Grizzly's Website (for guitar fans)

[Grizzly]

That is actually a Shinnik Yaroslavl jersey. Usually it gets confused with Inter Milan as even the striping is similar. There are more soccer teams than colours combinations. Scanning photos for the website has made me realize how many pictures I have of me in that jersey as I don't want people to think I only wear one shirt. Whatever material it is made of it is the most comfortable soccer shirt I have ever worn. The other guys are all jazz musicians so if we formed a progressive rock cover band it would have to be free form improvisational covers which would probably fit in well with the progressive rock genre anyway.

[Grizzly]

To answer John t.v.'s question about Gordon O'Brien I do not know him personally but do know of him although it is a while since I have heard his name. The last I heard which was several years ago he was living in Nashville and writing songs for country music stars. Apparently in what is certainly unusual for an accomplished classical guitarist he is also a country music fan. I have also heard rumours that he had some personal problems but since these were rumours it is probably better not to repeat them here.

As far as calling him one of Canada's greatest classical guitarists that is a bit of a stretch. He was certainly very talented and many thought he would become one of the top guitarists. However, to be considered a great guitarist you have to have many years of playing great concerts and recording great CDs. Gordie O'Brien had some great success early in his career and then just disappeared. To call him great would be like calling Jonathon DeGuzman one of the greatest Canadian soccer players if he plays decently with Feyernoord this year but then stops playing. Assuming he does not make a comeback, Gordon O'Brien would have to be classed in the unrealized potential category.

[john tv]

I met Gordie when he was 10. I am a classical pianist so I know about music, with training at the Conservatory of Music in Holland.He was amazing and being taught by Eli Kastner he became recognized as one of the finest. when John Williams came here for master classes he cancelled his appearance to hear Gordon play at a concert in North York.At that time Canada was not prepared to support a classical mguitarist. I tried many ways to get funding for him to study abroad. No organization exist in Canada to support this. I tried every large corporation but it was totally impossible.Even Eli got nowhere.At Guitar I believe 81 or so leona Boyd was there to listen to Gordon play and in fact she ended up with his guitar.Yes Gordon did go to the States and indeed to Nashville. He married an American girl. I organized a concert for him at the Arts and letters club,tried to get the media interested including Littler and no one came.Gordon made a C.D. Took it to all the radio stations and no one was interested.It blew my mind. No body seem to care a bit about this extreme gift.Without throwing rocks at Canada we are not ready for a genius like him.I know at that time he won every major guitar competition in the world, beating every European or S. American player,I have his only CD he made.It is indeed a shame that we don't seem to have a system in place to support our young Canadian talent, I guess even Jonathan De Guzman falls into this category.The last time I spoke to him was ten years ago.With my classical training and background as well as my knowledge of technical accomplishments it has been one of the most amazing experiences in my life and became to realize the distinct differences between Canada and Europe.
I am sorry to hear that he has marital problems,but than again,he sure was totally different from anyone I ever met, he was amazing.

[Grizzly]

John you can't blame everything on external forces the media etc. although it appears you prefer to do so whether in soccer or music. I don't know why Geordie did not continue with his career but I doubt he himself would give the same reasons you do. Whether or not Canada sufficiently funds the arts there are grants available in particular those from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. Many guitarist of O'Brien's generation have won such grants although admittedly it is sometimes hard to understand why some less talented players received grants and other more talented did not. A large number of Canadian guitarists managed to go to Europe without funding which I myself had to do. I can name you about 10 Canadian guitarists of O'Brien's time who have significant concert careers and have made numerous recordings. Most of these players didn't have half the advantages that O'Brien did in playing with a major orchestra at a young age and having national broadcasts on the CBC. I don't know if I would call any of them great guitarists but several are very good. Quite possibly O'Brien would have been the best of the bunch had he persevered.

O'Brien did impress a great many people at a young age. I don't know why he did not continue in his career but it was indeed possible to have a career as a guitarist in Canada at the time. Just look at fellow Torontonian Norbert Kraft who has had a pretty good career. While Europe does support opera and orchestras to a better level than we do this is not true for the guitar. The main advantage to living in Europe as a guitarist is that the distances you have to travel to play concerts in major cities is much smaller. The personal problem rumours I heard had nothing to do with his marriage and may or may not be true. It is a shame he did not fulfill his potential but I think the answer to why lies more with himself and possibly what his life goals were. Noone said life as a classical guitarist is easy and having a concert career entails so many non-music related elements that it is easy to get fed up. I myself got fed up particularly with the whole European guitar scene and politics and I did not pursue my concert career for several years and am just starting to try and reestablish myself.

If you want to find out what Geordie is doing now and possibly contact him, why don't you contact Eli Kasner. If anyone would know where he is it would be him.

[john tv]

Well blaming etc,all I know is that Gordon in order to advance had to go to Europe or Brazil. Money was needed and in the Ont/Canada grant scene nothing was available.He was to young to qualify I was told.His father had a job as a horse trainer and made little money.It became very clear to me that our system has some very serious shortcomings.It was even more amazing since he besides winning every guitar competition in the world, he also gave a variety of concerts ,played at Hamilton place,alongside Burton Cummings,sole with the TSO under Andrew Davies in Massey Hall who introduced Gordon as one of Canada's greatest guitar talents and other orchestras.It was Eli who said that Gordon had to go abroad to further his talents.
And yes he was also a good soccer player,played for St.Andrews.

[john tv]

Sorry Griz,I did not have my speaker system hooked up yet. Just bought a new computer,my old one is virussed out.I listened to your music and you remind me very much of Gordie.Same fluent touch and technically you are also very good.I know how difficult it is to make a buck in classical guitar, so I am happy to see you teach the whole gammut.Kind of funny since with my classical background I am a very big jazz fan and ended up being a drummer as well as a piano player.I did teach Gordie some jazz on the piano and I can still remember how fast he picked it up. To be honest I have not sat behind a drum set or piano for many years.Soccer took over besides my kitchen business.Keep up the good work and if I can be of any help let me know.

[Grizzly]

Thanks for the compliments.

As far as Gordie goes I don't know why he didn't continue with his career but I don't think money was the issue. When I was studying in Ottawa there was certainly a lot of talk about him and he already had a name in Canada and the US. Then he just completely disappeared from the scene. Grants are a funny business and one can never understand how they are issued. I have known poor guitarists who have received funding and good ones who have not. Guitarists are also at a disadvantage to begin with because most of the juries deciding the grants are composed of pianists, violinists and other instrumentalist but rarely guitarists. I am pretty sure the Canada Council has funded child prodgidies although this is more the exception than the rule.

I think Eli was right that he should have gone to Europe. However, even if he did not get a grant this was certainly possible because many other Canadian guitarists have done this including myself. Germany is the country to go to now for the guitar and it has no tuition fees so one only has to pay for room and board not $25000 US like the major American music schools. Yet the German schools are as good if not better than the big American ones. I myself went into debt that I am still paying off to finance this but I still managed and I know many other Canadians who did the same. I also know many players from third world countries who underwent far greater struggles than I did to get to the same schools I studied at but still managed to fulfill their dream. One of my classmates from Turkey was a very good guitarist who not only had very difficult financial problems but had to go through a charade with her very religious mother by saying she was studying math because her mother considered a female musician to be on the same level as a prostitute. Gordie had an advantage over all of us in that at a young age he was already known and had won some competitions so I have a hard time believing that money stopped him from studying in Europe even if he didn't receive the grants he probably deserved. Another thing I found strange with Gordie is that he didn't seem to play many concerts outside the greater Toronto area which is one of the reasons I never saw him live (and I think I have seen just about every other Canadian guitarist of reputation). Anyway I am sure he had his reasons for the decisions he made and hopefully they were the right ones for him. It seems a shame to waste all that talent though but maybe he will make a comeback one day. I do think that in the end one has to achieve far more to be considered a great guitarist, I am not even sure I would include established concert artists like David Russell and Manuel Barrueco in that category just yet. I will ask around if anyone knows what he is up to and will let you know if I find anything out.