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April 9, 0214
“They want to be entertained and it’s up to us to do that.”
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— Jack Semple
B10
Music is the Semple Life for Jack By Norm Park normpark@estevanmercury.ca
He loved the reception he received from his hosts and the audience the last time he played in a concert in Estevan about four years ago, and Jack Semple is more than happy to return to the 100-year-old Orpheum Theatre on Friday to help mark the birthday party with some rousing music. “The acoustics are great in that theatre. I love playing theatres because of the sound and the intimate atmosphere,” Semple said from his home near Regina. Semple will be in the Energy City, at the Orpheum on Friday night with hosts Alan and Jocelyn Dougherty as they mark the theatre’s 100th year. Two live concerts, Semple’s on Friday and Alan Frew of Glass Tiger fame, will wrap up the week-long celebration that has included the viewing of silent films accompanied by pianist and movie music historian Rodney Sauer of Colorado plus feature films from each decade shown on the Orpheum’s main screen as well as its new second cinema screen. “This is going to be a busy year for me, the bookings really heat up between now and September,” said Semple who is slated to perform at this year’s Saskatchewan Jazz Festival in Saskatoon. The guitar warrior said his musical tastes are eclectic and therefore his band brings a fusion of blues, rock and jazz to each of their performances. Semple, with his unique ability to read the crowd, answers with the type of music he knows they’ll enjoy. “For instance, I have a song called the Hog Report that starts out country, moves into rockabilly and ends up as a blues piece,” he said with a laugh. Semple said he tries to write music and play one of his guitars every day, even if it is just to do a little solo jamming and maybe trying something new, because “sometimes things just happen and you get to write down a great riff or discover something you hadn’t explored before.” The veteran of the Saskatchewan musical scene said he received a new Gibson 335 guitar from his wife for his
Jack Semple birthday. It’s the same kind that B.B. King deploys and has named Lucille. “I usually play my Fender Stratocaster and that’s on the other side of the guitar spectrum compared with the Gibson, so to me, it almost sounds as if somebody else is playing it. I really surprised myself. I enjoy playing In the Blue Light on it, because we get to do a bit of howling. So as long as I keep discovering new things,
it will keep me from being bored and by the way, I’m keeping the Gibson and my wife. It was a beautiful gift.” Although he’s done thousands of performances, Semple said he finds the key is to try and be rested prior to hitting the stage so he can offer up all the energy that each appearance requires and one that the audience expects. “They want to be entertained and it’s up to us to do that.” By us, he refers to his bandmates Dave Chobot on bass, who has been with him for over 15 years, dating back to their country and western music foray and drummer Marty Blonski, “ a young guy who has been with us for awhile who is in New York right now at a drummer’s collective. He’s pretty remarkable.” Semple also joins up with a couple of friends from the Regina Symphony Orchestra, Ed Minevhich (violin) and Steve McLellan (bass) to form the trio True Jive Pluckers, who pick up a few gigs and share laughs. In fact they have just completed a tour that took them through Kenora, Ont. over to Brandon and points in between. “By the time I’m finished the first song, I’ll already have a feeling for what the audience might want and I don’t want to give them average, I want them to see and hear stuff they want to see and hear.” Semple said his show generally includes a couple of staples, a Stevie Ray Vaughn tribute song and his nearsignature piece now, Rainy Night in Georgia. Both songs illustrate Semple’s guitar virtuosity. “I enjoy the dynamics that are there between the musicians and audience. One minute you’re rocking and the next you’re down low and slow and feeling the music with them and on occasion you get to enjoy those special moments together that stick with you. “So I’ll be in Estevan on Friday. It’s been four years or more and Estevan is where the action is these days and I always want to be where the action is.” Tickets for the concert are available at The Orpheum or at Henders Drugs on Fourth Street.
Frew will hit Orpheum stage Saturday night Alan Frew doesn’t have to prove nuthin’ to nobody. His musical resume is full of accomplishments, including five Juno Awards, but the Glass Tiger’s lead vocalist is still anxious to entertain, both with music as well as stories. “This will be my first trip to Estevan and I’m super excited,” he said during a telephone conversation while he was somewhere on the road, heading to another gig. Frew will be appearing on stage in the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday night, the final evening of a week-long series of special activities to mark the local theatre’s 100 years of providing movies, music, theatre and lectures to local audiences. Frew, a Scotsman who has adopted Canada as his home, said he and his travelling band of Sean Andrews on guitar and Peter Nunn on keyboards, are prepared to give a local audience a strong and versatile musical sampling as well as a few stories about life on the road. “No, I don’t ever get tired of singing that signature song Don’t Forget Me, because each place is different, every audience gives you a little different feel. The venues change and the audience moods vary as do the musician’s. It’s a legacy song for me, they expect to hear it so, I feel obliged. I’ve sung it thousands of times, but it doesn’t get old.” Frew also wrote an anthem styled song intended for consideration for Canada’s
2010 Olympics and while the song didn’t get christened as the official Games tune, Free to Be, his rah rah homage to a nation, definitely caught on and has become another signature song for the veteran song-writer, performer. The Toronto Maple Leafs claimed it as one of their action tunes and Frew said that when he went over to Afghanistan to entertain the troops, “the guys loved it.” It has been repurposed as his love song to Canada. “This is my homage, I’m on Canada’s team,” he said. Frew said his public appearances, either as a motivational speaker, solo artist or as part of a trio or with Glass Tiger, number about 60 a year now. But he’ll always be ready to hit the road if the mood and situation work. “I’ve been at this for over 40 years and I believe I’ve only lost three or four gigs due to injury or illness. I even performed the night my father died. I had seen him that afternoon and we had a good chat and I told him I’d see him the next day. Just before I was going out on stage that night I learned he had died. The concert organizers told me I could cancel and everyone would understand, it wouldn’t be a problem, but I also knew that dad would have kicked my ass if I hadn’t gone on. He was that kind of guy. So I did my grieving later.” So when you talk about being a musical trooper, Frew is a pure one. There is a balance now between his
speaking and musical engagements and he also enjoys writing and has published Action Sandwich which is now in its third reprint. The book tells about his life and travels, salted with a good dose of humour, with a few motivatitonal messages. “I’ve sold most of them myself, not through the book stores. I take them on the tours. I’m a student of life. I’ve always wondered why I was doing what I was doing,” he said. “It just came, and I found out wow, I have this ability to write and help motivate others with ideas. It’s fun being a Scot. So I put it in the book, along with a little bit of the expected sex and rock and roll,” he added with a laugh. Scotland still holds some charm for him and he makes it back there on occasion to check on his beloved Glasgow Rangers soccer squad. Frew said he had played Saskatchewan before with April Wine, so is no stranger to the province, but it will be a first for him in Estevan. He said he’ll probably be singing I Believe, the tune he penned that young Nikki Yanofsky took and made her own. He’ll be giving it the male perspective of course. “Nikki took that song and did wonderful things with it. She’s fantastic.” A Glass Tiger pop song, I Take it Back, will probably make it into the evening’s repertoire since “the fans love it.”
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Alan Frew So the guy who has worked with Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart, Cheap Trick and Tina Turner as well as his own teams, the guy who has made extended visits to Bosnia, Egypt, Israel and the far northern reaches of Canada, is finally ready to hit Estevan and the Orpheum. Tickets for the Saturday night concert are available at the Orpheum or Henders Drugs on Fourth Street.
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