1979 Part Two; The Smiling Buddha and Utopian Anarchy

The Buddha was the place to hang out and the stage to perform on, a clubhouse for Vancouver punks where DOA were Gods that walked and drank among us regular folk. By this time I had found a heavy metal guitarist from Toronto named George who wanted to give punk a try, and we clicked immediately with Claude, a thundering hard rock drummer from Montreal. After seeing Rachel perform with her band at a rent party in a local warehouse, we were determined to get her to join the Reactors. Though her life partner and drummer Connie was nervous about the idea, Rachel was enthusiastic and joined us while still rehearsing and performing in the group she shared with Connie.

We were fortunate to get some opening gigs for bands like the wild and woolly K-Tels (later the called Young Canadians), the fast-paced and perky Modernettes and the brilliantly vicious Subhumans, and the Smiling Buddha was our showcase. One night there I met a gorgeous young Native Canadian gal who really helped my acceptance into the scene, and though she was the girlfriend of the singer in another band, I was to learn that their relationship was a mature, open one.

Dreamita and I hit it off and she offered to give me a haircut and I thought that sounded pretty cool. After a few moments of silence, I enquired, "how much do you charge?" and she blushed and had a shocked though coy look on her face when she shot back "what are you talking about?" and I immediately replied "the haircut! You said you wanted to cut my hair" and we both laughed really hard.

Later at the afterparty we chatted a bit and when it was time for me to leave she asked it it was okay to walk along with me, as she didn't want to walk alone. We strolled along together and I asked where she lived and was willing to go in that direction but as we came to the crucial intersection she insisted that we walk by my place first, as she enjoyed walking and I accepted it at that. When we arrived at the driveway in front of my small upstairs apartment, she quietly asked if it would be alright if she spent the night with me, as she no longer felt like walking. My heart skipped a beat and then was thundering my blood along as I held her hand while we walked up the stairs.

I had thought she was Asian, but she informed me of her Native Canadian ancestry, and though we were of similar age, myself twenty-one and her nineteen, she was probably about four feet eleven inches tall, and maybe ninety-five pounds, while I was six-foot three and a skinny one hundred and seventy pounds. We embraced and shared some long wet kisses as I began to caress her body and feel her energy. Temperatures rose quickly, and soon we were in my bed...

A half hour or so after that first session, I was ready but baby just wanted me to go to sleep, and promised me more lovemaking in the morning, and she kept her word.

Walking into town she commented on how "sophisticated" I was, and though I felt myself to be mostly uncultured, I had been a great student of humanity and so maybe it was that making me seem so experienced.

Arriving at the punk house, I saw my friend Dave Gregg (then of Private School but later a key member of DOA's greatest lineup, along with Joey, Randy and Chuck) pulling copper from the abandoned house next store, and in the living room of the house there was a full PA, amp and drums setup for band rehearsal. I asked a punk in the room, "who practices here?" and there were a few moments of silence while he gauged my trustworthiness. "DOA," he replied, and let the power of the words hang in the air.

I got my second punk haircut that day, and was now a part of the inner circle of the Vancouver punk rock scene.