I first met the Reveens in 1977. I was in a band called the Privilege in Edmonton. We had the same manager as Reveen and we were leasing the show our diesel bus. I had become the defacto mechanic and drove the Reveens to a few of their tour dates. They would perform for up to two weeks at a time in one location so it was a weekly or bi-weekly fly in and out driver situation. The band was playing Thursday through Saturday and the Reveen show would generally end on a Sunday and start on a Tuesday so it was very convenient. We had other drivers but they weren't always available and I welcomed the adventure.........and the money. On these occasions I became friendly with everyone in the family and with those on their crew.

In January, 1979 I was asked to take Peter Reveen Jr., Al Johnson (manager), their 2 Afghan dogs and their winter clothes to Calgary, where I would meet up with the show and come home. It was a bitterly cold winter and I built a canopy over the engine and ran a large propane torch to heat the water and oil for 24 hours before trying to start it. When we got to Calgary, Chris Mercer convinced me that it was a bad idea to drive back alone. I left the bus running, locked it up, and went about the evening. The next morning they couldn't start the truck. It was from Utah and had been sitting for two days without a block heater. It was -30 F and everything was frozen solid. A tow truck was approximately eight hours away so I suggested that they use the bus and that I would meet them in Medicine Hat with their truck. 

 As I was waiting for the tow truck I got a call from the lighting company that their truck had frozen on the way to the gig. I knew that I could pick them up but that we would never make the gig. I called ahead and left a message to that effect. The lighting guys had made it to a farm house and they were safe. Around 4:00 PM the tow truck arrived. Even with the somewhat heated oil it took almost 10 minutes of dragging the truck around to get it started and another 20 minutes before I could drive it. I picked up the lighting guys and we switched the equipment to the Reveen truck. We were on our way about 9:00 PM but the gig was still two hours away.

We made it to the Medicine Hat Arena just as the show came down. The Stage Manager, Chris Mercer, had purchased about 20 floodlights and had fastened them to 2 x 4s as footlights. They used the overhead Mercury Vapor lamps as the main lighting along with the arena's spotlights. Reveen had a new Chevy Suburban and he was parked inside. He was still pissed at the whole situation and as he was leaving he hit the gas. The tires started spinning and plywood was flying everywhere. The stagehands were ducking for cover. I realized that they would need the Reveen truck for the lighting and the bus for the Reveen gear so I offered to stay for another day or so. Later on Reveen asked if I would stay for the week until they left Alberta.

Brian Mitchell had been the advance man and the ocassional Front of House manager for several years. A few hours after we left Medicine Hat and as soon as we got settled in Brooks he asked if I would drive him to Calgary. His wife was pregnant and he was going home to look after his family. The next day Reveen and AJ asked if I would come on the road as the Front of House and Road Manager for the remainder of the tour, which consisted of 13 weeks of one nighters in BC starting in February. Tyrone was going to be doing the advance and AJ wanted to get off of the road and work out of his office. The show was self promoting and every campaign had to be orchestrated and physically assembled for each outlet. There were no computers and everything was very labor intensive. I had been a rock & roll musician all of my adult life and this was totally foreign. I was definitely looking for a change but I was apprehensive about taking on the responsibility. Reveen told me that he thought that I had what it takes and I've always been good at mathematics and logic so I decided to try it. I discussed it with my wife and we both agreed that it was more than likely a good career choice. It would mean being apart for many weeks at a time but the money was good and the future was ahead of us.

The first date was a three day run at a theater in Kamloops that was attached to a high school. AJ was there and he guided me through the process of selling the merchandise, filling in the daily cash sheets and settling with the venue. This venue had a box office but for the future dates I would be selling the door tickets and paying the local suppliers.

The first date that I did alone was in Williams Lake. It was two night run on a high school stage with chairs and bleacher seating. I arrived into town and after getting everyone settled I went to the drug store to collect the tickets and the money. We sold tickets through local drug stores or record stores and each day I would have to collect the tickets and the money. This was a deal where the agent got no commission and did it in exchange for the promotion and the walk in traffic. I tallied up the money and noticed that he had sold approximately 150 tickets more than the capacity of the venue. There were 2,000 tickets in a new roll and quite often an agent would be given a large roll with a cut off number. I asked him about it and he shrugged it off with indifference. I went back to the motel and thought about what I would do. This was completely new and I had nothing to go on for reference. However, I didn't want to get Reveen's help this early into the game and I decided that I would do whatever it took but that it would have to get done. I called the radio station and got the name and number of the fire chief. I called him and explained the problem, stating that I would gladly pay a couple of his men to come and monitor the situation and to possibly get in a few more people. He told me that they would be there and that he wouldn't charge for his own time. The three of them ended up cramming all but about 50 people into the auditorium and I was able to accomodate most of the others the next night. I was verbally abused and without experience it was difficult to take. However, there was very little that would scare me after that and I wasn't sure what it was but I knew that I had learned a valuable lesson that day.

there's lots more.........................