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Make no mistake: we love Bev Davies, we love her cat Vincent, and we love her photography. As a scene-defining legend, Davies has become like D.O.A.: a “brand-recognition” icon of the vintage Vancouver scene.

But there were also plenty of great photographers in the early days of Vancouver punk—people who were shooting earlier than her, including  Don Denton, Dave Jacklin, Eric Foto, and Lynn Werner.

This Sunday, at  7pm, at 118 W. Hastings, there will be a slide show and talk from a different photographer who was shooting right from the beginning: Gordon E. McCaw.

The night is being dubbed “The Last Pogo” (wait, isn’t that also a movie about Toronto punk? Nevermind!), and it’s all part of a benefit for the restoration of the Smilin’ Buddha Cabaret—the legendary club at 109 East Hastings which helped birth Vancouver's fabled first-wave punk scene.

In one of its later incarnations as the SBC Restaurant, the former Smilin' was damaged by fire. The Last Pogo was even initially going to be held at the SBC, but the location fell through, so it has moved a couple blocks down the street.

McCaw’s history as a photographer predates the Vancouver punk scene; it even predates his time in Vancouver.

“The first band I photographed was Stevie Wonder at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton in Nov. 1974, when I was still a journalism student," he tells the Straight. "I had just started photojournalism classes at Mount Royal College in Calgary. I used a borrowed Pentax and a few lenses from the school. The photos mostly sucked eggs, but they managed to pull one that was kinda, sorta usable for the school paper.”

His favourite vintage photo from those years is “kind of a tough choice”. But the one illustrating this article is the one he ultimately runs with: Queen, shot in April 3, 1975, at the Stampede Corral in Calgary.

“It was their Sheer Heart Attack tour, their first of North America," McCaw relates. "The longest lens I had back then was an 85mm so you can see it was a lot easier to get in close in those days.”

But that’s not his best known image.

“The one that is likely the best known is this overhead shot of Pointed Sticks in front of Baghead on the trailer flatbed on June 14, 1980; this was at the northwest corner of Powell and Columbia by the old Anchor Hotel. I asked the deskman if I could go up on the fire escape to get some photos (he said 'okay'). Whenever possible I try to get up for the high angle shots.”

In fact, I’ve been impressed by McCaw’s willingness to try unusual angles. He was one of a few people shooting an outdoor performance of the Pointed Sticks maybe five years ago, in a garage off East Hastings; I spied him doing things like kneeling on the wet pavement to get the shot he wanted. Other photographers were present, but no one else took a knee! 

Somewhat notoriously, the overhead shot of the Pointed Sticks became a bone of contention between McCaw and the Straight’s former owner Dan McLeod when McCaw attempted to sell it to the paper. The discussion devolved into a “huge slanging match” (a British-ism for when people yell at each other). 

McCaw had hoped to get $20 for the photo.

“I never got my $20 but the milage I’ve gotten out of the story of the battle with McLeod is more than worth it.“ 

Sunday's The Last Pogo show will be restricted to 42 photos McCaw first exhibited at the Helen Pitt Gallery in 1989.

“The back stories will keep things going for a couple of hours.”

The poster for the night features the late Brian Goble, aka Wimpy Roy, looking directly into McCaw’s camera. (If you see our recent Braineater article, take a minute to try to pick Goble out of the crowd; Jello Biafra is in there, too. But that's one of Bev Davies' photos!).

McCaw doesn’t just shoot punk, these days. 

“I’m a bit of a magpie when it comes to photo subjects, basically anything that moves me, but my main squeeze is documentation," he says. "I have been shooting graffiti since 1980, ghost signs (in something like 15 different cities) since 1975, diners (about a hundred in about 25 cities), and I have been shooting a lot of storefronts in the past few years. Of course some have already disappeared. I do street photos and portraiture here and there.”

The camera he used for about 90% of his documentation of the Vancouver music scene was a Minox 35 EL, McCaw explains.

“At that time, it was the smallest full-frame 35mm camera you could get—about the size of a pack of Marlboros," he says. "It had a fixed 35mm lens made by E. Leitz—think Leica), and it was super sharp. I carried it with me everywhere, all the time, for years.”

McCaw is actually more active than Davies these days, and, if you want to see him at work, he plans to be at the Otway/ Braineater show at the Fox tonight (March 21). You can ask him what he’s shooting with there! 

Gord McCaw hosts The Last Pogo at 118 W. Hastings on Sunday (March 22).