Jaimie Vernon makes a return visit to Tommy Solo's Famous Friends , this time to play rock & roll trivia with me. Jaimie is the president of Bullseye records & an authority on Canadian pop music history. He is currently writing a weekly blog, an extension of his former publication....Great White Noise.
In this episode, we discuss a random mix of Canadian bands & solo recording artists as I quiz Jaimie (who is also the author of the Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia) with random names.
He shares his knowledge of acts like Klaatu, Lee Aaron, April Wine, Frank Soda & a lot more including some more obscure yet awesome acts.
And then there was 1980, the summer of riots at rock shows in Toronto.....
This is a fun one!

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Ronnie Hawkins' career in Music, TV & Film spanned over 63 years....& it may not be over yet!
Having immigrated to Canada in 1958, he has since become well known not only for his own many accomplishments....but for the many careers he has fostered & launched. He is responsible for introducing the world to the likes of Robbie Lane, Beverly D'Angelo, David Clayton Thomas & David Foster.
Ronnie had us both chuckling as he recounts stories from his dealings with mob associated record company mogul, Morris Levy to his hilarious appearance along with Carol Baker on the live to air CBC Juno awards show....& a whole lot more.
Ronnie lives a quiet life these days in Central Ontario with his loyal wife of over 50 years, Wanda. His is a fascinating story...to say the least!

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Mitch Field immigrated to Canada from England as a young boy, but not before he had the chance to see the Beatles live in concert right before they broke internationally on the Ed Sullivan show. Like so many of our classic rock icons, Mitch was inspired by the Fab Four to become a musician. One of his first gigs was drumming for John Lee Hooker & he's never looked back since then. In this episode we talk about how he bluffed his way into a recording contract with CBS records & subsequently recruited an already formed & experienced band to become Hellfield. We also discuss the corporatization of the music business....& a whole lot more.

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David Carruthers is a Children's book author & Social enterprise entrepreneur & philanthropist.
He has spent years dedicating himself to empowering kids & youths, traveling to over 250 schools giving inspirational talks. David is also in the business of helping new authors to get their works published.
We discuss all this and more during this episode. You can dig further into the services offered by David & his partners at this link https://www.yourhousespc.com/

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John Rowlands is a world renowned arts & entertainment photographer, having shot photos for major record labels over the years including pics of the Beatles, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen ...among others. Since his retirement, he's suffered a couple of major strokes. The most recent one nearly killed him & he needs our help on his road to recovery. While we did discuss certain parts of his history as "Photographer to the Stars" (something he is reluctant to call himself in spite of his illustrious career shooting the stars) the main reason I'm releasing this episode is to ask you to help John out by contributing to his recovery via the facebook fundraiser in his name. https://www.facebook.com/donate/736986177199992/

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Larry Mercey is a seminal figure in the Canadian Country music scene. He started out as a solo act, singing on radio in the late 1950s. His Mother documented every show he played in her own journal & that journal of hers was instrumental in inspiring Larry to write his autobiography "Have Mercey My first 60 years making music". In this episode, we discuss how he started out & ultimately brought his two brothers into the act, becoming The Mercey Brothers. The band of brothers performed together for 30 years & won multiple Juno awards, have been inducted into the Canadian Country Music HOF....among other prestigious accolades!
The Mercey Brothers were a well oiled machine when it came to managing the business side of the music business & enjoyed a very successful career together. When the three brothers called it quits, Larry continued soldiering on, once again as a solo act & has recently formed a new trio of friends who've been busy making even more musical magic. His new book is available via his E Mail [email protected]

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Jeff Alexander is a two time Grand prize winning guitarist who was on his way to fame & fortune, having opened for Trooper, April Wine & Honeymoon Suite. In his prime as a virtuoso guitarist, he rubbed shoulders with Steve Vai & George Lynch. Sadly, he caught a flu bug that weakened his immune system to the point where he became afflicted with Multiple Sclerosis. In this episode, we discuss his journey from his very early beginnings as a 4 year old learning to play guitar in his Dad's kitchen in Newfoundland, to the present day. He is determined to one day pick up his guitar & shred again. His is an inspirational story of hope & I think you're gonna like it.

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Henry Small is one of North America's most under rated singers. He started playing violin & piano as a young boy & went from playing in early bands from Upstate New York to his first successful band, Scrubbaloe Caine (a band that also included Paul Dean of Loverboy fame) out of Calgary Alberta, Canada. It didn't take Henry too long before being noticed by Burton Cummings & being invited by Burton's management to join Burton's touring band singing back up. He would go from there to replacing original Prism lead singer Ron Tabak. With Henry on board, Prism had some of their biggest success with record sales. He's also had a fair bit of success with his own band Small Wonder.
He's worked with a venerable "who's who" in the music business including Aynsley Dunbar, Tim Bogert & John Entwistle among others. We chat about all that and more in this episode.

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After 36 episodes, I thought I'd introduce myself to anyone who enjoys this show ....but may not know who I am or where I came from. This episode will hopefully explain just how I met some of my famous guests. This is the story of a kid from a small town in North Bay Ontario, Canada who started playing professionally at 17 years old & what happened after I left my small pond, seeking my own fame & fortune.

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