Thanks so much for the overwhelming response to The Back Door! The book is available at the following retailers around Kitchener-Waterloo. Words Worth Books, Encore Records, X-Disc-C Music, KW Bookstore, Studio Comix Press at Frederick Street Mall, The Rookery in downtown Cambridge and Old Goat Books in Waterloo.
Radio broadcaster, journalist, and author Coral Andrews celebrates the release of her first book, “The Back Door,” a chronicle of the musicians, artists and personalities that were part of Kitchener’s underground subculture of the 1970s to the 1990s at the legendary Back Door bar that existed beneath the Metro Restaurant.
The evening was hosted by MC Lindsay Stewart, featured readings and photos from the book, spoken word and music by Scott Wicken, dance from Tara Butler, special guest DJ Kevin Diebolt, and music from Invisible College. One of the largest audiences in the history of The Registry Theatre was there to see and hear it all and celebrate, and pick up copies of the book!
‘The Back Door’ Book project was funded by the Region Of Waterloo Arts Fund and the Launch Party was sponsored by CKWR 98 5FM and The Registry Theatre.
The evening was hosted by MC Lindsay Stewart, featured readings and photos from the book, spoken word and music by Scott Wicken, dance from Tara Butler, special guest DJ Kevin Diebolt, and music from Invisible College. One of the largest audiences in the history of The Registry Theatre was there to see and hear it all and celebrate, and pick up copies of the book!
‘The Back Door’ Book project was funded by the Region Of Waterloo Arts Fund and the Launch Party was sponsored by CKWR 98 5FM and The Registry Theatre.
"a great memoir of a time, place and clearly a very special venue -- your book will be a treasure for everyone involved. Here's to many more printings! Now to play Dear Prudence and London Calling in your honour. " ~ Jeff Bateman Vancouver Sun, Billboard, Variety
"I just finished reading The Back Door, what a fabulous retrospective of such an amazing era. Once all these memories from everyone are compiled in one place it’s hard not to feel we were all playing a small role in a massive part in this town's great unknown musical and artistic history. While I was reading I could almost smell the place again.Thanks for telling this important story. Hopefully, it resonates and sparks a flame to ignite the creative expression that feels like a long-lost friend in this community again. Love the bit with Betty, Clover and Daryl. I remember that like it was yesterday. " ~ Thomas Greer
"I've just exited The Back Door... Clever format - a fascinating microcosm of music, art, spoken word, glove puppetry, genuinely "underground" sub-cultures, subversive-ness, growing pains and romance, all set against the ups and downs of small business/venue management. What a perfect observer's "seat" you had in all your various roles - waitress, DJ, patron, management team, stylist, diarist, etc... And what an amazing conveyor belt of characters passing through, along with the madness of the literally "shocking" metal dance floor, the elusive light switch and the resident ghost! And the abiding moral of the story apparently being that a supplier of washroom equipment in Kitchener through the '80s must have been the route to a fortune! Great job." ~ Peter Ulrich, Dead Can Dance / Peter Ulrich Collaboration
An Excerpt From The Back Door...
Postcard Provided Digitally By Greg Dietrich
"When I started working on this book, Milan Hrazdilek, the owner of the Metro, gave me a postcard from the early days of The Back Door. On the back was printed, “The Back Door Dining Discoe. (Rear entrance of Metro Tavern) Enjoy the nightclub atmosphere of the 1930s. Try our unique Chicago-style deep-dish pizza – the untouchable taste you can’t refuse.”
On the front was an image of the “discoe” itself. The picture includes a faux marble table with a drink on it underneath a beautiful orange flower petal tiffany lamp. It shows the bar covered in black vinyl cushioning and tons of mirrors. Bamboo chairs sit on a lush red and black swirl carpet. Milan’s wife Karla stands in front of the bar, chatting and laughing with Milan. His business partner Oliver Gunovsky is sitting in conversation with a young waitress. There’s a couple seated at a side split-level booth off the tiny dance floor. To Milan’s chagrin, in the late 80s, I once plotted out The Back Door history in a publication I was writing for. I was not the only one. In one university publication, much to Milan’s chagrin, someone else surmised that the little bar endured “more facelifts than Phyllis Diller.” The article was right. After all, I had experienced many of its multiple identities firsthand. The Back Door did not begin as a punk or new wave bar. Far from it."
On the front was an image of the “discoe” itself. The picture includes a faux marble table with a drink on it underneath a beautiful orange flower petal tiffany lamp. It shows the bar covered in black vinyl cushioning and tons of mirrors. Bamboo chairs sit on a lush red and black swirl carpet. Milan’s wife Karla stands in front of the bar, chatting and laughing with Milan. His business partner Oliver Gunovsky is sitting in conversation with a young waitress. There’s a couple seated at a side split-level booth off the tiny dance floor. To Milan’s chagrin, in the late 80s, I once plotted out The Back Door history in a publication I was writing for. I was not the only one. In one university publication, much to Milan’s chagrin, someone else surmised that the little bar endured “more facelifts than Phyllis Diller.” The article was right. After all, I had experienced many of its multiple identities firsthand. The Back Door did not begin as a punk or new wave bar. Far from it."
