I've heard it said many times over the years that if you know three people who would take your call and bail you out of jail at 3 o'clock in the morning you are indeed fortunate. You have true friends. I have to consider myself very fortunate. I know without a shadow of doubt that I have five such friends.
That number could actually be higher, although I've never been in a circumstance of having to put that theory to the test. But, it could be higher because I have a rather large 'family'.
What I mean is this. When I relocated to Vancouver 31 years ago this summer I arrived here just as a 'perfect storm' was brewing. An intersection of music, art, fashion and 'do-it-yourself' attitude that blossomed into a 'scene' which I have yet to see truly repeated since that time. I fell in with a group of musicians and artists while I was attending Simon Fraser University, and I can still count two of probably the first dozen people I ever met in this city as solid friends. From small beginnings a larger scene developed and we became, through common interests, a sort of surrogate family to each other. A real community.
Life marches on, deaths, births, marriages, divorces, jobs, mortgages - real life. Although separated in some cases by large distances, sometimes even across different continents, it's still a family. As with any family maybe the members don't get together quite as often as they might have in the past but the channels of contact are still there and still open. When a family member hits a period of difficulty you really find out how open they truly are.
There are a couple of other old expressions -
your life can turn on a dime, and really shitty things happen to really good people.
Both of those things recently happened to a member of my extended 'family'. He's also a very fortunate individual and he would be the first to tell you so even as he lies on his back in New York's Bellevue Hospital. There are literally hundreds of people willing to pick up that '3 o'clock in the morning call' bot in New York and his hometown of Vancouver.
Scott Harding (aka Scotty Hard aka Broadway Sol Goodman) is an extremely well-regarded musician and producer from Vancouver who now lives and works in New York City. He spent years in Vancouver’s underground scene, and local hipsters will remember Scott best as a founding member of Bamff, Rhythm Mission and The Jazzmanian Devils.
Young and Hard, early 80's. a handsome (Jazzmanian) Devil.
In New York, his list of production, engineering and mixing credits is simply staggering, and includes Chris Rock (Never Scared), Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Wu-Tang Clan, Tricky, Medeski Martin & Wood, Prince Paul, De La Soul, PM Dawn, Brand New Heavies, Vernon Reid, Material, Soul Crib, and literally dozens of other well-known and influential artists in the jazz, hip-hop and rock scenes. Yes, that is but a partial list.
Bald and Hard in the Big Apple
Scott was returning to his Brooklyn home from a recording session early morning, February 15th when the cab in which he was a passenger was T-boned by a stolen car, estimated to be going 90-100 Mph (145-160 km/h) at time of impact. Scott remains paralyzed from the chest down in a hospital in New York with a crushed T5 vertebrae, broken collarbone, broken shoulder blade, no health insurance and whopping medical bills. Although he is slowly recovering and has started rehabilitation, he has been in the hospital since Feb 15, and will be there for quite some time. The good news, the silver lining, in all this is that Scotty still has his hands and his ears. But there is still a very long road to travel before work is again a consideration.
A benefit was also organized in New York by his friends and colleagues there on March 19th, and included performances from John Medeski, Billy Martin, Bill Laswell, Sex Mob, John Scofield, DJ Logic, DJ Olive, Eric Krasno, Neal Evans, Marco Benevento, Joe Russo, Antibalas, John Ellis, Michael Blake, Vijay Iyer, Tommy Hamilton, Kevin Kendrick, and many more. They raised over $30,000 for the trust fund that has been set up for Scott by his friends.
Now the gauntlet has been thrown down for Scott’s Vancouver fans and friends, and will be answered with the Hardstock 08 Concert, April 25 at the Commodore Ballroom. The show features the cream of Vancouver musicians from the last 30 years.
Headlining is a super group we have created for the occasion called The Hard Ones, featuring (in alphabetical order) Barney Bentall, Doug Elliot, Paul Hyde, Colin James, Simon Kendall, Colin Nairne, Craig Northey, Pat Steward...and others; The Pointed Sticks; The Jazzmanian Devils; John Mann from Spirit of the West with his son; Bughouse 5; Hardrock Miners; the Furies; I Braineater; Go for 3, and the Mike Webster Band. Band and artist profiles and updates will continue to be added at the Hardstock 08 web site over the coming days.
Doors will open at 7:00 and the music starts at 7:30 sharp.
Did we say that 100% of the net proceeds go to Scotty Hard? Why? Because he needs it, and we love him and he deserves it. Our number one goal is to raise money for him in this time of need.
Another goal is to honour the universal health care program we have in Canada, which helps to make us a civilized country. While Scott is a citizen of Canada, he has been living in the US for some time with a green card. As a musician, engineer, recording producer and artist, he is like so many other Americans who do not have health insurance. Barack Obama says there are 47 million of them. Which is a number that might mean nothing until you know someone personally who needs help, and can't afford to pay for it. This is why we have come together to help.
Another reason is the real sense of community and love and friendship that binds musicians in Vancouver. (There's the 'family' thing I mentioned way up above. We call it Hardstock to honour the spirit of the individuals who came forward, and made changes to their busy schedules, and offered without ego and without thought of renumeration or thought of loss of possible renumeration, to come together and put on a show for one of our own.
It takes many people to make this happen but I do want to single out three without whom none of this would be. First, Scotty's best friend and longtime musical collaborator in Rhythm Mission and the Jazzmanian Devils, singer/lyricist Dennis Mills (aka Dense Milt aka Lester B. Goodman aka 'the last good man in town'), Nick Jones of the legendary Pointed Sticks, and singer-songwriter par excellence (and member of the now defunct power-pop kings, The Odds) Mr. Craig Northey for assembling the all-star line-up.
If you are in the Vancouver area or plan to be on April 25th, we hope you can make the gig. If you can't, please consider making a contribution of some sort. Info on donations via paypal or cheque at the Scotty Hard Trust.
If you do the Facebook thing, and I hear that's what all the kewl kids do nowadays, there are groups set up here, here, and here.
Am I personally participating in the benefit gig? You bet I'm marching in Scotty's parade, although I'm not saying where on the bill or with whom. It's not about me, it's all about the man Scotty Hard. All I will say is get there early and be part of the family.
Little video sampling:
The title track from Medeski, Martin & Wood's Uninvisble disc, produced and engineered by Scotty Hard (he also played some guitar)
Early 90's rap act New Kingdom with Cheap Thrills. Again, produced and engineered (and some guitar) by Scotty Hard. Look for our boy at about the 3:00 mark. He's the bellhop. New Kingdom's Sebstop (Sebastian Laws) is still making music with Scotty on his own solo projects and is an invaluable member of Scotty's NYC support group. YouTube embedding has sadly been disabled, but please watch here.
Scotty Hard doing his thing, dubbing a remix for LuzMob
Crossposted in Team Canada's red, black & white at A Creative Revolution