Glenn Dixon

Just after I retired , I joined a rock and roll band . I hadn ’ t planned on that . Not exactly . It was just a connection I made , something that took me back to my long-ago youth . When I was in my twenties , I wanted to be a rock star . I moved to Toronto , played in bands , even cut a record or two , but it all came to naught . And when all that failed miserably , I picked myself up , went back to school , and became a teacher . I wound up teaching high‐school English and my life continued on for a couple of decades until , fast forward , I met someone who would change the course of everything .

It was my last year of teaching , and I was assigned a classroom next door to a guy named John McAllister . Somehow , between classes , we got talking , and he asked if I played guitar ( I did ) and if I wanted to come over after school on Fridays and jam ( yes , yes , I did ).

John and I finished up that year of teaching and we both retired at the same time . We kept up the Friday jams , but here ’ s where the story gets sad : About a year after our concurrent retirements , John was diagnosed with cancer . It came out of the blue and it was stage four . He battled on for another year or so before finally passing . All along , he ’ d told me he played in a band on Tuesday nights , but I ’ d never met these other guys . And then , when we started to plan a memorial for him , there was talk of music , and the band ( his old band ) invited me to come up on stage and play one of John ’ s favourite songs along with them .

Well , almost immediately , we knew something special was happening . None of us were young anymore , but this new incarnation of the band — now called Downtown Exit — was filled with some really outstanding musicians , any of whom could have been rock stars had life gone a little differently .

Now , I have to say that after I retired , I also pursued a career in writing . After all , I ’ d been an English teacher — and things had gone pretty well in that department . My fourth book , Bootleg Stardust , recently published , is the story of a rock band in 1974 , and it didn ’ t take very long before we decided — the band , that is — that we could and should write and record the songs of this fictitious band .

Well , the connections just kept on happening . Just when we were ready to record , we learned that the National Music Centre in Calgary had purchased

John McAllister

the legendary Rolling Stones Mobile Studio — just an old truck really — built by the Stones but also used by Led Zeppelin , Bob Marley , and just about every big name from the early ’ 70s . Turns out , we were allowed to use it to record our songs . I wish John could have seen that .

We even ended up taking five of the songs to Abbey Road studios in London — just before the pandemic — and they turned out great . Imagine that , me walking up the steps of Abbey Road , the same studios the Beatles had used . Really , it ’ s amazing where life can take you .

And to end all this , I want to say that at each and every practice , to this day , we begin with a little toast to John McAllister , the guy who taught English in the classroom beside me , all those years ago .

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