Hello and thanks for stopping by!
Welcome to the Bob Beland website. This is the home of Wrong Way Works, Seeing i Records, Sinistra and Bob On Bob Music. All things left handed are considered and welcomed here.
I am a songwriter/musician/recordist. My musical career covers 35 years with bands such as Southpaw, Bates Motel, the Furys, Skin Trade and my own solo work. Please go to my blog to get the epic details of my obscure career.
The music available here on this site is the culmination of 5 years of artistic
wandering I’m calling "Life Begins..." It’s been quite a journey. I thought that I'd
give you a run down on the participating guests involved. They’re all great
people and artists in their own right. Please seek out their individual web
sites to check them out. (NOTE: Since I don't have any current gigs planed I'll post the track by track recording info for "Life Begins..." on the "Band Members" window of this site.)
Jules Shear, Deki Victorino and Ian Hoffman were part of my first
band in L.A, Southpaw, after moving down from San Francisco in the early 70's. Deki
and I had a band called Mason from Napa California that played in the S.F. Bay
Area a few years earlier. Southpaw was really Jules' first band but we were
just a live performing act and never got a deal or recorded so his
professional career didn't really start until he left us to form the Funky
Kings and record for Arista Records. Thus began a very long and critically
acclaimed career for Jules having hits with the Bangles and Cindi Lauper
along the way. check him out at: http://www.julesshearmusic.com/
Ian Hoffman was living in L.A. and working with singer/songwriter
John Stewart ("Daydream Believer" by the Monkees) prior to joining Southpaw.
So imagine my surprise 35 years later when trying to finish this, my third
solo project, I end up having all three original members of Southpaw on
board to help. What a surprise! I really dug seeing my old friends again and
recording with them for the first time ever together. Severin Browne http://www.severinbrowne.com/ was a
big supporter of our band and sat in from time time so I asked him on board
as well just to keep the family reunion vibes going. Severin is a well respected veteran singer/songwriter and was signed to Motown in the early 70’s when I first met him. He recorded two albums for them. I lived at his Hollywood home during my time with
Southpaw.
Heidi Rodewald and Stew are from an L.A. band called the Negro Problem.
They recently performed on Broadway with their musical "Passing Strange."
You can find them at:
http://www.negroproblem.com/
Richard d'Andrea http://www.rawterra.com/ was the last bassist for the Furys and was in the original Motels - playing at the historic Radio Free Hollywood show and on the Warners Brothers demo that was featured on a couple of on Rhino albums/cds. Richard was also the bass player in 'The Know' a band that included Gary Valentine, previously of Blondie, and Joel Turissi who later drummed for '20/20'. He briefly filled in for Dave Provost in the Textones (which included Kathy Valentine and Carla Olson as well as Marcus Cuff on drums). He currently has his own Multimedia company, Raw Terra Studios.
Doug Powell http://www.dougpowell.com/ is a singer/songwriter/author with 7 solo recordings out and a former
member of Swag that included Ken Coomer
from Wilco and Tom Pettersen from Cheap Trick among it’s members. Doug has
also worked along side Todd Rundgren on various computer related projects. I
met Doug through Jules and he‘s one of the good guys.
Mark Lennon http://www.markylennon.com/ is a singer /songwriter from a family band called Venice here in L.A. http://www.venicecentral.com/ They've been around a while.
All four Lennons' ( 2 sets of brothers)
are the offspring of the famous Lennon Sisters from the old Lawrence Welk
T.V. Show of
the 50's & 60's. The Venice band members are also veteran touring and
recording musicians having worked, as individuals or as a group, with such
diverse artists as Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Stevie Nicks, Dolly
Parton, Brian Wilson, David Crosby, Cher, Don Henley, Phil Collins, Michael
Jackson, Linda Rondstadt, and Warren Zevon, to name but a few. Well, ok,
maybe more than a few! Mark did all the voices of the singing slugs in the
hit Dreamworks animated film
"Flushed Away."
John Beland is my big brother "Jack". http://www.johnbeland.com/ Known to many as a premiere Fender
Telecaster electric guitar player as well as a long standing member of the
Flying Burrito Bros. he is also the composer of many of their country hits.
I can't really begin to tell you his whole story. Just go to
www.johnbeland.com and you'll get the lowdown plus the history of the L.A.
Country Rock scene in the late 60's. He was there from the start. Get a
strong cup o’ coffee tho‘ it’s a LONG read!
The only guy on this list with a bigger resume than my brother is chromatic
harmonica player Tommy Morgan. http://www.tmorganharmonica.com/bio.html
Tommy's appeared on over 600 soundtracks alone! You can hear him on such
pop hits as the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" album, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My
Brother" by the Hollies, "Rainy Days & Mondays" by the Carpenters, and my
personal favorite, the theme to the T.V. Show "Green Acres." “The Rockford
Files†& “My Fair Lady†are a close second.
Pal Shazar is a singer/songwriter/artist. http://palshazar.com/ I've known her as long as I've
known Jules.
Pal used to work the box office at Doug Weston's Troubadour Folk Club where Jules & I
first met as solo performing musicians. She has many solo recordings out and
was a part of the 80's new wave duo Slow Children. I make a brief appearance
on her 2007 CD "The Morning After." She has a new CD due out in Spring 2008 as well as a book of Illustrated Lyrics featuring an overview her fabulous artwork & paintings.
Paula Kuhr is a performing and recording classical violinist who works with
a number of local symphonies in Los Angeles. Paula recently toured and
performed in both Jordan and Egypt this year as a member of the multi ethnic
star ensemble the Mesto Orchestra. You can reach her at: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewpro
file&friendid=103002808
Other than that everything else is handled by myself. (Again check out the "Band Members" window of this site for the track by track recording info for "Life Begins...")
I hope you enjoy it. You can also find my work at CD Baby - http://cdbaby.com/cd/bobbeland2,
and also on iTunes.
Sincerely,
Bob Beland
