Reelin’ In The Years: Five decades of live music give The Owl reason to howl

By Greg Beatty BA'80

Anyone who was a U of R student back in the ‘80s and ‘90s knows that the Lazy Owl was the place to catch the best live acts in town. Bands like Simple Minds, D.O.A., Green Day, and Regina’s own Colin James, Queen City Kids, the Extroverts, and the Hoodoo Men provided the score to many budding romances, friendships, and dance parties. —So, what better way to celebrate the U of R’s 50th anniversary than to indulge your nostalgic side, and make your way to the U of R’s Howl at the Owl with live music and ‘90s nostalgia on Saturday October 26. A great way to cap off Alumni Week, costumes are encouraged (it is Halloween, after all) and ‘90s cover band Big Shiny ‘90s will be there to help you par-tay like it's 1999.

Did you know that The Owl (a.k.a. Lazy Owl) predates the University of Regina? When it opened in 1967 in the original student union building on the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus, the institution and the times were very different.

It wasn’t until 1983 that The Owl was able to secure full time liquor license, recalls Mike Burns BA’92, The Owl’s manager at the time. Burns and fellow Owl manager Alexis Losie BA’09 spoke with Degrees to jog our memories and share a bit of The Owl’s live music history with us.

Mike Burns BA'92 has memories of first sneaking into The Owl as a high schooler in the mid-1970s to see bands like Chilliwack and Streetheart. “There was a lot of raunchiness,” he says.

“D.O.A. and The Extroverts did a show for us in the summer of 1981. It was a Monday night. Tickets were $2. It was pretty successful," Burns says. "Then D.O.A. left their vehicle at our place and flew back to Vancouver to open for The Clash the next night.”

“I’d say ‘I need a band’. They’d have a week to get eight songs together. One was Colin James’ first band. So there was some encouragement.”

Burns – renowned locally as Regina’s original punk rock impresario – had a couple of contacts in the industry, and in his three years as manager booked some memorable shows. Highlights for him include Queen Ida (“an amazing eight-piece zydeco band from New Orleans”), The Shakin’ Pyramids from Scotland (“just as good as The Stray Cats but could never break out”) and Klaatu (“everyone thought they were The Beatles.”)

A 1982 Simple Minds show tops them all though. “Everyone was six inches off the floor. You knew immediately they were such a cool band,” says Burns. “They weren’t big yet, but when they got home, New Music Express did a cover story that said ‘Simple Minds Lost in the Hinterlands’. —But they were just doing what kids do, playing in different places, and not making a lot of money, but they did it.”

For warm-up duties, Burns would often recruit young musicians in Regina. “I’d say ‘I need a band’. They’d have a week to get eight songs together. One was Colin James’ first band. So there was some encouragement.”

Mike Burns BA’92. Photo: Trevor Hopkin, U of R Photography
Mike Burns BA’92. Photo: Trevor Hopkin, U of R Photography

Folk-influenced Friday afternoon shows were a popular draw Don Freed and Sneezy Waters (who covered Hank Williams) are two  folks band Burns recalls. He touts the Education Auditorium as a forgotten gem where Hamilton, Ontario’s Teenage Head mounted a marathon show there in 1981. Around that time, says Burns, “They also brought in a bunch of old Blues guys like Muddy Waters [see sidebar], Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee. It was pretty awesome,” Burns recalls.

In the 90s, The Owl continued to host acts brought in by local promoters: Kingston, Ontario’s The Inbreds, Halifax’s Jale, and Montréal’s The Doughboys all graced The Owl’s stage to enthusiastic crowds. Among the acts that would go on to make it big were Green Day – a show manager Alexis Losie remembers well. “It was something like a $7 to $10 ticket, so very affordable,” she says. This was July 1993. Green Day was a name in the L.A. punk scene, and mere months away from blowing up worldwide with Dookie.

Individual standing in light filled foyet.
Alexis Losie BA’09. Photo: Trevor Hopkin, U of R Photograhy

Losie had just graduated high school, and later as a U of R student she became an Owl regular. When The Owl moved into Riddell Centre in 1997, Brent Caron hired and trained her to work in the new bar. Eventually, she succeeded him, managing the Owl until 2014.

When designing Owl 2.0, live music was a priority, says Losie. “There was a full lighting rig and a sound system so big it caused noise complaints in the rest of the building. Both The Owl and Multi-Purpose Room hosted shows.”

Shows by Toronto's Joydrop (fronted by Tara Sloane) and Vancouver’s Spirit of the West played the Multi-Purpose Room. It was a good arrangement, says Losie. “We worked closely with local promoters. We would provide the space and help with some of the green room requirements, then The Owl would benefit from increased bar sales.”

Hamilton troubadour B.A. Johnston, Vancouver folk quartet Po’ Girl, and Regina indie artist Andy Shauf are three artists Losie booked during her tenure. “We were a JUNO venue in 2013 too, which brought in some incredible acts. We also supported local bands like Library Voices and Rah Rah (Ed note: band member Marshall Burns BA’15 is Mike’s son). I always wanted to make a home for local bands during busier times of the year, like Welcome Week. We hosted some of The Dead South’s first shows too. It didn’t take long before they were filling The Owl —and they’ve gone on to play Glastonbury.”

Did the Multi-Purpose Room have the best acoustics? “Probably not,” Losie says. “But we did have the equipment to do the best we could,” she says.

While the old Owl’s sound was, by many accounts, “the worst”, it was always fun, says Burns. “Nobody will ever forget the beer bottles pounding on the table for the encore. I’ve never seen that anywhere else. I look back on that time very fondly. Obviously, it was our time. So, it seems important. But it was a vibrant time in music, and it led to the next 20 years, where live indie music became a thing. But The Owl was indie before there was indie.”

"It was a vibrant time in music, and it led to the next 20 years, where live indie music became a thing. But The Owl was indie before there was indie.”

Hits and Misses...

For Mike Burns, Muddy Waters was another Lazy Owl highlight. “It was just a year before he died [in 1983]. I had my dad’s car and arranged to meet him at the airport, but when I went to start it, the battery was dead. It was wintertime. I had a 1971 Galaxie 500. The seats were torn, so I went to Canadian Tire and got new seat covers and cleaned it up. When I went to the airport, I said, ‘Sorry I have to pick you up in this. I had a nice car arranged. But I’m afraid you’re riding in my $200 car.’ And Muddy Waters was like, ‘Whoa, you only paid $200 for this. This is a great car!’”

Alexis Losie shared one funny story from her time at The Owl. “We would often give my cell number to the band manager in case they needed anything and couldn’t find me. One morning, I got a call after a big show the night before [possibly Dropkick Murphys, as the band was from Boston she remembers, and had a bagpipe player]. The tour bus had left without the manager. I was the only number he had in Regina, and everyone on the bus was sleeping. We were an hour and a half behind, so we got in the car, hoping we wouldn’t have to go all the way to Winnipeg.”

Top image: Collage of Lazy Owl concert flyers courtesy of Mike Burns BA’92, and used with permission.

Get tickets to Howl at the Owl on Saturday, October 26!

 

The 90s may be a speck in the rear-view mirror, but if you’re feeling nostalgic this Alumni Week, The Owl is the place to be for a 90s-themed party: Howl at the Owl with live music on Saturday, October 26. Tickets are available now.

About the Author

Gregory Beatty BA’80 is a freelance writer. He has written for Prairie Dog/Planet S magazine in Regina and Saskatoon, and while bereft of musical talent himself, he has always enjoyed music — live and recorded. 

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In a doorway at the base of a Regina downtown office building, Mary, a Nature Regina member, gently gathers a small bird - stunned, but alive - in a soft cloth and then places it in a box. Mary hands the box to Jeff Gamble BAHons'98, who is leading this early morning gathering of volunteers who seek out birds that have collided with downtown buildings. He records the date, time, and location where the bird was found before placing the box in his car. The injured bird will later be delivered to the Salthaven West Wildlife Rehabilitation & Education Centre, where staff and volunteers will treat it, and, if it survives, return it to its natural habitat.

Gamble, Mary, and the other volunteers - Margaret, Jim, and Elaine - then gather to chat for a few moments on the Scarth Street pedestrian mall before fanning out into nearby city blocks. Since 2021, Gamble and other Nature Regina members have volunteered to spend mornings at the peak of the spring and fall migratory seasons, searching for and collecting birds that have collided with buildings in Regina's downtown. In just a few years, the volunteers have collected hundreds of birds, most of them dead. The toll across Canada is grim, Gamble says. According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, it's estimated that up to 42 million birds die each year from window collisions, although the number may be higher. "The evidence is overwhelming, and the science is definitive," Gamble says. "Our bird populations are in decline and window collisions are a massive contributor to that."

Jeff Gamble and the Bird Safe Initiative team set out in the early morning. Photo: Trevor Hopkin, U of R Photography Jeff Gamble and the Bird Safe Initiative team set out in the early morning. Photo: Trevor Hopkin, U of R Photography

Gamble seized the opportunity to coordinate the local Bird Safe initiative when FLAP (Fatal Light Awareness Program) Canada reached out to Nature Regina to participate in an annual Global Bird Rescue event. He chose to take the lead for several reasons; Both of his parents are amateur birdwatchers, and from childhood he always felt most at home in the outdoors, discovering the wonders of the natural world as it unfolded around him, such as during camping and fishing trips. Being outside, he explains, makes him feel more connected to his humanity and purpose. "I know that sounds a little lofty, but I'm sure most people feel the same way; some combination of the wonder, appreciation and fragility of it all." On a lighter note, he also recalls visits to his grandmother's house in Moose Jaw where she would jokingly tell him to '… get outside and get the stink off of you.'

Years later, in 2004, he spent time working in Toronto where he learned about a program where people would go out in the morning and collect hundreds of birds that had collided with buildings overnight in that city's downtown. "That stuck with me over the years," Gamble says, "and every time I had a bird strike at my own home it would viscerally hurt my heart, knowing it was a larger issue. A lot of things clicked when FLAP Canada reached out."

"We have a strong and caring community of birders and conservationists in this city," Gamble says. "I feel fortunate as an amateur birder to be on the receiving end of so much generous support from academics and professionals." 

Advocating to prevent bird fatalities and managing a construction contracting company might seem like an odd fit for a Political Science grad, but for Gamble it all blends together with his father's advice to focus on what he loves doing, encouraging him to pursue a higher education for education's sake, and not necessarily for employment. He chose to study Political Science at the University of Regina because the department had amazing professors, he says, and "(The knowledge they shared) spoke to me as something valuable, and an opportunity I simply shouldn't let pass by."

After Gamble received his Honours Degree in Political Science, he taught English in Japan for a few years. To help pay his way through school, he had worked as a painter in the trades and in the film industry, and something about the "physicality and tactility" of that experience stuck with him. Gamble now manages his own construction company, Tamarack Contracting, which employs three people and a number of sub-trades people. "Now, here I am all these years later, a general contractor considering furthering his studies in his retirement years," he muses.

When he is asked about the apparent lack of obvious ties between his degree and his current career, Gamble says that his university experience has been crucial to his successes as a person, as well as an entrepreneur. His professors at the U of R taught him to think critically, and he appreciates the quality of the education he received. Gamble says there isn't a day that goes by that he isn't thankful for his degree, describing himself as a proud alum of a university with an interesting and progressive history that is part of the fabric of the province.

"Dr. Joseph Roberts, my honours advisor, was an incredible mind and a beautiful soul," he recalls. "I can't express how much he taught me in and out of the classroom - including sharing pints at Bushwakkers or at his place, even going birdwatching on occasion," Gamble says. "He passed away last year at 92; he meant the world to me." Dr. Roberts became the first chair of the Political Science Committee of Instruction, Division of Social Science at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus in 1967 and taught from 1966 until his retirement from the U of R in 1998. A lover of nature and beer, Roberts participated in annual bird counts in Regina and convened a weekly 'seminar' of students, colleagues, and friends over beer in Regina taverns.

Members of Nature Regina's Bird Safe Initiative team confer with Jeff Gamble while on patrol. Members of Nature Regina's Bird Safe Initiative team confer with Jeff Gamble while on patrol.

Gamble, with his dog Indy, spots a bird lying on its back by the entry doors to a nearby office building. "I'll bet it's still warm," he says. It is. Gamble places the dead bird - a warbler - in a baggie, marking the date, time, and location on it. Dead birds collected are taken to the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, which uses them for curatorial purposes. Moments later he encounters a sparrow flying around a loading dock area at the back of an office tower. The sparrow alights at three different spots before disappearing from view. "He's trying to find his way out of downtown," Gamble observes.

Gamble explains that while birds are naturally attracted to Victoria Park as a resting place in the middle of the city, the reflections of the park's trees in glass windows surrounding it pose a deadly threat. This is particularly true in the hour after sunrise, when birds are most active.

This morning's route includes several flights of stairs, to the top level of a parking garage, and onto a walkway looking onto the back wall of another office tower. Gamble pulls binoculars from his backpack to search for stricken birds, even though the area is fenced, preventing any efforts at recovery. It's important, he says, to gather as much information as possible, even if the birds can't be recovered. After about an hour of searching. the volunteers gather again. On this mid-September morning, the tally is five dead birds, and one injured.

Bird box held in lap of invdividual. One of the many bird boxes used for collecting specimens for the Royal Saskatchewan Museum.

Gamble chooses his words carefully as he expresses his feelings about the daily toll and ongoing efforts to reduce it. It is part sadness, but also frustration because the solutions are easy, effective, and affordable for both residential and commercial buildings. Nature Regina and many other organizations sell feather-friendly window tape, which reduces the reflections that confuse birds without obstructing the view from inside.

Gamble's pursuit of bird conservation has led him to reconnect with the University of Regina. "We have a strong and caring community of birders and conservationists in this city," Gamble says. "I feel fortunate as an amateur birder to be on the receiving end of so much generous support from academics and professionals."  When Bird Safe volunteers were determining which areas to patrol, it came to light that one of University of Regina professor Dr. Mark Brigham's biology students was, as part of his studies, conducting walks on U of R's main campus Gamble walked a route around the campus with said student in May 2022, and found similarities in their patrols. In 2023, following a suggestion from the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, Gamble contacted Dr. Mel Hart, Associate Dean, Student Experience and Engagement for U of R's Faculty of Science, for advice and support for what he envisioned as a public outreach and education program he called Better Birding. His obvious passion for bird conservation spoke to her, she says, and aligned with her research interests, which includes an ambitious project to revitalize and digitize the university's Ledingham Herbarium Collection. The collection contains birding records dating back to 1945, providing important information about bird populations over a significant period of time. Knowing what birds are in an area, and at what time, she explains, can reveal much about climate change, invasive species, and the impact of urbanization on species. Hart loaned bird specimens to Gamble to help bring his vision of a Better Birding program to life. "I met with Jeff a couple of times and enthusiastically supported his project, which paired seamlessly with my portfolio and my overall approach to learning," Hart says, "but he really did all the work."

"Change happens slowly until it happens quickly, and I think we are close to that point."
- Jeff Gamble
Smiling individual Jeff Gamble BAHons'98

Despite the current situation, there are signs of progress, Gamble says. He is a member of Bird Friendly Regina, which, with the support of the City of Regina, helped the city receive the bird friendly designation from Nature Canada in 2022. He is also inspired by the stewardship shown by past early-morning volunteers, and the committed team that continues to turn out. He believes what he calls a bridge from information to action will be found with more homeowners installing window markers on problem windows, and the commercial sector in other jurisdictions becoming more amenable to addressing the environmental impacts of buildings through consultations, standard-setting, and legislation.

"It just takes one corporate player to act and be a leader, and I'm quite confident that others will follow, once they see how effective, on-brand, and affordable the solutions can be," Gamble says. "People never used to recycle, and littering was commonplace when I was young. Change happens slowly until it happens quickly, and I think we are close to that point."

All photography: Trevor Hopkin, U of R Photography

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This past September, Saskatchewanian - and U of R alum - Tracy Muggli BSW'88 was sworn in to the Senate. Over her impressive career, Senator Muggli has dedicated herself to improving health and wellness outcomes in Saskatchewan. In addition to her years of service as a social worker, Senator Muggli served as Director of Mental Health and Addiction Services for Saskatoon Health Region, and more recently as Executive Director of St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon. Her commitment to volunteerism includes work with Saskatoon Open Door Society, Saskatoon Community Foundation, Saskatchewan Intercultural Association, the University of Regina Alumni Association Board, and others. In recognition of her dedicated service to community, Senator Muggli has received a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, a YWCA Woman of Distinction Award, and the Premier's Award for Excellence in Public Service. Senator Muggli took time from her busy schedule as a newly minted senator to chat with Degrees about her earliest influences, how the field of social work is changing, and what she hopes to achieve while serving on the Senate of Canada.

You've dedicated your working life to public service: through your work in helping to provide public healthcare, advocating for the wellbeing of children, and active volunteerism on many boards and committees. What drew you to a life in service to community?

I grew up in a small community - Muenster, Saskatchewan - and in small towns, you have to take part as a volunteer in your community in order to thrive as a community. It was an expectation growing up that everyone needs to do their part and pull their weight. My parents were my primary role models and they volunteered a lot. They gave a lot to the community, most notably in the curling community, and their three children (myself, my sister and brother), were given the same expectations.

What do you think has changed in the way we try to serve community since you graduated from the U of R? How do you think the challenges faced by social workers have changed?

I think one of the biggest changes has been the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's work, where, as social workers, we are challenged to understand the truth. To really understand is to  listen and recognize the traumatic experiences of colonization. I think this is one of the biggest pieces for social workers. There are a number of people in our profession that are embracing that challenge,  and taking action to do the right thing. One critical aspect is the movement towards First Nations child welfare management, where we're seeing arrangements  for First Nations to manage their own child welfare. And the other is to understand what it means to be trauma-informed in service delivery - recognizing root causes, which in so many cases are about racism and poverty - and how we can do better in bringing forward solutions to address poverty and racism. I really think there's been a lot of growth in that area.

How do you think your time at the University of Regina helped to lay a foundation for your career and the life that you've built for yourself?

The profession of social work is very much founded within a code of ethics and its core values, and one of the key tenets of that is the promotion of social justice, so my time at the University of Regina Faculty of Social Work really helped me to be able to appreciate the social, economic and socio-political context in which people live in our world. It promoted critical thinking, and it gave me the opportunity to see outside of the insulated world in which I lived. So, I'd say that my U of R degree really set the stage for where I am now because it helped me in my understanding that policy is such a big driver in terms of  how our society functions - and how people thrive or don't thrive. Everything that happens in our daily lives is because some politician or group of politicians have made policy decisions, ranging from  how we receive health services, to whether or not we have paved roads, to who has rights and who doesn't have rights. The U of R is where I began my learning that  the personal is political.

What do you hope to achieve as you take on the role of Senator?

Once I get my feet under me and develop a more thorough understanding of the procedures and processes of Senate, I certainly hope to utilize my social work values, particularly that of social justice - using that lens of equity and human rights to ensure that laws passed in Senate do not harm the people of our country. I'm looking forward working collaboratively with my fellow Senators from Saskatchewan to bringing forward policy that's good for Saskatchewan people. We have the opportunity to be mindful of what our province needs to thrive and to find a common ground that serves everyone, and that we create policy and laws that do not discriminate, but rather enhance opportunities and resources for people to thrive in our country. I hope to amplify my voice on behalf of those who don't always have a voice.

Top: Senator Tracy Muggli BSW'88. Photo © Senate of Canada / © Sénat du Canada

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