The Giant Panther

I just learned something right here, right now...I mentioned Canadian rocker Kim Mitchell in my last post and somebody, anonymously, asked me to post the songs I made reference to. Never a problem as we aim to please at The Giant Panther, so I figured I better bone up on Kim before I speak out of turn. I did some checking and it turns out Kim Mitchell was the lead singer of a band called Max Webster. Why is this important? Well it's probably not to any of you, but for me Max Webster was the first band I ever saw perform live at a rock show. I'm not going to count seeing David Cassidy at The Garden State Arts Center sometime in the early 70's. Ssssh! Don't tell anyone. Tracing some of my love of music from my allegedly cool late 60's awakening on through The Partridge Family (1970-1974) before figuring out what cool actually means can really be embarrassing. Keep in mind I was ten years old when I first laid eyes on Laurie Partridge. The significance of stumbling onto this tidbit about Max Webster is mostly irony, but I'm guessing Kim Mitchell was probably the first rock guitarist I saw play live (assuming he was there). This was 1976 at The Tower Theatre in Philadelphia. Cheap Trick was also on the bill followed by Rush performing 2112. Not bad out of the chute as far as I'm concerned. Who doesn't love a good blast of "The Temples of Syrinx" once in awhile? I definitely do even if I'm once again in the minority. I probably wouldn't have ever made the connection between Kim and Max Webster if someone hadn't requested these songs. I think that's kind of cool don't you?

I own the two records you see in the picture above. Akimbo Alogo and Shakin' Like a Human Being were their titles. I'm thinking I saw Kim Mitchell perform at either a WBCN (RIP) lunchtime concert (those were big in the 80's...the band would go on stage around noon and be done by 12:45 PM so everybody could make it back to work...they usually went down on Lansdowne Street so basically it was for students, folks with employers that didn't know or mind that you were cutting out fifteen minutes early and getting back fifteen minutes late, and those folks who worked in the Fenway area) or at something like a WBCN Rock & Roll Expo. I remember seeing The Long Ryders (Looking For Lewis & Clark) at something like this, but I can't remember if I actually did see Kim Mitchell or not. "Go For a Soda" was played fairly regularly for a couple of months back in 1984 and "Patio Lanterns" had a minor run a couple of years later in 1986. Here they are both are courtesy of "Anonymous," who seems to show up a lot in our comments files. Kim Mitchell apparently still records and performs according to his Wikipedia entry, but I have to admit to losing track of him. I did like these two songs though so I'm sure he's got more if you can find them.