The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 59

THE OTTAWA CITIZEN FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1989 D3 MGHTS OUT -s 9 iKCJ The boys are back: Randy Bachman, left, Robbie Bachman and Fred Turner Taking care of business play Barrymore's Monday one more time For Randy Bachman, taking care of business has not always been pleasant. In January, the founder of Bachman Turner Overdrive concluded a messy wrangle with younger brother Tim, a former member of the band who, for the previous two years, had taken a band of young clones through the U.S. using the name BTO. "They even used our old songs in the radio ads, so people figured it was the real band. But when word spread last year that I was putting the original band back together, Tim's gigs started drying up.

People would only get burned so often," Randy said in an interview. Randy, who reunited the other greying gents Fred Turner, brother Robbie Bachman and Blair Thornton ECafhi McPonald: Front dio formats, Bachman concedes that the money from the '89 tour will be used merely to indulge their hobbies, and satisfy the ego. Bachman collects Gretsch guitars. There has been lots of talk about a new BTO album. Some demos have been done, and Bruce Fairbairn (Bon Jovi, Aerosmith) is interested, but Bachman says there's no hurry.

Mon-ey isn't the object. For now, the Canadian band that has sold an amazing 15 million albums worldwide is satisfied with hitting the clubs and summer fairs, to try to turn the clocks back at least one more time. "It's always flattering to get a call from a club that wants you. For those moments on stage, you're 22 again, and everybody in the audience is 18." Mike Abrams, Citizen Full steam ahead: Kathi McDonald belts out '60s-style blues-rock tonight and Saturday at the Rainbow ($7 cover). thing is confirmed Toronto soul singer Liberty Silver returns to Spin- I ner's May 12-13.

Also coming to the I Bank Street club May 26-27: tear-it- up blues party meister Paul James. What's more, Canada's No. 1 R'n'B -band is back yet again: The Lincolns I will blow the doors down June 16-17 Local rockers Wild Child, with a brand new lineup, are filling in the Thursday slot at Barrymore's vacated by Carole Pope ($3 advance) You can catch a young, hot band on the rise May 10-13 when Toronto's Bour- bon Tabernacle Choir plays the Rain- bow; Lazy Lester holds the fort May 15-20; and a rare Sunday night showcase May 21 with Rhode Island's finest, Ronnie Earle The Broadcast- era. Last but not least, mark down June 2-3 on the calendar: Elvln Bishop and a multi-piece band, packed shoulder to shoulder on The stage Barrymore's has always tried to bring in a diverse selection of-acts. In June, the tradition continues: June 3, it's Junior Walker and The All-Stars, and on June 6, the alterna--; tive crowd will be out in force for New Model Army Morgan Davis, the veteran bluesman whose Why'd You Lie song has scored a hit for lin James, returns to The Downstairs Club May 18-20.

to the new folksy pop songs hitting radio in the early 70s. Though the band was originally formed as a trio called Brave Belt, the record company knew that putting Bachman's name out front would mean a lot. They tried Bachman Turner, but needed a punchier name so they wouldn't get confused with the likes of Seals Crofts. "People came expecting folk music, and we'd blow the coffee out of their cups. We needed a name to connote power, and we got it from the name of this trucker's magazine, OverdWve." With many of BTO's albums set to be re-released on CD this summer, and the fact that the band still draws hefty royalties considering how often their songs are played on classic ra Save our skins Lynn Miles will be doing double-duty this weekend, also appearing Sunday at the DisARMX benefit concert at the Great Canadian Theatre Company.

The concert is sponsored by the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade to protest the ARMX "89 military trade show May 23-25 at Lans-downe Park. Besides Miles, many other well-known local acoustic music performers will be on hand: Cathy Miller, Bob Stark, Alex Sinclair, Terry Tufts and Phil Jenkins. Tickets are $10 advance, $13 at the door, available at the Ottawa Folklore Centre at 744 Bronson Ave. and Octopus Books at 732 Bank St. Concert gossip The Latin-fusion sounds of Manteca will be pumping through the NAC Theatre June 12.

Opening the show will be Toronto jazzniks The Shuffle Demons. Tickets on sale the end of May First it was Jeff Healey, now Frozen Ghost and Ottawa pop-rock band US are in the running to appear at the Canada Day weekend bash. The site may be Jacques Cartier Park, or even Lansdowne Park, when every dustry as he has writing some of the best pedal-to-the-metal rock tunes ever cranked through a car radio. He quit The Guess Who in 1970, at the peak of the legendary Winnipeg group's popularity. He said the rift came because Burton Cummings and other band members were heavy drug and alcohol users.

The bad blood hasn't thinned even today. "I got a lot of bad press when I quit. The other guys did an interview for Rolling Stone, saying things like you could never make it in rock 'n' roll being straight," Bachman said. "So, I had it in my mind to make it to No. 1." Hence, the theme for one of the band's numerous hits, You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet Bachman wanted a heavier sound for his new group, as a counterpoint and centre called from that July day in 1984.

"But I was so involved in listening to (the whales) and working with the equipment, that I kind of forgot any kind of danger." The research ship on which Tamblyn had hitched a ride that summer obviously found Tamblyn on that icy spot 25 kilometres away, because the Ottawa musician expects to have his latest environmental music cassette released by the end of June. Magnetic North will include many of the marine sounds captured with underwater microphones when Tamblyn visited the Chukchi Sea in 1984 and the Bering Sea in 1986. Tuesday at The Rainbow, Tamblyn will accompany some of his whale-song recordings, part of the latest rock reading show sponsored by Food For Thought Books. Before the performance by Tamblyn and one or more musical accomplices, novelistmusician Paul Quar-rington will read from his new book, Whale Music. The book tells the tale of a rock musician who holes up in an ocean-front home after the death of his brother.

He watches the whales and writes music for them. Quarrington has been at the Rainbow a few times in recent months, reading passages from his other books and playing with his band, Joe Hall The Continental Drift. The show starts at 8 p.m., no cover. Save the park Several local musicians have banded together Live-Aid style to support the Gatineau Park Protection Coalition, an umbrella organization of park user and environmental groups wanting to protect the park from further development. Among the gang who'll be on the Barrymore's stage Saturday at the Musicians For Gatineau Park fundraiser will be Ian Tamblyn, Rebecca Campbell, Lynn Miles, Johnny The X-Men and The Adopted ($6 advance).

BARR HOPPING Greg Barr for several dates in 1988 and a North American tour that comes to Barrymore's Monday, says the confrontation hurt his family. "In the middle of it all was my parents. They'd call me up and say, 'How can you take away Tim's It was hard for everyone." Randy has spent as much time fighting his way through the music in little skill, Toronto gloom rockers National Velvet shows lots of potential, even if they are a little rough around the edges. "If my career ever depended on proper vocal coaching," says the band's alluring vocalist Maria Del Mar, "I think it would R.I.P." Among the exuberant things Del Mar did during the band's recent Barrymore's appearance was a ceremonial pummelling of a stand-up cylindrical ashtray. In 68 Hours from NV's self-titled debut album, this female rebel with a cause yanked one college kid around the dance floor by the scruff of his neck.

He was in heaven. As the Toronto band makes its way across Canada on a trek that brings them back to Barrymore's Wednesday ($5 advance), National Velvet is playing to bigger crowds as the word spreads. Opening the National Velvet show is Montreal's 39 Steps, another young group to keep an eye on. Vocalist Chris Barry said in an interview that the five-piece band is continuing work on their second album at New York's The Record Plant studios, under the guidance of Chris Stein (of Blondie fame) and veteran producer Gary Lyons. The band's previous album, Slip Mo A Crowd, was released on RCA in 1987.

"We've had offers from two major (U.S.) labels, we're just into the negotiations," said Barry. The band's straight-ahead sound combines elements of early Iggy, with a smattering of Ramones. There's another distinction, according to Barry: unlike every other Canadian band, no one in 39 Steps is related. Whale of a time All sorts of things went through Ian Tamblyn's mind in the three hours on an iceberg in the Chukchi Sea, as huge grey whales swam by. Some thoughts weren't too pleasant.

"I thought a few of those things, whether the ship would find me. And what if one of these animals decides to nudge my iceberg," Tamblyn re the phone last week, Kathi McDonald said she was hav-fine the time of her life at 40. She's working the road front ing a band, shedding her long-stand-. "ang role as a backup singer with Long John Baldry. It showed Tuesday at the Rainbow.

McDonald, who has sung on records by the Rolling Stones, Ike Tina Turner and other big-name stars, can slink her way through a steamy bal- lad, or summon up some lung-busting Janis Joplin screams while barely breaking a sweat. Though her stage movements seemed stiff and forced at times, when McDonald just stood there and let loose, it was a near-religious experience, something Margo Timmins or Sass Jordan would kill to be able to pull off. Though the band zipped through some standard fare such as Dock Of The Bay and Knock On Wood that didn't really challenge them, reworking of ancient gems by tthe likes of Blind Faith, Patsy Cline and John Prine were met by wild cheering from the small crowd. Surely the best moments came McDonald in Prine's Angel From Montgomery and Blind Faith's ZZCan't Find My Way Home. It was flashback city, capturing the feel of '60s-style blues-rock in a way that only someone who lived through it can project.

Meter-perfect southpaw drummer Shawn Eisenberg turned in a standout performance, and King's lead breaks were varied and rather tasteful, though it's obvious that he wasn't too worried about his rhythm parts, best left in the hands of Butch Coulter. McDonald's band finishes up at the Rainbow tonight and Saturday ($7 cover). Don't miss it. Rough as velvet I'd run out of space listing all the bands that describe their music as ag-gressive. Most of them fall under the alternative music category, where ex- uberant music is the norm.

But while some alternative-type bands possess lots of enthusiasm but.