Museum seeks Winnipeg Young memorabilia

OMEMEE, Ont. — The nerve of these people — claiming Neil Young as their own. But claim him indeed they do, on the basis that Young lived here as a kid from 1948 to 1955, and that his late dad Scott Young built a home just south of town where Neil still supposedly comes back to visit.

But claim him indeed they do, on the basis that Young lived here as a kid from 1948 to 1955, and that his late dad Scott Young built a home just south of town where Neil still supposedly comes back to visit.

Which brings us to the Youngtown Rock and Roll Museum, an eclectic collection of rock 'n' roll memorabilia in an old house of tiny rooms on the main drag. No, not Young's house. Neil lived in another house nearby and went to a school that's now gone.

OK, eclectic doesn't quite cover it. The Youngtown Rock and Roll Museum is wild, sometimes bizarre, always fascinating. The museum is full of records, both 33 and 45 (ask your grandparents), concert posters, album covers (ask your grandparents again), clothing worn by rock stars, and tickets for concerts, plastered on every wall and every piece of ceiling.

Presiding over the museum is Trevor (T.R.) Hosier, museum owner and curator whose day job is working as a private practice family counsellor in nearby Lindsay.

Here on Highway 35 about 15 minutes north of Peterborough and two hours or so northeast of Toronto in FOOF (Fine Old Ontario Families) country, 54-year-old Hosier has built a shrine to Neil Young amid a much-larger rock 'n' roll museum in a tiny town of 1,000 people.

The first room inside the entrance is all Neil Young, pretty much every square centimetre of space.

Hosier pointed to a poster of an early Buffalo Springfield concert at the Fillmore. Elsewhere in the overwhelming display is a copy of the book Neil and Me, by Neil's sportswriter dad. The museum also holds one of only 200 known copies of a Squires 45-rpm record from 1963.

"This is Neil's first record," says Hosier. "The Sultan. The other side is called Aurora. There are only 200."

The spring and summer of 2010 will be the third year for the Youngtown Rock and Roll Museum.

"He's (Young) well aware of it, flattered by it ... he's yet to drop by," said Hosier.

Alas.

But the Youngtown Rock and Roll Museum isn't just Neil Young. Through seven small but crammed rooms and an attic up narrow wooden stairs, the artifacts of decades of rock just never stop.

"I've been collecting autographs since 1966," said Hosier, who displays them here.

The eye struggles to keep up, the mind despairs of absorbing it all.

Rick Danko's coat, a shirt worn by Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, a dress that Stevie Nicks wore at a Fleetwood Mac concert, a jacket worn by Strawberry Alarm Clock.

OK, that last one is more obscure.

Hosier proudly shows off a jacket worn by Sir Elton John. "I got that through Dick Clark," he confides.

"Here's a guitar strap from Jimi Hendrix."

A chunk of stone from Liverpool: "I stole that from Paul's garden, just a rock."

If you have to ask Paul who...

"This is John Lennon's hat from the Hey Jude album -- this would be the crown jewel of the place."

An outfit worn by Cher, the red shirt Elvis wore in the movie Blue Hawaii, a rare poster of Led Zeppelin in Toronto in 1969 -- Hosier used an inheritance from his parents to buy the house and display all the treasures he's purchased at auction or otherwise acquired.

And even if they're not rock 'n' roll, Hosier really likes The Rat Pack, so here's a corner of homage to Sinatra and Dean Martin and Sammy and Joey Bishop.

Back to Neil Young. Hosier concedes that Young spent a portion of his life in Winnipeg. And his museum would love artifacts.

"I would love to represent something from Winnipeg here," said the curator. Anyone willing to give, or lend, Winnipeg Young memorabilia, Hosier would find space for it.

The Youngtown Rock and Roll Museum is open Fridays to Sundays from late April until mid-November. Information is available at http://www.youngtownmuseum.com/.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 24, 2010 E7