A twisted look at old Winnipeg public-access TV comes to Vancouver

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      Last week I wrote about one of Club PuSh's more warped and wonderful offerings, Daniel Barrow's  Winnipeg Babysitter.

      The artist has dug up all kinds of archival footage of DIY programs from the 'Peg's anything-goes public-access-TV past (mostly from the '80s), and put a dual-projector show together. One screen shows some of the outrageous and oddly artful programs that made their way on-air; the other is an overhead projector with background and commentary about the video you're watching.

      Here's a taste of some of the truly demented stuff he's dug up from the dustheap of TV history--and I think you'll agree it goes beyond even the weirdest moments of the old SCTV's Sunrise Semesters. Above, watch the Cosmopolitans, a vaguely masculine female duo who really did play hits on keyboard and drums at a Winnipeg seniors home.

      Dare to watch more? Well, then, you just might be ready to check out Muscle Dancing, linked here, which just speaks for itself.

      If you have a taste for the eccentric, we highly suggest you get tickets for Winnipeg Babysitter, which happens January 26 at Performance Works. A warning though: you may not emerge altogether the same again.

      Comments

      3 Comments

      Danny Casavant

      Jan 15, 2013 at 6:51pm

      I moved to Vancouver from Winnipeg 30 years ago. The memory of the Cismopolitans has haunted me for decades. ECT and drug therapies were not working so I turned to YouTube to face my demons on archival video.
      This development verifies they were indeed"real" and not some warped hallucination.
      Rock on Cosmos!!

      ???

      Jan 15, 2013 at 10:30pm

      Okay, at first it seems kind of funny.....but then just gets annoying.

      Barny kostiuk

      Sep 20, 2013 at 11:08pm

      This is really a gem. I followed the Cosmos as a kind of groupy in the early 80's. They let me on the tour bus with them one night but alas whenbwe arrived in Carmen they kicked me off. Great musicians but the lifestyle was worse than Iron Butterfly the time. Anyway we were all young - in our early 60's - and it was a craaaaazy time, pre HIV and all that. I kept a ton of tour tapes from the shows even the Lions Manor disaster of 79 when meals were spilled and the shriners were running security.