Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with Re/Max Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network since 1996, marketing and selling residential, rural strata recreational investment, and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally. As well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both Re/Max International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals@ianlindsay.ca. 

Rockin Rhonda & The Blues Band: Here comes Peter. Here comes Dave. Oh listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave. So much laughs and insights everywhere. Peter and Dave, they're on the mics. Alright, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.

Peter McCully: Thank you for joining us and for listening. This is the podcast where the focus is on life around Mid Vancouver Island. For listeners from afar. Just to give geographical context to our location, we're sitting on a partially submerged mountain range just off the coast of British Columbia on the west side of Canada. And joining me on this mountaintop is your co-host Dave Graham. 

Dave Graham: And what a view, just to add further detail to our location. We proudly and sometimes smugly call this place paradise, thanks to the fact that we have one of the most temperate climates in Canada. We have palm trees growing here. Oh yeah. Well, not a lot, but a few. And of course we have world famous, beautiful BC vistas out every window with the mountains in the oceans, et cetera. We also happen to be in the most seismically active location in the country. So taking the good with the bad here in Paradise. Speaking of good, I tell ya, his mother would be proud. It's my co-host, Peter McCully. 

Peter McCully: The planning for the Summer's Parksville Beach Festival is about to transition into action as this momentous event is getting set to move into the community park. Over the last 25 years, beach Fest has donated back to the community over $1.2 million. And Cheryl Dill will be stopping by the podcast cave to chat about the event.

Cheryl Dill: You know, we bring in a good chunk of change there, and for that we take a portion of that and give it back to all of the volunteer groups so that they can invest in their activities as well. So we kind of pay it forward, you know, over 25 groups every summer and. Allow them to invest in their amazing operations and projects that they have. If there's any funds on the bottom line from those donations after we've paid for all of the event. I mean, it's about a $500,000 expense to put on the Sand Sculpting exhibition, believe it or not. You know, that's often something that's incredibly shocking, so we have to raise that amount of money to pay for that.

Dave Graham: Nanaimo Blues artist, David Gogo attended the Juno Awards in Vancouver recently. His new album called, yeah, had earned him his sixth nomination. We had a wide ranging interview, which included the song Diamond in the Rough from the new album, and we talked about how David always looks sharp when he's on stage.

David Gogo: I don't recall seeing any photos of Elvis Presley going on stage in a t-shirt and sweatpants, you know, especially in the blues world. I feel you have to, man, I always joke that it's my uniform, but it kind of is, you know? And if people are paying money to go see you, plus I just feel better. Like, you know, I like, okay, I'm gonna put on a good show. I'm gonna play well for these people. So. I gotta wear something good and some good footwear like buckwheat Zydeco. I think I've heard a quote from him once saying the way he dresses up for a show. He said, I dress like I'm going for a bank loan. He said a really, really big bank loan and and I agree with that.

Peter McCully: The Pulse Community Podcast featured a conversation with Chilliwack front man Bill Henderson in March, episode 16. To be precise, almost 60 years ago, bill stepped up to become league guitarist for a Vancouver band called The Collectors. That group became Cilliwack and they became a big force among the few in Canadian music that were able to garner international audiences. Nowadays, younger people see the Canadian music scene as it is without knowing that 60 years ago was a very different dynamic back then. Most popular music was dominated by the Americans and the British. Chilliwack was the first rock band outta Vancouver to make it big. And by big, I mean to have success beyond our border.

And now they've begun their Farewell tour. The Farewell to Friends Tour is underway. It'll land to Parksville Saturday, July 12th, and you could be there on us. 

Dave Graham: Oh yeah. To enter, send us an email and please include your name, phone number, and where you live. And one other thing, tell us your favorite Chilliwack tune. Here's the address. contest@thepulsecommunity.ca. Good luck draws on May 30th, and here's a heads up on a future giveaway. We will be offering a chance for you to win a general admission pass to Sun Fest. The Country Music Festival down island at Lake Cowichan. 

Peter McCully: Elbows up is a movement that is spreading across the nation. The phrase is borrowed from the world of hockey. Of course, elbows up referring to a defensive physical posture on the ice. And it's come to also be a rallying cry in a pro Canadian movement that we've seen expressed by Mike Myers on Saturday Night Live. And Arlene Dickinson famous as a business person and being a dragon on Dragon's Den, she's been very vocal about how the tariffs will affect Canadians and spoke at a large rally in Toronto recently. 

Dave Graham:  Staying with the elbows up theme, we had a message on our Speak to us line. 

Laura Palmer: Hey, Peter and David. This is Laura Palmer. You know me from my podcast, island Crime, but I've also started another podcast with a small group of volunteers. The show is called Elbows Up, and yes, it's all about where we find ourselves as Canadians at this particular moment in time. This show is not political. We're not getting into any of the election stuff, but we're really talking about what Canadians can do and what we are doing right now to defend our sovereignty at this point in history. So again, the show's called Elbows Up. You can find it wherever you listen to podcasts, and I hope people will check it out. Take care you guys. 

Dave Graham: The first episode of Elbows Up was about how Canada should probably revive its Civil Defense Corps. Interesting conversation for sure. 

Peter McCully: There's also some things happening on Vancouver Island in regards to the Elbows Up movement. We had a message as well from Micki Findlay on our Speak to us line. Micki has an invitation to extend to a public event. 

Micki Findlay: Elbows up is a resistance movement happening all over Canada. This is not the time to sit on the sidelines. Join us on Sunday, April 13th, noon to 2:00 PM from Parksville along the highway in front of Sirius Coffee. This will be a peaceful gathering and it's called Elbows Up Van Isle, which you can find our event on Facebook.

I hope that you'll join us. All the information that you need is on that page. If you need inspiration for signs, you can go to our event page, elbows up fan aisle on Facebook and. If you look under the discussion tab, you will see some great ideas for signs. Invite family and friends to our event page, share our videos, posters and posts.

Share your Canadian proud photos on our event page. I am a grandmother. I just wanna leave a world that I can feel good about to my [00:08:00] grandchildren. I challenge all grandparents to stand with me and solidarity on Sunday, April 13th. Elbows up Van Isle. 

Dave Graham: Thanks to Mickey Findlay for using our Speak to us line, to spread the word. There's more info available. Try searching Facebook for elbows up Van Isle, and if you would like to add your voice, whether it's about elbows up or not, leave us a voice message or a text or an email by following the contact link from our homepage, the pulse community.ca. We'll also be keeping an eye or an ear to the hands off demonstrations south of the border. Over 1400 were held in 50 states with thousands participating. 

Peter McCully: The Parksville Beach Festival Society is into the home stretch. Leading up to launching the festival in July, Maryland is here to introduce our next guest 

Marilyn: In the Green room is Cheryl Dill, the longtime president of the Parksville Beach Fest Society. She'll share details of what's planned for the 2025 [00:09:00] event. 

Dave Graham: Parksville Beach Festival Society President Cheryl Dill, right here to talk about the festival and a big change. 

Cheryl Dill: You know, we've been in the community park for many, many years. The current format for Sands Sculpting competition and exhibition is that it's not on the beach.

We bring it up off the beach so that the exhibition can stand for five and a half weeks. And we've been in this one location for many, many years, ever since 2000. And that's that lovely little round circle right by the gazebo. But one of the things we're excited about is that we're about to shift still in the park, but on the other side of the large volleyball sand pit.

And what that enables is our opportunity to grow. We have sand sculpting applications from sculptors all over the world, and we do have to kind of turn people away 'cause we don't have enough space. So we're excited about the opportunity to grow and we're excited about a venue that's going to allow a little bit more accessibility for those who need it.

From the parking lot in behind the curling rink, it'll be a closer venue. So you know, you don't have to navigate a variety of pathways to where it has been. Mm-hmm. It's a little bit closer to that parking and it's just gonna be, and a site that doesn't obstruct any view of the ocean. If you're in the gathering place, which is a beautiful location to gather as groups and families.

Our lovely tent where we have all of that sand sculpting exhibition, it does block the view. And if you wanna book the gazebo for a wedding or something, do you want the big blue tent in behind you? So you know, it might be a better functional location from that perspective too. It's gonna take our team to rally and make sure that this new venue is going to really benefit the exhibition.

And we're really pleased to be working with the city. You know, we consider our partnership with this city first and [00:11:00] foremost, incredibly important. And one of the things that we really value as well is supporting that community park to grow in a sustainable way. It's incredibly important that jewel of a park to Parksville and the surrounding area.

So we recognize that, you know, use of that facility has an impact and we want it to be a positive impact, not a negative one. So that takes contributions. And so that's one of the things that we're able to do with our events, whether it's the theater events or the sand sculpting events, is to raise funds.

And a portion of that goes towards a shift like this, an adjustment in contributions to the park. So we're really proud of that. 

Dave Graham: You talk about raising funds, can you talk a little bit about the flow of money through Beach Fest and what it allows back into the community? 

Cheryl Dill: Absolutely. You know, one of the values for our board of directors is that giving back to the community is incredibly important, so that generosity to support community growth is a value for Beach Festival. That's why we have so many volunteers involved, which helps us to reduce expenses, but we also recognize that we need to build a pod of money to pay for expertise where it's needed, because you cannot have event sustainability without that investment in volunteers and investment in expertise. 

And having said that, what we also do is we plan strategically for where we want funds to be able to go so that we can invest in ourselves and invest in the community. So the flow of funds is really about donations at the gate for the Sands Sculpting exhibition. You know, we bring in a good chunk of change there, and for that, we take a portion of that and give it back to all of the volunteer groups that visit.

The exhibition so that they can invest in their activities as well. So we kind of pay it forward, you know, over 25 groups every summer and allow [00:13:00] them to invest in their amazing operations and projects that they have. If there's any funds on the bottom line from those donations after we've paid for all of the event.

I mean, it's about a $500,000 expense to put on the Sand Sculpting exhibition, believe it or not. You know, that's often something that's incredibly shocking, so we have to raise that amount of money to pay for that. We also have to have a contingency set aside so that if, we need to be able to have a pot of money to draw from for example, there's a pandemic or there's terrible weather to be able to pay for expenses. 

Up to that we plan year round. This is not like, Hey, the event is five and a half weeks, so it's only a five and a half weeks planning stages. It just doesn't work that way. Our volunteers work year round and we pay for event management expertise that we're so fortunate for.

So that's on the sand sculpting side. On the theater side, the reason why we have a couple of events we charge tickets for that is 'cause those expenses need to be paid. And so our ticket price is such that it allows us to pay for all the event expenses for putting on rock the park and putting on our opening concert.

Also we're able to pay for some expertise to support the event management of all of the ticketed events and performance coordination and all of that. We have to pay for things like first aid and, and a variety of other things. So if there's money on the bottom line, and we hope that there is, we put that money aside to then invest in the next year of entertainment.

You know, we have to run it like a business, but because we're a not-for-profit, we invest in other things other than our organization. We invest in. A sand sculpting move and we invest in building a stage and things like that. So fiscal responsibility is incredibly important and it's key to sustainability.

And I work along with the board of directors to put together a budget so that we ensure that our theater expenses are paid for things like all the performances. All the supports required to ensure that those performances are run from a risk management point of view. The ticket expenses help to cover that, and we ensure that the theater expenses are paid for.

That's really important to us, and if we have money on the bottom line, we're really pleased to be able to put it aside so that we can continue to bring these amazing performers that Lloyd works, you know, with a team of experts to set up for the following year. 

Dave Graham: That's Entertainment Director Lloyd Derry. So you have volunteers working with the theater, you have volunteers at the Gates of the Sand Sculpting exhibition. How many people does it take to make this happen?

Cheryl Dill: I appreciate you asking that because between the theater and the Sands Sculpting exhibition, there's 45 volunteers for the theater, and we get lots of people, you know, sending us emails on a weekly basis saying, how can I get involved?

And so we're excited to take that interest and this spring we're gonna have a volunteer orientation where people can learn more about how can I contribute? There's that. And then there's also, on the Sands Sculpting side, we have about 150 volunteers. The main concentration of those volunteers are Gate ambassadors, and that's where we work with the not-for-profit groups.

So each group contributes six to 12 volunteers, and so it really adds up Plus year round, our board is volunteer groups, so Lloyd and I, you know, we, we've been on the board for many, many years in addition to another eight directors on that board. When you add all that up, we're just around 200 volunteers to make this happen.

And when you look at the expertise that we pay for, there's like under 10 people that we actually pay for some of the work that really we feel is not right to put on a volunteers' shoulders. Some of our volunteers on our board, and uh, you know, we feel like we have a second job, but At the same time, we're driven by passion and our values to give back to the community, and it really just keeps us going at the end of the season when we pull people together to celebrate what we've done, it just feeds our hearts and it feeds our energy to continue doing this year after year.

Dave Graham: The standards, I think, are self-evident. The success of this whole event and theater venue are there for the world to see. 

Cheryl Dill: Yes. You know, we're so proud of that. It really is a team effort. We develop leadership skills of volunteers in what we do. You know, I can't say enough about the experience that we create together to see that joy and that shared level of experience every summer in that grassy field or on that grassy dance floor.

Like you bond with people that you don't even know when you're watching that queen tribute, you know, just rocking it out on the stage. It is such a magical experience, and it creates memories. You know, you go back to your phone and, and look at that incredible ten second video that just brings that joy and gives you the goosebumps all over again.

I have to say for Lloyd and I, that theater has just blown us away. I mean, when we were right in the grounds, in conjunction with the city, we projected an economic spinoff and we know that we've exceeded that, but it really has gone beyond our expectations in terms of the demand for the theater events in terms of the number of people sitting in that field.

And same with the sand sculpting, it has garnered over a hundred thousand visitors year after year, after year. It's put Parksville on the map. The way we've managed the risk in a sustainable way and the partnership that we have within municipality to ensure that, you know, the local economy is benefiting and we're following their expectations around risk management.

You know, it's just been such a positive thing. 

Dave Graham: Just before we wrap up here, yeah, we, we've talked about sand sculpting and the theater. What else makes up Beach Festival? 

Cheryl Dill: Well, gosh, there's so many other events that you know, deserve a great spotlight. One of the things is the Anne market that we have at the end of July.

You know, over 70 vendors are there. You're in that shady, beautiful area of the community park that they call the arboretum, and it is gorgeous in there. Mm-hmm. You know, in the hot summer sun, you can find some shade and you can appreciate the artistic talents of all the vendors that are there. And they're, they're local artisans from the islands, from Vancouver Island, and it's a fun weekend.

So there's that. We also have the Light Up show. At the end of our Sand Sculpting exhibition, if you haven't seen the sculptures lit up at night, it is the weekend to come down there. And then our title sponsor Quality Foods. I mean, they, they've been so dedicated to the Sand Sculpting event for so long and they organize their own fireworks and it's typically on that same night of our Light Up show, so wow, what a great ending to [00:20:00] an incredible sand sculpting exhibition.

The other thing is that there's a lot of users in the, of the community park, but we feel like. You know, in combination with all the volleyball exhibitions and the sand sculpting and the theater events and the sports teams and the dog walkers, it's just such a wonderful display of what the community is all about and why that community park is so incredibly important to everybody in this community.

Dave Graham: Cheryl, so good to see you. Thank you. 

Cheryl Dill: Thank you, Dave. It is always a pleasure to see you with all of your amazing experience and the history that you have in this community. I think this is wonderful. 

Peter McCully: The Parksville Beach Festival runs July 11th to August 17th, and our thanks to Cheryl for being part of the podcast. And thanks to one of our supporters, Windsor Plywood. 

Windsor Plywood French Creek: The Pulse Community Podcast is brought to you in part by Windsor Plywood in French Creek, specializing in hard to source interior and exterior home finishing products. Including flooring, doors and [00:21:00] moldings and exterior project materials such as yellow, cedar, Windsor, plywood, French Creek carries high quality, responsibly sourced products and are committed to providing outstanding value and personalized one-on-one service to all of our customers. Homeowners do-it-yourselfers, renovators, builders, designers, craftsmen, and contractors. Regardless of the type or size of your project, Windsor can help you bring your vision to life from start to finish. Let Windsor plywood and French Creek help you with your renovation, new build, or building project. Visit them online or call 752-3122. 

Thrifty Foods Parksville: At Thrifty Foods, we love to help nonprofits, charities, and schools. Our Thrifty Foods Smile Card bulk program allows organizations to immediately save up to 6% on the purchase of Smile Cards in bulk, allowing you to keep more money in your organization's pockets. Ask for details at Thrifty Foods in Parksville. 

Dave Graham: An important part of the Pulse community is an offering for the younger ones in the form of stories for kids. Feel free to check out our growing collection of adventures in our Kuku Kid stories. They are original stories in two different series. One is about Peter and his pet, Eskimo dog, Gracie. You know, their latest story involves a visit to Buckerfields to bring home some chicks along the way. They learn about different kinds of chickens, and Gracie gets a chance to be a big sister figure for their new time. Fluffy family members. Check out Peter and Gracie as narrated by Peter McCully. 

Peter McCully: Our other kid story features Captain Dave in the Mellow Submarine. The cast of characters include First Mate Larry the Lobster and their most recent adventure has them tracking down the story behind the world. Famous dessert trade, the Nanaimo Bar. You'll find these stories on the Pulse community.ca. Also Skookum Kids.com, apple, Spotify, iHeart, Amazon, and YouTube. If you're interested in joining our growing family of sponsors for the Pulse community and Skookum Kids Stories podcasts, please let us know. Email me Peter at the Pulse community ca. 

Dave Graham: The Juno Awards were handed out recently in Vancouver, and one of those in attendance is getting set to join us now. Marilyn will do. The honors 

Marilyn: in the Green Room is Blues Singer songwriter David Gogo of Nanaimo, who has been named Guitarist of the Year twice at the Junos and three times guitarist of the Year at the Maple Blues Awards. David has been nominated six times for a Juno Award for Blues album of the year. 

Peter McCully: Thanks for joining us on the podcast today, David. My pleasure. We're chatting shortly after the 2025 Juno Awards, which were held in Vancouver, and I checked out your posts on social media. You ran into a lot of people in the industry, some that you have a shared history with.

David Gogo: Yeah, well, it's 30 years since my first nomination. I was first nominated for Breakthrough Artist way back in the nineties, and I have now officially six losses [00:24:00] and one disqualification. So I've been there a few times. It was nice to be back, you know, the pandemic kind of really rocked our world for a few years, you know, interrupted a lot of these events.

So it was just nice to see everybody again and yeah, see some people that I've known in the business for, you know, decades and decades, and some of those people might be, I. One cool thing was I got invited to go to an After hour Jam that was hosted by Jim Cuddy from Blue Rodeo. His son Devin had invited me and it was nice to get there and play and at one point he was singing, there's big hit Try and I was the guitar player.

I thought, well that's kind of a neat thing. But you know, like my buddy, big Dave McClane who wanted my category, I mean we were sitting beside each other having dinner at the gala dinner when he won. So, and that's the same thing. I met Dave probably in 89 or something. A bunch of people that used to, you know, be at CFOX, you know, media, people behind the scenes, people, musicians. It was just a, a great event to be at, and I'm really glad it was in Vancouver, so it's relatively close. I didn't have to fly all the way to Halifax or something. 

Peter McCully: Well, you'd have a lot of fun in Halifax. 

David Gogo: Believe me. I have had hell a lot of fun in Halifax. Yeah. 

Peter McCully: I had 40 years of fun in Halifax. 

David Gogo: Is that all? 

Peter McCully: Then I moved to the West coast. 

David Gogo: Yeah, sometimes the expense of getting out there to try to see if you're gonna win an award can be a bit much. 

Peter McCully: You mentioned that there was disqualification. Is there a story there? 

David Gogo: There is, but it's boring and I don't like talking about it. I just say that it was over steroids. Steroid use, enhancing my performance. 

Peter McCully: You've released 17 albums so far in your career. Mm-hmm. The latest one that was nominated at the Junos was, yeah. You were working with Steve Marriner again, and your label was nominated for Juno as well. 

David Gogo: Well, Cordova BAy put out my record and they put out Big Dave McClane's record, so Big Dave won. So we had two nominations. Marriner produced 'em both. So I consider him having two nominations, and I think it was Base first, Juno. It's kind of cool, like it's never been a blues label per se. We've had all sorts of different rock and roll bands and more dance oriented things, but in the last year or so, they've [00:26:00] put up my record, big Dave McLean's record, David Vest, and Jerry Rob, Tony d and then Steve Mariner's phone album is coming out very soon. So all of a sudden we've got all these blue slash roots artists, so that's cool with me. 

Peter McCully: Was there music at home when you were growing up? David? I know that there's music in your family. You have cousins who are musicians. 

David Gogo: Yeah, I have cousins that played in my household. There wasn't any real live music, but my dad listened to a lot of music and he listened to it loud and luckily it was good music.

David Gogo: You know, and amongst the Hank Williams and CCR was, Taj Mahal, some BB King, some Canned Heat. That's kind of what I gravitated towards. And yeah, music was meant to be play loud in my house. That was good. Nothing wrong with that. 

Peter McCully: When did you turn out your first album?

David Gogo: I believe it was 93 or four.

Peter McCully: And you were how old? 

David Gogo: 23 or four? Yeah, the eponymous debut. Um, it was funny. I was talking to a guy at the Junos. I did the one record with EMI, it was actually Capital Records when I first signed with him. And we only did one record. We just never saw eye to eye on what I should be doing. And this guy told me.

You know, 30 years later, he said, man, we should have just put out a blues record. I said, yeah, really? You think so? And even my ex-manager, Jacob J Gold, said the same thing, eh, buddy, we should just put out a blues record. I'm like, yeah, I, I was saying that the whole time, but I've put out a lot of blues records since then.

Peter McCully: Do you remember the first time you heard a song that you performed on the radio? 

David Gogo: That was probably before all of that 100.3. The Q Radio in Victoria used to do a thing called Rock Tour, which they'd get local artists and they'd have a bit of a battle of the bands thing, and then their favorite three or four acts, they'd make a little compilation album. So that's probably the first time 

Peter McCully: You've talked about being in Europe numerous times over the years. Have you been back since Covid? 

David Gogo: No, but there's discussion. I mean, that was another thing. Corbert just kicked us down a lot. You know, not only North America, I mean, we've lost some venues, we've lost some festivals just because they had to go two years without getting any income and trying to keep that going and they couldn't do it. 

But a lot of people, credit people that I've been working with for a long time just said, why are we doing this up for all this time? Just last week, I got some emails. There's definitely some interest over there. Again, that's something I'll be working on, if not by the end of this year. Then definitely early next year, where in particular in Europe, I've always done well in Holland and Germany in that area around Belgium.

There's always interest, but you know, people don't realize I. The costs and you know, the hoops you have to jump through. Especially now, you know, you start introducing things like Brexit and now our friends to the south, I'm not sure what the situation is there, trying to get work visa and everything so people don't realize the hoops you have to jump through and, and the actual expense, I mean, every day off on the road in a place like Europe, you know, paying for rental vehicles and hotel rooms and everything else.

I mean, it could be astronomical. That being said, I'm trying to slowly figure out ways to make it work, but in the past I worked with Dutch musicians and quite often will stay with those guys when I'm over there. We've had some great gigs, so I, I'm looking forward to getting back. 

Peter McCully: I wanted to ask you about the bottle slides. I love the sound and I've long been a fan of Bonnie Rai and I know you use a number of different items as bottle slides. 

David Gogo: I probably started playing slide when I started developing my acoustic show. My friend Ken Ham is a top notch finger style guitarist, plus bottleneck, and then the influence of people like Johnny Winter.

I mean, it's very there in the blues. I usually use a glass bottleneck. This one, I think it's from Hornby Island, so it's actually like a wine bottleneck that someone has carefully saw it off, but you can use different devices. Another friend of mine uses a brass slide. I could never quite get a good tone under the brass.

There's metal slides and there's even ceramic slides. It's a real blue sound when I play slide. I played in an open tuning, so I tune my guitar to an open chord and you get that real more of a blue sound happening there. So I usually have an extra guitar that's set up just in that tuning and just for slide.

Peter McCully: You mentioned Johnny Winters. We've chatted with a number of musicians on this podcast who were given encouragement somewhere along the way in their career to keep at it by somebody they admired. Who were some of your early influences? 

David Gogo: Well, there's times for them and I was fortunate to get to meet a lot of them. I kind of made it, and I still do. I try to go, not only see these people play, but try to meet them and get some kind of a connection. So, you know, Stevie Ray Vaughn, when I was 14 or 15 years old, I got to spend some time with him and he was very encouraging. Albert Collins was really my guy, like the guy I looked up to a lot.

A great blues guitar player, originally outta Texas, lived in California for the rest of his life. We opened a lot of shows for him back in the day and I got to sit in with him and he was really encouraging. You know, that's just off the top of my head. But throughout my career, through opening up and touring with people, struck up friendships with Johnny Winter or Kim Simmons from Slow Brown.

You know, eventually I was asked to play on the Myles Goodwin from Wine Blues Records. So. It's a good feeling to kind of have your peers, especially some of the artists that are a little older, that I might have listened to on the radio when I was a kid. You know, influences of me when they, when they were encouraging you and telling you that you're doing a good job. That's a great feeling. 

Peter McCully: We lost a good one when we lost Myles.  

David Gogo: Yeah, that really caught me off guard. We were kind of becoming buddies and he was already talking about doing another record and we were talking about working together and maybe even trying to write a song. That one caught me off guard. 

Peter McCully: I grew up in Nova Scotia when April Wine was really, really rocking it, and they were a big part of the fabric of our music at that time.

David Gogo: Yeah, great songs, great performances, you know, really hot players, man. I opened for them a few times and I make a career or I'd be on a festival and top-notch players. 

Peter McCully: How many guitars do you own, David? And do you have a favorite? I have several. 

David Gogo: I have looked quite a few. I'm in my music room here in Nanaimo right now.

I've got a lot of guitars. I have a couple that live out in Ontario with my band there. I have a couple that live in Europe with my band there. I got a ton of them, but I play them all. You ask about a favorite? Well, it depends what I'm doing. If I'm doing my acoustic show, I've got a 1930 national steel guitar that's, you know, it'd be difficult to do my solo show without that.

As far as my electric show, for many, many years I played a Fender Stratocaster, and then about 10 years ago I switched to a Gibson Less Ball, which was an odd thing. Usually guitar players will go from a Gibson to a fender later in life 'cause you start to get a sore back or you got a bum should or something.

I did the opposite and shows the world's heaviest guitar. 1972 Gibson Gold top less pole deluxe, uh, with a big speech tremolo system. And that's kind of been my girlfriend for a while. 

Peter McCully: Now, another one of your social media posts that caught my eye when you were heading off to the Junos was you were showing the outfits that you were gonna take along with you. You really do dress for the stage and the occasion. You always look sharp. 

David Gogo: Well, I don't recall seeing any photos of Elvis Presley going on stage in a t-shirt and sweatpants, you know, especially in the blues world. I feel you have to, man. I always joke that it's my uniform, but it kind of is, you know? And if people are paying money to go see you, plus I just feel better. Like, you know, I like, okay, I'm gonna put on a good show. I'm gonna play well for these people, so I gotta wear something good and some good footwear, like buckwheat Zydeco. I think I've heard a quote from him once saying the way he dresses up for a show, he said, I dress like I'm going for a bank loan. He's said a really, really big fan cone and, and I agree with that. 

Peter McCully: How many pairs of boots and or shoes do you have? Do you know? 

David Gogo: Many. In fact, John Fluevog and his wife were one of my gigs recently. And the promoter just before he came on stage, that's John Fluevog out there. So I was running out trying to introduce myself 'cause I figured, hey, that'd be kind of a cool endorsement deal rather than, you know, a guitar company or something. Get a shoe endorsement. 

David Gogo: Do you get them from a special place? 

David Gogo: I have quite a few pairs of Fluevogs. I order online sometimes. Now I just kind of, you know, if I see them when I'm on the road. There's a place in Cloverdale called Stampede Tack, and a few years ago there was a car cowboy boots there that I was coveting, but they weren't cheap. So my deal was I went over to the Lower Mainland, and I think I had three shows, and two of them were acoustic shows where I was getting paid based on how many tickets I sold. So I promised myself I wouldn't buy the Boots unless I sold out out those shows, which I did. So I bought the boots. 

Peter McCully: One of my favorite places on the island was Ridge Riders for a long time. Just loved the smell of that place. 

David Gogo: Oh yeah, I'd go there every time. And then last time I was i, Campbell River, I just kind of knew I pulled over and it's some kind of a trinket shop now. They sell like little flags and you know, I love these Canadian stores that sell little stuffed moose on Vancouver Island. We've never had a moose here for a lobster or something, but Ridge Rider was one of those drinks. Yeah, you walk in and you just get that scent of leather, the aroma. I bought some nice suits there, man. In fact, when I was at the Juno was in Calgary a bunch of years back, I had a nice powder blue cowboy suit that I bought at Ridge Rider.

Peter McCully: You've traveled extensively as a musician, obviously. Perhaps you could offer a story or two from your most memorable moments from your time on the road. 

David Gogo: Well, it's something that I enjoy doing. Especially when I'm doing the acoustic trips, 'cause I can kind of do that on my own and then I can book a few shows and then take a few days here and there to explore.

Like I just went back to Saskatchewan for the first time since the pandemic. I played a nice festival. Its a real good festival in downtown Regina. But then I took a couple days just to explore and I've got friends down in Southeast Saskatchewan and a little funny town called Forge, which is spelled forget.

I like taking pictures of old abandoned houses and ghost towns and things like that. So those are to me, my memories. But you know, since the pandemic, I've had an interesting time, 'cause I haven't played as many shows as I normally do. But in the last year I've gone from New Brunswick to Quebec to Whitehorse, to the prairies, and now I'm heading up to the interior this weekend.

So I'm getting around Anyways. I need to get back to Winnipeg soon. I need to get back to Montreal. You know, that's the cool thing about playing music is you get to travel and you get to see these different places and you get to meet people and try different foods and go to guitar stores and boot stores.

Peter McCully: Running back to Saskatoon, did you say? 

David Gogo: I was supposed to be doing this last trip and record stars, that's my other Achilles heel is record stars. I love rolling back the sass too, and that's a great town. I had my best time ever in Regina recently. That town's been a kind of a mystery to me in terms of planning an audience. We played a beautiful venue called Dark Hall, DARKE, uh, beautiful old building. They put a lot of money in to restore it, and that was great. 

Peter McCully: In addition to being a singer and a guitarist, you're also a songwriter. What's your process, David? 

David Gogo: You know, I don't really have one. You know, I'm already starting to write for the next album. I'll just think of a line, like a lyric or a title or maybe a riff in my head, and if I don't write it down, then I will forget it. I just turned 56 years old, so you know what I try to do is maybe a couple days or so I'll go in the music room here and I get out that little list. It might just be one lyric, it might be a whole verse or just a concept. It's not set in stone. You know, I don't start with music. I don't start with lyrics. It just depends. Whatever pops into my head, and to me it's just like trying to keep that radar spinning and trying to pick up the ideas. I'm already started, in fact, after our interview today, as my project for today is to start getting some of these new ideas in a row so we can start thinking about it in next record.

Peter McCully: Let's talk about a tune from the Juno nominated album. Diamond in the rough. 

David Gogo: I started dating a girl last year. It's kind of about her. She ended up kind of being bad news bears for me, but I got a good tune out of it. It's, it's a fun song to play live, you know, it's just a good rock and roll tune.

When we recorded the album that was listening to a lot of bad company and free and those seventies rock bands. So there's definitely that spirit in the song. 

Peter McCully: Can you tell us about any. Upcoming projects or collaborations that you have planned for 2025, what can the Gogo Nation expect to hear from you in the near future? 

David Gogo: As I mentioned, I'm gonna start writing for a new album really quick, and I'm looking forward to getting out and just playing the songs from the latest tracker from ya ad is a lot of fun where we're working those into the set.

But the other thing is, I'm gonna start writing a book. Well, I have, just before the pandemic, I started up my podcast, the Sole Vendor podcast. It started off just talking about things I've done in my career. Then I started interviewing other artists. It just struck me. I've been involved in a lot of really super cool things over the several decades and worked with some really interesting people.

I think there's enough interest out there that I'm gonna start documenting that. I was lucky to have a lot of photos from that era because this, you know, a lot of the people I met was before cell phones. So I mean, I would literally get autographs from people rather than photos. But I do have photos of me with PB King, me with Stevie ray Vaughn, and me on stage with Johnny Winter, me with Albert Collins.

A lot of that kind of stuff. So that's a cool thing to have in a book. But you know, just trying to get the recollections and pound it out and you know, the memoir, the memories of the memoir. How can Folks Find Your Soul Bender podcast? It is available on all formats. It's on Spotify, apple, anywhere you find your podcast, you can find it. I think we're close to 60 episodes or something now. 

Peter McCully: David, thanks for your time today. We'll head to your website and check out your tour schedule for 2025. 

David Gogo: Yes. And please follow me on the social media. Had a good time at the Junos documenting that and people were thanking me, people that don't have television anymore 'cause they've cut off the table or whatever so they could live vicariously through me. 

Dave Graham: David Gogo out with his latest album. Yeah, which earned him his sixth Juno nomination. He walked away without the trophy this time around. Yeah. The place on the medal reserved for a Juno remains empty, but it isn't as if he doesn't already have a shelf or two full of awards. From a lifetime in the biz and great accomplishments, he'll be okay.

Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with Re/Max Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network since 1996, marketing and selling residential, rural strata recreational investment, and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally. As well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both Re/Max International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals@ianlindsay.ca. 

Peter McCully: Some of the folks we can look forward to chatting with in the coming weeks include Jeremy Humpreville. Jeremy runs the Coastal Carvings Gallery in Coombs, where they've been filming a TV series, which will be coming this fall to A PTN. 

Dave Graham: We'll also be chatting with Mike Han, the festival director behind Lake Town Amphitheater. Nickelback will be playing there this summer and Lake Town will also be hosting Sun Fest, the Country Music Festival over four days. That starts at the end of July and we will be giving away a general pass to that festival on a future episode of The Pulse Podcast. You know something else that's happening at Lake Town? Promises to raise money and bust Jeeps, quote unquote, Jeepappalooza is an annual event in support of the BC Cancer Foundation. It will be happening in May. 

Peter McCully: Maybe you have a suggestion for someone we should be featuring on the podcast or a topic we could look into, whatever it may be. We're always happy to hear from you. Follow the contact links from our home site, the pulse community.ca. 

Dave Graham: Yeah, I have a suggestion. Could we get Ryan Reynolds on the show? Could maybe somebody look into that? 

Peter McCully: Sure. Dave, I'll get right on that. 

Dave Graham: Oh, cool. 

Peter McCully: Sure. Can I get you something from the cafeteria while I'm up? 

Dave Graham: Seriously. 

Peter McCully:  No. Let's go see what Mabel has on special today. 

Dave Graham: Oh, I already checked with Mabel. It's deep fried surprise day. 

Peter McCully:  Well, I hope you have that, uh, big bottle of Tums.

Dave Graham: Tums. Yes. And we have, uh, Gavascon got some Pepsid AC here, Nexium. Oh, and Rolaids too. I've got both fruit gummies and the mint chewables. Even some chocolate flavored tablets. There's some, uh, licorice root extract. 

Rockin Rhonda & The Blues Band: Here comes Peter, here comes Dave, oh listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing. Spinning tales in the podcast cave. So to speak. Laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat. Peer and Dave. They're on the mics all right. Join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.