Return to Vancouver, 2000
Out of the Frying Pan
…it was Roger, from the VSE days. To make a long story short, he was being sued and wanted to know if I could come back to Vancouver to hold down the office while he was in court. What an opportunity! A springboard out of Stratford – and a steady paycheque.
Except for one thing – he was totally insane! (I should have seen the writing on the wall on my first day at work, when he proudly told me this was his 33rd lawsuit).
I lasted one year, and quit after a particularly vile shouting match.
In mid-2000 I bought a synthesizer.
This brings us to 2003. It was years since I’d done any composing. Although I bought the synth, it was really a gift from heaven
I started with a business idea to compose Musical Portraits as unique gifts for special occasions, and teamed up with a marketing friend; our first project was for a 25th anniversary CD for his wife Jean. The CD served also as a product demo: the initial production process involved a background interview, then somehow to try to capture the essence of the person thematically and get it to the client approval stage. In this case, Jeanie said her favorite things were the bagpipes and the outdoors. Final production included photo & video. [See Group I, #3, #6,] By this time, and as much as I enjoyed it, it was no longer just for fun. This was business. I also sketched out a few Demo Invitations, Wedding Processions and some scenic Themes for the commercial movie/video game/theatrical markets.
