tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70658774397089432012024-03-13T06:46:04.740-07:00Bill King Words and MusicIt's all about music, photography, the short story and politics of living.Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.comBlogger212125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-75747026046189503302020-05-09T11:03:00.002-07:002020-05-09T16:26:00.785-07:00Little Richard The Bronze Liberace<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vxtNlBd0rf4/XrbwQSCup-I/AAAAAAAABQM/djN8hC91ADcNKZN4SPSDw0krTq3djQU7ACEwYBhgL/s1600/richard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="837" data-original-width="634" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vxtNlBd0rf4/XrbwQSCup-I/AAAAAAAABQM/djN8hC91ADcNKZN4SPSDw0krTq3djQU7ACEwYBhgL/s400/richard.jpg" width="302" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">It's been 25 years since I've smoked a bowl of hashish, and
none more exquisite than shared in January of 1971 with Little Richard, the
Bronze Liberace. At that time, I was the keyboardist and vocalist for
Homestead, a Toronto act that caught the attention of Guess Who producer Jack
Richardson in 1970. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">Homestead concerts were testimonials against the Vietnam War
and the degradation of the environment. I wore more Canadian flags than seen
springtime on Parliament Hill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jack
understood my position and my opposition to the war. He rolled with the
situation, doing all he could to calm me --although I made the task nearly
impossible. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">We’re booked to do a 7:30 pm set at Queen’s University,
opening for Little Richard on a stage outfitted with humongous Traynor
speakers. Back then, the size of a mid-size car, with sound quality
when fully exercised akin to blowing wax paper through a comb. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">We’re playing the opening set, at first received as if
sentenced to public embalming. Then I gave my “save the planet” pitch, and
things began to warm up. Round one: we scored. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">Downstairs in the dressing area, Little Richard has yet to
show, owing to a bomb scare somewhere over Cleveland. Richard refuses a
chartered flight to London, Ontario, apparently fearing the plane would crash.
11 pm, he arrives by car, half an hour after the second set scheduled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">I'm killing time with a quarter ounce of Lebanese hashish.
Suddenly, Little Richard's band arrives and catches the action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">“Hey, bro,' what's smoking," says a member
of the horn section. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">“Hashish,” I reply. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">“Les’ has some.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Smooth talkers? I cut
a couple of grams loose, and the horn guys disappear into the men’s room - unloosen
a toilet roll, untangle foil from a cigarette pack, punch a few holes--et voila
- big high. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">I'm chatting with the promoter when Little Richard walks up
and demands his pay. The promoter turns and instructs Richards to play first. Nearby,
Richard’s bodyguard looks on taps at his shoulder-holster under his suit jacket
as if to say, “listen up.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">“Pay me,
motherfucker or I don't play," says Richard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">The promoter pauses. “This isn’t good; I have to go up to
the box office and count the money. I hope they’ll agree to do this."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">“Get moving," urges Richard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">I'm sitting, staring at this rock & roll icon, baked in
heavy pancake makeup, not knowing what to expect. In a huff, Richards starts
lecturing about “taking care of business.” Then the first trumpet player
returns hovers above, and says to me -, "Give me more of that good
shit." I couldn’t believe the audacity of this snake. Richard jumps
into the conversation, "What shit?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">“The hippie got some bad hashish," says viper man.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">Richards looks at me. “Is that so, I ain't never smoked
hashish - is it any good?" <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">I look at him, thinking: fuck me, it’s Little Richard!
"Yeah, man, this is Lebanese.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's
got a nice froth on it," I say.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">“Light me some, hippie guy - I need to get high." I do
just that, and LR gets his love on. "This shit is outrageous," he
says, wearing a big broad smile. </span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">The next 30 minutes, we continue bowl lighting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"What's your
name? It's Bill! Your band? Homestead, huh? Tell you what Bill - I like you,
man. Paul McCartney is playing on my next album and me on his - then I'm
playing on yours." </span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif;">I'm young - cynical and don't give a shit. Little Richard is
in the house and playing me for my remaining gram.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">The promoter returns, Richard collects half-pay, hits the
stage, and rocks the room. Next to Little Richard, I felt like a curio
figurine, a miniature entertainer – him - long, bold history, and I'm a
witness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">The amplified sound was horrible, but who gave a damn.
Richard's foot hits the floor like a sledgehammer - he sings in ungodly tones:
first “Lucille,” then “Blueberry Hill,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Bebop A Lula,” “Good Golly Miss Molly,” “Midnight Special,” “Tutti
Frutti” and on and on. Three years earlier, I'd rocked with Chuck Berry, but in
no way did it compare to this jam. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Half time! We're back
in the waiting room. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">"Hey B, got anymore of that killing shit,” Richard's
inquires.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Sure do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 150%;">“Then, light me a bowl." That I do, as his band quickly
shows up sounding a chorus of “give us more." </span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif;">Are you kidding? I'm with the man, and I ain't blowing the
remains on a </span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif;">greedy horn section.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">Richard seats himself next to the paymaster, who says,
“Sorry, Mr. Richard. We have to wait until closing time to pay you.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">Get my money, or the night is over,” says Richard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">The dude reaches over and touches Little Richard. <br />
“Get your fucking fingers off me, queer boy,” says Richard, alerting the bodyguard
who moves in clutching a hidden gun. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">Richard nods, says to the paymaster, “You get the message?
Get my money.” Bronze Liberace looks over at me and says, “Fill the bowl,
Bill---looks like a long night. You say that shit is Hebanese?” </span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">Eventually, the promoter pays, and Richard rips through a
second show.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">Afterwards, we're on our way home and stop at one of those
unfriendly late-night diners. I walk in with my partner Kristine, and the
catcalls start. “Hippie, dick sucker, fuck face...” Suddenly a tall, lanky
black man in full pimp stride strolls towards the men's room. It’s Little
Richard’s enforcer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All talk ceases.
Catcalls cease as all eyes follow. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Minutes
pass, and the guy reappears. You can see the gun protrude under his short
jacket. He taps, swings around, gives us one of those stares that freezes the
fearful, then exits. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">The last words I heard that evening were: "Fuck me, who
the hell was that?” </span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">I look at Kristine and say, “Shaft!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large; line-height: 150%;">Looking out for Little Richard and other black musicians of
the time was a full-time job. If you wanted to get paid, you had to have
someone with a cold, cold look, an intimidating bulge under the vest and
willingness to use it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-29540223404262867302020-04-30T09:30:00.003-07:002020-04-30T19:06:54.366-07:00Janis Joplin (Memphis Meltdown)<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;">Janis Joplin (Memphis Meltdown)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Word spread quickly of <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Janis Joplin's</span> departure from <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Big Brother & the Holding Company</span>
among the musicians in Greenwich Village. I can't say the announcement created
the same impact as the Beatles' imminent break-up or Bob Dylan converting to
electric. Nevertheless, it did reverberate along Bleecker and McDougall streets,
attracting further attention among working musicians and less between street
buskers. I, for one, reacted swiftly to the rumour. Janis was assembling a
rhythm & blues band, much like those high-flying Memphis bands: somewhere
between <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Sam and Dave</span> and <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Otis Redding</span>. A sound originated in
Soulsville USA Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and reproduced on vinyl by
Stax/Volt records. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It's 1968, and I stroll into a record store on 8<sup>th</sup> Avenue,
one I frequented for its diversity and rarities, then scan the cover jacket of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cheap Thrills</i>, Joplin's most recent
recording. I searched along the back-side of the sleeve, looking for
information concerning Joplin's management team. A clerk nearby offers to
assist - points to a recording by the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Electric
Flag</span>, he says shared the same management. It turned out to be Albert
Grossman, noted for his successful campaigns on behalf of and among others: <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Bob Dylan, Paul Butterfield, and Peter, Paul
and Mary</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i>I dialled Grossman's
office and parleyed with associates Vinnie Fusco and Elliot Mazer, who was intimately
involved in Joplin's affairs. An audition arranged at A-1 Studios, the original
home of Atlantic Records. Before the hook-up, I'm summoned for an informal
meeting with Albert Grossman. I await outside Grossman's office, clutch the
sole documented recording of my piano/organ playing, a B-side instrumental
single released by California soul unit, Kent & The Candidates, "Whatcha
Trying to Do." The song an ode to pianist Ramsey Lewis of "In-Crowd"
fame - a mix of country blues and gospel piano.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On entry to Grossman's office, I catch a glimpse of the man surrounded
by towering stacks of papers; positioned around him like a walled fortress. In a
soft-whisper, Grossman speaks and waves me forward. I listen to his take on
Joplin's radical new plan. I also observe how much he resembled founding father,
Ben Franklin, with flowing white locks of hair tied into a ponytail and small,
wire-framed glasses. Grossman could have been one of the original signatories
on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Declaration of Independence.</i> I
can't remember much of that conversation, but it landed me a plum gig - double
duty as Joplin's keyboardist and music director for a new band about to be assembled,
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The Kozmic Blues Band</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The first audition was little more than a formality meant to assess the
compatibility of the players. The second audition involved recording the
soulful number, "Piece of My Heart," at the Hit Factory with our trio
- a final mix sent to Janis for approval. We kept close to the original version
by Irma Franklin. Drummer Roy Markowitz and I landed the gig, with bassist Stu
Woods going on to work as a sideman, recording with Bob Dylan, Don McLean, the
Pozo Seco Singers, Tony Orlando & Dawn, Janice Ian and others. In many ways,
his career fared better. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After agreeing on wages, management arranged a flight to San Francisco
for Roy and me and no accommodations other than a few nights at a studio
apartment courtesy, Janis's road manager's mother in North Beach. That was cool
with me. I'd pretty much lived out of a suitcase the past couple of years. We
soon connect with bassist Brad Campbell of the Toronto based <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Last Words,</span> the only Canadian in the
group, at our temporary digs. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rolling
Stone</i> magazine had announced the hiring of both Brad and drummer Skip
Prokop from <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Lighthouse</span>, but the
latter player never materialized. Just as well. The three of us had spent our
young lives in the shadows beyond the glare of spotlights, and this was indeed
Janis's show. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The following day, Janis invites the three of us to her Noe Street
apartment for a 'get-to-know-you' session. After dragging our bodies up San
Francisco's impossible steep terrain, we arrive at Joplin's front door, where
we are greeted by a snarling dog. Joplin's live-in mate and ex-wife of blues
singer Nick Gravenites collects the dog, then directs us to a small sitting
room; resplendent in Salvation Army home furnishings. Joplin enters laughing
and joking from a side hallway with the force of a Texas "dust devil."
Joplin was the perfect host, serving up shots of Southern Comfort whiskey and
reefer sticks. I passed on the refreshments. Janis pauses, smiles - then comments,
"Who did Albert send me, "Jesus Christ?" Assuring her I wasn't
one of those 'Bible-thumping' southerners sent to recuse her from a host of
demons, Janis laughs and quickly gets comfortable with me. She then invites
Brad, Roy and I back for dinner later that evening, saying: "I've got a
few friends I want you to meet." <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The party was already brewing when we arrived. The soulful voice of <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Carla Thomas</span> blared in the background
over the conversation between a few "denim-clad" men. Janis charges
in from the dining room and steers us toward something that resembles a large
stalagmite ripped from a cave. On closer inspection, it becomes apparent the
item was a polished sculpture of a snow-white penis, a gift from a local
Haight-Ashbury artist. The coveted centrepiece remained the focal point of
conversation throughout the evening. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>More guests arrive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With each rap
at the door, another group of tattooed 'denim-jockeys' enter each grimier than
the last. We looked like choirboys at a prison picnic compared to this. Janis
journeyed from lap to lap, kissing and hugging each scraggy guy. The room now
overflowing with crazies, Janis introduces her new hand-picked band. The men in
denim? The Oakland Chapter of the Hell's Angels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was out of my element when the drugs
started flowing, and music intensified and booze splashing about. The biker's
party escalated at a different temperature than most musicians 'get-togethers,'
and through Janis's actions and excitement, we recognized debauchery was about
to reach an unforeseen level. The three of us politely excuse ourselves -
informed Janis, and told her we'd meet again at rehearsal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rehearsals were put on standby as we awaited
the arrival of the two horn players who'd just completed service in the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Electric Flag</span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Brad, Roy and I killed time scouring the pool halls of North Beach playing
snooker long past midnight. We listened to jazz, traded road stories
accompanied by crippling laughter as we relived Janis' dinner-less, dinner
party. We also speculated about the future. Roy and I never took rock music
seriously. Miles and Coltrane were the most talked-about players in our sphere.
Joplin was merely a quirky individualist with a wide following. For the two of
us, it was a better gig than lounging about Grossinger's in the Catskills.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rehearsals began early December 1968 at the old Fillmore Auditorium. A
floor below us, Carlos Santana was rehearsing his band through final
preparations for his Columbia recording debut: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Santana</i>. A level below him, <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">It's
A Beautiful Day</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">,</i> was putting
the finishing touches on material for their first recording under the same
title. We shared a great rapport with Carlos and the company. During breaks,
each band would filter in, listen to one another restructure tunes. Santana was
miles ahead of our newly assembled unit. The group was well-rehearsed, loved
playing and did it with precision and commitment. We, on the other hand, had
had barely enough time to acquaint ourselves with unfinished and untried
material before pressing ahead. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Day one of rehearsals, band members stroll in just past noon and take
their places. As a leader, my job was to bring order to the proceedings and a
buffer between band and Janis, a role I'd played many times before, but never
on such a grand scale. Eventually, Janis slips in, introduces herself -trades
hugs with the horn players before inching my way. Joplin then slides next to me
along the organ bench and introduces a modest list of tunes. The message? Janis
is hoping to bridge the raw elements of her persona with that of classic soul
and rhythm & blues. The marriage arranged in her head had yet to be
consummated by the band. First up, Gershwin's "Summertime," her
signature wail. Guitarist Sam Andrews played fugue-like intro riff Joplin had
grown accustomed to hearing. I then write a counterpoint line meant to
embellish. It soon becomes apparent the organ doesn't sonically cut the same as
an amplified guitar, causing Janis to rethink the intro. When the full band
enters, Joplin all but forgets the odd colouring. I knew it would take some
adjustment with her ears accustomed to <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Big
Brother & the Holding Company's</span> version.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>During the rehearsal, I craft horn lines for the Bee Gee's "To Love
Somebody," which Joplin quickly transforms into a blues ballad - ripe with
guttural cries and evangelical testifying. The song was chosen for its show
potential and emotional temperature: great words, good mood and soulful melody.
I then convince Janis to give a listen to the old Eddie Floyd soul hit, "Raise
Your Hand." It was a crack staple from my days with Kent & The
Candidates. The song had the same fat groove found in Wilson Pickett's "Midnight
Hour" and "Mustang Sally," with a memorable, gospel-style shout
chorus. Joplin listens, smiles, then asks me to script an arrangement. Then the
great implosion. "Ball and Chain," another squealing testimonial. Too
jazzy? Overdone?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Rehearsals began to lose their lustre the following week. Gone were the
rock celebrities and energized sessions. Trumpeter Marcus Doubleday starts
showing up late. Doubleday found a heroin connection, which eventually took
precedent over-scheduled rehearsals. Janis was getting agitated, spending more
time in pool halls and nightspots than rehearsing. She was also drinking
heavily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could see the welts swell
beneath her deep-set eyes. Joplin was also plagued by acne - nearly every pore
of her face scarred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was beginning to
dread the daily sessions with her. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Around December 18, guitarist Mike Bloomfield noted for his
ground-breaking work with the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Blues
Project, Paul Butterfield</span> and others, unexpectedly appear. Bloomfield's
turf was Greenwich Village, which led me to question his presence here. Janis
arrives, introduces Bloomfield, then asks us to jam a few tunes with him. Before
Janis's arrival, we'd already made the Bloomfield connection with a shuttle
blues that lasted twenty-something minutes. Roy recorded the jam. She then
instructs us to play, "Piece of My Heart." Bloomfield plugs the holes
with stinging blues lines and extended chords as we stay relatively close to
the original. Once the test was complete, Janis confers in private with
Bloomfield, emerges and delivers the verdict: "Mike likes the band."
Our momentary reprieve lasted until drummer Levon Helm of <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The Band</span> fame arrives, and Janis
instructs us to play once again. Levon listens, then awards the band a second
vote of confidence. I could sense uncertainty in Janis's body language. This
radical change and Janis' call, exposing her vulnerability. Gone was the
certainty and comfort of Big Brother's blaring amps, plodding rhythms and close
relationships. It made me recall a conversation I'd had with producer John
Simon, who once confided that it had cost him six months of edit time just to
give <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cheap Thrills</i> a consistent flow.
Steady tempos were foreign to that band. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nighttime was Janis' time to
roar. Brad and I piled into the back seat of her "psychedelic embellished"
Porsche and cruised the seedier pool halls around the Bay Area. Joplin knew
every oddball and misfit on the circuit and treated each the same as her band
members. To Janis, if you were a friend, you remained a friend. We'd drop-in
Country Billiards and the staff would bristle with excitement. Brad and I
played snooker regularly, of which I was never able to overcome his skill.
Janis wanted the same competitive game with her in the mix. "Don't let me
win – make me win on my own will," she would insist. We never backed off.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One occasion, I accompanied her
to the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Kaleidoscope Club</span> to hear Texas native, the Johnny Winters band; shortly after, she'd extorted a
fur coat from Southern Comfort - payback for her campaign and preference for
and in behalf of the beverage. Janis had caught up with her fellow Port Arthur,
Texas native Winter, the night before. Throughout the evening, the luxury fur served
as a seat cushion and an impromptu floor duster, never a treasured garment.
Afterwards, Joplin drags me backstage to greet the musicians before departing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Late evening, we surface at the Fillmore to catch the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Small Faces</span>, when after, Joplin again
pulls me backstage, this time to meet Rod Stewart and Ron Wood, who were performing. Joplin used her quick wit and undeniable charm to break through the
indifference of the reticent British imports. She tried to seduce with laughter
and genuine warmth with little success. It was an uneasy meet and greeted, one
she walked away commenting: "What a bunch of 'tight-asses' these British
bands are." <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After receiving an invite to play at the second annual Stax/Volt
Yuletide Thing at the Memphis Mid-South Coliseum with stars: Isaac Hayes, Rufus
and Carla Thomas, Johnny Taylor, the Bar-Kays, Booker T and the MGs and Eddie
Floyd; productive rehearsals soon became imperative. Janis was eager to
introduce her new band in an area rich in folk and blues history. After landing
and during the Sunday drive from the airport, Janis requests the limousine
driver to make an unusual turn and chart a path towards Jackson, Mississippi,
where supposedly a bottle of liquor could be purchased on a Sunday. Janis was
in severe need of a drink. The mission became more confusing as urgency in her voice
increased. A few terse words between driver and Joplin nearly escalates into a full-on
confrontation. The escort didn't see driving out of the way for alcohol on the
Lord's day of rest, part of the gig. A compromise was struck to let the band
off at the hotel, and Janis enlists a driver willing to continue the search for
libations. More lousy karma was in store. We are booked into the Lorraine
Motel, where only months before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was gunned down.
Even creepier, we were booked in adjacent rooms on the same landing. The
thought gave me chills. It wasn't until I mentioned at the soundcheck we were
staying at the Lorraine someone reminded me of his historical significance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Little fanfare greeted our arrival, leaving Janis free to pursue her
vices. As we strolled back to our rooms, Mike Bloomfield walks past toting a
garbage bag full of pot. Roy stops and asks him for a joint. Bloomfield throws
Roy a look of contempt and says, "I don't have enough." A startled
Roy looks back at me – busts a devious grin, and the two of us howl with
laughter. Then off to rehearsal – Soulsville, USA.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>From the street, it looked like a broken-down cinema. The marquee
lettering was cracked and shattered, most likely by kids with rocks in hand.
Nothing about the exterior spoke to its recent glorious history. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;"> We set-up in
the main studio with enough gear to run through an abbreviated set. As I roam room to room, there was ample evidence of those grand soul recordings. Down one hall
and rehearsing, </span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">Booker T & the</span><i style="font-family: "palatino linotype", serif; font-size: x-large;"> </i><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">MG's.</span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">
This was a rush. I saw the drum set most prominent on those </span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;">Sam & Dave</span><span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; font-size: large;"> recordings. The big
deep military-style snare and what looked to be a bass drum the size carried
about in marching bands.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Further down the hall – the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Bar-Keys</span> laying down some smacking
funk. I no sooner take a seat at the grand piano when singer/songwriter <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Isaac Hayes</span> squeezes in next to me
and smiles. I play a couple of blues chords, and he answers with a riff or two
and smiles. I have no recollection after that of the rehearsal. This was all I
wanted to remember.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Stax/Volt concert takes place. I look across the spacious auditorium
packed with a good portion of the black populous of Memphis. This was a hometown,
and the hometown heroes were about to take the stage. Enter the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Staples Singers</span>. Moments in I detect
a flaw in the sound system - intermittent crackling and voices cutting in and
out. The system was borrowed from a local church - suitable for a room of 250
parishioners but not the sonic quality to carry the sound of a high-energy
Bar-Kays, front to the back of the stadium. The system was atrocious. Locals
didn't sit idly by and refrain from expressing their displeasure. They stood
and yelled – "fix the sound; I didn't pay all of this money for this."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We were wedged near the middle of the concert, between Memphis's most
excellent blues guitarist <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Albert King</span>
and Carla Thomas. I remember standing nearby and watching King's organist. My
main concern was the organ and a reason for that, once on stage, I noticed the
organ had been unplugged and needed to be rolled back into position and
switched on again. My next concern, the plastic rod leading to one of my
preferred draw-bar settings kept popping up, and the manual would go silent. "Tape,
please!"<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> We played three or four number the
finale an original I wrote and recorded by Herb Abramson at A1 Sound in
Manhattan, "Hurtin' World." Janis learned from an acetate I cherished - recorded
by singer <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Charlotte Stokes</span> with
Bernard Purdy and J.J. Johnson. Janis loved it. - a slow, 6/8 feel and 'churchified.' <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The performance, with all of Joplin's antics and mad passion, passes
with little response. I write it off as retaliation for the shit sound system.
Surely, we didn't sound that bad. I would learn there was more in play here.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Janis's face was pasted all over
Memphis. She took prominence over all the local heroes and found her image
blown up larger than that of <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Pops
Staples</span> and <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Carla Thomas</span>
and the others. She was truly embarrassed. One end of Memphis, to the other,
her image penetrated the retail landscape. After the concert, a distraught
Janis asked around and was told folks were pissed. She was devastated. She then
found out the insensitive act was crafted and insistence of her management.
Joplin's spirit was renewed later that evening at a party hosted by Stax/Volt
President Jimmy Stewart. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Stewart's sprawling ranch-style house, situated among lush tree-lined
surroundings were the social epicentre for invitation-only guests from both the
black and white communities. Behind these doors, people could mingle without
prejudice. The greats - the Memphis singers and musicians, were present.
Stewart had rigged various rooms with monster-sized <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Voice of the Theater</i> speakers. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Throughout the night, Stewart played
unreleased tapes of Otis Redding, who had perished two years earlier, along
with four of the original Bar-Kays, in a plane crash on December 10, 1967.
Rivers of tears were shed. As much as it was an occasion to celebrate, it was
nearing Christmas Eve, one in which everyone understood only the ghost of the
great singer would be able to attend. Otis' music played and played, making the
night a sombre and tender occasion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
walked about shaking hands and putting faces to album covers. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Janis calls for the band. We gather at a long table in an adjacent room
with Stax president Jimmy Stewart at the helm. I recognize bassist Donald "Duck"
Dunn, guitarist Steve Cropper, Booker T, and beyond that - the night goes dim.
Janis introduces each member of the band by name except me – I'm Jesus to her. "Can
you believe, I hired Jesus Christ?" she says with great warmth and humour.
The place erupts. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The following morning, this band meets for a final get together. It was indeed
one of the saddest moments of my entire life. After returning from the gig, we
heard Janis and Marcus Doubleday had shot up heroin and passed out atop each
other were found the next morning in the same position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several days prior, Janis briefly stopped
over in Dallas to meet a young band she had recently befriended and presented a
gift box of twelve syringes. She remarked that she and Doubleday fought over
the distribution of the prize. The thought sickened me. I decided I was out of
here! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My new bride Kristine and I would catch up with Janis in 1970, backstage
at the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Festival Express</i> in Toronto
when I was with the opening band, <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Homestead</span>,
booked the same day. The first person I recognize from the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Kozmic Blues Band</span> is Brad Campbell,
the bassist, now a member of Janis's new band, then the road manager who
eventually escorts Janis over.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Janis was all laughter and hugs---totally
optimistic. She told us of a new boyfriend and spoke passionately about
detoxing from drugs and only sipping a bit of wine. She appeared happier than I ever
believed possible. Janis loved her new group, the <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Full Tilt Boogie Band</span> and seemed to have a bit more control over
where she wanted to go with her career. The blues, folk, rock and soul music
concealed in her heart had found a genuine medium for expression. <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Full Tilt Boogie</span> was the perfect
conduit. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Janis Joplin died later that year, at age 27. The time I spent with her
covered a month of a life barely lived, yet so much transpired during that
eventful period. Her open-hearted kindness, as well as her naked insecurities,
linger in my mind. Above all, I'll remember and cherish the sincerity and joy
she brought to the music she loved. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "palatino linotype" , serif; line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-2139834758135368052019-09-15T05:52:00.001-07:002019-09-15T06:07:28.405-07:00Marian McPartland - Piano Jazz 1990 - In Her Words!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mmyjPAuDzJg/XX4zs8eO-8I/AAAAAAAABO0/mNZjTsTRDuk2WRYIATgJT2FlUh_hseaewCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/marian2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="566" height="291" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mmyjPAuDzJg/XX4zs8eO-8I/AAAAAAAABO0/mNZjTsTRDuk2WRYIATgJT2FlUh_hseaewCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/marian2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The first episode of Piano Jazz 1978 with Mary Lou Williams (photo)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Bill King: You're in Toronto. What brings you here?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Marian McPartland: We're doing something totally new. We're recording a National Public Radio Piano Jazz show here to get some Canadian artists on the show. I think it'll be broadcast all over Canada. In the states - we've been hoping to branch out.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> The fourteen years we've been doing this, we keep thinking about how to make things exciting and then decided we would come up to Canada and meet the artists here. We've had Bernie Senensky on the show and tonight John Ballantyne. Tomorrow is Oliver Jones. So we're just scratching the surface. I know there's more. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">B.K: This is a first for Canada?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">M.P: Yes. Last year we went to England and did it on the BBC. We recorded four pianists, and we're going to do it again in September. It's fun. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">B.K: How did you come across these three gentlemen in Canada? </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">M.P: Through various people mentioning them. I knew Oliver already. I had him on the show several years ago. We also had Oscar. I was hoping he would be available but not this time. We'll have to catch up with him some other time. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">B.K: What about your new recording? </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">M.P: It's an album of fourteen songs. I've been thinking about it ever since we had Benny Carter on Piano Jazz which was a couple of years ago and I've always loved his music. He's not a pianist as he very modestly says. He arranges for piano which is pretty much what he does. I was so interested in some of his songs. I just thought it would be nice to do some of them on an album. The next thought was well, why can't we have Benny Carter on the album. That's the way it worked out. In fact, we're doing a television show on Wednesday, the Today Show to help plug the album and a few other things and other New York shows coming up. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">B.K: Did you work together on arrangements? He can be quite sensitive about how his songs are portrayed harmonically.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">M.P: You know that. Yes, I let him. We met before the date and sat down at his house and hashed out the tunes and talked about how we'd do them. I'd already learned everything very carefully with his harmonies. I think he was pretty pleased when we came to that stage. Everything was arranged - no big arrangements - sort of head arrangements we did on the date. He would say to me, "How should we do this?" I'd either come up with some little idea I had or if I didn't have a plan, and he'd jump in and say, "Well, how about this?" That's really how the whole date went. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">B.K: Quite comfortable. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">M.P: It was. Very easy. We did the first day with him, and he only had to do about four tunes. He was a guest on the album but wound up doing six, and then he said to me, "Well, I'll come tomorrow if you want me to." I said, "Goodness, we have enough now." The next day we did an all trio thing. It was nice to record with Benny; I mean that's a big deal for me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">B.K: With six decades of songwriting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">M.P: Incredible, isn't it. Some of the songs are so wonderful. The songs we picked are timeless and go back to the '30s and maybe '20s, but they still sound good today. There is one that I loved which I guess is how I first came to meet Benny was Lonely Woman, recorded years ago by Sylvia Syms, and I kept wondering who wrote that tune - where can I get it. I finally found out it was Benny and I called him up, and he sent me the sheet music. Incidentally, the lyric is written by a guy that lives here in Toronto, Ray Coleman who used to be the editor of The Melody Maker. I must try to look in the phone book and see if he's available. I knew him years ago before I ever came over here. He stayed with Memory Maker for years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">B.K: How were you able to maintain Halcyon Records and keep it productive? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">M.P: It's the last of the cottage industries because we have we only have 18 albums and although they're still being distributed, I haven't done anything new for several years because I've been with Concord for about the past ten years. Almost everything I did on Halycon is still available, but now the hard part is putting everything on a CD. Oh God, I don't know how we did maintain it. We started Halcyon in about 1970 I think, and I was lucky because I had a friend with lots of money and he helped get started and then he died, and I had a choice of keeping it going by myself or quit. I kept going a little longer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">B.K: You had guests like Earl 'Fatha" Hines, Teddy Wilson and Dave McKenna on the label.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">M.P: Jimmy Rowles - several with my ex - Jimmy McPartland and Buddy Tate - Vic Dickinson and some of the great players like that. And then one with a singer Teddy King. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The one with Teddy Wilson, that was a gem. It was so nice of him to agree to do the two-piano thing and as a matter of fact, we did it at this guy's house who had two gold Steinways - face to face. That's where we made that date. For years in England, Teddy was one of my idols, and subsequently, he did my radio show. I'm happy that we did that before he died. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">B.K: You've been able to branch out and do so many things, even ten years in one club. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">M.P: I was in and out of the Carlyle Hotel for about ten years. It's a very posh hotel in New York where Bobby Short works. He left to go on the road and got me into the room. That started the whole ten-year thing. I would play there for two or three months, but that was during Piano Jazz. I mean, sometimes I would have to record something for Piano Jazz and then get in a cab and go to the Carlyle and play after hours. It's a pretty busy life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">B.K: How did you come to do radio, and what do you think about the fourteen years you've spent documenting the history of living jazz pianists?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">M.P: The second part of the question I think is amazing. I mean, it's something I would never have dreamed of in my whole life. Before this show, they had one hosted by Alec Wilder, the composer. He had this book out, American Popular Song. All his guests were singers. He had Helen Merrill, Tony Bennett, and Margaret Whiting and people like that. The show folded, and they were looking for something to replace it. The people at the radio station called me, and said, We'd like to do a show on the order of the one with Alec except using musicians; what do you suggest? Two pianos seemed the most natural format and the least expensive. I knew scads of piano players. Mary Lou Williams was the first guest, and then we had Chick Corea, Bill Evans, Teddy Wilson, Hazel Scott, George Shearing, Bobby Short and on and on - John Lewis. I was like a kid in a candy store. Just call me up - next week we'll have so-and-so and all of a sudden the people sponsoring us who are the Exon company and NEA and various people liked the show, loved it. So we've been able to keep it going all these years. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">B.K: Do you worry about the changes affecting the NEA, the politicizing of the arts? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">M.P: Yeah, I do, but I just let other people handle that end of things and not worry about it. I plow ahead and think of more shows and ideas - what can we do to keep the thing viable - keep it interesting. I don't know if you've heard any of them up here? </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">B.K: In my travels travel across the U.S., it's there - in the car and wonderful to have as a guest passenger.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">M.P: Well, that's good to hear. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">B.K: You're working on a book about women in jazz.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">M.P: I don't know if that's ever going to get done, because two or three people have already done it. I am trying to write a book, but I think it's going to be more about my life in the music business and all these various women that I know will be in the book. But it just got to be too tough to do an actual compilation of all the women musicians although I probably know most of them and have had a good many of them on Piano Jazz. Gerry Allen, Renee Rosnes; a lot of these new kids coming up are fascinating. It's so much more easy for them now. Things have changed completely. Thank God!</span><br />
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Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-58076604044939368892019-08-28T07:24:00.005-07:002019-08-28T07:24:55.977-07:00Soul Nation Radio Playlist August 28, 2019<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZJ8NFzN9_VA/XWaOeynxYYI/AAAAAAAABOQ/Ptqiitrkn7MV8iFBgxPuRmtnC5BZchGGACLcBGAs/s1600/go%2Bgo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZJ8NFzN9_VA/XWaOeynxYYI/AAAAAAAABOQ/Ptqiitrkn7MV8iFBgxPuRmtnC5BZchGGACLcBGAs/s400/go%2Bgo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Theme Rhythm Express - Soul Nation</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">1 Chuck D & The Slamjamz Artist Revue- Talking Loud, Saying Nothing<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />2 James Brown - Hell<br />3 Chuck Brown, Marcus Miller, Jill Scott- Love<br />4 The Mighty Ryeders - Evil Vibrations<br />5 The RH Factor - Crazy Race<br />6 J. Boogie's Dubtronic Science- Go To Work (ft The Pimps of Joytime)<br />7 Oakland Stroke - Fire<br />8 King Kooba - He's Out Of His Mind<br />9 Glenn Lewis - Don't You Forget It<br />10 Masego & SiR - Old Age<br />11 Trouble Funk - Pump Me Up<br />12 Larisa Santiago - No Soy Tu Ninera<br />13 OKAN - Espiral<br />14 Sly & The Family Stone - If You Want Me To Stay<br />15 Turkuaz - Mister Man<br />16 Joel Culpepper & Kojey Radical - Caroline No<br />17 Funk Worthy - Rock With Me<br />18 Leon Bridges - Bad Bad News<br />19 Skibone & Tommy Ski - Take It To The Top<br />20 Nickodemus & The Real Live Show - Will You Still Be Here<br />21 Shuffle Demons - Spadina Bus<br />22 Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance<br />23 Doug E Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew - The Show<br />24 Hot, Cold, Sweat - Meet Me At The Go-Go<br />25 Shafiq Husayn & Anderson.Paak - It's Better For You<br />26 Jesse Johnson - 100 Watts Of Funky<br />27 Boog Brown - Act Like You Know<br />28 The Soultwisters - Soulpudding<br />29 Soulchef - Brazilian Summer<br />30 Big Tony & Trouble Funk - Whatcha' Sippin'<br />31 Bill Withers - You Got The Stuff<br />32 Ibrahim Maalof - Le Grand Paris<br />33 Durand Jones & The Indications - Make A Change<br />34 Marvin Gaye - A Funky Space Reincarnation</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Photo taken from The Fader - read about Washington's Go Go Music Movement <a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="async" data-lynx-uri="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thefader.com%2F2019%2F04%2F11%2Fthe-ongoing-fight-to-keep-go-go-alive-in-washington-dc%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0kGemVsJpQynUJdKX8BsscIeRe8jN7qkoleNUHkmPtQDypE4QCJ3D9SSA&h=AT1xnXfHF3ncHWa5GYV1Pz2J3ZXx-XI8Ol7W6VQoIo8S6Lg-X0cY_jbl9BoFxwQRd-wTa2DG5DwRGgIjxUJOT2qgPyu3yx5XQ4CopFKZXuykmO8L_mkpmnMYo8jKOSdBTxxG_8eHMQbAU3r5TQQqqEOOxyQS9auHbiW0rDLzGbOBxiYMgOdVENWiW6rJHrJ6k1ipBuVfsjLZIw9BbQh0B9jLwpm2PPOyLHpy-PH9v0wsCQXrveqEVrR30FRCAaZK0IcP5mNCaQakyaMLRnr-Yk8V3Pq9IP0xgvylDiyRxCnCW4QINpTv46AqscVZ6OTidYdEtGDt8tNz1MZb4p8dge00UZLZEiFbut9BKuRPzRCBP8VHM1SBL9CFHtY6o_7LhgekUrDheiSp6xzeqtX-6flQ_jQzQEYTsDiAtwMVoM4TQ7fwWz9OFjQGy0JgEDKB6BdMCN2X3InKtUI5Ky6pcH5qlsdW1EgppkgGdKcpPjE2dLvIz3KFrcNgSQus64kRavZ5I1akca5KULK_BsGTLgkBsR1LS7D71xnS4vMG0YHz4p1R8sJ8zbVoTvH_y45mMkInkx9DknuhdG-lvUdGmFg53dwDnKTV_vSWGdMTjTMbPUwxIqBdMcEY_EeQkhp4l8itiH8wkEvv" href="https://www.thefader.com/2019/04/11/the-ongoing-fight-to-keep-go-go-alive-in-washington-dc?fbclid=IwAR0kGemVsJpQynUJdKX8BsscIeRe8jN7qkoleNUHkmPtQDypE4QCJ3D9SSA" rel="noopener nofollow" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">https://www.thefader.com/…/the-ongoing-fight-to-keep-go-go-…</a></span></div>
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Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-35626333235353019932019-08-21T06:54:00.003-07:002019-08-21T06:54:40.099-07:00Soul Nation Radio playlist Aug 20 2019<br />
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1 Isaac Hayes - Run Fay Run<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />2 Wildcookie - Serious Drug<br />3 Nuyorican Soul - You Can Do It (Baby)<br />4 Nick Hakim - Cuffed<br />5 Tower of Power - Hangin' With My Baby<br />6 The Ugly Duckling - A LIttle Samba<br />7 Prince - When The Lights Go Down<br />8 Alysha Brilla - Centre (ft Sridaya Srivatsan)<br />9 The Souljazz Orchestra - Well Runs Dry<br />10 Static Panic - Sinful Delightful<br />11 SiR - D'Evils<br />12 Cory Wong - Light As Anything<br />13 Uptown Funk Empire - Celestial Blues<br />14 Whitney Houston - A Song For You - Love From Welcome Home Heroes<br />15 X-Ray Ted - Mirror Ballin'<br />16 Big Sugar - Turn The Lights On</span></div>
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<br />17 Lionel Loueke - Freedom Dance<br />18 Jamila Woods - Giovanni<br />19 jacksoul - oneSong<br />20 The Bamboos - Keep Me In Mind<br />21 Swindle - Reach For The Stars (ft Andrew Ashong)<br />22 Veronica Swift - Forget About The Boy<br />23 Charlotte Dos Santos - Watching You<br />24 Cliff Beach - Confident (ft The MB's)<br />25 The Allergies - Nuff Respect (ft Andy Cooper)<br />26 Flevans - It Just Goes - Ray Mang ReMix<br />27 Trevor Dandy - Is There Any Love?<br />28 Cory Wong - Limited World (ft Caleb Hawley)<br />29 RJD2 - 1976</div>
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Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-19501460374996723952019-08-07T12:20:00.001-07:002019-08-07T12:21:09.231-07:00Soul Nation Radio Playlist Aug 6 2019<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Hosted By Bill & Jesse King</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Special Guest: <a data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1496760244&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK%2AF-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARAnsC6t7dY7Kx3k8fdQlO5S_rwT6jZbmQdDKVYfOUdbRyh9dN7mwRASsgeytjM2dD49Yy9XB6b0OI_S%22%2C%22directed_target_id%22%3Anull%2C%22groups_location%22%3Anull%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/RubberHandMan?__tn__=%2CdK%2AF-R&eid=ARAnsC6t7dY7Kx3k8fdQlO5S_rwT6jZbmQdDKVYfOUdbRyh9dN7mwRASsgeytjM2dD49Yy9XB6b0OI_S" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration: none;">Bill Sharpe</a></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br />1 Judith Hill - The Pepper Club<br />2 Betty Harris - There's A Break In The Road<br />3 Galactic - Hey Na Na<br />4 RJD2 - A Beautiful Mine - Theme Music From Madmen<br />5 Erez Zobary - Kaleidoscope Tears<br />6 Teyena Taylor - Gonna Love Me<br />7 Bootsy Collins - Z-Classified (ft Buckethead)<br />8 Bill Sharpe - Bass In Your Face (ft Najee)<br />9 Up, Bustle & Out - All Out King<br />10 Samantha Fish - Gone For Good<br />11 Graham Central Station - The Jam<br />12 Lonnie Liston Smith - Expansions<br />13 Rhythm Express - Papa Was A Rolling Stone<br />14 George Clinton - Atomic Dog<br />15 Jacksoul - Think You Should Know<br />16 Cargo Mas - My Favorite Pants (ft Ida Nielsen)<br />17 Bo Diddley - Hit Or Miss<br />18 Stevie Ray Vaughan - Scuttle Buttin' Love At Carnegie Hall<br />19 Lonnie Mack - Wham!<br />20 Junior Parker - Taxman<br />21 Bruce Skerritt & The Liamguiga - Project Brimstone Hill Bop<br />22 Jarvis Church - People Get Ready<br />23 Funky DL - Nakasu<br />24 Sly5th Avenue - Let Me Ride (ft Jimetta Rose)<br />25 SAULT - Let Me Go<br />26 The Poets Of Rhythm - More Mess On My Thing<br />27 Snoh Aalegra - Situationship<br />28 Chris Standing - Stop It (Mercury Mix 2019)</span></div>
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Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-23917020977898836952019-07-31T14:12:00.001-07:002019-07-31T14:12:34.464-07:00Soul Nation Radio Playlist July 30 2019<div class="x_fdnfk10im k_fdnfjz7_1 clearfix" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: -1px; zoom: 1;">
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<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px;">On JAZZFM 91 Toronto</span></div>
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1 Chuck Brown- Beautiful Life (ft Wale)<br />2 Miss Emily & Gord Sinclair - Hold Back The River<br />3 Brian Power, Mike Delgado - I Believe (in the power of love) ft Hil St Soul<br />4 Tuxedo - Vibrations (ft Parisalexa)<br />5 Shirley Caeser - It's Alright (ft Anthony Hamilton)<br />6 Sean Jones & The Righteous Echo - Don't Go Breakin'<br />7 Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up (Part 1)<br />8 Sly Dunbar - Inner City Blues<br />9 Randy Crawford - Street Life<br />10 Graham Central Station - Release Yourself<br />11 Sean Jones - I'll Be A Fool<br />12 James Brown - Get Up I Feel Like Being Like A Sex Machine<br />13 Fred Wesley & The Horny Horns - Four Play (ft Maceo Parker)<br />14 Willie Mitchell - Take Five<br />15 The Winstons - Amen Brother<br />16 Wilson Pickett - Funky Broadway<br />17 Rare Essence - Hey Buddy Buddy - Live<br />18 Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers - Bustin' Loose<br />19 Banda Black Rio - Mr Funky Samba<br />20 Monkey House - 10,000 Hours<br />21 Guru & Ronny Jordan - No Time To Play<br />22 H.E.R. - Lost Souls (ft DJ Scratch)<br />23 Ms Lauryn Hill - Lost Ones<br />24 Lizzo - Boys<br />25 Lucky Peterson - Singin' This Song 4 U<br />26 Gil Scott-Heron - The Bottle<br />27 Rhythm Express - Rhythm Express<br />28 Joni Haastrup -Free My People<br />29 Orgone - Funky Nassau (ft Fanny Franklin)<br />30 The MIghty Show-Stoppers - Hippy Skippy Moon Strut</div>
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Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-70109763492354681492019-07-17T19:10:00.002-07:002019-07-17T19:16:41.483-07:00Soul Nation Radio Playlist July 16 2019<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Bill & Jesse King Tues 9pm-12 on JAZZFM 91</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Special Guests: <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=113785395345993&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARCqOK4gWAwuI7noRcLT1VR5ajjhcTYx08zTaSCma1JrpIRvHU2KD2CJJ-lBnq9gip8Q4VVFYntE9F3L%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/heavyweightsbrassband/?__tn__=K-R&eid=ARCqOK4gWAwuI7noRcLT1VR5ajjhcTYx08zTaSCma1JrpIRvHU2KD2CJJ-lBnq9gip8Q4VVFYntE9F3L&fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCKKzGgy8BiF2enmM-4rrM9P2rnwd3olnIq51xSdTW99HBHSeOF0VVJa7UVCELMnP1MOKBV2X8lSAaH6sUCI--rPF9gSym-gbRODHnJEJvUl4RRcwkagGmWl8ekPvolxdUnAMJDJOm22brD9qdcwSB9Br3Blu6jyHzWncEkQu4FYenUjOABKB50WaAGhsrM5IEl1sASe_7t3oYkbx2nkOt5V8_aYCteE5ITBtMDPm3cnpdVLOtQbwnFEeDpUnLtwp1cXELhaqdL3_2E9DLQ7L97nOmZsvQ8EiEjpeV1Bn_5Dgoxu6eqiAI1e4WA4q8Lj6GhNcGFapFqX1AthchZgr2QtJC3" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Heavyweights Brass Band</a><br /><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=515571638&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARDDDTnifUX1Br19rs7TGTJmntolilyr4y8q8s1Ro9bR_ToV3Iw8zR2TUitZAaoOBkRDejNjxzpuv29m%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/chrisbutcher?__tn__=K-R&eid=ARDDDTnifUX1Br19rs7TGTJmntolilyr4y8q8s1Ro9bR_ToV3Iw8zR2TUitZAaoOBkRDejNjxzpuv29m&fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCKKzGgy8BiF2enmM-4rrM9P2rnwd3olnIq51xSdTW99HBHSeOF0VVJa7UVCELMnP1MOKBV2X8lSAaH6sUCI--rPF9gSym-gbRODHnJEJvUl4RRcwkagGmWl8ekPvolxdUnAMJDJOm22brD9qdcwSB9Br3Blu6jyHzWncEkQu4FYenUjOABKB50WaAGhsrM5IEl1sASe_7t3oYkbx2nkOt5V8_aYCteE5ITBtMDPm3cnpdVLOtQbwnFEeDpUnLtwp1cXELhaqdL3_2E9DLQ7L97nOmZsvQ8EiEjpeV1Bn_5Dgoxu6eqiAI1e4WA4q8Lj6GhNcGFapFqX1AthchZgr2QtJC3" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Butcher Butcher">Butcher Butcher</a> & <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=1482390044&extragetparams=%7B%22__tn__%22%3A%22%2CdK-R-R%22%2C%22eid%22%3A%22ARBxcTx9lfZTFfaKuTjvobfDsPmnqW_q-e4mKGQ9w9rHjz1SpN-20pMbQkXkVZw4vCbJqU30VK5FVFSt%22%2C%22fref%22%3A%22mentions%22%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/john.pittman.18?__tn__=K-R&eid=ARBxcTx9lfZTFfaKuTjvobfDsPmnqW_q-e4mKGQ9w9rHjz1SpN-20pMbQkXkVZw4vCbJqU30VK5FVFSt&fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCKKzGgy8BiF2enmM-4rrM9P2rnwd3olnIq51xSdTW99HBHSeOF0VVJa7UVCELMnP1MOKBV2X8lSAaH6sUCI--rPF9gSym-gbRODHnJEJvUl4RRcwkagGmWl8ekPvolxdUnAMJDJOm22brD9qdcwSB9Br3Blu6jyHzWncEkQu4FYenUjOABKB50WaAGhsrM5IEl1sASe_7t3oYkbx2nkOt5V8_aYCteE5ITBtMDPm3cnpdVLOtQbwnFEeDpUnLtwp1cXELhaqdL3_2E9DLQ7L97nOmZsvQ8EiEjpeV1Bn_5Dgoxu6eqiAI1e4WA4q8Lj6GhNcGFapFqX1AthchZgr2QtJC3" style="color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;" title="John Pittman">John Pittman</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Theme Rhythm Express Soul Nation<br />1 The Sonic Family - Never Stop Dreamin' - Never Stop Jazz Dreamin<br />2 The Grits - Ug Ug Ah<br />3 Burna Boy - Anybody<br />4 Majid Jordan - Gave Your Love Away<br />5 The Heavyweights Brass Band - Hands Down Lo'<br />6 Marquis Hill - The Way We Play / Minority - Medley<br />7 The Persuasions - Good Times<br />8 New Orleans Jazz Orchestra - Working In The Coal Mine<br />9 The Heavyweights Brass Band - Dance Out On The Corner<br />10 Chick Corea & The Spanish Heart Band - Armando's Rhumba</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 14px;">1</span><span style="font-size: large;">1 Masego & TMXO - African Lady - ADM Remix<br />12 John Pittman - For Siobhan<br />13 The Heavyweights Brass Band - I've Got Time For You<br />14 The Heavyweights Brass Band - This City ft Jackie Richardson & Kevin Breit<br />15 Stevie Wonder - Boogie On Reggae Woman<br />16 Manu Dibango - Soul Makossa<br />17 Arrested Development - People Everyday - Metamorphosis Mix<br />18 Don Covay - The House of Blue Lights, Part 1<br />19 Esthero - That Girl<br />20 Ronny Jordan - Keep Your Head Up (ft Fay Simpson)<br />21 Tall Black Guy - From Home, To Work, And Back<br />22 The Bahama Soul Club - Ain't Nobody's Biz-Ness If I Do<br />23 Joe Armon-Jones - Icy Roads (Stacked)<br />24 Bobbi Humphrey - New York Times<br />25 Grace Jones - Libertango<br />26 Ohm Guru - Tokio Station<br />27 Blue Lab Beats - Hi There<br />28 Sunlightsquare - Hanging Tough</span></div>
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Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-72752862091175155312019-07-10T07:03:00.007-07:002019-07-10T07:12:56.446-07:00Soul Nation Radio Playlist July 9, 2019 (9 pm-12) on JAZZFM 91<div style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">1 Jacob Collier - It's Don't Matter (ft JoJo)<br />2 A l l i e - Cross My Mind<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />3 De Souza - Garota Brasilera<br />4 Quantic - Orquidea (ft Sly5thAve)<br />5 Latrese Bush & Noel Gourdin - Because Of You<br />6 Fort Knox Five - The Brazilian Hipster (Skeewiff Remix)<br />7 Rawallty - Make Me Feel<br />8 Salt-N-Peppa & En Vogue - Whatta Man<br />9 Jazzmeia Horn - When I Say<br />10 The Pointer Sisters Exclusive 1976 Recording from Japan<br />11 Ebo Taylor - Love and Death<br />12 Crack of Dawn - Crack of Dawn<br />13 Mark Ronson - Just (Ft Alex Greenwald)<br />14 Philip Bailey - Once In A Lifetime<br />15 Snoh Aalegra & Vince</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Staples - Nothing Burns Like The Cold<br />16 Angie Stone - Everyday<br />17 Pocket Dwellers - Photogenic<br />18 Angelique Francis - Should Have Known<br />19 The Philosopher Kings - I Am The Man<br />20 Dubmatix - London Calling (ft Don Letts & Dan Donovan)<br />21 Isaac Hayes - Life's Mood<br />22 Bernard Wright - Spinnin'<br />23 Skee-Lo - I Wish<br />24 Mo'Horizons - Yes Baby Yes<br />25 The Funkstamatics - Say It, Pt. 1<br />26 Congi - Red (ft Yazmin Lacey)<br />27 Betty Newsome, James Brown & Pavarotti - It's A Man's World - Live<br />28 Remy Shand - Rocksteady</span>Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-84888307259448553102019-07-07T19:55:00.001-07:002019-07-07T19:55:23.622-07:00Dispatches From Festival International de Jazz de Montreal<header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latoregular; margin: 0px; max-width: 1200px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle";"><span style="font-size: large;">I’m sitting here and, as I do on each visit to the world’s finest jazz festival, I take a few moments to scribble a few thoughts around the day that passed.</span></span></h2>
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The concept of one-Jazz is no longer as a new generation of experimenters bend and shape to a world in migratory flight. At year 40, and I must say, with little or no physical celebrations on the surface, the festival is aware of the tastes and connections visitors to the event expect.</h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The grounds around festival central are grumbling and rumbling and being renovated around the needs of the supremely successful event. Montreal itself is under a construction boom from above and below – a good portion addressing aging infrastructure needs. At the heart of the major digs, the jazz festival breathes life into the central core.</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The crowds are here and, much like TD Downtown Jazz and the Beaches International Jazz Festival, the streets are lined with buskers, food stalls, the occasional bluegrass unit and a solo piano situated where any passerby can play in front of a curious audience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was year ten when I attempted to snap a photo inside a theatre of Chick Corea and band. Let’s see – thirty years ago? I was a serious novice packing a Kodak Instamatic. I stood centre aisle and bravely framed a moment of Corea’s blistering set when the built-in flash lit the concert hall like a blazing asteroid entering earth’s atmosphere. With that came a tap on the shoulder and threat of eviction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’ve been seriously photographing Festival de Jazz a good twenty-five years. Long gone are Dave Brubeck, Hank Jones, Aretha, and Ray Charles – and in place now the likes of Roberto Fonseca, Nate Smith, Manu Katché, and Jacob Collier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On Canada Day, the evening's major concert venues were given over to remaining jazz draws; George Benson and Diane Reeves. Only a few steps beyond, trumpeter Christian Scott and Tunde Adjuah were walking the sold-out hall into the present day and down the road. It was serious Afro-Cuban – Afro-hip hop fusion jazz. Scott laid out his vision and where he wished to transport the audience and then asked all to chill and enjoy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lorraine Klaasen dug deep into her South African roots and took charge of the overflow crowd - a good many sporting lawn chairs and cushions out for a rare night under the stars and absent horrendous weather. Klassen has lived a good portion of her life in Montreal and was most definitely a crowd favourite.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dispatches July 2, 2019<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />Pianist Wray Downes was recognized by the festival for his long-enduring career now in the 88th year as a performer; musicianship and exceptional contributions to the development of Canadian jazz. The affair was held in the press room of Montreal Jazz Fest with a question and answer session. The hour-long conversation centered on Downes' ability to stay true to the genre, long term as an educator, and early life experiences studying with Oscar Peterson at the Toronto based centre of jazz learning, The Advanced School of Contemporary Music, during the early '60s.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Downes' responses were deliberate, thought-provoking, on point and sincere. He spoke of moments when he was overcome with fear and uncertainty when being evaluated by his jazz mentor. He also discussed the strain of teaching and touring and the demands the music makes on a player whose intent is always to give the maximum effort when playing before an audience. As Downes was handed the award, he asked for help holding the hefty object, then broke into tears. Downes has outlived his mentor and is now one of the remaining connections with Montreal’s glorious jazz past that can also count Oliver Jones amongst its top tier jazz pianists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The night belonged to the people; streets jammed to capacity. Audiences in Montreal, whether circling a street performer or within the confines of a concert facility, come with open arms. Applause arrives as if every action requires a reaction. This was evident when a child sits behind one of the several public pianos placed strategically throughout the central core. It’s the same for each street performer: wild applause, a hug and dozens of selfies. Indoors the same applies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Drummer Nate Smith, with his ensemble Kinfolk, gave a somewhat subdued performance at the Monument-National in collaboration with CBCMusic and the long-running Jazz Beat, yet you wouldn’t sense the crowd saw it that way with their rapturous approval. Smith, for his part, is notable for the ease at which he can switch between genres, immaculate playing and instructional videos. He is a marvel to watch in person. On this occasion, he played within the jazz standard – not standards but within the gates of jazz history. Where Christian Scott pushed the boundaries of jazz the night before, Smith was contained and situated dead centre in a comfortable jazz zone with plenty of history to back him up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The night was owned by young multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier, a Herbie Hancock discovery and a Quincy Jones mentored prodigy. Collier had the welcome opportunity to play in one of North America’s best-designed venues – Club Soda, which at standing capacity houses 975 patrons and has been in play some 35 years. This is a dream performance venue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The stage was resplendent in instruments, all situated and positioned to make Collier’s mad dashes between each an aural playground and part of the visual choreography. Collier entered as if blown from a cannon and then proceeded to engage the audience in a sing and chant. Back and forth this went until the room pleaded for the weight of instruments and with two side-mates in toll – a bassist and second keyboardist - Collier crashed down into the piano.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was dazzling showmanship as if staged by a master manipulator with a Ph.D. in performance art. Collier strutted, mugged, engaged, and entertained while laying out a futuristic blend of jazz, hip hop, funk, and a stylistic mixture of sounds and genre fusion, never heard before. Between piano and percussion interludes, Collier dug his fingers into the fretboard of the electric bass – pulled and tugged as if directed by the funk master himself, bassist Bootsy Collins then darted off in another direction as if the late great Jaco Pastorius was whispering in an ear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jazz began as a showman’s game, and on this night Collier and company gave us an excellent read on what to expect in the coming years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dispatches –July 3, 2019</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The press gallery was packed to hear one of prog rock’s long-living disciples recall his job as assistant engineer on the Beatles' <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Let it Be</em> and <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Abbey Road</em> sessions – and engineer on<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"> The Dark</em> <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Side of the Moon </em>for Pink Floyd. Alan Parsons didn’t disappoint. This was a heady session given over to questions about the technical efficiencies of present-day recording sessions compared to the halcyon days of the early ’70s.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Parsons spoke of long days trying to recreate reverbs and delays from scratch through the use of rooms as reflective sound chambers and specific miking techniques and the fact that what took the length of a day to accomplish can now be scaled down to a matter of minutes through the use of Pro Tools. He also acknowledged having a sophisticated recording studio in his home in which his wife insists all work end by dinner time, not the day round sessions that inhabited a good portion of his life. In fact, Parsons wears those studio eyes, a sort of glazed over appearance born after decades of overnights fixated on a mixing board and listening to endless playbacks. Parsons' live show focused on his best-known works: Eye in the Sky, Sirius, Don’t Answer Me and three selections from his latest project that explores the world of magic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Toronto was on display today with two popular favourites, singer Alex Pangman, and drummer Larnell Lewis, commanding centre stage. Pangman held court on the Scene TD stage facing several thousand captivated revelers. The sun beat down on the long stretch of concrete as the crowd cheered each boogie-style piano solo from pianist Peter Hill and each New Orleans trill and a muted blast from trumpeter John McLeod. The groove was steady and paced to give Pangman plenty of room to deliver a solid performance - one this crowd took to heart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Down a side lane, drummer Larnell Lewis and band drew a sizeable audience at Place Heineken. This is one of the rare club-like outdoors tents that looks as if it can handle a good three hundred people. Beyond the rim, another five to six hundred can gather in an intimate setting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lewis, along with multi-instrumentalist Rob Christian and pianist Jeremy Ledbetter rode the fusion train to a finale stop while picking up passengers along the way. This is muscular jazz played with conviction and contemporary thought. The song passages toyed with rhythmic and harmonic shifts with Lewis' rock-solid pocket the source of extreme weather. Lewis swirls, and kicks and pops in step with the now. It’s the kind of drumming you hear the worlds best deliver daily. The crowd recognized the level of commitment and artistry and rewarded each solo effort with sustained applause.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Invisible Man: An Orchestral Tribute to Dr. Dre was a delight. The tribute arrived in 2017, courtesy Sly5thAve. That night at the Wilshire Abell Theatre included some of L.A.’s best musicians. The piece was conducted by producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist Sylvester Uzoma Onyejiaka 11, aka Sly5thAve. This night was a recreation and a tribute to the original concept that came from a benefit concert to raise funds for a new music school in Compton.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Held in the Monument-National – a theatre of great acoustics and stately elegance, the night was an aural landscape of hip-hop beats and symphonic intent. The merging of worlds succeeded on many levels.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">How Deep is Your Love? The classic Bee Gees hit keeps rolling</span> <span style="font-size: large;">around in my brain because of one man, PJ Morton. Knowing Morton was playing one floor below in the press gallery in L’Astral made the already long jazz day a must wait and see.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Morton for his part took the stage in front of a legion of followers all familiar with his Grammy-nominated <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Gumbo</em>, his first self-released studio album. The New Orleans born entertainer is both an excellent singer and keyboardist with loads of stage presence and easy manners even when a digital keyboard mounted above his suitcase Rhodes piano malfunctioned. Behind Morton, a crack band well-versed in the intricacies of vintage soul and R&B. From the downbeat, a fierce James Brown style rhythm rained down on the capacity room setting the stage for a well-crafted and conceived set of originals.</span></div>
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Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-82317402239614809502019-06-10T09:35:00.001-07:002019-06-11T05:14:51.528-07:00Toronto, Basketball, The Pointer Sisters and Japan<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As we prepare ourselves to what could possibly be a first
NBA basketball championship for Canada and the city of Toronto, I reflect back some 43 years ago while touring Japan with the Pointer Sisters and what the game means to me and a world coming to terms with a sport then on the cusp of
international recognition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
It’s summer 1976 and the Pointer Sisters are touring Japan. Each city comes
with a sound check and early concert. For us guys in the trio – Chester
Thompson drums, Jeff Breeh bass, me - piano and road crew – Louis Lind etc. –
there’s plenty time to kill. “The girls” as they were affectionately called
went about doing whatever they did during off hours. The rest of us were on a
discovery mission. For me, it meant finding a game of “hoops.” Tokyo was
overwhelming, mostly given over to shopping and back alley eating, yet when we
hit that rails it was all about ‘game on.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Osaka, I found a YMCA. I begged the front desk for use of
the gym. At first, they were apprehensive reciting membership rules, but much
like every stop throughout the country, they knew who we were. Our visit was
carried on tv. The young woman relented and handed me a child’s size basketball
and directed me to the gym. Before me, eight-foot goals. Nothing seemed right,
but for this desperate young man, anything was possible. As I started shooting
several young men began encouraging me to dunk the ball. This I did for their
amusement and with ease. Ten-foot goal? I could barely touch the rim. I truly
play from beneath the rim – no lift in these shoes. I scored a round of
applause each time I improvised a dunk. Even with an enthusiastic audience, this wasn’t
basketball.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A day or so later we find ourselves in the port city Kobe,
known for its rare beef. I abandon the hotel and walk along the ocean side into
a mist, eventually coming to an overpass and basketball goal situated mid-
center a dirt floor - chicken feathers mixed in the blotches of mud. From below
I look up at a rim absent a net and thought how fine it would be to just shoot
a few against a backdrop of shipping vessels and expansive baseball netting
another side of the overpass. Then it happens. A young man in baseball garb
runs over, smiles and gestures at the goal, again smiles and runs back into a
shed. A moment later he returns with a basketball and hands to me. My heart
sinks. I’m grinning at the world and it’s smiling back. I begin shooting and
dreaming I’m back in LA where Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is hanging out and notching a
bucket here and there when suddenly the shed turns into a clubhouse and a full
cadre of baseball players, dressed to the nines run out and start tossing and
fielding baseballs. Then batting practice. You hear the whack of the bat and
instead or a soaring 300 ft blast – a fifty-foot blast into netting. It’s Japan
– there’s no space.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As time ran away from me, I walk over and return the
ball. It was then several players ran over and hugged me. My God; sports,
players, passerby’s, friendship, - it was at that moment I knew the world was
much smaller than imagined and the things that link us all are the simplest and
least complicated. A song, a ball, a location, and good people.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Bill King – Soul Nation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jazz.Fm91.1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-26681864850136860682019-06-07T05:15:00.002-07:002019-06-07T05:16:58.471-07:00Dr. John – “The Spirit Kingdom is More Powerful than Just This Meat World.”<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Born in New Orleans in 1940 as Malcom Rebannack, Dr. John
began playing piano at age six. His first recorded date was at 14, coinciding
with his job as an A&R man at Ace Records. In the mid-50s, an A&R man’s
responsibilities were to find a promising artist, hire the musicians and cut
and master the records, all for $60 a week. By the ‘60s, John was working with
Frank Zappa, Phil Spector and Sonny and Cher, on whose studio time he cut his
first Gris-Gris album which established him as Dr. John: the Night Tripper. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One of favourite all time conversations were with the good
doctor some seventeen years back. Doc was penciling notes on a music chart,
prepping a set list and smoking a Sherman cigarette. I admit being a shy/nervous
but the moment I saw him locked into pad and paper I felt a genuine calmness.
The good doctor was gracious and we spoke mostly the same language, the
mysteries of life and music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here’s that conversation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill King: In your
biographical notes you state: “I don’t wanna know about evil. Only the delicate
balance of anutha zone, way past Shapaka Shawee, more ancient than the olive
tree. Before Rosacrucian mysteries, or Freemason vestries.” <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dr.John: It’s right where we settin’ at, you know. I know
about evil. I’ve lived in this racket, the music industry, where you’re comin’
up with gangsters and whorehouse gamblin’. I know about that evil stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you walk down Spadina where any of those music joints
were, they were dealing narcotics. Well, I don’t want to know about that. I’m
about feelin’ some good things today. I want to feel love and feel good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">B.K: You go on to
say, “The spirit kingdom is more powerful than just this meat world.” Have you
had experiences that have brought you in contact with a supreme-being or
spirits from another world?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">D.J: The sense of breathin’ puts me in touch every day with
the spirit kingdom. If I wake up today, I’m breathing and I’m happy. If I can
pinch my meat (pulls the skin on his arm), I not only know that I’m alive, but
I’m feelin’ something. I not only know I’m alive. But I’m feeling something.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I had the church in New Orleans from 1967 to 1989, I
saw a lot of things like cures being done. Things that I couldn’t explain. I
saw a Mother Catherine Seals bring what looked like a dead baby back to life by
grabbing something out of the child. I don’t try to understand or figure it out
‘cause if it ain’t broke, why fix it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">B.K: You grew up in
New Orleans’ Third Ward, which was fairly integrated. There were
Afro-Americans, Cubans, German and Irish along with Caribbean immigrants. When
did your ancestors arrive in this community?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">D.J: I know my family is supposed to be from the Bas region
of France. They arrived in New Orleans in 1813 or 1830. They had a place on
Bayou Road which is now Governor Nicholas Street.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My great, great, great aunt Pauline Rebennack was involved
with a guy who had my name, Dr. John. He was a banbera cat and they had a
whorehouse out by what they call “Little Woods” in New Orleans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Bayou Road was a historical street in what they call the
Treme area of New Orleans today. Jelly Roll Morton grew up on that street. The
one thing the Third Ward was famous for was that Louis Armstrong was born
there. Unfortunately, the politicians in New Orleans decided not to keep his
pad a tourista spot and tore it down. It’s a movie equipment store now. That’s
typical political stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">B.K: Did the composer
Louis Moreau Gottschalk have a profound influence on the evolution of New
Orleans music after his visit to Cuba in the mid-1800s?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">D.J: Louis Moreau Gottschalk studied at that college in
Paris with Chopin and became a hit in the area because he wrote all the folk
songs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not only was he the first classical composer of the United
States, but, in his day, he was regarded as the fastest piano player alive. In
his music written before the Civil War, you can hear all the elements of the
samba, the rumba, the habanera, the tango and a lot of the elements of what
came to be known as ragtime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When Van Dyke Parks turned me on to this cat, I heard a
piece Gottschalk wrote called, Bambula: Danse des Negres. It was about his
memories of livin’ on St. Anns Street across from Congo Square where the slaves
used to do their shuck gris-gris thing for the slave masters or what they do in
Haiti today for the touristas. You can not only hear the Yoruba influence, but
also how it was already Caribbeanized in a way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I recorded one of his pieces, The Litany of the Saints
People, on Goin’ Back to New Orleans, we had the number one record in Haiti,
Nigeria, Brazil and Greece. They all knew the piece, whether it was the Orisha
people from Brazil, the Chango people from Jamaica or the Santeria people of
Cuba.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">People cried to it because we put strings on it like
Gottschalk wrote. It was a tribute to him, but also a piece I’d heard in church
with just guitar and a bunch of drums.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">B.K: The Brazilians
have also had a profound influence. Can you pinpoint a specific rhythm pattern
or harmonic consideration that was absorbed into local music culture?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">D.J: The Second Line rhythm in New Orleans is connected to
the Brazilian samba. It’s just a little different. Cuban rhythm is in the
centre of the beat, the Brazilian rhythm is a little more ‘round the beat and
in New Orleans, it’s all around the beat, pullin’ it. That’s where funk comes
from, just implying the rhythm of the samba. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For the last 40 years, I’ve played the Mardi Gras in New
Orleans, so I never get to see what it’s like. I’d love to go to Brazil just to
see all the samba clubs. It’s a fascinating connection of rhythms we play.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You know the Cubans’ first entry into the United States was
New Orleans. Most of them came through our ports. The ones, who stayed, kept
their thing intact and added something to the New Orleans things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">B.K: New Orleans had
three opera houses in the 1800s. Where else did you find that in America at the
time?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">D.J: A good friend of mine, Teddy Gumpus, who was one of the
guys whose grandfather started unions in America, played in 1920 in the old
French Opera House. When I came up in the ‘60s, it had burnt down and was then
a strip joint.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the 1920s, Teddy sang Pagliacci at the opera house. He
was famous for doing Popeye the Sailor Man. I forget what instrument he plays,
the oboe or something, but but he played the melody on the original tune
Popeye. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">B.K: Dr. John: The
Night Tripper was based on a 19<sup>th</sup> century doctor. Who was this
person and why did you adopt this persona in staging your first tour?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">D.J: The original Dr.John was a banbera cat from Africa. My
name is Malcom John Michael Crow Rebennack, so John is actually my second name.
My Gris-Gris name is John Gris-Gris John.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now, since I retired in 1989, I can put those things out
there. It was a natural adaptation and the fact people call me ‘professario’ or
‘doctor’. There were certain jackets hung on me, typical New Orleans stuff.
People call me snake, others call me crow. I think the Dr. thing hung on
because I like to read a lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">B.K: You’ve written a
piano book which delves into turnarounds and embellishments which are essential
to this music. How did that come about and is it still in print?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">D.J: Happy and Artie Tram wanted me to send a paper to my
manager giving them permission to reissue the thing. I’m real grateful to have
met so many piano players around the world who say the book has helped them.
I’m also happy about preserving it on CD ROM.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For New Orleans players like Huey Smith, James Brook, Allan
Toussaint, Art Neville, Professor Longhair, who I learned all kinds of
turnarounds from, they were their signatures.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Other guys like Pete Johnson of Kansas City or Albert Ammons
in Chicago had different kinds of turnarounds. But New Orleans had variety. I
could tell which guys played on sessions by some of their turnarounds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;">B.K: What’s ahead?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">D.J: Right now, I really want to spend some time fishin’,
before it gets frostbitten cold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-20256152537326648542018-05-18T06:06:00.001-07:002018-05-18T06:06:18.839-07:00A Conversation With .. Steve Anthony<header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latoregular; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; max-width: 1200px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I’ve watched more Steve Anthony on television than I have had contact with him in real life. When I arranged this interview, I was reasonably sure which lane to inhabit. I usually try to have a cup of coffee or tea lined up for our guests alongside with my co-pilot Jessica Bellamy. Anthony texts me beforehand: “If you don’t have coffee when I get there, I promise I’ll make this the worst interview you’ve done in your entire life!” To avoid a disastrous encounter, I make sure Stevie’s coffee was in play.</h2>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">Anthony: Have you seen this scene in <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Swimming for Sharks</em>? Kevin Spacey plays a vicious movie executive. Then this intern comes in replacing another intern. Kevan Spacey asks for a coffee with sweet n’ low, and the intern comes back with something other. Spacey does this classic ripping diatribe - “Stop. Learn and Listen! You don’t have a brain; you can’t think.”</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">The cruelest ever. I’m glad I got him three sugars – that’s brown sugars. Here’s a bit of that fun!</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: latobold; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">Any drama growing up in Montreal? Did you terrorize the neighbourhood or were you just a terrific kid?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">I think my brother was a goody two shoes and still is one of the greatest guys on the planet. We never got in trouble, yet my sister got in tons of trouble. So that kind of steered the way for me to be able to get away with stuff. The one thing I think that got me through was that somehow my dad instilled a level of goodness and of caring about people and for one, he never did evil things and also worked hard. I think I got my first job when I was five.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: latobold; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">Did you start in radio at five?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">I still talk about Mr Paguette down the way. Mr Paquette had the perfect golf-green lawn, and everyone was afraid of him because if you walked on the street and you kicked a stone on it, he'd come out with a shotgun or something. Mr Paquette made dandelion wine, and there were fields and fields around where we were. He would pay us; I don't know 25 cents to bring a garbage bag full. I mean, this is slave labour. But that's fine. 25 cents is 25 cents to bring dandelions to him, just the buds and he’d make wine which he didn’t share with the kids. Don't worry about that. I remember working from the age of five and then even in college I had three jobs, and I was running a radio station, and I was going to school.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: latobold; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">Getting into radio?</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">My brother went to McGill and McGill had a radio station much like this one (CIUT 89.5), and I would sit in with my brother, and I was fascinated. My brother was integral to my music tastes because they were eclectic. He was just smart. I knew Joni Mitchell before people knew Joni Mitchell. I knew Captain Beefheart before people knew Captain Beefheart and The Mothers of Invention. Does anyone even remember a band called the Fugs?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: latobold; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">River of Shit?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">Also, at the same time, the Vince Guaraldi Trio. The first two albums I purchased with my own money were Paul McCartney's <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">RAM,</em> and <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Cast Your Fate to the Wind</em>, the soundtrack. My brother got me into this thing. I did everything I could and not to emulate him; I just thought he was cool. And then we discovered something called “skip”. When I say 'we,' I mean me with an enormous ego. I refer to myself in the plural. We would voraciously consume “skip.”</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">What happens is the sun ionizes the atmosphere and then a.m. signals can't get through they will beam off of it and bounce back down to earth and then bounce off water sometimes and bounce back up. You can listen to stations from all over. We would listen to stations from the United States of America. Not that Montreal is a small place, it's a big place, but not a lot of worldly travelling at the age of fourteen. You just listened to these guys like John “Records” Landecker from Chicago and even stay up all night listen to a Larry “Superjock” Lujack in the morning because it was still dark and when the moon comes up you can't get “skip” anymore. The sun comes up again.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">We would listen to’ skip,’ and all these things and I would record them and I would study them, and I would know all their breaks and the tonality. When it came time to speak myself, it wasn't from a starting point of not knowing anything. It's like your own poetry. But if you memorize, you know Kubla Khan ‘a stately pleasure dome decree,’ you memorized it, and it’s stayed with you forever. So, when you say something like that, you're more comfortable with it.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">Getting into radio was the whole bit. I said I ran the college radio station and it was nothing. It was turntables and black light posters and a lot of guys smoking pot and going on air. I just took it over and made it into a radio station. It was a coup. I had like a hundred people on the radio station. You’re doing the news, and there's three of you on the show as opposed the one guy that was there.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">There's a guy named Mike Cool. I think it's a mentalist Mike Cool or something like that and I a remember line I stole. I give credit where credit is due. You can't be stoned if he's trying to hypnotize you. He said, ‘here’s who can't come up and volunteer to come up on stage. If you've heard the word ‘ear’ in the last three hours, you can't come up.’ Everybody’s scratching their heads. He pretends too suck in a long drag of weed and holds and goes….’eeear.’ I would always use that. If you heard the word ear, you can't be on this radio station.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">More history. CFOX was a Montreal Top Forty station on the west island. I got to know a couple of the jocks over-night. I would drop in, and I learned how to use a professional board, and they would work from the booth. You have someone who's operating and engineering the show for you which back then disc jockeys managed their board and did their own thing. I would run the board. I got all this experience of knowing what to do and where to take cues and blah blah blah blah. I had all that stuff, and then I went to college and did the same and I was then encouraged to send tapes out.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">I don't know if that hadn’t happened I’d probably have stayed in college or university forever like a lot of people. How many degrees? You’re forty-five, and you have seven degrees. And you've never had sex. Except with yourself. When I sent it out, I got offers, and so I took one.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: latobold; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">The big break was here in Toronto, Q-107. That must have been a lot of fun!</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">It was. It was when Andy Frost was there, and John Derringer, Jake... Jake was doing mornings, Gene Valaitis was there, and you were on Sunday mornings doing Q-Jazz, and there was Shirley McQueen. Who else was there? John Dickie! We had this crazy collection of personalities, and it was big fun. Now to pat ourselves on the back. OK, listen you guys talking about like its old school. They were the glory days at that time there.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">There were record reps and people in the industry across the country, and this is true what they said. There were two radio formats in this country: Q -107 and everything else. That's how it was. Bob Mackowycz! Bob Mackowycz was integral to that as well. And Gary Slaight, who was the general manager/ owner. They just encouraged us, and there was a time when that worked. In any other time, it might not have worked. If you took a radio station of people and they are all energetic, they're all inspirational, and all creative, and let them do what they want to do, it wouldn't necessarily be successful. In fact, I don't even know how successful Q107 was other than word of mouth. I don't remember what the ratings were.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">But guys like Jake, you know, Brother Jake and Gene Valaitis doing stuff and running with it, and I was allowed to do whatever I wanted on the radio, who gets that opportunity? Then I translated it to MuchMusic, and I was allowed to do whatever I wanted as long as the cops weren’t breaking down the door.</span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: latobold; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">I’m sure in practice this made the transition from radio to television a bit easier other than you had to be visual now. </span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">Exactly. And there's a big difference there. Except that it was the same vibe. I mean obviously there's the visual part of it, but the Much Music thing had the same vibe. Meaning, a bunch of people get together, and they are creative, and you give them the keys to the car. Hopefully, they won’t crash it and will bring it back and put it in the garage when they’re finished. We'll see you again tomorrow. That was it. And that was just awesome. Like we weren't the best people. We certainly weren't ,you know. Our infamy was that we were just on a fame level, above petty thieves.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">I think with respect to how famous we were, we were accessible to people, and they realize that so that we got away with more because we weren't that untouchable person. We were just Steve, Erica and Michael.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: latobold; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">You all had big personality especially on the doorstep of the coming video revolution. It was all new. And then you had the bands you got to interview. What interview has stuck with you through time?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">One that I remember, and it turns out that it's not exactly the way I tell it because someone found a videotape of it. It's all kind of mangled up, but it’s the spirit of it. How I remember it. It was with Joey Ramone, and I don’t know who else. One of the other Ramones. Joey had the sunglasses on all the time, and he had the bangs sometimes over his head like a sheepdog. I think I was dressed in army fatigues or something. I must have turned him off right away. The first thing we do when we come on is me saying, “you’re were late because you were spending so much time in goddamn makeup, right?” They go, “yeah sure.” You know, put down these hardcore punkers that took so long. They weren't very giving. I would ask questions and I thought they were pretty well-thought-out questions, and I would get these horrible almost monosyllabic answers.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">It’s getting tedious because they're doing the Ramones thing. We play a video, and then I get a pair of hair scissors, and when we come back I warn him; “if I get any more monosyllabic answers, I'm going to cut your bangs.” And he says, “I will take those scissors from you, and I'll slash your throat.” I went, “wow, that's rock n’ roll.”</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: latobold; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">You had a long run of great interviews.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">When Much Music celebrated 30 years, which is a bunch of years ago, it was a 30-minute special! It was insane. Somebody from Much Music PR brought down a bunch of 8x10 snaps they had for me for a morning show on CP 24 to go through, so I could flag a couple that were cool so when the hosts of the 30-minute special come down and do the interview we have all of this stuff that’s relatable. It was a bag about five inches tall. These photos were only taken between 1990 and 1992. That's all there was. I was on the air there from 1987 to 1996.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">If that was just for a year and a half or a two-year period, extrapolate those numbers to another seven years or more, eight years - imagine how many other interviews that is. It's unfathomable how many I did myself. It's honestly a blur. I remember that REM was the cat's pajamas. REM was considered the greatest band on the planet, at least that's how <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Rolling Stone</em> had that covered. And I was assigned to interview them. Everybody was flipped out. Because you got the assignment? No, that I was going to mess it up. This was a really important rock band, and I was going to screw it all up. A social conscience band. You know, they have something to say. They've got a message. But they liked the interview.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">Interviewing six guys from Aerosmith at a time. That was like chaotic. I remember vividly. Remember a song called “The Voice”? “We live in fear .. ooooh," Oh, that guy. I don’t remember his name, and it was probably the best interview I ever did. I don't recall the guy's name. Interviews you didn’t think were going to be great turned out to be great interviews.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: latobold; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">How did you end up in a helicopter and how did you handle that?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">They were launching a show. Those of you who don't know this, stop it. Bell Media owns CP24 Breakfast. Breakfast Television is the competition. Rogers owns them. They both are on at the same time of day against each other. Stop writing the people at CP24 and saying, ‘Oh I really love you on BT.’ Do you have any idea how irritating that is? Ten years on the air and they're still doing that.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">What was happening was that Bell Media bought everything belonging to CHUM. They bought all the CHUM properties and then the CRTC said - CHUM owns City TV, and that's a network across the country, and you are CTV, and you’re a network, and you can't have both, it's a monopoly, so you have to sell City TV. So, that's why they sold City TV including Breakfast Television to someone, and that someone was Rogers. Up until then, because they're the same company, CP24 had a news program. What they did was simulcast on Breakfast Television in the morning slot.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">But the moment that these things got separated, obviously there's a blank there because Breakfast Television went along with City TV to Rogers, so they had to fill in them with the show that they were launching called CP 24 Breakfast. CP 24 Breakfast was to confuse people. They weren't sure if I was going to go, but they auditioned me and then decided to go with the guy from MuchMusic. I won’t mention his name because they thought he would bring a youthful kind of appeal to it, but they wanted me on the show.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">So, the only way to do it that made some sense was they shoved me in a helicopter and said do traffic, but I don't even know how to do traffic, and they knew that, so I was told to go and play. So I did. I was messing with people going – ‘Yeah, I think there’s traffic here’ - because we have people doing traffic on the ground and they didn’t need me. In those days when we couldn't fly, I'd be messing around doing stuff from wherever they keep the chopper up in Buttonville. One day they said, come in. Then they put me behind a desk, and that was it. I did the helicopter for about three months out of nine.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: latobold; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">Did you enjoy your years at BT?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">I had a great time. Breakfast Television again, precisely the same thing as Much Music for me - for the Live Eye. I was allowed to do whatever EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER I wanted, and there were no rules. If you wanted to have an asbestos eating contest, we could. If we wanted to go on top of the CN Tower and get sterile because of the radio signals, we could. Nobody said, there were no rules. Here we go again. Now there are all kinds of safety rules that are in place.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: latobold; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">You’ve said you had no issues getting up early morning? </span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">No, no, no problem. In fact, I still do, but that has to do with the prostate. I have no trouble sleeping which is great. If I wake up in the middle the night, I can go right back to sleep.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 18px;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: latobold; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">And what about the future?</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: unset; margin: 0px;">I’ve got businesses. I’m president of one company and V.P. of another company.</span></div>
</div>
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Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-5180199527640668542018-05-15T12:05:00.002-07:002018-05-15T12:05:50.698-07:00CMW 2018 Wrap – Panels<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-euTZ4BwOEiM/WvsvflJovnI/AAAAAAAABKI/sZql_17dkDcuUyFqQqYQCECI0Qwr-rkUgCLcBGAs/s1600/Andre%2BHarrell.Teddy%2BRiley.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1167" data-original-width="1500" height="248" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-euTZ4BwOEiM/WvsvflJovnI/AAAAAAAABKI/sZql_17dkDcuUyFqQqYQCECI0Qwr-rkUgCLcBGAs/s320/Andre%2BHarrell.Teddy%2BRiley.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">11:00
a.m. - Spotify Master Class:</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">If you are a musician,
you’ll either love or hate Spotify. The chance to get heard by millions is
seductive. Royalties? Negligible! Then, why should you supply your fruits
of labour to a site that harbours billions of recorded tracks and adds new
ones daily? It depends on your needs and aspirations. Spotify’s
Nathan Wiszniak – Head of Artist & Label Marketing - broke it down
nicely during a 40-minute early morning session. He said that Spotify is
much more than a tap-and-play entity: It expands and adapts to
musicians' needs. Wiszniak's tutorial advice: build your followers,
socialize, tease new content, brand your playlist, empower fans, share with
followers, include audio ads</span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">,</strong><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> keep content
fresh, go viral and embed it on your website. Just get engaged in
your career and take advantage of the tools presented to you.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Wiszniak senses that the
issue of artist compensation will eventually sort itself out through
copyright legislation. He also keeps in mind the innovators who do the work for
them. Spotify survives on serious investment capital, and for their
employees, it’s no less demanding than your stress-filled day job. When
wearing my radio hat, I see Spotify as the future. Programming and discovery
have never been sweeter! </span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Leelawadee, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">(Bill King)</strong></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Exhibit
Hall: Spotlight on USA: Georgia<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I have a soft spot for Atlanta, having lived there and been part
of the music scene 1978-1979. I was able to sit down for a quick chat about
tourism with Lisa Love, Division Director of Economic Development, who quickly
reminded me of Georgia's impressive musical legacy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">“We are working on music as
a hook to visit Georgia," she told me. "We are here to tell people
about live music in Georgia and its musical heritage. There’s a rich history
and incredibly vibrant scene today that spans geography, genres and
generations. We have that soul and R&B musical dynasty: Ray
Charles, Otis Redding, James Brown, Gladys Knight. But we also had Gram Parsons: Americana would not be what we know it to be today without Gram
Parsons. There’s iconic songwriter Johnny Mercer from Savannah; Norman Blake,
one of the greatest flat-pickers and roots musicians and we have the
‘Mother of the Blues,’ Ma Rainey. Georgia has helped shape the fabric of
American music.” With local Atlanta artist Alicia Bridges scoring a
massive disco hit in 1978 with “I Love the Nightlife," how could I ever
forget the blazing backroads of Georgia? Windows down, radio up, roaring around
in my red Camaro. There’s also Cameo, R.E.M., Dixie Dregs and Peabo
Bryson, The B-52s, The Black Crowes, The Allman Brothers Band, TLC, Ludacris,
Usher, OutKast and on and on... Visit: ExploreGeorgia.org (<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif;">Bill
King</span></strong>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">1:00
p.m - The Evolution of Hip-Hop <o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Hip-Hop has been around a good 45 years, displacing rock n’
roll some 20 years ago as America’s music. Along with a groove and attitude to
counter once-prominent genres, hip-hop doesn’t need to curry favour with
traditional avenues of exporting music. As the rise of hip-hop and the
technological revolution runs parallel to each other, they
continue to aide and abet one another. Any aspiring producer can record
from his bedroom, mix, master and drop it on the public on a whim: an
artist and a few inspired/enterprising friends can easily mount a
campaign, collect emails, market and sell. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">“I feel when artists put their music on the internet and not
monetize it, they are just giving it away, and the track could be a hit,” says
Teddy Riley, Father of the New Jack Swing movement of the late '80s/early '90s.
“For me to have over 1000 records in my catalog, I never gave anything
away. If I did, it would be for a favour.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Andre Harrell, Revolt Media & TV's vice-president, said
the hip-hop industry is on the rebound.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">“When album sales went down,
the business lost a lot of money. From 2001 – 2010, those were lean years. It’s
just starting to be profitable again, based on streaming. We are getting the
monetary part right. Now, we have to figure out how to get the creative part
right and make great albums,” he notes. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif;">(Bill King)<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">1:40
p.m. -The Top-of-the Top Executive Session<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Talk about a stark contrast
between worlds: Hip-hop is all swagger and confidence and certain of their
audience appeal. Radio, not so much! As Caroline Beasley, CEO of Naples,
Florida-based Beasley Media Group and owner of 63 radio
stations mentioned, terrestrial radio has been losing audience share the
past 20 years. Advertising dollars that flowed so easily into
the coffers of most listened-to stations is now divided up over numerous
platforms with Facebook and Google being primary competitors. “Money is the
best way to measure the health of the industry,” observed moderator Sharon
Taylor. “Is radio making <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif;">real</span></em> dollars like
it did 20 years ago”?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Corus Entertainment's Troy Reeb begged to differ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">“On an individual basis, revenues are going down," he
declares. "If you look at terrestrial radio, it’s dropping by a couple
points every year. On average it will tick up and then go down, but it’s in
decline. That’s not surprising: We are in a world of fragmentation and
everyone has a myriad of options in how they consume content."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">A decade ago I could ask how
many in this room watched this show at 9 o’clock and half the room would have
put up their hand. If I asked how many listened this morning I’d be hard
pressed to find a large number coalescing around a single source of
entertainment.” <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif;">(Bill King)<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">10:00
a.m - Marketers Are From Mars, Consumers Are From Jersey<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Choosing which forums to cover is a hit-and-miss adventure.
Often, intuition and guesswork pay big dividends. If there was one session
meant to be attended, this is it! Keynote speaker Bob Hoffman, a partner
of Type A Group, an advertising and marketing consulting agency, spent
more than 45 years in ad agencies creating campaigns meant to snag
consumers and tether them to a product. In 2018, the battlefield is
littered with the ad campaign "dead."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Reminding
us that 85% of real dollars are in the accounts of those aged
50 years and above, he states that few agencies have anyone
working in them anywhere near that age. Social media advertising? A bust!
Ad-blockers shut down your media buy, bots
intercept, steal your purchase data and trash your buy. As
Hoffman says, “We live in the age of delusion.” Retail sales? Only 2.1%
occur through your smartphone, and you're getting five clicks per 10,000
on the display ads. There are 30B fraudulent ad impressions a minute,
claims ad fraud researcher Dr. Augustine Fou. So, what remains the best
buy for your advertising dollar? Radio! It targets the right people in the
right place at the right time, and it’s the most cost-effective,
claims Ebiquity, another media consultancy firm. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif;">(Bill
King)<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">11:00 a.m. When Broadcast Meets Podcast: A
Love Story?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Moderator: Matt
Cundill: Owner/Host, Sound Off Podcast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">Panelists: Chris
Dunscombe, Director New Media, Corus Radio Vancouver – Fearless Fred Kennedy,
Announcer, CFNY-FM (102.1 The Edge) – Jean-Marie Heimrath, President & CEO,
The Podcast Exchange- Seth Resler, Digital Dot Connector, Jacobs Media, USA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">I’m not certain what I
gained from this discussion that becomes applicable to the present situation.
With over 500,000 podcasts floating about and all looking for traction and
revenue, I view this region as confusing as getting on a playlist at Spotify or
iTunes, and even when accomplished, who’s going to pay? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">What is obvious, it’s
those with something unique to offer – not just a chat about Kanye West or
Donald Trump, but those small stories and passions. If you know something most
don’t, you can more than likely share that through a podcast with a world of
likeminded folks and build a niche following.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;">The forum basically
spoke to those who had existing radio shows owned by big market enterprises
looking to repackage and capitalize with the talent they have. As far as
podcasting – they must decide if they are keeping it regional in content or
going national. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<strong><span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">10:00
a.m. - Exploring the World of Playlists<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Do you want a full-time job?
Here it is! In today’s self-reliant climate, getting heard and getting
played have never been easier and harder at the same time. The more this panel
rolls out the work slate, the deeper I sink into my folding chair. What
would Mozart have said of today’s demands? “Fuck it; I’m becoming a mortician!
Algorithms and streams? What about bar 178 when the second viola comes in a
measure too early in <em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif;">Don Giovanni.</span></em> That’s
what keeps me up at night!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">So, this panel, moderated
by IRR/IMMF/UK's Jake Beaumont-Nesbitt and including MomandPopMusic's
Jessica Page, Believe Distribution Service's global head of trade marketing,
Leigh Morgan, and LyricFind's Catherine Fournier, came to some good
conclusions: that recordings have a longer lifespan when running across
several formats and music has to be supplied on a continuous basis. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: "Leelawadee",sans-serif;">(Bill
King)</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-24376934322881984942018-05-06T07:40:00.003-07:002018-05-06T07:45:58.520-07:00A Conversation With.. Terry Wilkins<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8hg30FMsbbc/Wu8T53m1QRI/AAAAAAAABJ4/bbEBzlejT6kY3aHbjyK5EAgdH9aIk-DuwCLcBGAs/s1600/wilkins_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="770" height="199" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8hg30FMsbbc/Wu8T53m1QRI/AAAAAAAABJ4/bbEBzlejT6kY3aHbjyK5EAgdH9aIk-DuwCLcBGAs/s320/wilkins_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The vibe inside is what you would expect from a British corner pub. There’s a celebratory force at play. Faces in the crowd look oh so familiar as if Saturday afternoons were meant to be a collective gathering of souls firmly planted in place for an afternoon a far distance from the usual business-like commotion of downtown Toronto and lost in the surreal confines of an ageing hotel given over to music and good times.</h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After packing my piano away at Newstalk 1010, on occasion I try to slip into the Rex Hotel only yards away from Bell Media radio studios and catch the last couple of numbers. This is when the band is cruising to a finale and the crowd, jammed from door to door, is in a receptive celebratory mood. The room is alive and electric!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The band on stage and charged with keeping the energy high and the crowd engaged is led by the man with more activities scheduled in a week than most musician’s over a two-month period, bassist/vocalist Terry Wilkins.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Wilkins turned 70 a few months in the rear, and I made a point of dropping by to congratulate. Seventy is a milestone in any profession and deserves recognition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I catch the rousing 2:45 p.m. closer and close in on Wilkins who by 3:01 is applying the outer skin to his acoustic bass and clearing the stage. Wilkins looks panicked yet pauses long enough to embrace a moment between two ageing music loyalists before jetting out a side door. Wilkins was on to the next gig.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Through the years, this is how I’ve got to see Terry Wilkins. Not long ago I trapped him early morning for an interview and here’s a portion of that conversation.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">We first met in 1971 when you arrived from Australia. Why did you centre on Canada?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Actually, there was a sequence to it in 1970. McKenna Mendelson Mainline went to Australia. We played some shows with them. Personally, I loved McKenna Mendelson Mainline. They were an amazing live act and at one point we were playing in Melbourne and the bass player was a guy named Zeke Shepherd. He was actually a world-class harmonica player, and he was the bass player in Mainline for a little while. He was a very simple player, but fantastic. I thought the guy was amazing. We got to chatting backstage and he started talking about Toronto. At that point I knew nothing about Toronto other than the fact that all our schoolbooks were made by a publisher who published out of London, Toronto and Sydney. When I was at school I’d see the word Toronto which always reminded me of Tonto. He gave me a business card which I gave to our agent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In 1971, that band, Flying Circus, moved to San Francisco. We were negotiating a deal with Capitol U.S., but couldn't work. We were just chilling and going to the Fillmore West, which was pretty amazing. Interestingly, Toronto band, James and the Good Brothers were living in San Francisco and managed by Bill Graham at the same time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">While in San Francisco our agent from Australia went to New York to do some business. He had a green card and decided to check out Toronto. He met with the Music Factory which was an agency at 80 Scarlett Rd. He saw that people worked a lot. And what people did work a lot at was high school dances. The drinking age was 21. Even when kids left school, they still went back for the school dances because it was the only action there was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He called us up and said, ‘as long as you're waiting out your deal, why don’t you wait in Toronto,’ and we said great, we'd love to play. We were getting a little Jonesy at that point. The band took a bus to Vancouver, then on by train. We saw a good chunk of Canada right off and spent a few months in Toronto, and we decided that we'd rather be here. We got signed to a management deal with HP & Bell, Lighthouse's management. That was March of 1971. I’ve just had my forty-sixth anniversary of arriving in this country.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">We were in the same package deal. It was me, Bob McBride and Flying Circus, a three-way deal with Capitol Records. Every time I went to visit Paul Hoffert, Scientologists would stop me on the street in front of HP & Bell - harass and ask to evaluate my personality.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What was the name of that restaurant across the street? Plato's Symposium, right? Cool. And that was full of them too. I used to watch them berate each other. That was very interesting.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You got a foothold. Made that record. Got out to play and stayed in place in Toronto.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It did happen organically. I'm not much of a planner. I don't really like plans because they spoil life. We were winging it. It didn't take me long to realize I liked being here. I went from Flying Circus to Lighthouse and then I began feeling like I was deeply involved in the Canadian music scene at that point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">This was with</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"> Skip Prokop and Lighthouse, and they certainly did tour a lot.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One thing about touring is we did the first ever beer sponsored tour, with Labatt‘s which was interesting because they sent along a young rep who travelled on the bus with us. Frankly, I think we destroyed his life.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You took care of him, ‘real good’?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think he never got over it. It was just too wild for him. I think we did sixty-eight concerts in seventy-five days, with some insane bus rides from Victoria to St. John's.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Were you comfortable driving a great distance between gigs?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I haven’t done much since that.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Leave that to the 20-year olds?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I don't have anything against that and don't try to do it. When I became a parent, which is thirty years ago, instead of being in one band that did a lot of things, I ended up being in a lot of groups doing a few things. Then I could be home all of the time.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I felt the same way when my son was born. I remember being in a club; it must have been in Belleville or somewhere. I'm in a hotel room with a band member and booked for a week. First night away I look around my hotel room and see another musician rolling up a pillow, and thought, ‘damn, that's not my family’. I’ve got to get back home. I realize it’s imperative for young bands, but rarely profitable.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It’s expensive to do. I don’t know of a situation where I would want to be that hardcore and on the road again. But that said, who knows. If anything, it would be with the Sinner’s Choir. I could get into that.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">That’s your current project.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yeah, we made an EP last year. We're currently mixing twelve new tunes; originals etc. The past EP has helped pay for new recording. We sell it off stage. I like that low overhead.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> It sounds like the first days of the record business, doesn't it?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think that these days aren’t that dissimilar from the early days. In the early days, there was no industry. Right? Especially, for rock ‘n’ roll. I think there was like the ‘bright lights’, the A&R guys who were going out on the street and finding cool people. That was the record business. And then it became what it became, which is a bloated cocaine-filled behemoth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The music industry in some ways has fallen apart, and it makes young musicians and just in general musicians not want to tailor what they do to the music industry but do what they think.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Subsequently, I think the demise of the music industry has made for better music.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">There’s something reassuring about sticking with what you know.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I refer to it as the no alternative music. Just play what you play. How it falls is how it falls.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You’ve been playing the Rex Jazz Bar with Sinners Choir the past two years from noon to three every Saturday afternoon.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That's right. We've been there for a couple of years now. Indeed, the audience has grown.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Playing original music at noon was a little tricky at the beginning because people were a little befuddled. A couple of things happened. We realized that playing rock ‘n’ roll at noon is a little jarring. So, for the first of our three sets, we got ourselves a bluegrass mic and set that up in the middle of the stage. We do the first set with string bass, acoustic guitar, and washboard and three voices around one mic. Which is a nice gentle way to start the day. But it has also opened this up to a whole other way of presenting yourself. Especially, when you're playing what's basically a bluegrass instrumentation and bluegrass approach to playing, and the music isn't bluegrass. It's whatever we play and often we'll be playing in that format and will be counting off a tune and I realize I've never played this actual tune in this format before. I have no idea how I'm going to approach it, but I also have to sing. You know what I mean?</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You‘ve said the more time you get in the recording studio, the easier it gets. You used the term ‘red light’ fever. What does that mean?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Well, sweaty palms. Let me just preface this by saying. In the [Toronto blues club] Albert’s Hall days, drummer Bucky Berger and I worked with Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson and became very good friends because he came up here quite a lot of times He took us under his wing and gave us some good advice and all kinds of things. And one of the things he said to us was, ‘you realize it's a 30 -year partnership,’ and I was in year twelve at the time. I thought that seems unreasonable. That's too long, and it only made sense when I got to thirty years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think that the ‘red-light fever business’, which is where a musician’s brain starts to seize up when the red light goes on in that recording studio, and he gets overly cautious. The music’s not as flowing. Now I don't care. I just go and play. I don't even think about it because I don't care about mistakes particularly. What's a mistake anyway? Who's to say what a mistake is?</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Regarding how we initially viewed the recording studio, going back to let’s say a Sun Records - players showed up and played. They played what they knew and with big emotion. You didn’t overthink. Once music went corporate, it became a factory product. I think that's what kind of stressed everybody out – especially young musicians new to the process. It began limiting the creative process.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think so. Even though in theory, as we both lived through the 24-track explosion and the thing about that was, …… I did Eddie Schwartz’s first record in the Catskills many years ago. The studio they used was the Record Plant - the remote set-up. They rented a house in the Catskills, a twenty-room mansion and, during the process of making that record, there was a huge kerfuffle with Bruce Springsteen who was recording at the Record Plant. It was with senior management of 3M, because Bruce had overdubbed so many times he wore out the two-inch tape before they got to mix. I think they lost tracks. They wore out the files or whatever the technical thing is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">Didn’t</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"> the same thing happen to Fleetwood Mac with <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Tusk</em>? They spent a million making the record.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That was the first million-dollar recording.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">They ran the tapes nearly every-day and overdubbed until the iron oxide had worn down. I’m with you – it’s still about the moment.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Perfection is overrated. And I think that multi-track recording, when it came in, did play to people's desire and ability to be perfect, which of course turned out to be a waste of time.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Are you still a fan of recorded music in its rawest form?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Think about it. Before there was the ability to overdub, the only people who could go into the studio were people who could play freely live. After multitrack, legions of people who couldn't do it were taken into the studio and overdubbed until they got it right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When Sinners Choir went into the Rex, I sent Tom the boss a YouTube video of us playing live at the Gladstone. As crude and straightforward as you can get. Later, I was talking to him, and he said, ‘Well you know I could see what you guys do, and that was exactly what I was going to get.’ He then said, ‘sometimes people bring me in their recordings, and I put it on, and I think, I wonder if that's take fifty-six?’ That's the advantage and the disadvantage of modern recording. People can fix, so they will.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">I like to play</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"> Sarah Vaughan for aspiring singers. Vaughan in the studio at nineteen or twenty. She just stands in in front of the band with one mic and sings ‘absolute’ perfection.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's interesting you should pick Sarah Vaughan because in my run-throughs with young musicians and most especially with young female musicians, I always send them to Sarah Vaughan. Sarah was the perfect melody singer. She knew why those guys or gals, whoever wrote the music, why they chose that sequence of notes. They're lovely and then you realize so many people learn jazz songs that are interpretations of originals without actually learning the notes.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s the affectations that murder a song.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I blame Stevie Wonder. I would often say to the youngish about the standard format of jazz tunes, ‘A-A-B-A’ and I remind them the first ‘A-A-B-A’ is by the book. And what you do after the solo is; feel free. The other thing is, I encourage people to make the first line of improvisation about phrasing, rather than about note changing. You can take a perfect rendition of a Duke Ellington melody, and you can phrase it dozens of different ways that define an original approach to the song without ever altering one single note that Duke wrote. Whereas, you know yourself, how many times do you hear jazz singers who have changed a melody by bar three of the song? Not that I'm against improvising, don't get me wrong.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">You’ve</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"> weathered and aged well with your music.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When we were in our early 30s, we worked at Albert’s Hall a lot and played with ‘Cleanhead’ and Sunnyland Slim and lots of those old guys. The first one we worked with was Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson. Bucky and I spent 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. on a sound stage doing one of the first ever videos, ‘All Touch and No Contact,’ for Rough Trade. At 9 p.m. we left the set and went to Albert’s Hall to play our first of six nights with ‘Cleanhead’. I don't know what we thought we were going to be doing but, I guess it was something like there was this old man and he needed a rhythm section. We were going to go in there and prop him up because he was a fossil. He was 68 at the time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">‘Cleanhead’ and Sunnyland and all of those old guys we played with were better than anyone we’d ever played with. No fat on the bone. Everything meant something. There was no waste. Amazing, amazing. It cured me of getting ‘old itis’.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A lot of people, especially from our era who grew up playing rock 'n' roll, the first thing was, you can't play rock ‘n’ roll after you're 30 if you recall that. Right? And then it was 40 and 50 and whatever. Those guys, as I say were better than anyone that I’d ever played with, and it changed my perspective on ageing as a musician to a much more tempered one because I was looking forward to a lot of it. That's the truth. After you've played a certain number of notes, things get easier in your brain, and you stop panicking. That may not be for everyone, but it certainly is for me because I'm essentially an autodidactic musician. I never had any lessons. Everything I’ve learned is by the seat of my pants, and I’m frankly still doing it that way. The ageing thing is not as bad as I expected.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Before the Beatles, it’s all about Elvis, and I look at the both of us and how fortunate we were to be at the front end of rock ‘n’ roll. The fifty years that follows is an amazing era of music. Being in the recording studio when it was monaural - the first time we hear stereo played through speakers, then 4 tracks, 8 tracks, 16 tracks, 24 tracks, 32 and to where we are now. You must think to yourself, WTF just happened?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It seems like 100 years. It did go way too fast. But the essence hasn't changed. The bottom line is, if you can do it, you can do it. If you can't do it, you can fix it, and it will never be the same.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">You've taken good care of yourself. Sometimes you do three gigs a day. That's</strong> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">insane. You say you’ve conditioned yourself to play until four in the morning and then up by noon.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’m a night owl.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You don’t run low on energy?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I never run out of energy. I think that with ageing, as long as your body doesn't fall apart, touch wood, and the mind is holding up pretty good, your ability to meter your energy becomes way more refined. Even though you don't have as much explosive energy as you had when you were young, messy energy as I call it, it's reliable and consistent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Being a bass player, both my instruments are raised for high action and hard to play. I like that. I like the resistance. It means you’ve got to be in top shape all the time or you run out of energy. I've learned to stay below the red line. In other words, don't play too hard or you'll run out of steam. Nudging that line below playing too hard, which means you’re kicking it pretty hard, but you're not wearing yourself out. So that's how I get through nine sets in a day.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Where did you grow up in Australia, and what was being a kid like?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I grew up in Sydney, Australia, Irish Catholic. I started playing music pretty late compared to most everyone I knew. I think I was seventeen when I first started playing music and everyone I knew had started when they were eleven or thirteen or something like that. So, I was kind of behind the ball, but I made up ground fast and think I turned pro in about a year and a half. As a matter of fact, the third of June of this year is my fiftieth anniversary since I've become a professional musician.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Let’s go back before that. What was the young kid running around the neighbourhood up to?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I lived in the city. Sydney is a big city. Have you ever been there? It's huge. It had a million people in 1948. I was a city boy educated by Irish nuns who grew up on farms. Whose approach to education was similar to their brother’s approach to breaking horses.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Did you get hand-slapped with a ruler?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think I probably got hit every day from four years till sixteen years of age. I went through a conventional upbringing, and of course, in those days there was the beach. We were surfers. Nobody even thought about not being a surfer. I did own a surfboard.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Were you a smart kid in school?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I did well in school. But I always got into trouble a lot. I guess I was a smart mouth and they never liked that. There was a lot of music in my family, but it was all amateur. My mother was conservatory-trained but could only play with sheet music. My father knew nothing about music but would attempt everything, and he was a good singer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There was an artist in the 50s’ who was huge in Australia named Winifred Atwell. Do you know who that is? That's very interesting you've never heard of Winifred. She was very big in Australia, and she was very big in England and came from Tunapuna in Trinidad and played boogie-woogie piano. And serious. I went and dug up some of her recordings lately. She was ‘intense’ fantastic. The only thing that my mother could play without sheet music was her rendition of a boogie-woogie by Winifred Atwell, and I loved that. I was five and I used to say, ‘play boogie-woogie’, and I would reach up and grab my mother’s right hand, so she couldn't use it. All I wanted was to hear the left hand and I was five. I think I was born into being a spy.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Did you ever get bit by anything lethal?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nothing serious, but you know what, that's only luck. There's a spider called the ‘funnel web spider’ - and it's poisonous. The epicentre in Australia for the ‘funnel web spider’ is downtown Sydney. There are a couple of others; red backs that will bite through a leather shoe. There are also snakes.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I often wonder why all these things thrive in Australia. I mean there were other countries they could've picked.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I know. And as well as that, there's the weather. Right now, in Australia, there’s hurricanes and flooding. Australia is either flooding or burning. That's life. That's how it goes. It's no place for white people. It’s way too harsh.</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-65597205130408413392018-05-06T07:38:00.004-07:002018-05-06T07:45:23.756-07:00A Conversation With.. Leah Daniels<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YZMpOeXRR38/Wu8Tbr8IeFI/AAAAAAAABJs/6XgN1QUOXt0WwpqqhLaxS1I7wsv78Ij6ACLcBGAs/s1600/leah_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="770" height="199" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YZMpOeXRR38/Wu8Tbr8IeFI/AAAAAAAABJs/6XgN1QUOXt0WwpqqhLaxS1I7wsv78Ij6ACLcBGAs/s320/leah_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
We are around my desk monitor, and I’m pulling up a video of an old music friend and compatriot still in her twenties. The two of us are marvelling at the big talent on the screen, and there’s a three-way connection. Stacey Kay and Leah Daniels have been best friends since age eleven when the two competed in talent contests.</h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The look in Daniels' eyes is that of a young woman that’s inspired and in awe of her good friend. In many ways, their careers mirror one another. Both are fiercely independent, have a clear vision where they want to go with their careers, and are determined to get it right. Both work outside the walls of a major record label and connect directly with their audiences.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kay rocked it on <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">America’s Got Talent </em>and Daniels took home the Canadian Radio Music Award as the FACTOR 2016 Breakthrough Artist of the Year, earned four CCMA nominations, and has a new recording set to arrive in May 2018. There’s also something else that binds the two. I keep in mind what Warner Canada Music Steve Kane CEO said to me a few years back after I posed this question about evaluating talent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">BK: Is there a checklist?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">SK: Yes, there’s a mental checklist. I’ve got to tell you at the top of this checklist – “Does this artist know who they are?” Do they have a sense of self? Do they have a sense of where they want their career to go?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The answer? A resounding yes! Here’s that conversation.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Coming out of Sheridan College’s arts program how focused on country music were you back then?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Country was not on my mind at that time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I guess in high school it was more about musicals and pop and rock music and after Sheridan I wanted to create my own music. I wanted to write. After Sheridan I went to Humber College for music because I wanted to do my own thing and they had a new program that was a degree program that focused on songwriting specifically. I was like, that sounds perfect. I completed first year but was anxious. I wanted to create music instead of being in school for another four years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I got a bunch of books on the music industry and spoked to anyone I could about music and started a band with people that I met at Humber and started writing. At that point I was still kind of into pop music. I loved Maroon 5 and Alicia Keys and that sort of thing. Once I started writing more and performing, it was through songwriting I got into country music. I grew up with country music. I'm from Uxbridge, Ontario, a small town.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">There’s country music all around your area. Festivals, etc.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My grandpa is a musician. He's traditional and into Wilf Carter and Hank Snow. He plays guitar, accordion and harmonica and he yodels. I feel like when I was a kid, country music was kind of like, not cool. My grandfather was doing it, and it was so old-fashioned or something.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I suspect you were following the music you heard on the radio. Country music is a specific listening experience.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's funny how I’ve come full circle. It was because I started writing and a friend of mine said that I wrote a song that sounded like it could be a country song and I was like, really, you think so? I seriously thought about it and realized this is where my heart is. That’s totally where I fit in. The storytelling thing is kind of back to my roots.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Did you take classes in songwriting?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not really. I just started doing it. I’ve composed ever since I was little. I met up with some people in Toronto. Karen Kosowski was one of the first people I wrote with and my friend Sam Ellis. They're both now in Nashville and prominent writers and producers. I started writing with these people and learning from that, and suddenly I was thrown in these situations with more prominent songwriters, like when I met Dan Hill for the first time. I was like, oh, my goodness. This guy is a legend, but you just do it.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Did he help you put the songs together or did he just coach you through it?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was kind of a collaborative thing you do together; you come up with some great ideas. That's the thing with songwriting. I get so nervous at songwriting sessions. You're so vulnerable, and you can't censor yourself because if you have an idea, you’ve got to say it because otherwise, the song can't grow. You must be able to put yourself out there even if the concept is awful. You’ve just gotta’ say it so you can move forward. It’s tricky getting out of your head and allowing yourself the freedom to say what’s needed to be said. Life and relationships. A lot of that can be opposite of the song.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What’s most comfortable for you to write about?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Relationships. A lot about that.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Can you allow yourself to be open up enough to say things that sometimes go unspoken?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yes. I think that's one of the things that’s complicated. When you're writing with someone for the first time, it's hard to open up your diary to them. That's the challenge. I feel like I've gotten better with that over time. It’s just sharing that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As a songwriter you want the songs to be personal, and for me as an artist singing, I want to have a piece of me in the songs and want the stories that we're telling to be something that I've experienced as much as I can. I mean, there's sometimes when you write a song it may be the other songwriter's experience, and I'm not in the room that day, but I try to put a piece of me in it too. That can be a challenge sometimes. I've just met this person, and I'm going to tell them about my life story? Here we go.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">When you first went out as a country artist, how did that feel?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I had a band, so I guess I started writing and recording my first album at that point. I started doing shows all the time and entering competitions and all that stuff. But it's funny. When I was younger though, the first competition I ever did was a country competition. I was nine or something, and the CNE had a Canadian open country singing competition, and I remember doing that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was a fan of Shania Twain and LeAnn Rimes when I was growing up. When I was a kid, I didn't picture myself doing country music. I was thinking about being a pop star.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Country crossed over to pop long ago.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It has crossed way over. The lines are so blurred, yet it's an exciting time for country music. I think it's bigger now than it ever has been.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">If you go back twenty-five or thirty years ago certain instruments were forbidden in country.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's just opened right up, and now it seems like you can take any song, and if you add a little bit banjo, it's a country song, suddenly.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In your teens, were you open to the Dixie Chicks?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yeah, absolutely.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I think about how strong and powerful they were in live performance and such excellent instrumentalists.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">They've got some great songs, and yeah, the harmonies are amazing.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Have you toured across the country?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I've been out west but not down east yet.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Will that come with the new recording?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The single is called, ‘First’ and then the album title is to be determined and then the tour.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What label is this on?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'm independent, and it’s an EP with seven songs.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Were you able to get funding to do this?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, I've built this up and feel like I've got a great team around me. I've got management now and a great booking agent and publicist and everything. It’s kind of what I had to do. I mean, when I was younger I wanted to be with a label so bad. But now, I have built it up on my own, and I feel like, I'm almost so attached to everything and so much a part of the process and it would be hard to give it up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">You know you are following in the footsteps of Canadian icons Loreena McKennitt and Emilie-Claire Barlow – one’s Celtic/folk the other jazz. They both manage their own affairs.</strong> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">It's kind of the world we live in now.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I feel like that's the way it's going. It just makes sense, and I get excited about it now. I get excited at the fact that I get to choose who I get to work with and surround myself with people who inspire me and that are like minded and that's exciting. I would love to build that up and one day have my record label help other artists.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 2016 you captured a CRMA award.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was female artist of the year. I had a good year. And radio was good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I had my single ‘Go Back’, and it was my first song ever to go top 20 at Canadian country radio which was huge and exciting. Because of that, I got a couple of different awards. I got the Canadian Radio Music Award for the 2016 FACTOR Breakthrough Artist of the Year as well, which was huge because that wasn't just for country artists, it was for all genres across Canada. That was pretty cool.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's the Radio Awards, so yeah, everybody was there, it was pretty cool. That's probably the award I'm most proud of up to this point. Radio is tough.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">A song must turn a certain way before it’s accepted for radio play.</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"> I would imagine country radio is much more receptive than pop radio. Once you’re in the good graces of country audiences, you're there to stay.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, I agree. I agree they're faithful, but it's still a challenge. I've released quite a few songs to radio even before ‘Go Back’ and it's tough. You're going to these stations and trying to prove yourself and show them you are here to stay. This isn't just the flavour of the month, and I’m actually doing this as a career.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You need to duet with a Brett Kissel or Johnny Reid.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Johnny would be amazing, and he's someone I really look up to, especially the way he's built his career. He’s amazing.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">He puts together the tour, the recordings and does the work. He also knows what he's up against. It’s tough out there especially if you believe the American market is the place to crack. He’s a solid Canadian touring artist.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He can sell out shows here, which I think is amazing.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Where did you record the new EP?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The single ‘First” was done in LA, and that was my first writing trip there. It was a unique situation. I was there for a week writing with Brian Howes and JVP (Jason Van Poederooyen), who is his writing partner /co-producer. I had a week with them, so we weren't rushed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In Nashville, it seems like everything is, you have three hours, write a song, and that's it. Bye, I’ll see you, and you might not see them ever again. Which I'm not a huge fan of. It's just too stressful. I feel like we need time to get into it and to come back to it and have that ability to come together the next day and be like, OK, what do we think, what do we need to change to make this better? That's what was really cool about writing this song. We came up with a melody and chords, and they said, you figure out the lyrics. Go home tonight and spend some time and I was like, oh, OK. It was like I better come up with something good by tomorrow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was able to dive into it on my own and not feel the pressure of the session and then come in the next day. We looked at these lyrics I came up with and then worked on that and then did it all again.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Recording in Hollywood is relaxing.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I loved it. Where we were, it's like the windows were all open. I could see the palm trees, So laid back.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How did you fall into this situation? Was this through management?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jordyn Elliot (HJ MGMT) is my management, and she's a local girl from the Toronto area. She connected me with Brian, and I'm glad she did. It was a really neat experience.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What’s coming up for you?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We’ve got the album coming out, and right now we're kind of in planning mode for everything and getting ready for that. Final tweaks and I'm excited to do shows. That’s my favourite part. The album will be out the end of May.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You’ve played Boots and Hearts festival?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Boots and Hearts was awesome also because it's close to my hometown. It’s this big festival within an hour from Uxbridge. It was really cool because I saw all these familiar faces.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Is your hometown behind you?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I love my town. I would not be doing what I'm doing without them and all the opportunities that I had growing up there. Uxbridge is really rich in the arts. There are musicals all the time, and there are choirs you can join and open mics everywhere. So many wonderful volunteers that make it all happen. I'm very fortunate.</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-77894325474428611372018-05-06T07:36:00.002-07:002018-05-06T07:46:27.356-07:00A Conversation With.. George Semkiw<br />
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Last year I began a series of conversations with recording engineers and some fascinating responses followed. Most, I’ve had some contact or experience with over the years.</h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Catching up with George Semkiw was a real pleasure. George and I did the Jack Richardson dance at RCA studios together in 1970 with the band Homestead. Jack thought a group of Canadians with this exiled American could penetrate a US market, still in the throes of an unpopular war. In fact, the first album cover design had the band situated dead middle of a burning American flag. We quickly nixed that!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Before Semkiw I did a few sessions with producer Harry Hinds a month or so after arriving in Canada at Sound Canada. I still haven’t got over the experience. George was my saviour. What went down on the floor in the main studio was pretty much what was captured on tape. Back then, it seemed that was as good as it got.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was adding up all of George’s album engineering and producing credits, and it think it rings in at around 178. Jingles? Who the hell knows? I don’t think even George kept tabs. George grabbed a Juno in 1981 for producer of the year with Fist, <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Hot Spikes, What Am I to Do?</em> Along the way, there are many citations and friendships.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We recently had that long-awaited conversation. Enjoy!</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You’ve moved to Niagara region.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You know I love this area. I love this area. It’s a great place to be and none of that bullshit city traffic.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How long ago did you make the move there?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">About two years and a bit. I have to go into Toronto once every three months for a couple of days of tests. I’ll tell you it’s a nightmare driving downtown. Finding parking and getting to the hospital is an ordeal.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What are you being tested for?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The reason I dropped out of the Old Mill gig was I got cancer. So that just took me right out of the game. I’ve had two operations and I’m still alive, yet they are killing me a bit at a time. That just entirely put a stop to everything in my life.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How are you at this point?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Let's say I'm about 85 percent of my former self. I only went through chemo for four months which just nearly killed me. But the chemo didn't work, and that's why they had to remove my bladder.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You’ve taken a big hit.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I used to think I was bulletproof, believe me. When I was working the Old Mill, doing the studio thing and freelancing around, I had energy, the passion and everything. This thing hit me, and I could care less about anything.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And that's where the mind goes. Nothing else matters?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You can imagine what it would be like all you want, but until you go through this, you have no idea.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Early times, you and Richie Knight and the Mid-Knights played the Yonge Street strip and had a number one hit song on CHUM radio.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I don’t know how they slice it, but it was the first Toronto band to hit # 1 on CHUM.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">‘Oh, Charlena’, 1963</strong>?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That was a real coup because CHUM up until that time would not play Canadian records.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> It seemed Canadians were up against themselves.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Americans got everything first and with handfuls of money took it over. It was like the Hells Angels taking over a small town.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Things have changed, we’ve been winning the fight throughs sports and artists like Drake, The Weeknd, Justin Beiber, and look back through the years, Diana Krall, Celine Dion, Blue Rodeo, Shania Twain and so many others. It's the battle that has been won.</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How did the move from Richie Knight and the Mid-Knights into mastering occur? What was it about mastering recordings that attracted you to the process?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Well, that was easy. The first time we went in to record, and I listened to the playback, I said, we don't sound anything like that. This is horrible. And then, on top of it, the guy that was the recording engineer told me I was out of tune and said check my guitar. I picked up the guitar and played a chord, and it was so far out of tune my ears almost bled. So, I knew it was game over there. Then we went in another time. And the same thing. I come in the control room; it sounds like shit. We even got Pete Traynor to record us. He was a good friend of mine. I knew he was into electronics, and he tried his best, but he couldn't get it to sound like Motown, a good sounding record.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So I said, I’ve got to learn how to do this. And that's when I started. I got a job at RCA, and they started me duplicating tapes for radio shows. Running off hundreds of tapes to mail out to radio stations. And then moved me into the lacquer room to learn how to cut lacquers. Really interesting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Because I realized I had something to base my suspicions on. Like why did American records sound louder than Canadian records? I now had a chance to actually figure that out, and I did figure it out. That was a good experience and then of course what I wanted to do was work in the studio and the rest I guess is history.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"> I remember when I arrived in ’69 the first session I did was at Sound Canada?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> I remember the first session I did with you.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I remember working around in a couple of studios and, as you said, there was this problem of recreating what was coming from the performer in the studio on to tape. Then we get to you at RCA, and you're there with Jack Richardson and you guys had it down. And then you got a Neve console.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Oh, Christ what a difference that made.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What were you working on before the Neve recording console?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was a home-built console our local maintenance department put together. It was a riot.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How much work did Jack and you do together?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Tons. I met Jack first when he was doing jingles, and I was working with Ben McPeek. Ben was doing a lot of jingle work for Jack and, of course, Jack wanted to get into broader strokes because he got a taste of doing that thing with the Guess Who for Coca-Cola. Then he started a record label, Nimbus 9.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He started producing records. I worked on a ton of them but then Jack got kind of bigger than me and got on to bigger and better things and then we drifted apart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He did a lot of work in Chicago at RCA Studios. I can’t remember the engineer's name right now; a real good engineer. He did a lot of the Guess Who stuff. Jack moved out of my league. I thought I was doing the best I could. You know, I was always pushing myself to figure out better ways of doing shit you know. Hey, that's life, right.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">When you were there, you did a recording with Duke Ellington.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Duke Ellington thing was like a crime mystery.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I get a call during the day. It was on a Saturday or Sunday and I get a call saying, listen we need to do a session at 7 o'clock this evening. Can you be there? He said, ‘set up’ for about 25 pieces. I said give me a rough idea. He says, four trumpets – I say just give me a rough sketch, so I did a rough set up for them. Around a quarter to seven, musicians crept in. I didn’t recognize any of them. I usually know every musician in town. Then Duke Ellington walks in. They are doing this secret session. I remember Ron Rully was there. He was part of that whole thing; the jazz drummer. There were some heavyweight people there and my jaw dropped. I actually went out and talked to the Duke as he was having some problems with his music stand. I helped adjust it for him. He thanked me, broke another pencil and never used the same pencil twice. It was like surreal.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What was the session all about?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I never heard anything more about it.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Did it sound good?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I thought it did. I think the music was something Ron Rully wrote, or a local guy wrote.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bachman Turner Overdrive. What was that about?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I worked with Randy but never worked with BTO. Sorry, I did. I did one album called <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Highways</em> or <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Road Rage</em>or something like that (<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Freeways 1977</em>). That was at Phase One. I was a small partner; I was like a fifteen percent owner. That got me out of RCA to have a chance to do a little studio designing on my own which was a great experience and faced the challenge of losing all of my jingle customers to do nothing but records because no jingle people would go up there.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Nobody wanted to leave the downtown core.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That's right, too far to go. I’m not ashamed of that studio at all.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What projects did you work on there you were proud of?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pagliaro, Bill Amesbury's album <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Can You Feel It </em>with the song "A Thrill's A Thrill." I don’t know why that doesn’t get any play. I even had Lou Reed come in and do a voiceover tag as a favour. I was working with Lou at the time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I figured the record nuts out there would clue into something like that and play it. Maybe nobody knew about it. I don't have any idea.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Funkadelic?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I did Funkadelic at RCA, and they were so loud they blew out the studio speakers. They were the loudest band I’d ever heard in that studio. I couldn’t get the monitors loud enough because I was listening to them just as loud acoustically through the glass. I finally cranked up the monitors; Altec 604Es, they are excellent speakers, but can’t handle loud volume. We only had two of them. Studios like A&M in LA had four of them. I blew out a set of speakers, stopped the session while maintenance came in and replaced both speakers and continued.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Daniel Lanois?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He worked at Amber.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Amber was the studio that you built yourself exclusively?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, after I left Phase One.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Down on Queen Street?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I could record the drums off the floor with the piano live and not have a ton of drums leaking into the keyboard. The piano was encased. I could do a live band. I wanted that design for Phase 1, but I guess I wasn't quick enough because I had three other people putting their foot in the mix. I didn't get exactly what I wanted up there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My next move, Amber, was when I wanted to do a live band off the floor and be able to record them live and to fix any problems without it affecting the rest of the sound. You know what it's like. You do a live band, and there's a lot of room leakage. If you punch in something and take out that room leakage it sounds crazy. You have to have extreme isolation.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">One of my most fun stories is when I recorded there with you and the late Kenny MacLean. I don't know if you remember this track called, ‘Stranger’ we did?</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So, it's Kenny MacLean, Brad Campbell who was with me in Janis Joplin's band on bass - Everton Paul, who's in the Reggae Hall of Fame on drums, Kenny on guitar and I'm on synth and stuff I think. Kenny and I sang it along with Paul Henderson.</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’d just rented the Roland 808 drum machine; the one every rapper cherishes now. None of us knew how to turn it on. Or start or get it to function in any way. So, I have my son Jesse with me; he must be seven or eight years old, and he's there bugging us to get his paws on this. We play along but kind of ignore him. Jesse keeps saying, ‘dad, dad, dad, let me’. Meanwhile, we still can’t get this to function when this small hand mysteriously slips underneath and taps one button and ‘bang’ – it starts playing. It was so damn funny!</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One day we had this session at Amber, and one of the musicians brought his kid in who was about nine or ten years old and started playing <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Space Invaders.</em> He's like killing this thing. I ask him, ‘how are you doing that?’ he says, ‘after you hit the first twenty you let the next one go then you hit the next ones. Anyway, he explained what he did and man, it worked perfectly. I was killing it after that.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What instrument did you play when you began exploring music?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Guitar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">When you put your first band </strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">together, </strong>was it based on a sound or someone you heard?</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The first band I put together was with a friend of mine, Leo Donohue We went to school together. Leo played sax in the school band, I guess. I had just started to play guitar. I mean, I could barely play a B7 chord on guitar. We both talked about trying to start a band. We talked about it through our first year of high school. We decided to find some other guys. Leo found a guy who played drums. I found a guy that played guitar. We had two guitars, drums and saxophone when we first started. It was like rank amateur night. It wasn't till another year pass that we sort of got more proficient ourselves as players and the band got a little better. We had made some changes. I think we had a different bass player at one point. We got a keyboard player and played a few local Catholic church dances and didn't have much of a repertoire. I think we could only fill about half hour set without repeating everything. But that’s how it started.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our influences at that time were mainly Ray Charles. Believe it or not. And Ike and Tina Turner. Stuff that we’d pick up on the Buffalo stations. We're trying to play funk music, but we also understood we had to play some ‘white ass’ music you know? The kids danced to it, and that was it.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What area of the city did you grow up?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">All over the place. By the time I was old enough to start playing I was living in the west end of the city around Weston Road and Lampton Avenue</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And school?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">York Memorial. I spent the first two years going to De La Salle. That’s where I met Leo. They didn't accept me at De La Salle in grade ten because I refused to wear a tie. I said thank you and moved on to York, and that’s where I met Doug. That's when things started changing. Doug got in the band; we got a new drummer – that’s Doug Chappell I was referring to. We got a new drummer Barry Stein. We got a new keyboard player, Barry Lloyd and then we started playing for real.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We started to sound pretty tight. You know, we did some bar gigs to tighten up. We’d take a gig at the Edison Hotel for a week to tighten up the band then the Arc Records people found us and said, ‘hey we want you to record, and we're going to release it.’ We said sure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We only played close by. We were home boys. We turned down a chance to go to England before the Beatles broke in Canada. We turned down a chance because we were chickenshit. We didn't trust it. I guess everybody wasn’t really a down to the staunch core musician. We all had day jobs. We loved what we did but we ain’t going to toss the dice and move over to England. The deal was, they would guarantee six weeks of work. We had to pay our way over. They would ensure six weeks of work and the possibility of six more. It's like a stupid deal.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Plenty of those deals are.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Yeah, but I'm also thinking. I wonder what would happen if we would have done that.</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-30549891747371237872018-05-06T07:34:00.001-07:002018-05-06T07:47:09.664-07:00A Conversation With ... Pat Holiday <br />
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The first time I met Pat Holiday at MIX 99.9, he says to me, “do you have a copy of “Love & Affection?", a single I ran through Scott Richards at Change Records in 1980. My first thought, I barely remember how it goes. Ask me something about Herbie Hancock or Stevie Wonder. Pat wanted to add it to the MIX playlist. That was cool. From that day on we became friends and music pals. The kind of friend you make who talks music and talks music and talks music. That’s a good thing.</h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I recently chased Pat down in ‘Mickeyland’ and here’s that conversation.</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You rent a room at Wild Kingdom?</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Almost across the street. We can literally walk to Disney World from where we are.</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why Orlando?</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We're snowbirds. We bought a place down here after the crash of 2008 because everything here was insanely dirt cheap. We usually come down in November and then go back home and then come down here January, February, and March and that’s it. I was just checking the temperature for Toronto last night, and we have a friend who's flying down today who is going to stay with us for a little less than a week. Wow! It’s 27 Fahrenheit or something. Holy crap!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">After I retired from regular radio, we lived in South America for a while. We did six months in Argentina and Uruguay, and we went into winter when the seasons are opposite and hot there. It’s summer down there. Now, when it starts getting cold, we get out of town to somewhere warm for a while.</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">At the Juno Awards coming up this weekend, your old boss Gary Slaight is getting the Humanitarian Award. You have a long history with Gary. Any thoughts?</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">You know when I first met him it was the MIX thing in the early 90s, I saw it there. He came in one day, and he was really upset. This was a good thing. He felt we weren't doing enough for the food bank. It was around Thanksgiving or Christmas or something like that. You could see that he was serious. Up until that point, I hadn't seen that depth of commitment from anyone I knew. He was passionate about feeding people who didn't have enough food. You know after that, it ended up being Children’s Hospital and a million different ways that we could work with charities and push. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">You can see there is a super deep streak inside him wanting to help other people. I am not quite sure how he acquired that; you know, that sense that deep-but it was evident early on to me. And this was before Standard was rolling in cash. At that time there were only a few stations and money was tight. He couldn’t just write a big check. It was definitely extra thought and extra work to help out those less fortunate. The award is totally him, for as long as I’ve known him.</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Do you tune into radio in your region?</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">You know at the moment in Orlando we listen to stations around here and I listen to Sirius a lot. In anticipation of your call, I started thinking about radio and stuff that I suppose crosses my mind when I'm writing or listening to stations or listening to Sirius. I still wear my radio PD hat. I’m thinking you could do this better and this and that. I actually think Sirius is one of the more inventive radio stations of any radio stations. They do some pretty cool shit that’s different.</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Would you have liked to have had the freedom a Sirius offers in programming?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think the sky is the limit. For whatever reason, they take risks more. I remember visiting a guy at CKLW named Johnny Williams I used to work for who was working at XM in Washington and he invited me over to see the studios. One of the PD guys there at the time was named Dave Lang and the other, founder of XM Lee Abrams. Lee came up with that philosophy of, “NEVER doing anything regular radio ever did.” They wanted every single rule broken at the time. The more you could do something nobody else did, the better you were, or the more they liked it. That was the germination of Sirius/XM. If it’s been done before, don’t do it and make something up. Even if it’s bad, do it. We’ll sort it out later. I thought that was fascinating and cool and that someone would have enough guts to do it. They do a lot of cool things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It would be neat to have in Canada and I don’t really understand why you wouldn’t allow someone to start throwing up networks? As a simple example, hire a Randy Bachman, who has an interesting show on CBC, or any of the older artists whose playing career is pretty much over and put them on an oldies channel where all they are playing is oldies. Sirius does it here and there – Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits followed by someone else who does a like-minded show. It would be a fantastic station and I’m sure you would make money with it. It would be interesting because you would want them to talk as opposed to the way it is now which is mostly music. To me, it’s really dumb.</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You can get music anywhere and Spotify rules.</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A hundred percent. I would sit in meetings in my later days of radio and they’d say we need some social media and let’s have a section on our website. I’d think, what planet are you on? Are you going to try and compete with Facebook? Are you insane? Don’t spend the money.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Just playing music non-stop going up against Spotify and Google and now with Alexa won’t last. Amazon is now in that realm and they are growing super-fast. I have Alexa and Google Home. One was a gift and one we bought. It totally changes my listening habits considerably. I can just walk up to the thing and say, ‘Alexa, play me this or just name a call letter’ and it’s on – boom, instantly.</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Any radio stations?</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Any radio station that’s streamed. I’ll say, 'Alexa play Capitol Radio London’ and ‘bang’ in three seconds, it’s on clear as a bell. You have a transistor radio there that’s voice-activated and pick up any signal. Just like forty years ago when you were sitting up at night and receiving signals from all over. Chicago or New York, Boston, sitting right here in Toronto. All from this little device where you say, give me this. This is a massive game changer for pulling in radio stations. It’s amazing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">In the past </strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">year</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"> I’ve made a point of interviewing record producers, label managers, and managers who have been behind the scene for decades. Several express their frustration with getting their records played on</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">commercial</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"> radio in the early years. You suggest that the recording studios here weren’t up to par with the land south of us and beyond.</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was the songwriting too. It’s a craft you must invest a lot of hours in to do really, really well. Some anomalies come out of the gate and hit instantly, of course.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The people in the industry then just didn’t have enough hours in it and then they got there. It’s kind of like that book by Gladwell – you need 10,000 hours to get good at something and they certainly passed that 10,000-hour mark somewhere in the 80s’. There are hundreds of thousands of hours invested now and what an industry. You are hard pressed to look at a Billboard Top Thirty without one or more Canadian artists in there.</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">My great passion besides music has always been basketball. I equate sports outside of hockey to where we were with music in the late '60s and early '70s in Canada. A good game was hard to find. But now, look around the NBA, look at March Madness – Canadians are everywhere - even the top high school prospect in America is from Toronto. There used to be this big cultural wall, bigger than the one Trump wants to build between Mexico and the U.S.</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I came in 1970, not that long after you, and in appearance, there was a lot identical and a lot not so much. Other than the political thinking, I find almost no difference whatsoever. Particularly, the cultural stuff from one side to the other. Most movies are made in Canada now. Whether portrayed being made in the U.S. or not, they are made in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. As far as music, that culture line is totally blurred. The political line is getting wider and wider.</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Do you think that difference, especially in large urban Canadian centres, is that we are trying to keep pace with an ever-changing and evolving world?</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I fit somewhere in the middle. I look at Trump and see some of his policies; not him. I find a lot of people down here in Florida like him as an ‘over-all.’ What I mean by that is, they like him overall but not particularly him as a person. They like his policies. They separate the two.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’m sort of a redneck in some ways. Like the subject of steel. Do you put tariffs on everything? Of course not. Even when he first thought of running, I thought he would win. There’s just too many pissed off people down here that would vote anybody in. It just happened to be him that showed up. Anyone roughly running on his platform is going to win. There’s some of that happening in Europe too. I think he lowballed on the tariffs as a negotiating deal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Think of this: If the U.S, got in trouble, I don’t know how many companies would come to its aid. Say Russia and China team up and the electricity grid in Canada and U.S, goes down, I don’t know if people would help. If you got into a war and didn’t have your own steel factories, I think you’d be in huge trouble. I see this as a national interest thing. I don’t know how you can be a military country without your own steel factories. That would be pretty scary. It’s the same with energy. You'd better have your own gas and oil, or you may be dependent on someone who hates your guts.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’m concerned about the workplace. Where this goes as we allow robotics to reshape and replace factory jobs. There’s going to be fewer people in the workplace. Shouldn’t we be thinking how to encourage and educate people to use brainpower and their own creativity to map out the future? Promising folks’ labour dependent industries will return from a bygone era seems more of a slogan than practical thought.</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I would agree with you, 100 percent. If you are going to invest money into things, then both countries, Canada and the U.S., you’d better put it into education, You don’t want to be, let’s say, in the sciences, the 50th ranking country. You want to be in the top five otherwise down the road you’re going to be in deep shit. There’s never any emphasis on that. Everyone talks about the children, yet they are cutting funding.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">The two of us go back to when the Beatles landed in North America. That transition on radio from the Paul Ankas, Annette </strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">Funicellos</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">, Perry Comos, Pat Boones, and Elvis </strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">Presleys</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"> to the day all these British sounding jocks show up.</strong></span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I remember tuning in radio around Louisville, Kentucky, in my home area, and every commercial station signed up a guy with a British accent, a set of Carnaby Street style clothes and sported a top five with the Dave Clark Five, Herman’s Hermits, the Beatles, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders and Freddie and the Dreamers. That change was radical and profound. Has there been a shift as dramatic in radio since then?</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think there was a bit of that with disco. There was tons of disco all over top forty radio. And it reflected a pretty active lifestyle in a lot of places. Studio 54 in New York, the movies – Staying Alive. After disco, hip-hop was it. And even that I wonder about.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think right now we are in a cycle. I look at the numbers when they come out. I wrote an article for Billboard probably between 1981-1983, somewhere in there, that there were two of them and now perhaps five or even six of these cycles. Top forty radio seems to do the same thing. Let me start with a hypothesis of a science experience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you were to take the most prominent format that exists – that would be the format that would have the greatest number of listeners of any age living and breathing, top forty, CHR would be it. It always has been and always will be. By definition, you are doing the best of the best of the best of all formats. You look at country and say, those three top songs I grab from country and move on to top forty will work. Take the best rock, the best country, the best alternative ones. You are playing the best of the best of the best. Therefore, you have the broadest appeal, and someone is going to like you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">What ends up happening and I think they are in that now, it ends up looming one way or another instead of straight up the middle. You can be so far to the right you can’t pick up a rocking song or country song because it’s going to clash. You can’t pick up, “Have You Ever Been Mellow?” by an Olivia Newton-John or a Carpenters song, anything that might be really pretty, even if it’s a great song because it’s too far out of the realm of the others. This is why one has to stay in the middle or a station will start going down the tubes and find itself sort off in the pack. Three or four years later somebody pulls it back to the middle again and the cycle starts all over again. I’ve seen it happen time and time again.</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Where were you born?</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was born in upstate New York. Right by where Jimmy Fallon grew up in Saugerties. I was born in Kingston, right by Woodstock. I spent a lot of time right in the town of Woodstock. Every weekend in high school we’d go up and watch Dylan. He’d come down and play in a couple of clubs, then just leave. There were a ton of guys who lived there at the time. It was really cool.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was also a cool time for me with Grossinger’s Hotel and the Concord in the Catskills. I was in a band and actually played keyboards. I could only play the lead. Say, if we were playing ‘Good Lovin.’ I could only play the lead on a Farfisa organ. Beyond that, I was self-taught. I did that while going to college. We did it to meet the girls basically!</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-86559787033139692442018-05-06T07:31:00.001-07:002018-05-06T07:47:38.569-07:00Mervon Mehta & Canada’s Global Orchestra Kuné<br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">Mervon Mehta – Kuné - Canada’s Global Orchestra</strong></h2>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">We as a nation have become adventurous in our tastes for music, cuisine, fashion and long for a cosmopolitan lifestyle. The faces that pass us on the street, or in transit, look new to us. Children come in many colours and sound the same high-pitch joy through moments of play and delight. We are the world and are slowly embracing it.</em></div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">At the centre of much of this activity is Koerner Hall executive director of performing arts at the Hall and the Royal Conservatory of Music, Mervon Mehta.</em></div>
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<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">The programming is about as eclectic and accomplished as any major metropolitan centre where investment in the arts is a vital strategy and measure of the intellectual and physical well-being of its populace. I dropped in on Mehta at the Royal Conservatory for an update on a personal project he’s been touting a good decade or more – Canada’s Global Orchestra. Here’s that conversation.</em></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’ve got the CD in hand. Canada's Global Orchestra. What was the inspiration for putting together a band of so many universally talented young players?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It started to rumble around my head ten years ago when I first came back to Toronto after twenty years in the U.S., and I began to understand what the diversity of this city really means. Because we all talk about it, but what does it really say?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And then I started meeting musicians and being asked to provide an Indian tabla player for some group, or a Latin American sax player for another group, or put together a band. I thought, there are so many incredible musicians in this town that come from elsewhere and bring their talent with them and are massively trained or conservatory trained or in the trenches trained or street trained - beautiful players. I then started to think - what if we put them all together and form a band that kind of looks and sounds like Toronto or looks and sounds like Canada? The sesquicentennial year seemed to be the opportune time to do it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We had a new kind of energy in Ottawa and there was a moment during one of the debates between Harper and Mulcair and Trudeau where Trudeau said something vaguely left-wing, vaguely socialist. Harper looked down his nose and said, “Well Justin, that may work for your people, but it would never work for old stock Canadians’. I’m watching on TV wondering what is ‘old stock Canadians’? What does that even mean?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Is that a dog whistle politics kind of thing? And then I start thinking, well I'm an immigrant, and I've been here in Canada for 56 years, and I’m now 58. Am I old stock or am I new stock? Am I a new Canadian or am I old?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My mother's third generation Canadian but my father's born in Bombay. So, what does that make me? It's just troubling to think about and why should we pigeonhole each other, so I thought about putting a band together that's made up of all these people from everywhere that are beautiful musicians. We started auditioning and had a plan for a one-night stand. It's now grown and grown and grown.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Everybody is drawn from this area?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Everyone is drawn from Toronto. I mean, it would have been ideal to have it drawn from all over Canada, but we had to rehearse, so we rehearsed here over a year. We started auditioning in October of 2016. The band was together by December of 2016 and the first gig was June 2017. So, for those six months we had to get to know each other. We had to understand each other's genres and instruments and how to play modal music and how to play African rhythms and how to play Iranian modes and how to play Cuban modes and somehow put that into something that sounds like it's not a train wreck. And that took a long time.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Essentially, when you put all these parts together, you must find a compatible music in all of that.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It could be a lovely thing on paper, but music doesn't work like that. It was very important to find a way to work together and to put the music together and that's when I hired David Buchbinder to be our artistic director. He was in from the ‘get go’ of this project. Not only is he good at putting multicultural music together but he's also very good at putting multicultural people and kind of laying the table, if you will.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The first time we all get together as a band, the first quote, unquote rehearsal dinner was at Lula Lounge. And we just talked, and we told some stories and not everyone speaks English. I remember everyone went around the table and had a glass of wine and toasted each other and their tradition with their language and we just started to know each other. The second rehearsal I think or the third we still hadn’t taken our instruments out of the cases and we went up to a farm near Kleinberg somewhere and hiked in the woods in January and it was 10 or 20 below zero. We stood around a fire and told more stories and eventually we took the instruments out. The bamboo flute player from China was showing her flute to the Ukrainian sopilka player and how did these two instruments work and what's the dynamic range of them and how could they match if they play around harmonically. One flute on top and one above and how would they actually work together, and we figured out which one works, and which ones didn’t. It developed from there.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Does everyone have input in the arrangements?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Everyone brought at least one tune to the table and some were proficient in arranging their tune for the full ensemble. Some don't read music. Some don't do Sibelius or Fidelio notation software or any of the music composition tools. We had to bring some people to that. David Buchbinder arranged probably about half of the tunes. Some of the musicians arranged their own. Cuban pianist/composer Hilario Duran arranged two of them and a couple of other people came in when we needed help.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One of the things that really was central to the way we put the music together was; we have twelve people from twelve different countries, but we couldn't say everyone’s going to play an African tune now and we're going to play it as well as any African band. No. We only have one African guy who really gets that music in his bones and we couldn't similarly say OK, now we're going to play a Peruvian tune because we have a great Peruvian musician because no one really knows that Peruvian music. We had to figure out how to play the African tune. At the core of a tune would be the African rhythm of the African melody. But then how do we add a sitar to that and how do we add a Cuban sax to that or how do we add a bass to that? How do we add Brazilian percussion to that and match the African percussion so that it becomes not an African tune anymore? It starts as an African tune and blossoms into, if you will, a Toronto tune or a Canadian or something that speaks of this orchestra.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I know you love this city and your role in the arts and have really taking the lead here. At the helm of Koener Hall you bring people together in the music you support and have a keen eye for talent. You must think that at this time with all the places in the world that you could be, this may be the best place to do what you're doing.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I absolutely 100 percent agree. I mean, I remember when I came back to Toronto now ten years ago. Some people, not many but some people said, like I was living in Philadelphia and before that I was living in Chicago, ‘why would you come back to Toronto,’ with some disdain in their voice. And I said, ‘are you kidding me? Look around what this city has to offer’. Not to mention the fact that I have a wife and a teenage son who wanted to go to school without guns and everything else that goes along with living in Canada. Look at the richness we have, not only in music, in film and theater and cuisine in neighborhoods. You know, the staff in this building comes from all over the world and shares whatever they have to share. It's not lost on me that I'm I still feel like an immigrant. I've been here for so long. I still feel like an outsider.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I think you will always sense that. I've been here 48 years and am very much Canadian. But I never lose touch from where I was born and where it started. Every evolving cultural centre finds it’s time and place in history.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">David Buchbinder and I often talk about Toronto being a place not so unlike Andalucía in the 14th and 15th century where you had a huge Muslim influence; Arabic influence. You had a huge Catholic influence clearly and you also had a very big Jewish influence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You go to Seville or Granada in Spain and you see the buildings that look Arabic with Arabic architecture and you taste the food which is fairly spicy - still kind of Western European but with more spices added - more than the jambalaya they do. And then you look at flamenco.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The vocal part of flamenco is absolutely Arabic. The dance part is absolutely taken from Kathak dance in India and the music and the guitar is taking from Western guitar players from Bach's age on and that all mixed into Andalucía. That’s the kind of a situation that we're living with in Toronto now. I see that not only in world music, quote unquote, but you know an artist like the Weeknd who is, very Toronto but also very much from Africa in his background. Drake's Jamaican. Half of his family absolutely influences the kind of music that he's doing which is now you know, number one in the world. But it's a very Toronto sound.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s Scarborough too, another region in our broad community.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is because of him and The Weeknd and others that this has now blossomed. You have some of the best producers in hip hop living in Toronto and similarly with Kune. I think it sounds like the sound of Toronto or the sound of Canada. It's not nearly as commercial, I wish.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">But would you want it to be commercial at this point?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If it became the next Buena Vista Social Club, no one would complain. That's not why we did the project.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">To find these artists, was this David’s challenge?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We all did. Some of them we didn't know at all. The ‘tar’ player from Iran, no one had heard of her. She had only been in town for a couple of months. She emigrated after seven years of waiting for visas etc. and came with her family.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We had a lot of Syrian immigrants come and audition for us. Some of them are known. I mean, there are some people in the band that have been here for ten or fifteen years and we knew them. But everyone auditioned. No one was given a spot. We had about 150 people audition from I think they said, 47 different countries and we had a lot of people around the table.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Dave and I were certainly there but we also had some of our partners from Batuki Music. Nadine McNulty and Ann Mackeigan from CBC and Alan Davis from Small World Music. They were all part of the committee that listened to people.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The most important thing clearly was that people had to be able to play at a certain level but maybe even more important than that they had to be able to have an openness to playing with other genres, other cultures so that their voice wasn't going to stick out, but it was going to blend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was more difficult trying to find people who could do that as well as play at a high level. There was the certain very, very high level playing people that we didn't accept into the band because they were not as adventurous in their thinking.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The concert is April 7<sup style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</sup>?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> It's also now part of a new festival in Toronto called <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Global Toronto</em> which will go from April 4 to 7 with concerts at Lula Lounge, Hugh's Room Live, Aga Khan Museum, Small World Music Centre, The Rivoli and here in Koerner Hall. I think there are sixteen different Toronto based global music artists that have collaborated to put this festival together and quite a few concert programmers with bookers from across the US and one from France coming in for the week to see all the strong talent and hopefully book them.</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-75805474636316121112018-05-06T07:28:00.001-07:002018-05-06T07:48:07.469-07:00An American in Paris<br />
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The average North American views France as a hub of artifacts and illustrious history, sometimes contrary and combatant when it comes to world affairs yet portrayed on film as a country of and for lovers, unlike any other. I thought about that as I tapped the icon displaying classic in-flight movies on the back seat in front of me and brought up the film, <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">An American in Paris, </em>clocking in at 113 minutes, for the first stage of an eight-hour flight home late September 2014.</h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Listening to George Gershwin’s rhapsodic crescendos and traffic-jam dissonance played deftly by pianist and literary wit Oscar Levant, who also plays the role of Adam Cook, a struggling concert pianist in the film alongside French ballet dancer Leslie Caron as Lise Dassin, ballerina and choreographer, and actor, and dancer Gene Kelly as Jerry Mulligan hints more to the urban chaos of New York City during the ‘jazz age’, than Paris, and yet still resonates six-plus decades later.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Parisian music of the day was more sweet-tempered and less blue noted; accordion, acoustic guitar, violin; Piaf, Charles Trenet, Yves Montand, Jacques Brel – French chanson, tangos and gypsy music influences.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">An American in Paris</em> staging captures the essence of Paris in impressionistic terms along the lines of the pastoral and surreal landscape paintings of the 18<sup style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; position: relative; top: -0.5em; vertical-align: baseline;">th</sup> century, Alfred Sisley. Even Kelly’s character, Jerry Mulligan, feigns being an artist living in tempera coloured surroundings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kelly and Caron dazzle and dance their way through one of the finest musicals of all times. One experiences the sympathetic chemistry between two polished dancers through Gershwin originals, “Our Love is Here to Stay” and “Embraceable You.” It’s the fluid body movement, up on the toes, smooth glide across the floor, soft embraces, and charming interaction that arouse emotions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Kelly wisely chose Caron and cast her for this role. He also choreographed the closing scene which is estimated to have cost $500,000 to shoot the seventeen-minute dance sequence to Gershwin’s <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">American in Paris</em>. Remember, this was 1951.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Throughout, Kelly plays the part of a starving artist, yet so athletic and masculine he could be mistaken for a high-priced fitness instructor at a posh Beverly Hills fitness club. In fact, lack of funds doesn’t seem to impede his undiminished confidence or iron-will pursuit of the most desirable female in Paris, Lise Dassin (Caron).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">To further my appetite and anticipation for more Gershwin, I resurrected recordings of rare piano rolls that surfaced in 2004 – <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Gershwin Plays Rhapsody in Blue</em>, ‘An American in Paris,' 'Oh, Lady Be Good,' 'Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,' ‘S Wonderful', 'Promenade,’ and others on Shout! Factory/Biograph.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">To imagine all this translating to a stage musical was more than the head and heart could envisage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The stage adaptation is much different from the sunny ways of the Academy Award celebrated movie. This is Paris, 1945 during liberation and at the end of the Second World War - struggling with its darkest decade. The remnants of war are still visible in the surrounding buildings and wounds still festering between those who were collaborators with the Nazi regime and the resistance. That tension spells out in the opening dance number with full company and Gershwin’s 'Concerto in F.'</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The opening scene finds Adam Hochberg (Matthew Scott), a composer, situated at an ornate grand piano with drink in hand and the silhouette of the Arc de Triomphe far in the background. Hochberg sets the stage and begins retelling the life story of his old friend Jerry Mulligan and narrates throughout.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The story remains much the same. Mulligan, an American serviceman and aspiring painter, decides to spend more time in Paris and pursue his art and falls in love with ballerina Lise Dassin. Mulligan dances, prances and sweet talks Dassin into a date even with Dassin committed to marrying song-and-dance hopeful Henri Baurel (Ben Michael.) Hochberg makes it a three-man struggle to win over the hand of Dassin. It becomes apparent that romance, music and art medicate and addresses the city’s long-suffering afflictions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The stage adaptation of Craig Lewis’s book brings the full ensemble front and centre. Kelly was the focal point of the grand movie and tap dance, the story. Set designer Bob Crowley illuminates the stage in ravishing colours all perfectly synched. From the flickering lights of buildings in near ruin to that many moveable parts and projections. This is eye-popping wizardry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon captured a Tony award for his ballet-to-Broadway treatment. The stage adaptation is light and is absent the snap and dazzle of Gene Kelly’s footwork. This <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">An American in Paris</em> is more akin to Bernstein’s <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">West Side Story,</em> with it’s smooth, eloquent lifts and soft landings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Canadian McGee Maddox, a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, assumes the role of Jerry Mulligan. Maddox plays Mulligan from a ballet stance. All parts are executed with grace and athleticism, yet as an actor and singer, he is less convincing. Both the Broadway version with Robert Fairchild in the lead role and screen version with Kelly easily transmit real affection and the passion of that first encounter. You readily embrace the tension of the moment and play for the new girl.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is still one compelling and accomplished cast from Allison Walsh’s Lise Dassin, to Kirsten Scott as American philanthropist Milo Davenport, who takes more than a patron’s interest in Mulligan’s paintings and virile presence, to both Ben Michael as Henri Baurel and Matthew Scott as Adam Hochberg.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">An American in Paris</em> won Tony awards for Best Choreography, Best Lighting Design of a Musical, Best Orchestrations and Best Scenic Design of a Musical in 2015 and is playing at Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto until April 29, 2018.</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-57328467765671399952018-05-06T07:26:00.001-07:002018-05-06T07:48:32.968-07:00A Conversation With .. Mike Bendixen (Newstalk 1010)<br />
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For Ted Woloshyn and me, it’s season number eight of Saturday’s with Ted at Newstalk 1010.</h2>
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When I got the invite from Ted to be music director in 2010, I had not a clue how this would roll along. The opportunity to give music artists a solid shot at talking about new releases and concerts on a prime-time Toronto radio station appealed to me.</h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A good six years we filled four hours every Saturday afternoon. What a blessing for a news junkie pianist like me. Dignitaries, politicians, entrepreneurs, filmmakers, authors, and comics all made the rounds. John Byner, Ron James, Kenny Robinson, Sandra Shamas, Jamie Farr, Eric Peterson. Singers and players such as Arturo Sandoval, Roberta Gambarini, Marc Jordan, Ian Thomas, Jimmy Webb. On-site with sports icons like Cito Gaston, Sandy Hawley, George Chuvalo, Johnny Bower, Russ Jackson. The list is endless.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">On the frontline for all of this is program director Mike Bendixen. Often I'm asked, 'Who or where in the world does a piano player besides yourself get to play for three hours live on air every Saturday afternoon?' I truly don’t know – but I thought it was imperative to sit down and have a chat with the boss and see what makes him tick. Enjoy!</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">So why radio?</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Do you want the honest answer?</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I've talked to some who say they were five years old and got a Mr. Microphone as a gift and started yelling at family.</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">That was not me. I never had a passion for it as a kid. I was never one of those guys that was out buying the latest albums and checking out the newest music. All my friends were into music in a big way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">My earliest kind of recollection of being around a radio quite honestly would be as many kids my age would have done as you know, recording your favourite song on like a Casey Kasem Top 40 and hitting pause and record and hoping to get the song and then make a mixtape. But quite frankly, the way that I got into radio was, I didn't do well in school.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Essentially, if we didn't go into some sort of formal education after high school, my parents would lose all this money. And so I had to go to college or university. I wasn't smart enough to get into university, and I remember sitting in my kitchen at home at my parent's place and looking through this course calendar at different colleges and then looking into this radio program I had no idea existed. I thought, well that can be fine. That doesn't sound like work. So I applied. I applied to all of these programs, and I couldn't get into any of them. And then thankfully, I eventually got into the radio program at Humber. It was more of a desperation type move for me than anything else. That was kind of my first footstep into trying to find out what radio was all about.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">When you signed up for the radio program were you thinking 'I want to be on </strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">air</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">, in management or somewhere else' in radio?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">One thing that I found interesting was - we had to do a documentary. I enjoyed doing this kind of radio doc I did on homelessness in Toronto, and I did enjoy walking around the streets of Toronto talking to homeless people and trying to figure out their story; where they came from, why they were on the streets, etc. That was interesting to me. Getting stories out there if you will. But I was fuckin lost. And part of it was being born and raised in Scarborough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Humber College is on the other end of town. So while a lot of the students stayed out in the west end at the school, I was doing this commuting thing back and forth and working and doing all these other things. I was a part-time student there. I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong. Humber was great for me. But it wasn't until I got into that building at Yonge and St. Clair that I figured it out.</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How did you get in there?</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I got in because I had some time and I needed to get an internship. I spent an evening one night at my then girlfriend's dorm room, she was at university, and I wrote e-mails to every radio station in the city saying I need an internship.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I heard back from the promotions director at CFRB who said, 'listen I just started as the new promotions director and I need a clean slate of interns, so why don't you come here.' Of course, I did.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I hadn't listened to CFRB, to be honest with you; it wasn't my thing. I walked in and sat down with the promotions director and got an internship in the promotions department.</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And that felt good?</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It felt good enough that I was pursuing what I was supposed to be doing from a college perspective. I don't know what the right word is, but I decided that I wasn’t going the announcer route or news route. I was going to go the sales and promotions route because I was always told, if you want to make money you go into sales.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I sold some airtime for Humber College and made some decent money doing it. So that's where I was like, OK I'm going to go into promotions. That was what I thought I was going to do -become a promotions director.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I remember speaking to my girlfriend and saying, ‘Hey! Listen, you know what? There's this promotions director gig at CFRB, and I think he makes 60,000 bucks a year. If I can get his job, I'm set for life’. That was my goal. I was like' I'm going to become the promotions director somewhere' and 'I'm going to make sixty grand,' and 'I'm going to be living the high life.' But it didn't take me long to figure out that that was not something I was passionate about.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you look at sales guys and one of the great staffs in Toronto, go no farther than CHUM and Jack Addis and Gord Kidder. Those guys lived the life. I mean they lived the hard life and did incredibly well.</span><br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Those days are long gone.</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I caught a glimpse of it when I first started in the business. Ron Hewitt, who I think we both know was a phenomenal salesman and just a great guy. Fun loving. And one of those, in my opinion - the ‘last’ of a dying breed of that era of sales guys. You could say to Ron at nine o'clock in the morning, not me, but someone else of higher importance, ‘Hey Ron, my car broke down. I need to get to the Muskokas this weekend. Can you hook me up?’ And within an hour - a new BMW would be sitting outside for you to drive up to Muskoka for the weekend. That was the kind of thing that today is totally different.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">How does a sales team function </strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">differently</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"> today?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I don't know that much about the way it was before. There are stories I've heard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Back in the day, you would sit in your office, the phone would ring, and someone would say, 'hey I want to make a buy on radio.' And it was like 'OK, I'll take your money,' and then you spend the afternoon out drinking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nowadays, you're chasing every nickel and dime there is because you're competing with so many more media outlets and there are so many more options.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Let's not even talk about the Internet and how much that has changed advertising. You know the shiny little object that becomes the flavour of the week, where all of a sudden all these ad agencies are like, ‘oh, we've got to be on whatever it is? Facebook, Google, Instagram, Twitter, all these and Snapchat. All these are shiny objects.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">For radio guys, you gotta fight tooth and nail to get a slice of that dollar that before was a no-brainer. Oh yeah, for sure we're gonna buy radio, for sure we're gonna buy television and print. So, you were always guaranteed a portion of the pie. Of course, you had to be on the radio. Now, it's like you have to be on digital. You have to be on social media, and then it's like, 'oh well, do we have any money left over? Let's think about radio and television and all the traditional mediums that are out there.' These sales guys today, I tell you, I would not want to do their job.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">It is a fight, and the other thing that's changed the landscape so much is this little term we've become more familiar with called, ‘value added’ which basically means like OK, you know Bill, you've got a hundred bucks to buy airtime. Great. But then you want an additional hundred dollars-worth of ‘value added’ stuff which is essentially, 'I've got to give you free exposure on the air. And if I don't give you that value-added, the guy down the street definitely will.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">Back in the day, we used to be able to say OK, for your hundred dollars I'll give you another twenty dollars-worth of value. Got it? And you would go, oh my god that's fantastic. Thank you so much, I'll be loyal to you. Now, it's like everyone has to give you something. And it's so bizarre to me because it's kind of as if I was to walk into a store and want to buy a pair of shoes and I said, ‘how much are those shoes?’ They're like 100 bucks, and you say, ‘great and by the way, can you throw in the T-shirt and socks?’ Because that's the ‘value added.’ It doesn't work on any other platform when it comes to selling things. I think we’ve done ourselves a disservice where over the years we've started adding in these ‘value-added’ things and now it's no longer’ Value-Added.' It's just expected and mandatory.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Was the next step, show producer?</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, I mean I continued as an intern and one day I wandered around the station and asked 'are there other jobs I can do other than promotions?' And I ran into Nick Maiorano who was the board op for the Ted Woloshyn Show at the time, and he said listen, 'we don't have a full-time morning show producer. We have interns that come in and help put the show together.'</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">Ted had probably been there for two or three years, and there was no full-time producer. The job didn't exist, ironically. And so I started interning a couple of days a week and then that turned into five days a week of me coming in and helping Ted. And I knew fuck all about producing radio. Nothing! I learned by saying, ‘Hey Ted, what do you need, what do you want?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">As Ted's show evolved we'd open up more airtime and did more interviews and then we would come up with new ideas like, let's take the show on the road, let's do this, let's do that. Eventually, that internship turned into a full-time position where they said OK, you know what, we need a producer on the morning show. It's an important show obviously. And so, I got hired as the first producer of the morning show at CFRB.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Did Wally Crouter have a morning show producer all of those decades?</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">Wally had a technical producer, but he didn't have a producer in the way that Ted’s’ show did. It was so much different than Wally’s. Ted’s show evolved into very much a news magazine if you will show, similar to what our morning show is today. A lot of interviews, a lot of guests. You know the premier pops by. The police chief pops by. There are other guests that you know, like celebrities coming to town. Can we get them on the show?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">9/11 happens and that changes the dynamic of everything. That allowed me to get my foot further in the door and a full-time job. Then from there, thankfully, management, and other people in the building allowed me to do different things. I did some reporting. I did a talk show for a little while.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">The big break for me as I see it and as I've said many times the story is, when the tsunami happened in 2004 I was asked to go to Sri Lanka and produce for Taylor Parnaby, who was being sent over there. I went along and stayed in one part of Sri Lanka and then went to another part of Sri Lanka. I was reporting essentially for our radio stations in Canada from the devastated parts of Sri Lanka and learned a lot and saw a lot of unbelievable things.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">When I came back from that trip that's basically when Gary Slaight probably thought, 'there's more to this kid than we're allowing him to do. He did some really interesting things when we sent him to Sri Lanka.' Through the blessing of Gary, I would imagine, I got a job as a news director and program director for our sister station in Montreal, CJAD.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How long was the stay?</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">I was 26 when I went there. Here's what I tell a lot of people. People who reported to me - I was the program director there; a lot of the staff there had worked at the radio station longer than I'd been alive. So, it was a unique dynamic for a young guy from Toronto to go into Montreal and start telling people what to do. You know what I mean? You can imagine that it wasn't the easiest of transitions. Over time I got to love working with the people there. I had great experiences and as you said, what a great town. CJAD is like an amazing radio station along with working down the hallway from folks at CHOM and Terry DiMonte and all these guys and Rob Braide and just some phenomenal people. It was a blast.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Did you get out much with Rob and the folks?</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">Listen, this is the difference between working in Montreal for Standard Broadcasting and what it's like today.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">Rob Braide would announce over the P.A. in the building, ‘Hey it's Friday everyone: at 3:00, I expect to see you over at Ziggy's on Crescent Street. You know, Gary's in town and the bar's open' kind of thing. That would be a regular occurrence. Here again another difference between then and now.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">I had an expense account at Ziggy's, at a pub where I was encouraged to take people and write off expenses for a night out drinking. That doesn't exist anymore today. Those were the fun times. A lot of learning. And then when Astral bought us things changed a little bit and then of course when I came back to Toronto things changed a lot more and now its Bell, things have changed even more.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">It goes without saying for me that the days of working for Standard Broadcasting were phenomenal because you could do and try so many different things. Not to suggest that I can't today, but back then you know, if Gary and others thought this is a good idea, let's give it a shot, you could go and do it. It was so much fun being able to work for a real family. And that's how it felt. When I went to Montreal, it felt like a small family that you worked for, and whenever ‘Big Daddy’ came into town, it was even more fun.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">For me, as a guy that started out as an intern and being able to sit around a table and I do remember sitting around a table having dinner with Gary Slaight, Terry DiMonte and Rob Braide in Montreal, I was like, oh my god like how the hell did I end up here? I still have those moments in this business where I'll be in a meeting, and I'll be like, 'what the fuck am I doing in this room right now?'</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Do you have those moments?</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">Oh yeah, I literally had one two days ago while I was sitting in the biggest boardroom that this facility has, overlooking the parking lot on 299 Queen Street. I'm sitting in a room with Randy Lennox, the president of Bell Media and a bunch of other VIPs of the company, and I'm just like,’ what am I doing here?'</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">I remember taking a day off school to come to 299 Queen when City TV used to do an ‘open house’ once a year where you could come in and do a tour. I took a day off school and did this nerdy tour of the City Pulse newsroom, and there are moments when I walk in those front doors off Queen Street, and I'm like, 'I can't believe that I work in this building'. I have those moments all the time.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">Not that long ago I was in my office, and I was sitting talking to Gordon Martineau, and Marilyn Dennis walked in, and the three of us are sitting in my office shooting the shit about stuff. And at one moment I said, ‘guys you have to understand I'm having an out of body experience because the two of you are sitting in my office and we're chatting as high school friends, so to speak, and my mind is going somewhere else.’</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">To have a boss like Randy Lennox, who actually has a music background, can bridge those divergent worlds. Music and entertainment and media.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">I think a lot of that goes to what you see through Randy's influence on the company overall in terms of producing musicals like Bat Out of Hell as an example. Obviously, the television show, The Launch. You know you see these integrations of how to promote talent and how to promote music.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">Just the other night we had a live music performance at Young-Dundas Square with Arkells. There are influences of Randy throughout. But the fascinating thing for me, is I’ve worked under a couple of heads of Bell Media since I've been here, but the exciting thing with Randy is more often than not he will turn to others in the room and say, ‘what do you think?'</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">For someone like me, it’s too cool. I mean it's just cool to have someone turn to someone that you look at with high regard and someone that's done a lot of great things in this business, and so enjoy it. And for someone like that to turn to you and ask, 'what do you think?' And not only say it but listen and give a shit about your opinion. To me, it's another one of those mind-blowing moments when you're like OK thanks - you know I mean, I don't know how to describe it, but it's like, yeah!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">Talk radio. We're coming up to Ontario provincial elections, and we’ve seen what happened with Sinclair network south of us and how they manipulated </strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">local</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"> news. How do you try and deliver balance knowing this will be a volatile election? You've got a premier whose approval rating is running at a low 12 percent and a candidate that's far to the right and someone we know who thrives on chaos and bullies.</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">The answer to that question goes back almost eight or nine years. Since I've come back to CFRB, and the one thing that I wanted to do when I came back here was get away as much as we can from one guy on the air with one opinion. And what we've tried to do is - yeah ok, you can have a guy on the air that has a view, but I also want to hear from the guy that has the opposite opinion. And then the guy that has the whatever bizarre other opinions as well. And I think we've done a good job of that on the radio station. That's why we've instituted some roundtable discussions, so there are other opinions allowed to become part of the conversation. That's why we have a variety of views on the air between the morning show and evening show.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">We’ve done things intentionally so that the radio station has a broader appeal to it; so I don't have to worry so much about if we are going to be considered the Doug Ford supporting radio station or the Kathleen Wynne supporting radio station or whatever. I think if you listen to us over the course of the entire day, you'll get a balance.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">Do you miss</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"> John Tory?</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;"> Oh yeah!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">He was remarkable on air. I’d listen to John Tory and outside of being our mayor, I thought I've never heard anybody recite from their head two pages in length without breaking a thought or bumbling a word. What a rare gift!</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">Here's the other rare gift that John Tory has. He loves to learn.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">I did air checks with John every two weeks, right. And if you ask him to this day, he'll tell you the story that still pops up in his calendar and his BlackBerry that he's got a calendar reminder that says you know, Mike Bendixen aircheck and he keeps it in there as a reminder and laughs every two weeks.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">But John would be the guy that would be at the mic check five minutes in advance. He was taking copious amounts of notes and wanted the feedback. At times there were heated exchanges about what I thought he should be doing and what he thought he should be doing. But he loved to learn. He was engaged in the craft of how to become a better talk show host. The other thing that John has that nobody else in this market had was that he's got unique life experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">There’s no one else in like him on Toronto radio. When Ronald Reagan died, I sent John a text saying, ‘hey John, have you ever met Ron Reagan?’ He said 'yes, I’ve been in the Oval Office three times.' Name me one other personality that's on the air that can say they've been in the oval office three times? It just doesn't happen. That was a unique skill set that he had because of his life experiences. And what made him unique was that he was able to translate those experiences onto the air.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">When Ronald Reagan dies, who would you rather listen to, a guy on the dial that's just telling anecdotes or a guy that's like – ‘you know the first time I walked into the Oval Office and set eyes on Ronald. OK. That guy wins.’ It's much like sports in my opinion. I'd rather hear from a guy that used to play professional baseball than a guy that just watches it sitting on the couch.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">Which brings me to sports and how much sports broadcasting has changed. Athletes are in the broadcasting pre-game seats and in between segments that used to be filled by pundits. It’s now the residence of jocks. I find it fascinating: Charles Barkley sitting next to Kenny Smith sitting next to Shaq. Great players with first-hand insights into the game.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">That's why you know John Tory works - we're in the same business right. Former politicians are now doing radio. John Tory is a good example of that. Tim Hudak who does work with us now is growing into a great talk show host and again learning a lot of things.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">We’ve got former communications directors that work with us. Rob Ford's former chief of staff works for us. There's a lot of that transition as well. And for me, that's where I often will go to when I'm looking for some talent for the radio station. I don't go necessarily to colleges or down that route. I'm looking for who's got experiences, whether they be a former politician or former communications director or whatever, that can translate that experience onto the radio. Right. I'd rather hear from someone that says no no no, I've been there. And this is what's happening as opposed to someone that just goes, 'I think this is what's happening'.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">By 2019, ‘millennials’ will be the driving force in the country. Do you keep that in mind?</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">No! Here’s what I do keep in mind. We can get dragged so many different ways. What I try to keep in mind is at the end of the day - we are still a very vibrant radio station.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The numbers are great.</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, but we can't start being all these other things and then you lose focus of – ‘no we're still a fucking radio station.’ You’ve seen numerous businesses that try to dabble in all these other things, and then eventually they fall apart. And I think that's what we focus most on is the day to day, are we delivering compelling content? Most days, I think we probably have a good sixty to seventy when we hit it out of the park seventy percent of the time.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We're still far off from being 100 percent.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I think eventually you come to a stage in your life where you realize you need to be more engaged in what's going on in the world and that is what we try and do here. And we try and do it compellingly and entertainingly if you will.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">And I think much like I've grown up in this business and others have. I think all of a sudden you go, enough of the kind of pop culture music stuff.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">That's great, and there's a part of that, that will exist in my life but at the same time, I also need to realize what does my future look like?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">Where are my taxes going?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">What are the politicians doing?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">What's the environment?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">All that stuff.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;" />
<span style="font-size: large;">I don't worry about that. I worry more about whether we are delivering the right content at the right moment.</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-84683585263972011692018-05-06T07:22:00.004-07:002018-05-06T07:49:03.719-07:00A Conversation With ... Royal Wood<br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">Your home town, Lakefield, Ontario – college town?</strong></h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yeah, Lakefield College School is there, and it's also sort of a centre for a lot of great hockey players in the world as well.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">And the family farm is there?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yes. We had a farm growing up, a cattle farm and a hundred and eight acres that went dormant when I was a teenager. They got rid of the cows and tried to keep it as a hobby farm. And then I bought it a few years ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My dad got sick, and they were going to get rid of the farm, and I wanted to keep it for the family. I wanted it for my dad in his final years. I have it and have turned it into an organic farm and gave it to a bunch of young, idealistic farmers to run for me. There are also rescue horses there.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Do you spend much time there?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I spend as much time as I can. When my dad was sick, I was there as much as humanly possible. He passed away about a year and a half ago. So, I'm there a little bit less. I have a condo in Toronto with my wife, and I’m always on the road. But, we make regular plans to be there even if it's just for a night.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s now an organic farm. How far away is produce distributed?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Just in our region. It goes into Lakefield and Peterborough markets.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What’s grown there?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Anything that can. They try to keep it seasonal and knowing it’s organic, they're doing every possible procedure they can without breaking their rules. They've introduced us to a lot of vegetables I had never even seen before.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You must go there and think, ‘wow’, look what they have done with this land.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I do go there and am ‘wowed’ when I look at what they’ve done. But I also go there and think, ‘wow, so much work’. Farming is hard enough as it is. And even as a kid growing up seeing farmers - but that was industrial farming and seeing what goes into organic farming the way it should be done is even more toilsome now.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I remember the massive flooding in Lakefield. An online search says, 2004?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We were thankfully OK through all of that. Most of our farm is up on a hill, and there's a valley below that feeds into a pond that has never looked better.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What was growing up in such idyllic surroundings like for you?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was like Walton's Mountain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I had three older brothers and a younger sister and anyone who doesn't know that reference to Walton’s Mountain – that is making me seem old. We sat around the table at night where we always had dinner together and played music, and we always spent our summers together. It's like our friends didn't exist once summer started. It was just my brothers and me and my sister. We’d work all day and do our thing at night.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Music has a history with the family. And the foundation for that is?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My parents.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My dad played the guitar, played the piano and played the harmonica. He didn't play the piano well, but he loved it. He played guitar and harmonica his whole life, and my mom took piano lessons and then they put all of us into lessons. We all studied piano and music was everywhere for us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My dad was smart enough and encouraging enough to have instruments in the house. There was a banjo, and there was a violin. It’s like having a hockey stick or a baseball. If they have an interest in it, they will grab it.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Just make it available.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My dad had paints and canvases. He was a father wanting his kids to be exposed to everything and then let them find their path.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I was four, we had a piano, and it just made sense to me. Music just made sense. Even before math or sports, I could play a song on the piano. I was fortunate to have them as parents.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Did you study privately?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I did. I played by ear for years. First piano and guitar and then when I was around eleven or twelve my parents put me in piano lessons; proper study. I did that all the way through high school, and then I was in any music program in school they had. The jazz band and large ensemble – anything I could get my hands on and then I had my band and played around town. That made me cool.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You know you've got to take Mr. Handsome out of the house and try it out of the public.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'm not saying one iota that I'm a handsome man, and I certainly wasn't in high school.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Only the athletes. I think the fact they were running all the time, smacking into each other, made them the coolest. What was that bond between you and your father then?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was larger than father and son. I will say that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think it was that my dad and I were just good friends and we were mentors to each other, and we taught each other a lot. We would trade books, and we'd trade movies, and we’d talk politics; we just talked about everything. He was the dad you could sit down and have a whisky by the fire with and talk about anything. And not everyone gets to do that, but we did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When my dad passed my mum and me, and the same with all the kids, continued to hang out with our family. It's always something we look forward to and I know over the course of my life and the relationships I've had and friendships I've had, people look at us as an odd family. I remember that realization when I was a kid and thinking - even in high school that, I was the odd one because my parents weren't divorced, and everyone liked each other. It's a weird thing.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The new album, <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Ever</em><em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;"> After the Farewell,</em> is about your father?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's about my father. I didn't want it to be too morose and melancholy as that’s not what my father would have wanted. My father was ready to go, and my father wanted to go, and we wanted it. I wanted my dad to be at peace. He had Alzheimer's for years. He also had what's called COPD which is a lung condition that thankfully took him way before Alzheimer's was going to. He still had a lot of his faculties. I could sit by the bed and talk with my dad, but his lungs failed in the end. He had made up his mind to go. We wanted him at peace. I didn't want to make a record that was woe is me I've lost my father. That wasn't us.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Have you ever spoke with Jann Arden about this?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I haven't talked to Jann in a long while.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">She is very open about this and has written a book, <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Feeding My Mother,</em> about her relationship with her parents and having them living next door – keeping them close by. She also covers that in a song she wrote, ‘The Long Goodbye.’</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's part of life, and you can't avoid it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is that side of the recording, and at that same time I met my wife and fell in love and got married. It was a strange time because my heart was so full of joy and crazy passion and excitement meeting someone that just changed my life, at the same time that I was losing my dad, so there was guilt on both sides. I would feel guilty when I was so sad about my father because I'm not enjoying his time with my wife and then I feel guilty for enjoying time with my wife because I'm not grieving properly for my dad or something. I had to put all that away and just embrace making a record because my dad was my biggest fan and my wife is my biggest fan.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What would you say is the attitude and soul of the recording? Does it have to do with the name Royal?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was born John Royal Wood, and Royal Wood was my great grandfather's first and last name. He was a good Irishman.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We are a product of everything we've heard before and I was raised on obviously, a lot of music. My dad loved everything from Sinatra to jazz to blues to Johnny Cash and my mom loves classical music. What really raised me were having three older brothers who got to filter all of the bad music out of my life because they went through that first and then just picked the really good stuff. And then my uncle passed away when I was a kid in a car accident and he was my dad's closest friend. Dad got his old reel to reel tapes along with this old Sony reel to reel player and all these dusty crates full of vinyl. Instead of listening to New Kids on the Block, I was listening to Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell and Cat Stevens and his crazy collection of stuff at a super young age and I feel like that's when I felt like a kid of the 70s, that's what I wanted to be. I grew up wanting to be an awesome incredible artist that makes people feel things. I wanted to do that with a guitar and piano.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Tim Buckley?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He was one of the artists who was on Wayne's old mixed reel to reels. I remember the moment someone handed me a Jeff Buckley record. <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Grace</em>, I think its the first one. And I thought, Buckley, that's one of them, that's dad, yeah. Few people now would know who Tim Buckley was.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Do words carry weight with you?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Words mean everything to me. They started that way, and they certainly have become even more important to me. One of the things I just let go of though is not being precious about them. Believing in the words that come out and write the song. Some of the greatest artists I love could say it in the most simple of words. It was genuine and heartfelt from a Leonard Cohen to Paul McCartney - they could state a simple sentence and man is it profound. It's just about the context of where they put it. And it's hard to do. It's the marriage of those two things. If you can do that, you've got it.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You say this; I read once that you can't get wet from the word water. That it isn't the word that allows for the knowing to take place but rather the experience itself that removes the veil.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That sentence was taken from a philosopher named Alan Watts. But that idea stuck with me. The rest of that is just me riffing on something I believed about the record - discussing both falling in love and getting married with my wife and then the grief of losing my father. Those are things that you read about. Talk about. You see your friends fall in love - you see your friends lose a sibling or a loved one and you think oh, that must be hard or that must be quite an experience but until you jump in the water and feel the water and experience the water, it's just a word. Grief is just a word until you feel it. Love is just a word until you feel it. And that's really the antithesis of this record. Those two polar opposites simultaneously just merge together. That is why it's <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Ever After the</em> <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Farewell.</em> I wanted it to be something that just continues - just continue to so much joy ahead. But there's always that farewell as a part of it. There just is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">Where did you meet Allison</strong>?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Good research. I met Allie in Saskatoon.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What a great place.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Oh my God, it’s one of my favourite places.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Just get outside of Saskatoon and go for a drive. It's unbelievable.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And also, the people of Saskatchewan are a perfect representation of what it is to be Canadian. They're just good people. They're just good; there's no other word. It's like Saskatchewan's ‘good’ - that should be their bumper sticker. I don't know if it is because I spent close to twenty years coming in and out of Toronto and I love Toronto, and this is my home, and this is where I'll be, but it's like being in New York. It's big, and it's loud, and it's noisy and there's horns and there's rudeness and mixed within all of that are amazing people and there's kindness and gestures and you see that in the city.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's a city in constant motion. It's a machine.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Exactly. I was just in L.A. and its the same thing. But when you slow it down and there's no autonomy, and everyone knows everybody, man, people can be nice.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s the way the land speaks to you.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Big time.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I once made the drive from Saskatoon to Swift Current - it was in January, to play a gig. The way the sun lit the fields; that amber glow and blackened sky on the horizon encroaching right before a storm and seeing broken-down farm houses from another time in deep repair dot the landscape, was a visual feast.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You're right about the geography affecting their culture. It's like God only had a few colours on the palette left and he was like, OK, what I do with the basic stuff here. I can make something beautiful. And then I’m done.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Massey Hall, you're playing Massey Hall May 11th. What can we expect for that night?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This one's a little bit pared back. Or maybe not. It's me, bass, drums, two vocalists and a string section. It’s just a quartet for this one. I've done larger ensembles with this string quartet.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">A ninety-minute show?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I’m going to play the hits with some songs off the new record I'm excited about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Massey has been years in the making.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Is this your first time?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's my very first time headlining, and I think it's going to sell out.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Doesn't the thought stress you?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You know what? There are certain things in life that just don't go away. And one of them is this fear of uncertainty right now. That's just part of it and just part of life. And the one thing I've learned is to embrace it and to tell myself that fear is actually excitement and discomfort and you lean into it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is my seventh record. And every time I hand in a record to the label the whole team sits down goes, we love it. Not sure if we hear a single.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You will never top Beyonce?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Well, it's what it is. Do your thing, and it's the same with shows.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Each tour I've gotten bigger. I'm proud to say - venue size, and this one is no exception. I'm headlining Massey - the Winspear Centre in Edmonton. The Rebecca Cohen Auditorium in Halifax. This is a big beautiful tour, and so far selling well. When you accept the offers and you see the tour rolled out before tickets start to sell, you hope this works.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You do this every two years. We spend all of this money, and I make this record and the tours booked, and everyone’s hired – publicist, musicians, social media and it’s like crazy. My team is massive and do it every time. But you never get used to that feeling - It's almost like you want to dig your heels in and not do it. You have to get all the stuff ready.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was talking to my wife about this last night and a little part of me is like, maybe you won't. Maybe I don't want to do this. I don't know. I don't know. Do I wanna do it again for the next eighteen months of my life? My calendar is blocked off. Then it’s off to Europe.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s all great stuff! The other ninety percent is sitting home thinking; there's nothing much on the calendar.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You get used to the activity but as someone in my profession, which I've had to explain to my wife and family for years, the mind is not only busy, the mind is completely and totally uncertain in an ever-changing landscape.</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-89064512865431050682018-05-06T07:20:00.001-07:002018-05-06T07:49:26.875-07:00A Conversation With.. Eddie Kramer<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R07bvminF_8/Wu8PMOpQJaI/AAAAAAAABI0/9WwoQ31E1wMgqMVg1okCc1EwswcGmVPdgCLcBGAs/s1600/kramer2_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="770" height="199" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R07bvminF_8/Wu8PMOpQJaI/AAAAAAAABI0/9WwoQ31E1wMgqMVg1okCc1EwswcGmVPdgCLcBGAs/s320/kramer2_0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I’d been conversing back in forth with music man, Greg Godovitz the past couple years about cornering a music legend, recording engineer Eddie Kramer, for a sit-down interview. Greg and Eddie are tied up with the El Mocambo revitalization work. Eventually, the stars aligned, and Eddie conceded to do my Thursday morning interview show at CIUT 89.5 FM.</h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Any musician with just an ounce of audio curiosity would have bled to have Kramer record them. Kramer’s name resonated as loudly as the rock musicians whose names grace the front cover of so many new releases from the '60s on. He is the Picasso of sound reproduction. The tracks are bold, clean, and mixed with such precision you knew the escalation of time would never diminish their quality or artistry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">How do you pack one’s life history into fifty minutes? You can’t, by any means, so I chose to focus on the early years, Woodstock, Hendrix, photography and Kramer’s role in reviving the much beloved El Mocambo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When I mentioned Kramer was coming in to my son Jesse, I saw in his eyes that ‘you’re not leaving me out of this’ look. Jesse has read nearly every book on contemporary music; from bios to studio to the good and bad of the business of music and is becoming a walking encyclopedia. Of course, he was coming in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My apologies to Greg. I had to shorten this transcription from 9,000 words to near 4,000 and couldn’t include talk about the remix Eddie did of Greg’s early work. Another day, Greg, and many thanks.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">The history here is the Beatles, Bad Company, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Kiss, Woodstock. It’s the history of contemporary music going back to the early '60s’ You live here now?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'm proud to be a Torontonian because you know, living in LA. for about fourteen or fifteen years your blood gets thin, and when you come to Toronto you really have to put on piles of clothing to stay with it. We love it. We love Toronto very much - in fact, we can get on the streetcar and come in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We sold our house, we sold our cars, we sold everything in L.A. and moved here, and we love it. The fact that you can just walk around and everywhere is great. And you stay fit, and the people are rather nice.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">It gets better. You know what caught my attention before the show. DJ Dave James was just finishing up his dance music show and you are absorbed in his tracks. Then we start playing some Roy Hargrove, my theme off the top of my show, and you shift gears and become even more animated. Music touches you in so many ways.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It always has. I grew up studying classical music as a kid. By the time I was three or four I was really playing the piano. I think I had my first piano lesson when I was probably about four years old and continued studying classical music all the way until I left high school. In fact, my last three years in high school I dropped math and went to the South African College of Music and studied music instead. It was a weird thing, but I was able to get permission to do that. But they all thought I was completely crazy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My mom and dad were wonderful. My late father was an amateur violinist, and he always encouraged me to play. Some of my earliest memories is standing up on a little stool, and there was a radiogram or a gramophone as you would call it and it played stacks of 78s in a row. It would be let’s say, the Brahms B flat Piano Concerto stacked up, and I knew at an early age by looking at the labels what record it was, and then I would just sit for a moment then stand up in the chair and conduct. Which was kind of stupid.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">You must have made a decisive turn in your teens and thought I've got to get on the other side of the instrument and capture what I’m hearing?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think it goes back to this early childhood where apparently in South Africa where I grew up, the voltage is 240, the main voltage, and when I was about three or four I managed to stick a steel knitting needle into one of these sockets, and it threw me across the room. True story. It threw me across the room, and my dad picked me up and walloped me and said, ‘What the hell did you do that for?’ I haven't been the same since.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I always had a fascination with electronics as a young teenager but there was a moment in time when I was thirteen or fourteen, I heard jazz.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A friend of mine introduced me to jazz. I started listening to Charlie Parker and Oscar Peterson. It just changed me. My whole musical direction shifted from classical, although it's always been based on classical, but I just went, ‘Whoa Jazz’. This is happening you know. My dad was so pissed off at me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Much to his chagrin I really got into boogie and jazz and started playing that and then the classics went down the toilet. That was the shift in my career. Also leaving South Africa in 1960. After all the Sharpeville riots and everything because my dad was very left wing - he said 'we got to get out of South Africa' and we emigrated back to England. My mum's English. She came to South Africa in 1939.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Moving to England in 1960 was a critical moment because you can imagine the scene there was just bursting, and then you see the Beatles on TV for the first time. Holy, look at those guys. Check this out. And then by 1962, I was in the studio as a young punk engineer. I just said, ‘yeah’, that's it, this is what I have to do.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jesse King: When you first started you were doing classical recordings working at Pye Studios. How did that transition from working in that kind of atmosphere inspire? Were you assisting then?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was an assistant engineer and I thank God I had the best training guys around and the best engineers. There was a guy - Bog Walger - and we're at Pye Studios and one day we're doing the Kinks, the next day we're at Town Hall recording a ninety-piece symphony orchestra with three microphones, so I got this fantastic classical training as well as this rock thing. It was crazy. There were no schools for engineering. You just learned by making mistakes.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jesse King: Did you have a similar situation at EMI? I read they had everything in position and you even had to wear the lab coat. They never moved the drums. The new guy never had this freedom.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">No, every place that I ever worked was a very independent kind of studio. From Pye, I had my own studio for a while. That was fun. I was cutting tracks on my own and after that, I went to Olympic Studios. And that's where the magic happened.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jesse King: When was that?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It would be late '66.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill King: And what did Olympic have that was different?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Well, it was like it was a crossover point because Olympic was a famous studio before it became ‘the Olympic’. After that they were doing stuff with The Troggs and a lot of commercials. It was only four-track at that time, but they were about to move from Cotton Street which is right in the center of London to Bonds, which is a little suburb and they had built this gorgeous new facility which is in an old movie house and that's where I started to record Jimi Hendrix and The Stones and all the rest. That's where the magic happened.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill King: I'm still fascinated with the '50’ and '40s recordings with Sarah Vaughan and others. These recordings sound magnificent. Even the other day we listened to Frank Sinatra at the Sands with the Basie Orchestra. I still don't know how they did that.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is fine, fine engineering. You know you're trained to record mono. You get the balance right on everybody. And that's your training and it's embedded in my brain. You start with mono then you go to stereo then you go to a three-track then you go to four and then when you come to America you jump from four to twelve-track or sixteen and it's like, what?</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jesse King: That was the Scully machine that you were not a big fan of I think.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Well, the Scully twelve track was the biggest piece of junk ever. However, the Scully eight-track was wonderful. Those are the two Scully eight tracks I took up to Woodstock to record which is another story for another day.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill King: Woodstock, I would figure that was a significant challenge?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That is a mild understatement. I've always said that Woodstock for me was three days of drugs and hell. And it was incredible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I get a phone call from the film company and they say, “would you like to record this? We got this festival up in Woodstock. Jimi Hendrix is going to be the headliner and you know we do live recording stuff. Would you mind coming up and taking care of us again?” No problem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I remember it was a Friday morning about 4:00 a.m. 3:00 or 4:00 o'clock and this young lady beeps. ‘Come on, we’re driving up’ and it’s a two-hour drive or whatever and we get within a mile of Woodstock and you can't go any further. We parked the car on the side of the highway and walked the last mile. Near this ridge I'm looking down at Woodstock and it’s 6:00 a.m. and the sun's coming up. You can see the stage and outlined are these cranes on top of the stage and they’re still building it and I'm looking at it and thinking in about three hours I'm going to have to be recording and it looks like a construction site. I’m thinking there's no way in hell that's going to happen, but it did. It was the most incredible experience I think for everybody who was there. Fortunately, there was a collection of great tech guys from the Fillmore East. The Fillmore East was where I used to record all the time. It was a great, great venue. There was an eight-track in the basement that I used to use to record with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">All of that gear plus all the tech guys from the Fillmore came up with their sound gear and Bill Hanley, who did all the sound. I was in a tractor-trailer behind the stage about two hundred yards away. At a certain point all the communication between myself and the stage guys went out and I'm standing there at the side of the tractor-trailer waving my arms going 1, 2, 3. Nobody knew which mic line was going. It was amazing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I remember standing on the stage just before it started and looking out at the sea of people there must have been a half million out there and Bill Graham from Fillmore standing next to me and he said, ‘Eddie if these people decide to riot we're screwed.’ Thanks, Bill, I'm going to go back to my truck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">All of the artists who played the festival elevated their game. And look how many bands that were doing decently you know, like Santana, who all became icons because they just performed the magic at Woodstock. After that fact, look at all of the exposure they got.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill King: I think before that Monterey Pop sort of put Otis and others on the map too.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And Jimi. That’s a little bit of Woodstock.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill King: The new Hendrix?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This is an album that we put together last year that took us a year to do. It’s myself, Janie Hendrix and John McDermott and the three of us. We do all of Jimi's albums. There are three albums, and this is the last of the trio. Billy Cox and Buddy Miles and there is also Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell on this as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Most of this album is Jimi live in the studio. These tracks he was doing were not the final, final, final master but so close yet it shows this other side of Jimi. This is '69.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">He was recording a lot of the stuff and this was his year of transition and experimentation. He was trying to find this new direction and you could tell it's funky, it’s R&B, it’s blues, it's got all the rest of that stuff and it's hard driving and the performance on this is just mind-blowing. He's got all of the stuff on it. Not only the bass lines and what Buddy is doing and what Bill’s doing, but Jimi at one point in let’s say, ‘Mannish Boy.’ is singing in unison with the guitar doing all that and playing rhythm and lead which is his traditional way of doing things. When you listen to the guitar parts they're like impossible to play like that. I don't know anybody who can play like that.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jesse King: Was this a multitracked session?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This happened to be sixteen tracks because it was '69. It was at Record Plant, New York City and Jimi was on his own in '69. What was I doing? I was building Electric Lady Studios for him. I was doing Zeppelin, Woodstock and all of that nonsense. But it was basically Jimi trying to find new directions. He would go to Record Plant. He’d go to the Hit Factory or whatever studio he could get into. He was living in the studio and thank God he was, and the tape was rolling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We got these wonderful tracks. Just imagine Jimi would be at the Record Plant on 44th Street on 8th Avenue and then two blocks up Eighth Avenue at 46th was the Scene Club which is where he'd be every bloody night finding out who was gonna jam. He would be jamming at the Scene and then come back to the Record Plant dragging fifteen or twenty people with him. It was an amazing scene. Imagine Jimi walking down 8th Avenue with the hat and an entourage. He’d stopped traffic literally, and then just walk into the Record Plant they were ready for him. Bang. In fact, that’s the way ‘Voodoo Child’ was done. Who's in town?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Steve Wynn was in town and Jack Cassidy and they're jamming over there at the Scene and he drags their asses back over to the studio and its midnight and we're all set up with the drums. They weren't just thrown in a corner. They were specifically where I placed them. The amps are all set. Headphones set. Jimi walks in with the guys. One rehearsal, one take ‘Voodoo Child’ done and tested live.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You can hear the Fender amplifier he was using, and Fender Showman double stacked, you know ten eight-inch speakers and that sound of that amp you can hear is so different than the Marshalls. And when those opening notes start, and you hear his voice and that's live on the floor, and that’s why it sounds like it does.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There were no egos involved. No managers saying,’ hey you can't do blah, blah or you can't have this.’ These are a bunch of guys who love each other.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On this new album, it's all of Jimi's friends. There are two tracks on this new album, <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Both Sides</em> of the Sky with Stephen Stills. In fact, there's a track called ‘Woodstock’ on this album.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Stephen Stills comes running into the Record Plant one night, ‘hey Jimi, check this out. I've got a song and it was written by Joni Mitchell and it’s called ‘Woodstock’. He said, ‘do you want to play it man. Come on let’s jam.’ They jammed on the song. Jimi plays bass then later switches to guitar. And this is like the demo before it was released like maybe six months later. When you hear this track you go, it's what Crosby Stills and Nash took from what Jimi and Steve had done and turned it into the final version.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill King: A moment of truth here. Noel Redding? It's been said his bass parts were replaced by Jimi’s own.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not true. What is true is the fact that Jimi loved to play bass and Noel would get really really pissed off. He would go over to the pub and get drunk and always had a little bit of a chip on his shoulder about it. I loved Noel’s playing. I thought Noel was an amazing bass player for that trio.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jesse King: I wanted to mention not only is the album out but there's also vinyl. And I think this is key for collectors.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Absolutely. This album <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">Both Sides of the Sky</em>, the vinyl is phenomenal. 180-gram vinyl and it is just gorgeous.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Jesse King; The artwork is phenomenal. It's very much at peace with that time.</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill King: We both share a mad passion for concert photography and I have enjoyed going through your site and your gallery. First camera?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I bought a Pentax camera an Asahi Pentax in 1967 from one of the engineers and started taking pictures immediately, just experimenting. The camera sat right next to me on the board on either my left or right side, I can’t remember now. I'd be mixing and grab the camera and swing around, ‘Hey Jimi.’ Thank goodness because like I said before about managers and all the rest, there was nobody to tell you don't take pictures and the guys would say ‘yeah, just Kramer with the stupid camera. Don't worry about it.’ Nobody bothered you. I was able to get these lovely shots of Jimi in the studio or the Stones or a Keith Richards.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill King: There's a great Keith Richards. I mean that's the Keith Richards from the 60s we remember.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That shot of Keith sitting at the piano or the one he's ad-libbing and he's staring at me - like this is a favourite.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Greg Godovitz: It's also about the casual photograph. You took that picture of the boys Zeppelin dancing outside. That's it. That's a classic picture. You caught them having fun.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When we were in the studio, we had fun no matter what. If we weren’t having fun there was no point in doing it because we just loved to record, we loved to make music and that to me is the joy of it. Still, today, if I'm not having fun, I don't want to be there.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill King: The El Mocambo? Everyone wants to know what’s going on!</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I so remember being there in 1977 recording The Stones.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The place was purchased, and I was asked to come up and have a look and see whether I wanted to get involved. I looked at it and I said OK, I'm going to do this, we're going to put a studio in here. I wanted to bring in John Storyk, my oldest and dearest friend. He and I did Electric Lady for Jimi, OK. And that's the reason. WSD Group, which is the architectural firm, is probably one of the largest ones in the world and one of the better ones. It’s almost there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We've taken about two and a half years so far and basically destroyed the entire building and took it down below grade and built a brand-new building on the inside. All we kept was the facade and the side walls and we underpinned the entire interior. There are now two venues. One on top of the other.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You remember the old El Mocambo? It had about a ten-foot ceiling. It's now twenty-six and a half feet high with a balcony running around top side and it's going to be the preeminent and predominant facility in North America. They are soundproof rooms. Both are completely isolated so that I can record the two venues at the same time with live streaming.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have a special room on the third floor looking down on the room. This is like Abbey Road. We have the same board, a beautiful Neve vintage board looking down at the stage and five 4K cameras and Go Pro's - the whole thing and live streaming 24/7.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bill King; Lastly, you did two tracks for the Beatles.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I did, ‘All You Need Is Love’ and ‘Baby, You’re A Rich Man.’ There's a funny story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I recorded with my boss this track, ‘Baby, You’re A Rich Man. We heard the Beatles were going to come in and I was, ‘oh geez, the Beatles, we're going to show them.’ Why did the Beatles come to Olympic Sound Studios? They couldn't get into EMI or Abbey Road. That's the reason. It was booked all the time. Particularly for the Beatles, they were royalty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">They come in and we cut the track. We start at 7 o'clock at night. We finish at 7 o'clock in the morning. It's tracked, overdubbed and mixed. Thank you, out the door. I get the phone call from the front desk. Eddie, the Beatles are coming in again. Oh boy, rock royalty. Here we go.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">John sits in the producer's chair and pulls out an acoustic guitar.’ ‘C'mon lads, we got to do this song for TV - it goes like this’, and he starts strumming – “All You Need is Love”. He’s pitching and singing right there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The band walks in and goes directly into the studio. George walks over to the harpsichord and says, ‘It's all right, bring a microphone over here quick.’ Paul McCartney walks into the studio and goes, ‘hey, what’s that? It’s a string bass. It was my boss’s; he's a jazz player. ‘I'm going to play that’. He picks up the string bass and says, ‘quick microphone on here’, and that's how the session started, I'm thinking, panic, panic, panic. I go over to the patch bay and patch the microphone off the producer's desk into all the headphones, so John could sit next to me and strum the guitar and sing to the lads out in the studio. He’d never done that before. He goes ‘1,2,3’ - we're rolling tape right from the beginning, you know half an hour of tape time,15 ips, I hit record, bang, ‘All You Need is Love’. They go through the first take, then ‘two, three’ and they just keep doing it and doing it until we get to the end of the tape. It must be about eight or nine performances, some false starts. ‘All right lads - come back in’ and could you wind back from the end, right?’ Playback. Everybody smiles, ‘Yeah, it was great. See you. Bye!</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-53635628504741279152018-05-06T07:17:00.002-07:002018-05-06T07:49:48.022-07:00A Conversation With ... Jeff Dalziel<br />
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">Your recording sessions – how are they arranged?</strong></h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">They are genre specific. I have a long history in a variety of genres and can honestly say depending on the artist, start times change. Obviously, the rock guys don’t really rock before three. Country artists, as a rule, like to start early. Do the Nashville thing. They have to be up and do three co-writes in a day. They seem to be a bit more responsible. Pop artists? Somewhere in the middle.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Where did the three cowrites in a day thing come from?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There’s been such a big push on cowriting in Nashville especially with songwriter/artists from Canada going down there thinking it's going to get them a hit song. There are teams of people who think they are going to be songwriters and it’s almost like a day job. It’s mostly driven by the cowriters the artists are set-up with. At times it comes across as a quantity vs. quality thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Every hit song I’ve been involved with, writing or cowriting, sometimes they can go quick, and others take a very long time. It’s very common for a songwriter to show up for three different songwriting sessions in a day. The first one is usually quick, in and out then go for lunch maybe. Then do another and have some dinner or as they say a’ meet and greet’. Then go back for another session, then on to the Bluebird Café, hang out or wherever they go, and that’s it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That’s driven by publishers. It’s understandable. They are cracking the whip to get something – get going, get going. It’s kind of like placing your bets.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Is it advantageous to a young songwriter to have a set schedule?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It helps, but I have a very different view of the writing process. It may have something to do with the 360 deal in Canada. You and I both know revenue streams are down quite a bit from when we were career-oriented musicians.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was an in-house producer at Sony for years. I’m a Sony/ATV songwriter worldwide, but I am writing fewer songs these days because there are fewer placements and because so many songwriters today are being hit with copyright problems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A pure songwriter is not trying to be a star, and they are as passionate about writing songs as I am about producing music or playing instruments. Are your songs going to be as good as the person that is that passionate? Chances are, no. Obviously, there are great songs written by the artist and when you look back in history and pretty much every song we know, and the public knows, comes from a song-writing team. That goes for movies, etc., and I know a lot of them, and they feel kind of displaced. They are getting hit on two fronts. One, copyright issues – not getting paid from Spotify, no sales so mechanical royalties are down, and on top of it, nobody wants their songs. Few understand the validity and need for them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At Sony we were developing artists and promoting co-writing and getting your chops together and always have been. Some artists didn’t want this and figured they needed to do this themselves. We were always mindful that it's good but let’s also find some outside songs. We presented lots of songs to artists. You would know them all and what I’m talking about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the wider world people don’t know that Marvin Gaye and every hit he had, he never wrote. He wrote songs, but the hit songs that made him a household name were written by songwriters. For the most part, some of the biggest artists in the world either didn’t write their songs or couldn’t write a song to save themselves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Regarding three songs in a day, it’s more about placing bets. The more you do them, the greater the possibilities. My publisher would be happy if I delivered three songs in a day.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’m also thinking in these team situations you are partnered with someone who has had success.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Exactly<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;">. </strong>What I’m seeing coming back from Nashville, these teams are always missing something. There are certain tiers of Nashville songwriting teams that most Canadians will never get a chance to be involved with. Then there are the ones who are trying to be songwriters and trying to get a hit. I have lots of friends that live there and have been there ten years and still haven’t had the big one, and they had big songs here before they left.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The majority of my artists and labels I work for want to know what I think. I can get a list of ten to twelve songs to listen to and pick my favourite. Honestly, the more I get, the more let down I am. As a producer I’ve done well-enough I can kind of pull rank a bit to remind them that there’s no song here, and we need to find songs, outsource and see what’s there. I can go to the bigger publishers for pitches. If the artist or label isn’t into that, I’ll pass on the project.</span></div>
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<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">What were your thoughts when figuring out how you’d fit in with a band like Washboard Union? What was your approach?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The first time I heard them, they’d already completed the EP with Slaight Music and Jim Campbell. Jim sent me some files to listen to, and I heard three potential singles. When people ask me my opinion, I tend to focus on what’s wrong with it. I always follow-up with – it’s just my opinion. Here’s what I think is going to be an issue with radio play.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I think they sent out the first single unfixed and it didn’t really do much. I got the call asking if I’d retool some of it. I loved the songs. I stepped in and retooled their first two big hits, “Moonshine” and “Shot of Glory”, which don’t sound anything like the EP. Because of the way music is made these days – budget related, much like the songwriter, they keep that revenue stream in-house as long as they can.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There’s also the production side of things where everybody’s a producer. They have a laptop. Now the music is based on a team of people who make all of the music, and the singer just sings. There’s a real push towards the music sounding like what the producer thinks it should be. Somebody really has to put a face on that sonically. Knowing I was going to be charged with that duty, I went out to Halifax to meet the guys, sat down and talked. Talked about music, talked about stuff they love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Those first two singles that came out were a culmination of what they love, not what I love. A lot of that was similar, and I became kind of like a band leader. Everything was designed and based on what they love or said, and I had to take that and make it work with radio. That’s how the sound happened.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Not a lot of people are going to take the time to do that. It could have been entirely different if someone else produced it. And that’s very common with a lot of artists these days, especially solo artists who don’t have a band. You are kind of at the mercy of your creative team.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My prediction is, we are going to see a lot more bands from a producer's stand-point. That should bring some originality to the projects. That’s what’s missing. I’m not dumping on anything out there because it’s all very well done. We used to have a saying at Sony - ‘the fish starts to stink at the head.’ Meaning, we’d see lots of bands, and if the singer just wasn’t there or didn’t have star qualities then it didn’t matter how good that band was. It was going to fail. That’s why solo artists tend to work still. Obviously, that’s the first thing to be judged over anything. You could literally loop a fart behind a great singer and it should be fine. It tends to make things a bit more homogenized. It’s the same producers or different producers using the same sound. It’s done on computers, drum machines etc. It all sounds the same. It’s something that happened in the rock world when we were making rock records. Everyone was repeating themselves.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">With Nice Horse and the new River Town Saints single, these are two of the newer things I’ve done, I demanded they have to be a project, not two singers. It’s very taxing for producers to be everything. Or design everything.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Washboard thing was a cakewalk. We had so many common interests. It was just knowing who to hire to play because it’s all real players. The bands I produce are ninety-per cent live musicians. It’s not cut and paste. It’s what it is when they play live.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Not only am I now turning down projects because I don’t think the songs are strong enough, sometimes it may be solo artists where I don’t think the voice or songs are there yet. I’d rather look at projects that are together; then I can challenge them to be better.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the case of Washboard, Chris Duncombe plays banjo, guitar, and he sings. Aaron Crain plays guitar and sings, and David Roberts plays mandolin, guitar, banjo, washboard and sings. There’s enough there I can wrap around that. That’s why I think that project worked out so well. It’s so honest! Honest to the point some stations thought it was too honest and too folk and were hesitant to jump on.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’m looking for projects where I can see them play a venue. It’s a band. It’s a real thing. Nice Horse is a great example of that.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When the management team asked me to work on this project, I found out all of the women play their own instruments. They are not ‘barbie dolls,’ they are the real deal. Great songwriters, great ideas and great singers.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Their management people asked me if I was going to get some Nashville people to play with them. I said I wanted to hear them first. We did some rehearsals and I thought, this is what country music is missing. The uniqueness. They are all good players. Music is not about being a virtuoso, it’s about having an identity as a musician. Good or bad, strong or weak. It doesn’t matter. The best example is the Ramones.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We all love the Ramones to some degree but individually they were horrible musicians but put it all together and it works. I’ve seen countless cover bands cover the Ramones and it’s terrible because it’s too good. It’s missing those perfect accidents. It needs to be real and I think people want that too.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I challenged the girls to be themselves and the record is one hundred percent them minus the steel player – all else is the girls. When you hear the record, it sounds real because it can’t not be.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The upside to that from a business point of view is if the band hits and does well, lots of people will try to be that, but they can’t be that. It changes the expiration date.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Two groups I was absolutely taken with that went two different directions are The Civil Wars and Little Big Town. Civil Wars falls apart because they can’t get along yet if you go back to the beginnings of Little Big Town they had songs, they had a sound a step away from what most groups sounded like in Nashville. I knew when I first heard both they were the real deal.</span></strong></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There are only two producers in the world that can say they were in-house producers at Sony Music in Canada. Myself and a guy named ‘Tawgs’ who has done Walk Off the Earth. Nobody in the building my first six years there as a producer including my boss ever asked me to make something sound like something. They asked me to find all of the unique things about that project and exploit that, then magnify to it’s maximum potential to how I felt as a producer.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My last two years with the company it all changed. They wanted me to fit something to what was already out there. I struggle with this constantly. I want the artist to be in both camps. It’s like a tennis court they have to sit on. It makes it a little bit tougher.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: latobold; font-style: normal; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">How much outside listening do you do?</span></strong></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My daily routine and I’ve been doing this long before my years at Sony, is mornings always consist of too much coffee, way too many cigarettes, and I listen to at least the top twenty of every main chart. Rock pop, EDM, dance, hip-hop and country. While I’m listening to that, I will quickly listen to new adds or most increased. At least the top five of the recurrent charts.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’ll listen to each part of the song; chorus, verse etc. Then I’ll switch over to the HYPE Machine which is a beautiful aggregate that takes all of the blog charts from around the world and gives me a top ten, and it’s diverse.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’m spending the first part of the morning enriching my brain with modern, popular content. I shut it off and only listen to outside stuff the next day. I only listen to what I’m working on.</span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "News Cycle"; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I’m training my brain to connect the dots between genres to see what’s the common denominator among popular culture today. That sort of filters into my productions. The broader world and what’s popular this month.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7065877439708943201.post-22238605391351324772017-08-27T10:27:00.002-07:002017-08-27T10:27:40.900-07:00The Roots of Racism, Family & Healing<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 30.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 22.5pt; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: oswald_regular, serif; font-size: 18pt;">By Bill
King</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cVQioB3aVqA/WaMA30dK39I/AAAAAAAABIE/E2IB1DHf55Mx_wiPtBg9PQhfLHJTcORqgCLcBGAs/s1600/1921.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="743" data-original-width="1200" height="198" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cVQioB3aVqA/WaMA30dK39I/AAAAAAAABIE/E2IB1DHf55Mx_wiPtBg9PQhfLHJTcORqgCLcBGAs/s320/1921.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 30.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 22.5pt; mso-outline-level: 2;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">With
the horror of Charlottesville fresh in mind - white
nationalists/supremacists on the ground, a resurgence of the KKK, communities
under siege – an open dialogue is beginning to take shape. Words are
still hate-filled and coded, but for the most part, there’s push-back – folks
coming forth and confronting evil. Statues to Confederate war lords are
falling, as are those of slave owners and plantation barons. Those are
positive signs we may be replacing bandages with healing surgery.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">With
that in mind, I thought I’d offer a look at our family to better understand the
roots of modern day bigotry and how my brother Wayne and I dealt with it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">All you
should do is turn back the clocks and gather around a kitchen table during the
late fifties and early sixties down south and listen in on adult conversations.
It was the blame game – it was always about the outsider – a face, a name that
either prospered or endured hardship more than you. I’m talking about family.
Family history. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">There
was always a family member, aunt or uncle who ripped on those less fortunate
and those who acquired a comfortable amount of wealth. Ours was no different -
the key factor still in play – southern history – one rooted in class,
prejudice, and racism.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dad’s
side of the family were dirt-poor tobacco farmers who lost everything from
gambling, drinking and the Great Depression. Pops' father was a hard man who
put the farm and family in jeopardy. Pops never spoke kind words about him
other than to remind us he was frequently beaten with a razor strop. I know
from those who knew dad as a boy and maturing man, he was wild as hell. Dad ran
the Kentucky foothills without a care in the world until the Great Depression. He
made it as far as grade ten schooling and then, out of necessity, was sentenced
to picking tobacco – back-breaking work for a child or adult. Once old enough
to drive, dad ran moonshine through the Kentucky/Tennessee back country in an amped-up
Ford.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Family vacations, dad would point out roadside
hideaways. Places where ‘copper stills’ were once hidden from the sight of
revenuers. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pops
railed against big government; blacks, unions, alcoholics, Catholics, fat
people, liberals, communists; whoever challenged his sense of what America was
meant to be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dad loved
history. He’d cram us into his prized Ford Fairlane station wagon and travel to
historic Mt. Vernon N.Y, - George Washington’s home; Hopkinsville, KY to
observe Lincoln’s log cabin, Washington D.C. – colonial Williamsburg, VA. If
there was a statue or symbol of America – the family arrived to witness
and remember.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Across
the river in Louisville, Olympic heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay was
quickly dispensing with opponents and rising in the pro ranks. Pops was there
for every fight pleading for an opponent to smash Clay’s mouth shut. ‘No negro
should ever talk to a white man this way’, he’d say. Pops was a Rocky Marciano
guy. He’d huddle front of his bedside radio - draw curtains and battle Cassius
and fight personal demons.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dad was
wounded on four different occasions during World War 11, and it wasn’t until he
was well into his ‘70s that he began treatment for PTSD. Recalling the
amphibious landing and assault on Utah Beach, D-Day June 6, 1944 – Normandy, he
suffered sleepless nightmares. Pops would interrogate himself – ask why he
survived and close friends drowned or perished from enemy fire. It
haunted him till death at age 89. War rarely took a day off in our home. Twelve
operations, hundreds of trips to the VA hospital, long bouts of anger, pain and
frustration followed him most hours of the day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">What
gave Pops relief was music. He played rhythm guitar through his late teens and
twenties and travelled the south in minstrel shows with singer Jackie
DeShannon’s(Sharon Meyers) dad, ‘Tink’ Meyers. As told to us – they sang poor-house
songs scripted during the depression. He also worked with magician Harry
Blackstone setting up and packing props. All before war changed him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">As
kids, we tiptoed through the house and sidestepped as if avoiding minefields.
Occasionally, the guitar would come out, and pops would place his trembling
hands on the fret board and shape a chord then strum. This was when he came to
life - loosened up, revealing what he yearned to do with his life. Play like
Oscar Peterson’s guitarist – Herb Ellis!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Elvis ‘three-chord wonder’ recitations, those idiot rock n’ rollers
declarations – only jazz musicians had it together in his head. Buddy Rich,
Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman – even country man Roy Clark, honky-tonk pianist Jo
Ann Castle of the Lawrence Welk Show, fared better.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dad
worked a good thirty years as a security guard at Colgate Palmolive Company
until retirement. The next twenty-five were invested in his passion – fishing.
That fishing habit brought him to the Everglades where he spent nearly every
waking hour trolling for bass. When not in Florida, he could be found at his
campsite on Cumberland Lake, in Kentucky – fishing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">At
Colgate, he battled with the black community which bordered the plant. Poverty
was a ‘fact of life’, and the grounds of the plant were fair game and a small
income for those most in need. There were tubes of discarded toothpaste, bars
of soap, detergent – products tossed aside for one small infraction or another.
At night, folks would jump the fence and dad would give chase. The game played
out until the old man was ambushed and whacked with a shovel, fracturing a leg.
This did little to dissipate the hostility he bore for the opposite race.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Throughout
high school, brother Wayne and I endured his lectures on race and equality. It
was all about class and where you stood on the economic ground. He was sure
blacks would always reside a few steps below whites; that’s just the way it
was. Then along came Martin Luther King and all hell busts loose.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">For old
southerner’s, these were racial issues sorted out long ago by whites, and
everyone knew their place. Integration was on the doorstep; sit-ins, civil
rights marches, laws guaranteeing equality were on the books or on the
legislative horizon and dad, like those of his heritage, had no control or say
in these matters.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
coming years were unpleasant. Us boys saw the future and didn’t buy into the
bigotry and hatred. Music demanded humility, compromise, associations, and
friendships. At nineteen, I left home and never returned as a resident. Dad and
I fought and argued for years – going three to five years without a
conversation between us until we met on common ground at my Italian
grandmother’s farm in Pennsylvania. It was there, after a year’s absent during
a conversation I asked him to take a walk in the woods.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pops
stood 6’6” – a lanky, at times fierce man, but on this occasion, he was with
his first son. I finally had a chance to speak openly without fear, and ask why
he carried so much animosity for the poor and blacks he’d grown up alongside.
He responded, “it’s all about survival. There are those that have, and the have
nots. It’s the laws of survival. I have, and that’s that – the planet’s
overcrowded and the weak die”. Astounding! I prod him further – he then
explains this is the way he was raised and he can’t change.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I
didn’t buy that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Through
the next decade, until death, I make an effort to change him; not hate him.
Each month or two, I’d send him a book to read. He was a voracious reader. P.J.
O’Rourke, Paul Theroux, Bill Bryson – music biographies, history, war,
travel - anyone I thought who could expand his horizons and move him away
from those John Birch Society and Jerry Falwell pamphlets.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Visits,
he’d be locked and loaded in his recliner with FOX News blasting on eleven –
wound tight and ready for a fight! We knew to keep him far away from his prized
gun rack. Brother Wayne and I would teas, toy and keep him laughing. Pops did
learn from our long-distance relationship, never speak to me in racist terms or
language. Never demean those less fortunate, - at best, be civil.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">During
his last decade, we grew close, speaking every week or so on the phone. It was
always about music and photography and what was in those books. Throughout our
lives, I never asked him for a penny, then in the last three years of life,
$1,000 arrived consecutive Christmases; a check each, addressed to my wife Kris
and I, with instructions scribbled in trembling ink, ‘put this towards the best
digital cameras you can buy’.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Pops
and I looked at the same photo books; Henri Cartier-Bresson, his favourite, war
photographer Robert Capra – my favourite – Eugene Smith. He understood what
made a great image. Dad listened to music and could recognize a finely crafted
solo. Pops savoured the landscape and beauty and time spent hiking and fishing
– he was no ordinary man – far better than the class battles poor southerners
carried as open wounds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Leading
to my fiftieth high school class reunion, my dear classmate, Jan Stratton
Cooksey, prods me a good year before to attend – saying something special
was occurring. Kris and I make the trip, and I find myself accepting an award
for the work I’d done in music outside our community of Jeffersonville,
Indiana – <i>Commodore of the Port</i>. We
are a shipbuilding community.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
person driving this – Jimmy Gales, a black man who I shared many a day and
friendship in classes throughout my school years. We hadn’t seen or spoken
through the years, but Jimmy took this upon himself to make happen. I had no
idea how this would play out in that Indiana has a checkered past and
connection to the Klan. It’s a diehard right-wing Republican state, and me – a
well-known war resister who fled to Canada. The night was exceptional and the
past, for most, was the past.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Late
evening, Jimmy and I speak, and he reveals to me something I’d never imagined;
how much he loved my dad. Their fishing adventures and friendship. I was bowled
over. It was like rumours of someone having two families or at least
relationships with a muse.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 13.5pt;">
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">I
walked away with a smile in my heart. Truthfully, I always suspected dad wasn’t
the shallow man yodeling epitaphs from the recliner. A far better man than the
hurtful words that crippled our relationship. Jimmy spoke the words I needed to
hear.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #555555; font-family: "News Cycle",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
always suspected Pops would have given up all his possessions if he could have
sat five minutes on a coveted bandstand alongside Duke Ellington, Count
Basie, Cannonball Adderley, Lionel Hampton and his super hero, Wes Montgomery -
the giants of jazz, whose artistry and intellect demolished all delusions of
superiority. Pops heard the music, and the music touched him. It was Jimmy, the
family angel, who righted his soul.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Bill Kinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06980849312397743804noreply@blogger.com1