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Community Editor
Andrew McCredie

LISTENING TO local musi-
cian Jeff Standfield on stage or
on tape, you'd never guess that
he has been unable to use his
legs since he was a small child.

By Andrew McCredie

Entertainment Reporter

But then why should you? Music
comes from somewhere beyond the
physical, out there where sound and
emotion meet. For proof, wander
into The End coffee shop in Lower
Lonsdale some Sunday night when
the 34-year-old singer/song writer is
strumming his 12-string and blow-
ing his harp. .

A rare virus visited Standfield's
body at age one, then disappeared
after a month, leaving doctors
unsure of the damage done. At age
four it became apparent that
Standfield needed crutches to walk.
He's been on them ever since,

“I probably would have liked to
ski, played football, but other than
that there really isn’t anything I
haven't been able to do.” the under-
stated Handsworth graduate says.

What he has been able to do is
win two gold medals in swimming
at the Disabled World Games, hold
a world record in the [00m back-
stroke, and participate in countless
national wheelchair competitions.

But back to the music.

“My parents were both folk
singers, so | grew up around music.”
recalls Standfield of his early roots.
“We'd spend Saturday nights having
a big hootenanny at our house.”

So it would figure that like most
teenage musicians, Standfield
would have spent many a deafening
hour sweating out his chops in a
North Shore garage during his
Handsworth days. Not quite.

“I was really involved in sports
in high school. and music was
always something kind of there —
the guitar in the corner of my bed-

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Entertainment Editor
Layne Christensen

room kind of thing.

“But a couple of years ago [ real-
ized it was now or never for my
music, so | went down to Spirals
(now The End) and went on stage,”
he revalls. “I was just petrified butt
really wanted to do it.”

Following his stage debut, the
owner of Spirals continued to sup-
port Standfield’s dream.

“The really unique thing about
going to places like The End is that
it's mostly original music.” says
Standfield, “But then there is also
the risk that itcan be very bad.” This
is why so many performers stick to
covers — they’re safer (ergo mar-
ketable).

“But since | have a day job (as an
employment counsellor at a Canada
Employment Centre in south
Vancouver) [have the freedom to do
my own thing.”

More coffee shop gigs fell into
place, followed by some folk festi-
val appearances and other high-pro-
file events. In February he appeared
on the Variety Club Telethon.

Being self-taught, Standfield has
stuck to writing his own folk-
inspired material instead of trying to
figure out someone else's.

“EP suppose the music does start
the song.” he says of writing.
“Usually a phrase hits me und from
there the lyrics and music seem to
grow together simultaneously. After
that it comes down to hard work.”

He co-wrote some songs for a
CDreleased by the Vancouver-
based band Spinal Chord, a group of
disabled musicians fronted by
wheelchair-bound city councillor
Sam Sullivan. The Vancouver
Adapted Music Society (VAMS)
release is called Why Be Normal?

His own recording?

“They say you have your whole
life to write your first album, so I’ve
got lots ready to record.” says
Standfield, adding that he hopes to
be flogging his own CD at his gigs
by year-end.

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NEWS photo Cindy Goodman

LOCAL MUSICIAN Jeff Standfield
plays The End in Lower Lonsdale on
April 25 and May 5, and Roastmastirs
(Lonsdale and 19th) on May 12.

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