He Hijacked My Brain: Gary Topp's Toronto: taking chances
23 Nov 2024 - Photos courtesy of UXB Press and Gary Topp 

Though it may seem hard to imagine in these times when mega-pop stars make Toronto a destination, and our film festivals are considered world class, there was a time when this city was a cultural backwater. Venues were forced to close early on Sundays and the Ontario Censor Board snipped anything that might frighten the horses. It was a long, slow evolution but one that was hastened by the efforts of an upstart rebel: Gary Topp. Already the subject of the brilliant graphic novel biography Topp: Gary Topp Brought Us the World, Topp is further immortalized in a lavish oral history entitled He Hijacked My Brain: Gary Topp's Toronto. The latter part of the title is slightly deceptive, as Dave Bidini of the Rheostatics says in He Hijacked My Brain, "What they did ripples around the world." What they did, referring specifically to Topp's work with Gary Cormier as half of The Garys, was to book cutting edge concerts, events, films, etc, finding an audience for what often turned out to be the next big thing. Topp says that jazz giant Theloonius Monk told him, "The only cats worth anything are the cats that take chances." Topp took it heart and it paid off both for him and for the many artists he took chances on. And for audiences.

Usually I don't enthuse about a book before having read it cover to cover and digesting the totality. With He Hijacked My Brain that is not a possibility, it is a giant coffee table book, packed with rare and fascinating photographs as well as a deliciously daunting amount of text. It is an event, not a biography. I dutifully began reading and perusing at the beginning and suddenly two hours had passed. I was never going to meet my deadline. I then began skipping through the book but kept stalling out, seduced by fascinating stories about fascinating artists, fascinating photos and memorabilia, and the equally fascinating Gary Topp. More hours passed. As soon as I am done typing my thoughts, I will return to the pages despite having other pressing deadlines. And then it will go on the coffee table to be dipped into and savoured at leisure over time. 

He Hijacked My Brain begins mainly in Topp's voice as he recounts his childhood and the events that led to his creation, as he tells it more stumbling but that is self-deprecation, of a singular career. Obsessed with music and film from childhood, Topp thrived in a time when a young man with an active curiosity, ambition, taste, and a lot of chutzpah could wander the folk underground of New York and see Bob Dylan before he was Bob Dylan. And have the foresight to recognize the singer/songwirter's importance. Could attempt to rehabilitate the image of The Rolling Stones with Toronto's leading radio station. Could turn showing films in his basement for a modest fee into creating Toronto's art house cinema circuit with The Original 99¢ Roxy. In my review of Topp: Gary Topp Brought Us the World, I waxed lyrically about the many times my life intersected with Topp's creations and productions, so I won't repeat it. Just click on the link, you're going to want to read both books anyway. I'm also not going to rehash Topp's stellar career, if you're not familiar with at least parts of it, He Hijacked My Brain covers it almost comprehensively.

What I will do is mention a few of the highlights I've discovered so far. And any book with an introduction by Jim Rose—whose stint at The Brunswick House, promoted by Topp. was as life changing for his career as it was life changing for those of us lucky enough to have attended—is fated to be full of highlights. What was the real reason that unknowns The Police were booked into the tiny club The Edge? How did the Ramones go from New York upstarts to international genre creators? How did Richard Nixon help launch The Original 99¢ Roxy? How did the B-52s fuck up the B-Girls's drummer? How did The Horseshoe Tavern's rejection of punk and return to country and western lead to The Dixie Chicks at Massey Hall? Why did Topp get death threats on late night radio? Why is Gwar so much better live? (Actually the last one is self-evident but it is still entertainingly told) Those are just anecdotes within paragraphs of opinion, gossip and nostalgia. Name a favourite artist, and He Hijacked My Brain will have something illuminating to say. And probably a photograph you haven't seen before. Or a reproduction of a poster to illustrate.

The Garys championed so many bands at the beginning of their careers and their ethos of treating them decently, giving them a chance, paid off. Artists can be, though not always, grateful and loyal. Topp was also working on the forefront of cultural change. Riding it and creating it. If The Original 99¢ Roxy sparked Toronto and that ripples' love affair with obscure and art films, then our exposure to punk and its bastard child New Wave, reggae, jazz, blues etc, etc, courtesy of Topp revolutionized the way we consume and appreciate music. There is a reason that '80s pop remains the gold standard in nostalgia: artists, and Topp, took chances. He Hijacked My Brain also covers the creation of CFNY and how radio was briefly revolutionized. Kudos have to go to UXB press, the authors and designers. He Hijacked My Brain comes in a package that evokes memories of those glorious days of tearing shrink wrap off an album, if one remembers albums, and opening the gatefold to discover pleasures, posters and surprises. How they managed to print and assemble such a cornucopia at the price boggles the mind. They must have taken a chance.