Stevedore Steve - Boot Records - CITY-TV (2024)

Stevedore Steve - Boot Records - CITY-TV (1)
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Stevedore Steve: phase one

They came up with monikerStevedore Steve because they wanted an angle, a hook to market him withnow that he was a Dominion Records recording artist. They also wanted somethingwith a definite east-coast flavour to it, thus the songs were all centredaround the Maritime seas. Steve was delirious about having his own albumout and went along with it all. He was proud to call himself "StevedoreSteve". This marketing ploy proved to be hugely successful as it lead tobetter paying jobs before all sorts of audiences.

It was at this time thatSteve took up residence in Toronto. He had fathered a son (wasn't livingwith the boy's mother in Saint John) and was soon to meet his destinedpartner in life: Gini Brooksbank, from Hamilton, Ontario.

Gigging, in those days, wasthe only sure way to sell records. There was very little infrastructurein the Canadian music business; distribution networks were controlled byone or two companies. There was no CRTC Canadian Content rules, and itwas nearly next to impossible to get Canadian country music played by Canadianradio stations. Playing gigs, selling from the stage, that was basicallyhow it was done.

It was a hard grind but forthe first time in his life, Steve Foote was on the road to something big,and he could feel it. What made it bearable for him was the companionshipof his new mate, Gini. They married and honeymooned in Britt, Ontario,the place where he wrote the song called Log Drive On The Pickerell.Steve and Gini seemed inseparable, they went everywhere together, to everygig, working from their panel van for weeks on end.

"Gini and I have been marriednow going on about eight and a half years and we've been on the road togetherall that time. But Gini is not on the show or anything like that. She'sthe world's greatest moral support, and she's in my audience all the time.She's heard all my cornball jokes over and over, she's heard all my songsand she listens to them, I think, just as intently now as when I just wrotethem." 1

While much has been saidover the years about "The Circuit" - the infamous Ontario bar circuit,which was even more infamous in the towns of Northern Ontario and Quebec- The Stevedore seemed to thrive in those places. His was a solo act. Hewould be booked into hotels following weeks of bar bands and would somehowmanage to grab the place by the tail. But it was always a tough job; younever knew what the state of the audience was going to be like on any givennight, and you could be quite sure that on some nights no-one was payingthe slightest attention to the songs; they just wanted entertainment totalk over. To drink their beer and argue to.

"I don't reallylike playing clubs, beer joints, shooting galleries, and all that stuff.I like meeting people, but when they're sober, you know. I love one-nighters:the people come out to hear their favourite song by whom-ever the artistis, or maybe they come out to see the artist for the first time or whatever.But they come out to listen. In clubs it's different. In clubs, fifty percent of the audience is there to either hustle themselves up a chick ora guy. Somebody else is there on business. And some of them are there justbecause it's booze time - let's get filled up. Once in a while somebody'llcome in that knows you, and wants to hear you, but that's pretty seldom.Rest of the time, you're just there."2
The long, hard hours at a gruellingpace eventually paid off. Steve and Gini found it difficult to keep enoughrecords in stock. Since the company found it difficult to distribute themto places like Hawke Junction, Foleyet, Des Jochimes (known as The Swisha),where there were no record selling stores, selling from the stage was theonly guarantee that fans would be able to buy them. It depended on thesincerity of one's on-stage presence. The fact that Steve respected hisaudiences and treated them thus; that his product - his songs - were wellcrafted, countrified folk songs, made him popular with his increasing fanbase.

"No 'phoney sophistication'for singer Stevedore Steve", read the headline in the LondonStevedore Steve - Boot Records - CITY-TV (2)FreePress.3 "Mysongs are honest, they're not phoney sophistication," he is quoted as saying.

(Steve speaks with homelessman from the back cover of I've Lived)


While Tom Connors andJury Krytiuk were formulating their future partnership, acquiring muchof the Dominion Records catalogue of acts, it was obvious that they hadtheir eyes on Stevedore Steve to be one of Boot Records' premiere acts.Krytiuk, in an email sent to me, clarified how this happened:

Stevedore Steve - Boot Records - CITY-TV (3)

"When Stompin' Tom and I formedBoot Records we didn't purchase the catalogue of Canadian Music Sales.However, several items that had been released by Dominion Records on alease basis, were eventually released on Boot once the lease to Dominionexpired. The Dominion label continued for several years after Boot wasstarted." 4

(The official logo of Boot Records, drawnby Steve Foote)

Stompin' Tom already hadseveral of his own recordings released on Boot and was gaining popularityby leaps and bounds. He was a star born of red dust and tubers with a setof tires. He was featured on television, would have his own national CBCtelevision program, would release a film called "Across This Land WithStompin' Tom Connors". He and Jury would formulate a clever strategyto allow him maximum exposure for major endeavors, like getting marriedon the Elwood Glover's CBC TV show 'Luncheon Date', or by riding on a spudtruck through the streets of Charlottetown and being presented with a goldenspud by the Premier of that province. They capitalized as well on otherphoto-ops and news scoops, boosting the image of Stompin' Tom on a nationalscale unprecedented in the Canadian music business. Stompin' Tom Connorsbecame one of the most recognizable Canadian figures of the day, a popicon that reverberated with fresh nationalistic qualities, putting realpeople in real places on the charts and maps.5

While all this was happening,Stevedore Steve was quietly getting into gear, scoring points which wouldeventually lead to his own weekly TV program on Moses Znaimer's then fledgelingCITY-TV station in Toronto.

With the release of his secondalbum for Boot Records, I've Lived, Steve was about to hit the big timein Canadian country music. It seemed as though Boot Records had anotherpopular star on their hands.

Notes:
1. Singin' About Us, StevedoreSteve Foote, 1976
2. Singin' About Us
3. Article in London FreePress, September 12, 1973 by Silvio Dorre
4. Email from Juri Krytiukentitled A SLIGHT ERROR, January 1, 1998
5. Voted the 13th most famousCanadian for the CBC television poll in the early 2000s. He was the highestrated performer, out-doing Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Gordon Lightfoot,and anyone else. Canada Post Corporation issued a Stompin' Tom postagestamp in June, 2009.

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To go read about the Lester the Lobsterphase of the career of Stevedore Steve, click HERE
© 2003 by Steve Fruitmanfor The Great North Wind ®

Stevedore Steve - Boot Records - CITY-TV (2024)
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