Guitars & Radio & Wild Wild Women

Guitars & Radio & Wild Wild Women

Chapter III

Lost in the Fifties

The fifties were a great time to grow up, the post-war economy was booming, kids had money for the very first time, and of course, Mr. Businessman wanted that money. He started out by renaming us “Teenagers” then began to manufacture us some special clothing, make our kind of movies, and finally record some music that we liked. It was while doing homework one evening that once again I heard that strange music I’d heard a year earlier at my friend Barry’s house. This time though, it was coming out of the radio.

One two three o’clock
four o’clock rock.
Five six seven o’clock
eight o’clock rock

“Rock Around The Clock” being played on the radio that day had started the evolution of music, things would never be the same again. Before long you started hearing pop acts on the radio like the Crew Cuts, The 4 Lads, and the Diamonds being mixed into the syrupy sweet sound of what used to be. I later discovered that most of this new music were only watered down versions of even a bigger sound that lay ahead.
When the school year ended we moved into a brand new home in a suburb called Transcona and that shy quiet guy who loved baseball and scouting was left far behind. Unfortunately, my Dad, being the jack of all trades that he was, had bought the stripped down version of our new home and I became his reluctant assistant as we brought it up to speed. We built a garage, a bedroom in the basement, put in a concrete driveway, sidewalks, a fence, and sodded the front and back yard. It was during our building years that I guess he felt compelled to repeat the house rules over and over to me. Don’t bring the police to our door, don’t ever tarnish the family name, and stay away from the bad girls. I understood the first two, but the staying away from the bad girls was ludicrous. If you stayed away from the bad girls, how the hell were you supposed to get lucky? According to my Dad, all crime began after midnight so to keep me from temptation he initiated a midnight curfew.

The only break I ever got from all of our construction work, was when my Dad was suffering for a few days from, what we now know, to be Depression. On those days, I’d wander over to the nearby park hoping to play a little ball with someone. It was during one of these searches that I met the guy who turned me on to music, Peter Proskurnik. On this day though, I was just at the park to play baseball which Peter said he would do after he practiced his accordion. I remember thinking, accordion, why would anyone want to play the accordion? A short time later while throwing the ball around, he asked if I’d like to go to Teen Canteen? When I asked what Teen Canteen was, he said it was a dance. The only dances I knew about played polkas or square dances which I certainly wasn’t interested in. However, since he played some ball with me, I decided to go.When we arrived at the East End Community Club, the midnight sun was still high in the sky, so when the door closed behind us, we were thrust into total darkness. We must have looked just like a couple of blind guys who’d lost their canes as we groped our way down the narrow hallway towards the dim light ahead.Upon entering the dance hall, suddenly, I no longer cared anymore about seeing, what I cared about was the thunderous sound blasting out of the huge Hi-Fi speakers. The raw sexuality pouring out of them and into my soul was making it very difficult for me to breathe.

I spent the whole night frozen in place in front of those speakers listening to the likes of Jimmy Reed, Fats Domino, Big Joe Turner, Little Richard, Tiny Bradshaw, Little Willie John, and Wynonie Harris. At some point, Pete must have sent some girl over to ask me to dance. I remember thinking, “Hell, I don’t wanna dance, I just want to make other people dance, and I wanna do it for the rest of my life.”

Chapter VIII and IX Strat Me Up

Bought me a “Strat.”
and put it in tune
Started singing with the “Devines.”
the next afternoon.

Became “Shayne and The Rebel Raiders.”
a real rockin’ band
But when we morphed to the Phantoms
we had a lot more fans

Elvis was the one who turned me on to guitars, but Buddy Holly played the one I wanted. Lowe’s Music told me that it was called a Fender Stratocaster and said that they could have one for me in about two weeks. Man, I wanted that guitar, but it cost $473.00 where the hell was a kid like me gonna come up with that kinda dough? Lowe’s saved the day by putting me on their $14 a month payment plan. (I just ignored how long that would take to pay off) That purchase turned out to be one of my better investments in the music business. Knowing that you should rid yourself of anything you haven’t used in six months, I realized that I hadn’t even seen my guitar for over ten years let alone played it. Time to move on. Randy Bachman (The Guess Who & BTO) had been after my guitar for years, so I sold it to him.
While putting the deal together, Randy mentioned that Neil Young had recently told him, “George had one of the first cool guitars in Winnipeg.” The value of a ’58 “Strat” is all over the place, so we settled on a price somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, Randy is now pissed at me because he didn’t realize that in 1965 I refurbished it, which he claims diminishes the value. I guess like a car you should also never sell a guitar to a friend.
Be that as it may, let’s get back to the day the music store called and said, ” Your Stratocaster is in.” When I arrived at Lowe’s, I immediately strapped it on and staring back at me from the mirror was a rock star. I bought a couple of guitar books and then spent hours and hours down in my room trying to learn a few chords. I realized soon enough that dreaming about becoming a “guitar man” was sure a lot more fun than learning to be one. So far, all I had to show for my efforts, were bleeding fingers.
Out of the blue one day, I received a surprise call from Shayne inviting me to join his group. Within weeks of becoming one of the Divines, I’m already on stage. We’d entered a talent show where we came in third and were also booked for an upcoming car club dance. Even though I still couldn’t play the guitar, I instantly became a professional musician when we were paid us for our appearance.

I was unplugged for the start of my musical career as I was when it ended some 30 years later. That though is another chapter for another story.

.

“Please Forget Her”
was still on the charts.
When my baby girl Candis
grabbed hold of my heart.

Time to grow up
and be a man
But I still sorta miss
being a kid in a rock&roll band.

Getting ready to hit the road, the postman dropped off a box of our first release, “Until You Do.” We had to go right by CKY on our way out of town, so I dropped off a few for Jimmy Darin and the rest of the KY Good Guys. With Winnipeg in our rear view mirror, we heard Jim say, “Ladies and gentleman, a KY exclusive, Until You Do by The Jury.” We almost blew the speakers out of the car radio when we cranked it up and sang along.
There’s no way to describe the feeling you get when hear your record on the radio for the first time, other than to say that it may be better than sex. I would venture a guess that even the biggest stars in the world can tell you what they were doing when they first heard theirs.
I used to sit in my room for hours practicing my guitar and dreaming about that moment. I mistakenly thought that when you had a record out; you became a member of a very exclusive club. Your only problems were trying to figure out what you were gonna buy next. Unfortunately, dreams and reality have very little in common.It was while doing a short tour with Ral Donner, Troy Shondel, and Ernie Maresca that I began to realize that the music world had a tier system. It was while sitting around Ral’s room having a beer after our last show when I realized that recording stars weren’t all equal.
Ral was telling us how excited he was about seeing Bobby Darin at the “Copa” the next night in Chicago. I could tell that Ral didn’t think that he was in Bobby Darin’s league just as Bobby probably didn’t think he was in Sinatra’s.
After thinking about this for years, I may have finally figured the system out. Imagine if you will, a pyramid-like structure seven stories high

Level 7– This is the top floor and where all the legends are, Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles, The Stones, Michael Jackson, Elton John, etc.
Level 6– Is where the “Hall of Famers” reside, Neil Young, Rod Stewart, Johnny Cash, Dion, Roy Orbison, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Beach Boys, Chicago, and Bobby Darin, to name only a few. Perhaps by now though, Neil Young may have moved up to the rare air of level 7.
Level 5– Hanging out here are, The Guess Who, BTO, Freddy Cannon, Tommy Roe, Bobby Vee, Bruno Mars, The Moody Blues, Ral Donner, Del Shannon, Maroon 5, and a bunch of others who have all had several hits.
Level 4– This where you find the local groups who have released a few records but haven’t gone national yet, The Devrons, The Galaxies, The Jury, The Quid, The Shondells, Sugar & Spice, The 5th and others.
Level 3– This is the floor of hopefuls; you know, the acts who deserve to be signed but aren’t.
Level 2– This is the place where all the folks who have just learned to play Louie Louie or whatever the entry level tune is today hang out. They, of course, are thinking about starting a band.
Level 1– On the very first level, you have all your dreamers. These are the kids who are thinking about buying a guitar and becoming a rock & roll star just as I had many years before after seeing Elvis on TV for the first time.
The reality of the situation is that you better be doing it for the love of music. The money doesn’t even start to show up until you get to at least the 5th floor.After releasing “Until You Do,” we knew that the checks wouldn’t show up right away, but surely Dick Clark would be calling soon to ask us to appear on American Bandstand. While waiting, we went back into the studio and cut “I Tried To Tell Her,” hoping it would move us one step closer to stardom.
Unfortunately, the only thing rising faster than our records on the charts were our expenses. And oh yeah, where the f**k was the call from Dick Clark? When “I Tried To Tell Her” slipped off the charts, we went back into the studio and recorded “Back In My World.” However, the only thing that was growing was our frustration. Ok, let’s give it one last big push. We booked Kay-Bank studios in Minneapolis and changed record companies. We were hoping by signing with a smaller label; maybe they’d have more time to promote us.
Out of our Kay- Bank session came “Please Forget Her” which I’m proud to say went on to become the #1 Canadian record in Canada. The flip side, “Who Dat?” ended up being a cult favorite, and was recently listed in a publication as being 50 years ahead of its time. I also saw it on E-Bay the other day for $125.00 and am now wondering, what the hell did with the box of them I used to have. Would you like the Canadian or American version of that sir? ( click on the picture below)

until you get to at least the 5th floor.After releasing “Until You Do,” we knew that the checks wouldn’t show up right away, but surely Dick Clark would be calling soon to ask us to appear on American Bandstand. While waiting, we went back into the studio and cut “I Tried To Tell Her,” hoping it would move us one step closer to stardom.
Unfortunately, the only thing rising faster than our records on the charts were our expenses. And oh yeah, where the f**k was the call from Dick Clark? When “I Tried To Tell Her” slipped off the charts, we went back into the studio and recorded “Back In My World.” However, the only thing that was growing was our frustration. Ok, let’s give it one last big push. We booked Kay-Bank studios in Minneapolis and changed record companies. We were hoping by signing with a smaller label; maybe they’d have more time to promote us.
Out of our Kay- Bank session came “Please Forget Her” which I’m proud to say went on to become the #1 Canadian record in Canada. The flip side, “Who Dat?” ended up being a cult favorite, and was recently listed in a publication as being 50 years ahead of its time. I also saw it on E-Bay the other day for $125.00 and am now wondering, what the hell did with the box of them I used to have. Would you like the Canadian or American version of that sir? ( click on the picture below)

Trust me you have to read the rest of this :
Click here to read the entire story :

Packed up my family
and headed to Saskatoon
Promised them all
we'd be back real soon.

Knew upon arrival
I'd need my own team
If this move was ever gonna
kick start my dream.

When my daughter Candis was born, it put me through some major changes. Even though we had records out, deep down I knew that I wasn't a good enough musician to support a family. So when Bill Grogan (pictured above center) offered me the music director's job at CKY, I left the Jury.
Leaving the Jury was no easy matter, it meant giving up on the dream that Rolly Blacquiere and I had dreamt when we were kids. Surprisingly, when Randy Bachman heard that I'd left the Jury, he tried to recruit me for the Guess Who. When I told Randy that I wasn't near good enough to play with them, he stated, "I can teach you the music. It's all that other stuff you do that The Guess Who needs." I told him that I was very flattered by his call, but I'd made my decision to give radio a shot.
Luckily, I turned out to be a hell of a lot better at radio than I ever was at playing guitar. The only drawback about giving up the band for radio was that all the Americans left. Now, radio wasn't as much fun as it used to be, but it still beat working for a living. The only good times we had were when John Wells and I would go up to Chan's Moon Room to drink somebody goodbye. These going away parties were always fun, and I loved flirting with Embree McDermid. Em was neither a wild woman nor a "bad girl," but she definitely was a MILF.

One day I received a surprise phone call from my old boss Jim Hilliard. (pictured above with Barb) He was the new program director of WFIL and wanted me to jump on a plane and come to Philly and talk to him. What he wanted to discuss was the possibility of me moving to Philadelphia to produce promos for him as I did at CKY.
After filling out all the necessary paperwork, we then jumped into his bright red Caddy convertible and headed for dinner with his wife, Barbara. When we arrived at Bookbinders, the joint was just jumpin' with lawyers. They, of course, were all wearing their official uniforms. You know, navy blue pin-striped suits with matching vests, yellow striped power ties, and of course the regulatory red suspenders. They were no match for our table though. Jim was wearing a maroon colored Nehru suit with a huge gold medallion dangling from his neck. Barb was decked out in what can best be described as a toga which was snow white and trimmed in gold. On her feet were white Roman sandals with straps that crisscrossed their way up to her knees. The fancy baubles that she had on her fingers were all gold as were the bracelets that snaked their way from her wrists to her elbows. Her long golden hair was piled high on her head and crowned with a gold tiara.
We spent a lot of time catching up on all that had transpired since we last hung out in Winnipeg which included the fact that Lana was now pregnant. At some point during dinner, I began to notice that we were being stared at, when I mentioned it to Jim he said, "they're just pissed 'cause I make more money than them."

I was very excited about maybe joining Jim in Philly, but unfortunately, we soon found out that unlike today, you can't just wander across the border. What you needed back then was a work permit and the way you got one of those was by starting out in the back of a very long line. When my name went on that immigration list, I was a board op in Winnipeg, and Jim was a program director in Philly. By the time I was notified that my name had finally risen to the top of the list, Jim was the CEO of a radio group out of Indy, and I was a station manager in Toronto.