Mark Bellis: 1991

Monday, October 21, 1991

Quiltside 1991 Rheostatics Bird Sisters

Photos from 1991 - Sept 21, 2023 - Hillside is a music festival that's been going on for around 40 years. I went to one of the first ones when it was held in a park that did have a hill, but the festival has been held by Guelph Lake ever since then. In 1991, late in the fall, there was a fundraiser for it called the Quiltside festival at the Red Chevron Club, a service people's club in Guelph. There were lots of bands and quilts were auctioned, I think.

The Bird Sisters and The Rheostatics played. It went on too long for the service club's liking, and someone from the club wearing a brassard with "Sergeant-At-Arms" on it cut the power to the stage, so the Rheos and the Birds grabbed acoustic instruments, jumped into the crowd and started jamming "Taking Care of Business" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive while people danced around them!

Martin Tielli (Rheostatics) Sue 'Bird' Smith (Bird Sisters) at the Red Chevron Club, Guelph, 1991

crowd, couple in foreground grinning at me had just kissed, and I didn't know until I developed the film!

Bird Sisters, Rheos on stage

Tielli invited me onstage to photograph the patch on the seat of his trousers.

Melville was the name of their 1991 CD, name was inspired by the town of Melville, Saskatchewan. Although tempting to think it had to do with Herman Melville, another member of the band said that Tielli had never heard of Herman Melville until the CD was published.

After the Bird Sisters broke up, Jane Siberry joked they were now "Shredded Tweet".