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Home , Ahead by a Century, Better Be Home Soon, Boots or Hearts, Dave Loggins, Helen Wheels, If I Had Eyes

ABBA Fernando Waterloo Make You Feel My Love Rolling in the Deep Set Fire to the Rain America A Horse With No Name Sister Golden Hair Andy Williams Moon River Antonio Carlos Jobim Waters of March Arlo Guthrie City of New Orleans Brian Wilson Beaudoin Soundclash When the Night Feels My Song How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? To Love Somebody Words Bette Midler The Rose Bill Haley Rock Around the Clock Bill Withers Ain’t No Sunshine Billy Joel Piano Man Black Crowes Hard to Handle Blue Rodeo Five Days in May Lost Together Try Bob Dylan Blowin’ in the Wind Hurricane Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door Mr. Tambourine Man Bob Marley No Woman No Cry Bob Seger Night Moves

Bob Seger Old Time Rock and Roll Bobby Bloom Montego Bay Bobby Darin Mack the Knife Bobby McFerrin Thinking About Your Body Bread Make it With You Bruce Springsteen Dancing in the Dark Let’s Be Friends (Skin to Skin) Just the Way You Are Summer of ’69 Buffalo Springfield For What It’s Worth You’re So Vain It’s Too Late Carpenters Close to You Father and Son Morning Has Broken The First Cut is the Deepest Where do the Children Play Wild World CCR Bad Moon Rising Green River Have You Ever Seen the Rain? Celine Dion My Heart Will Go On Cheap Trick I Want You to Want Me Chris de Burgh Lady in Red Chuck Berry Johnny B. Goode You Never Can Tell City and Colour The Grand Optimist Coldplay Clocks Counting Crows Mr. Jones

Creed With Arms Wide Open Crosby, Stills & Nash Helplessly Hoping Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Helpless Teach Your Children Better Be Home Soon Don't Dream it’s Over Sometimes When We Touch David Bowie Space Oddity Del Shannon Runaway Dion Runaround Sue The Wanderer Dire Straits Walk of Life Dixie Chicks Landslide Dobie Gray Drift Away Jolene Don Henley The Heart of the Matter Don McLean American Pie Donovan Mellow Yellow Eagles Desperado Hotel California Lyin' Eyes Peaceful Easy Feeling Take it Easy Perfect Thinking Out Loud Bennie and the Jets Candle in the Wind Daniel

Elton John Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me Honky Cat Rocket Man Texan Love Song Tiny Dancer Your Song Elvis Costello Alison Can’t Help Falling in Love Hound Dog Jailhouse Rock My Baby Left Me Engelbert Humperdinck Spanish Eyes Eric Clapton Lay Down Sally Promises Wonderful Tonight Everly Brothers Bye Bye Love Dreams Landslide Frank and Nancy Sinatra Somethin’ Stupid My Way Frankie Valli Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You Friends in Low Places The Dance Gene Kelly Singing in the Rain Genesis Follow You, Follow Me More Fool Me

George Benson On Broadway George Gershwin Summertime George Michael Faith George Strait All My Ex’s Live in Texas The Chair Gerry Rafferty Baker Street Gilbert O'Sullivan Alone Again (Naturally) Gipsy Kings Bamboleo Wichita Lineman Gordon Lightfoot Canadian Railroad Trilogy Did She Mention My Name? If You Could Read My Mind Sundown Talking in Your Sleep Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Graham Nash Military Madness Wounded Bird Great Big Sea When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down) Harmonium Pour Un Instant Harry Belafonte The Banana Boat Song (Day-O) Harry Chapin Cats in the Cradle Taxi Helen Reddy I Am Woman If I Had Eyes Jackson Browne Doctor My Eyes Fire and Rain Long Ago and Far Away You Can Close Your Eyes You’ve Got a Friend

Janis Joplin Me & Bobby McGee Jim Croce Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown Jim Croce Operator Photographs and Memories Roller Derby Queen Time in a Bottle Workin’ at the Car Wash You Don't Mess Around With Jim Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville Joe Cocker You Can Leave Your Hat On Joe Dolce Shaddap You Face John Cougar Mellencamp Hurt So Good John Denver Annie's Song Take Me Home, Country Roads John Legend All of Me Imagine Mother Stand By Me John Prine Fish and Whistle Johnny Cash A Boy Named Sue Folsom Prison Blues I Walk the Line Ring of Fire Johnny Nash I Can See Clearly Now Johnny Reid Let's Go Higher Johnny Rivers Take a Letter Maria Circle Game José Feliciano K’naan Wavin’ Flag

k.d. lang Constant Craving Kansas Dust in the Wind Footloose Lucille Kenny Rogers The Gambler King Harvest Dancing in the Moonlight Led Zeppelin Rock and Roll Leonard Cohen Bird on a Wire Hallelujah Suzanne Loggins & Messina Danny’s Song House at Pooh Corner Lonestar Louis Armstrong Luis Fonsi Despacito Lynyrd Skynyrd Free Bird Sweet Home Alabama Mama Cass Dream a Little Dream of Me Marc Cohn Walking in Memphis Marvin Gaye What’s Going On? Mary Hopkins Those Were the Days Meatloaf Two Out of Three Michael Bublé Save the Last Dance for Me Michel Pagliaro Lovin' You Ain't Easy Mike & The Mechanics The Murray McLauchlan Farmer's Song Nancy Sinatra These Boots Are Made For Walking Neil Diamond Forever in Blue Jeans I Am… I Said If You Go Away

Tom Kovacs with Jan, Thorntin and Malcolm Macdonald on the ARTIST TO WATCH patio of Erin’s Bistro Riviere. Sundays are Thorntin’s day off but when Tom is performing Thorntin kicks back along with the Thomas Kovacs rest of us, enjoying the show with his mom and grandfather. by Yevgenia Casale finished doing a couple of movies.” Having earned a decent amount of money off those two films Tom holed up in his room About a year ago an email popped into my inbox from and completely immersed himself in his music. He began to hear Belfountain Inn owner and head chef Thorntin Macdonald. It was things he wasn’t aware of before such as the “careful enunciation about as excited as an email can get. He was over the moon at the of each syllable.” His eureka moment occurred when Tom realized prospect of presenting Thomas Kovacs (pronounced ko-va-t-ch) he had to turn the guitar around and play left-handed because as a special musical guest. it felt more “personal, immediate, and exciting. It felt like I was That got my attention. It usually takes something pretty special creating a beat instead of following one.” to get the normally low-key restaurateur quite so animated. I For the next fifteen years Tom held down an assortment of immediately put a call in to Tom and asked to do a story about mundane jobs to support his music. Once he got to his 30’s Kovacs him. I had to know more about this guy. decided that he needed to “get a real job” so he landed It took us a few months to coordinate our schedules. In the night shifts as a security guard. That’s where he discovered that mean time, I started noticing Tom promoted as the headliner at he had an aptitude for computers. He taught himself how to some of Caledon’s favourite dining establishments. programme at the lobby desk workstation, completed a six- Kovacs was thrilled to have Caledon Spectrum profile him but month course at York University and from there walked into a with a caveat: first I had to witness one of his shows. He was right thirteen year stint in the Information Technology department at to insist. Some things you just have to experience in person. Canadian Tire. “What’s a couple of hours?” I thought, taking the opportunity Despite the obvious creative elements, a full-time musician to head off to Erin. Thorntin owns Bistro Riviere as well as the is very much a small business owner. Tom credits his years at Belfountain Inn so we knew that at the very least the food would Canadian Tire with giving him invaluable IT skills, insights into be amazing. Well, it wasn’t just a couple of hours but the meal was running a business and learning how to connect with people: terrific; the sangria was delectable and the show was pure joy: so Tom manages his own website, promotion and business affairs. much fun! As an entertainer his professionalism is one of the first things to Afterwards Tom sat down with me so that we could get to know come through in any of his performances. Kovacs is so comfortable each other before our official interview. We had decided to film in his own skin that nothing seems to faze him. He engages with it live at the SouthFields Village Farmers’ Market the following the audience in a fantastically intimate way and brings people out Thursday so this was supposed to be a casual preinterview through conversation. meeting. Before either one of us knew it, three hours had gone by. If they want to join him, they do, if they want to just listen He’s just that easy to talk to. they do. The driving force appears to be his desire to deliver a “In April 1980 I realized that music was my strength,” he started memorable and positive interplay for the audience. off. “I was sharing an apartment with two other actors and just

CALEDONSPECTRUM . autumn 2013 . volume 4, issue ii . page 30 Remarkably one of the biggest lessons he took away from embodiment of everything he was looking for. “We share the Canadian Tire was how to stay calm and maximize audience same weirdness, the same off-the-wall humour,” he laughed. participation without letting it get out of control. “I learned not “She has this amazing sense of fun and we share a real emotional to take playful teasing seriously,” says Kovacs. In the corporate connection.” world Tom met a “different caliber of people” than what he was Cara came to watch the show that afternoon, as well. Though used to as a night security guard. she didn’t stay for our conversation the wicked twinkle in her eye They loved to have fun and push buttons and in walked Tom betrayed their mutual attraction. The way she tells it, she was the with, “a chest full of buttons to press.” They used to have a field day one who actively pursued Tom. But regardless of who was the with Kovacs, pretending there were sudden system emergencies hunter, it is the adventure that matters to Kovacs. and then laughing themselves silly at his reaction on discovery of For the past twelve years Tom has also had a steady gig as a the prank. “After two years, I got bored with my own reactions so musician with Adventure Canada. Each year he flies up to the I started to joke back with them instead.” Arctic and spends ten days aboard a 100 passenger luxury cruise Some months later a co-worker approached him and said ship, witnessing the Northwest Passage and the west coast of “you’re no fun anymore. We can’t get a rise out of you.” As Tom Greenland. National Geographic put Adventure Canada on their puts it, he “felt a delicious sense of having grown up. I had my list of Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth so it’s a pretty phase of playing a victim and eventually stopped getting any big deal. Like an Empire Club of Canada luncheon, those trips give value out of it. I got bored of my own pattern.” Tom a unique opportunity to spend time with some remarkable Knowing when to break a pattern that is no longer working people. Only in his case, he gets to hang out with them for almost is another of Tom’s many talents. In late 2009, after yet another a fortnight rather than just over lunch. night of not getting a chance to work on his music, Tom came When it comes to Tom Kovacs, the conversation can go on to work and stared at his reflection on the still blank computer and on and I intend on doing just that. In the mean time, check monitor, thinking: “if you stay at this desk until you retire, you out that live interview and performance which we taped at might as well kiss your music goodbye.” But quitting Canadian the SouthFields Village farmers’ market. It’s on our website Tire meant walking away from a stable income. (caledonspectrum.com). Of course there really isn’t anything like Before committing to such a big decision he revealed his being in the audience at one of his shows. Luckily he posts his thoughts to a manager at the company. The manager described performance schedule online (thomaskovacs.com). .CS how his mother loved music, paintings and literature but was Kovacs, fielding audience requests over a Sunday lunch performance. forced to hold an office job that she hated, ultimately regretting that she never pursued her own artistic expression. He also spoke with an associate vice-president, who happened to have suffered a heart attack the previous summer and reminded Tom that “you never know when your time may come.” They both had the same message for Kovacs: “do what you gotta do.” Four years earlier, Tom had taken a Humber College summer songwriting workshop with Andy Kim. Kim had written the monster hits Sugar, Sugar and Rock Me Gently. Something Kim said had always stayed at the back of Tom’s mind and now came rushing to the forefront, fueling his courage to let go and follow through: “don’t have a safety net because you will use it.” By the time Tom was ready to become a full-time musician he had half a century behind him. Not quite retirement age and not exactly innocent with youth. What surprised him was the amount of younger female attention he began to receive. It was not something he experienced while sitting behind a desk as a programmer. But, “when you watch somebody on stage looking into the audience and thinking about who they will take to bed that night instead of about the show suffers. I didn’t want to become that cliché,” explained Kovacs. Tom had also reached a point in his life when he was finally ready to find “draw in his life partner.” He realized that if he succumbed to the temptations that are so readily available as a performer on the road, it would affect his ability to attract the woman he really wanted. When they met, he realized instinctively that Cara was the one. She came along at just the right moment in his life. She is a beautiful, confident single mom. According to Tom, she is the

page 31 . volume 4, issue ii . autumn 2013 . CALEDONSPECTRUM

Singer- risks security to follow his heart TRACEY COVEART ture Canada cruises. He has seen the Arctic Circle, the Northwest Passage, At 50, singer-songwriter Thomas Ko- Nunavut, Baja California and the Gala- vacs was happily employed as a program- pagos Islands and worked alongside mer at Canadian Tire’s Yonge and Eglin- such esteemed guest speakers as Marga- ton head office in Toronto. Then he had ret Atwood and Farley Mowat. an epiphany. Captain Matthew Swan “is crazy in It was October 2009. “I was sitting at a really great way. I had this ‘serious- my desk after another unsuccessful night minded artist’ bent and he taught me the of songwriting and I thought, ‘I can do importance of having fun with the audi- this until I’m retired and the music is ence. I would watch all these passengers gone or I can do it while I still have the come onboard the ship burdened with energy, enthusiasm and voice.” their day-to-day cares and by the third or He left Canadian Tire on excellent fourth day they’d be clustered around the terms in January 2010 and has never GPS as we crossed the equator, looking looked back. like schoolchildren and bubbling over It wasn’t the first time Thomas, a with joy. I learned a lot from that.” recent houseguest of Port Perry’s Bill As always, he put that education to Lishman, who now resides in Sauble good use. Thomas has a set list of 250 of Beach, dropped everything to pursue ‘your favourite hits from the 60s, 70s, 80s his love of music. and 90s’ in just about every conceivable “I discovered my passion for music musical styling - and he’s booked solidly when I was 20. I had made a mess-load of until Labour Day Weekend and beyond. money acting in Hog Wild and Pick Up “I hand out my song list before every Summer. I rented a cheap apartment in show. It’s a great way to connect with Montreal with two other actors and spent your audience. People browse the set list six months living like a hermit. I listened and make requests. It helps to get them to a lot of music.” involved in the performance.” A guitar player, it was when Thomas Thomas has quickly become the dar- realized he needed to play left-handed, Thomas Kovacs ling of Salvatore’s Tratorria and Cafe not right, in the early 80s, that the light “The guy booking the acts for the ship they would heal with time.” in Port Perry, where he packs the house went off. was a Canadian. He used to get all his He odd-jobbed once he returned to whenever he’s in town, and he’s sure to be “It was inspiring. From that moment showbands from Humber. This time he Canada, eventually landing a five-year a hit in Uxbridge with his first gig coming on I realized that music was what I want- needed a rock band.” stint as the weekly house performer up later this month. ed to do.” Sister Moon had never played together at Kiwi Kick, a bar/restaurant in the An engaging performer, Thomas wins He retaught himself how to play and before. They sequestered themselves in trendy High Park area of Toronto, and fans with his wonderful voice, his effort- he studied the mechanics of singing. one of the bandmate’s basements and building on the skills he had learned in less playing and his wicked sense of hu- In 1981 he had one of the lead roles learned 50 songs in a week before they the Persian Gulf. mour. (He won the Toastmasters District in the cult classic My Bloody Valen- caught their flight to the Middle East. Eventually, “I reached an age where I 60 Humorous Speech Contest in 2009 tine, “but I just felt that music was The soldiers were not allowed to drink alco- wanted to find a more substantial source about his adventures in the Persian Gulf, more my strength.” hol in Saudi Arabia, so the ship’s bar was their of income. I took a sixth month course beating out 3,000 other speakers.) He is Over the next few years, he held a va- favourite haunt on the Cunard Princess. at York University and got a job as a pro- a real “crowd pleaser,” said Norma Hill, riety of jobs: dishwasher, pinball cashier, “Within several days,” said Thomas, grammer/analyst at Canadian Tire. It was owner/manager of The Scruffy Duck Res- grocery clerk, security guard, decorative “it became very obvious to the entertain- 1997. I was .” taurant in Schomberg and “his ability to lamp assembler - all to pay the bills while ment director that we had never played He worked there for 12 years, but all the relate and communicate with any crowd he honed his musical skills. together before. He told us to get people while, “music was tugging at my heart- is second to none,” said his old boss, Ray Then, in 1990, while studying Jazz Vo- out on the dance floor or go home. We strings. I loved my job. The people were Mondolo, the owner/manager of the Ar- cals at Humber College, he auditioned as were stunned.” fantastic; the work was stimulating and bour Restaurant. the lead singer for a new band. “It’s an amazing feeling to receive high It was a performance that would But motivated. rewarding,” recalled Thomas, who was praise for something I love to do,” said change his life. “There was no way we were going gigging once a month to rave reviews at Thomas, who is thrilled with the way In March of 1991, several months after home. We organized set lists, cut down the Arbour Restaurant in Nobleton. “But things are going now that he is follow- joining Sister Moon as the lead vocalist the time between songs to mere seconds it was now or never. I decided to make a ing his heart. “It was one thing to receive and rhythm/acoustic guitarist, Thomas and learned how to play for an audience. go of it.” praise from my manager at Canadian Tire flew to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf to We were given a four-day trial - and we His work at Canadian Tire helped for being a great programmer. But on a perform for US troops during Operation passed with flying colours. Thomas to take care of the business Desert Storm. The experience, said Thomas, “had a side of being a musician. He put togeth- deeper level, it’s extremely gratifying to The band played the 200-person bar on tremendous influence on my develop- er a promotional kit and aggressively hear people praise me for my singing.” the Cunard Princess, docked in the port ment as a stage performer.” sought work. To catch up with Thomas, e-mail tom@ city of Manama, every night for the next He stayed on the Cunard Princes until “The plan was to get enough gigs to thomaskovacs.com, call 416-459-0349 or five months. September. Then he and Sister Moon’s earn a income and not lean so heavily on log onto www.thomaskovacs.com. You can “It was a floating hotel where soldiers lead guitarist hitchhiked across Europe my life savings.” see him live at Salvatore’s in Port Perry on would go for three days of rest and relax- for several months. In 2001, Thomas was invited to be the July 15, July 29, Aug. 5 and Aug. 12 at 8 ation,” said Thomas. “I had to give my voice a rest. I paid out musician aboard an Adventure Canada p.m. and on New Year’s Eve. His debut in There were 900 unarmed soldiers on- of pocket to see an ear, nose and throat cruise. His flight landed in Iceland six Uxbridge is on July 14 at Boston Pizza. One board - and gas masks in case of a scud specialist. I had three steroid shots for hours before the 911 tragedy. Since then, word of advice ... make a reservation or you missile attack. nodes on my vocal chords, but he told me he has been the musician on 11 Adven- won’t get a table!

Neil Diamond Play Me Sweet Caroline Neil Sedaka Oh! Carol Neil Young Four Strong Winds Harvest Moon Heart of Gold Nirvana All Apologies Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Mr. Bojangles Oasis Wonderwall Old Crow Medicine Show Wagon Wheel Otis Redding (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay Patsy Cline Crazy Paul McCartney Helen Wheels Mull of Kintyre Paul Simon American Tune Kodachrome Loves Me Like a Rock Me & Julio Down by the Schoolyard Mother and Child Reunion Slip Slidin’ Away Last Kiss Pete Seeger Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Peter Gabriel In Your Eyes Peter, Paul, and Mary Puff the Magic Dragon Plain White T's Hey There Delilah Prince Purple Rain R.E.M. Losing My Religion Ralph McTell Streets of London Randy Travis Forever and Ever, Amen

Ray Bolger If I Only Had a Brain Ray Charles Hit the Road Jack Ritchie Valens La Bamba Maggie May Roger Miller King of the Road Roger Whittaker Durham Town Roy Orbison Blue Bayou Rupert Holmes Escape (The Pina Colada Song) Sam Roberts Brother Down San Francisco Scott McKenzie (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) Seals and Crofts Summer Breeze Semisonic Closing Time Simon & Garfunkel America Cecilia El Condor Pasa Mrs. Robinson Scarborough Fair The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) The Boxer The Sounds of Silence Soggy Bottom Boys Man of Constant Sorrow Spirit of the West Home for a Rest Stan Rogers Barrett’s Privateers Northwest Passage Stealers Wheel Stuck in the Middle With You Stephen Bishop On and On Stephen Stills Love the One You’re With Steppenwolf Born to be Wild

Steve Miller The Joker Fields of Gold Stompin' Tom Connors The Hockey Song The Animals The House of the Rising Sun The Band The Weight Sloop John B A Day in the Life A Hard Day's Night Abbey Road / Side 2 (modified) Across the Universe All I've Got to Do All My Loving All Together Now All You Need is Love And I Love Her Another Girl Anytime at All Ask Me Why Baby It’s You Baby You're a Rich Man Baby's in Black Back in the U.S.S.R. Blackbird Can't Buy Me Love Cry Baby Cry Don't Let Me Down Eleanor Rigby For No One Get Back Girl

The Beatles Help! Here, There and Everywhere I Need You I Saw Her Standing There I Should Have Known Better I’ve Just Seen a Face Let It Be Michelle Norwegian Wood Nowhere Man Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da Octopus's Garden Penny Lane Rock and Roll Music Rocky Raccoon Roll Over Beethoven Slow Down Something Taxman The Ballad of John and Yoko Things We Said Today This Boy Ticket to Ride Till There Was You Twist and Shout While My Guitar Gently Weeps

The Beatles Yellow Submarine Yesterday You Can’t Do That You Won’t See Me You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away Your Mother Should Know The Commitments Mustang Sally The Hollies The Irish Rovers The Unicorn Wasn’t That a Party The Mama’s & The Papa’s California Dreaming The McCoys Hang On Sloopy The Mills Brothers Glow Worm The Monkees I’m a Believer The Moody Blues Nights in White Satin The Pogues The Wild Rover The Proclaimers I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) The Rolling Stones Angie Paint It Black Ruby Tuesday Satisfaction Waiting on a Friend Wild Horses The Temptations My Girl Bobcaygeon

The Tragically Hip Wheat Kings The Turtles Happy Together The Who Behind Blue Eyes The Youngbloods Get Together Thomas Kovacs Cara Mia Headlines Ignite Mirage Mr. Polar Bear Roll Pennies Your Love Zodiac Driver Tom Jones Delilah Green, Green Grass of Home Tom Petty Free Fallin’ Wildflowers and Dawn Traditional Black Velvet Band Danny Boy Farewell to Nova Scotia What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor? Trooper We're Here For a Good Time Angel of Harlem I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For One With or Without You UB40 Red Red Wine The Way You Do the Things You Do

Van Morrison Brown Eyed Girl Crazy Love Have I Told You Lately? Into the Mystic Moondance Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys Woody Guthrie This Land is Your Land Zac Brown Band Chicken Fried Toes Where the Boat Leaves From