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DANDELION WINE: TOM JEFFERS AND DAVE CLEMENT "Decadent" Dave Clement and Tom "Sexy Bass" Jeffers are two of the sweetest and most talented guys in the filking community. Both live in Winnipeg, sadly. Sadly, of course, because Winnipeg is way too far from Toronto. How they met ------------ Dave's version of the story of how he met Tom is far more entertaining than Tom's and involves being captured by aliens and explosions, so we've decided it has to be the true version. An excerpt: "From out of the dust and smoke strode a stranger dressed in a gaudy dandelion-festooned vest and purple bell bottom pants. He leveled his weapon once more and fired off a final volley, a gigantic four-note chord of bass sound (which might just have been an E minor chord) and the aliens shrivelled away to a smear of green ooze on the floor. Our rescuer slowly sauntered over and cooly looked at us, looked at the crumbling walls, the slowly collapsing ceiling, and said, 'I hear you're looking for a Bass player. Think I'll do?'" Somewhat reticent about sharing the true and shocking facts about how he met Dave, Tom has come up with a somewhat tamed-down version of the story. According to Tom, he and Dave met after a performance by Prairie Wind, of which Dave was a member. Praire Wind was looking for a bass player at the time, and Tom was invited out to jam with the band. The jam went well, though Tom claims he didn't really play bass so was just fumbling his way through the music. He also misheard 'filk music' as 'filth music. "I was a little shocked but intrigued," admits Tom. "At the end of the night, Dave came up to me and said that I would be performing with them on stage in three weeks and I needed to learn about 30 filk songs (!). I told him I only came out to jam and I really couldn't play bass, but he said they had all talked it over while I was in the bathroom and they wanted me to join the band because they liked me and that I could always learn how to play bass. So that's how it started so long ago and how I first met Dave." How 'Dandelion Wine' was nearly 'Alien Kelp Farmers' ---------------------------------------------------- When the band decided to change its name, Tom suggested 'Alien Kelp Farmers.' Much to his surprise, none of the other band members were crazy about the idea. They finally settled on 'Dandelion Wine.' "It rang many bells for us," says Dave. "Dandelions for filk, Dandelion Wine for Ray Bradbury, and a dandelion wine explosion at my house when I was young (but that's another story)." Tom comforted himself by naming the studio "AKF". Asked to share an anecdote about the other person... ------------------------------------------------------ Dave, about Tom: "While playing for a fund raising event for the Winnipeg Art Gallery we began to get very warm. We were on a raised cement platform outside in the direct sunlight playing for about 150 people who were lined up along the sidewalk. We broke into one of our more rockin' songs and the crowd started to go wild. I thought, 'the sun has finally got to these folks'. After much shouting and wild clapping, I turned to ask Tom what was going on. I couldn't find him. Instead, a reincarnated Jimmy Hendrix was on his knees, holding his bass over his head and picking out very cool licks with his teeth." Tom, about Dave: "Dave decided to go bowling with us one day. I was quite skeptical about this until he stepped up, threw a strike, and sat back down without smiling. This was after I had just thrown a gutter ball. I have never doubted his ability again and he has done everything from riding a bicycle while playing his guitar to shooting pool at an RCMP barracks." When is their new CD coming out? What about upcoming gigs? --------------------------------------------------------- Tom: "The new CD has again been put on hold as Dave will be travelling for the first half of 2004. I have about 10 scratch tracks recorded right now and hopefully we will get back at it in the fall. In the mean time I may start work on a solo CD I have always wanted to do. This way I get to record all those cute Debbie and UT songs I wrote ;-) I also have a rock CD project I want to do with an old rocker buddy of mine Steve. You may get to hear the wild side of me yet." Dave: "Well, I'd have to say that the new CD will be out when it is done. That's about as accurate as I can be at this time. :) As for upcoming gigs, both Tom and I are getting very excited about playing at Consonance. I have not been back to the west coast area since 1994 and Tom has never been there, so we hope to meet a lot of old and new friends and play our fingers to the bone." What do they do outside of Dandelion Wine? ------------------------------------------ Tom works for a large hydro electric power company, designing office space and preparing architectural drawings. When not at work, he plays music with Dave or their Celtic group, Curraugh. He likes shooting snooker every Friday night. He also has a radio show called "Prairie Ceilidh", which has featured live performances from Urban Tapestry and Talis Kimberley in the past. (And he looks pretty darned cute behind that microphone, we have to say.) Dave used to manage the computer support department at the Canadian Wheat Board until he retired in 1998. "I started working for the Board as an Assembly language programmer in 1967, and shifted into management in the late 80s. If you ever want a history lesson about the evolution of computers and languages a la IBM just ask...I lived through it all." Dave says that he is also studying hard to get his advanced degree in 'decadence'. "I'm starting to think that this course is going to take me a very long time to complete. :)" Their music ----------- Cheap Hooch - Dandelion Wine Circles in the Grain - Dandelion Wine Live Weeds (coming soon!) - Dandelion Wine Music After Midnight - Dave Clement Rambling the Galaxy - Dave Clement Untitled solo CD (coming soon, we hope) - Tom Jeffers Awards ------ 2003 Pegasus winner: Dandelion Wine for Best Performer 1999 Pegasus winner: Dave Clement for Best Performer 1999 Filk Hall of Fame: "Decadent" Dave Clement For more information about Tom and Dave, see: http://www.dandelionwine.net/ |