David McPherson - The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern: A Complete History

At a time when music venues are under attack by gentrification and development, the Horseshoe remains immortal. Ive long wondered what those checkerboard floors would say if they could talk. Now they can.

Alan Cross, music writer and host of the radio series

The Ongoing History of New Music

David McPherson does an amazing thing with this affectionate and informative book. As someone who has performed there and attended countless shows over the years, it made me feel like I was a witness to something much bigger and more integral to the history of Torontos ever-changing music scene.

Ron Sexsmith

David McPhersons tall cold pour of a story left me smacking my lips, nodding my head, and feeling just fine. My recommendation: pull up a chair, drain off one chapter, then another, and the next. Before long, youll feel absolutely giddy about the Horseshoe and its raffishly distinguished history, Toronto, music, this excellent writer, and the whole wide world.

Charles McNair, author of the Pulitzer Prizenominated Land O Goshen

A glorious two-handed plunge into the loam of the most famous rock and roll club in Canada; digging in the weeds to find the bones that find the ghosts who played there, from Hank Williams to Tom Connors to Frankie Venom to Townes Van Zandt and beyond.

Dave Bidini, author of Writing Gordon Lightfoot

The Horseshoe is Canadas beating heart of rock n roll. David McPhersons book does a brilliant job illustrating just that.

Grant Lawrence, the Smugglers

David McPherson has captured the soul and the sweat, the joy and the chaos of the hands-down greatest music parlour in Canada. From Stonewall Jackson to The Last Pogo, the spirit that is the Horseshoe lives in these pages.

Colin Linden, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings

David McPherson takes us on a wonderful journey that shows the reader why the club is called the Legendary Horseshoe and where those legends came from.

Bernie Finkelstein, founder of True North Records

This book truly captures the vibe of the best live music venue in Canada: the sweat, the history, and most of all, the sound and did I mention the sweat? A love song for the musical grande dame of Queen Street.

Jay Semko, the Northern Pikes

A valuable document of the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern history. Jack Starrs legacy lives on!

Josh Finlayson, Skydiggers

On the eve of its 70th birthday, author David McPherson finally tells the fabled clubs story.

Rob Bowman, Grammy Awardwinning author and professor

Cover

Copyright

Copyright David McPherson, 2017

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

Cover images: Patrick Cummings (foreground); Edie Steiner (background)

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

McPherson, David, M.A., author

The legendary Horseshoe Tavern : a complete history / David

McPherson ; foreword by Jim Cuddy.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-4597-3494-4 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-4597-3495-1 (pdf).-

ISBN 978-1-4597-3496-8 (epub)

1. Horseshoe Tavern (Toronto, Ont.). 2. Rock music--Ontario-

Toronto--History and criticism. 3. Popular music--Ontario--Toronto-

History and criticism. I. Title.

ML3534.6 C2.M172 2017 781.6609713'541 C2017-904151-7

C2017-904152-5

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the artsto Canadians throughout the country, and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the Government of Canada.

Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. Lan dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollarspour mettre de lart dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

The publisher is not responsible for websites or their content unless they are owned by the publisher.