Last Pogo Still Twitching

While Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern is a fairly conventional live music establishment nowadays, at one time it was a punk rock haven. Back in 1978, the venue was booked by The Garys (Gary Topp and Gary Cormier), who brought in such notables as The Ramones and The Cramps. They also helped nurture the thriving scenes in Toronto, Hamilton and London.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and the end always came faster in the explosive punk rock world. After only nine months, the venue gave The Garys the final headbutt, so they decided they might as well blow the doors off the place on the way out. This final show, dubbed The Last Pogo, featured the cream of the local punk rock crop at that time: Teenage Head, The Ugly, The Cardboard Brains, The Mods, The Viletones, The Scenics and The Secrets. Unfortunately, it also featured the wanton destruction of the room after the cops forced Teenage Head off the stage.

Aspiring filmmaker Colin Brunton, a friend of Topp, decided to film this monumental event, even though he'd only taken a night school course in filmmaking and had never made an actual film before.

"I had no idea what I was doing," Brunton freely admits now.

The 26-minute documentary premiered in 1979 at a Buzzcocks show, and aside fom a showing at the North By Northeast Film Festival in June, it had been sitting virtually unseen for 30 years. Thankfully, Brunton is getting to remedy that situation.

"I missed both the 20th and the 25th anniversaries," he says. "Now that it's the 30th, I figured it's either now or I wait until the 50th in 2028.

"By then, I'll be in my eighties, and I might not have the energy to do anything — especially if I'm dead."

Brunton, who has become a major Canadian director with such films as Rude, Cube and Hedwig And The Angry Inch, is also using the reissue of the film to help get people ready for a full-length documentary of that time titled The Last Pogo Jumps Again.

"The Last Pogo Jumps Again uses the original movie as the spine, and we weave the history of punk circa 1976 to 1978 around it," explains Brunton. "We're focusing on how exactly the scene came together in Toronto, Hamilton and London, and find out what happened to everyone who was part of that scene.

"It's been a lot of fun reconnecting with old allies, but it's been a long haul. We've been at it since June 2006. Apart from talking to all of the people that played there that night, we've also managed to snag interviews with people who played Toronto back then: Tommy Ramone, Cheetah Chrome and Hugh Cornwell, and we're crossing our fingers for Suicide and John Cale and David Byrne."

No matter how much work this may entail, Brunton is still motivated by strong memories of that night.

"I really didn't know what to expect. I was pretty shellshocked. There were always fisticuffs and scuffles in the Toronto scene, but smashing tables and chairs was something new. No one was ready for that, except maybe Gary Topp, who immediately put on 'Anarchy In The U.K.' once the fun started."

The Last Pogo bounces back on DVD on Oct. 14, while The Last Pogo Rides Again will strike in March.