Twenty-five years ago today—on March 2, 1989—Tom Cochrane and Red Rider played the Orpheum with guests the Northern Pikes, a band from Saskatoon that I liked almost as much as the headliner.

In the ensuing war of intimidation against the ranchers, Ira Withers (Edward Cassidy) is killed and Red Ryder (Don 'Red' Barry) and his father, Colonel Tom Ryder (William Farnum), form an ...