Better Days took to the air on the first Thursday of 2002. I'd
been hosting The Jazz Forum for many years in the same time
slot, ten to midnight on Thursday nights but, much as I love
jazz and always will, something was missing. The show had
become routine. I needed to change it to something else. In the
latter half of 2001, I began designing the new show, and
looking for a name. I knew that I wanted to move outside of the
jazz box, into something which is truer to my own roots. I
knew, too, that I wanted to write more, create episodes, stories
that would interact with the music.
I grew up on the prairies, in and around Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. It's a different place than Vancouver, where I now live. We were fairly poor in those days, but the place around me was rich in adventure, mystery and possibilities for mischief. The people were honest, full of character. There was a radio on the shelf in our kitchen, tuned always to a country station. I detested that music much of the time as a kid, but when my Uncle Roy Albert began playing on the Ernie Lindell Show, that changed. He sang Love's Gonna Live Here Again...that's the one I remember. In my twenties, living in Victoria, I began playing music and performing in public, solo and in duos and trios. I wrote and sang my own songs, and also played a variety of blues, country and folk things. In 1979, I came to Vancouver to play at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, the first one ever held at Jericho. I played on stages with Ferron, Pied Pear, Valdy, Mimi Farina, Tony Bird... and backstage with a lot of other fine artists. I actually lived at Ferron's place for a couple months, until I could find my own place; we did double-bills at the old Soft Rock Café. I played a solo concert at the Vancouver East Cultural Center, was on CBC radio, played at the PNE on summer, and made tours into Washington and Oregon on the coffeehouse circuit. One night in Tacoma, at Engine House #9, I played the night after Bill Evans, the legendary jazz pianist. After my son was born, I let playing music go for many years, taking day work and focusing on being a father. Joness, my son, went away on a baseball scholarship to pitch at Cerro Coso College in California, and I began, slowly, to get back into music. My band, Buddy & The Mazappas (I'm Buddy) is a lot of fun. I'm writing songs again, which is good for the soul.
I've always like a lot of different music. Folk, country, blues,
gospel, soul, rock 'n' roll, music from other cultures... roots
music they call it now... and so decided that the revamped
radio show would represent my wide and somewhat eclectic
tastes. I also decided that the main thrust of the show would be
road stories... that the heart of each show would be like a little
movie, with the story and the music dovetailing. The name,
Better Days, came first from a version of the Paul Butterfield
Band with Geoff Muldaur... and then from hearing Wayne The
Train Hancock's song, Lookin' For Better Days. You know, it's
not meant to be a nostalgic name, though some of the times
gone by do seem better in many ways. It's meant to suggest that
better days lie ahead... that despite what's going down in the
world - and I'm reminded of that chilling line Ned Beatty
spoke to Peter Finch in Network, "There are no countries, Mr.
Beale... only companies" - there are enough honest and
creative people to keep regenerating better days...
I'm playing music from everywhere... more and more country, or alternative country... and great blues... folk songs... great songs, period. The stories take you on the road, provide imaginary trips for those too tapped to travel... and the feedback's been great. I tape the shows. Some are better than others. I keep cassettes of the good ones. I'm thinking when I get a hundred good ones, I'm going to put them in a big box and keep them as an heirloom for my son, to have when I pass on. That's how much of myself I pour into the show... that I feel they'd be worth something to a person I care about more than anyone alive.
So far, Better Days has been a godsend. I'm writing every
week. I'm listening to music as part of an ongoing story. People
are writing to me, by e-mail and snail mail, phoning in
feedback, responding to the show. It's all to the good. There's
something going on...and Better Days is part of it, humbly a part
of it.
I'd like to invite you to take a little trip out on the road with me one of these Thursday nights, ten o'clock 'till midnight, on CFRO 102.7 fm.