Above - a very young BB was as much devoted to composing as he was to listening. Thanks to Rita Zalenko for the pic. Rita was also responsible for the cover sketch for Bobby's first solo trend setting 7 inch vinyl extended play release.

Bobby began experimenting with sound far before his first guitar showed up. As a small child, he was known to wait until the house was empty, at which time he would somewhat 'assault' the family upright piano in a very unique manner considering his lack of age or experience. First he'ld go outdoors and drag in the biggest rock or brick he could find and plant it on the reverb pedal of the piano, next he'ld dig around in the kitchen for spoons, forks, knives, egg beaters and anything that looked interesting and haul it all over to the keyboard. Then he'ld get a stick or sometimes encyclopedia and prop open the front panel of the piano, jump up on the stool and stand on the desired keys with his feet and toes, and crawl in with the kitchen ammunition. The forks were used to hook onto the strings for a rattling effect, the backs of the spoons were used for beating and sliding across the strings, the knives were used for scaping the wound strings, the egg beater was used (of course we can all see what's next here but really impressive for a 4 year old), for making a constant rumbling or picking of the strings and viola! A private avante garde concert of sound for one, with reverb, in stereo, all while his head arms and torso were safely inside the piano cabinet, having the time of his life. Apparently mom heard this incidious racket one day, came rushing in and let out a blood curdling shreak at the sight of our little genius' feet dangling out the front panel, thinking the piano had eaten him. Try as she may, little BB always found a way back to that piano with increasingly more complicated devices for continuing 'assaults'. Mom unwittingly played a part in creating this condition since BB was the only child interested in stories of her musical history and life lost in the war. She was a well concertized violinist in Europe before WWII, and as a wee one, she trained with Clara Reisenberg aka Rockmore, both got the casting call from Prof. Lev Termin to audition on his then new instrument. Mom's parents and relatives were all Physicists Mathematicians and such, so they knew Termin well and like too many others at the time, viewed this as a one way street to nowhere so mom was forbid to involve her time in the theremin, and had to settle for the violin. Apparently that was enough of a struggle since no one else in the family history strayed beyond academic careers. BB was mom's favourite, he apparently went glazed when mom would imitate the sound of the theremin on her violin or with her voice. Anytime a movie came on, she would point out 'that' sound. Well, after 6 or 7 of years, the inside of that piano came close to being scrap not that little BB cared, as long as it could make a sound, it was gold to him. Something needed to be done fast so mom had the older kids escort little BB to a Who concert. When he witnessed the audio onslaught and complete destruction of the stage, he was asked what he thought. Never being much for talking, the usual shoulder shrug was all anyone expected. He stunned everyone by pointing to Pete Townshend and emphatically declaring, "That's what I'm going to do"! Mom was really hoping for academia but prayed that by swapping the piano for a very cheap guitar and even cheaper amp, the novelty would wear off - it didn't. By 12, he could play any song on the radio, and if it was new, he could generally get it all in two run throughs, rhythm wise, all this from a 25 cent chord chart page from the Country Music Centre on Selkirk Avenue, about as northend as you can get. People were starting to worry, was he an alien child? Then one day he suddenly began playing leads, complicated ones. That's all we heard from everyone we've contacted, it just started one day - boom! We have discovered a Hilroy notebook from that time period where Bobby discovered and began experimenting with the correlation of music to mathematic equations. He began to develop his own equations by assigning notes to sometimes shifting numeric values, using the results, he would develop compositions than were unearthly to say the least. Apparently a practice that can be best viewed now as an early experiment in composition, one that to our knowledge remained an early exploration, and done quite guardedly. BB was playing for cash by 15, all kinds of people were taking serious notice. As we will point out later, Burton Cummings - Kurt Winter - Lenny Breau would be some of many to follow this explosive growth. Well, mom had it up to here by then - it was ultimatum time - either university or get out, so at the ripe old age of 17, being the youngest in the family, he figured his chances were all going to be out there in the world anyway, so BB left. Bobby quickly became (to say the least) quite popular and influential as a live performer, composer, session player, producer, going on tour with the Guess Who, chainsawing guitars, playing theremin to name but a few highlights, and yes Mom eventually gave her proud approval by showing up at her first gig, when BB had his first solo concert at Pantages Playhouse Theatre 1979. All would finally be well in BB land.

Mom had never gotten the music bug out of her own system, she would occasionally sneak out with her pals to a downtown swinging jazz club called Harry's Smith's Club Morocco. A little back story is needed here first. Mom tragically lost her entire immediate family and the family jewels (prized violin included) in a massive bomb raid in the war. Upon arriving here, single parenthood changed everything, so she became one of the countries first successful engineering and mechanical draftswomen, designing tons of malls and buildings in her time, but once the weekend came with overtime projects completed, it was time to swing with her gal pals. So word at the club got out that young BB was pretty special. Somewhere in all of this pre 17 period, noted jazz drummer Billy Graham called Bobby up to see if he was into some jazz gigs. So he did a stint with Billy, a very youthful Larry Pink joined in on piano (we count three Manitoba Theatre Centre dates) and a fresh new bassist Al Fieldhouse who became a close friend to Bobby. Lenny Breau would also show up in the not too distant future. (see; HISTORY button link subsection PETER DOBO). We would also like to point out that local jazz guitar great Leo Symonds would in his later years, take a renewed interest in BB. They would often get together and play or just hang out and chill. Leo and his wife owned a bakery and Leo was one heck of a cook so he made sure that young BB got a good meal at least once every coupla weeks once BB's mom passed on. Well, Leo's wife passed on a few years back from these writing, so BB along with cousin Ralph Symonds and a lot of the close old local jazz players would keep ole Leo company in his final years. Journal entries further show that Leo's cousin the legendary Montreal jazz guitarist Nelson Symonds would have Bobby produce/restore/re-mix/re-embody previously unreleased live recordings of Nelson with close friend and bassist Charlie Biddle - yes Charlie Biddle the Montreal club owner and jazz legend in his own right. As kids, Leo along with cousin Ivan (who Bobby would never meet), and cousin Nelson all grew up together sharing the same banjo. It didn't take long for Nelson Symonds to cut himself a very serious swathe in the field of modern jazz guitar on both sides of the border, becoming known for his dazzling imaginative chops, sweeping chord shapes, wild adrenalin fueled arrangements, and break-neck speed. In 1965 Wes Montgomery called Nelson his favourite guitarist, George Benson in his early hayday used to pull up to Biddle's club in a stretch limo only to be humbled by Nelson. Lenny Breau, Herb Ellis, Tal Farlow and on and on. Nelson had played the Carnival Beat circuit in Canada and the US between '55 -'57, and got some serious reputation on the jazz scene. But you see Nelson had never resolved his border crossing problems, so he just kind of stayed in Montreal on this side of the border and did a slew of 1 hour shows for about 10 years for C.B.C. radio, some with Slide Hampton arranging and Vic Vogel conducting, a bunch of T.V. specials and one documentary on his career which he asked Bobby to hopefully restore as well. Nelson's favourite guitar for you gear heads was a custom ordered Gretsch Sal Salvador model, although between August 23rd and October 16th 2002, journal entries show Nelson told BB he had also used a Chet Atkins model and an Anniversary model early on but the custom Sal Salvador was his third and favourite which he custom ordered when he played with Stan Kenton. (Sal Salvador himself being a famous Kenton alumnus). Eventually pretty well all the jazz guitar greats would come up to Montreal to see Nelson play, get the new chops he created, then run back down south and no one would be the wiser where they got these ideas from, so for the purpose of clarifying history, we have taken this time (on Bobby's insistence), to pay Nelson Symonds tribute and credit him for his influence and many important accomplishments in the field of modern electrified jazz guitar. We hope someday these previously un-released live recordings can be made available so the internet world can experience the dazzling imagination and speed of Nelson Symonds.

Wanting to employ some more power/feedback/sustain, BB changed gears and paired up with another school pal drummer John Jankowski to form an experimental ALL AD LIB power duo. Yup - a power duo! This way BB could incorporate many jazz elements/sensibilities and wail away with his unique arsenal of sounds and unheard of techniques. By all accounts, this was a stunning duo, they never planned anything planned, not even basic formats. Since Bobby did not have to worry about any other instruments or players or tuning or even rehearsing, he was totally free to concern himself only in self expression & interaction with the percussion. No need to eat up time training musicians who could play his compositions or explain his music/ math equations to. That duo was definitely another first. Too bad John decided he wanted to see the world, he was somewhat impatient and off he went, never to be heard of again. Sadly a short lived idea but very impressive. All throughout the development of this site, many people have mentioned how Bobby would be emphatic about the fact that our time here in this life was limited, and that we should be very aware that wasted opportunities are not usually duplicated, so although he became a task master to others and himself, he was always willing to generously take time to help others along. Next we get to the Peter Dobo band. (see; HISTORY button link subsection PETER DOBO)

But just before that happened, a coupla major events transpired. All that nutty experimental piano stuff little BB used to do, the teenaged BB began to do on the guitar. Not just making sounds and such, but he began ripping apart and rebuilding his guitars amps and effects (with the occassional help of fellow school mate George Walichnowski who Bobby credits in journal entries as a 'regular north-end son of a Polish immigrant family' and an early helping third hand in some things mechanical, at least for a short time in the first year of junior high school), but possibly most importantly from an historic point of view - Bobby thereafter began to record record record. These early recordings and ideas flat out frightened a lot of guys so BB decided to do it in moderation publicly, but privately, it would never stop. Things like backward bottleneck playing, fingertapping, not just the regular kind but cross handed as well, along with controlled pick harmonic squeals, all captured on tape as early as 1970! Very forward thinking guitar techniques and recordings indeed. And we found lots of avante garde compositions on these tapes. Some of these recordings/compositions would be used as far into the future as 25+ years, for film soundtrack material and live theatre.

Above - Noted Northend Winnipeg artist Garry Lubkey conjuring up some new art while BB plays his favourite '61 SG LP Standard, yet another sad lost in the huge Osborne Village fire Nov.21/99. Bobby always seemed to find time to engage in his second love - art, and when possible, incorporated varying art mediums (including dance) into many future performances. Garry and Bobby lived in a house with several other artists and writers etc... who all engaged in a common past-time of painting one large basement wall over the course of a few years. When that 519 Manitoba Avenue house was demolished to make way for the new Willian Whyte school, the contrator purportedly cut out that wall mural and hauled it to his home. Garry would also be commissioned to paint an entire house for Ervin "Cash" Bartha Jr., Bobby's first manager who we cover in the PETER DOBO band category which is the next subsection to follow. (see; HISTORY button link subsection SESSIONMAN COMPOSER PRODUCER for more info on artists and artwork)

Bobby may now be world renown for playing the Star Spangled Banner live on the Moog theremin, he also has to date a very impressive catalogue of approx 36 different non-guitar sounds he mystifyingly produces on the guitar that range from car horns, various police or ambulance sirens (that would include European as well as North American versions and both old types and modern types), WWII air rade sirens, fog horns, steam engine trains including whistles and complete with the doppler effect, chickens, ducks, cows, gobbling turkeys, apes, horses whinnying/neighing or stampeding, ricocheting bullets, elephants charging, whales or dauphins calling underwater, even the chilling sound of a circling mosquito. We further found suitcases full of old reel to reel tapes, 2 inch masters, 1 inch masters, 1/4 inch pancakes and another case with 4 track cassette tapes with these sound effects scattered throughout, one that had a hilarious comedy parody of the Capt. Kirk/Spock/Scotty original Star Trek series complete with all those silly background sounds when the crew was on the bridge of the Enterprise, yes all done on the guitar. The contents of many of these recordings are experimental and definitely far ahead of their time, rehearsals worth hearing, tons of gut wrenchingly funny comedy takes such as a version of the French Folk classic "Alouette, gentille Alouette" guaranteed to make you cry with laughter if you have a well developed adult sense of humour, obviously why Gary MacLean of the brother comedy team MacLean & MacLean, would also seek out Bobby's many talents, they would later become neighbours on Campbell Street in the River Heights part of Winnipeg, and some of the tapes include pre-session rehearsals at Gary's house. Yet more tapes demonstrate stunning arrangements of all sorts of classic songs from all time periods/countries and very unusual original compositions that defy description - they simply must be heard, then there's a clog solo, drum case drum solo, film soundtrack music, compositions for theatre, the world's first 'unplugged' live performances from 1985, layers of spine chilling satori voices, tons of avante garde musique concrete ala Hugh LaCaine (a Canadian who invented the first synthesizer around 1940 and multi-track recording well before Les Paul), even an original song solely comprised of 5 minutes of endings. A veritable goldmine of untapped ideas and all un-released to date. Journal entries show that these are only a small part of what was recorded. If that isn't enough, Bobby was also a formidable inventor. We found inventions plans of all sorts, some drawings for guitar/music related ideas and some inventions from sunglasses to construction hardware. (see; LUTHERY subsection). Apparently when Bobby returned to Canada in the early '90s, he engaged in the daunting task of condensing 7,000 (yes 7 thousand) hours of his yet to be released life's recordings to that point into these remaining suitcases, still estimated at 1,000 thousand hours that he claims in journal entries, needs another going through. Then of course remaining a fan of voraciously recording everything, he has amassed another 15+ years since then of additional recordings likely enough to sustain another throng of groups through their entire careers. You can literally pick a genre, and the song catalogue is waiting, complete with dozens of never before heard sounds for the guitar. Then there's a whole other batch of sounds for instruments with or without strings. And then there's videos. it's staggering to think one person accomplished this AND built more luthier shops than anyone in the history of this city, probably any city for that matter. (see; LUTHERY button link top left of this page and you'll see it's no exaggeration). Yes when we say exhausting, we truely mean it. Until 2005, Bobby's average day consisted of going to his music shop until 6PM, going to his studio until whatever time he left, then home to continue other work there, and found time to sleep and do it all over again. A serious lesson in time management and dedication to your craft. Of course going on tour in between was considered a pleasant rest time in comparison. (see; HISTORY button link subcategories EARLY EXPERIMENTS AND RECORDINGS and BOBBY BILAN BANDS and THEE OUTPATIENTS and WORLD FINAL for more info. regarding these recordings)

Like Mick & Keith said, "Well what can a poor boy do, except sing for a rock 'n roll band"! The problem was who? Not an easy answer for a young lad made even more confusing by the fact that Stevie Winwood was 15/16 when he joined the Spence Davis Group and Mick Taylor was 18 when he joined John Mayall. This country was just not willing to accept this young a self taught virtuoso rocker. What else was there to do but continue honing the craft and diving into composition.

FIRST

gone out and rented the first quad PA syste