L to R: Michael Heiden (violin) Alison Hogan (guitar/vocals) Michael Dunn (guitar) Kitty King (bass/vocals)

The Kitsilano Kat Kickers came to be at the Soft Rock Cafe in Vancouver one blustery night in February of 1979.
What started out as a casual jam quickly became a tight quartet specializing in a unique blend of
Hot Club swing: Django Rheinhardt meets Billie Holiday, with a little Dan Hicks, a smattering of Tom Waits
and a couple of country weepers thrown in for good measure.

Our timing couldn't have been better: the previous year had seen the beginnings of the
Vancouver Folk Music Festival, and we got hired to kick off the second one.
Not only were we given a choice spot on the Friday night main stage at Jericho Beach Park, but we appeared on the cover of Friday's Vancouver Sun Leisure section, got invited to play at the press conference prior to the festival,
and performed at the wrap party at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre.

By the end of 1979 we were in fine form, and were building a loyal fan base who loved our quirky name.
We eventually had to come up with more politically correct name because
some people actually believed that we were all about abusing cats.
For the more posh sort of engagements (for which the boys would don their white dinner jackets)
we became Mystery Pacific, which is the name of a Django tune.

The most memorable gigs were a cocktail party at City Hall for the Russian consul, opening for Jose Feliciano at the Commodore Ballroom, our first anniversary concert at the Soft Rock (where MC Gary Christall asked the SRO crowd to give us a standing ovation before we played a single note...) and playing the opening slot for Stephane Grappelli at the Courtenay Civic Theatre on Vancouver Island. What a thrill it was to get to meet the man whose music we were so devoted to! He and the band got hopelessly lost in the wilds of the Comox Valley, so we had to keep playing in order to fill in the time as the frantic promoter paced back and forth backstage.

And did we ever celebrate after that show! We had a grand tradition of jamming far into the night after a good gig, with lots of cigarettes and whiskey. These get-togethers became known in KKK-speak as "cigarette orgies."
We had the time of our lives...full gork ahead.*