True North by Bernie Finkelstein

Author:Bernie Finkelstein [Finkelstein, Bernie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 978-0-7710-4794-7
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Published: 2012-04-17T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

By mid-1971 I began to feel that I truly had a record company. We had six albums in the market and had just gotten our first small taste of a radio hit with Syrinx’s “Tillicum.” Bruce’s High Winds, White Sky was now in stores and it was pretty obvious that it was going to be bigger than his first release. Murray was off to a great start with Songs from the Street and Luke’s album was getting lots of interest. On the management side, things were even better. Both Bruce and Murray were drawing strong crowds wherever they played, and I was beginning to think that Bruce could move into theatres if I could put all the pieces together properly.

Around this same time I was approached by a young man from Vancouver named Shelly Siegel. Shelly was a few years younger than me and may not have weighed much more than one hundred pounds. He told me he had been watching my label and thought I should open a West Coast office, a move that would have been unprecedented for a small independent label in Canada. I immediately liked Shelly. Although small in stature he had a big, passionate enthusiasm for music and the music business, as well as a compelling pitch for why I should hire him to work for True North in Vancouver.

I was always interested in being seen as a national company, but money was tight, and also I had the local CBS promo reps looking after things for me in the West. Still, it was clear that Vancouver, along with Calgary and Edmonton, was the future. If I wanted to be successful in what was the fastest-growing area of the country it would be important to have more control over what was happening several thousand miles from Toronto. Shelly was willing to come on board for next to nothing, which was about all I could afford, so I made a deal to hire him and open an office in Vancouver. Shelly would become True North’s West Coast promotion man.

The move paid off right away. Shelly tipped me to a tour that was about to happen throughout British Columbia and Alberta with two great groups: the Everly Brothers and Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen. The tour promoters were looking for another act and expressed interest in Murray. I jumped at the opportunity and quickly closed the deal, not only for Murray to do the tour but also to travel on the tour buses that the Everlys were using. This was one tour I was going to have to go on. The Everly Brothers were heroes of mine, and their records were indelibly imprinted on my mind: “Bye Bye Love,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” “All I Have to Do Is Dream,” and “Cathy’s Clown,” among others. No way was I going to miss this. I was also quite interested in Commander Cody, who was riding the charts with his novelty hit “Hot Rod Lincoln,” as fine a song about a car as you will ever hear.

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