Bill GODIN profile picture

Bill GODIN

Is music an art or a science? ...It's both! -- a succinct Dr. Dorothy Gross, University of MN 1980 :

About Me

Welcome to MySpace, Bill GODIN, pronounced Go-din. If you're ambitious, you could try the French, Go-d[e(n)], where "e" is pronounced like the a in at, and (n) is the nasal sound. Nice try:)

I'm a pianist at heart but have played various electronic keyboards, Organ, and Rhodes electric piano, which is an old favorite. I'm also a songwriter and instrumental composer.

I had been out of the band scene for about 7 years when in 1991 an old friend Bruce Paquette called me up to jam at a party at his business warehouse. I thought it went pretty well, so I joined. The band at the time was called Broken Harbor. We changed our name to THUNDERHEADS in 1995 just before the release of our first CD Primitive Hope.

This was a reunion in many ways because I began making music with Steve Blexrud in around 1973. I was 15 years old, and Steve was 13 when we formed our first band, Solitude. We started out by writing original music, and then added popular rock tunes so we could play parties. I also had already played with Craig Paquette and Brad McDonald in the band Eddie LeMeyer for 6 months around 1981, and with Bruce Paquette and Steve as a trio for about a year around 1982. Drummer Erik Jacobson who joined the group in 1986 when it was know as The Opinion, was the only one I hadn't worked with before.

Now I'll fill in the in between years. When Solitude broke up around 1976, I was getting into Jazz Fusion. I answered an ad a like minded bass player had in the newspaper and met Al Wolovitch. One night Al called me up to go out to a barn party. When we arrived, Al introduced me to Bobby McFarlin who was playing a mean Firebird. I was impressed. Bobby had a drummer friend Jim Silloway, so now we had our rhythm section. We had a brief stint with a sax player with the last name of Kraft. It just wasn't working so we found a new sax player, Eric Moen who went to the same school as Al. We stuck with the jazz fusion for a short time until Jim's brother Rick joined on vocals and percussion--"Cabin Fever" was born. We morphed into a rock, soul and light jazz group. This was the first working professional band I had ever played in. Cabin Fever broke up in 1979 when Al and Eric left to join a new band called Sussman Lawrence, which became known regionally and later went national when their leader Peter Himmelman branched out on a solo career. The rest of the band members became Himmelman's backup band. I've lost touch with those guys, but I do know that Al is a studio bassist who records with major label artists.

I tried forming another band with Bobby, but it was not the right mix of players, so it didn't last long. After that, I decided to attend the University of Minnesota School of Music to major in music theory and composition.

With Thunderheads, we're back to our roots of writing our own music. To this day, we still play an eclectic mix of original songs and cover some of our favorite artists. We tend to jam a bit more live, and managed to sneak a little of that in on our latest recording, Can't Stop Time. Over the years we've developed our own sound which is a blend of our individual talents and influences. For bio, booking and contact information see thunderheadsmusic.com

I'm always open to working with other musicians on projects or just to get together and play. If your in the Twin Cities metro area and want to hook up, drop me a line-I just may bite.

My Interests

..The outdoors: Fishing, Canoe Trips, Backpacking, Skiing, Water skiing( it's been a while). I like to Cook.

I'd like to meet:

Musicians who would like to perform and/or record original music. Anyone who appreciates good music.

LITTLE FEAT - All That You Dream



Return to Forever: Beyond the Seventh Galaxy, 1975

Music:

It goes without saying.

My Blog

Return to Return to Forever

The Return to Forever reunion tour made a stop in Minneapolis last night, Thursday, June 19, 2008 at the Orpheum Theatre. All 4 members from the last incarnation were there, Chick Corea, of course, St...
Posted by Bill GODIN on Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:13:00 PST

A Beautiful Human Being

The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis Monday January 21st at Orchestra Hall was not what I expected it to be. I don't know why I had it in my mind it would be modern jazz, but we w...
Posted by Bill GODIN on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 07:33:00 PST

Business Trip Diversion

On a recent business trip to L.A, one of our managers said the last night was our free night to go out and explore anything we wanted to do. Well, not one of my 22 colleagues had any interes...
Posted by Bill GODIN on Sat, 12 Jan 2008 11:16:00 PST

My first Badger and my first rainbow trout

I attended the 6th annual Badgerfest last weekend, and by the way, it's not a pep fest for the University of Wisconsin. It's a place where once a year, guys go to do things like build huge f...
Posted by Bill GODIN on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 05:38:00 PST

The road goes on forever...

I went to the Allman Brothers show at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand last night with a few of my best friends. Kevin snuck me and Craig down to where he was sitting, about 20th row center. We...
Posted by Bill GODIN on Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:43:00 PST

Is it all about you?

"You're so vain; I bet you think this song is about you." --Carly SimonI was surprised to learn that several people I know expect to hear something they know or heard before when they go out to hear l...
Posted by Bill GODIN on Fri, 17 Aug 2007 06:50:00 PST

Renewal

2007 has been a year of renewal for me. I think it was the passing of my father in 2003 and then my mother in 2006 that compelled me to take a look at where I'm at and reassess.In January, I began by ...
Posted by Bill GODIN on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:05:00 PST