FP NEWSLETTER - VOL 48...Happy New Year and welcome to the January edition of the FP Newsletter, Vol. 48, our monthly publication giving you all our amazing music news! 2019 was a

January 5, 2020

FP NEWSLETTER Vol. 48 www.fusionpresents.com Page of 1 3

FP NEWSLETTERHappy New Year and welcome to the January edition of the FP Newsletter, Vol. 48, our monthly publication giving you all our amazing music news!

2019 was a fantastic year for FUSIONpresents, but 2020 will be even better! We’ve made it a core mission to give you as much quality content as we can on our various social media channels. Content will include artist development “how-to” posts including music theory and instrument lesson tricks, information posts about music industry subjects including streaming, licensing, royalties, band agreements, to name a few, and of course, we’ll be posting a ton of amazing entertainment content for your enjoyment, produced and performed by our wonderful and talented artist collaborators. Please take a moment right now to follow us on your favourite social media platforms:

We’re kicking off the year with a trip down to California to attend the NAMM Show, the annual convention of the National Association of Music Merchants. We are accompanying the incredible Ayla Tesler-Mabe, and as usual, our Canadian contingent is graciously invited as guests of Fender Musical Instruments. Fender launches its latest line of guitars, the American Ultra, and we can’t wait to get some quality time with these beautiful instruments. We’ll be taking lots of videos at NAMM with Fender and many other music industry leaders and influencers, so make sure you’re following us on social media to not miss a beat of our adventures in La La land!

Also this January, FUSIONpresents and Roland Canada start a monthly artist development workshop series at the Roland Inspiration Centre in Surrey! The workshops will happen once a month on a Tuesday, with the first one taking place on January 28 and hosted by professional vocal coach, Heidi McCurdy! The FP Roland workshops will span a variety of subjects, from instrument, vocal and song writing development, to learning about the business of music, to new product launches and presentations. In addition, representatives from our BC music industry partners such as SOCAN, Music BC and Creative BC will also be involved in a number of workshops, helping artists learn about the resources available to BC music artists.

Thank you for reading and enjoying our Newsletter, and don’t forget to follow us on social media!

WEEKLY WEST BEACH JAMS

TOP STORIES

JANUARY WEST BEACH LIVE MUSIC SCHEDULETHU JAN 9 BLUES BY THE BEACH

FRI JAN 10 BENITO & FRIENDS

SAT JAN 11 CHANDRA RUSSELL BAND

SUN JAN 12 SUNDAY NIGHT JAM w. MIKE KELLY

THU JAN 16 BLUES BY THE BEACH

FRI JAN 17 BENITO & FRIENDS

SAT JAN 18 WINGNUTS

SUN JAN 19 SUNDAY NIGHT JAM w. BENITO TESTINI

THU JAN 23 BLUES BY THE BEACH

FRI JAN 24 BLUE VOODOO

SAT JAN 25 JOKERS HILL BAND

SUN JAN 26 SUNDAY NIGHT JAM w. SAMI GHAWI

THU JAN 30 BLUES BY THE BEACH

FRI JAN 31 BLUE COLLAR BAND

Myles Philpott and Sami Ghawi at the FUSIONpresents SBOT Music

City Centre Office in Surrey planning out al l the great entertainment and art ist

development content we’l l be sharing with you in 2020 on our

socials!

All Ages Welcome on Sundays . Full Backline Provided

This January, FUSIONpresents and Roland Canada start a series of free

monthly art ist development workshops at the Roland Inspiration Centre in

Surrey. Our f irst session, FREE YOUR VOICE is on January 28 from 6-9pm

with pro vocal coach, Heidi McCurdy exploring warm-ups to empower your

voice, practice mic techniques and explore your unique expressions.

On January 16-19, Myles and Sami wil l be repping FUSIONpresents at

NAMM as we accompany Ayla Tesler-Mabe in Anaheim, CA. The Canadian contingent is invited down to NAMM by our dear fr iends, Fender Musical Instruments. I f you’l l be at NAMM,

make sure to connect with us! Also, check out Fender’s latest great

product release, the American Ultra.

Click on the icon

January 5, 2020

FP NEWSLETTER Vol. 48 www.fusionpresents.com Page of 2 3

FP NEWSLETTER

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakersby D.M. White

Ayla, Max & Rhett continue to make major waves in the Vancouver music scene. Check out what Michael Di Iorio of Don’t Bore Us recently said about the band:

“We’ve just found one of the greatest funk, jazz, pop and rock fusion bands you’ll ever hear this decade, and we just had to share the magic…Self-described as “A funk, jazz & soul trio consisting of Ayla Tesler-Mabe and brothers Max and Rhett Cunningham”, Ludic is one of the most colourful and energetic bands we’ve ever come across.

And you won’t believe how we found them. The DBU office was feeling extremely flat one evening, and so we decided to type in random and crazy hashtags on Instagram to see what we could find. Lo and behold, #funkyandfresh lead us to a beautifully accidental discovery of funk-rock band Ludic.”

Ludic releases its 5th single, “Want U” on January 15th! Click here to listen to Ludic on Spotify..

Also Check out “A Night With Ludic” below, what the band cheekily describes as “alternate title: ludic in the wild: a national geographic d o c u m e n t a r y n a r r a t e d b y d A v I d AtTenBouRoUgh.”

BC ARTIST HIGHLIGHT :LUDIC

BRUCE’S CORNERIt is now the year 2020. I’m a little blown away by that. 2020 was always, in my mind, the future. When I was just a wee lad sitting in my fourth grade class room, I remember the teacher spending hours discussing the future in our social studies lessons. I remember him talking about computers, and space travel. At that point I was still years away from learning how to use a slide ruler, and now in 2020, I can design a house on my computer. (Actually, I can’t, but someone with CAD can.) Space travel is old hat now and SpaceX even reuses parts of the rocket as it returns to a barge in the ocean after it has been disengaged. That teacher even taught us about the future problem of pollution. And as technology has zipped along so has the problem of pollution as it has turned into global warming.

They sat that music reinvents itself every 30 years. I think we can safely say that the sixties were such a decade. I also believe that the nineties were such a decade. Here we are 30 years later and what can we expect in this decade. After all these years, what new stuff can they come up with? On the other hand, they could be wrong. If you look at the 30 years before the sixties you get the thirties and I am just not aware of anything exciting happening in the thirties. A depression and dust bowl. But the twenties seem to be pretty interesting musically. The swing era. And that would mean that the fifties and eighties were reinvention decades, and while there is an argument for the fifties as the decade of the invention of rock and roll, honestly, the eighties sucked.

I’m excited about this year. It seems to me a perfect time to reinvent myself, and quite frankly, it might be the last reinvention, so I’m going to really try to change some of the bad things and create good things in my life. I saw an ad on TV yesterday for an exercise club membership, and I smiled to myself as I thought how they were taking advantage of all the resolutions. I hope that all who have made a resolution are able to stick with it. I also hope that music reinvents itself. Just because...

by Bruce Connick

Tom Petty started out his musical career in Gainesville, Florida. Early on, he was with the Epics and then Mudcrutch before they became the Heartbreakers with a few personnel changes along the way. Mudcrutch made their way to L.A. in ’74 to find a record deal. They succeeded in recording and releasing a single with Shelter Records but that didn’t fly. Gainesville boys Stan Lynch (drums) and Ron Blair (bass) took a trip to California and joined Tom and Mike Campbell (guitar) and Benmont Tench (keyboards) to form the original line-up of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

They released their first album in 1976. Although it didn’t sell much in the U.S., a stint in England proved more kind. For their third album, Jimmy Iovine came on board to produce and together they created a critically and commercially successful album, "Damn the Torpedoes”, that made the band well known. Around this time, Tom had issues with his record company over a bad contract, missed royalties and later album pricing. He took them on in court and payed his costs with a tour called ‘the Lawsuit Tour”. Eventually the record company would give into his demands. He never backed down. His fourth album “Hard Promises” was released and sold well establishing the band on their long road of elevating Rock prominence. 

Stevie Nicks was an admirer of the band and collaborated with them on more than one occasion. Bassist Ron Blair would leave the band on a 20 year hiatus and would be replaced by the multi-talented Howie Epstein only to re-replace him later. The band would enter the MTV age phase and release many videos to market their music, which became a necessary norm in those days and even somewhat now. The band went on a world wide tour, labelled the “True Confessions Tour", backing up Bob Dylan in the mid-eighties. The Heartbreakers would always exist, even though Tom went solo at times and recorded with his new band of all-star players, The Travelling Wilburys. The Heartbreakers would record an album with legend Johnny Cash in ’96. 

Stan Lynch would leave the group and Howie Epstein would pass away. The group would carry on, through every change and episode, and remain as popular as ever. In 2017, Tom and the Heartbreakers would finish up a 40th anniversary tour. Just a week later, Tom Petty passed away at age 66. 

The 2007, 4-hour long band documentary, “Runnin’ Down A Dream”, directed by Peter Bogdanovich is a fine source for your Heartbreaker fix.

January 5, 2020

FP NEWSLETTER Vol. 48 www.fusionpresents.com Page of 3 3

FP NEWSLETTERFUSIONpresents

PROFESSIONAL MUSIC SERVICESFUSIONpresents is proud to have offered the highest quality services in professional artist development, music entertainment, and creative music services for nearly 18 years. We have entertained thousands of delighted guests, mentored hundreds of aspiring artists, and collaborated with countless amazing people. We love what we do and are passionate to do more of it. Contact FUSIONpresents today.

PROFESSIONAL ARTIST DEVELOPMENT

FP FOOD FOR THOUGHT Keep your spirit in charge, your mind in check,

and your body in order. Sami Ghawi

Helping artists do what they love. 778-892-7625 or 604-800-0989

[email protected]

ARTISTS WE LOVE & WORK WITH

GROOVE. TALENT. SKILL. BEAUTIFUL VIBES. Brayson is one of those secret weapon ninjas who not only plays bass like a beast, but is abundantly sufficient on the synthesizers, guitar & keys, as well

as harmony vocals. As one of the principal songwriters in the indie-pop quartet Royal Oak, and well as a fundamental musical part of The

Apartment, Brayson has contributed his creative prowess to everything he does. With countless hours of both writing and recording experience with

Royal Oak, he is quick to pick up an existing part, and even quicker to come up with his own. Charismatic both on and off the stage, Brayson

Wong is as consistent as he is versatile, and it is an understatement to say that his commitment to ensuring every project is top notch makes him a

hot commodity in local circles. Brayson on Instagram www.braysonwong.com

BRAYSON WONG

QUALITY LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

CREATIVE MUSIC SERVICES

UPCOMING RELEASE

A debut album of Montreal-based early childhood educator Nadine Ghawi. The album is inspired by Nadine's work in an infant-toddler classroom and includes 15

reimagined classics and daycare favourites like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," "Old

MacDonald Had a Farm," and "The Wheels on the Bus." A sibling collaboration, the

album features musical arrangement and production by Nadine's brother, Sami, as well as back-up vocals by their younger

sister, Christine. With colourful instrumentation and pleasing harmonies,

the album is meant to be enjoyed by children, parents, and caregivers alike.

SING WITH NADINE : Songs for Babies and Toddlers

RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 10, 2020