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The Vancouver rock band headlines a benefit concert in downtown London today for the 2001 Canada Summer Games. The show keeps intact 54*40's record of being around for good times and good causes tied to major sports events.
"We played the Olympics in Calgary, the Winter Olympics," says singer Neil Osborne, looking back to 1988, just three years after the band's current lineup of players got together.
"I think we did two shows, one for public people, and one for the visiting athletes or something like that. . . we were there," Osborne laughs, hitting an emphatic-sounding "there."
The Calgary appearances were indoors, but 54*40 is outdoors at Covent Garden Market square today, topping a bill in the first such concert to benefit next year's Canada Games.
Osborne doesn't claim to be up on his 2001 Games lore, but he knows London and its Alliance partners were awarded the prize and 54*40's role is to help raise cash and profile.
The whole bill has an in-the-game touch to it. Goderich-area's the Ashgrove has already expressed an interest in appearing as part of the cultural component of next year's Games.
The Weekend is a young London band with a new CD with smarts and 'tude. Newmarket's clarknova is a Balloon Festival veteran. Wild Strawberries -- Toronto duo of keyboardist Ken Harrison and vocalist Roberta Carter Harrison -- have a new CD, Twist, an indie release distributed by Universal, and hit singles to show off.
But 54*50 has its own reasons for being game-ready right now. Today's appearance comes at a hot time for the long-running outfit.
"It's like I said in Kincardine (where 54*40 just did a club show)," Osborne says.
"Did I ever tell you how much I love my job?" he asked the crowd. "Everybody said 'Noooo,' and I went, 'I love my job.' "
The band should also love the buzz about its just-out CD, Casual Viewin' (Sony Canada/Columbia), and a terrific response to a recent 20-day trip around the world, including stops in Thailand, Kenya and Morocco.
Osborne dubs Casual Viewin' a "feel-good groove record," but it's more than that. For every catchy tune, there's a sharp, pointed lyric about 54*40's take on the universe.
The band of four brings its own expertise to the rock CD game.
Osborne and drummer Matt Johnson teamed to produce Casual Viewin', which offers its intense listening pleasures as a result of what the singer says was a "24-7 . . . five-month" commitment.
Bassist Brad Merritt, co-founder of the band with Osborne around 1980, runs DecentCoffee.com -- a highly-touted e-commerce venture.
Guitarist Phil Comparelli keeps the faith as the guy who remembers going to see DOA, Vancouver's punk godfathers, back in the days when there wasn't a 54*50 to play in.
Casual Viewin' pays rhymes-with tribute to Marshall McLuhan, the Canadian thinker who foresaw the global village and information society.
Turning to unexpected sources of rock inspiration is nothing new for a band that once had a platinum-seller in Smilin' Buddha Cabaret and has also talked of rejecting pinball as a pastime in favour of figuring things out philosophically.
The indirect influences of a couple of other Canadian deep thinkers -- Terry (Seasons in the Sun) Jacks and John (Steppen-into-leather-wolf) Kay -- makes clear 54*40 knows just where the rock/pop boundaries are. Both Jacks and Kay are mentioned in Casual Viewin' background material, along with McLuhan, making Osborne and mates the only Canadian band paying homage to this uniquely Canajun True North trifecta right now.
Maybe that unlikely combination will help Osborne and company solve an enduring mystery -- why, despite their success, a lot of people don't seem to know they've heard 54*40.
"We get people coming up to us (who) go, 'I didn't know you guys did that song and these songs and then you did Ocean Pearl (from the Buddha album) . . . and it's kind of like, 'Well, who do you think did it?' " Osborne says in mock frustration.
"We don't seem to be able to connect the band with the songs with everybody. Everybody seems to know the songs, but they don't know the band. I don't what that is."
And that's truly a McLuhanesque spin on the fame game, when you think about it.
IF YOU GO
What: FM96/Radio 98 Labatt Blue Summer Blowout Bash, an outdoors benefit concert for 2001 Canada Summer Games, headlined by 54*40; also on the bill are Wild Strawberries, clarknova, the Weekend and the Ashgrove; capacity is 5,000 and fans must be 19 and up for the licensed event
When: Today; gates open at 4 p.m.
Where: Covent Garden Market square and a block of Talbot Street in downtown London
Admission: There are no tickets; admission is only via donation to support Games; walkup sales only today at the gates