*** The Tracks Leading to Success are Rough Tracks Indeed, By: Evan Diamond *** From some amps gathered to the side of a small, ground level stage came these words accompanied by whimsical guitar picking: “We enter our lives like rain upon the seeds/ then build up walls around what we grow/ till we find that we can’t breathe/ and live our days in fear of death/ till we learn that we don’t bleed/ let me go to Margaret and tell her there’s no need†A few songs into his set at The Renaissance Café, Derek introduced this song as one of the rare examples of him writing on a topic he hasn’t directly experienced, which is reincarnation. As Derek explained to me before the show, he likes to write songs about himself and can’t fathom artists like John Prine that write from third perspectives. But with a life such as Derek has lived, it seems like the first person is more then enough to work with and could provide exuberant material for endless songs.
The first time I met Derek was at Mitzi’s Sister on Queen Street West when we he performed on the open stage. I myself have always been captivated by artists performing on Classical Guitars, so I started off lending a special ear to his performance. I remember he started with a song “Do I Go Nuts? or Do I go Sane?†and as the title implies, it is a wild song that goes through some unique style changes, starting as an eerie finger picked song accentuating the melody and then going in parts to a bright bossa nova. I was very intrigued and I went up to him after he played and found out he was performing the next week as the host at The Renaissance Cafe open mic night. I was in!
Inspired by The Beatles and the work of Bob Dylan as well as numerous acts emerging from the 60's period in the states, Derek began to write song lyrics at the age of 15, then needing to hear the fruits of his labor, at the age of 17 began to pick up the guitar; something not unfamiliar to any teen subjected to the idea of the “If he can do it, I can do it†mentality, a quote that Derek himself brought up when I started asking him a few questions before he went up to play his set. And as I talked with Derek, I found out that after high school he took up the notion that he needed to travel and just up and left home to do so. His hitchhiking took him all over: In ’67 he was in Haight–Ashbury to see the emergence of psychedelic rock with Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead; then it was to Vancouver, on to Europe and even Africa. Derek said it was an amazing experience to just wake up, disoriented as to his location on the Earth and then after getting his bearings, thinking “Well, where to next?†But, as all travel ends eventually, Derek then returned and in the 80’s. He held a bartending position at Emilio’s for 7 years and also worked in the postal service as well. But a true traveler is never settled.
2005 found Derek living in a welfare community and saw the death of a close friend, reawakening him to the triviality of existence. Then and there, just like after high school, Derek dropped his life and took up music, practicing initially to perform at the ceremony for his late friend. From there Derek went on to pursue open stages where his music could be heard, but was initially hit with the trials of tendonitis, luckily not caused by playing, but inhibiting his performances for a year and a half. Nevertheless, Derek got going again as soon as he could and has been working his way into the public eye over the past 6 months. Many vouch for his music and he manages to pack the Renaissance Café on Thursdays. Derek has recorded one EP called “Ruff Tracks†which he sells for $5 and it includes four original tunes. If anyone is interested in getting Dereks music you can email him at
[email protected]. Hopefully 2008 will find Derek where his music deserves to be.
