Hundred Block Rock / Bud Osborn Band

Hundred Block Rock (3:35) was made in 1999.  Nigel Hunt was the director/videographer. Don Flatt was the editor, and Lincoln Clarkes assisted. It was screened at the Vancouver Videopoem Festival in 2000, organized by Heather Haley.   The video features the poetry of Bud Osborn from a recording off the Hundred Block Rock CD. Poet Bud Osborn recorded the album with Mecca Normal guitarist David Lester and bassist Wendy Atkinson.  They toured the album in Canada.   The album examines life in Canada’s poorest neighbourhood, the Downtown Eastide of Vancouver — it is a challenging work that matches Osborn’s forthright style with raw, urgent music.  The album was recorded and engineered by Dan Kronemann, and Alan Twigg was the executive producer.

Bud Osborn died in May 2014.

BUD OSBORN: “I’ve always liked rock and roll, and it’s been very impotant to me. I wanted to have music that would drive the poem perhaps in another way or amplify the meanings.  Originally, I worked with a couple of jazz musicians, but then I heard David Lester (longtime guitarist for Mecca Normal) play his electric guitar. It clicked right away.”