A Moment of Our Youth, Gone Forever

Film maker Lock Fulton to the stage last night to introduce his film. "I started off filming it because it was what I was doing at the time. When I was done I was proud of it, because it captured an image of a Calgary that no longer exists."

One might excuse Fulton for a moment of poetic license - except in the case of is documentary, Breakfast at Rock Central, the director was speaking literal truth. Rock Central, the flophouse located at 322 12th Avenue, two blocks east of the parking lot that inspired Sean Marchetto's acclaimed late-night radio program, The 12th Ave Paylot, and across the street from our very own Wenzel lot, successfully held and defended ten annual Stampede Breakfasts, starting at high noon and featured anywhere from four to a dozen bands, all playing in the backyard. The Wenzel lot was the first to go, being the proposed construction site for the new Stampede Convention Centre, while Rock Central fell prey to Stampede bulldozers a few weeks ago. Only the 12th Ave Paylot remains, having doubled in size and now devoid of much of its character.

But character was what a Rock Central Breakfast had in abundance, from the bands and the hipsters, to the denizens of Victoria Park, Calgary's most destitute neighbourhood, to the Dude Bomb himself. The Breakfast had music, dancing, hay-wrestling, balloons, sing-a-longs, and one year, even a towering inferno. Most of all, it had pancakes.

Those of us at Wenzel, either having been to high school with the various members The Dudes, The A-Team, and the Infernos, the prime movers of the Breakfast, or simply by virtue of working across the street, would often wander over during a workshift to enjoy some flapjacks and music. Yes, the Breakfasts at Rock Central were wild. Hedonism mixed with nilism. Despite the drunkenness, however, they somehow managed to pull off a spirit of community that almost seemed to make the Stampede worthwhile again.

Last night, Lock Fulton gave all that a fitting send off.