Think back to 20 years ago for Cornwall. It was a somewhat great time economy wise and such. The 1980s recession did kill some businesses but the city hung on. There was always activities going on at the local museums, heritage groups and service clubs. Parades, community BBQs, skating and swim parties. It was a good time to be in the city.
We just started 2010 and it is amazing how things are today. Major businesses (Domtar, CIL, Courtaulds) that were considered safe employment are gone. Some of the well known downtown businesses are gone, killed by big box stores (thanks a freakin' lot, Wal-Mart). Parades are down to two a year (Rememberance Day and Christmas), community BBQs are nearly non-existant and events held by heriatge and service clubs dwindled.
I heard a rumour that the annual Cornwall Heritage Fair will not occur this year or any other year now. I remember years ago when the city was celebrating the 200 anniversary of the founding of Cornwall that the Fair began. I remember it best at the Brookdale Mall and it was fantasic to see so many groups together in honour of our history. I never knew when it was held, just that it was during the winter months. I then came to realize it was during smething called Heritage Week, not something readily advertized by our local media or City.
When the Brookdale Mall was demolished to make way for the present day plaza, which totally sucks by the way (miss the intimate shopping of a mall), I was shocked to learn that the Fair was shutting down. Then I learned one of the participants took the reigns and reloacted to the Cornwall Square. Thanks to the internet I discovered exactly when Heritage Week was and I even found some advertizing for the event. Although there were different locations and people each year, I always managed to find the Fair.
This year I was told by a little birdie that the Heritage Fair is cancelled. Problems with the location? No, not really. It actually involves legal issues thanks to insurance companies. From what I understand, the Cornwall Square needs insurance papers for anyone operating a business or having a special event within their walls. Makes sense of course. But the Heritage Fair is some kind of city event and now the organizing group is unable to obtain coverage. I don't understand what is different this time around compared to the previous years but there is. This birdie told me that there is a chance the Fair will be at the local library. I cannot see that happening with any success. It is not the same enviroment and there won't be much of any visits by the general public as there is at a mall.
So the way I see things, this is yet another annual Cornwall event that has been killed off with the new thinking of today's idiotic world of political correctness and mentality of people bringing forth civil litigations over thier own stupidity. I wish I could stand up and say something to the organizers and to those whom are responsible for killing the Fair, but I can't. All I am is a Mr. Joe Public. I never took part in the Fair, just enjoyed the fact it was there and took advantage of looking at and sometimes purchasing what the many groups had with them. It is a shame that soon this town won't have anything worth going to for us tax payers.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Bonfire - Part 2: History of a Decadent Band
The band has existed for 38 years. They have 7 more releases than Black Sabbath, 8 more than The Rolling Stones, 12 more than their own countrymen, The Scorpions, 16 more than Dokken, 20 more than Motley Crue and The Beatles, 21 more than Bon Jovi and Van Halen, and 22 more than Def Leppard and Poison....still, no one seems to know who or what BONFIRE is. Although their history can be found in Wikipedia (I created the entry), here's the most important things any fan or future fan should know.
In 1972 Hans Ziller created a band with his brother Karl and called it CACUMEN, both being the guitarists. The history from the formation and who else was involved up to 1978 seems to be lost in the sands of time. What is known is that in '78 Claus Lessmann was hired as the lead vocalist and the group became a popular attraction. Also part of the band were guitarist Horst Maier-Thorn, Hans Hauptmann on bass, Hanns Schmidt-Theissen was on keyboards and Hans Forstner was the drummer. It was this line-up that put the first recording out in '79, the Riding Away single. When a full length album was being arranged, Karl left the band and Hanns bowed out, but did provide keyboards for recordings. The self-titled Cacumen album came out in 1981. For the 1983 release, Bad Widow, Hauptmann was replaced with Robert Prskalowicz and two years later the Longing For You EP was released. The band was gaining a great reputation and they decided to make a full-fleged career of being rock stars. Robert and Forstner though were nervous to make such a commitment and were replaced with Joerg Deisinger and Dominik Huelshorst respectively. Thus came the line-up that would step into the world-wide market.
First step for taking on the world was coming up with a new name. Although Cacumen was well known in West Germany, it just was not a favourite name for the record company executives. The band had a brain storming session and out of that came the new dedication of Bonfire. Their first album under the new name came out in 1986, Don't Touch The Light. Just before recording their follow-up, the group made a hasty decision of firing Dominik. This lead to the group not having a new drummer to record their album for 1987. They did use Ken Mary from Fifth Angel, but Ken declined joining. Fireworks was released and it became the group's Gold seller. By the end of the year, new drummer Edgar Patrik was hired on. When their second song from the album was prepared for release (along with a video), Horst's on-going illness had become too much for him and he had to quit the group. Angel Schleifer came in to take up the chore of second guitarist. For me this has to be THE best Bonfire line-up. Changes weren't through as during recording for the 1989 album, the band was forced to make a decision that even they in retrospect thought was not the best solution, they fired the founding member, Hans. Even with that decision, the record company decided to no longer promote the band in North America. strange since they recorded their next album, Point Blank, in the USA and toured there in support of the album. On the heels of that album, the band was asked to record a song for the Wes Craven movie, Shocker. Thus the Sword And Stone single was put out. In 1991, after going with a different producer, the album Knock out was released, clearly the band's worst effort. 1992 was the year that not only expanded the Bonfire interest but was also the worst blow they could take...Claus decided to leave, but in doing so he reunited with Hans to become a duo called Lessmann/Ziller.
1993....Bonfire fans was treated to four events. The announcement that Michael Bormann was Bonfire's new singer, the band releasing Live...The Best, a live recording when Claus was still the singer and the third thing was Lessmann/Ziller's release of a totally German language album called Glaub Dran. The forth thing came later, a bootleg release of End Of An Era, which was the demo songs recorded by Bonfire with Michael singing. The following year, Lessmann/Ziller released the Charlie & Louise single (for a movie with the same name) and the German language Fur Dich single. Unfortunately in the Bonfire camp things were not so good. The record company refused to release any music without Claus singing and to add insult to injury the grunge/alternative scene had taken root in the mainstream instustry. The band broke up. Lessmann/Ziller was not doing much better either. Acceptance to the duo was not as well as either hoped so they rebanded themselves as Ex and released the Die Antwort Weiss Der Wind single, a song all in German. After the release, Joerg and Dominik were asked if they would be interested in joining and accepted. This however only lasted for a very short time. Claus and Hans were still not pleased with the reception and realized that they needed to be Bonfire again.
After negotiating with Angel, Joerg and Edgar, a one-time payment was made to them in 1996 by Claus and Hans and thus Ex evolved into a second band called Bonfire. The album Feels Like Comin' Home came out right afterwards, with a limited edition German version called Freudenfeuer. Then a greatest hits album, Hot & Slow, was put out and the duo hired Chris Lausmann as rhythm guitarist, Uwe Kohler on bass and drummer Jurgen Wiehler. (To hear the music from 1979 - 1998, please use the following address to download a file with a song from each release.)
http://rapidshare.com/files/338821001/Best_Of_Claus_Lessmann-part_1.zip
This new line-up put out Rebel Soul in 1998 along with the Because It's Christmas single. Also added to that year was the release of Charade's self-titled album. Charade was formed the year before by Michael and Angel for the purpose of putting out the shelved Bonfire album they recorded in 1993. They decided to stay together and release new music. Bonfire released Fuel to the Flames the following year and then their former record company decided to capitalize on their new success by releasing a greatest hits CD called Who's Foolin' Who (not to be confused with the single of the same name from 1989).
In the new century, Bonfire started off by putting out Strike Ten, then a double greatest hits album called 29 Golden Bullets that featured new versions of songs and a demo. 2002 saw a loss of Chris in the band, but the foursome put out a live album called Live Over Europe! The following year they released a more modern sounding recordings. Tell Me What U Know single was the preview and then the album Free was available. Bonfire fans all around the world wondered what happened to their favourite band. 2004 though was a great year. Claus and Hans managed to aquire the rights to their older material from Cacumen (as well as Hans' band after he was fired from Bonfire, EZ Livin'). They re-released these recordings as The Early Days (a 5-disc set) that featured the original albums (along with the Lessmann/Ziller album) with additional recordings. Then they put out the Schanzer Herz single in honour of their hometown of Ingolstadt. Charade also released their second album, II. Bonfire decided to do a redition of the "MTV Unplugged" series by performing on TV an acoustical performance, which they released as a double disc called One Acoustic Night with a studio song for the benefit of the tsunami victims in Indonesia.
2006 was when Chris Limburg joined as co-guitarist. He had been supporting the band live for a few years and was formally asked to join. Double X came out immediately and another live disc in 2007 called Double Vision was released to great fanfare. 2008 saw the release of The Rauber, a rock-opera album that the band performed many many times in Ingolstadt's theatre, sold out almost every time as fans from all over congregated to the city.
Last year Bonfire lost Jurgen to another band, but to fill his seat, coming almost full circle, was Dominik again. A double best of ballads disc was released, You Make Me Feel, and now us Bonfire fans are waiting on the 2010 release of a new studio album with Dominik on drums. How will they sound now?
(To hear the music from 1999 to now, download from this link.)
http://rapidshare.com/files/338837432/Best_Of_Claus_Lessmann-part_2.zip
In 1972 Hans Ziller created a band with his brother Karl and called it CACUMEN, both being the guitarists. The history from the formation and who else was involved up to 1978 seems to be lost in the sands of time. What is known is that in '78 Claus Lessmann was hired as the lead vocalist and the group became a popular attraction. Also part of the band were guitarist Horst Maier-Thorn, Hans Hauptmann on bass, Hanns Schmidt-Theissen was on keyboards and Hans Forstner was the drummer. It was this line-up that put the first recording out in '79, the Riding Away single. When a full length album was being arranged, Karl left the band and Hanns bowed out, but did provide keyboards for recordings. The self-titled Cacumen album came out in 1981. For the 1983 release, Bad Widow, Hauptmann was replaced with Robert Prskalowicz and two years later the Longing For You EP was released. The band was gaining a great reputation and they decided to make a full-fleged career of being rock stars. Robert and Forstner though were nervous to make such a commitment and were replaced with Joerg Deisinger and Dominik Huelshorst respectively. Thus came the line-up that would step into the world-wide market.
First step for taking on the world was coming up with a new name. Although Cacumen was well known in West Germany, it just was not a favourite name for the record company executives. The band had a brain storming session and out of that came the new dedication of Bonfire. Their first album under the new name came out in 1986, Don't Touch The Light. Just before recording their follow-up, the group made a hasty decision of firing Dominik. This lead to the group not having a new drummer to record their album for 1987. They did use Ken Mary from Fifth Angel, but Ken declined joining. Fireworks was released and it became the group's Gold seller. By the end of the year, new drummer Edgar Patrik was hired on. When their second song from the album was prepared for release (along with a video), Horst's on-going illness had become too much for him and he had to quit the group. Angel Schleifer came in to take up the chore of second guitarist. For me this has to be THE best Bonfire line-up. Changes weren't through as during recording for the 1989 album, the band was forced to make a decision that even they in retrospect thought was not the best solution, they fired the founding member, Hans. Even with that decision, the record company decided to no longer promote the band in North America. strange since they recorded their next album, Point Blank, in the USA and toured there in support of the album. On the heels of that album, the band was asked to record a song for the Wes Craven movie, Shocker. Thus the Sword And Stone single was put out. In 1991, after going with a different producer, the album Knock out was released, clearly the band's worst effort. 1992 was the year that not only expanded the Bonfire interest but was also the worst blow they could take...Claus decided to leave, but in doing so he reunited with Hans to become a duo called Lessmann/Ziller.
1993....Bonfire fans was treated to four events. The announcement that Michael Bormann was Bonfire's new singer, the band releasing Live...The Best, a live recording when Claus was still the singer and the third thing was Lessmann/Ziller's release of a totally German language album called Glaub Dran. The forth thing came later, a bootleg release of End Of An Era, which was the demo songs recorded by Bonfire with Michael singing. The following year, Lessmann/Ziller released the Charlie & Louise single (for a movie with the same name) and the German language Fur Dich single. Unfortunately in the Bonfire camp things were not so good. The record company refused to release any music without Claus singing and to add insult to injury the grunge/alternative scene had taken root in the mainstream instustry. The band broke up. Lessmann/Ziller was not doing much better either. Acceptance to the duo was not as well as either hoped so they rebanded themselves as Ex and released the Die Antwort Weiss Der Wind single, a song all in German. After the release, Joerg and Dominik were asked if they would be interested in joining and accepted. This however only lasted for a very short time. Claus and Hans were still not pleased with the reception and realized that they needed to be Bonfire again.
After negotiating with Angel, Joerg and Edgar, a one-time payment was made to them in 1996 by Claus and Hans and thus Ex evolved into a second band called Bonfire. The album Feels Like Comin' Home came out right afterwards, with a limited edition German version called Freudenfeuer. Then a greatest hits album, Hot & Slow, was put out and the duo hired Chris Lausmann as rhythm guitarist, Uwe Kohler on bass and drummer Jurgen Wiehler. (To hear the music from 1979 - 1998, please use the following address to download a file with a song from each release.)
http://rapidshare.com/files/338821001/Best_Of_Claus_Lessmann-part_1.zip
This new line-up put out Rebel Soul in 1998 along with the Because It's Christmas single. Also added to that year was the release of Charade's self-titled album. Charade was formed the year before by Michael and Angel for the purpose of putting out the shelved Bonfire album they recorded in 1993. They decided to stay together and release new music. Bonfire released Fuel to the Flames the following year and then their former record company decided to capitalize on their new success by releasing a greatest hits CD called Who's Foolin' Who (not to be confused with the single of the same name from 1989).
In the new century, Bonfire started off by putting out Strike Ten, then a double greatest hits album called 29 Golden Bullets that featured new versions of songs and a demo. 2002 saw a loss of Chris in the band, but the foursome put out a live album called Live Over Europe! The following year they released a more modern sounding recordings. Tell Me What U Know single was the preview and then the album Free was available. Bonfire fans all around the world wondered what happened to their favourite band. 2004 though was a great year. Claus and Hans managed to aquire the rights to their older material from Cacumen (as well as Hans' band after he was fired from Bonfire, EZ Livin'). They re-released these recordings as The Early Days (a 5-disc set) that featured the original albums (along with the Lessmann/Ziller album) with additional recordings. Then they put out the Schanzer Herz single in honour of their hometown of Ingolstadt. Charade also released their second album, II. Bonfire decided to do a redition of the "MTV Unplugged" series by performing on TV an acoustical performance, which they released as a double disc called One Acoustic Night with a studio song for the benefit of the tsunami victims in Indonesia.
2006 was when Chris Limburg joined as co-guitarist. He had been supporting the band live for a few years and was formally asked to join. Double X came out immediately and another live disc in 2007 called Double Vision was released to great fanfare. 2008 saw the release of The Rauber, a rock-opera album that the band performed many many times in Ingolstadt's theatre, sold out almost every time as fans from all over congregated to the city.
Last year Bonfire lost Jurgen to another band, but to fill his seat, coming almost full circle, was Dominik again. A double best of ballads disc was released, You Make Me Feel, and now us Bonfire fans are waiting on the 2010 release of a new studio album with Dominik on drums. How will they sound now?
(To hear the music from 1999 to now, download from this link.)
http://rapidshare.com/files/338837432/Best_Of_Claus_Lessmann-part_2.zip
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Bonfire - Part 1: Local Radio Stations
In the summer of 1988, an exchange student from Minneapolis in the USA was in Sweden and heard an album called Look Sharp! by the group Roxette. He brought the album home and encouraged his local radio station (KDWB 101.3 FM) to start playing it. Although the album was not on the regular format catelogue, one DJ listened to it and decided to spin the LP. It wasn't long before Roxette became a much requested musi artist to be played on the air and thus the band had broken into North America. It is a legendary tale of a foreign group that had a record company who did not push them into what the record industry deems as the "mainstream" market of North America, more specifically the USA, and managed to by-pass board room politics and became big hitters in the music business. Roxette would go on to release Look Sharp! in North America and follow it up with 4 more releases plus a reissue of their first recording, Pearls Of Passion. Unfortunately the big record labels stopped P.R.ing the group (thanks in part to grunge and alternative styles) but mostly unknown is that Roxette released 7 more albums and are planning to release a new one (I have them all which is amazing to say since I am not into that type of music particularly).
The title says Bonfire....why did you open with Roxette?, you are likely thinking. Well I wanted to give an example of what has happened when a radio personality took a chance and played something off the regulated catelogue that could turn out to be the best thing for the band, the listeners, the fans, the radio and the record companies. That is because I am experiencing the same situation with a band that I have been into for 20 years and I've hit a brick wall. I am talking about what is likely THE best hard rock band out there currently who releases a new album every year for the last 17 years.....BONFIRE. This will be a three part series that I will be posting. Part 2 will focus on Bonfire themselves, Part 3 will cover what the present and past band members have done/are doing since being in the band. Today's part 1 is covering my own experience to get Bonfire some airplay on the radio and to return to North America, especially to Canada. Part 2 and 3 will feature link to some of Bonfire's music so people whom are reading this can hear the music and understand why myself and many others are fans and supporters.
The first time I had ever heard of Bonfire was in 1987. My best friend had a cassette album called Fireworks, easily one of the albums any hard rocker should have in their collection. The music was awesome sounding, great guitar riffs, heavy drumming and the lead vocals were harmonic and easy to sing along to. At that time Def Leppard was my favourite band so I didn't give Bonfire much attention. The following year I went to West Germany to visit my dad and over the radio and on the TV I had seen/heard some things that involved Bonfire. I was hooked with the song Never Mind. I returned to Canada and copied the Fireworks album from my friend. The band was growing on me. In 1991, Bonfire became my second favourite band and in 1996 they unseated the Leps as my #1 all time favourite. It is where Bonfire sits today for me and I doubt they will ever be unseated, especially if they keep pumping out great music like they have been. My one disappointment was that I got into the band after they stopped coming to North America. Once their Point Blank album was recorded, their record company refused to promote them here anymore. To this day if you go to any music store you can only order Don't Touch The Light and Fireworks, meanwhile the other 31 releases you have to hope the store has availability to imports. Yep, you heard me right.....31 RELEASES!!!!!! That's a total of 33 and they are releasing a new studio album this year. So after all this time and after the band played a couple of "come back" shows in the States I thought I'd try to help them in Canada.
First I contacted Cornwall Lift Off, a popular annual balloon fesitival that features many great music talent, some big names even. I let them know that Bonfire was trying to get back into the North American market and suggested that they get the band for 2010 while the group is looking for North American dates. I was told that the festival organizers "would check the band out and see what their Board thinks." Not bad for a start so then I contacted the radio stations. First I contacted CKON, a station that I knew would play different and new things at least once. Heck, back when I was working as a security guard in the early 1990s I once heard them play Bonfire's entire live album, Live...The Best, which was so surreal for me. I waited for a response to my e-mail but I never got a reply. I tried calling but was told to just e-mail my request, it would be easier. I then contacted the radio programmer for the Cornwall stations, who just happens to be the entertainment director for Lift Off. I was told that Bonfire was not a mainstream act and not on their regulated approved catelogue for air-play. That was strange because I wondered what happened to the songs Starin' Eyes, Sweet Obsession, Sleeping All Alone and the theme song from Wes Craven's movie Shocker called Sword And Stone....all songs Bonfire released and charted with in North America. It was then that I realized that the chances for Bonfire to even be considered a possible act to play at Lift-Off was little to none. I was nonetheless disappointed and for a while I felt that nothing could be done to get Bonfire here to Canada.
Joerg Deisinger, Bonfire's former bassist, released a book in 2008 called Fire And Fame. It was co-written with Carl Begai, who is living in Toronto and was my means to get the book much faster than others whom made orders (also was lucky to get his and Joerg's autograph!). It is a terrific read and is not a tell-all book, but a biography of Joerg's life, most centred on his career as a musician. He wrote about Bonfire's public relations problems, which was right from day 1 but only became a major problem when BMG decided to not release any more Bonfire albums in North America, starting with the 1989 release of Point Blank (a GREAT follow-up to Fireworks). Even with the first two albums that did get North American release, the problem was not many were pressed and record stores only ordered the bare minimum. As Joerg stated in one chapter, if the manager/owner ordered 100 units he did his job....he didn't have to push to sell the record if he didn't like the band or couldn't be bothered. There was more but I am not going to write everything here. So basically the band, which had great music and a growing fanbase, was swept aside and told that they weren't going to make it on the big stages of North America. Meanwhile they were huge in Europe and had no support to expand elsewhere.
So here we are, it's 2010 and it is still happening. Bonfire continues to play as headliners at various venues, have sold out their rock opera performances (The Rauber) every time. New music....heck GREAT MUSIC.....is being released by them more than the other "mainstream" bands like Def Leppard, Dokken, Kiss, Aerosmith and Van Halen (and who says these guys' new albums are any good?). Yet no one will support Bonfire's step into North America.
So I had given up on trying to convince Cornwall radio stations and festivals to play Bonfire for a time....but I did get a new boost that made me feel there might be a chance someday. Where I work, we keep the radio on. Finally, after we were able to predict what songs our local stations were going to play (seems it is ALWAYS the same ones) I got POed and put on one of Bonfire's CDs. Everyone liked it so I brought more in. Then on a suggestion from a co-worker, we called up the Virgin radio station in Ottawa, since that signal was coming in clearly, and to my suprise not only did they play Sword And Stone by Bonfire, but also one of their new ones, What's On Your Mind?. I went home and looked up the Virgin radio station's web site for Ottawa and there I saw a blessing. They have available for requests 19 of the 33 Bonfire releases...especially the best albums, in my opinion. So needless to say our industrial plant no long tunes in to local stations. It is not because our stations refuse to even consider playing Bonfire but because their catelogue is recycled too much and repetitive without being open to something new. It's pretty bad when you hear "Missin' You", "Hot 'N' Cold" and that cover version of "I Want To Know What Love Is" three times on the same station in a 12 hour period.
So let's end like how we started, reflecting back to 1988, Minneapolis and Roxette as our examples. If it was done back then it can certainly be done today. If a Cornwall radio station took a chance and played any of the more recent Bonfire songs, it could be the crack in the doorway that the band needs to make a full return to North America, a revival of their fan base here along with more sales and radio requests. Wouldn't that be nice?
The title says Bonfire....why did you open with Roxette?, you are likely thinking. Well I wanted to give an example of what has happened when a radio personality took a chance and played something off the regulated catelogue that could turn out to be the best thing for the band, the listeners, the fans, the radio and the record companies. That is because I am experiencing the same situation with a band that I have been into for 20 years and I've hit a brick wall. I am talking about what is likely THE best hard rock band out there currently who releases a new album every year for the last 17 years.....BONFIRE. This will be a three part series that I will be posting. Part 2 will focus on Bonfire themselves, Part 3 will cover what the present and past band members have done/are doing since being in the band. Today's part 1 is covering my own experience to get Bonfire some airplay on the radio and to return to North America, especially to Canada. Part 2 and 3 will feature link to some of Bonfire's music so people whom are reading this can hear the music and understand why myself and many others are fans and supporters.
The first time I had ever heard of Bonfire was in 1987. My best friend had a cassette album called Fireworks, easily one of the albums any hard rocker should have in their collection. The music was awesome sounding, great guitar riffs, heavy drumming and the lead vocals were harmonic and easy to sing along to. At that time Def Leppard was my favourite band so I didn't give Bonfire much attention. The following year I went to West Germany to visit my dad and over the radio and on the TV I had seen/heard some things that involved Bonfire. I was hooked with the song Never Mind. I returned to Canada and copied the Fireworks album from my friend. The band was growing on me. In 1991, Bonfire became my second favourite band and in 1996 they unseated the Leps as my #1 all time favourite. It is where Bonfire sits today for me and I doubt they will ever be unseated, especially if they keep pumping out great music like they have been. My one disappointment was that I got into the band after they stopped coming to North America. Once their Point Blank album was recorded, their record company refused to promote them here anymore. To this day if you go to any music store you can only order Don't Touch The Light and Fireworks, meanwhile the other 31 releases you have to hope the store has availability to imports. Yep, you heard me right.....31 RELEASES!!!!!! That's a total of 33 and they are releasing a new studio album this year. So after all this time and after the band played a couple of "come back" shows in the States I thought I'd try to help them in Canada.
First I contacted Cornwall Lift Off, a popular annual balloon fesitival that features many great music talent, some big names even. I let them know that Bonfire was trying to get back into the North American market and suggested that they get the band for 2010 while the group is looking for North American dates. I was told that the festival organizers "would check the band out and see what their Board thinks." Not bad for a start so then I contacted the radio stations. First I contacted CKON, a station that I knew would play different and new things at least once. Heck, back when I was working as a security guard in the early 1990s I once heard them play Bonfire's entire live album, Live...The Best, which was so surreal for me. I waited for a response to my e-mail but I never got a reply. I tried calling but was told to just e-mail my request, it would be easier. I then contacted the radio programmer for the Cornwall stations, who just happens to be the entertainment director for Lift Off. I was told that Bonfire was not a mainstream act and not on their regulated approved catelogue for air-play. That was strange because I wondered what happened to the songs Starin' Eyes, Sweet Obsession, Sleeping All Alone and the theme song from Wes Craven's movie Shocker called Sword And Stone....all songs Bonfire released and charted with in North America. It was then that I realized that the chances for Bonfire to even be considered a possible act to play at Lift-Off was little to none. I was nonetheless disappointed and for a while I felt that nothing could be done to get Bonfire here to Canada.
Joerg Deisinger, Bonfire's former bassist, released a book in 2008 called Fire And Fame. It was co-written with Carl Begai, who is living in Toronto and was my means to get the book much faster than others whom made orders (also was lucky to get his and Joerg's autograph!). It is a terrific read and is not a tell-all book, but a biography of Joerg's life, most centred on his career as a musician. He wrote about Bonfire's public relations problems, which was right from day 1 but only became a major problem when BMG decided to not release any more Bonfire albums in North America, starting with the 1989 release of Point Blank (a GREAT follow-up to Fireworks). Even with the first two albums that did get North American release, the problem was not many were pressed and record stores only ordered the bare minimum. As Joerg stated in one chapter, if the manager/owner ordered 100 units he did his job....he didn't have to push to sell the record if he didn't like the band or couldn't be bothered. There was more but I am not going to write everything here. So basically the band, which had great music and a growing fanbase, was swept aside and told that they weren't going to make it on the big stages of North America. Meanwhile they were huge in Europe and had no support to expand elsewhere.
So here we are, it's 2010 and it is still happening. Bonfire continues to play as headliners at various venues, have sold out their rock opera performances (The Rauber) every time. New music....heck GREAT MUSIC.....is being released by them more than the other "mainstream" bands like Def Leppard, Dokken, Kiss, Aerosmith and Van Halen (and who says these guys' new albums are any good?). Yet no one will support Bonfire's step into North America.
So I had given up on trying to convince Cornwall radio stations and festivals to play Bonfire for a time....but I did get a new boost that made me feel there might be a chance someday. Where I work, we keep the radio on. Finally, after we were able to predict what songs our local stations were going to play (seems it is ALWAYS the same ones) I got POed and put on one of Bonfire's CDs. Everyone liked it so I brought more in. Then on a suggestion from a co-worker, we called up the Virgin radio station in Ottawa, since that signal was coming in clearly, and to my suprise not only did they play Sword And Stone by Bonfire, but also one of their new ones, What's On Your Mind?. I went home and looked up the Virgin radio station's web site for Ottawa and there I saw a blessing. They have available for requests 19 of the 33 Bonfire releases...especially the best albums, in my opinion. So needless to say our industrial plant no long tunes in to local stations. It is not because our stations refuse to even consider playing Bonfire but because their catelogue is recycled too much and repetitive without being open to something new. It's pretty bad when you hear "Missin' You", "Hot 'N' Cold" and that cover version of "I Want To Know What Love Is" three times on the same station in a 12 hour period.
So let's end like how we started, reflecting back to 1988, Minneapolis and Roxette as our examples. If it was done back then it can certainly be done today. If a Cornwall radio station took a chance and played any of the more recent Bonfire songs, it could be the crack in the doorway that the band needs to make a full return to North America, a revival of their fan base here along with more sales and radio requests. Wouldn't that be nice?
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