or on image to view making music feature pdf

COVER STORY
by Steve Colm
Do Makin’ Money
& Makin’ Music
Go Hand In Hand?
Success is measured in many ways and
local musicians pull all the right strings
to keep the music playing.
Drop Dead Famous band members
from left: Dave Sinewitz, Rob
Higgins, Chris Holmes, Scott
Holmes and Chris Blais (seated)
strike a pose during a photo shoot
for their new album and promotional
materials at the Walkerville Brewery.
Photo courtesy of Gene Schilling.
“When you’re ridin’ 16 hours,
and there’s nothin’ much to do
And you don’t feel much like ridin’,
you just wish the trip was through...
Here I am, on the road again.
There I am, up on the stage.
Here I go, playin’ star again.
There I go, turn the page.”
(Bob Seger, “Turn the Page,” 1973,
The Silver Bullet Band, “Back in 72”)
T
hey’ve been around for centuries, across
continents and cultures and dynasties,
always ready to tell the stories that speak to
people’s hearts. The faces of the minstrels
change, they rise up, share their gifts and turn
to dust, but their contributions to the wellbeing of society can live on for many lifetimes.
We know them as working musicians. But all
too often we share a wink that says they’re
somehow trying to fool everyone.
Is it fair to judge them that way? Or should
we appreciate what musicians add to our
economy and our lives and grant them leave
to chase their dreams?
The truth is, they don’t need our approval,
18
until it comes time to applaud. And every star
started from humble beginnings ...
Drop Dead Focused
There’s excitement in the air when Rob
Higgins talks. His delivery – rapid fire from
behind a broad smile – tells you life is good
for the lead singer of Drop Dead Famous
(dropdeadfamous.com; DDF).
DDF, after all, is getting a taste of success
these days, having shed their cover band
safety net in favour of an artistic leap of faith
in original music.
So far, so good, Higgins says. Six DDF
songs are now available on “iTunes” and
B I Z X M A G A Z IN E • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 3
they’re getting positive feedback (and even a
little money) from far and wide.
With “Survive Tonight,” “Ten09,” “Again,”
“Surrounded,” “Lost Your Way,” and “For
You” perhaps reaching ears across the
globe, Higgins and Drop Dead Famous
aren’t content to bask in the glow of nascent
success. They are working hard to get
noticed. Ironically, that means taking a risk
by eschewing live shows in order to record
their music.
“We kind of had to put our cover gigs on the
back burner,” Higgins says, partly because
all the band members have regular jobs and
family obligations. They have made a name
for themselves as a cover band, gained a bit
of a following, and started to introduce the
original stuff. “But it was a business decision,
something had to give,” says Higgins. “We
decided to put the live shows on the back
burner to spend our time writing.”
Five-member DDF’s pedigree is evident.
Higgins previously played with Chris Blais
in Vibe-A-Tribe and No Ordinary Machine,
while Chris Holmes, Scott Holmes and Dave
Sinewitz earned their stripes with Heat
Mizer.
Higgins
(Firefighter),
Blais
(Mac
Computer Tech), Chris Holmes (Engineer),
Scott Holmes (Firefighter) and Sinewitz
(Pharmacist) also represent disparate
musical tastes, but, that too, is an important
piece of the puzzle. Higgins admits they had
to learn to blend their different styles and
interests.
“But now we’re like brothers – well, two of
us are brothers, so we even fight like brothers
– and we’ve learned how different guys bring
different cards to the table,” he says. “So
we’ve taken the dance music that Chris Blais
would do and brought the rock into it ... and
with the other influences it all helped create
our sound, as opposed to everybody liking
the one style. We’d just be writing that one
style and that wouldn’t work.”
With tracks in hand DDF turned to Marty
Bak’s SLR studios to get “radio ready.”
“Finding the right studio really helped
us get to the next level with a professional
recording,” Higgins says, and they have since
worked hard to make sure all the local radio
stations have copies of their songs for review.
“Going on iTunes really increased our
accessibility,” Higgins says, awed by the
change in the industry from the expensive
days of lugging around boxes of CDs. “You
got all excited about it, and your best friends
and family would all support you,” but the
logistics of distribution were a nightmare.
Higgins says, “Now, with iTunes, within
an hour of me texting friends in BC
and California about the music, they’ve
downloaded it, listened to it, given us a
review and shared it. We’ve sold more songs
in a week than we ever sold in CDs in prior
bands.”
Nurturing that buzz is a multi-tiered effort
that includes “iTunes,” local radio stations
and even exposure at Windsor Spitfire
games.
“Anywhere we can get heard, it helps,”
Higgins says, because repetition is key to
recognition. “It’s still all about knocking on
the door. It’s a matter of creating your own
buzz, networking as much as you can, getting
one person to believe in it, and then the fire’s
lit. It still has to be a good product, but if you
have a great product and you get it in the
right hands ... I’ve always thought there are
millions of great songs on shelves somewhere
that we’re never going to hear, and that’s
a shame ... so there’s always the luck of the
draw.”
As Higgins says, “there’s not a good band
out there that doesn’t put a lot of effort into
being a good band.” And success is elusive,
no matter how easy it may seem in hindsight,
so Higgins tries to be realistic about DDF’s
chances, keeping the dream grounded in his
love for performance.
“Yeah, how lucky are we to find something
that we love?” he says with a smile. “We are
working very hard to get to the next level,
and I truly believe we’re going to get there.
But I realize how tough it is, and if we don’t
get there I will never look back at this as a
waste of time. The whole process has been
awesome.”
Been There, Done That
Mark Chichkan knows only too well that
choosing music as your life’s work means
choosing to live your dream no matter what
the cost. Higgins calls him “the most talented
combination guitar player/singer in the city,”
and Chichkan has the war stories to prove it.
Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page,” that dirge-like
glimpse at the emotional and social ups and
downs of a rock musician’s life on the road,
comes to mind and probably rings true for
Chichkan more than most. The former Helix
and Mindstorm guitarist is one of those rare
cases – a man who was drawn to the bright
BI Z X MAGAZI NE •FEBRUARY 201 3
Mark Chichkan is a full-time musician with a long
and storied career that includes stints with Helix and
Mindstorm and cross country tours. These days, he’s
happy to stay close to home playing gigs in Windsor
and Detroit. Photo courtesy of Frank Piccolo.
lights of success only to realize he might be
better off at home.
So there he was in January 2013, with his
right leg freshly freed from a cast after he
broke his fibula, as the artist of choice for
the opening of Carparelli Sound Lounge,
downtown Windsor.
He’s been performing for more than 35
years, starting with local clubs as a 16-yearold with special dispensation from the liquor
licence board and a guardian to keep him out
of trouble. He left the GM Trim Plant in 1985
as an 18-year-old (he had previously been
granted a six-month leave of absence to play
with Mindstorm, but was refused a second
leave and quit).
“Everybody was shocked, of course,
because you didn’t quit a job like that,
especially back in the ’80s, but I was trying
to follow a dream and ended up doing it fulltime,” remembers Chichkan. “So I started
early and it probably became a full-time
thing in 1987.”
That “full-time thing” included touring
with big bands, complete with the baggage
19
of major record labels and management
teams. Chichkan saw his share of the world,
rode the highways with Mindstorm and did
two albums with gold and platinum-selling
Helix, but the money wasn’t good.
“With Mindstorm, we were playing week
long gigs, and I was making about $125 a
week, and if the club didn’t comp your food
you were buying Ramen noodles. We were
living like dogs. But to be honest, I didn’t
give a ---- because I was livin’ the dream,” he
laughs.
Career highlights include playing with
members of The Guess Who, Red Rider,
BTO and Georgia Satellites … “but my bread
and butter has always been locally here in
Windsor.”
“Being with Helix may have been a
prestigious gig, but it just started making
sense to me that I could do gigs here and be
in my own bed at night,” says Chichkan.
Touring was also damaging his reputation
with local bar owners who would book him
months in advance, only to have him cancel.
“So I really hated that,” he says. “They
understood my situation, but they still had
a business to run; they had to take care of
themselves.”
This message eventually sank in and led to
a decision.
“I started to rethink how I was going to
earn my income,” he says. “I thought about
my hometown bars where I really actually
cut my teeth in this business, and how I felt
indebted to those guys because they keep
me working year round. That’s gold to any
musician who does this for a living.”
With his girlfriend Teresa Medeiros
getting a crash course in the life of a musician
(“it’s a bit of learning experience … she’s
a widow on weekends, but she’s been real
supportive”), Chichkan counts his blessings.
“I’m just really lucky,” he says. “I chose to
do this for my entire life, and I knew from the
moment I had the chance to play a guitar and
sing that this is all I wanted to do.”
Chichkan refers to solo shows as his bread
and butter, and he still plays with Bomb
Squad (bombsquadboom.com) and United
Snakes (unitedsnakesrock.com) at the
20
casinos and for corporate events here and in
the US. “But it’s not like it was 13 years ago
when we first formed Bomb Squad and we
had every casino, every racetrack and played
both sides of the border and up and down the
401,” he says.
And while the acoustic gigs keep Chichkan
busy, “it’s not as plentiful as it used to be, so
I still hustle, man. It’s a hard life, and it’s not
for everyone. It’s not like the work comes to
me; I work like anybody else in this business.”
He is part of the online musical
community too, maintaining two websites
and a “Facebook” profile. “But I’m on the
phone a lot and do what I have to do to keep
myself working,” stresses Chichkan.
“Always On The Clock”
Dale D’Amore echoes Chichkan’s
endorsement of social media. As a familiar
face on the Windsor/Detroit music scene
for more than two decades, D’Amore knows
Internet-based marketing is here to stay but
still believes in the value of the personal
touch.
Detroit-born Windsor musician Dale D’Amore, seen here
performing at a downtown Windsor bar, THE ROOM,
with the Magnificent Bastards, plays hard rock gigs as
a guilty pleasure. D’Amore has played in most bars in
Windsor, and is also a fixture in plenty of Detroit clubs.
Photo courtesy of Dale D’Amore
In an age where supply – of varying
quality – exceeds demand, D’Amore still
finds plenty of work. But, like Chichkan,
he has to hustle. It means paying attention
to personal connections and constantly
B I Z X M A G A Z IN E • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 3
sending information out: “You have to visit
the bars and promote yourself through the
Internet, he says. “Facebook is a huge one.”
The bottom line? “If you can get a crowd out,
that keeps the bar’s owners happy.”
D’Amore says keeping his name out there
is key. “My wife kids me that I’m always
networking, talking to people, trying to get
a gig here, a gig there; it’s hard work. It’s
enjoyable, but you’re always on the clock.”
D’Amore, a construction worker by day,
has fine-tuned his booking strategy over the
years. Time was, he’d book every weekend
for the whole year. But he was having to turn
down good opportunities that popped up
from time to time.
“I would miss out on good gigs that I wanted
because I was already booked, so I decided to
back off a little bit and wait for the holes to
be filled with jobs like Balloonapalooza and
other festivals,” says D’Amore (read more
at reverbnation.com/daledamore). “You’ve
got to be open for those, so I’ve changed my
format for booking.”
His act includes cover tunes and original
songs: “That’s part of survival in the music
business,” D’Amore says, as the paying gig
pie dwindles. “If you look at an event like
New Year’s Eve, say in 1990, a band was
getting paid maybe three times their own
pay scale for that night. Now, to get paid at
all on New Year’s Eve is a feat; the people
don’t come out and drink like they used to,”
pinning the new reality on tougher laws and
a tougher economy.
He says the pressure is always on to stay
relevant and solvent, so he plays guitar
with classic rock band Guitar Army, and
hard-edged punk music with Magnificent
Bastards, ranging from FM Lounge, The
Dugout and The Room (“they treat us like
kings there - I love that place”) to Phog
Lounge, The Lion’s Head, Average Joe’s and
The Dominion House and clubs in Detroit.
“The classic rock gets me the paying gigs,
and my paying gigs pay for my recordings
and my original music,” he adds.
In the end, it all comes back to winning
over an audience. “It’s a lot of work, and you
get very little money, so having someone
enjoy it is more fulfilling than getting paid
$100,” D’Amore says.
Go Bigg Or Go Home
The audience appreciation D’Amore
describes reaches new heights when Bigg
Wiggle (check them out on “Facebook”)
takes the stage. And that’s no accident.
Bigg Wiggle – Mike Cooper on drums for
21 years, Jerry Leblanc as lead vocalist for 20
years, Dave Labute on keyboard, guitar and
vocals for 20 years, and John “JD” Drew on
Bigg Wiggle elder statesman and drummer Mike Cooper
makes no bones about the secret to the party band’s
success. He says knowing their audience and knowing
how to get people dancing are at the core of the band’s
300 plus song repertoire. Photo courtesy of Bigg Wiggle
guitars and vocals for six years – is one band
that never forgets to have fun.
“Just four guys having fun” who describe
themselves as “Jerry – bald guy; Dave – bald
This band is proof disco
never really died. Super
70s Live members
from left: Joe Trocchi
(a.k.a. JoFro); Jack
DiDomenico
(a.k.a.
Sunny Delight); Tony
Rivolta (a.k.a. T Bone);
Christine
Chemello
(a.k.a. Sista Cherry);
Andria Crabbe (a.k.a.
Sista Groove) and
Carmen Rivolta (a.k.a.
Vinnie Zucchini). Photo
courtesy of Ted Kloske/
Maple Grove Studios
guy; JD – bald guy; Mike – not bald guy,”
Bigg Wiggle enjoys a reputation as one of
the most popular draws in Essex County,
featuring an eclectic blend of musical styles
and more than 300 songs in all.
Bigg Wiggle thrives on being a communitygrounded band, so it’s no surprise they dig
deep when it comes to charity. This year, on
Saturday, June 29, the band hosts the “5th
Annual Bigg Wiggle Fest” charity event.
“We are fortunate to have been able to
raise thousands of dollars for the Special
Olympics, for Family Respite Services, and
most recently for the International Children’s
Games (to be hosted by the Windsor-Essex
region later this year),” says Cooper.
BI Z X MAGAZI NE •FEBRUARY 201 3
Getting ready to play live “is a huge
investment in time for us,” Cooper explains,
“... learning parts, booking gigs, staying on
top of current charts, looking for new tunes,
finessing song arrangements, rehearsals,
promotion, etc., but music will always be
a required element at any social function;
wherever there’s a party waiting to happen,
there will always be a demand for the right
music.”
Boogie Fever All Over Again
When it comes to providing the right
music, Tony Rivolta has a secret. Actually,
he says everyone has the same secret, and it’s
their love for disco music. Agree or agree
21
The Walkervilles – Mike Hargreaves, left, Pat Robitaille
and Stefan Cvetkovic – joined forces in 2012 to create
a soul/Motown sound which they hope gets them
noticed. The group is currently mapping out its 2013
gigs, with Windsor firmly on their list. Photo courtesy of
Kevin Kavanuagh.
to disagree, but Rivolta’s Super 70s Live show
band seems set to travel another route to
success - the novelty act.
New city hot spot Dean’s is on board, with
its “Boogie Fever Fridays” and Super 70s Live
will perform February 22 there.
“What used to be old is new again,” Rivolta
says with a hint of mischief, “and with Super
70s Live we bring the boogie to you with a
full-contact disco show.”
Pithy pitches aside, Rivolta may be on to
something. After all, with a band made up of
everything from teachers to contractors and
big box retailers, they know all about juggling
work schedules and family obligations. Who
wouldn’t be eager to step back in time to strut
their stuff?
Having found their retro-niche, Super
’70s Live mostly trips the lights fantastic at
Caesars Windsor and MotorCity Casino.
But to keep the money flowing, Rivolta also
offers The Fabulous Soul Shakers atop a list
of groups and solo artists, including harpists
to bag pipers, and covers the gamut from jazz
to Italian/Latin music. To view upcoming
performances, search the group “Super 70s
LIVE Fan Club” on “Facebook.”
Soul Searching
New in the game, and tapping into
this area’s love of Motown music, The
Walkervilles (walkervilles.com) are a threepiece soul/Motown group from Windsor.
Lead vocalist and guitar player Pat
Robitaille, a well-known solo musician,
has joined forces with ex-Michou members
Stefan Cvetkovic and Mike Hargreaves, who
provide the rhythm for The Walkervilles
(Hargreaves on bass and Cvetkovic on
drums).
While still filling their docket for 2013,
The Walkervilles plan to visit Windsor “a few
times,” Hargreaves says, stressing the group
is still mostly a Windsor act.
Robitaille now in Toronto, and Windsor
residents Cvetkovic and Hargreaves
are a brand new band “and still finding
an audience for our music,” Hargreaves
explains. “We started getting serious about
the band in May 2012.”
“We each make music because it is
everything we think about and love, and
of all the many things we could do, we feel
music is what we each do best,” Hargreaves
says.
They spent 2012 working on their music
and spreading awareness of the band through
word-of-mouth. “Now we are ready to spread
the word about our album and our band in
2013; which hopefully means my favourite
thing – playing shows,” Hargreaves says.
As one of this area’s newest musical
incarnations, The Walkervilles are proof
that the lure of fame and the drive to create
remain entwined in the hearts and souls of
performers.
This area’s modern-day minstrels are proof
that hope springs eternal in the musical
heart. And they are proof dreams don’t die
just because the economy takes a turn for
the worse.
22
B I Z X M A G A Z IN E • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 3
TAKE ONE...
By Steve Colm
Local Filmmakers Soar On
A Shoestring With “The Birder”
W
hen Theodore Bezaire (Co-writer
and Director), Windsor native
Mike Stasko (Co-writer/Actor) and Gerry
Lattmann (Senior Producer, The Dot Film
Company Inc.) shot their first feature film,
“Things To Do,” in 2005 in Windsor Essex,
they had little idea of what the future would
hold.
“Things To Do,” Lattmann recalls,
“opened many doors for us in the film
industry,” including screenings at the
“Slamdance Film Festival” in January 2006
and later in Stockholm, Sweden. Telefilm
Canada heard of the film, Lattmann
says, “and invited us in to pitch our next
concept.”
By that time Bezaire and Stasko had
come up with “The Ornithology of Ron
Spencer,” later renamed “The Birder,”
(thebirdermovie.com; view trailer at
kickstarter.com by typing the film name in
“search projects”) which Co-Producer Jeff
Nadalin has been promoting as a “revengecomedy and tale of defiance.”
As their website states: “The Birder is
about a 40-year-old high school teacher and
devoted birder who has reached an extreme
low point in his life. His students think of
him as passé, his ex-wife Rebecca has finally
kicked him out of their home and worst of
all, his daughter, Samantha, has adopted
modern birding methods.”
“Telefilm heard their idea and agreed to
help us develop and fund the concept into a
screenplay,” Lattmann says.
In hindsight, that was the easy part.
Crafting the script continued through
2010, “and then I began to put the funding
together,” Lattmann explains, and “reality
kicked in.”
Tom Cavanagh is familiar to television
fans as the star of NBC’s awardwinning “Ed” which first aired in 2000.
Cavanagh, who stars as the beaten
down protagonist Ron Spencer in
“The Birder,” lives in Los Angeles.
Photo courtesy of “The Birder.”
Their considerable budget was soon
reduced to a fraction of its original amount.
“Near the middle or end of 2011, Jeff and
I began working together to raise the funds
to make the film,” Lattmann says. “We also
managed to pull together a Distributor Union Pictures, actors, crew and, of course,
financing,” which for the most part was
private funding from a group of about 28
investors. “Jeff played a large role in this
part of the process,” Lattmann notes.
Other funders included the federal and
provincial governments in the form of tax
credits, a distributor advance – considered a
pre-sale which is banked against a broadcast
presale to SuperChannel, “then there was
the mother hen, Telefilm Canada, Canada’s
largest film funding body,” Lattmann says.
“They kicked in as well.”
With all the pieces pulled together after
six years of effort, the trio had the elements
to make the film, and filming took place
between August 27 and September 18, 2012.
For his part, Bezaire, who calls the feature
BI Z X MAGAZI NE •FEBRUARY 201 3
their biggest project to date as filmmakers,
is proud of the casting coup for “The
Birder,” which stars Tom Cavanagh, Mark
Rendall, “Academy Award” nominated
movie veteran Graham Green and “comedic
legend” Fred Willard, along with a cast of
accomplished locals.
“The Birder,” which is now in postproduction and due for release this fall, was
shot “100% in Windsor-Essex,” Lattmann
says. “I can honestly say that if it was not for
the private investors we could not have shot
the film. One in particular took the time to
not only to put cash on the table, but he also
showed up on set every day and played an
instrumental role in saving us money, time
and resources in other more physically
tangible ways.”
That investor, Lattmann says, prefers
to remain anonymous for now, “but his
work and efforts should be noted because
he exemplifies the kind of spirit that is
absolutely crucial to getting films made in
this country.”
23