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Fri, Mar 29, 2024

1994 St. Catherines Standard article A Port Boy's Story transcript including rare early photos of Neil Peart

Wed, Aug 28, 2013@10:17AM | comments removed/disabled

Back in June of 1994 the St. Catherines Standard published a story written by Neil Peart titled A Port Boy's Story where Neil describes his early childhood growing up in Port Dalhousie during the '50s and '60s. The transcript of the story has been available for some time at the Power Windows website and it's definitely worth a read if you've never seen it before. Here's Neil describing his first public drum solo:

... My next drumming appearance was at the Lakeport High School variety show. With Don Brunt on piano and Don Tees on sax, we were the Eternal Triangle, and we practiced nights at the school. (Don Brunt would drive us home in his Dad's '65 Pontiac, usually with a detour out to Middle Road, where he could get it up to a hundred).

For the variety show we played a couple of songs, including one original which was titled LSD Forever (as if we had any idea - the only drug we knew anything about was Export A!). My first public drum solo was a success, and I will never forget how I glowed with the praise from the other kids in the show (including, I've always remembered, Paul Kennedy, who has done well for himself on CBC Radio). To a kid who had never been good in sports, and had never felt like "one of the gang," this was the first time I had ever known "peer appreciation." I confess I liked it. ...

Eric at the Power Windows site recently obtained several of the photos included with the original article and added them to the transcription page here. The photos include a mid-60s family portrait of Neil and his siblings Nancy, Judy, and Danny; Neil's 2nd grade class photo from 1959'; Neil in his scout uniform with his father Glen; and Neil at age 14 painting a fence Tom Sawyer-style. You can check out the transcript and photos at this location.

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