Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

"Tribute Sundays" presents... That 70's Band - Tribute to All 70's music
Sunday, March 11, 2008 (EARLY SHOW!)
Element Nightclub, 919 Douglas St, Victoria
Doors 8:00pm - Showtime 9:30pm - EARLY SHOW! - Performing 2 X 1 Hour Sets!
Tickets: $7 Advance / $7 Door
Available at: Lyle's place (service charge) 770 Yates St., Strathcona Hotel 919 Douglas St. and online at www.hightideconcerts.net

That 70's Band website: www.that70sband.ca

While scientists now know that "Rock" music achieved perfection in 1977, for those listening to music at the time it was just another year of excellent albums, radio that rocked and songs you could dance to. At the same time, an unsuspecting group of musicians made a decision that would alter their lives for the next twenty years. This is their story.
'Brick' Baretta (lead vocals), Bobby "California" Driscoll (lead guitar/keyboards/vocals), Paul Esther (guitar/vocals), LCD (drums) and Whitford St. Holmes (bass/vocals), and were a group of young men who had been performing together in several high school bands. Their immense talent was dwarfed only by their unbridled naiveté. In an effort to get a little cash before returning for their last year of high school, they agreed to an overseas goodwill tour in the Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan.

While the general reaction of audiences in the Soviet Union was effusively positive, the harsh political realities of life under Brezhnev prevented audiences from "getting down." At an outdoor show one Saturday night in Voroshilovsk, the band unwisely criticized the apparatchiks. This, allied with LCD's continuous screams of "BOOGIE!" brought an immediate and harsh reaction from the authorities. When the boys attempted to return to the West their passports and papers mysteriously 'disappeared'. In the interim the boys sought to fill the time with continuous touring, most of which took place in the relative backwaters of the former Soviet Union.

Though some would remain bitter over this enforced exile, the boys made the most of it. "We really spent some time working on our act", says St. Holmes." You knew if you could entertain an audience of coal miners in Kamchatka, you really had your sh*t together, musically." Driscoll is quick to agree. "We did some giggin', blew some minds, met some outtasight people!" 'Brick' remains stoic as well. "Yeah, I spent a lot of time on the road, missing my lady. But you know, like the man said, rock n' roll is a vicious game."

The boys finally returned some twenty years later. They maintain that their youthful looks are due to the restorative qualities of life in the pastoral regions they inhabited, as well as the fountain of youth they call rock n' roll. Times have changed; but these boys look and sound like that great band you danced to one glorious summer night when music was fun, loud and a little bit dumb. ‘That 70's Band’ remembers, and after a couple of classic 70's tunes, you will too.