Symbols of Sound band members wrote about musical history.

 

North for Visit & Hometown Rock Rehearsals

story by Norm Richards

I return home with my drums for the first time in forty three years. It's a bright sunny afternoon as I roll by the town welcome sign.  I drive past the Dutch Drive In and A&W on into town. The place seems vital today with people out and about. To make time we used to leave late and arrive late. Today, I drive to my sister's house where I will stay for the weekend. In prior years my wife and I went north to visit our folks. I never stopped to jam except once. My musical life was kept to the city. 

My wife's folks lived in Flin Flon which today is a bit over eighty miles further north. The distance was shortened in the last forty years with curves reduced to just a few. The old road swung around lakes and rock formations. It was an obstacle course of curves before ever seeing the town's edge. People lost their lives rushing the trip to and from Flin Flon. We used to think of the distance between towns as one hundred miles. 

Today, my children are grown, have their own families and we all live separate lives. 

The guys I played in a band with in the sixties have been invited to reform and return home to play the town's Centennial Birthday Bash next August long weekend. This is the reason I find myself pulling into The Pas with a car load of drums. I'm intrigued by the possibility of this happening. A full year ahead of the planned event we start rehearsals. By six PM my DW 'Performance Series' drums are set up in a garage studio, mic'd as we begin. Over three days we hammer out the best of our sixties set list.

We played top forty radio hits of the day when I lived at home. The best of the best! Two guys sang, two guitars, keyboard and drums were our makeup. We rose to the top of our egos by playing for hundreds of kids in a low ceiling dance hall made for rock music like no other. Next summer we will try to replace that experience with an arena size performance under hot lights and the biggest sound to hit town. For me, I can't wait. I've made an investment in the experience and I'm committed. others may think of it as just another gig but I don't. It's a milestone for the four of us. Tickets will go on sale for this event. I'll let you know when.   

I missed Three Hairs and a Hat but I did see Out of the Blue get together in past years. Now, it's our turn. Symbols of Sound will live again. Other groups will be on stage before us. The prior night will feature folk and country acts. The show will be professionally recorded. No doubt, low grade recordings will show up on You Tube before we see a finished product of our own.                          

Rehearsal May 2011, Can we still do it?

Jack Hebert and I started on Friday night not long after I drove seven hours to get there. Cal came in and played bass with us on Saturday night. I looked at the old home town in a different way this time. It's joyful arriving here this time. I'll write a separate blog story about that in the next couple days.

We set up the drums and got levels for recording our sessions. It felt good to play the old library of songs we used to play. After three days of solid rehearsal things began to come easier. I still need to brush up and practise fills and rudiments but the meter beat I layed out was entirely satisfactory for this trip. I should go back maybe once more before next summer final rehearsals for the The Pas Centennial Year Birthday Party and Concert on August long weekend. It's being held in the Roy Johnson Arena. Gonna see a big stage, big lights and big sound! Should be a smash. Biggest Social you'll ever attend and hook up with many old friends and ex's too, I imagine. If anyone remembers those Elks Hall dances we used to perform for and how loud they were in those sixties years, then come on back with us! I'm looking forward to it. Hope to see many people from far and wide to come home for this event. Guests are welcome and being invited with tickets being printed. The organizing committee takes care of that.

So, Symbols of Sound will live again loud and proud.  Sure we'll do it! Cheers!  Norm.
 

War no more.

Canadian soldiers need to come home, now. What purpose is served with them staying any longer in a foreign land? To stop poppy seed growth? I don't think so. That's not a proper or certain reason to remain in a country where we shouldn't be. Did we need to prove we can fight if we had to? We have. Allies have had their say. Bring the boys home, now, before anyone else is killed. We are better peace keepers and peace makers than we are warriors or at least we should be thought of that way. We have nothing to prove. It's been done. We should serve and protect within our own borders. We will never forget those who gave their lives and the heartbreak suffered by their families. God bless all those committed to peace and harmony in the world. Find love, not war.  

Enter Politics

Story by Norm Richards

We are a humanistic country. The New Democratic Party leader of Canada Jack Layton has suffered medical problems. Treated for cancer and recovering he’s walking with a cane for support. He’s out there campaigning to become Canada’s next Prime Minister. Canadians care, it appears. Prime Minister or not, we love a fighter and underdog. Today, he’s running second in the poles. The world is struggling to be more democratic around us and couldn’t we lean left for awhile? We are already a socialist country. Being run by a conservative government doesn’t make us whole. Richer maybe, but could we be more whole?
Could we have stable retirement funding, improved health care, better day care for our children and jobs to support these needs? Why not? Can we treat our citizens even more equal than we are treated now? I wonder. Now, here’s the big question. Can we handle a government run by a socialist party and yet, supported by the Liberals and Choke..%!#& the Bloc Quebecois? In that mix I’d prefer to have a strong conservative opposition sitting across the floor ready to pounce and a media paying attention while this (proposed) socialist government sets about proving itself that it can run a country. It’s run provinces successfully. Can it stand on two feet and a cane in Ottawa? Maybe.        

Easter Sunday

I was quite young, maybe seven. We didn't have much. I woke on Easter morning looking for joy in it. I knew hiding Easter eggs happened in friends homes and I wanted the same. I looked around to see if anything was different. Not a thing. I wondered still. Mom didn't look too happy. She had been crying. Dad was still in bed. The grief was cause dad had been drinking the night before. He was cranky. He didn't want her bothering him. Addiction played a part in my life growing up. I've always been afraid, as if it's evil. Mom grasped for a way to improve my mood. I needed consoling. She showed me how to look at the Sun in the early morning horizon through the teeth of a comb with thin paper over it. The Sun was jumping. I could see it. She told me that only on Easter morning this happened since God wanted everyone to be happy and smile for him. It was his way of wishing us well as a family. Later, dad rose from his stupor. He smiled at me. The world was right again.    

Winnstock Battle of the Bands

story by Norm Richards

As good a reason as any to raise money for charity I say, have a battle of the bands event. Sure, and why not? I much enjoyed my evening and the company I kept. The financial people of Winnipeg get together every year to do this. They throw together a desperate number of people together from the financial trade to be in the bands. They're given maybe a month at best to rehearse. They show up and maybe some magic happens. Sure enough. We were entertained by four groups.

The first group was called The Bailouts, the others were Prime + 1, The Bottom Line and The Wall Street. Good thing I wasn't a judge. That was left to Brad Oswald of the Winnipeg Free Press, Tracy Koga from Shaw TV and Howard Mandshein from 92 CITI-FM. I had friends in the third band up to perform. I might have chosen them. They had a couple of ringers in their lineup.

Kathy Kennedy is a well know Winnipeg blues rock singer and Ron Siwicki is often seen as her guitar accompaniment. They're good and worthy of praise any day of the week. But the evening went to The Wall Street, with a remake of The Wall by Pink Floyd. Norm Goodman lead the band with ripping lead guitar parts not far off from what David Gilmore of Pink Floyd would do. I was a little surprised. I'm used to seeing Goodman taking the bus home everyday from his accounting job. He's the guy with The Beatles' haircut but tonight he's trimmed to look like Gilmore more than Ringo. The acts were festooned with daily players in the financial investment community and not full time rock musicians. So, I give them praise for pulling it off. Great fun was had by all, especially those who ended up winning the fund raising prizes at the end. My tickets lay abandoned on the table as I write this.

I was graced by the fine company of Nygard executive Gordon Stein and his wife Denise. Gordon is a seven year member of the board of tonight's charity Manitoba Riding for the Disabled Association Inc. Winnstock.ca tonight helped raise $63,000 to assist disabled people enjoy life while attending horse riding events throughout the year. Denise shared many stories with me about those experiences and some of her own. One was when Princess Ann came to Winnipeg during the Pan Am Games and her and Gordon were boarding some of the horses in competition at Meadow Green Riding Academy when they owned it. Princess Ann visited and greeted participants at the Academy. My evening at this event was full and uplifting. I felt better being there rather then remaining home practising drums for my own next event.