Punk promoter, music maniac, and record store owner John Westhaver unlocks the airwaves for up-and-coming bands
By Jessica Crowe
Rock posters and LP covers adorn the music shop’s deep purple walls.
A huge selection of CDs and records line one side of the store, while across the way an aloof clerk with many piercings sits by the cash register.
This is the kind of shop that might intimidate a musical dunce.
Bands whose CDs will never see the inside of a top-40 radio station are the norm here.
But the easygoing manner of Birdman’s owner, John Westhaver, is a quick cure for this anxiety.
Decked out in jeans, a bomber jacket, and sporting spiky bleached hair, Westhaver doesn’t look like the average 40-year-old.
His friendly nature is part of why he is so well-known in Ottawa’s rock and punk scene.
He’s been a big brother to many local acts, setting up and promoting their shows, and playing their tracks on his radio show at CKCU FM.
Westhaver makes no money from helping out new bands.
“They’re the ones doing the entertaining,” he says, “so they should get the money.”
Westhaver says the exposure these shows give the store and the satisfaction he gets from promoting music that he likes is payment enough.
Jim Bryson and his band the Occasionals are a local act Westhaver has promoted tirelessly.
“Westhaver has been supportive in every way a person can be supportive,” Bryson says. “He pushed me along when I didn’t feel like doing anything.”
He says Westhaver even offered to pay out of his own pocket to help put out the Occasionals’ new CD.
Matthew Crosier, programming director for CKCU, says Westhaver has made a lot of people aware of Bryson and his brand of country-oriented rock by telling journalists and people in the music business about the new album.
Few people take the time that Westhaver does to help new bands, says Crosier. “There’s a kindness to him that comes through to people.”
Jon Bartlett of the band Greenfield Main says Westhaver’s enthusiasm for new performers translates into word-of-mouth publicity.
“If he likes something, he’s talking about it to others.”
Westhaver promoted the CD release party for Greenfield Main’s new recording, Hunting Tips For Everyone, and also provided sound equipment.
“He takes care of everything,” says Bartlett. “All we had to worry about was playing.”
Westhaver’s help seems to have paid off for Greenfield Main. Bartlett says the new CD has even been given coverage on the CBC.
A native of Fredericton, N.B., Westhaver arrived in Ottawa 15 years ago to take broadcast journalism at Algonquin College.
Within weeks of his arrival, he started volunteering at CKCU. He eventually became its programming and music director from 1987 to 1990, and still volunteers his time at the station to do his show on Friday mornings.
Crosier says Westhaver leads by example through his hard work.
He says Westhaver prepares hard for each of his shows, which often include interviews and performances by local acts. His energy and passion are an inspiration to the other volunteers, Crosier says.
“When you see him, you see a person who is alive and excited to be alive.”
Westhaver says a lot of the local bands he features on his show don’t get airplay at other radio stations because their sound doesn’t fit the mainstream mold.
“It (playing them on the show) gives them exposure they aren’t going to get elsewhere,” he says.
This “40-year-old kid” shuns conformity and says the mainstream bores him.
“I don’t know why anyone would aspire to be like everyone else. What happened to individualism, cutting-edge, and shaking it up a bit?” he asks.
Westhaver finds nothing exciting about the manufactured pop groups that dominate mainstream radio.
He says he finds this trend scary. Most of these groups are created only to make money and don’t make music for music’s sake. Fringe shows such as his are a way to keep music with integrity alive.
“There is nothing fake about people doing their own shows at CKCU or the Algonquin radio station. That’s real people doing real radio, playing real music.”
When Birdman Sound opened in 1991, Westhaver became a resource to music fans as well.
He says he carries in his head an encyclopedia of knowledge about rock-oriented music. Customers often come to him with questions about their favourite bands.
Friends have encouraged Westhaver to write a book about his life spent in the music business. He says he just might do it.
Westhaver says the book would be an anecdotal rock ‘n’ roll diary of the last 50 years, and would include his experience as a record store owner.
Westhaver says he’s thankful he can make a living out of music, something that he loves.
“I’m pretty happy and proud of the stuff I’ve done. It’s given me a lot of personal satisfaction,” he says. “Personal wealth? No. But personal satisfaction, for sure.” ssd dsadadasdadsdd John Westhaver’s show on CKCU runs Friday mornings from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Birdman Sound’s Web site can be found at www.birdmansound.com