another link...

Here's something I found just google-ing.

This guy was a photographer for Carleton's paper and some other local rags.

Good memories of punk rock bands, venues in Ottawa, and so many shows I just never went to.
Shawn Scallen

BBS-ing

So back in the day, we had BBS's instead of the internet and e-mail. It was fun, completely non-productive, and a sometimes worrysome way to meet people.

And people we met!
Off Tattlenet, the BBS run by Bonehead and Vanity Flair - we met characters like Wurm, Purple Haze, Nobody, Spawn (who had his own BBS), Console Cowboy, Black Plague, Prince of Darkness, and others.

My group of girlfriends had romances started through BBS-ing (oh so sad!) There was Crowbar, Iokamizzilion (or whatever), and I dated three; 'Lumi, Pink Cigar, and I can't remember Barry's handle - something regarding the number 9? I think there were others that my friends met too, but whatever. BBS guys make bad boyfriends.

They sure were fun to hang with though - we had Tattlenet Awards, Flame Fests, Vanity's Vicious Volleyball tournaments, there was also the Ottawa Freenet picnic, but we never ended up going to that. Then there were the stupid 2600 meets every first Tuesday of the month (I think) at Cafe Wim. I loved Cafe Wim.

Once we met the people in the flesh, we then hung out with some rather frequently - in the market, at anime fests, going to shows at Two Steps Above, hanging in Savannah DeVille's and once in Living Colour Tattoo, the "secret bridge" at Rideau Centre, Sips, and later Zaphods and Barrymores.

You'll get to read about all these places and things later too.

I think the most charming thing about hanging with most of these guys (and they were mostly guys) was the fact that they were crazy and rambunctious, needy and so thrilled to go hang out with us. It was great.

And speaking of where are they now...

Linda Seccaspina & her store Savannah DeVilles has an e-bay store:
Savannah DeVilles Patterns and More

Poser Mike

This is not necessarily one of my closest friends, indeed I barely knew the guy except for the fact that he was part of the scene...

Poser Mike was this gay punk kid with piercings and the old-style deep burgandy satin bomber jacket. He would come to gigs and hang at Savannah DeVilles. Crew cut and glasses. I'm not sure why he was labelled "Poser" - he seemed the real deal to me.

I saw Poser Mike last summer at the used record shop on Rideau. Same hair cut, newer glasses and much more mainstream look. Unmistakable nasal voice and large-gauge earings.

Sips Cafe

I think it used to be on George street... this cute cafe with burnt-red velvet couches in the back, cobblestone floor and a huge bright copper cappucino machine.

I can't remember the name of the owner - he was part-Indian I believe. One time he showed us a picture of him and his wife/girlfriend and two huge white tigers.

There were two other noteable staff at Sips - Lina and Derek. Everyone hated Lina, everyone loved Derek. Lina would try to turn over the customers quickly, getting them to pay and get out if they were just hanging around. She did make a mean sandwich though.

Derek was such a sweetie. He would flirt with everyone and get orders wrong, or really really slow, but he would let people hang for hours on just the one cup of coffee. Derek's one of my favourite memories from Ottawa in this time... I'm sure I'll post many more stories about him.

I was so sad when I was told that he had died of some freak accident - it didn't sound real and I still feel like it wasn't, really.

WAY back, gosh, I think in 1993 we started going downtown to cafes and shops to just hang out. Living in Orleans was rather dull, so as soon as we were able to get to downtown, we'd be on the 95 heading to the market. Sips was our place of choice to spend a Friday night. There would be great people watching and given that we'd be ariving at around 4 pm, we were almost guaranteed the couches.

In a way, we always felt like the outsiders looking in, but there were a few times where I felt that we were actually considered as part of the "Sips scene" - this one guy, Aaron with really long hair pulled back in a ponytail who would play guitar or write poetry and skate was another regular. Val and I saw him once outside of Sips, he nodded to us - we knew him and he knew us. It was wierd.

My favourite two things at Sips were the couches and the art - specifically one photograph they had up on the wall. A closeup of a Mickey mouse shovel in the grass. I think I had one of those when I was little - it looked fabulous too - fantastic colours and textures. Had I the money then I would have totally purchased it.

beginnings...

I've been feeling very nostalgic these days - I'm not sure why, perhaps it's because I am most definitely an adult now, perhaps it's because I'm finishing grad school and am moving on to yet another big stage change in life.

I've been thinking a lot about Ottawa in the 1990's, the high-school years where my friends and I would wreck havock on the capital. Or so we thought. I mean, to look at it now, we were just silly kids. But we had really good times and made some great memories.

I hope that in this blog I will be able to post stories and pictures from way back when - perhaps this will reach some of my fellow trouble makers from that period. Who knows...