Throwback Thursday
Laura Bachynski and her family rehearse in Tecumseh on Wednesday. Bachynski has returned home after many years out west to release her CD tonight at Mackenzie Hall.
I still love my C.D. collection. Fine. I’m old. What can I say?
So, I was wrapping presents the other day (birthday and Christmas) and I just randomly stuck my hand in our C.D. stand and pulled out…..MY OWN C.D. !!!!!
It was my first one called, “Waiting”, and I performed my 14 original songs with my entire family. My parents; Mary Anne and Dennis, my siblings ; John, Paula, Pamela, and Mary, and my uncle; David too.
I flew them out to help me record it and we had THE best time. Every single person is musical and our brother, John, makes his living in the music business. Dave has a new band back home in Windsor too, and all of my sisters play guitar and a little piano.
I actually really enjoyed listening to Waiting again and of course it brought back SO many good memories. Some sad ones too as the wonderful Barry Allen recently left us to join the greats in Heaven.
Here are the original transcript and photo from the Windsor Star eleven years ago…….
IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR FOR CD RELEASE.
Windsor Star
29 May 2010
TED SHAW tshaw@thestar.canwest.com or 519-255-6849
JASON KRYK/The Windsor Star
“After 28 years, four kids and a career-altering disability, Laura Bachynski figured she had something to sing about.
The 52-year-old Belle River native has returned to Essex County to launch her first CD tonight at Mackenzie Hall.
“It has all happened a little late in life, this adventure,” said the former Laura Drew who left the area at age 24 to pursue an education in Alberta.
Fresh out of the University of Windsor’s drama in education program, she moved to Calgary to study for her master’s degree.
But her life took some unusual detours.
She couldn’t get into the post-graduate program, so she turned to professional acting, performing onstage and in occasional films.
She also married her Essex County sweetheart, Terry Bachynski of Woodslee, who had also moved to Calgary to article as a lawyer. He never ended up using his law degree, opting to start his own company preparing business plans.
Both had enough success in their chosen careers to start a family.
They raised four kids — Jared, 24; Darren, 23; and twin girls, Emily and Lana, 21.
Laura was getting regular work on stages in Calgary and Edmonton, and even appeared in the Alberta-produced films, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Rat Race.
All the while, she was writing music with an inspirational message. She’d never had a music lesson in her life, and taught herself guitar.
“Basically, I’ve been writing since I was a kid,” she said. “Finally, friends of mine convinced me to do something professionally with the songs.”
The result is the self-financed CD, Waiting, which will be launched at a private concert tonight attended by about 200 family members and friends.
The project has been a family affair from start to finish. Her parents, Dennis and Mary Anne Drew, sing on it, as do her four siblings, and her uncle, all of them from Essex County.
Drew’s younger brother, John, is the best-known of them — he has been a professional guitarist in Windsor for three decades, and currently has two bands, Bigg Wiggle and the JD Project.
Bigg Wiggle will back up Bachynski on the Mackenzie Hall stage.
“When I started to work on the CD in Edmonton,” Bachynski said, “I thought it would be cool to have my three sisters sing vocals with me.”
The sisters — Paula Drew, Pam Pellizzari and Mary East — all agreed to fly to Edmonton to participate.
“Then I thought, hey, my mom and dad can sing, so they should be on it, too. Then, my uncle Dave (Pike) from Woodslee, who’s this professional-level keyboard player, said he wanted to be part of it.”
The final piece of the puzzle was getting brother John.
“I figured he’d be too busy with his other projects to do it. But he jumped on board, too.”
The only thing missing, said Bachynski, was the Partridge Family bus.
“That’s one thing my parents never provided. Maybe that’ll come later.”
Once she had the CD in hand, with a self-portrait she painted as the cover, she launched it first in Edmonton. It was May 8, and many of her family members flew out west to be there.
The next step was getting it into the hands of her friends back home. She called up friends from Belle River high school and invited them and their families.
“It’s going to be like a school reunion,” she said.
In no time, the 200 tickets she had printed up were sold.
The 14 songs on Waiting have a distinctly positive message.
That comes from her faith and love of family.
Bachynski’s acting career came to a sudden stop when severe arthritis forced her into a wheelchair for seven years.
“I became a stay-at-home mom,” she said. She turned to painting and writing music.
“I guess you could characterize the music as inspirational. I write in different styles and most of what I write is about hope and faith and God.
“My songs came from personal hardships, but I don’t dwell on the hardship or sing about how life sucks. It doesn’t suck for me.”
Bachynski’s soft-rocking songs are sung in a high soprano reminiscent of Karen Carpenter. The songs were arranged in Edmonton by her producer Barry Allen and the entire Drew clan.
Said her mother, Mary Anne: “We’re very blessed as a family because everyone likes the others so much and respects them. We have a lot of humour and music in our family.”
Bachynski chimed in: “But what about that bus?”
Laura Bachynski’s CD can be ordered for $20 from her website, www.laurabachynski.com.