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| Art Bergmann - LanaLou's - 12 April 2025 |
For anybody who has gotten this far my recommendation is to skip what what I am going to write below as I will be long-winded.
His band, the Young Canadians/K-Tels were the warm-up band at the Smilin’Buddha in 1979. The band that followed was The Dishrags (an all female punk band).
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| Art Bergmann at the Buddha - 1977 |
When I heard Art Bergmann sing I had no idea about rock or punk rock. In Mexico City my high school students had asked me, “Mr. Hayward what do you think of Alice Cooper?” My answer, “No, who is she?” cemented my ignorance.
The man on the stage was so incredibly passionate that I put my camera bag in a corner and I pogoed with the rest of the patrons.
Last night at LanaLou’s on Powell Street, I came to suddenly realize that yes, that while the Bergmann band was solid and exceptional, there was something more.
In Vancouver in the mid-80s I first learned to appreciate poets and poetry. My ticket was poet Gerry Gilbert. From there I discovered Susan Musgrave. Then when we had our literary Thursdays at noon at the Railway Club, we had poets poets Evelyn Lau, Peter Trower and Jamie Reid in our group.
If you have any of Bergmann’s records you will know that the majority of them have extensive lyrics to be read while you listen to his music.
And so, I now know that Art Bergmann is a poet in a city where poetry is almost forgotten. I chat on the phone every week with the first Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate, George Bowering and with George McWhirter who was the first Vancouver Poet Laureate. These two, their marbles intact, are in their mid 80s and will be remembered fondly only when they are gone.
Art Bergmann is a rock’n roll poet. But there is more, About three years ago I went to the Vancouver Folk Festival. Most of the music was neither here nor there world music. Only one performer was a genuine folk singer. Art Bergmann sang about the making of cluster bombs in New Jersey.
So Art Bergmann is a rock’s roll folk singer? I believe he is.
The fact that he cannot be categorized safely like other singers in Canada, attests to why he keeps composing new music with intelligent lyrics with a great band. He refuses to perform any of his songs that may be five or years old. He does not rest on his laurels,
Of the band I have small connection that involves three men. Two are brothers Stephen Drake and Adam Drake. In the early 70s they and their parents lived in Los Angeles. Their parents were friendly with a man who owned a farm. He happened to be Neil Young. Could this be why the the brothers decided to become rock musicians? The Drake family moved to Vancouver and the two brothers played for a band called Gary Cramer and the Works. My photograph of the band in 1977 was my first rock photograph. If it is a good photograph it has all to do with luck as I had no idea of what I was doing.
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| Gary Cramer & The Works - Adam Drake, Gary Cramer, Steven Drake & Rick Hopkins - 1977 |
Adam Drake is the solid drummer in Bergmann’s band. Stephen Drake, I assert is the best electric guitarist in Canada. To top that, he is an expert sound recording engineer. His playing is stellar as he accompanies the erstwhile virtuoso Bergmann who has arthritis in his hand and plays under lots of pain.
Dave Genn is my third connection. I first ran into him when he played for 54-40. I have a photograph of him years later where he is dressed in drag. Finally I photographed him with his new bride, Tamara Taggart in bed. The story is in link below. I believe that Genn is the best keyboard man that the Bergmann band has ever had.
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| Dave Genn |
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| Dave Genn, bottom left, Adam Drake, behind midle right |
The rest of the performers include an extremely cool and laid back bassist, Don Binns, bongo player (yes,bongo!) Murphy Farrell who is the father of backup singer Aidan Farrell. She has a lovely and warm voice that softens up a tad, Bergmann’s sometimes angry lyrics.
No rock photographer (I believe I may be one) never leaves a concert without appropriating a song list. I asked for the one you see here. And then there are those lovely lyrics in one of my fave Bergmann songs Faithlessly Yours
God's got an answer in that jukebox
I pick the wrong song every time
I know my song is in that jukebox
And I've been suckered for the last time
How could I be so silly
How could I be faithlessly yours
God hid an answer in her body
I've been in the wrong room for so long
I found no question in her body
I'm in the room where I belong
How could I be so silly
How could I be faithlessly yours
Now that the evidence is in
Now that the evidence is in
God placed an ad in her paper
A cryptic clue without a crossword
How could I have known she worked that paper
The sweetest sound the world has heard
How could I be so silly
How could I be faithlessly yours
