Comments on: Then & Now: OZ, The Nightclub

By: Karen

Karen — Sun, 23 Mar 2025 06:38:04 +0000

What a flashback! I started going to OZ in September of 1993 on Friday nights, the ads in Now Magazine touting DJ Iain and 50 cent draught won me over! Ended up meeting my now husband there in February of 1994! Thanks for the dance down memory lane!

By: Corey O

Corey O — Sun, 20 Jun 2021 20:57:16 +0000

The Dalmatian was the Nitrous series raves, well, Nitrous 014, on August 8, 1992, used it anyway and they made t-shirts and CDs. I still have the shirt. I think I probably met you then since I may have been one of those 15 at Factory, though I probably had a gas mask on.

By: JOSEPH O'BRYAN

JOSEPH O'BRYAN — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 16:42:40 +0000

Hi Bearill,

That random abstract artist at Factory was called Ronan Walsh. Late night drinking and painting.

By: Bearill Blocher

Bearill Blocher — Sun, 04 Feb 2018 22:12:01 +0000

I grew up with the Frasers … Scott first brought the club scene to Pickering of all places with the short lived Changes Night Club in 1987… An all ages club on Bayly St … In 1989 Scott opened up Club 404, another all ages nightclub which launched in late 89 … Scott took his next trip DT Toronto and was a dj at Empire Dance Bar on Younge in 1990 … It was here that I first heard acid and rave rap … T99 was a constant dancefloor assault … In 1991 my friends and I helped in the demolition of the National Film Board of Canada building … I remember smoking weed upstairs and their was a shit ton of film canisters and office furniture … Scott hired some abstract painter who was working on a mural on the main floor and told his younger brothers and the rest of our friends not to bother him haha … The Factory opened in 91 … I have New Year’s Eve in my head for some reason … We were going to ClubAt Richards with Chris Shepard which at the time to me was a big deal and then come back to The Factory … “Do The Green Thing” was written in green laser … The Factory was our home … Lots of acid and big pitchers of Long Island iced tea … Haha !!! I missed a couple Chemistry raves and Nitrous 013 which was shut down early … 014 was my first official rave … After that I was hooked … I later had to stop (end of 93) due to drug addiction … But resurfaced working alongside my good friend Michael Potts selling freezies at most raves from 97 up til early 2001 as Bartholomew Beatillblocher “Freezies King” … Once Mel Lastman ordered the raves to be held in legalized venues it wasn’t long after that we were no longer able to sell our products … These were great times and I have very fond memories of this time in my life … Thank you for capturing it in this book … All the best …

Bearill Blocher

By: LLOYD

LLOYD — Thu, 04 Aug 2016 18:05:17 +0000

Peter Cass dated Hopper?in the mix from what club, time date, maybe Gillies!dance, oh! la! first lap dance?was it rough trade Carole Pope!

By: brad goldfinger

brad goldfinger — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 18:01:38 +0000

Hey…no mention of Xit……

By: timber masterson

timber masterson — Fri, 22 May 2015 14:25:52 +0000

Thanks for saying that…just seemed odd. I mean, who cares about an article written years ago about a club 20 years ago, right, it just hit me strangely when I read it, that’s all. Cheers.

By: Denise Benson

Denise Benson — Fri, 22 May 2015 13:39:56 +0000

hey Timber,
I’m responding as you asked a very direct question and clearly have taken some things personally. This is the first I have heard of your contributions to OZ; these stories did not come up in the interviews done for this piece. That said, this article was one of the earliest in the Then & Now series, back when the pieces were meant to be brief and the focus weighed heavily to the music played so that’s what the people who contributed to this piece focused on. Definitely not a personal slight of you. Thanks for adding some details to the story of OZ with your comments.

By: Timber Masterson

Timber Masterson — Thu, 21 May 2015 05:28:57 +0000

Wow, you really missed me Ms. Benson. I was kind of an integral part of OZ when it first opened, renting costumes and hosting the first opening 3 nights there, hiring 2 sets of friends to play Dorothy, lion, tin man and midgets, I hired midgets. How could you miss this, did i do something to you?! I was certainly one of the fellows who helped provide the entertainment and atmosphere on Sunday evenings; designing VIP badges, hiring doorgirls, those drummers, fire-breathers and a whole lot of other whack jobs that made it perfect for the times, yes, the day after the “illegal warehouse parties” (that I also was found to be hosting a good chuck of the time. Too bad, otherwise, there’s some things in here that seem fairly nostalgic and good enough to read. Oh well. Hope your club book does well.

By: Thomas Weller

Thomas Weller — Sun, 25 Jan 2015 21:29:08 +0000

Can´t say I know much about the OZ cuz by the time it became the OZ the space was kinda done with from my humble point of view. What I DO remember, however, was walking into the FACTORY one cold night in 1991, I think first few days after launch with MAYBE 15 people there, hearing Dominator and going like…´what the fuck is THIS!!!´referring to the first time I´d ever heard techno…and in an instant recogonizing that something incredible was about to happen to the city. From around ´89 – ´90 ´til that time I was promoting 23 Hop but back then 23 was still just pretty much an empty…but very cool, edgy wareHouse scene/space. There was NOTHING in the area except for lots of warehouses and FACTORY began to anchor what much later would become …¨puke, gag, puke… the Entertainment District.¨

Well…Factory exploded in no time, and if I´m not mistaken, the first raves were organzized/promo-ed from there…anyone remember that poster with the dalmation superimposed on a black and white checkered background? Pure bliss…some of my most cherished clubbing days were thanks to the Factory. Alas, the rest is history…23 went mainstream, Go Go´s opened, later Limelight and the place went to the shit´s and is what it is today…question…why does Toronto always have to commercialize everything??? Thanks Scot, Tanya for great memories…fell in love more than once! T.