While I was a TBM, high-schooler, in the town of Bellevue, WA (just east of Seattle) our active "Mutual" group all went over to a member's house, and attended a Sunday pm fireside and Randy was the guest speaker.

It was late 1973, I believe.....possibly early 1974.

Mr. Bachman was pleasant and everything, but I recall thinking it was kind of strange that on a Sundy evening he was wearing casual clothes, and we were in our best suit and ties, dresses. He was a rather large man, and a bit overweight. Longish dark blond hair. I think he was wearing a brown leather jacket over a collared sport shirt.

There were about 20 of us in the large basement of the members' home. Randy spoke about how cool the "Gospel" is. How his personal standards were respectable, and how living the LDS lifestyle requires sacrifice, but the rewards are worth it.

He told, in some detail, about leaving Burt Cummings and the Guess Who....and how nice it was to be away from cigarette and marijuana smoke emanating like fog at concerts. And we were all taken a bit by surprise when he said that he occasionally "thumbed through a playboy magazine" because it is one of the most honest magazines.

He did not sing, but briefly played an acoustic guitar that he carried in a very expensive looking case.

That's about all I remember, but I know that we all were in awe of such a famous, really cool guy that was LDS too!

Eh, you're not the only one. I'm pretty sure Tal's met him too. ;)

Great story - thanks for sharing

I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Randy...but I catch his superb radio show on CBC Radio 1 Saturday evenings (Randy's Vinyl Tap)and saw the Guess Who every time they played Lethbridge, and caught them in Calgary the night after more than once. His daughter used to live in Lethbridge...maybe still does.

Ron Burr



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2014 02:10PM by Lethbridge Reprobate.

Hi Ron...yeah, I think Randy was from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has been, in my judgement, a brilliant songwriter. And I love the style and format of the 1968 song, "UNDUN".

Yes, he's from Winnipeg. I have a friend that grew up around all the musicians, Randy included, who formed the Guess Who and their predecessors...our classic rock station here plays the Guess Who, BTO, Brave Belt, etc.

Ron Burr

According to what Tal has posted here, on more than one
occasion, his father Randy Bachman no longer participates nor
believes in LDS inc.

I saw him on the fireside circuit, too. Mid '70s.

That Winnipeg concert was pretty cool. I have it on DVD. It was outdoors at Goldeyes Stadium, it was raining and as Burton pointed out, they had 800 amps of power on stage....livin' dangerously.

Ron Burr

If you want to see Bachman (along with Cummings) at his absolute peak as a man and a performer, check out YouTube or Bing videos of their 1983 reunion concert in Toronto. There's a fine video of "No Sugar Tonight" available. I think he was 40 then, and Tal would have been 15.

I also enjoy the videos of the 2000 Winnipeg concert, which is really inspiring, maybe even better musically, but you can tell they've aged a lot. I think that's the last time that Cummings' voice had its old energy. I really enjoyed "undun" and "No Sugar Tonight" from that concert.

He played a concert last year in Calgary that was raising funds for flood relief and he most assuredly continues to rock. Earlier in the concert I lamented that Tom Cochrane is getting old, but Randy was still awesome.

The Bachmans were members of my ex-wife's ward when she was a youth. She babysat his children. Yes, she has changed Tal's diapers.

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Randy was the guest speaker at a Youth Conference I went to as a teen, before I'd even been baptized.

I found it interesting that Randy came in at the beginning of my membership and Tal came in at the end of it. Tal's words helped me a lot as I was getting ready to make my exit from the Church.

Tal and I have disagreed here on matters academic and philosophical, but both he and his dad are absolutely fabulous musical talents. Randy Bachman is a musical genius. Writing general education curriculum while jamming to the Guess Who on Spotify now!

When I was a little kid, I used to watch a Canadian TV show called "Let's Go." It would feature The Guess Who. I used to dance to the tunes in my white rainboots, because my Mom wouldn't buy me Go-Go boots. LOL

Cool! I recently read about that show.

Guess Who was a major Canadian success story.

You improvised yourself a pair of go-go boots! Resourceful and fantastic!

For what it's worth, I almost met Tal Bachman. He was doing a charity thing at a hotel we were staying at in Victoria BC.

I wanted to go to it to introduce myself b/c I've never met anybody IRL from the board, but I thought it would be weird, like "Hey Tal, I'm an ex-mormon too!"

My brother drove me to tears one night in the 70's asking me "Guess Who's coming to town?"

Tal,

That would be the old New Westminster ward (since closed). The Bachmans were no longer living near Queen's Park when I was baptized into the Coquitlam ward in 1979. But the S________sons (relatives of your mother) were members of that ward.

Your mother was my ex's seminary teacher. She may (or may not) be glad to know that she has at least one disciple striving to uphold the whole of the gospel with fanatic zeal.

My ex-wife says Tal was quite a little rascal. Apparently he played drum beats on anything and everything - including my ex's head while travelling to early morning seminary.

All I've got to say is Takin Care of Business is my favorite song of all time, and can still make my 54 year old body move.

Made a fool out of myself at my boys wedding last year when my daughter told the DJ to play it (knowing the effect it had on me).

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What ward was it, idleswell?

Saw a Tal Bachman CD in a resale shop today. From 1999 on Colunbia. I've never listened and wondered if anyone else has and is he/ it any good- worth getting?

I remember seeing BTO in concert on TV here in the UK around the mid or late 70's.

I was only a kid learning to play drums. Boy did that BTO Rock inspire me!!


and later on when I was 18! I used to blast 'Four wheel drive' out of the car on my cassette tape machine and EQ amplifier with my elbow on the door window ledge, cigarette in mouth.

Just hope no one still remembers it was me playing the loud music and screeching the car tyres. lol

Hi Tal...

It was the Bellevue 1st Ward. Many wealthy people in the ward. Boundaries included Medina, Hunts Pt, Yarrow pt, Clyde Hill, etc.

I love "Undun" and it has a lot of meaning for me. I heard a lot of The Guess Who and BTO on the radio when I was a kid. I was definitely a fan but too young to go to concerts or buy albums. I'm pretty sure my older brother had some of their albums. I still listen to The Guess Who all the time. I pretty much got to know my husband and another good friend talking with them on message boards in the old days of online bulletin boards services like GEnie. My soon to be husband and our friend got me hooked on The Guess Who again. The Guess Who wrote many great, great songs. Love Burton's voice, Randy's guitar work, etc. My husband and I went to Kitchner to see the The Guess Who when they reunited with Randy and Burton in the early 2000's. Finally seeing them live was such a great experience. Much more spiritual than any LDS service, that's for sure.

Because of Mr. Bachman I gave his son's album a shot and bought it. I was quite impressed. I enjoy listening to it and try not to act like a fan when I see Tal on the board. :-)

Hi Idleswell

No idea who your ex-wife is, but we did live in New Westminster until 1975, at 303 Queen's Avenue, two blocks from the old armoury. I was seven when we moved away, so I did not attend seminary there.

I have never met Randy Bachman.
I listened to a radio interview of him a couple years ago and boy can he talk.

For a long time as a teenager I thought it was Burton Cummings of the Guess Who who was the mormon.

Back then (1970's) we had to rely on "Tigerbeat Magazine" to get hot celebrity information and gossip. If you were a reader of "Tigerbeat" then you know that the magazine's accuracy was not especially good---but in hindsight was superior to the Ensign or New era. I don't recall ever seeing a rolling stone magazine in the town I grew up in.

I disliked Osmond music but I had a big time mormon girl crush on Burton Cummings with his dark eyes, dark hair, awesome voice which was singing right to me... and how he could bang that piano……well never mind that.
And then one day I learned it was Bachman who was mormon. I was crushed for a day or two.
"Well, maybe Burton will take the discussions and convert to mormonism someday" I told myself.
LDS, Inc. had my brain in an effin' vise for so long and my "fun" teenage years were not to be.
Tell me, just why couldn't I have lived in a little pink house in John Mellencamp's fucking town? Utah has never felt like the place I should have landed in this life.