Early Years

I would like to tell you about myself. I’ve been playing guitar for the last 40 years. I was born in Weston Ontario, but I grew up in Aurora. My family moved to Richmondhill when I was 16 and it was there  that I took up playing the guitar. I always wanted to learn, because my dad used to let bands practice in our house on Edward Street in Aurora. The most famous player that I can remember seeing practice was John Findley who went on to sing for a recording band called Rhinoceros.

Richmond Hill

Here I am at the bright and bushy age of 20 playing a Gibson melody maker, powder blue in colour. I personally love the fringe vest, don’t know what ever happened to it. Of course it wouldn't fit me now. Amazing how young people can't feel the cold. If I remember correctly it was freezing but I had to have the picture. Made me look cool or at least I thought it did.

Grits

One of the first bands I played in was called Grits, here is the only picture of the group. It was a bluegrass band and I played bass. That’s me in the middle with all the hair and the “almost a moustache”. I’ve had the picture for years and I remember the names of only two of the other players. Ron Celsie and Bill Street. Bill (bottom left) was a really good guitar player and at the first gig we played the neck of his priced Gibson Hummingbird was snapped. It ruined the whole gig. Ron, the fellow in the white hat played the banjo, his father ‘Art Celsie was a country singer in Ontario. I was dating Ron’s sister at the time and I think that was the only reason I was in the band.

Out in the Wilds of BC

In the mid 70’s I left Toronto and moved to the west coast. In this picture I am in a band called “Crazy Charlie”. Yup I was the crazy one, wore satin clothes and platform shoes. It was a three piece band and I played the bass for some of the songs and guitar for the rest. The other two band members were brothers from Sacramento California. They fought all the time. Todd was the other guitar player and his brother Kirk played the drums. We played a lot middle of the road music and traveled all over B.C. and Alberta

Crazy Charlie

On stage in Smithers B.C. It was a great place to play because the owner of the bar feed us on Sundays at her house. The food was great and the vodka was tasty.

Edmonton

Here I am in Edmonton. I had not included this in the previous website because I didn't have any pictures of the year I spent there. Recently I reconnected with a friend of mine in Edmonton and he sent me these pictures. Boy am I young and fond of satin shirts and pants. Skinny too, but that was because we were broke all the time and couldn't afford to eat and drink beer at the same time.

Kamloops

After Crazy Charlie I came back to Vancouver and tried my hand at teaching. It led me to Kamloops where I joined a band called Colorado. It was more of a country/pop band that lasted for a year or so. When I went home for xmas of 1977 I met my wife Judy. Actually I was on my way to California to become a rich and famous rock and roll star but she got me first. Probably saved me from living on the beach in California with no money or job. A couple of years and a couple of bad bands (one of which was called Mikey Ratz in Prince Rupert) later I quit music for almost ten years. We moved to Penticton for a couple of years and then back to Vancouver, where I took up teaching music again. At the same time I owned and operated a magazine called Canadian Cartoonist. In the year 2000 I decided to do a CD that was meant to express how I feel about music. I really didn’t think that so many people would like it. I’m thrilled it affects so many people

Edmonton

The fellows in the picture are still Todd and Kirk and myself, the other fellow is Doug somebody or other. I don't really remember him probably because I've blocked out all memory of the cold winters and snow up there in the flat wilderness.

Either that or the experiences I had there were mostly negative. Like all bands it had it's ups and downs and it's personality conflicts. Mine were with Todd and it was over a girl of course. I wonder what ever happened to Cathy........

Penticton

The last band I played for was in Penticton. It was probably the best band I was in but unfortunately the other players thought of the band as a hobby and didn’t take it very seriously. Also at that time I tried my hand at working as a musical agent. I wasn’t very good, and the final straw for me was when my agent basically said to me I was too old, too fat and too married to be a rock star, I was only 30. Funny I don’t even remember the name of the band or most of the names of the people in it.

I Had Enough

It was in the 80’s that I quit playing. I didn’t take it up again until the mid 90’s when I started working in a music store. My wife and I left Penticton and moved back to Vancouver. We had to, there was no work in Penticton, people were being laid off left right and centre. My teaching business shut down and we had to scrape by to make a living. It was a good decision to leave.