for an upcoming dance along with Vicki Whitmell, AHSS President 1975-76 (centre).
Where did the AHSS Student Council get money to pay for these bands?
Jim Farrell remembers magazine drives as being a major source of revenue. Ed Jurkevics remembers hatching up a plan to sell student cards, for a lot of money each, with promises of dance discounts. “Instead, we booked expensive bands and charged them a lot for dance entrance anyway. Our student's council had gobs of money. I shovelled as much to the chess club as I could.”
Jim Farrell, who was in charge of booking dances in the late '70s, provided some detail about how the system worked.
To book the bands we worked through agencies in Toronto, that had lists of bands available by date and price. According to Jim, we could have had Chuck Berry for $5,000 – a surprisingly low price, it seems today – but vice principal Don Dorst put his foot down and refused to consider it. Incidentally, Don didn't understand why we couldn't just play records at our dances.
The group that we paid the most for was The Stampeders, and for that one Jim talked Don into allowing us to open the gate to the general public. People came from as far away as Sudbury. We had to guarantee the band $1500 minimum, plus they took 70% of gate receipts. In the end, we paid them $2500, which seemed like an awful lot of money to us but not very much to the band. Deb Aultman recalls that they came with six tractor trailer loads of equipment, about a third of which they could fit into our school gym. We also had to provide them with supper so Peter and Deb Aultman drove to North Bay and brought back Kentucky Fried Chicken. We also had to supply oranges to their change room.
Did bands sometimes include outrageous things in their riders? Jim said he just stroked off the conditions that we weren't prepared to meet, such as beer supplied to the change room, and sent the contracts back.
Jim also spent a lot of time creating banner type posters to stretch down the hallways above the lockers. He gives credit to art teacher Jim Buchan for design assistance as well as use of the art room. Jim Farrell, for his part, deserves credit for being “one of the few dedicated kids that worked extremely hard and were able to convince the administration to bring those bands to our school” (Terry Crozier).
Jim Farrell remembers magazine drives as being a major source of revenue. Ed Jurkevics remembers hatching up a plan to sell student cards, for a lot of money each, with promises of dance discounts. “Instead, we booked expensive bands and charged them a lot for dance entrance anyway. Our student's council had gobs of money. I shovelled as much to the chess club as I could.”
Jim Farrell, who was in charge of booking dances in the late '70s, provided some detail about how the system worked.
To book the bands we worked through agencies in Toronto, that had lists of bands available by date and price. According to Jim, we could have had Chuck Berry for $5,000 – a surprisingly low price, it seems today – but vice principal Don Dorst put his foot down and refused to consider it. Incidentally, Don didn't understand why we couldn't just play records at our dances.
The group that we paid the most for was The Stampeders, and for that one Jim talked Don into allowing us to open the gate to the general public. People came from as far away as Sudbury. We had to guarantee the band $1500 minimum, plus they took 70% of gate receipts. In the end, we paid them $2500, which seemed like an awful lot of money to us but not very much to the band. Deb Aultman recalls that they came with six tractor trailer loads of equipment, about a third of which they could fit into our school gym. We also had to provide them with supper so Peter and Deb Aultman drove to North Bay and brought back Kentucky Fried Chicken. We also had to supply oranges to their change room.
Did bands sometimes include outrageous things in their riders? Jim said he just stroked off the conditions that we weren't prepared to meet, such as beer supplied to the change room, and sent the contracts back.
Jim also spent a lot of time creating banner type posters to stretch down the hallways above the lockers. He gives credit to art teacher Jim Buchan for design assistance as well as use of the art room. Jim Farrell, for his part, deserves credit for being “one of the few dedicated kids that worked extremely hard and were able to convince the administration to bring those bands to our school” (Terry Crozier).
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Terry Brunne, Terry Lynn Schneider, Deirdre Stripe, Helen Townson and I reported on school activities for the local papers. Here is what we reported about some of the Almaguin dances:
Hellfield: Played on January 29, 1977 to celebrate the end of final exams.
Hot Roxx: Played on February 11, 1977 as an event for the school carnival.
Mankind: Played on November 8, 1979. Students who won prizes on the SAC-sponsored Halloween dress-up day were awarded free tickets to the dance. For all others, tickets were $4 if purchased in advance, $5 if purchased at the door and $13 was charged for a guest and guest (had to be purchased in advance). (You can see from the photo above that tickets to Charity Brown were just $2.00.)
Other interesting tidbits:
1. The band Studebaker Hawk was not named after the 1960s car of the same name. Rather, it was named after the character "Studebaker Hoch" in Frank Zappa’s "Billy The Mountain” song. The song was a parody of the song/story style of works such as "Peter and the Wolf" about a talking mountain named Billy and his "lovely wife Ethel," "a tree growing off of his shoulder.” If you read the lyrics to the song, you might understand why Zappa’s body of work was characterized as "nonconforming, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture”!
Based on the following website, https://www.canadianbands.com/Studebaker-Hawk.html, Almaguin may have been one of Studebaker Hawk’s last tour stops before the band packed it in for good.
2. Terry and Dee reported that Disc Jockey John Verhage of the “Music Machine” of Commanda spun the vinyl for students at the disco-themed dance on October 27, 1978 which culminated the activities of the "Senior Rock 9” week - a welcoming, rather than initiating, event for Grade 9 students. Each day of the week had a music-theme. Students and staff were encouraged to dress in accordance with each days’ theme. Best- (or worst-) dressed person for each day received a $6 gift certificate from Sam the Record Man! Was $6 the price of an LP back then?
3. In Terry's and Dee’s December 13, 1978 column, they reported that a “sock hop” was organized by the SAC to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the official opening of the school.
4. The late AHSS alumna Tom Frederick (1975-1980) played the drums in high school bands with Dee (Stripe) Lawrence and others. Apparently Tom and a bunch of guys were watching one of the bands set up for the evening dance. Tom made his own set of drumsticks which the band’s drummer used in the evening’s performance. Although the sticks were broken well before the first set ended, Tom could boast that he had a piece of equipment that were used in a professional gig! According to Babs Aiyede, the band had a good laugh because they thought Tom’s drumsticks looked like dildos.
5. Around the time of Edward Bear, "The Last Song" was the standard final dance of the evening. But once "Stairway to Heaven" hit the scene, it became the dance ender. It went on forever, and was so slow that not much dancing was required.
6. Arranging to show a movie was almost as onerous as booking a band for a dance. To show a movie in the gym (during winter carnival, for example), student council would have to pay hundreds of dollars. The movie (an actual film) was shipped from Toronto via the Greyhound bus, and threaded into an actual movie projector. Jim Farrell has fond, if scary, memories of 'The Omega Man' starring Charlton Heston.
7. In addition to student dances, community entertainment events were also held in the AHSS gym. A group from Newfoundland called Buddy Whasisname and the Other Fellers did a variety show in the 1980s consisting of comedy, music and storytelling. A mentalist, Mike Mandel, did a show in the high school gym.
Hellfield: Played on January 29, 1977 to celebrate the end of final exams.
Hot Roxx: Played on February 11, 1977 as an event for the school carnival.
Mankind: Played on November 8, 1979. Students who won prizes on the SAC-sponsored Halloween dress-up day were awarded free tickets to the dance. For all others, tickets were $4 if purchased in advance, $5 if purchased at the door and $13 was charged for a guest and guest (had to be purchased in advance). (You can see from the photo above that tickets to Charity Brown were just $2.00.)
Other interesting tidbits:
1. The band Studebaker Hawk was not named after the 1960s car of the same name. Rather, it was named after the character "Studebaker Hoch" in Frank Zappa’s "Billy The Mountain” song. The song was a parody of the song/story style of works such as "Peter and the Wolf" about a talking mountain named Billy and his "lovely wife Ethel," "a tree growing off of his shoulder.” If you read the lyrics to the song, you might understand why Zappa’s body of work was characterized as "nonconforming, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture”!
Based on the following website, https://www.canadianbands.com/Studebaker-Hawk.html, Almaguin may have been one of Studebaker Hawk’s last tour stops before the band packed it in for good.
2. Terry and Dee reported that Disc Jockey John Verhage of the “Music Machine” of Commanda spun the vinyl for students at the disco-themed dance on October 27, 1978 which culminated the activities of the "Senior Rock 9” week - a welcoming, rather than initiating, event for Grade 9 students. Each day of the week had a music-theme. Students and staff were encouraged to dress in accordance with each days’ theme. Best- (or worst-) dressed person for each day received a $6 gift certificate from Sam the Record Man! Was $6 the price of an LP back then?
3. In Terry's and Dee’s December 13, 1978 column, they reported that a “sock hop” was organized by the SAC to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the official opening of the school.
4. The late AHSS alumna Tom Frederick (1975-1980) played the drums in high school bands with Dee (Stripe) Lawrence and others. Apparently Tom and a bunch of guys were watching one of the bands set up for the evening dance. Tom made his own set of drumsticks which the band’s drummer used in the evening’s performance. Although the sticks were broken well before the first set ended, Tom could boast that he had a piece of equipment that were used in a professional gig! According to Babs Aiyede, the band had a good laugh because they thought Tom’s drumsticks looked like dildos.
5. Around the time of Edward Bear, "The Last Song" was the standard final dance of the evening. But once "Stairway to Heaven" hit the scene, it became the dance ender. It went on forever, and was so slow that not much dancing was required.
6. Arranging to show a movie was almost as onerous as booking a band for a dance. To show a movie in the gym (during winter carnival, for example), student council would have to pay hundreds of dollars. The movie (an actual film) was shipped from Toronto via the Greyhound bus, and threaded into an actual movie projector. Jim Farrell has fond, if scary, memories of 'The Omega Man' starring Charlton Heston.
7. In addition to student dances, community entertainment events were also held in the AHSS gym. A group from Newfoundland called Buddy Whasisname and the Other Fellers did a variety show in the 1980s consisting of comedy, music and storytelling. A mentalist, Mike Mandel, did a show in the high school gym.
School dances were just one way in which the high school provided much more than an education for the students.
AHSS was a social and cultural hub for the surrounding communities.
AHSS was a social and cultural hub for the surrounding communities.