In 1974 I began high school at MacDonald High in Ste Anne de Bellevue. It is a very old high school and shared a beautiful campus with John Abbott College as well as MacDonald Campus of McGill University. For a small town like Ste Anne this meant that the place was crawling with students of all ages and from all countries.
Two things happened that year that would change my life forever. I met a foreign exchange student named Thomas Lau. He was from HAPPY VALLEY in Hong Kong and was studying at John Abbott. Having crossed paths on our way to and from school every day we became friends. He had a guitar and could play songs that I knew. Despite being far from home, living alone and essentially knowing only one person, he never seemed lonely when he had that guitar in his hands. The second thing was a concert at the Montreal Forum…it was the BOB DYLAN BEFORE THE FLOOD tour with THE BAND. It was the first time I had ever heard of concerts at THE FORUM , the first time I had ever seen so many people in one place, the first time I had ever heard of pot and the first time I ever saw one man stand there with an acoustic guitar wearing shades in the dark with the ability to absolutely command the entire room with a single song. I decided then and there I wanted to be Bob Dylan! They had recorded the show that night and I bought the album.
Next time I saw Tom I asked him if he would teach me a little guitar which he gladly did. Already having a background in music I was a quick study. I urged…begged…my mom to buy me a guitar and she did…an Aria folk guitar…$87 at Steve’s Music Store. Before long Tom and I knew several songs and decided to try our hand at playing publicly. We played church fairs, street fairs and a few times at small coffee house events. We expanded our repertoire and by 1977, while I was in grade 10 a kid in grade 11 named Rodney Ross joined the duo and we became a trio. That year we played my high school variety show. The school gym was packed, the lights were down the three of us took the stage. The show was a resounding success for us and a few doors started opening up.