Last night, I got to see a vintage piece of Canadiana Rock on display in
Peterborough - The Headstones. My friend Derrick's band (The Gentlemen
Husbands) put on a killer opening set and will no doubt be making their
mark very soon as they are now managed by Bernie Breen (manager of
The Hip, The Headstones and many more). GH are a super-talented band
and it was an honour to see them perform for their biggest crowd to date
(800+ and sold out).
But the real stars of the show were, without a doubt, The Headstones. As
Hugh Dillon has become a bit of an acting celebrity, it was amazing to
see a shiny, head-shaven representation of a once-mohawked badboy.
The lack of mohawk, however, did not detract from the image as the old
Hugh was definitely present. He walked on stage quickly, with the rest of
the band members, and as some house music (I think it was country) was
playing lightly in the background, Hugh grabbed the mic, pointed up at
the soundbooth and said 'Turn that fuckin' shit OFF!' The audience
erupted and was in his hands from that moment forth.
Leading off with 'When Something Stands For Nothing', Hugh pretended
his harmonica was a 9 mil as he aimed it at different members in the
audience and picked them off. A true entertainer and showman to the
bone, Hugh and the boys did not disappoint as the stage was lacquered
in spit and sweat by the end of the night.
Back in 1997, I saw the Headstones play live at the Ottawa EX. (I also
rode the teacups for way too long that day with Steve Gray and later
yakked in port-a-potty.) As Steve and I were in line for a rollercoaster,
we looked over through the metal security bars at the coaster that was
boarding and in it was Hugh Dillon. Mohawked. With girls on both
arms. And probably on something. As I poked Steve and told him that
it was the lead singer, Steve didn't seem to care or was distracted by
something so I decided to yell 'HUGH!' as loud as I could through the
bars. He looked over at me, and in a flash-instant, smiled, pointed and
winked and said 'How you doin?' in a super cool manner. Oddly enough,
this was right after 'Smile And Wave' had come out and so, in a sense,
Hugh smiled and waved at me.
In an interesting and time-warpy moment, I raised my bottle to Hugh
last night, during Smile And Wave (as we were only feet away from the
stage), and he looked right at me and gave me the exact same 'smile,
wink and a gun' as he did in '97.
I wonder if he remembered me. I doubt it - but it's nice to believe.
