The Making of a Legend

I promised to tell you more about Gary Taylor and today we area going to look at some of the highlights of this man's career.

From 1964 to 1968, CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) had a television show called Lets Go Show which played a part in developing Canadian bands and artists. Gary's band, the Classics, were the house band. The Classics were the lead off band of 2 part television special called Canadian Rock and Roll, also on CBC.

Gary Taylor is legendary in the nightclub business. He was co-owner of his first club, King of Clubs, and played in house band with other musicians, Tom Baird, Caire Lawrence, Glenn Miller and Brian Russell. These artists were the core of the Classics and went to become the core of the seminal band The Collectors with Bill Henderson. Ross Tierney took over on drums.

Gary had a good run with the King of Clubs before teaming up with rock and roll legend Buddy Knox (Party Doll / Hula Love and many other North American hit songs). The club also changed to the Purple Steer and became Greater Vancouver's premier country music club.

There was also the club Gary Taylor's Rock Room. That is where Taylor created "Live at Eleven", which spawned the 99.33 the Fox Vancouver Seeds Contest, Canada's Premier Independent Music Competition. The competition is over thirty years old and was originally broadcast live from the Rock Room.

The Rock Room was the place to be and during the punk scene, Gary brought in artists such as Johnny Thunders and The New York Dolls; Wayne / Jayne County (right at the time Wayne was turning into Jayne); Romeo Void; Lenny Kaye; Ray Loney and the Flamin' Groovies; Joe Jackson and many more.

We can't forget Gary Taylor's contributions to the exotic entertainment industry. He is known for placing art form in exotic dance performance. Some of his legendary productions include "Dracula and The Virgin" and "the Amorous Adventures of Wellington Wang" which were sold out for one year straight.

The majority of his clubs included live jazz, strip tease and stage plays. 

Gary has managed people from speed metal artists Jeff Walter and Annihilator to legendary blues artist Long John Baldry and currently manages country artists Carey Ott and Kate Lamont. He has his hands involved in many different ventures such as being talent coordinator for one of Vancouver's top live venues, Falconetti's on Commercial Drive to being Executive International Consultant of Canadian Music Week.

That is only a sampling of the credits this man has. Gary Taylor is truly a credit to the music industry not only in Vancouver but also worldwide

Thanks to Gary Taylor for supplying the bio where I got this information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Gary Taylor ReVamped

While going home from my meeting with Gary Taylor, I heard some sweet music coming from a neighbourhood park. I wandered over and enjoyed the sounds of the Carlo Rossi Gang.

In March of this year, I wrote a blog entry on Gary Taylor's Show Lounge. When I sent the link to Mr. Taylor, he informed me that the information contained in the entry was false and was kind enough to send me his bio. Therefore, I am writing a new entry to correct the first one.

Gary Taylor is 73 years old but you wouldn't know it to look at him. I met him at his club Falconetti's on the Drive and he possesses an energy and vibrancy of someone much younger. Hey, I know men who are half his age and act a lot older. Must be something to the music that keeps him young.

At the age of 15, Taylor began learning how to play the drums with the legendary and much sought drum teacher, Jim Blackley. (Mr. Blackley's students have gone on to play with the likes of Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Paul McCartney, Sting and Annie Lennox and many others.) 

Gary was a dedicated student and he rose in the professional ranks. At the age of 17, Taylor was playing with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. But that wasn't where he stopped. The young Taylor continued to study with Blackley, becoming the man's protege and at the age of 18, became an associate teacher and Blackley's right hand man. This was the start of a colourful and successful career in the entertainment industry.

In 1973, there was a Vancouver bar named 'Gary Taylor's Show Lounge' that employed showgirls and strippers as waitresses. These ladies would offer a free dance with every drink. Of course, this got the attention of the police who raided the club under the obscenity regulations.

In 1974, Judge Jack McGivern ruled the nudity of the dancers was not obscene - this naturally started the practice of nude dancing girls in bars - but touching was not allowed. Gary Taylor's had a boxing ring where the women performed revealing acrobatic acts after stripping then earned tips. This attracted men from Washington State to visit since their laws in this matter were much more strict.

Friday I will tell you about some highlights of Gary Taylor's career. He has done a lot.

Thank you Mr. Taylor for supplying the bio and allowing me a chance to correct the earlier version.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Gary Taylor's Show Lounge

Next week I am going to an event at the Penthouse Nightclub  - a Vancouver landmark and a venue brimming with history. Some of it not so good! The tour is being put on by Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours and I was invited through Facebook by Aaron Chapman, author of Liquor, Lust and the Law. I am looking forward to it and will be sure to bring my camera so I can get lots of photos.

When I went to my dentist and mentioned I was going to this, he - a long time Vancouver resident - mentioned a strip club he and his fellow dental students used to go to. I did a little research and found out some information on Gary Taylor's Show Lounge.

Gary Taylor began his career as a teenaged drummer backing up striptease dancers in the 1950s. He played at venues such as the Smilin' Buddha, New Delhi, Harlem Nocturne and 'girlie show at the Pacific National Exhibition.

Taylor played short gigs at the Penthouse Cabaret, the Zanzibar, and the King of Clubs in the early 70s. Then he opened his own club, Gary Taylor's Show Lounge on Granville Street. Here 'beautiful, innocent-looking women' were hired to strip, accompanied by jazz and blues musicians.

Gary was rumoured to be a smooth, fast-talking man who bet strangers on the street he could get a woman to take her clothes off on his stage. A friend has even joked that Taylor could talk a nun into going on his stage.

I am getting this information from the book Burlesque West by Becki L. Ross and she interviewed Taylor in 2007. Gary says he was at the forefront of a 'pure and innovative' trend to enable women who were 'amateurs' to 'discover themselves' on stage and 'have a lot of fun doing it'. (page 73)

Taylor's method of having small stages for exotic dancers was proving to be a wise move. The Las Vegas style acts with all their pomp and glitter, which were usually held at places such as the Cave, Isy's and the Penthouse became too expensive.

In 1972, nude dancing was legalized in British Columbia but different officials were slow to get on board with that ruling. In Surrey, Mayor Bill Vander Zalm led the charge to ban nude entertainment in neighbourhood pubs and in 1973, the BC Liquor Control Board ruled that all night club entertainers must be accompanied by a three-piece orchestra. This was obviously a back door attempt to circumvent the new law since having to have a three-piece orchestra with all dancers would have made the show too expensive for the common man to attend.

Gary Taylor was charged in November of 1973 with presenting an 'obscene performance' at his show lounge. Taylor and his lawyer, Tony Pantages, re-enacted the 'obscene performance' at the Show lounge with police, the crown prosecutor and Judge McGivern in attendance. Gary Taylor won the case and charges were dismissed against he and five female performers.

Interesting times to be sure. So whatever happened to Gary Taylor? According to his LinkedIn page, Mr. Taylor is still involved in the entertainment business. Now, he manages musical artists and consults with Canadian Music Week, in addition to strategic and creative consulting and such for musical conferences.

The photos you see here were taken from the Vancouver Lookout a couple of weeks ago.

I hope you find beauty around you.