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Bruce's African Sojourn
In Bruce's words:
 While
on tour with Blood Sweat and Tears in
1980 I made friends with the
members of the Andre Devilliers Band that opened for us in Cape
Town. I think that Cape Town is themost beautiful city on the planet
that I had visited - certainly ahead of Rio, Vancouver or Sydney
Australia which are also famous for their beauty. I began to get
interested in living there.
I left BS&T shortly after the South African tour
and moved to Los Angeles. Andre tracked me down there and suggested
I take a film-writing job at a Cape Town studio that was in the
offing.
I accepted in December 1981 and took a one year contract
with UCA Studios in Cape Town and
worked with the owner Volker Miros, a marvelous fellow. This man
became a dear friend and inspiration.
 I
lived in Llandudno, about five miles
outside CT with Andre's brother
Jacques and I assure you that the setting is probably as close to
Shangri La as you can get. Jacques house is just below the mountain
'Little Lion's Head' on the left.
I was a bit crazed - I think as I was decompressing
from the 'road' having royally ruined a perfectly good marriage
in California and as a result I did practically nothing for a year
but try to regain my sanity.
While with UCA Studios I wrote my first commercials
and operated a state of the art recording
studio. I formed a jazz quartet and
played some club gigs there - I'll post a film clip in the near
future. The musicians there were marvelous and all in all it was
a very rewarding and rejuvenating time.
No mention of South Africa is complete without mention
of the political scene. I was quite
oblivious to the racial problems
when I moved there and for the most part was rather myopically involved
in music. Cape Town seemed a bit more integrated
than the rest of South Africa and for the most part, at least on
a personal level, I was able to bypass (ignore) the problems that
the country was facing. Among musicians,
of course, there is a different society that is based on the ability
to speak the 'language of music' and
we are in my opinion, in every country, a somewhat separate colony.
Even during the 'bad old days' in South Africa musicians of all
races played together.
I soon became very aware of the political landscape
however. I was amazed at how gracious
black people were and are in SA considering how they have been abused
over the centuries. Though I am now now critical of any kind of
nationalism I feel more a part of the social sphere here in Canada.
Of course, both Canada and America are populated by invaders and
have yet to come to grips with aboriginal issues. SA has one of
the most marvelous constitutions in the world now but many believe
that it will take generations to even out
the social landscape and some doubt that it is even possible
given man's inability to accept what is different. I am not proud
to be a part of the present social schema of planet earth and within
myself I can only endeavor to practice Gandhi's
admonition: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world".
I make no apology for living there and believe because of my attitude
that I was part of the solution though not an activist. I was proud
to be invited to play at Nelson Mandela's
inauguration and just before leaving played at his 85th
birthday party.
After 3 years in Cape Town I moved to
Johannesburg since the previous year I had spent 6 months
in a hotel there while involved in the production of TV specials
and commercial music.
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