This page is about my friends, John and Debi, their music, their band and their creativity.  I’ve known these two for decades and their band Burnt Rose has been going for a far back as I can remember.  With these guys, it really is about playing music – anytime, anywhere.  Without a doubt, these are two of the most innovatively-creative people I've ever known.

By the beginning of the year 2000, I had left my home in the country and moved back to the city – I loved the country life, but when you’ve grown up in the city, you do miss it (eventually).  I’d been playing piano now for a few years and I was looking for a band to further develop my abilities on an instrument that I was definitely growing rather fond of.  So I ‘put the word out’ and heard that Burnt Rose occasionally needed a fill-in keyboard player.  By the end of the summer, their keyboard player had moved on to his own projects and I became a member of the band.  In the two years or so that I was with the band, I played nearly 300 gigs all over Southern Ontario, in every kind of venue that one could imagine.

The ‘trial by fire’ period for me with this group was just after I first came on board.  They were already well into recording and producing their first CD and I needed to learn their original material quickly to record it.  I can remember one day in the studio, the tape was rolling, I was playing my piano and Johnny was standing in the doorway, forming the guitar chords on the neck of his guitar so I could remember what the song did next.  Was a great experience working with these guys.  The song you’re listening to is from those sessions, with Paul Augustyn answering on sax – one of the Powerhouse Horns (my other band), and another good friend.

For more information about this band, see their website at: http://www.burntroseband.com/

Don – March 20, 2008

John, Debi, JJ (on drums), myself (in the back) and Phil (on bass guitar)

Same people, except Mike (top centre) had stepped in on drums by the 2nd year.

"Toys for Tots" benefit

Spirit 91.7FM

St. Catherines, ON

Nov/01

The Burnt Rose car, No. 27

Driven by James Boam and Heikke Aasa

Ohsweken Speedway, ON

The Come By Chance bar in Hamilton

One of the band's favourite places to play.