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Kent also ran a talent agency and management company in Ottawa, and was a life insurance agent and financial consultant. Although the club was a sideline, he spent a lot of time there, catching shows by everyone from Maynard Ferguson to Albert Collins. He was also a fan of Canadian blues rocker David Wilcox and Rolling Stones cover band the Blushing Brides, largely because he could count on them to fill the place.

“Gord (Kent) often closed the bar, did the books, took the cash home with him and did the banking in the morning,” said Ken Grafton, a family friend. “Then he went on with his day from there. He was very involved in the club.”

Grafton, an Ottawa musician who grew up in the same east-end neighbourhood as Kent, was good friends with Gord’s younger brother, Chuck. He described Gord as “the older brother I never had.

“He taught me the first bar chords on guitar, and he hired Chuck and I when we were 11 to be roadies for his band,” Grafton reminisced. “We used to do the load-in and setup but we were too young to actually stay in the clubs so we never did the tear down and load out. We learned a lot from that and went on to form our own bands. I really never would have been in the music business at all if not for Gord.”

Back in the mid-1960s, Kent played guitar in the Mood of Blue, one of the many bands in town that played multiple nights each week. “The music scene was vibrant back then,” recalled Grafton. “Every night of the week, bands were playing. People wanted to be entertained. Before MTV, before canned music, it was all live music. There was lots of work for bands.”