working it for the weekend, backstage with LOVERBOY,

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I had an outstanding weekend & I feel like I have opened a bunch of new doors that have some pretty exciting things behind them. Now, however, after the heady excitement of the weekend has worn off, I realize that I have hours upon hours of video editing ahead of me, which is a great deal of fun, but it has me worried that I will have no time to laze around (which is quite an enjoyable thing to do if you ask me).

Sometimes you do have to be careful of what you wish for. :)



OK, I am just moaning for no good reason, I am honestly thrilled, and I 'll give you a quick rundown on the past weekend and how it all happened.

I have a personal You Tube channel which is for my rough music drafts and just, whatever I feel like filming. This year I am working on a second, new You Tube channel idea, with gal pal chick singer Kelly Brock, (pictured) who will co-host the channel with me. We are not making high end film productions, we are just using my little camera and going behind the scenes with various local personalities, to capture real life, backstage, behind the scenes, banter and happenings. We just want to share with you, make connections, pass around little glimpses and bits of insight, share links and info, as well as show a real side of who people are, and what they do that inspires us.


We have been plotting this channel ever since I shot and edited my first videos of Kelly, such as the one filmed backstage at the Red Robinson Show theatre (rehearsing with the band for the 2008 BCCMA awards show). We also shot a behind the scenes at a photo shoot video, at Rock Beach Recording Studios,. I found that I really liked filming someone else for a change (I have had my personal You Tube channel for just over a year now, and I have become quite sick of me), so having another subject to film and edit was a delight.

Which brings us to where we are today, and telling you about the shooting we did last weekend. I can'tell you too much about our first shoot, which we did we did earlier in the day, but I promise I will when I can. Lets just say that Kelly and I manged to get ourselves behind the scenes of a music video shoot (the video will be aired on CMT when it is released).

How did we manage to do this? Well, I had met this artist a few months ago, and in our talk I shared with her, ways in which I might be helpful to her, then I left her my card. Well, out of the blue last week she emailed me, turns out she had kept my card (throw yourself out there people, something may bounce back). In the email, she happened to mention her upcoming video shoot.

Well, as I frequently do, I connected the dots immediately, and while I had her attention, I told this artist about the channel Kelly and I were working on. I sent her the video clips that I had made of Kelly and she loved them, she said she would ask her manager about letting us come shoot behind the scenes at her video shoot, which was being produced by Alex Galanis of Arkadia Pictures.

So I had the artist on board, but I still knew it would be very tough to get past management, I just know this, so I decided I wasn't just going to simply leave it at that. I called Kelly to tell her about this potential opportunity, and it turns out, Kelly knows that band's manager quite well, so she got working on that end of the equation. Kelly must have some magic that follows her around, because next thing you know, we have a pass to go shoot some behind the scenes fan video footage of this wonderful country group. It was so much fun, I can't wait to share it with you all, but I won't divulge the details until the band is ready to release their video, I don't want to spoil any surprises.

So that was my daytime shoot, but it doesn't end there, we had somewhere to go that night too!


Kelly sings background vocals for Loverboy, and a few months ago we hatched this plan to ask Mike Reno if we could do one of our videos using him as a subject. Not an easy thing to ask, after all, Mike Reno doesn't really need me and my hand held video camera, lets be honest here. I was asking him to expose himself to some stranger hanging around taking videos and being in your face backstage, when you just want to chill after a show. I get that, and I respect it. Most people forget I am there (eventually), and I have never had a complaint. I am very discreet, and charming, and polite.

As luck would have it, I am acquainted with Loverboy's amazing keyboard player Doug Johnson (who knew my father before he passed away last year). Once in a while I send Doug an email to keep him in the loop of what I am up to. So here is what happened Doug, sent the clip I made of Kelly, to Mike (back when I first posted it on You Tube last fall, because the video includes us finding Mike's signature on the walls backstage at the Red Robinson show theatre), so luckily, Mike was already familiar with the sort of video I make. Which really made this all much, much easier when Kelly asked Mike if we could come do a fan/bio video of him, he decided to support us and our project, and let himself be a subject. I am humbled.

The only tricky part, was getting a media pass for inside the venue. Live Nation is serious about stuff like that, and they don't just let anyone do this sort of thing. There were hoops, trust me. I didn't even know whether I was going to get a media pass approved until the morning of the show, so I was on pins an needles until I got the word. When I did, I was thrilled, especially when I realized that it was, Mike who went to bat for me and pulled the right strings, so he really was the hero of the day. I really look foward to making a wondeful fan tribute for them.

The show rocked by the way, the band was tight, and the crowd were singing and crying and showing their boobs to the band. (It was a rock show after all). Hanging out backstage was hilarious, it always is, there is just something about the energy it takes to do a show, that makes people quicker, and faster with the funny, either that or its the booze.

I had the great pleasure of meeting the other gorgeous background singer who works alongside Kelly, her name is Catherine St. Germaine. They are affectionately dubbed, the 'Lovergirls'. I have been emailing with Catherine for months now, so I did sort of 'cyber-'know her already. As well as performing for a living in a number of different amazing local groups, Catherine also books the bands into the lounges, for the Great Canadian Casinos. It was a treat to finally meet Catherine in person, she is beautiful and talented and I admire her a great deal. If you caught the show I am sure you were fell in love with her after she sang Almost Paradise with Mike near the end of the show.

Finally, I want to say that underneath all that incredible talent and powerful voice, Mike Reno, is a really funny, nice, and genuine guy. I was a big fan back in the days when I was wearing out the grooves on my records, and I am still a fan, and I am delighted that Loverboy are still rocking up there on stage, playing the songs of our youth and bringing us back to simpler times.

They have a wicked new CD out, & I am listening to the tunes as we type, I do highly recommend you check it out, and pick up a copy. There is a reason we fell in love with these boys 30 some odd years ago, and this new CD proves they still got it!

Loverboy will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame at the 2009 Juno Awards this spring, and I applaud CMHF for honoring such a worthy band and acknowledging what a rich tapestry of music Loverboy has given us to grow up with. Judging by the fans cheering and singing along in the audience, a LOT of people feel the same way.

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