About
After this band broke up, as all bands must after a failed recording contract and growing interpersonal tension, John continued his studies in guitar and moved to Vancouver and we lost touch with each other. In his new home, as far away from his native Québec as one could imagine, John became a guitar teacher and performed in various coffee houses and other venues where he developed the songs that can be found on Rendez-Vous. Only recently, I reconnected with John through Facebook (of all places) and we have begun a lifetime of catching up, a fascinating process that will likely take another lifetime.
John has been a close friend of mine since the 1970s when we made music and wrote songs together in a band aptly named Loose Light and Lazy. Of course, it was always a matter of conjecture as to which one of us was referred to by each of the adjectives in the band’s name. In fact, I would argue that each term correctly described one or all of us at different moments of our lives as we grew up together making music.
Rendez-Vous is a beautiful musical offering. It is truthful, honest and well played from beginning to end. In these songs, written nearly 20 years ago now, John offers a snapshot of his life as a musician, and particularly, of his amorous entanglements at the time the songs were conceived. There is a deep romanticism in John songs, and they are imbued with a sense of nostalgia and regret at the ephemeral nature of human relations. When I first heard the CD after reconnecting with John, I was also touched by how immediate the music was, without artifice or any sense of disingenuity. These songs are as real as it gets. The artist is not singing to become famous or to gain attention. He sings to tell of his experience of people and his world. He writes both to remember and forget so the songs themselves will stand through time as memory should and must. Pierre Ouellet – Toronto – 2020.