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AARON BONNEY
Friday, January 16
Artspace
Saturday, January 17
Karma
Thursday, January 22
Ironwood
More than 15 years ago, the parents of a then 10-year-old Aaron Bonney bought him a $10 Casio keyboard from Radio Shack and enrolled him in keyboard lessons.
Little did they know that since a keyboard is not an instrument that Metallica plays, it was just not cool enough for their son. It wasn’t long before young Bonney switched to guitar, and that’s when music making became his career path of choice.
"I didn’t have enough muscles or long, curly blond hair to excel at keyboard anyways," rationalizes Bonney (see Huey Lewis and the News).
Nowadays, Bonney is the co-owner of Sak’s Music McKenzie, a music lesson and retail store he opened with partner Alison Saklofske just over a year ago. The store is off to a good start, but as with many entrepreneurs, Bonney is still awaiting his first paycheque. "It’ll probably only be $5 when I do get one and even though I’ll want to frame it, I’ll need the money so desperately, I’ll have to cash it," he says laughing.
That’s the life of a new business owner as Bonney is discovering. But struggle is nothing new to him. As many musicians know first-hand, playing gigs as a career can make for some lean living. And that living can become even leaner when you discover that your very livelihood is threatened by illness. This is the case for Bonney, and his beast to conquer is multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic, progressive disease of the nervous system.
It was during the final semester of his jazz performance degree at Mount Royal College that his hand went numb.
"I had idiot doctors telling me all sorts of things – they couldn’t figure it out," says Bonney. "It took months of trying physio, acupuncture, chiro, muscle reflexology and massage before I finally got an MRI that confirmed I had MS."
So began Bonney’s venture into the business side of music. Confronted with the news of his illness, Bonney had no choice but to reconsider his life plans.
"MS was one of the big factors of opening the store. If I get a really bad attack, I may never be able to play again. I thought I better come up with an alternate plan," he explains. Bonney had been working at the existing Sak’s store in Braeside, so when the opportunity for another store presented itself, he jumped on it.
"I was getting sick of just doing gigs for a living anyways," he says.
If you thought forging a career in music with MS hanging over your head sounds like a struggle, you should hear Bonney describe a typical day. "I get up, go down and open the shop just before 10 a.m., teach a couple of lessons, run the store until nine at night, then I rush off to a gig and jam until two in the morning," says Bonney. "Then I go home to bed and get up and do it all over again." Running the gamut from solo jazz or classical performances (you may even spy him at your corporate Christmas party) to jamming with rock bands or working with musician girlfriend Trina Nestibo, Bonney has hardly gott away from a life of endless gigging.
In fact, his range of work is so varied, having formerly played in both metal and funk bands – it’s hard to explain his musical style. Bonney plays the banjo, mandolin, dobro, guitar (acoustic and electric) along with half-ass sitar. "I play it like the white boy I am," he says. "If anyone from India ever saw me play, they’d laugh their ass off!"
The only way to describe his current style is "folk-rootsy with a splash of bad Kirk Hammett rock chops. Make sure you emphasize bad," he jokes.
Yet bad is not the word that comes to mind when you see Bonney perform. He has a mellow and casual stage presence (gone are the days of his raucous metal approach), but he exudes a love of music, something that is often in hideously short supply these days.
For Bonney, it all comes down to the music and taking each day as it comes. "It’s like an after-school special," he smiles. "I just keep at it and know that music will always be a part of my life – whether I’m doing it for money or just on my front porch. In fact, I think I like the idea of my front porch much better." |
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