Rochleau Court, with Chez Piggy on one side and The Toucan on the other, holds a great deal of music history within the many limestone walls.
Canadian folk-rock musician Zal Yanovsky and his wife, Rose Richardson, started Chez Piggy in 1979 in an abandoned limestone stable, wanting to offer Kingstonians a diverse menu, with dishes inspired by their own travels and made with local ingredients. (The pair also opened a bakery, Pan Chancho, in 1994 in an old coach house at King and Johnson Streets, which would grow to include a café and expanded selection at its current location at 44 Princess St.)
Yanovsky played guitar in the ’60s with the pop group The Lovin’ Spoonful, known for hits such as “Do You Believe In Magic” and “Summer in the City.” Rolling Stone named “Do You Believe In Magic” as number 216 in its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The song was also featured in a number of movies, from Parent Trap to American Pie. In 1996, Yanovsky was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and, in 2000, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Lovin’ Spoonful.
Affectionately known as “The Pig,” Chez Piggy has been a favourite gathering place for Kingston writers, artists, and musicians, supported in great part by Yanovsky and Richardson, and Yanovsky’s daughter Zoe, who took over the two businesses in 2002 after Zal’s death (Richardson passed away in 2005).
The Toucan & Kirkpatrick’s pub, previously known as the Terrapin Tavern, has been a mainstay for live music in Kingston for decades. Many bands got their start here, many have passed through, and many keep it as a homebase. Local bands The Tragically Hip, The Mahones, and The Headstones all played here; Big Sugar made early appearances at the pub as well, as did k.d. lang.
(Rumour is that when The Hip early on played the Terrapin Tavern, drummer Johnny Fay would often head to the basement between sets to finish his high school homework.)
“It all started at The Toucan,” says Andy Brown, current manager of the bar and a founding member of pioneering Irish punk band The Mahones. “Barry Williams, the owner (at the time), wanted to throw together an Irish band for St. Patrick’s Day. That’s really where it came from. We got Joe Chithalen, Richard Burgman, we had Barry playing drums, and got his old buddy Finny McConnell to play guitar. We learned some Irish songs. We even had the woolen sweaters. And then all sorts of people came and went.”
That was in 1990 and more than 30 years later, although the line-up has changed, The Mahones – led by Finny McConnell – are still going. The group has a vast international fanbase and tours widely. “I did it differently than (The Tragically Hip). They went up and down the 401, but Canada’s only 3 per cent of the world market (for music) and it’s the hardest country to tour,” McConnell told Kingston Live! in 2021. “But I love Kingston. Now I write songs about how much I miss Kingston. Kingston is my heart. Europe is my home.”
And key to the scene at The Toucan and in Kingston overall for many years was Joe Chithalen, who played in The Mahones and many other bands, including Weeping Tile with Sarah Harmer.
“Joe was more committed to Kingston and the music scene than anybody else,” says Spencer Evans, who played with Chithalen in the band Bloom, and has been a major presence in the Kingston music scene, with a decades-long weekly gig at The Toucan. “He was such a booster, and an influence for so many.”
While on tour with The Mahones in Europe in 1999, Chithalen died suddenly after eating street food in Amsterdam with peanuts in it, triggering his allergy. Chithalen’s death was a shock to the Kingston music community, and in response, many came together and followed through on a plan that Chithalen had been discussing for many years: the creation of a musical instrument lending library in the city.
“Wally High plays a really big role in this, because it was (Wally and Joe) who discussed something like the idea of a musical instrument lending library,” says Eleanor Chithalen, Joe’s mother. “For both of them, I think the concept was something that would give a name to the lives of the people who hung out on street corners and really didn’t seem to have any future in mind. And they thought if they could learn to play, they could hang out and make money.”
After several fundraisers and “Joe Shows”, The Joe Chithalen Memorial Musical Instrument Lending Library (Joe’s M.I.L.L.) began loaning instruments out of Robert Meek Public School downtown in 2001. Joe’s M.I.L.L. is now located at the Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning.
Feeling thirsty? Head inside the Pig and order “Off to the Races.” You won’t find it on the menu but insiders know the half pint of beer with a shot of Auchentoshan was Zal’s favourite, a nod to his love of horse racing.
