By Steve Newton
In the “I’ll find any excuse to post a blog” department, I recently came across a photo taken by someone–an unknown passerby, perhaps–of me and Allan MacInnis.
For the unaware, the guy I like to call “Big Al” is a Vancouver journalist and blogger whose specialties include punk-rock and cult movies. He’s quite the authority on alternative culture, although we originally connected through a mutual love of Blue Öyster Cult, if I recall correctly.
“By my posts you shall know me,” writes MacInnis on his website, Alienated in Vancouver, and he isn’t kidding around. The blog is crammed with stories on and photos of the local music scene, the most recent posts being about groups like Black Violet and the Black Halos, and reviews of concerts by Black Flag (he’s into black) and Kerry King from Slayer.
By his posts I have known him to be a frequent visitor to the Rickshaw Theatre and a huge fan of director Robert Eggers’ new horror flick, Nosferatu.
The snapshot that inspired me to pen this blog was taken when I first met MacInnis in the flesh at a Khatsahlano festival, one of those annual outdoor events organized by Zulu Records where a ton of local bands play on a stretch of Fourth Avenue in Kits. I’m not sure what year it was taken, but judging by the size of my son Danny, seen behind me, I’m guessing it’s been 10 years at least.
I like how we’re both being cool by making the heavy-metal sign of the devil horns, which I believe we picked up from Ronnie James Dio or somethin’.
Pretty sure it wasn’t B.Ö.C.