It's All About Me

I  was born in Brantford, Ontario, August 11, 1959. My parents divorced when I was three and my father moved me and my brother to Mildmay, Ontario. I attended my first 3 years of school there but never took kindergarten. My father found us a guardian, who we considered our stepmother, while my father sought work in Brampton. We all moved to Norval, Ontario in 1968. My first occupation was here, as I was diligent in collecting pop and beer bottles on the side of the road.

I didn’t get along well with my stepmother so I ran away to live with my mother in Preston, Ontario in 1972. It was here that I got to witness the Canada, Russia series. We then moved to Galt, Ontario for a year and I had a hard time making friends here. Upon reflection it seems that prejudice can start at a young age over very trivial circumstances.

My mother has lots of relatives in Manitoba so we took a vacation there in 1973. We liked it, so we moved there that winter. It seems that the prejudice moved with us.

After a year in Steinbach, Manitoba, my parents found work at a fly-in fishing camp called Dogskin Lake, north of  Lac Du Bonnet, Manitoba. This was one of the greatest experiences of my life. I had the opportunity to explore a real wilderness location as we were about 100 miles from the nearest road. The fishing was incredible and I was chased by a couple of bears on separate occasions. The first time was the most interesting so I will elaborate on that. 

It was a bad year for forest fires that year which caused the food supplies to be sparse for the bears. My step-father (Harry) thought it would be an act of kindness to leave a box of soup bones at the edge of the forest for the bears to rummage through. At the end of the day Harry asked me to go see if the box was empty, so I had a look to see if there were any bears there. I didn't see any so I went to retrieve the box and as I stood peering into it I heard a noise behind me. Out from under the lodge this small black bear came charging at me, thinking I was stealing his food. I made a beeline for the back door of the lodge and fortunately for me, one of the guides (Phil) was watching from a distance. He let out a hardy yell and the bear stopped in his tracks. I ran behind Phil and the bear took off into the bush. It was a close call. Thank you Phil.

There was one other bear adventure when one of the bears started getting a little bold. He broke into the bait shop and ripped it apart after he found the fish cleaning station being void of scraps. It was a slow week of fishing and the usual barrel of fish guts was empty. I guess the bear didn't take kindly to this as after he ransacked the bait store he proceeded to try and enter the lodge. If I wasn't so busy crapping my drawers, I would have laughed at the situation. There was four grown adults pushing at the door, trying to keep the bear from entering. It must of worked because the bear retreated to the back of the lodge. That night we discussed the bear dilemma and decided he had to go.  Harry set a box of food scraps several yards from the house and shone a light on it. Sure enough the same bear came around to claim his prize and Harry rewarded him with a .22 bullet to the head.

I could probably write a good sized novel about my many adventures that summer, but I'm not famous enough to make it sell. 

After that summer, my parents found work at a lumber camp, deep in the Manitoba wilderness. They allowed me to leave school that year so I could look after our dogs as well as King, the half wolf, half  big dog of some kind and Skipper, the oldest dog I ever met, quite pungent. King and Skipper belonged to George Merrick, the owner of Tall Timber Lodge and Dogskin lake Lodge. So I was still able to explore the wilderness and learn about a real alternative lifestyle. My nearest neighbor was about a mile down the river so I didn’t see too many people that winter.

The following summer I got my first official job. We moved to Sioux Narrows, Ontario and I started work at Motlong’s Rod & Reel. I was in charge of grounds maintenance and preparing the boats and bait for the guides in the morning. I also learned to use a chainsaw and an aqua-naught. That fall I found myself pining for the family of my youth, so I moved back south to be with my dad. I decided to go back to school and since I had dropped out before grade eight, they decided I was to old at sixteen to go back to grade eight so I moved right up to grade nine.

I was an average student, with my strongest courses to be math, geography and history. I allowed myself to skip one day per year, as I didn’t want to become habitual in my tardiness. My father decided to divorce his second wife while I was in grade eleven. I didn’t see the need for this and became quite upset. I wound up going back to Sioux Narrows at the end of grade eleven and never finished high school.

I was unable to find work that year as I got there well into the season. My stepfather took up collecting stray dogs in the area as he was a fanatic for dogs and there was no humane society in the area. This made it quite awkward with the neighbors and we were essentially run out of town. My parents bought a parcel of land on Off Lake road, just outside of Emo, Ontario and built a shanty style house attached to a run down trailer. We almost froze and starved that winter, as our source of heat was a wood stove in the kitchen and all the money my stepfather made went to feeding the twenty-nine dogs we had and the oil-guzzling car.

I couldn’t handle this situation so I moved back south, this time with my brother. It took me awhile to find work but I eventually found employment at a gas bar. I wasn’t very good at this as I was always giving too much gas and putting the oil in the wrong place. I quit after a couple of weeks. After a couple more months of job hunting I found myself working at a flower wholesaler warehouse. It would have been a good job but I had a couple of  friends working there as well and we got into trouble a lot. I was laid off.

My brother couldn’t afford to support me so I was forced to go live with my dad again. I was fortunate in finding a job right across the road at the Ontario Humane Society. With all my experience with dogs they thought I was perfect for the job. At first I felt I was doing something meaningful for the animals and society, but I began to realize it was more about money in the bigger picture. It was also at this time that I joined my first band, Cacophony. I knew I found my true calling at this point and concentrated on becoming a rock star.

As I honed my musical skills I knew I still had to make money, so I took a job with a temp agency and they led me to the K Mart warehouse in Brampton. It was a great job and I learned to operate all of the warehouse vehicles. My boss liked me so much he let me sit in on the crib games at lunch. Unfortunately, being a temp job there was really no room for advancement, so I left. My father moved us to Georgetown around the same time and I worked at an industrial gasket factory called Cercor for a couple of months.

Then finally my brother called me up one day needing a soundman for his band. Good bye Cercor, hello rock & roll. I spent two months of  developing practical audio techniques on the road when their bassist quit. I was given an instant promotion even though I had never played bass before. I purchased an Attilla bass and a Traynor Monobloc bass amp and two weeks later I was a professional bassist. The band lasted about a year after that and then split up due to mismanagement. My brother and I took gigs with various bands after that but wound up going in different directions. As time went on I played with over thirty bands, touring over Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes and playing a plethora of styles.

Things started changing for me in 1995. I moved to North Bay, Ontario with my girlfriend (now wife) Corinne and my friend and partner Lloyd McMillan. It was here that I dedicated myself to the Christian faith, acquired a diploma in graphic design, married my most exceptional wife and sired two most amazing children. As my musical career kept me going through college, I would not give it up after graduating. I took jobs with SeeMore Graphics, a vinyl sign manufacturer, at Mail Boxes Etc. as a sales associate and graphic designer. It was here that I helped to establish a graphics service from scratch. I also worked at Teletech Canada, where I learned to trouble shoot cell phones, assist customers with billing inquiries and multitask with different types of computer databases.

I decided that this was too stressful and Corinne and I wanted our kids to know their granddad so we made the big move to Indian Harbour, Nova Scotia. The original plan was for me to work as a bartender at the Seabright Legion until I could find a better job. The better job hasn’t come yet but I did manage to put a band together and we do gig once in a while. The summer is great for work as I have found a lucrative busking spot. In the winter we try to survive until spring. Emmanuel Baptist Church needed a bass player, so I volunteered my services there.

I am currently contemplating a serious "change of mind". It appears to be more difficult to gig in Nova Scotia than I had anticipated so I will seek higher council on the matters at hand.

I changed my mind. It's 2006 and I'm still playing with the band. I have also started recording original music again. Corinne wants to move to the Kentviille area and go to Acadia College to get her pastors papers. I will seek employment in Kentville and hopefully they are more approachable there. 

We're moving into 2007 and I still have no work. The music Stop in Bedford is considering hiring me after the new year so hope springs eternal. My friend, Ellen got me a single gig at Dave Doolittles in Dartmouth, so the doors may open for me as a single entertainer. I am also doing a jam with Danny Banfield on Wednesday nights at the North End Beverage Room. 

May 2007, Rylan Jack's restaurant has hired me as the house musician and that is going quite well. Rinn is making hammocks for the guy up the road. I've been accepted into the Appliance repair program at NSCC, so I will be a college kid for the second time providing the funding comes through.

May, 2008
Finished one year course in Appliance repair. Achieved certificate and certificate for handling refrigerants. Blew up my computer a few weeks back. Now I am learning to use Linux Ubuntu on my new computer.

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