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Global Musicians Home / Re: The Land and the Band you come from
« on: October 11, 2011, 08:00:42 AM »
I was both honored and surprised when contacted to appear on gmhcafe - honored because it's a wonderful format with some very talented contributing artists and surprised because I'm not usually an acoustic folk artist. Generally I'm into progressive art rock, but then again pioneers like the Moody Blues and Strawbs always included an acoustic folk element. I love my synthesizers and though I've bought a lot of guitars over the years I usually find myself reaching for my Godin LGX SA electric/acoustic/synth access guitar.
I grew up in Niagara Falls Canada. Within my extended family there are a number of dual US/Canadian citizens straddling the border. Most visitors to The Falls see it as gorgeous cataract surrounded by a lot of tacky shops and museums, which is true enough but there is actually a lot more natural beauty there than just the falls and it was a wild place to grow up. We often used to cross the border to attend concerts while reeking of pot and then have frustrated officials strip searching us to find the discarded substance. Circa 1970 my band often used to play in the downtown city square to thousands young music lovers. Audiences were so much more appreciative back then and less jaded.
For a number of years I travelled the continent as a psychiatric reform self-help advocate (don't ask how this transpired
) and appeared on the news in places like Colorado, Vermont, Toronto. There was a lot of abuse of psychiatric power back then (and a lot of LSD) but there has been considerable legislated reforms since then and I like to think things have improved, though I have no desire to test that out personally. 
I always kept up my music part-time performing periodically in bars, fundraisers, the odd festival etc. and I've always maintained some sort of recording system but for the most part I've kept busy with my career in business from which I am now early retired. Now I've got lots of time to continue travelling and making music on my own terms. All the best to everyone at gmhCafe.
www.soundclick.com/frederickserafim
I grew up in Niagara Falls Canada. Within my extended family there are a number of dual US/Canadian citizens straddling the border. Most visitors to The Falls see it as gorgeous cataract surrounded by a lot of tacky shops and museums, which is true enough but there is actually a lot more natural beauty there than just the falls and it was a wild place to grow up. We often used to cross the border to attend concerts while reeking of pot and then have frustrated officials strip searching us to find the discarded substance. Circa 1970 my band often used to play in the downtown city square to thousands young music lovers. Audiences were so much more appreciative back then and less jaded.
For a number of years I travelled the continent as a psychiatric reform self-help advocate (don't ask how this transpired
) and appeared on the news in places like Colorado, Vermont, Toronto. There was a lot of abuse of psychiatric power back then (and a lot of LSD) but there has been considerable legislated reforms since then and I like to think things have improved, though I have no desire to test that out personally. I always kept up my music part-time performing periodically in bars, fundraisers, the odd festival etc. and I've always maintained some sort of recording system but for the most part I've kept busy with my career in business from which I am now early retired. Now I've got lots of time to continue travelling and making music on my own terms. All the best to everyone at gmhCafe. www.soundclick.com/frederickserafim