Oh, yeah….

Remember I said I was going to get my parents to dig out the first-ever photo of me playing bass? Well, here it is. This is actually the second bass I ever owned, a Hagstrom model FB. My little brother took the picture (back before he was a whole head taller than me), probably just to be a smartass. It ain’t any better than yours, Rick!

The Jurassic era….

Here’s a pic of a just-pubescent Rick with his first-ever guitar (I met him when he was 16, and this guitar was already long gone) in the late 70’s.  I’m sure it was a real canoe paddle to play, and I’m pretty sure that lovely tiama mahogany woodgrain is, in fact, painted on.

Somewhere, there’s a picture of me playing my second-ever bass when I was about 16. I’ll see if my parents can come up with it. I still can’t believe people send me photos like this. They know I’m just gonna post them.

UPDATE 12/07 – Rick just wanted you all to notice the hippie trappings in this particular photo, to give it context. Note the Donovan shirt with the puffy sleeves,  the stars and moons stuck all over the guitar’s top, and the seagull feathers (one benefit of living close to Lake Ontario) jammed between the strings on the headstock!!

My God….

Here’s a photo Rick dug up of me as a Paperboy, playing the Christmas assembly at Burlington Central High School in December, 1980. I remember how the school officials didn’t know what to do when the kids down front (especially Cam, as I recall) started pogoing. I remember, too, Rick dedicatiing “Saw Her Standing There” to the “late Mr. Lennon”, which was very current news, as he’d only been shot a week or so before.  I also remember that bass, which was made the mid-seventies, when Fender’s quality control was at its absolute lowest. It was a colour they called “walnut”, but was, in actual fact, a gawdawful solid root-beer brown colour. I remember that the body was made of such crappy wood (probably alder, ash wasn’t that soft) that the strap pins kept pulling out, and no amount of spent matchsticks and plasitc wood would keep them in place. However, it played and sounded OK, and it was my first real Fender, and I loved it just for that.

This photo, incidentally, was (I’m pretty sure) taken by Jeff Springstead, and it (or one very similar) appeared in the Central yearbook that year, even though I had graduated in 1977.

The Innocence of Youth

Rick posted this photo to his FaceBook site, and I couldn’t resist recycling it here for those who don’t FaceBook. This photo of the Paperboys dates from 27 years ago, almost to the day. Taken between sets at The Burlington Youth Centre (what is that place now? Part of the Senior’s Centre? Part of the Little Theatre?) during that brief period when those hippie chicks who hung around with Wayne Cass somehow managed to convince the town that what teenagers really needed was a live music venue.

It shows us in that naive period when the only makeup we could afford was an eyebrow pencil (which we used for everything), when our wardrobe was as likely to be our mothers’ castoffs as thrift shop finds, and we were still learning the ropes as musicians and entertainers. I was damn proud of that band, largely because there was no “Gee, I hope you like us” about anything we did. We walked it like we talked it.

I’m not sure who the cameraman is – this was before we adopted Jeff Springstead as our “official” photographer. I think it might actually have been Cam, who used to borrow his mother’s camera for such occasions. BTW, if anybody sees Roger Davies, tell him I still have that tie that he appears to be so fascinated with.

Fetch my Cub Kit…

Kub Coda.

Rick mentions Cub Koda on his Facebook page. In my life, the guys I have most aspired to be like are guys like Cub, and Lenny Kaye, and the Alvin brothers, who are scholars, historians and musicians. Guys who you could sit down and discuss whether Wynonie Harris or Stick McGee had a bigger impact on rock’n’roll. Guys who see their role as carrying on what is basically an oral tradition, continuing to present music that matters to them to an audience that is prepared to appreciate it. When I say “guys”, rest assured that I’m not being gender-specific, there are a lot of women who fall into this category, as well.

Cub’s remarkable life, and his unfortunate early demise, are well documented at his official website – www.cubkoda.com . There’s a lot more to the man than “Smokin’ in the Boy’s Room”, but even if that were his only contribution, it would’ve been enough.

Most Influential Album II

Funny name for an album…”Truth”

Alright, I’ve confessed that the 13-year-old D.J. Crossley was deeply impressed by the Stones’ finest live effort the last time out. Now we move on to the 15-year-old.

Back in 1973, CHUM-FM was still very much an “underground” radio station, who would play virtually ANYTHING. (You don’t believe me? sometime when you’ve got nothing better to do, look for a cut called “Fun at the Hospital” by a band called Egg. CHUM-FM used to play this fairly regularly – IN PRIME TIME!) Their afternoon drive show (ie-the one that was on when I got home from school) was hosted by John Donabie. He played a lot of good stuff, but virtually every day, he felt compelled to play a cut from his favourite album – “Truth”, by The Jeff Beck Group. It soon became mine.

One of the first of the heavy blooz bands from the UK (along with The Cream and The Pretty Things), they evolved from the psychedelic/blues wreckage of The Yardbirds to be quite something else. Part of the magic was the personnel – drummer Mickey Waller, guitarist Beck, bassist Ron Wood and vocalist Rod Stewart (along with contributions from such soon-to-be luminaries as Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Nicky Hopkins) created a magic that can still be heard today. Beck’s superb technical mastery, coupled with his fiery emotional edge, raised the bar for white blues guitar in a way that few before or since can claim. Page, for his part, was so fascinated with the interplay between Beck’s guitar and Stewart’s vocals that he found a 19-year-old kid with an equally impressive set of pipes (Robert Plant) to flesh out his “New Yardbirds” project, which of course, eventually became Led Zeppelin.
Most importantly for me, by the time the band fell apart (around 1970), Stewart and Wood had become fast friends. When Woody was invited to put a new project together with the suddenly Steve Marriott-less Small Faces, he dragged his drinking buddy along to the rehearsals. Finally, after a couple of days of sitting and watching, drummer Kenny Jones suggested that Stewart have a go at singing with them. The die was cast, and the best-rocking, hardest-partying band of the 70’s was born – Faces.

Most Influential Album

Whenever you go to see Rick these days he does a long preamble to “Saw Her Standing There” about how the first couple of Beatle albums (specifically, The Beatles’ Second Album, as it was called in North America) were probably the largest single musical influence in his life, and how he really learned guitar by learning those tunes.
It led me to a little self-examination, to see if I had somehow had a similar watershed moment of my own. And it didn’t take too long to find. The single most influential record I have ever heard in my life is…”Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert“.
Recorded on the 1969 tour of America, yeah, it does contain the definitive versions of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, “Midnight Rambler” and “Sympathy for the Devil” (and a darned good “Honky Tonk Women”, although probably not the definitive version), but that’s not what really affected me. The three songs that are contained on that album that literally changed my life are “Carol”, “Love in Vain” and “Little Queenie”.
Hearing Keith Richards play Chuck Berry was an epiphany to me. It is some indication of how they felt about Chuck that they included TWO of his songs on an eight-song live album.
Some time later, I bought the first couple of Stones albums, and there, you’d listen them studiously wrestle with a Jimmy Reed or Howlin’ Wolf song, but when they got to that obligatory Chuck Berry number (there was at least one on each of the first three records), it was like recess, man!

Going back to “Ya-Ya’s”, I cannot imagine how much different my life would’ve been without that record. When I took guitar lessons (I had already been playing bass for a number of years), the first thing I asked the teacher to teach me was Keith’s opening to “Carol”. I still remember how hearing Jagger leering “I got the lumps in my throat when I saw her comin’ down the aisle/I got the wiggles in my knees when she looked at me and squeezed a smile” on “Little Queenie” made me recognize the powerful sexual energy of the music, probably for the first time. And I remember how vividly Mick Taylor’s soaring slide soloing on Robert Johnson’s “Love in Vain” evoked the train imagery on that song. In fact, my general impatience with guitarists who don’t have a sweet, musical vibrato, or are unable to bend notes in tune, may well come from that.

Deacons Timeline IV – “The Deacons Decade”

1990

In the spring, Rick decided he’d had enough of the sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll lifestyle. Well, actually the sex part was probably exaggerated – after the booze and drugs, most women would have nothing to do with him!
“Once that train was back on the rails, the first place Rick and I went was to the pawn shop to get his big, red Gretsch out of hock. From that moment on, it was inevitable that we put the band back together”, says Dave.
The Screamin’ Deacons lineup was together again for most of 1990, even managing to record three new tracks – the Prinsthal original “Hurting You, Hurting Me“, the Paul Revere and the Raiders classic “Kicks“, and Dave’s tribute to Rick’s newfound sobriety, “The Party’s Over“.

1991

Most importantly, Dave’s daughter was born in January, becoming the first child of a Deacon. However, it became increasingly apparent that other demands on the members’ time were cutting into their availabilty for the Deacons. Kenny was already in two other bands when the call came, and Dan had made a success of the recording business, most notably producing two cd’s for Hamilton folk duo Open Mind.

1992

Cam, Rick and Dave begin to work on a “new Deacons” concept, with Cam & Rick on guitars, and Dave on bass. (Cam’s still in the army, but he’s been posted to the Hamilton recruiting office).They actually play one gig with this lineup, with Kenny on drums, but it’s very apparent that Kenny’s just too busy and they need to find another drummer. Auditions begin, but they can’t find anyone that they’re all comfortable with. Exasperated by the whole process, Cam stood up after the one of the last audtions and exclaimed, “Hell, I play drums better than any of these guys!”
Dave: “Rick and I just looked at him and went ‘Oh, yeah?’ And that’s how Cam got his gig back as the Deacons’ drummer. For the next four years, we were a trio.”

In a completely unrelated matter, the Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series in six over the Atlanta Braves.

1993

For the first time since the Paperboys days, Rick starts writing original material prolifically. Since the new songs seem to be well received live, the Deacons make the decision to go back into the studio and record the best of them. Recorded with Atilla Turi at Mainway Studios in Burlington, the songs, “Wildflower“, “A Diamond Rough“, “Runway Star“, “Red Light of Love“, “Little Girl Lost” & “On the Line” are all Prinsthal originals. Eventually, all six are released on cassette, entitled “Downtime“.

“Probably the most diverse set of stuff we ever recorded, both heavier and, at the same time, more “poppy” than anything else”, says Dave. “In some ways, we were still establishing the three-piece band’s identity. I remember exactly when we recorded it, though. I missed the entire American League Champoinship Series because we were dubbing and mixing that week!”

It all pays off, though. The cassette is well received, and Joe Carter homers off Mitch Williams to give the Blue Jays their second consecutive World Series win. Oh, and for the first time, Dave is referred to by his initals, “D.J.“, in the credits.

1994-1995

These two years tend to run together, because “All we did was gig. Rick was in school, Cam & I had day jobs, and we were still working more than a lot of the so-called ‘full-time’ musicians in Hamilton. The guys in other bands were always coming up and asking. ‘How do you manage to work so much?’ It came down to Cam and Rick busting their asses, getting in club managers’ faces every day, and not giving up until we got work. They both made a lot less money than I did, so I think hunger might have been a motivating factor”, says D.J.”This is also the period when we played the company Christmas party at my day gig three years in a row. It was fun to see the looks on the faces of my co-workers when they saw what that guy in the suit was up to in his spare time!”

And though he wasn’t a Deacon at the time, Dan Thorpe got married over the May long weekend in ’94. D.J. was best man. It’s the circle of life (or something like that).

1996

After almost three years, Rick has again written enough solid material to go back into the studio. They choose to go back to the ex-Deacon who’s still in the recording business, Dan Thorpe. “Dan had bought a house by this time, and had set the studio up in his attic. We recorded most of it in August. Man, it was hot! It felt good to bring the recording back into the ‘famliy’, though. We went outside for the last project, and that gave us enough confidence in our own judgement to record with somebody really familiar.”

Eight songs were assembled into a cassette release – the Prinsthal originals “Broken Homes“, “Never Been in Love“, “This, Too, Will Change“, “Suit of Armor” and “The Real World” were combined with Hamilton songwriter Mike Williams’ “Ready to Go” and sixties nugget “It’s Cold Outside” (recorded by Raspberries’ precursor The Choir). Surprisingly, though, another Prinsthal original drew the most attention – “I Remember (When ‘the Gown’ Had Bands)“, a tribute to the acts that were the foundation of the Hess Village music scene. Those memories, though ten years gone when the song was written, were clearly near and dear to a lot of people. “I actually got into an argument with a guy in a bar about the lyrical content of that song”, recalls D.J. “I oughta know what the words are, buddy. I play the damn thing every night!”

Entitled “The Real World“, the cassette was the second-most important event in the Deacons story in 1996. It was ready just in time to combine its release with Rick’s stag & doe party.

“It became kinda the opening act for Rick’s wedding. Once again, I was tabbed for best man”, says D.J. “By this time, I was getting pretty good at the ‘speechifying’, and really, there’s no greater honour, especially for a ham like me.”

1997-1999

It was becoming increasingly apparent that Cam was bored with just being the Deacons’ drummer. “The guy has a ton of talent, plays about a dozen different instruments, and could get a gig on three or four of them.”, says D.J.”He was also fascinated by the recording process, just as I was ten years earlier, but it had moved into a totally new arena. Now, it was all digital. He wanted all of that.” As Cam embarked on his new journey, the remaining two Deacons arrived at the same conclusion at the same time. “Rick phoned me, and we both almost said at once, ‘We’re gonna have to phone Kenny and Dan’. So, the Screamin’ Deacons lineup was back together again, and so it would remain for the next two years.
“I guess you can blame me for breaking up the band”, says D.J. “We were coming off this huge, and I mean huge, street party gig in Oakville. Literally thousands of people. They closed off Lakeshore Road from one end to the other, and because Kenny was tight with the woman who was promoting the show, we were featured on the #1 stage. I was 40 years old, it’d been a long time since we’d played a show of that significance (remember, we were mostly playing pubs for a couple of hundred dollars a night at the time – we used to snidely refer to it ‘indoor busking’), and I thought to myself, ‘Crossley, old man, there’s a very real possibility it won’t get any better than this’ and decided to pack it in. Regrets? Yeah, well, I love to play, but there’s a lot about it I don’t miss. I think the time away has made me realize how much fun it really was.”

Deacons Timeline III – Early Deacons

Summer 1986

Rick, Dan & Dave discuss putting together a new band that combines the best of all that’s come before. Cam offers to come in and play drums, an instrument he’s never played onstage before. Serious rehearsals start in August.

October 1986

First Deacons gig. Mickey DeSadist (Forgotten Rebels) emcees & gives away TiCats tickets (a club promo) between sets. Name comes from Tim Gibbons, who has apparently taken to calling the band “Reverend Rick & the Deacons”. Mercifully, only the “Deacons” part sticks.

February 1987

Dave gets engaged between sets at a Deacons gig. “About the same time as my brother-in-law proposed to my sister-in-law on a beach in Acapulco, I proposed to my wife under a railway bridge in Hamilton!”

March 1987

Cam is called up to serve his country again. His recommended replacement is his brother, veteran percussionist Ken Brawn. With the added muscle Kenny’s drumming provides, the band renames itself “the Screamin’ Deacons”.

May 1987

Cam returns, and for a brief time, the Deacons are a five-piece, with Cam on precussion, harmonica & guitar. “The energy level was INSANE, and it was musically one of the best bands I’ve ever been in. However, all we ever did was argue”, sez Dave.

May / June 1987

Meanwhile, Dan & Dave have been buying recording gear in hopes of building a demo studio. “We needed guinea pigs to try it out on, so why not the Deacons?”

The first sessions produced two songs, a rocked-up version of “(I’m a) Lonesome Fugitive“, which was Merle Haggard’s first hit (written by Lynn Anderson’s parents), and the Eddie Cochran classic “Cut Across Shorty“. A third song, Johnny Cash’s “Tennessee Flat Top Box“, was recorded but never completed.

Fall 1987

Almost exactly a year after the Deacons’ original lineup launched, the band grinds to a halt. “A couple of people were struggling with personal issues, but the biggest reason for the collapse was that we were friends first, and bandmates second”, reasons Dave.”We didn’t want the politics within the band to permanently affect our friendship.”

1988

1988 was the year of no Deacons. The individual members gigged together and separately in a variety of combinations (The Jacklords, the Hucklebucks, Sweaty Betty) but none of these bands lasted more than one or two gigs. The one bright spot that year was Dave becoming the first married Deacon in August. True to form, Dan was best man.

1989

The Screamin’ Deacons lineup (Rick, Kenny, Dan, Dave) reform briefly in the spring. “We played about four gigs in about six weeks. The truly memorable one was playing Good Friday at the Gown & Gavel, when I looked out into the audience (I think we were playing “Fortunate Son”) and realized that every musician in the city was there. Then I went to Boston for a week’s vacation with my new bride, and by the time I got back, the band had broken up”, recalls Dave.

Deacons Timeline II – pre-Deacons

1983

Rick casts about for a new gig. He eventually sets his sights on Hamilton, and there moves in with an old high school friend, Cameron Hoffman. They pack up their acoustic guitars and head downtown to busk on the street corner.

1984

Rick & Cam start appearing at Folk Nights at the Gown & Gavel pub in Hess Village, playing Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent et al. Soon after, they meet drummer/rockabilly fanatic Jimmy Faulkner. They form rockabilly trio “The Kingfishers”, and start to gig.

1985

Cam leaves to fullfill his military service. Meanwhile, Dan Thorpe has moved to Hamilton. Rick invites him to join the band, but he just can’t envision a band with no bassplayer. He borrows Dave’s bass rig and they rename the band “The Rumbletones”.

1986

After almost a year of solid gigging, the Rumbletones implode over personal differences between the members. First Dan leaves (replaced by Craig Nicoloff), then Rick walks away.