John Sobol

John dreamed up 76fanclubs because he was sick of seeing his musician friends suffer financially despite – and even because of – their spiritual generosity. He hopes 76fanclubs helps musicians make more money and more music.

76fanclubs is based on a social design philosophy that John calls interactivism, which involves bridging digital and oral cultures for fun and profit. John has written about his philosophy in his book Digitopia Blues – Race, Technology and the American Voice (Banff Centre Press, 2002). He has also shared it in a one-man show, titled Two Million Years of Technology. And he has lived it as a lifelong musician and as a digital innovator. (He’s also run an indie record label, put on various festivals, been a music critic for a daily newspaper, written TV documentaries, and been a national radio program producer) You can learn more about his work by visiting his website or trying out 76fanclubs. You can also drop him a line at sobol@76design.com

Bob LeDrew

Bob LeDrew’s first real musical instrument was a bass clarinet. When he realized that wouldn’t get him girls, he moved on to the saxophone family, where he discovered it wasn’t just the instrument. Since then, he’s spent a lot of time playing guitar with much passion and not nearly as much skill. Bob’s never played for money, but has spent a fair amount of time hanging around bars and other places, listening to those who do.

In high school, he was first exposed to the music of Stan Rogers while sipping a highly-illegal beer on the shores of the Bras d’Or lake while Stewart MacNeil of the Barra MacNeils sang “Barrett’s Privateers” by a campfire. Later on, as a journalist in Sydney and Halifax, NS, he interviewed artists ranging from Georg Tintner, conductor of Symphony Nova Scotia, to Garnet Rogers, to Chris Smither, and used to get his beer served to him at the Flamingo Café by none other than Sarah MacLachlan. Then, in 1994, he was lucky enough to move to Ottawa and enjoy the CKCU Ottawa Folk Festival, Bluesfest Ottawa, Rasputin’s, the Ottawa Folklore Centre, the Black Sheep Inn, and many other music-loving places. In 2006, Bob and his partner Cathy created “BobCat House Concerts”, a series of concerts in their west-end sunroom, and since then have introduced artists including Lynn Miles, Suzie Vinnick, David Gogo, Rick Fines, Penny Lang, Ana Miura, Meredith Luce, Wendell Ferguson, and Katherine Wheatley to their home and their ‘stage.’

When Bob joined Thornley Fallis to find a project that had so much potential to help musicians control their purse strings as finely as they control their guitar strings, he was reminded of the power of serendipity – and of community.