25 July 2025 at the Blue Light Studios

 Art Bergman & Stephen Drake - Passion

Yesterday 25 July, 2025 I went to the Blue Light Studios to listen to a duo. The duo was Art Bergmann accompanied by Steven Drake. I met both of them before they knew each other in 1979.

Since that date, both men have served as inspiration for me to continue doing not only what I like but also what I think I do well.

Art Bergman I would define as a former punk rocker as in the last few years he writes lyrics that protest mankind’s inhumanity to man. We no longer have Joan Baez or Chilean Violeta Parra. Protest folk is moribund. Bergmann is reviving it with his songs.

Steven Drake in my amateur opinion is the finest electric guitar player in Canada. Because he is a competent sound engineer, in any concert he appears, you will witness good sound. Last night Bergmann’s hearing aid battery kept failing and he sometimes got muddled with the lyrics of his songs. This in no way affected Drake who with a smile on his face managed. And he managed with excellence. Since he was not a soloist in his band or playing standing in Art Bergmann’s recent quintets he still showed excellence in his playing without needing to show off. 

What is most peculiar, and I smiled, is that during some of Bergmann’s toughest songs with tough lyrics Bergmann smiled. A man who in his past was an extremely angry man has softened his stance and that went well with the audience.

For me, now that I no longer work for magazines or newspapers, I feel liberated in that I can take photographs with an edge. My slow shutter photographs satisfy me.

I am sure that both Bergmann and Drake would understand.