Bobby and Robbie Kissick reunited their efforts since Larry Kissick was off and content with another group. The practicing and Bobby's writing went into second gear. Unbenounced to them, the buzz was out on the street. In comes George Marian. Seems word got around quickly that Bobby was able to play pretty well anything and then some by all accounts, so George phoned Bobby to play guitar for the failing Popcorn Blizzard Band. Bobby said no way and returned the offer to George. Once George learned of the underground FM material, he said he'ld love to join Bobby's band. They just needed a bassist so George offered his old bassist John Ellis who wasn't trained but proved to have a good ear and became a formidable player under Bobby's tutelage. The entries here at first are somewhat confusing since the first three weeks of rehearsal show Brian Beatty as drummer who was let go after he demanded to go to the beach instead of following his commitment to Bobby's practice schedule of 8 hours a day, minimum 4 days a week which usually ended up six. However the next entry shows that Robbie needed to be convinced that the ex-Popcorn Blizzard alumni of bubble gum music were up to the task of elevating their prowess. As it turns out, they were to become one of Winnipeg's all time greatest rock bands. Just one snag, the name. In the spirit of Jethro Tull it was voted at Nancy and Ted Wiebe's place that Bobby and Robbie's old school mate PETER DOBO (r)(c) would have the honour of having a band bare his name. George's girl Gail Groom began to knit the boys some mitts to keep them all warm through the approaching winter. Recordings of rehearsals and original material along with posters, press, documents, journals, contracts and video/audio abound from this point on.

So Ervin 'Cash' Bartha ventured back to Winnipeg and sought out Bobby. Coincidently enough Peter Dobo was rehearsing in George Marian's basement at the time which was only a couple of streets away from Ervin's family burial vault factory warehouse. George's neighbours were at wit's end with the 8 hour a day schedule so after being shut down the very day after Ervin first showed up, the band was scooped under Ervin's guiding management wing and whisked away to Western Wilbert, Ervin's family owned burial vault factory. A heaven in disguise, it proved to spook out many people and musicians alike. The boys were about to unwittingly become the first precursors of the Goth movement on this side of the pond. This is when the band became a musical force and not just "those weird guys that practice in the burial place!". Further entries of the time show that often many of the city's more noted players were found to be parked along Fife Street, listening in on the progress.

After a hand full of school dances and a couple of Lord Selkirk High School out of town dates pictured above, the band began to move forward rapidly. Early recordings from these first shows are loaded with impressive then unheard of guitar techniques including false harmonic pick squeals, backward bottleneck slide playing and overhanded finger tapping in early 1970, nearly a decade ahead of the time. George would often comment puzzlingly "How do you know that, You're not supposed to know that, How do you know that?" as Bobby would leisurely play along with what ever new was put on the record player or radio. As for the groundbreaking guitar sounds and techniques, George loathed them calling them 'Glinkies', in turn Bobby would prophetically forecast (with great accuracy) that some day guitar players everywhere would make much money and become famous from these new techniques. George went on to autonomously do the bands first print interview which came off sounding even more bubblegummy than his previous band so Bobby wisely instituted a press blackout, mystifying local media causing a great shroud of intrigue which worked perfectly in the new band's favour. In spite of these differences, the Peter Dobo band was ready for it's first band battle held at the north end of the West Kildonan mini shopping mall near Jefferson and Main in Winnipeg. The judges included highly regarded local media personality Boyd Kozak and several press and industry people. The method of voting - applause. The competition - 15 bands, one being from Toronto. Unbenounced to the Peter Dobo band, the newly found Lord Selkirk High contingent brought half of Selkirk Manitoba with them and the entire proliteriate of Winnipeg's real northend naturally showed up, so with 8 hour a day rehearsals, Peter Dobo put on an stellar show with two encores, and won the battle. But wait! The journal notes that the cash prize was never paid. The main organizing sponsor was Bachman Opticians, Randy Bachman's dad. As Peter Dobo triumphantly walked off stage after the annoucement of their win, [someone] lunged at Bobby over the barricade of tables attempting to strangle our not yet 17 year young lad. Not exactly how you would expect an alleged professional musical peer to be taking care of business in a gentlemanly manner, followed by a huge gasp from the crowd and many boos and pick on your own size calls. Robert E. Lee Mulvaney was further noted, "After me and [Trevor] Shineton cleared Bobby safely down the barrier, we all ended up at the end of the tables next to George's old buddy Robin Bachman, who said 'You guys shouldna done that!' George goes 'Wadda ya mean?' and Robin goes 'Win!!!' They all turned and looked at Bilan who turned to Mr.[Not exactly how you would expect an alleged professional musical peer to be taking care of business in a gentlemanly manner], then Bobby kissed his own right hand and threw it up at the sky. It's like Bobby knew exactly what the future was gonna be like for all of us! Bobby smiled, nodded his head to the crowd and walked to the truck real peacefully, the crowd went wild. That day, Bobby became the peer! After we got to the warehouse he took his last sawbuck and gave me and Trev a fin each and said 'Thanks for helping'! and Cash bought the beer and chinese food french fries [laughs]." Apparently a band road crew ritual. This journal notes the class of players listening in on Fife Street rehearsals seemed to elevate thereafter so Bobby and Ervin [Cash] decided on staggering the rehearsal times to protect the musical ideas from further pilfering, in the end, to no avail. But they moved ahead consciously and with fidelity to their purpose.

Interestingly enough, after The Guess Who moved on from their local TV show, the producers at the CBC had invited the very popular Peter Dobo band to the studios as a replacement band. The audition and a couple of subsequent tapings went fine according to the entries, the band tickled, the producers and crew ecstatic, but the band was told the higher ups suddenly decided the rock thing had run it's course and the idea was abandoned. Seems the lads wasted no time in grabbing all the work they could find, and along with it, a lot of fans and admirers. Their presence at such engagements as the downtown original "Get Together" shows made quite a positive and memorable impact on the fans and quite the opposite with the old flatulating organizers who complained that the band could be heard from one end of the street festival to the other, about 10 blocks. The myth built quickly from then on. They went on to play at University of Manitoba's Tache Hall with groups like the not yet signed ZZ Top and the pre-makeup Kiss who both went largely un-noticed until their major signings.

Melvin James Harlton is noted, "One after noon at the Plaza [aka; The Zoo or The Osborne Village Inn] Kurt Winter came and sat beside me and said about Bobby, 'He's pretty f**king good eh!', I looked at Kurt and said 'He's f**king better than you'll ever will be!' We both sat there for a while and listened to Bobby play Going Down the Jeff Beck way, but he didn't stop, he played the whole side of the LP. When they finished the place went wild. Kurt nudged me with his elbow and said 'You're f**king right, he is better than I ever will be!' and walked away shaking his head. After that Kurt got a red double cutaway Les Paul (like Bobby's) for his main guitar except he sanded off the red, added Grovers and a vibrola arm from one of his SGs and two humbuckings some hacker put in. Bobby figured a way to add a Claptone-Beckup (a PAF humbucking pickup nickname concocted by Shineton and Harlton) in the lead position without chopping his guitar and kept it the original TV yellow finish. Kurt came around a lot after that, and always encouraged Bobby." Later in Bobby's recording career phase, Kurt would be present as a spectator at all the sessions he could attend. They became friends, and even later when Bobby agreed to replace Kurt on the Guess Who live tours, Kurt's favourite SG LP Standard and Kustom Bag were sold to Bobby, Kurt even threw in the wah pedal he used on many hits. In his latter years, Kurt found peace in sitting outside periodically picking his guitar with his sweetheart Vickie by his side at the old Chevrier homestead. Kurt had two favourite pasttimes, one was his computer and two was golfing. Also a golf nut, ex-Peter Dobo Band roadie and shortlived vocalist Trevor Shineton, became friends with Kurt who would voraciously quiz Trev on the greens about Bobby's goings on, always maintaining an avid interest in Bobby's career. Suffice to say, after all those golf outtings with Kurt, Trevor has some very interesting personal stories in his golf bag.

Somewhere around 1971, Bobby began his studio session work some of which is partially difficult to detail since a separate private journal for this early work was believed lost in the fire which consumed Bobby's shop before Christmas of 1999. It is known through other entries that he was hired for some very special high profile projects with legal stipulations involved, he would occassionally disappear for stretches and return quite refreshed generally sporting some very nice vintage guitar and new duds. Donnie McDougall's wife Bonnie repeatedly commented "He always looked great on stage, he always had such great shoes!" So, much like Bernard 'Pretty' Purdie being hired by George Martin to play drums on early Beatles recordings, some of these early recordings sessions involved re-doing tracks for individuals who were sadly either alcoholic, strung out on coke or smack. Sometimes called in to play guitar or bass by the producer unbenounced to the members, sometimes by the member(s) unbenounced to the other players and producer, or convolutions thereof. As unfortunate and sad as it is, at least one famous Winnipeg band that made it 'big' has past and current members who still suffer from these self-medicating life stucking habits today. Bobby would be called upon many times during his career as a "ghost" player to help clean up several messes shall we say, that were created by such highly unprofessional behavior. More on this later.

From humble beginnings of their first booking at Andrew Mynarski School [where the entire audience ended up on stage with the band], the Peter Dobo band went on to win three consecutive Battle of the Bands. Ervin 'Cash' Bartha is credited for giving the band what Georgio Gomelski gave to the Yardbirds and the entire British Boom. A sense of direction necessary to achieve musical enlightenment. For Peter Dobo as a band, the side benefit was that they attracted unprecedented standing room only audiences with lineups every night of the week once they hit the club circuit and the road.

T

The giant smiling lecherous old toad ready to pounce on this reclining young art nude Simian-headed Woman (nicknamed by fans as the Monkey Woman poster), in true Monty Python style did nothing to elevate the humour or level of artistic appreciation from the elders and 'old frogs' of the day as she mockingly winked her way to infamy. The boys always did like a good laugh, "nudge nudge wink wink say no more!" The next more generally favoured poster was an elaborate mix of a cosmic scene blended with a fantasy world featuring psychedelic images of trees with ears, flowers laced with subliminal faces and such, a very labour intensive less frivolous artistic endeavour. The problem became that moreso than previous issues, these new expensive posters were getting torn down or nicked as quickly as they went up. This master piece below was to be Garry Lubkey's last contribution to the band. From left to right the caricatures are Bobby, George, Robbie and John. Garry was then commissioned to paint Ervin's entire country house at Stonewall, inside and out, including windows, carpets and all. When Ervin sold this art/house, the new owners disassembled it into sections and put them into private collections before the skeleton of the house was demolished. It seemed rural Manitoba was not ready to have a house who's complete exterior was a replication of the prismatic strip overlayed on a black background as was the case on the Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon album cover along with the roof adorned in ancient UFO landing patterns found in the Andes mountains and elsewhere. Garry Lubkey's house at 519 Manitoba had a similar fate before being demolished to make way for the then new William Whyte School. The boys, and gals, used a ten inch concrete basement dividing wall to express their artistic creativity which took several years to complete by Bobby, Garry, and a host of friends who worked only when most inspired. Apparently the demolition contractor was so taken with the results, he pulled the art wall out, then flattened the house.

As the music demands increased, George's voice fell victim to his joy of the party animal in him, sadly he left for a position in a band that was less demanding than his initial commitment, achieving a short lived measure of success. George was and still is well liked by all. Thereafter an entry states that Bobby disallowed any consumptions prior to and during rehearsals and performances, prefering to put his own money into a Marshall stack or band business and not a case of beer. In stepped roadie Trevor Shineton for a courageous attempt at filling the vocal slot. George was a good performer particularly well liked by the girls, Trevor's work was cut out. Soon into his tenure however, Trevor took his misdirected angst and turned on Cash (Ervin) one night causing hard working Ervin to leave the band without a manager or a rehearsal hall. Booked commitments were fulfilled but the rhythm section soon mutinied on Bobby who was forced to replace Trevor after a mere few months. In stepped vocalist Greg Harrison for only a few weeks and entries show his voice was great but his range rather limiting. There's a short point in time here when the suddenly disenchanted and preoccupied Robbie Kissick took George's example to a regretable heartbreaking extreme and for the second time collapsed in the middle of a show, but this time never to return to the stage, barely to return to life at all. In speaking to anyone today, they all bow their heads and become solumn in the memory of the once great northend drummer Robbie Kissick thankfully captured on a handful of tapes. Greg suggested Gordie Tye, a much harder working drummer who remained clear headed and faithfully committed to the band. To avoid another predictable mutiny, out went Greg and in stepped Bradley Beauchemin. With Brad's limitless range and Gordie's powerful but melodic drumming, the material took another sharp turn for the better and there was nothing the band could not do.

At the inception of the band, Bobby called all the agents who basically hung up on him, an entry shows the largest agent of the prairie region Frank Wiener owner of Hungry Eye agency laughed at the set list calling it too heavy for Winnipeg and said before hanging up, "Call me back when you're a star!" Bobby continued booking the band direct to the clubs and dances which led to an invitation to warm up for Nazareth on their first Canadian tour in the wake of the single 'This Flight Tonight'. Often a Peter Dobo set would now involve the performance of both A & B sides of entire FM albums to explosive audience standing ovations and nightly lineups. Entries show that at least three clubs made enough in one week to relax for two or three weeks, and often they would simply rebook Peter Dobo. In one instance the Village Inn booked the band for seven out of eight weeks and took an entire month off to repair damaged doors, glass and washrooms and still had record profits. The popularity of Peter Dobo required a second show be added to accommodate the ticket frenzy once it was learned they were performing on the Nazareth date at the historic (Pantages) Playhouse Theater. With Ervin's reluctant help, he and Bobby went out to rented the first quad sound system to hit town. The bizarre sequence of events to follow need be saved for a John Cleese style novel. Peter Dobo did perform two shows, cut short with no encores allowed, but the crowds were there to see their home town favourites hands down. The very next day, Frank Wiener of Hungry Eye agency called Bobby to sign the band to a 6 month club contract to start immediately. Local entertainment columnist and music critic Andy Mellen had rented a video cam and managed to tape about 90 seconds of the band's infamous first show. Entries show that Manny the Nazareth vocalist had their roadies pull the plug on Peter Dobo's second show and further had them threaten to throw the equipment off the stage if the band continued. The quad PA was mysteriously rendered useless during Peter Dobo's shows but magically operated flawlessly for Nazareth all night even though it wasn't theirs. Not very gentlemanly behaviour for Nazareth or crew! As you can guess, the rest of this story quickly becomes more than simply bizarre. An attache case belonging to Nazareth's manager found it's way into Peter Dobo bassist John Ellis' truck - filled with money passports visas contracts plane tickets - all for the remainder of the Canadian tour. The case was returned to the clutching manager's hands the next morning at the Charterhouse Hotel restaurant through a waitress who was a Peter Dobo Band friend, just long enough to make them sweat in regret. Of course the behemoth video camera equipment slipped off Andy's shoulder and found the floor a good place to explode. The video tape survived which also shows our boys with a guest sax player by the name of Wally Zinyk enjoying a rousing hard rock run-through of a Jesus Christ Super Star medley. Bobby would often enlist newcomers to the Saturday afternoon matinees, helping kickstart some great careers. One favourite being saxophonist Dave Parasz, who with Bobby's soaring guitar would create some of the most memorable spontaneous avante garde trade-offs of their time. Bizarre episodes of lunacy and madness became common at any and all Peter Dobo performances. In a rare interview Bobby (a man of few words) claimed "The most entertaining place to be at our shows is on stage looking out!"

Far before the Hungry Eye exclusive contract appeared Bobby not only booked the band direct, but to fill in blank calendar dates, he was also likely the first in these parts to cross-book the band using no less than five agencies from Peter Stone to Mel Shane, Len Andre and the imfamous Freddie Glazerman. Freddie took an instant shine to Bobby's talent very early on as did most everyone and considered managing Bobby but did not necessarily agree with the choice of band members, so Freddie shut down his music booking agency and took up managing boxer Donnie "Golden Boy" LaLonde instead. However Freddie would always retain a close interest in Bobby's career until 'Fast Freddie's' sad passing. Another very odd set of old contracts turned up from Hungry Eye but were signed by Gerry Kolt, Frank Wiener's right hand man. Apparently early 1971 Bobby's neighbour and older friend noted bassist Rick Shukster set up a casual meeting so Bobby walked right into Gerry's office one day, sat down and began talking business with Gerry, gave him an original tape, cordially walked out. Gerry apparently very impressed with the young lad and his growing reputation went wild over the recording and began to sneak out contracts to Bobby. Gerry further made copies of Bobby's original songs and sent them all over the planet, eventually loosing the original to some unscrupulous office thief. In restitution, Gerry booked studio time for Bobby, by now a somewhat mythical performer/recluse, at a then fairly new Roade Recording Studio which unwittingly marked the beginning of Bobby's prolific and now rather legendary session career. We'll cover this more in the 'EARLY EXPERIMENTS AND RECORDINGS' section. In the end, Gerry who never left his office except to get in his Vette and leave, attended many of Bobby's early shows to the amazement of Gerry's stable of acts. He too seriously entertained dropping the booking agent drill and singularly handling Bobby but not only did he want Bobby to fire the band, he also insisted Bobby change his name to 'Bo', pronounced 'beau'. Well by the time it came around to the so-called exclusive contract ending and the name change thing beginning, Gerry died, and sadly with him another manager.

Back to the early '70s. Soon Lenny Breau sought out Bobby. As was the case with many players by that time, Lenny was spotted in the corners of many clubs watching Bobby closely. Finally he had his 'Man' go to the stage at the Marion Hotel who invited Bobby to sit with Lenny. The entry says all eyes were on the two during the break and why not, plus it was Bobby's birthday so he could finally be there legally. The entries are very interesting here. Quote Lenny - "Hey man, that's some serious playing! You wanna hang out?" The answer was obviously "Yes!" Bobby lived in an apartment near the corner of Ruby and Wolseley, Lenny was in spitting distance one street away and a few houses off Wolseley north on Lenore. They would often get together, Lenny showing jazz moves and new scales to Bobby, and Bobby showing Lenny how to use feedback/sustain, distortion, note bending, bottleneck and fingertapping. Lenny's 'Man' an afro-american named James Burney {sir name spelling unclear} was not only around as a 'charge de faire' but Bobby has him entered as a "stunning" and "frighteningly imaginative" guitarist who Lenny clearly had around for daily jazz inspiration to say the least. The entries are quite specific and more indepth but that can be saved for the novel.

It is around then that Bobby also met Jeff Beck for the first time at the sound check, later to give Jeff some original tapes in the hotel lobby, followed by an invitation to have a drink and chat at the downtown Holiday Inn hotel lounge after the concert. Good ole Ted Wiebe and friends worked for Winnipeg Enterprises, the entity responsible for the Winnipeg Arena and the Winnipeg Stadium so if a back door needed opening or a full access pass, it happened. That's how Bobby came to be at Jeff Beck's first soundcheck, and earlier managed to get Jimmy Page a tape at the now famous Man-Pop festival where good ole George Marian caused a riot by kicking in the glass front doors of the Arena when the rain washed away his stamp and the fire marshall sealed the over capacity building. We'll save all the details and other bizarre events for now. The second time, indeed there was a far more bizarre second Jeff Beck meeting, this time Bobby and Ervin with their then wifes in tow, sat in Jeff's hotel room after that concert to tip a few healthy Canadian beer while enjoying Jeff's Monty Python tapes, smoke a few of Jeff's thin cigars and listen to Bobby's new live tapes while sharing a few laughs with the unclothed 'professional lady' under the covers of the other twin bed who immediately recognized Brad Beauchemin's powerful and distinct voice. The very personable Mahavishnu Orchestra violinist Steve Kindler shared in the visit. A good time was had by all no doubt. The details of what happened at these two meetings could be an entire other novel itself. Bobby's future would be filled with many such bizzare unique encounters as his illustrious career developed.

When Ervin first married he had requested that Peter Dobo play at his wedding 'social' (a Winnipeg custom of having a night time blowout party after the wedding ceremony) to be held at St. Nicholas Church Hall. During the evening a still unidentified irrate individual winged an empty beer across the hall screaming that the hall had already ran out of booze. Not something you want to hear any time before midnight at a northend Winnipeg social. The bottle smashed near George Marian (a wedding guest of course) who proceeded to grab the nearest fire extinguisher and hose the guy down from several tables over. As they say, all hell broke loose and the hall erupted in a free for all. Those who fled, had to do so through the stage wings, the rest tore the hall and each other apart. Chairs flew, tables next and then bodies. To add to the surreal moment, someone pulled the breaker on the lights. Entries show four riot wagons and ten police cruisers waited an hour for the mob to stop before they even bothered to enter the building, only to find bodies scattered amongst the rubble. Thankfully there were no known fatalities. The hall was never rented out again and soon after demolished altogether. Gordie Tye had been convalescing from hip surgery, one of Bobby's old St.John's High buddies Steve Zaparnick filled in on drums that night but refused to ever play with the band again stating "If this is what it's like every night - forget it!" Fortuitously Gordie's hip mended quickly and returned to reclaim his spot. Bassist John Ellis disruptively quit in the midst of recording and was replaced by Bob Hughes. The band carried on for another six months before Bobby shut it down after a memorable five year stretch. Several bands created from the remnants and former members.

A private entry shows that Bobby, a very hard working lad by all accounts [he first began working in music stores at age 12, his first salaried position at 15], was forced to take his doctor's recommendation to quit being manager agent publicist arranger writer teacher session player band leader guitarist of the Peter Dobo Band or else. Along with studying the art of luthery with local genius Joe Morrissey, Bobby was a voracious writer, at every opportunity writing and sending tapes to any and all agents, managers, record companies, recording artists, producers throughout the world. When explained that he was giving his compositions away as people who benefited gave him nothing, Bobby simply replied "I'll write more!" Friends wisely steered Bobby to copyright, register and retain publishing for all future compositions before scattering them around the planet, but the toll was due. Apparently Bobby had simply fallen over one day and blacked out for six hours before regaining consciousness to a diagnosis of extreme exhaustion, malnutrition, mononucleosis and mild pneumonia. Childhood anemia was not a benefit. With no management, he had given over all his energy, resources and every spare minute to the success of the band, the spirit clearly willing but the body in a complete state of collapse. Although being slight but athletic, similar attacks of severe exhaustion would now begin to dictate his future if gone unchecked. Health and regained strength were now the priority. Bobby had already begun his studio session career near the beginning of the Peter Dobo Band's reign and became equally productive as a highly sought after session player, composer, arranger and producer without the compounded strain of his former band commitments. No wonder it was very early on that this young multi talented ingenius musician/composer was noticed by The Guess Who producer Jack Richardson and a host of others. Yet still, Bobby was quick to return to the stage with another vigorous foray of music as he charged through the second half of the decade.

Jumping far ahead - In the mid '90s the Museum of Man and Nature asked Bobby to resurrect the Peter Dobo Band to aid in an all star benefit to raise funds for a proposed new wing to the museum which stands erect today. Privately made video and audio recordings show Peter Dobo and the Bobby Bilan Band both stealing the show at this very successful function. Bobby further donated a plethora of memorabilia to their Rock and Roll display which also raised funds for the cause. had gone out and rented the first quad PA syste

(also see; HISTORY button link subsection PRESS RADIO TELEVISION for many more related items of interest pertaining to this page)