John Mann, Spirit of the West, circa 1997

Last week, the west coast lost a wonderful spirit. John Mann, frontman for the folk rock group Spirit of the West, was just 57 years old. He died in Vancouver on November 20 after a five-year battle with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Spirit of the West was formed in the heady days of the west coast music scene that emerged in Vancouver at the start of the eighties. As a regular club-goer at the time, I saw them perform at a number of venues.

One of their concerts, this time in Toronto, in 1987, recalls a short-lived celebration. After dancing to the group under a canvas tent on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds, I emerged into the humid Hogtown night to find the bicycle I’d borrowed and locked to nearby bleachers had been stolen.

I remember as if it were yesterday, the long walk back to the dive I shared on Clinton Street, lightened only by the Spirit’s rhythms still running through my head, and a tasty slice of pizza from a takeout on Bathurst Street.

Mann’s performance, itself lifted by the accompaniment of the rest of the band, brought audiences to their feet. I believe there still remains in muscle memory a bit of that ebullient spirit.