I am standing in the front row waiting for Skinny Puppy to come out. It is my 1st time seeing them; it is 1987. I know I will have to see their choice of opening band 1st, which my new Skinny Puppy friends, in Toronto, tell me are friends of Skinny Puppy. So I’m curious to see who’s been hand-picked by my new-found musical interest!
No one seems to be paying much attention as the lights go out and fog fills the stage. There are 2 keyboards, and the fog of course, but not much else..yet!
The atmosphere is set. Still, people around me continue to chat, as a lone figure walks out, slooowly, steadily, & barefoot (!). There are lines; no; cracks drawn on his face. Now I recall the name on the flyer. It’s Edward Ka-Spel. Never ‘eard of ‘im. But good things are in store for me! And so it begins. He knows exactly what he’s doing.
The keyboard starts a steady roll of notes, over & over. This is “Flesh Parade”. The music becomes the air and swirls deeper into a different state of mind. OMG, I am fucking HOOKED! I think my jaw starts to drop.
I like it here, wherever this place is called. I can understand every twisted, clever description coming out of Edward’s mouth, and I’ve never really heard anything like this before.
I now have a mission for the next day: to find every record available by him. Oh yes, I’m on a serious mission alright! How fun!
It wasn’t quick (no internet, no known mail order addresses), it wasn’t easy, but oh, so rewarding! I believe my 1st find was “Chyekk China Doll”, “Aazhyd China Doll”, and “Curse”! A co-worker, at the record shop I was working at, was already enlightened, and so described The Legendary Pink Dots to me, which raised my adrenaline level even more! That’s how I came across “Curse”. In fact I remember looking for anything baring their name, walking out of the shop & down the street, defeated but then the image of the album cover flashed across my mind, and I realized that it said Legendary Pink Dots and I had missed it! I ran back and was relieved to still find it there. That was a good day. It was like finding gold.
Twenty One years later, the China Dolls, Lisa, MaryLou, and the cast of re-occuring characters in the mad, humourous, and sometimes bitter world of Edward and his Dots are like old friends and the spinning Universe is ever-evolving!
