Paul Miil
Feel free to write whatever you like. The good, the bad & the ugly

Wally Tomczuk
Paul, just ordered a copy of your DOC. Saw some of it today. Man it was so cool. There was stuff on there that I had no idea even existed. Great job. Looking forward to it. Thanks man, Wally T

Terry Smith
Hi Paul, Glad to see your film/documentary is complete. I am looking forward to seeing it.

Bob Luciani
I've ordered the DVD and am waiting anxiously for it ti arrive.I'm curious who's my brother talking about in the promo?

dave campagna
Great job Paul Thanks for the memories

Joe Zupo
Very nice work. I enjoyed it and learned a little more. Thanks for this.

Arne Nilsen
I just finished watching your production. I really enjoyed what you put together... Also if you talk to Mark Lauder tell him he got way too much face time. Thanks again...Arne

Victoria
WOW .... fab-u-lous !! ... you certainly, creatively, covered 'ALL' the elements of who, what, where, when and why .... it was amazing to see these people after all these years and to hear their stories ... I thoroughly enjoyed going down 'memory lane' .... by the sounds of it, it was a 'great time' for all who lived it ... it was a decade like no other and will never be another ... yep, we were all young, long haired, freaky people, flower power, hippies ... LOL .. I am proud to have been there !!!!! Paul, you are a 'genius' .. WELL DONE indeed !!!! ... best of luck with this venture ... may something 'grand' come of this for you !!

Dave Bush
Paul The whole family (wife, 17 year old daughter and myself) sat down and watched the DVD last night. What a great history lesson. I can't tell you how much we all enjoyed it. I was cool to learn so much about The Castle - I'd always heard about it, but wasn't aware of just how important it was to the scene. A big surprise for me was the Brock Festival. I can't believe I'd never heard about that over the years. Thanks so much for creating this. I doubt that anything else comes close to this as a document of the early Niagara scene - you've preserved an era. I hope the local press gives this thing the respect it deserves. Please - put me on your mailing list and keep me informed of your future projects. Thanks again - you did something wonderful. Dave

Jimmy Johnson
I first met Paul Miil just over a year ago and was immediately impressed with his degree of knowledge and commitment to this project, especially since he probably wasn't even born yet. Good luck Paul.

Joe Szilagy
Yes sir! a vibrant music scene it was indeed! We all helped each other in some way, including a world reknowned drummer, (Mr. Peart), as well as a mutual friend, a world-class producer,and songwriter, (Gerald O'Brien). Great job, Paul!

Carrie (Metcalfe) Anderson
I thought is was very good and I have a real sense of pride from the::comments about my Dad and the Niagara music scene at that time. Dave liked::the honesty of the interviews.

Nan Bowler (Metcalfe)
This documentary was very nostalgic for me. It brought back fond memories of Ronn's passion for the musicians and their potential. A job well done Paul!

Deb Slade
Can hardly wait to see the DVD -- can't believe the who's who of local musicians listed. I see many of them at our events at the Centre for the Arts, Brock University.

Bryan Winstanley
I was surprised to see my name memtion you really did your homework.The castle provides lots of memories

Ryk Racoon Ryce
Oh Yeah These were the days in our little corner of the world. St Catharines,,,Land Of The Bands,,,Cit our teeth at the Moose hall..To the CYO dances,,,to the Church Dances,, Then to the Roller Rink..Niagara Falls Arena and finally to the top ,,A gig at The Castle.. What a Great Era we created and lived Through...So innocent ..But way too Cool. The people that were there Know what Im talking about..Lots of us are still playing music 45 years later..Great apprenticeship

Ron Gibbon
Exceptional Video! A great story with lots of gravey.

Dave Mullen
That's a lot of names I hadn't hear in a long while...Many of those folks are still battling it out out there.

George Ryan
Member of Torquays

Bonnie Paterson-McNulty
Unbelievable, just completely unbelievable.

Pete Dowan
Is this an ongoing process ?

Paul Miil
No, the documentary is complete. The website's band list seems to have a life of its own... and continues to grow. Who knows what the future will bring.

mark lauder
autographs $5 arne

Paul Muelli
Great job Paul. I can only imagine the amount of work you have put into this project. Looking forward to seeing some friends at the Duck on Sunday. Thanks for taking an interest. Paul Muelli (Fat Rabbit)

Dave
This is different, but good.

Joe Szilagy
Just wanted to know if any of you live up this way (Tor./Mississauga), since i don't have a vehicle, and would love to attend! Please write joe.slant@hotmail.com ASAP, Thanks!

Mike S.
Good luck with the project. I wonder how many sales you'll get just from the JR Flood recording with Peart?

Wayne King
Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated;) Rumours of my receding hairline are true!:)

Bryon Walpole
Re: VILLAGE STOP. Th roster consisted of Ron Marcoux on axe, Nick and Steve Urech on Bass & 2nd Guitar respectively, Jim Hall on drums. All from Hamilton. Fraser Loveman left to be replaced by Al Pope (deceased). Managed by George Featherstone Jr. whose father managed the East End Kiwanis Club and was a big encouragement to budding musicians.

Paul Riches
Thanks Paul for having the foresight to recognize that some great music was happening in StCatharines in the 60's and that it needed to be documented. We all owe you a big thanks for all your effort during the last year researching and compiling so many bands and individuals that made Niagara the hotbed of music that it was. It was just great to see all the bands that played all over the province and made me realize that we enjoyed many experiences that most people never had the opportunity to do. Keep going with this- there probably are more stories to be heard from Niagara's musicians. Thanks again.

(Canada) Dave Torosian
I was a member of the Wild Set and later Westfield Fair back in the 60"s. I'm turning 61 on the 23rd of Dec. and still giging every Saturday at The Golden Pheasant (The Duck) with the house band The Mighty Duck Blues Band. Other member of the group are Dave (LImpy)Curry,lead guitar (Lost Marbles), Jim Casson, drums (Downchild Aluni) Gary Kendall, bass (Downchild) and yours truly Canada Dave on keyboards. We bring in a featured guest each week to front the band.

Chris Walker
A terrific compilation of information that really brought out the feeling of the era. Great Job.

nigel Durrant
I remember it well, I even played with some of these guys.

Chris Irwin
Paul you have brought together and created a truly awesome archive! As well, I have to say how amazing it was to meet so many of the musicians who contributed to your project!

Ryk Ryce
St. Kitts around 1971 with Limp Curry, Omer Langlois,Zak Rochon, Mike Moretto and Mark Haggerty Playing the Blues and some serious Boogie ...There should also be mentioned in this history the Great jobs that Tommy Schmidlin did as the Kidds road manager and Garnet McKewen as the Modbeats road manager..Both a colourful part of the St Catharines Music scene. From 1966 to 1968 our band called Out Of Order was playing steady at all the local venues around St. Catharines ,Niagara and even travelled as far away as Club 42 in Stratford and to Exeter which was a happening place. We had 2 drummers on stage at the same time, Stan Kuriata and Gary Hammond,,On Lead Vocal Nick Conju,, on Rythm guitar Ken Maggs ,,on Lead guitar Brian Gagnon,, I played bass guitar. On May 13th 1967 we were the opening act for Wayne Cochran and The CC Riders from Miami Beach Florida at the Niagara Falls arena and on the way our car was hit on the QEW near the Falls by a transport truck , There were some very serious injuries and We were very lucky to survive the crash but our band never recovered enough to regain the momentum we had going .In late 1968 we disbanded.. Brian Gagnon Has become a very talented guitar player and continues to play with his band called FunnyBone out of Toronto.Im still playing bass and guitar today in a Motown R&B band called LuvTrain on Vancouver Island in BC

Rob Monroe
Enjoyed your doc immensely, Paul. It was great seeing and hearing people I’ve lost touch with for 40 years. Wonderful memories of unforgettable times!

jonny richardson(drummer)
those were the days..Kandy Karnival

John Trojan
I am looking very forward to seeing the DVD. I was the drummer with several of the groups mentioned in the credits (last name typo Trojan, not Trosian). Later went on to play with Tobias Tramp featuring Brian Gagnon on guitar, Ken Morris on bass, Michael Doherty on keyboards and myself on drums. After disbandment, I was introduced to Curtis Lee by Gary Storin and we added Ken Morris as our bass player then left St. Catharines for Toronto and the gigging and recording scene as Abraham. After three years with Curtis and Abraham, I joined The Rick James Band and when Rick got a solo contract in L.A. I joined Lydia Taylor in J.F. Lovely. Many thanks to all my old pals and to Neal Peart for finally acknowledging who introduced him to Vic Wilson and Rush namely Ken Morris and myself! The rest as they say, is history. Thanks again for a great rockumentary. Johnnie T.

Paul Muelli
A very happy New Year to you and your family Paul. A great afternoon at the "Duck",meeting some former bandmates Paul Riches (Dakota) Paul Rose (Southernwood) Harry McNulty (Catwalk) Bob Luciani (Diamond, FatRabbit) oh yeah,Omar Langois (Southernwood). I am currently recording with Fat Rabbit (Frank Musso & Paul Lauzon) and Burlington based "Fat Bottom Daddy". I am hoping you find the support to stay with this project and grow it. All the best to you. Paul

Frank Russell
Why doesn't anybody tell the drummer anything......

william Brao
I know mark lauder

Mike Costanzo
My buddy brought this over the other night and I thought it was really great. Too bad you couldn't get Peart to interview. Would have been nice. The only thing I thought was odd was the shot of the director watching the film on a TV near the end. It made no sense. But it was great to learn about all those bands. Thanks!

Paul Miil
re Costanza. That shot near the end (of yours-truly) was my "Hitchcock" vanity shot. A goofball attempt at humour.. that no one finds funny.. perhaps it was a little too "WTF?" It still makes me laugh. There are a couple other shots who's sole purpose is to make me laugh... see if you can find them.

Randy Scott
Hi Paul: I am going to print the whole list out and go through it. I think I can fill in a lot of gaps and add a lot more info. PS: Thanks for the offer I will do what I can to find a keyboard player for you. Randy

Bob Zbigniew Styrna
I love your site. I was a member of Scarlet Wizard, Majority, Movement & Truck. I have pictures and would love to add my information.

David VanDuzen
Now this is fun ... I have some corrections for you...and I'm looking forward to telling you!

robert Edwards
Great to see my close friend Bob Stryna in a lot of these bands, Bob is still an excellent musician (and had replaced me in the band Troyka - 1971)

J. Brunt
Found this website after hearing that my dad (Don Brunt) played with Neal P. it would be really cool to hear about some of the times they had... one day I hope. Cheers all

Kim Weaver
Great video and a welcome window onto a vibrant music scene

CHuck Lee
Lucky to have been playing back then, and for awhile keeping the rythm tight with Glenn,and jamming with Mark and Gary.::Still playing, just did the Duck last week, the 3 piece unit is called Automatic.Chris Bosco on guitar, Melissa McGarry drums&vocals, and an old guy on bass.::Playing Sat Feb at the Jordan house.::I was on the road in the USA for most of the 1970's.Lot's of tales to tell.

André Germain
Nostalgia plus! For what it's worth, the other members of The Sinners were Ritchie Gauthier, vocals/rhythm guitar, Mike Weaver, drums/vocals (deceased 1971), Al Bartok, bass (deceased 1991), Glen Boscei, bass/vocals (deceased 2007), Jack Schaeffer, keyboards (deceased 1991), and Dave Pine lead/rhythm guitar and vocals (deceased c. 2005). I played lead/rhythm with the Sinners 1965-66. Cheers.

Craig
Oh what a rush of memories. I recognize a whole bunch of names from this amazing list. At that time I was this punk ass kid booking bands for Merritton High School and remember the amazing music scene at that time including Nightwinds. In fact my little band recorded at Rainbow Recording with Rod Morrison (who I used to buy my strings and picks from at Walter O's store)and we were played on the local radio with Sneaky Pete! What a fabulous project Paul!

Joe Slant
cut and paste this in your address bar http://www.myspace.com/joeslant

n
hey there again, i made up a myspace page with some pics & a few songs that they recorded on a 45. my uncle was also in the band & has a bunch of newspaper clippings i'm still waiting on as well as some reel to reels of some live material were gonna put onto a cd. http://www.myspace.com/thevitrones

Rick Leather
Hello, Paul....just had a quick visit to your website and wanted to compliment you on an amazing job of putting together this musical jig-saw puzzle. There was a lot more going on than most of the musicians of the time were even aware of , obviously . I can only imagine how many hours you must have slaved over this project ....good on you ! I hope the debut is a success and the guests appreciate your efforts. I'm looking forward to "looking back" at the way it was. All the best Rick Leather White Rock BC

Denis Cahill
Paul, I just finished watching your movie. Rod Morrison loaned me his copy. I'll follow the link to order my own. I worked for Ron Metcalfe and photographed many of his local bands in the mid 60's. I recall our phone conversation a couple years back. I have only now started to sift through boxes of old negatives. I did come across one roll of b&w showing Metcalfe at the sound board of the Toronto recording studio when the Modbeats recorded their record album. I amy include some of these photographs in an upcoming show at NAC. Your editing job was top shelf! Not a boring clip in the entire DVD. Denis

ross trout
I also know Mark Lauder

Andre Germain
Paul: Great site! A lot of memories... Speaking of which, the members of the original Stingrays before Brian Dorsey joined them as lead vocalist were: Al Shemko: lead-rhythm guitar/ vocals Larry Labatt: sax/ vocals Dan Racine: bass/ vocals Aden Smith: drums Marcel Fontaine played drums for the Spartans. Cheers. André.
André Germain.
Playin' it all by ear.

kim hughson
Just wondering if Greig Foster who was in The British Modbeats (from St. Catherines) would remember his Shaw cousins - Rod, Kim and Randy from St. Thomas. Hi!

Bob Penniman
The MUSN'T TOUCH 1965-1969..YES I'm "STILL" Alive!..lol. Out on the West Coast from '72 to Present. In the Graphic Arts for 20 yrs..Stood up to a Charging Forklift... Now on "Permanent" Holidays. Still have the "LONG" Hair with "A Touch Of Grey". Knew about 80% of these Band Members..WOW, Those WERE the Days!!

Bob Penniman
PS..Thanx Paul!!! For the "Drive" Down "Memory Lane"

RE: "The Musn't Touch" '65-70'
Other Band members.(Last names may have to be corrected)"Gabe Mazzone" Bass (Had an "Afro" before "Hendrix").. "Gilles Bougie" Rythm Guitar("The Churls" tried to lure him away with 3 Mars Bars and a half pack of gum at "The Scene").."Seppo Usimaki" Lead Guitar ("Da, Dis is Goot").. "AL" ("The Blond Italian") Drums.. Played in a boxcar on a train full of "Kiwana's" kids (thanks to Wally O.)picking them up from Niagara Falls to "Tarana" ending up at "EXPO" '67. Most Memarable moment.. 3 girls "Unmentionables" thrown on the main stage at "The Castle" followed by a pair of dirty Work Sox. (Some Band Members deceased)

Sieg Pedde
From the very first band on your list, although my name wasn't spelled quite correctly. Hello to everyone in St. Catharines. If you knew me back then, email me at spedde@pedde.net.

Don Brownlee
I remember playing in St. Catharines at Lakeside Park in the old dance hall, Ron Metcalf tried to get it going, I think. Do you remember? It was the end of Lakeside and no one hardly showed up. Other spots like the Castle, the downtown Y, the roller rink and the Power Plant which you know.
We used to play at Brock in the pub on the side of the escarpment a bitch to get to. Had to use the dumb waiter to move equipment to avoid the stairs. We were almost a house band and we also played regurarly at Niagara College pub nights. They had record beer sales when we played. Also played at a rock concert in the back 40 at Brock with bands like the Guess Who, etc. it was a 12 hour affair on tractor trailers for a stage. No one seems to remember it. It would have been early 70's. I think I see Terry Walsh at Starbucks at Fairview from time to time but I never approached him to verify. I see now that he is alive and well if he is playing at your concert. Good luck.
brownlee.don@gmail.com

RE: Don
The dance hall at Lakeside Park was Called "The Scene" (Previously the old "Beachball") A bus picked you up downtown for free and drove you there. We played a few gigs there (The Musn't Touch") with the "Churls" and "Graeme and the Wafers" about 10am every night they had to close the Big windows cause the wind would change direction to blowing off the lake and the "Fish Smell" from the beach would drift in. It was hard to get to so not many people showed up. Lots of Relationships started on the beach at night though. Probably a lot of memories for some.
Robert(Bob)Penniman

Paul Miil
re Brownlee
That 12 hour fest at Brock was in Sept 1970 and it was called "Festival 70"

The Doctor
Do you need the Love Machine in attendance for the BIG SHOW???

Charlene
OMG, that was an amazing into..that is my Aunt Vicky dancing ..miss u Vicky

Joe Szilagy
for those who asked to reach my page, try www.myspace.com/joeslant

Derek Coomber
this was a big part of my life in St Kitts the roller rink and the bands that played there and around the town love it love it to death

willyet@hotmail.com
Hi Everyone I remember great bands from St. Kit`s But one above all other`s. The EVIL (what a band) IF anybody has old 8mm film of The EVIL ,let me know ( would love to copy it down to DVD. PLEASE let me know @ willyet@hotmail.com ( got to be something out there!!!!Thanx Terry (not that Terry)

André Germain
Paul:
Bought your video from Ostanek's Saturday (Apr. 17) and gave it to my old friend and sometime bandmate Rick Hales as a birthday present. We sat and watched it that evening and were transported right back to those magical days when the music scene was really happening in this area. Thanks for the memories. A job well done!

Paul Riches
Great Concert last night- I know lots of time and effort went into producing it - but- would love to see it continue somehow- maybe in different venues??

Mark Lauder (Fred Zeppelin)
I really loved the show at brock last night the band was great, the song selections and the way you put this all together. When's the next show.

cathy lindal
you have captivated me. tell me more about why heather lindal is here.

Paul Miil
re Lindal.
When researching for this documentary I scoured newpaper archives as well as interviewed people--some in person and some by phone. Heather was one of the people I called on.
Ted Lindal was a business man who was relevant to the scene in Niagara. He operated The Power Plant night club in St. Catharines, which was THE club after Ronn Metcalfe's Castle.

Colin Bakker
Remembering John Trojan, Ian Morrison, Rod Morrison, Kieth Arendse, Brian Collins....a world class band that, sadly, disbanded. i think a reunion is in order

Brian Armstrong
Loved the documentary but you left out 2 major bands, the Mus'nt Touch and my band the Mandates. Mandates played Caravan and Fairview Mall.

Jack McGinnis
Excellent DVD, great production with an amazing level of detail. I was only there for a year during that time period but you managed to hit a dozen or more key memories for me. Sorry I missed the show, keep up the great work.

Bob Machin