Take me to a place I haven’t been, show me something I haven’t seen...

March 1, 2024 8:33 PM

What do Nona Hendryx, Rough Trade, Ultravox, Pere Ubu, The Police, Jonathan Richman, Nash the Slash, Sun Ra, Martha and the Muffins, John Cale, Alex Chilton, Joan Jett, XTC, the Cramps and so many more have in common? Obviously it's the fact that they all played at the Edge, a 200 person concert venue and eatery in Toronto in the late 70's. Not bad considering the place was only open for 2 and a half years.

Welcome to my rabbit hole! Come for the Edge, stay for Stages, a club for Toronto's gay community. Be sure to scroll down for a banging DJ mix from 1981 and a little farther for a mix from 1983. Amazing how quickly things changes.

Once you're done with Stages, go hang for a while a the Domino Klub which had a relationship of sorts with the Edge.

Are the 90's more your thing? Roxy Blu almost folded until Kruder & Dorfmeister showed up. Ahhhh, house....

But I should be ashamed of myself for burying the lede. Denise Benson is the brain behind Then and Now . I couldn't find much about her but she's busy on the scene and recently hosted Outrave, an electronic music documentary series on Revry LGBTQ TV.

Bonus links that have bonus links that have bonus links:
Revisiting Toronto's forgotten 70's punk scene
Clubs that are missed
Musical Yonge Street through the ages. Fascinating.
27 most memorable nightclubs, ymmv
Gary Topp
Sure, how about Then & Now's story on the El Mocambo.

posted by ashbury (6 comments total)

Dick Duck and the Dorks
posted by pracowity at 9:36 PM on March 1

Man I miss Nash the Slash.
posted by boilermonster at 12:11 AM on March 2 [4 favorites]

I've still got a March 1978 flyer listing that month's bands at a similar-sized venue in the small British city of Plymouth. They include The Heavy Metal Kids, Buzzcocks, The Slits, Motorhead, Wire, Penetration, Cheap Trick, Black Slate and Wreckless Eric.

The late seventies was an extraordinarily rich period for bands working at that club level and for the venues which hosted them. I was a student in Plymouth at the time, and you could easily find three of four gigs of this calibre in town every week. Any British university town at that time would have been the same.

Gigs like these were an essential part of the eco-system for any up and coming band, but today those crucial venues can barely survive.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:22 AM on March 2 [5 favorites]

Looks like a great scene - here in the Midwest we were blessed to harbor a similar refuge for the unwashed for a few years in the 80's, a dingy former gambling club across the river from Cincinnati in Newport, Kentucky. Ladies and Germs, this is the infamous Jockey Club.
posted by thecincinnatikid at 6:38 AM on March 2

Very cool post, thanks...FYI, the Toronto Reference Library has a great collection of street posters which include a bunch from the Edge, with some of these artists included.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:26 AM on March 2 [1 favorite]

It's interesting they include a quote from a CFNY music director. A radio station beloved by many during the birth the new wave and alternative music era in 80s until it ended rebranded as top 40 and a few years later returned to alternative music rebranded as The Edge.
posted by srboisvert at 2:19 PM on March 2