By Miles Patrick Yohnke
© 2021 All Rights Reserved.
We are the sum of a large number of free actions for which we are the only ones responsible.
It was the summer of '79. That summer would be my first phase of experiencing the rock band "The Who."
Their double-album, "The Kids Are Alright" had just come out and it never left my turntable. The film, of the same name, came to Saskatoon and showed at the Towne Cinema on 20th street.
By myself, I took the bus for the opening night screening.
It was a Friday night. I was a little scared. I was young, 15 and terribly naive. 20th street was known for being a rough area in our city at that time. Not many people came so the crowd was sparse. The smell of pot lingered in the air. I was held captive by what appeared on that 20 x 50-foot screen. I went back the following Wednesday. There were even less people this time, but the smell was the same and so too was the feeling that coursed through my mind, body and soul.
The following year, I started in the work force with my first job as a painter's helper at Olson Auto Body located at 216 Ave D N. (now The Night Oven Bakery).
Dave Hargreaves was the painter for the body shop. Dave was in his 20's and was the first person I knew who was openly gay. This was at a time before the Aids crisis. It was a far different climate then it is now. Dave knew I was straight. But that never stopped him from playing around and doing his best to rattle my cage. He always tried his hardest to make me feel awkward. Dave was so playful. He just loved life and had a real zest for living every minute of it. There was no idle-free zone with him; he loved being gay, he really embraced it. I admired Dave for just being so happy within himself and for being such a beacon of life to others.
During that summer of 1980, "The Who's" principal songwriter, lead guitarist and sometimes singer, Pete Townshend's solo album "Empty Glass" came out. I bought it on the day of its release. "Rough Boys," was the lead single released and, in the video, Pete plays his 1952 Fender telecaster which is a much-coveted instrument to guitarists and known as one of the best early examples of the model Fender ever made. He has never used this guitar in live performance. "Let My Love Open the Door" was the second single released.
In 1980, I was just 16 and still naive. Dave remarked: "You know what 'Rough Boys' is about?" "Not really," I replied. "Rough, gay sex. You want me to show you?" "'NO', no, that's okay," I replied. He always did things like that. Again, just to see me get weirded out and red in the face. But Dave was a really sweet, caring guy underneath it all.
My first car was a 1976 MG Midget in British racing green. It seemed to be in the shop more that summer than anywhere else. Dave gave me rides home from work in his wood paneled robin egg blue 1975 Ford Ranchero and we talked, or it was more like I listened to him about life.
Dave enjoyed the advancements in technologies. He was the first person I knew with a remote car starter. He purchased it in the fall of 1980. With him standing next to me and his car parked nearly a block away he said: "look at my car." That cool, fall morning, seeing its exhaust come out from the car was a trip. I thought I was losing my mind. I truly did! He paid $2000 dollars for that remote starter.
Then he bought a VHS top loading video recorder. It weighed almost as much as an Austin Mini Cooper S and cost nearly the same.
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Dave Hargreaves also carefully placed one thing into everything he did. Space. His use of space was part of his existence.
When he drove, he would speed up to the car in front of us. "We need to reduce the space," he would announce. He did this all the time, it was funny.
Maybe, indirectly, it was a teaching on the importance of space? Space in writing. Painting. Music. The arts.
I worked at Olson Auto Body just that one year, but those fond memories live on within me.
My next "The Who" phase if you will, was in 1982. It was the fall, and I was with my second love, Loretta Neufeld. From birth, my mother was my first love.
Loretta Neufeld attended one of my band's rehearsals. That is how we met. I was the principal guitarist, co-writer of our original music and co-founder of the band "The Savaks" from 1980 to 1982. We rehearsed in Warman, Sk. which was 12 miles North of Saskatoon.
Like me, she had much older siblings.
We babysat a lot. One of the kids was Clint Neufeld.
Clint Neufeld has been featured in exhibitions at many key galleries and museums. In 2012, Saskatoon's premier destination for contemporary and historical art, the Mendel Art Gallery, had a large solo showing of his artwork. My Mother and I attended the showing.
Loretta and I had babysat Clint and his sister Nicole. Clint would have been 7 years old when Loretta and I started dating from Friday, April 30, 1982, until Tuesday, May 14, 1985.
To be original in the dictionary means "never having been done before; new; novel; inventive."
This is what Mr. Clint Neufeld bestows in his art. He is a true original!
Clint Neufeld makes ethereally beautiful car engines, transmissions, and other mechanical components out of cast ceramic that is decorated and displayed like fine China. In his work, he aims to investigate notions of labour and beauty as they intersect in memory and the contemporary imagination.
Clint adored his grandmother, Mrs. Nancy Neufeld. She had a remarkable collection of Royal Albert fine China. She also had a beautifully plush Victorian sofa.
In these two photographs of his work, we see how he pays tribute to his grandmother, Mrs. Nancy Neufeld. To view more of Clint's work, you'll find a link at the bottom of this article where you can learn more about him or invest in one or more of his pieces.
Mrs. Neufeld was a war bride. In 1983, on a return visit back to London, she bought me a hip MG jacket that I still wear to this day.
Back then, Clint and Nicole lived two doors down from their grandparents Nancy & Arthur Neufeld. Often, after school, they'd visit. Mrs. Neufeld would make them something to eat and listen to them recount their day's adventures. Like her daughter Loretta, Mrs. Neufeld carried herself with an abundance of grace and dignity in first class style. Every member of the Neufeld family was beautifully tender and soft, like West Indies cotton.
The Neufeld family's door was always open, and love was shown to all.
It was Sunday, February 24, 1985, and I was out in Warman for the day with Loretta at her folks' place. That evening, Loretta's mom said: "Miles, that was your mom on the phone. We talked and you're staying here for the night in the spare bedroom. She is worried, as I am about the stormy, snowy highways."
The following Monday morning, I drove Loretta into the city to her job at "Colour Your World" in the Confederation area of Saskatoon. I still lived at home then and on my arrival was a written note, left on the kitchen counter from Mom. "I'm at Grandma and Grandpa's." I soon learned my cousin Brenda Gerein had just been killed in a head-on collision outside of North Battleford, Saskatchewan that previous night. Brenda had just turned 20.
That was my first feeling of real loss. Yes, my own Dad died when I was 5 but I'd be lying to say I had a feeling of loss. It would have been different I'd imagine for my brothers; they had experiences, memories. I have just four memories of Dad. My sadness was the inability to read and write and the bullying that I faced from it by my teachers and other children at school.
Loretta and I both loved film. Shortly after the tragic loss of Brenda we went to the theatre and watched: "Vision Quest." The storyline of the film revolves around the main character who decides he wants to be more in life. He sets goals for himself to achieve that many don't think he can complete.
The loss of my cousin Brenda Gerein, was the drive, if you will, to create each and every day. I now had a vision and a quest for my life.
One Friday night, in the fall of 1982, we had to babysit Loretta's other two nephews and nieces. They lived a few miles outside of Warman, Sk. out on an acreage.
"The Who's" last ever concert, as they were promoting it at the time, was on television, and on the acreage back then, they were limited to just one channel. They didn't have the channel it was to be broadcast on and this was long before PVR and VCRs were readily available for households to record. The emotions I was feeling included despair and sadness. I missed the televised concert.
Who are you? I was slowly starting to understand. That's love.
And the kids were alright.
Clint Neufeld
R.I.P. (Rest In Peace) Nancy Neufeld
R.I.P. (Rest In Peace) Brenda Gerein
To read the whole story please visit The StarPhoenix archives here.
To learn more about Natalie Struck who took the photos of myself in 2022 click here: https://nataliestruck.com