Gary Durban. CD: The Streets Where You Live

Nanaimo Daily Newspaper 08 February 2003 Page C1
Transcripted from above. Columnist name uncredited.

Daily News Title Caption:
Using music to help others
Ex-Nanaimo musician finds artists walk the walk when it comes to showing compassion

A former Nanaimo resident has gone from gigging at parties with his buddies to producing music. And he recently helped put together CD aimed at raising funds and awareness for the plight of Vancouver's drug-addicted women. The CD is called The Streets Where You Live and it's the brainchild of Gary Durban, who grew up in Yellow point area at the family establishment, Yellow Point Lodge. He, and fellow songwriters Wyckham Porteous and John Ellis, consider the song a tribute to the women who suffer the indignities of life on the streets of Vancouver and a reminder to the rest of us that ignoring their sufferings means ignoring our own humanity.

"It started one night when Wychham and I were talking about the horrible incident of the pig farm and all the women who had been killed and we decided there must be something we could do," Durban says. "We figured it made sense to use music and we're producers, we're connected so why not use that to make something happen." What happened was the CD which features two versions of the song The Streets Where You Live, a mix and the authors' version. Singing on the CD are such artists as David Usher, Jim Cuddy, Sarah Harmer, Colin James, Ron Sexsmith, Gordon Downie and Sarah Slean.

The song is a tribute to the more than 60 women who have gone missing from Vancouver's downtown eastside and, as well as the single CD, the song was included on Warner Music's Women and Song 6. All profits from the single and a portion of sales from the Warner recording go to the Buried Heart Society which Durban and Porteous founded to support agencies like Via Nova in Vancouver which is setting up a transition and recovery house for women. From the beginning, the project received support from all sides, Durban says. "We got great response all through the industry. Almost everyone we asked was completely ready to help. Artists are always more adventurous and I think that they have that sympathetic and sensitive side to their natures which makes them want to help," says Durban. "We got really good musicians who wanted to help and it was pretty cool to be bossing around some of my idols as producer."

And "bossing around" some of the country's best musicians is no small feat for a guy who started out as a wannabe musician in Nanaimo. "My first gigs were playing parties with my buddies with our tennis rackets as guitars, pretending we were Led Zeppelin," he says. "I was Jimmy Page." After graduating Nanaimo District Senior Secondary School in 1976, Durban moved into Nanaimo from Yellow Point and began to "Hang out with hooligan pals like Roscoe, Grid and Dak (real names withheld to protect the not-so-innocent). I started playing around Nanaimo and the upper and lower Island soon after that and we played various rooms around Nanaimo like Casa Blancas. We were shut down by the cops once doing a show at the Departure Bay bungalows as Spur of The Moment," he recalls.

In the following years he toured the western provinces with bands like 20/20, Manana, Telesis and Censored playing top 40 and originals then moved to Vancouver at the age of 26 where he has played in several bands but now primarily works as a solo artist including guitar, drums, harmonica and vocals. He then got into producing musical theatre, music, film and records. "I met up with John Wozniak of the American pop/rock band Marcy Playground (they had a multi million selling song called Sex and Candy) and formed a production company," he says. "I have also written and played with members of The Odds, Barney Bentall, Colin James, Bryan Adams and more." And while the two CDs are a good start at raising money and awareness for the Buried Heart Society, Durban isn't finished yet.

"I like the idea of building something big with this. I'd like to get more records, visual artists, filmmakers and other kinds of artists involved with this. Right now we're looking at U.S. connections and I'd like to see this go worldwide," he says. "This is a worldwide problem." Copies of both recordings are availabel at local music stores. For more information on the society or the music, log onto:

Photo and caption: (Photo submitted)
Gary Durban,above right, with Gene Simmons of Kiss, centre, and Wyckham Porteous. Durban and Porteous got the chance recently to tell Simmons about the Buried Heart Society and CD, below right, they'd put together to raise money for transition houses for women.