Every week, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 43-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
In 1986, one of Mecca Normal’s songs was on a seven-inch protest record specifically focused on the eviction of residents in Canada’s poorest postal code, to make way for visitors to Vancouver’s Expo 86. The D.O.A. project was aimed at supporting those who lost their housing.
A corresponding benefit concert in Stanley Park, featuring D.O.A., Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie, raised $10,000 for the displaced residents.
A focal point of the resident evictions was an elderly man who jumped to his death from a window in his SRO (single-room occupancy). An 88-year-old retired logger named Olaf Solheim was evicted from his home of more than six decades.
“Richard” from Calico Kills The Cat (K, 1988) (download):