In 1984 the province (i.e. Bill Bennet’s Social Credit government) closed DTUC down. Janet wanted out of Nelson anyway, and we left that year for Vancouver. Back in the big city, I decided to rescue her from show business and get rich in advertising. It was fun & exciting – I even made some money out there freelancing in the real world – but it cost me: I was convicted of impaired driving in 1987 after an ad agency Christmas party (talk about the real world).

Be careful what you wish for, as they say. But the fates were kinder in 1988 when I was offered the Creative Director position at a Calgary ad agency – and oddly enough at the same time was also offered a commission for a youth opera from David Walsh at Vancouver Opera.

But living in Calgary was out of the question. So we opted to stay in Vancouver and I went to work on a Plains Indian tale for the VOA called “Jumping Mouse” which served as a framework for the story.

Soon after however, David accepted a plum job offer at Scottish Opera and I knew I was in trouble. Apart from the fact that text was all sung, with aria-like and recitative-like singing, it was not through-composed, nor a Bel Canto project – and therefore to most of the world, was not Opera.

In self-defense I used workshop funds to record demo samples (see Group II) so the new creative team could hear it for themselves. There was going to be a fight over the musical esthetics of the project, and I wasn’t up for it. The score was good but not the libretto, and for the first time I needed help on a piece, but it wasn’t there – except for Robbie King’s inspired arrangements. The VOA and I parted amicably; neither my heart nor theirs was in it. (Please go to Music Group II for the complete sequence).

So it was back to the ad world and Howe Street. By 1990 I was editing a slick stock promotion magazine, spending my days in the archives of the Vancouver Stock Exchange looking for something real to write about…