Back in early 1977, Detroit-born musician Bob Seger told us lyrically that “rock and roll never forgets” but, for years now, Trevor Hosier has done his damnedest to make sure we never forget rock and roll.
A lifelong love for all things associated with the music genre has taken the 67 year old on a remarkable journey, from countless backstage encounters with fabled musicians, to the 2007 opening of his Youngtown Rock and Roll Museum in Omemee (Neil Young’s childhood home town) and its subsequent relocation to Lindsay, and now to an exhibition of more than 180 one-of-a-kind photos of musicians and songwriters he has met.
On Saturday, April 13th at The Lindsay Lounge at 68 McLaughlin Road in Lindsay, ‘Photographs and Memories of Rock and Roll Legends’ will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. With pay-what-you-can admission of $5, $10, or $20 at the door, all proceeds will support local mental health initiatives.
While some of the over 150 photos at the exhibit were on display at Youngtown in Omemee before it closed in 2014, and then from 2015 to 2017 when Youngtown relocated to Lindsay’s Old Gaol Museum, most of the images — shot by Hosier, his wife Brenda, and their son Stephen — have never been exhibited before publicly.
The benefactor of the exhibition proceeds speaks to Hosier’s lifelong vocation as a counsellor.
A long-certified member of the Ontario Association of Mental Health Professionals, he’s provided, for 43 years now, an open ear and sound advice to clients dealing with a variety of challenging struggles.
Despite having scaled back his work hours since 2019, Hosier is no less committed to making a positive difference in the lives of his clients.
While work is work, feeding his passion for the subject of his lifelong infatuation is fun — a journey for which the seed was planted more than six decades ago in Scarborough at a birthday party held for Marcia Hamilton, a Grade One classmate.
“They played Chubby Checker’s The Twist and I won the (dance) contest,” laughs Hosier, adding “I had the moves.”
“The collection really started around 1964 with my buying of Beatles stuff,” Hoiser recalls. “And I started writing letters to musicians I really liked, asking for autographs. In 1967, when I was 11, I wrote a letter to Dean Martin and he wrote back. I still have his letter hanging in my office.”
Over the ensuing years, Hosier ramped up his efforts to the point where amassing memorabilia became a bigger focus — something that led to the eventual opening of the Youngtown Rock and Roll Museum.
“Rather than investing in my retirement, I’d rather own John Lennon’s hat (that he wore for The Beatles’ last photo shoot in August 1969) or the guitar strap that Jimi Hendrix wore for a New York show,” he says.
When it opened, Youngtown was and remained primarily a tribute to Neil Young, whose family moved to Omemee in late August 1949 when he was almost four years old, and lived there until 1953 when the family moved to Winnipeg. Neil’s father, author and journalist Scott Young, later returned and live in the area until he died in 2005.
While Hosier counts Lennon’s hat among the most prized items that came into his hands, he says a guitar he picked up from Young during a 2009 trip to California is equally special. And then there’s Young’s piano that he gifted to Hosier in 2011 and today resides in his living room home.
“I met Neil several times,” says Hosier. “I’ll never forget the first time I met him in 2007 backstage at Massey Hall. I had blown up my ticket really big because I wanted him to sign it.”
“I said ‘By the way Neil, I’m opening a museum named after you. It’s going to have one of the largest Beatles collections in Canada and a bunch of stuff related to you’,” Hosier recalls. “He looked up slowly from signing for me, looked me in the eyes, said thanks and stared at me as I walk backwards for about 10 feet. He was looking at me as if he was thinking ‘I’m going to meet this guy again.'”
On October 7, 2010, Youngtown welcomed its most prominent visitor when Young not only dropped by for a firsthand look but stayed for “a good hour and a half, spending time looking at the different artifacts and photographs. There was a DVD of Elvis playing in one of the rooms. I asked Neil if he ever met Elvis and he said no. I could tell he was a little disappointed about that.”
“I told him that if ever had anything he’d like to share with the museum, that it would be a real privilege. He said ‘I’ll have a look and see what I’ve got.’ A year later, I was picking up his piano from his dad’s house.”
In September 2014, Hosier closed Youngtown in Omemee, moving some of the collection to the Old Gaol Museum in Lindsay and opening it to the public in March 2015 — “They gave us free space there, and I didn’t have to shovel snow or cut grass.”
When the Old Gaol exhibit closed for good in September 2017, Hosier sold off a number of collection items, including guitars signed by Young, by Buffalo Springfield, and by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. And yes, his beloved John Lennon hat also found a new home, sold to a woman in West Virginia who “paid a good penny.”
While his days of chasing down popular music icons for an autograph or donated items are in his rearview mirror, what Hosier still has plenty of are cherished memories of his many encounters.
“A lot of times, I was just really lucky,” Hosier says of his encounters with music royalty. “I always showed my genuine enthusiasm for meeting them, realizing they didn’t have to see me. If you’re respectful, that goes a long way.”
“I never had a problem with anyone except one person. I won’t tell you the person’s name, but that was the only person who was what I would consider to be rude, uncooperative, and just not very nice at all.”
“All the others I met were a pleasure to meet with. There were a couple over the years who were tired or didn’t have time to say hello or have a little chat. I perfectly understood that the few times it happened.”
Now Hosier’s attention is on preparing for the Photographs and Memories of Rock and Roll Legends exhibit.
“There’ll be 22 display boards of photos,” he says, noting they were shot from about 2006 to 2019.
“Neil Young, Burton Cummings, Randy Bachman, Ronnie Hawkins, Ian Tyson, David Clayton-Thomas, Arlo Guthrie, Garth Hudson, Andy Kim, Davy Jones, Denny Doherty, Mike McCann and Robbie Lane, The Stampeders’ Leslie West, Tom Jones, Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Bruce Johnson, Peter Noone, David Cassidy, Tommy James, The Turtles, Revere and the Raiders, Billy Gibbons, Kim Mitchell … the list goes on and on.”
“It’s just one more opportunity to share some of this stuff. I just hope we can attract some people, as we did at the museum where more than 5,000 people came through. To hear stories from people about their music memories, I get real pleasure from that.”
