Listen to Gary Topp's chat with Damian Abraham on his Turned Out A Punk podcast

Raising a glass to legendary Toronto concert promoter Gary Topp on his birthday with his chat with Damian Abraham and more. 

Gary Topp hijacks TVO's The Agenda to chat about his new book

Toronto concert promoter Gary Topp discusses the great new coffee table book, He Hijacked My Brain (UXB Press) out now. 

Here's the scoop...

Two men named Gary – Gary Topp and Gary Cormier – helped make Toronto cool in the 1970s, at a time when this city most definitely was not. They had no rule book. They didn't have a lot of money. But they had interests and ideas -- a lot of them crazy -- and they had the nerve to make things happen. First came movie theatres. Then came concert bookings. And what a roster of acts they introduced to the city... The Ramones, The Police, The Smiths, The Go-Gos and The B-52s to name a few. And now one of the Garys... Gary Topp... is the subject of a new book called He Hijacked My Brain, about his often wild career as a cultural curator. Check out Gary's interview with Steve Paikin for The Agenda. 

Toronto impact of promoter Gary Topp documented in He Hijacked My Brain

Gary Topp opened up his archive for the much anticipated UXB Press book He Hijacked My Brain out Dec 1. 

He Hijacked My Brain – Gary Topp's Toronto

“New York run by the Swiss” is how Peter Ustinov once memorably described Toronto: a big, busy city that ran on money and tradition; orderly and prosperous, sure, but rather lacking in culture and excitement. If never entirely true, this characterisation is now entirely out-dated, and few personalities can take half the credit for that as Gary Topp.  

Armed with taste, energy and a powerful disdain for convention, Gary Topp took Toronto by storm. As part of The Garys (with longtime co-hort Gary Cormier) he offered Canada its first taste of the Ramones, the Police, the B52’s, Sun Ra, Slayer, Talking Heads, The Cramps, James Chance & The Contortions and countless others.

From humble beginnings bringing underground film to thrill-hungry early ‘70s audiences, through years in which he became the city’s most daring and visionary concert promoter, Order of Canada nominee Gary Topp transformed Toronto’s cultural landscape over five exhilarating decades.  

Spanning taverns to concert halls, cinemas to circuses, if it was new, vital and discomfiting to the mainstream, Gary booked it. Packed with first-hand accounts and rare photographs, He Hijacked My Brain - Gary Topp’s Toronto celebrates the revolutionary events that countered Toronto’s culture, painting an insider’s look at a pivotal period that shaped Toronto as a cultural hotbed before Drake and TIFF existed.

From Derek Emerson and his award winning team at UXB Press that created Tomorrow Is Too Late (Toronto Hardcore Punk in the ‘80s) and Eve of Darkness Toronto Heavy Metal in the ‘80s) this is the third in a series of books documenting the history of Toronto’s underground music and culture. 

He Hijacked My Brain – Gary Topp's Toronto will be available for purchase at the Concert Hall book launch on December 1st. See below for details and clips. Note: Rare original paper items from Gary's personal collection have been randomly included with copies of the book available at the event!

"The Garys helped define the city of Toronto as a cosmopolitan mecca of artistic expression. They stayed one step ahead in shaping the city’s cultural landscape." — STING, The Police

"The Garys gave an entire generation this idea that you can do it, this is going to happen. They always fought the good fight. And they did it for passion, not profit." — STEVEN LECKIE,  The Viletones

"The Garys gave (Toronto) its edge, literally (with The Edge club) and figuratively." — GLOBE AND MAIL

"There weren’t many spaces that queer culture could go in the ’70s and ’80s. The Garys were supportive when a lot of others weren’t. If a list were made of the musicians the Garys helped to break, they would win every award imaginable, it’s an absolute no-brainer." — CAROLE POPE (Rough Trade)

"It’s all a matter of taste for Topp."— NATIONAL POST

"Gary Topp made my life so much richer than it would have been without his work. I will remain indebted until the day I die." — ROB BOWMAN, Grammy Winning Music Historian

He Hijacked My Brain book launch 

The Concert Hall (888 Yonge St, Toronto)

Sunday, December 1 – 1:30 pm to 6 pm

Second event with screening of The Last Pogo at 7 pm. 

Off limits to the general public for decades, the Red Room of Toronto's Masonic Temple/Concert Hall (888 Yonge St) – the Mason's inner sanctum – plays host to the release of the new book HE HIJACKED MY BRAIN  – Gary Topp's Toronto (UXB Press) documenting the cultural impact of Toronto concert promoter. Come celebrate Toronto concert + cinema history with rarely seen artwork, vintage film footage and personal soundboard recordings directly from the vault of Gary Topp! New book HE HIJACKED MY BRAIN will be on sale at the event. Cash bar. Limited capacity - advance tickets are sold out for the 1:30 pm event. Get tickets for the event at 7 pm featuring a special anniversary screening of The Last Pogo right here.  

He Hijacked My Brain

1:30 - Doors open; Mike Milligan & His Double Bass 

FROM THE VAULT: original hand drawn poster boards from Gary Topp's personal collection on display in gallery space

2:30 - BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE PREVIEWS - Original 99 Cent Roxy Film Trailer Screening

3:30 - Ronley Teper & The Lipliners

4:00 - HE HIJACKED MY BRAIN documentary - rare film clips 1947-1981

4:30 - TALES FROM THE INNER CIRCLE - Q+A with Gary Cormier + (The Garys), Jeff Silverman (Partner, Roxy + New Yorker Theatres), Ivar Hamilton (CFNY Radio), Colin Brunton (Filmmaker, Poster Artist)

5:30 - FROM THE VAULT: Rare soundboard recordings from Gary Topp's personal archives. 

He Hijacked My Brain – Part 2

7;00 – Doors 

7:45 - BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE PREVIEWS

8:30 - THE DAVE HOWARD SINGULARITY 

9:00 - HE HIJACKED MY BRAIN documentary - rare film clips 1947-1981

9:35 - THE LAST POGO

Watch the Talking Heads perform "Pulled Up" at the Horseshoe Tavern on May 12, 1978 followed by  soundboard clips of The B-52s performing "Rock Lobster" at their Toronto debut – opening for The B-Girls – at The Horseshoe Tavern on October 13, 1978, James Chance with The Contortions at The Horseshoe Tavern on August 3, 1978 and Colin Brunton's great 1978 Toronto punk scene documentary The Last Pogo.

Whaddya mean you don't know Hateful Snake

Back in 1983, Toronto's Hateful Snake were tipped as the next big thing in metal by Daniel Richler. Watch for the new book Eve Of Darkness from UXB Press.  

Tomorrow Is Too Late: TOHC book launch @ Hard Luck Bar, Saturday

A couple of years in the works, Shawn Chirrey & Derek Emerson's crucial 320-page TOHC document is finally done!

Here's the scoop...

Doors at the Hard Luck open at 7:30 pm, first band hits the stage shortly after 8 pm however, copies of Tomorrow Is Too Late: Toronto Hardcore Punk in the 1980s (co-authored by Shawn Chirrey & Derek Emerson with contributions from Simon Harvey) will be sold outside of the club starting around 6-6:30 pm for those who want to stash their copies in their cars or who weren't able to grab advance tickets for the gig. Come down for the TOHC reunion out front!

Each copy of Tomorrow Is Too Late: Toronto Hardcore Punk in the 1980s purchased at the show – available for $40 cash – will include a set of four TOHC postcards, a large double-sided poster (8.5" x 28.5") featuring approximately 100 flyers that aren't in the book and a 7" featuring ten TOHC bands including Direct Action, Sudden Impact, Chronic Submission, Creative Zero, Dead End, Negative Gain, Sons Of Ishmael, Microedge, More Stupid Initials and Angry Thalidomide Babies – 11 songs appearing on vinyl for the first time ever.

Keep in mind that there will be other goodies available at the merch table - all sales are CASH ONLY so be sure to raid your piggy bank. Of course, you can just stay at home and order the book (w/ 7" while supplies last) directly from UXB Press right here.