Well….September has arrived!! Sunny, cloudy, sunny and cloudy, rainy, cool, hot, muggy, humid, COLD!, sleep naked, nope…..need socks, air conditioner on, off, on again, dehumidifier in overdrive some days (that was all just June & July). Summer seems to have vanished in a heartbeat without ever having really “arrived”. Now it’s back to school and back to work.
My heart is heavy and my brain is trying to digest what has happened because it doesn’t make any sense. But then, suicide never does, at least not to the living. ….and so I start with the first new column in five weeks talking about a topic that has been highlighted in the news far too much lately……but the famous are not alone in their despair. I know, I know, not a very uplifting subject but it’s one that has hit precariously close to home…..twice in exactly one week.
Before I pick up where I left off prior to Bob’s computer turning into a brick, I shall sidestep a titch and segue, for just a moment, into sessions. Yes…those relatively educational, supposedly non-biased, informative, enlightening, seminars/panel discussions or summits, as CMW refers to them. This is the core stuff delegates are actually paying for when they purchase a ticket. I listed the several different streams one can chose from in last week’s column, so I shan’t bore you with the details here. However, suffice to say, there is loads of opportunity to learn as well as “button hole” and query those with a cumulative hundreds of years of experience, and educate yourself in everything that is the entertainment industry. From Mentor’s Cafe to SOCAN, from touring to ticketing, from writing, producing and publishing to understanding Indie labels and Indie rights….and that’s just the music stream.
Meet Dan Phelps, if you have not already done so. I first ran across him over a decade ago when he was working with both Bill Pillmore and his daughter Jess Pillmore on their respective albums, Look In Look Out and Reveal. Bill was an original member of Cowboy and I had heard through Scott Boyer, another original member of that venerable band, that he was recording for the first time, to my knowledge, since Cowboy‘s excellent 1971 release, 5’ll Getcha Ten. When I contacted him, he was in full recording mode, working with Phelps, whom he had chosen to produce. To my amazement, Phelps did more than just produce. He was a sideman and a damn good one, a creator of good licks and solid musical ideas. It was a first look at a musician I would follow from that point on.
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I’m going to sneak one in this week. I miss writing and Tuesday’s column by fellow writer Frank Gutch Jr. has motivated me. “War stories” of a different type….addiction…”the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance or activity.” (Oxford Dictionary) In this case, I’m referring specifically to “a particular substance”.
It’s so quiet in the house you can almost hear it…..the quiet I mean. The steady tick of the clock, the occasional gurgle of the hot water radiator and the hum of complete stillness. The outside world seems so far away, almost non-existent. As I sit typing this it’s like I’m on the inside looking out….a rather surreal feeling….like one of those movie scenes where the person is standing still and everything else is whizzing and swirling by at record speed. Watching and waiting. A sense of calm yet anticipatory. Of what I don’t know.
Jeez…..there’s nothing more challenging than following the venerable Mr. Vickers. The wizard of words, the lord of linguistics, the man who requires most of us to have a dictionary, any dictionary, in extremely close proximity, preferably at one’s fingertips (or at least within stretching distance), and has us laughing two sentences in. If you missed it, you’ll find his discourse (or diatribe) here Highly recommended reading!
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Bullseye Records of Canada
