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KENSINGTON MARKET - A Band Too Far Ahead of its Time

  

Category:  Entertainment

By:  buzz-of-the-orient  •  6 years ago  •  22 comments

KENSINGTON MARKET - A Band Too Far Ahead of its Time

KENSINGTON MARKET - A Band Too Far Ahead of its Time

KensingtonMarketAvenueRoad_1.jpg

Anyone living in Toronto during the late 60s would have known about this band.  I was much involved with them, not only because I was their lawyer and their manager's lawyer, but because in a way I could almost be called a groupie as I was certainly a very good friend of the band members and their manager and watched many of their performances.  Their history is documented fairly well in this Wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Market_(band)

Alex Darou, the one in front in the photo, was the boyfriend of my (eventual and now ex) wife's best friend. He was extremely spiritual, but went overboard and actually starved himself to death.  The one behind him leaning to the left is Jimmy Watson, who was small enough to fit into his yellow Lotus.  Luke Gibson, leaning to the right was a partner with the band's manager, Bernie Finkelstein, in purchasing an abandoned farm in the remote Killaloe area of Ontario that I found for them, and I spent many weekends there alone as they didn't use it much.  This is a photo of the barns behind the farmhouse I took when I was there one time:

Killaloe barns.jpg

Behind Luke is Gene Martynec, an amazingly talented guitar player and songwriter. Luke and Gene remained as my clients for many years after the band's breakup.  Finally, the lead singer, Keith McKie, who had an absolutely golden voice. 

As they were not particularly famous, I cannot find any of their music on the internet music sites I have access to, but I'm sure you can find something by them or one of them on YouTube.

I recall one time when the band travelled to Kingston, about a 2 hour drive on the Queen Elizabeth Way from Toronto, to play at a high school.  I got a desperate phone call from John-John, their roadie, who FORGOT TO TAKE THEIR GUITARS.  So with the girl who was with me at the time we raced over to their rehearsal hall, grabbed their guitars and drove at 100 mph + to the high school, marched in with their guitars through the auditorium while the audience were clapping and shouting for the concert to start, and saw the relief plastered on the band's faces when we gave them their guitars.

KensingtonMarket 2.jpg

They were later joined by John Mills-Cockell, an exceptionally talented Synthesizer player who also became my client.

They impressed Felix Pappalardi, who produced and performed their two albums, arranged their American tours and perhaps if Felix had not been shot and killed by his wife, the trauma of that loss most likely contributing to their breakup, their sound, so advanced for their time, might have become better known and appreciated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Pappalardi

In any event, at this point in time, Kensington Market has become only a memory of my earlier life.


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Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
1  author  Buzz of the Orient    6 years ago

Nothing about Trump or religion so I guess this article will be wiped off the board in a day.

 
 
 
lennylynx
Sophomore Quiet
1.1  lennylynx  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @1    6 years ago

Trump wants to be a king like the King of Kensington.  That's an on-topic comment by the way!

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
1.1.1  author  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  lennylynx @1.1    6 years ago

The "King of Kensington" was Al Waxman, a Toronto actor I knew fairly well.

 
 
 
lennylynx
Sophomore Quiet
1.1.2  lennylynx  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @1.1.1    6 years ago

I remember the show well, cool that you knew big Al.

 
 
 
charger 383
Professor Silent
2  charger 383    6 years ago

you had some interesting clients

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2.1  author  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  charger 383 @2    6 years ago

I sure did, from bikers to high-ranking executives, from folksingers to real estate moguls, from head-shop owners to the Toronto chapter of an International Children's Charity, from famous artists to lawyer colleagues.........

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
3  Kavika     6 years ago

I haven't heard of the group in quite some time...

Good article Buzz. 

 
 
 
sixpick
Professor Quiet
4  sixpick    6 years ago

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
4.1  author  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  sixpick @4    6 years ago

Thank you SO MUCH, Sixpick. I've not listened to their music for ages.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
5  Split Personality    6 years ago

I do believe that in a former life, I had at least one  KM vinyl album - good memories.

No idea of the tragic history.

Thanks Buzz!

 
 
 
sixpick
Professor Quiet
6  sixpick    6 years ago

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
6.1  author  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  sixpick @6    6 years ago

Again thanks, Six.  Don't stop. Keith's most famous song was "I Would Be The One".

That picture is one of the streets in the downtown area of Toronto called Kensington Market.  Those yellow houses resemble one that one of my clients, and a long-time friend, lived in.  Today such a house in that location would sell for more than a million dollars.  Another one near there was purchased by a famous French restaurateur for his French Restaurant, who was also I client of mine (I acted for a few restaurateurs). His daughter used to babysit my kids.

 
 
 
sixpick
Professor Quiet
7  sixpick    6 years ago

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
7.1  author  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  sixpick @7    6 years ago

You don't know how good it is for me to listen to those songs again, Six.  Memories of my life from half a century ago.

 
 
 
sixpick
Professor Quiet
7.1.1  sixpick  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @7.1    6 years ago

One this one I'm just posting the audio, since the video is the same photo as your article.

 
 
 
Galen Marvin Ross
Sophomore Participates
7.1.2  Galen Marvin Ross  replied to  sixpick @7.1.1    6 years ago

Nice.

 
 
 
Perrie Halpern R.A.
Professor Principal
8  Perrie Halpern R.A.    6 years ago

Great music! I never heard of them before. Thanks for the tunes! There were def, before their time. 

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
9  Bob Nelson    6 years ago

Good article, Buzz; and good music, Six.

Thank you, both.

 
 
 
sixpick
Professor Quiet
9.1  sixpick  replied to  Bob Nelson @9    6 years ago

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
9.1.1  author  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  sixpick @9.1    6 years ago

This song truly indicated the totally different direction taken by the group from the music of the day, although in that regard it also displayed the influence that the Beatles played in their offshoot direction.

 
 
 
sixpick
Professor Quiet
10  sixpick    6 years ago

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
10.1  author  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  sixpick @10    6 years ago

I always considered Phoebe to be a "fun" song, written, I believe, by guitarist Gene Martynec - certainly a very different direction from most rock groups. 

Just another example of how unique this group was, why I considered them so special, and why I was so sad to witness their demise.

 
 

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