In 1974, The Big O was apparently a favourite watering hole of one particular North Vancouver motorcycle club, although deteriorating brain cells prevent me from remembering their name. As Dan Helfrich aptly put it, “Was it the Rogues? Among others, they were a kinda loose knit fraternity of poorly haberdashered motorcycle enthusiasts, and now that I think about it, poorly motorized as well. There were others, but it seems name changes came often, Chosen Few? Gypsy Wheelers?” If memory serves, the bikers in question may well have been the Tribesmen, although as Dan noted, there were several motorcycle outfits around BC at the time with fearsome & descriptive monikers like the Coffin Cheaters, Grim Reapers and Satan’s Choice, before they all amalgamated with Hells Angels. Whatever bike club these guys were members of, I do remember one gentleman was named Moose, who had fingers like sausages, and his buddy was Mouldy Mel (not “Moulty” – he was the drummer of the Barbarians).

At any rate, The Olympic was much like Surrey’s Turf Hotel in that local bikers from miles around would congregate in the bar because it was The Place To Be. Be there or be L-7, to paraphrase Sam the Sham. The nearby competition was the St. Alice down the street, but hipsters in-the-know made it their business to frequent the O. Despite their ruff & tuff menacing demeanour, the bikers were true rock & roll afficionados, and enjoyed Sparkling Apple’s music. Rather than play wimpy Top-40 pantywaste as was the unfortunate preference of most local rock bands of the era, the Apple would instead present our own brand of Loud, Fast and Out of Control rock & roll – something that was right up the bikers’ proverbial alley. The more rockin’, the better, and naturally we were ready, willing and able to comply. Back in those days, Sparkling Apple’s members were Art the Fart the Heavy Metal Kid, Captain Maniac, and Rocky Rockamoto the Hip Nip. Although Rocky (real name Gord Higo) was Asian (and of Japanese descent), his popularity at the O had a lot to do with the fact that typical North Van patrons imagined our bass player to be First Nations/Aboriginal/Native (in those days, known as “Indians”).

The majority of our performances at the Olympic were in the cabaret, although the beer parlour became our home away from home, too. The bartender was the ever-genial Teddy Rogers, who as Tony D-a noted, “No one could pour a beer like Teddy Rogers, and no one could get it to your table faster than Buzz Rogers”. Situated at the bar was a hot-dog warmer, where a lone wiener would be speared on one of the tongs, continually revolving end-over-end like a ferris wheel. Years later when we played the same bar disguised as Bruce Wayne & the All-Niters, that identical wiener would STILL be revolving in the hot dog appliance — until one night it disappeared. “Somebody bought THE wiener,” we remarked from the stage. Incidentally, in the 80s, we would have to share the stage with a stripper, although not at the same time, unfortunately (check out our upcoming blog reporting the time we DID have to share the stage with a stripper!). After each evening’s show, we would have to remove our gear from the stage, because during the day strippers would be doing their gyrations (yes, a pole was installed as well as a shower stall) on the same platform. Consequently, before each evening’s performance we would have to set up our gear all over again!

But back to the 70s: The centre of attention at the Olympic in 1974 was the cabaret, known in the neighbourhood as Club 140 (named because of its location at 140 E. 2nd Avenue), and regardless of its compact dimensions, was a scene of intense activity each time Sparkling Apple made an appearance.