J. Brian

still livin' the dream...

This website is a celebration of J.'s 52 year journey of song and stage - 1972/2024

J. Brian Early Promo PicJ. Brian 80s black and white photoJ. Brian recent promo photo

this thing I do


J. has written his Memoirs of 50 years of song & stage. A story told in 70,000 words titled:

Still Livin' the Dream - Memoirs of an independent unsigned artist.

Here's a glimpse at his thoughts…

From the author

I want to thank Eric Green for his contributions to my Memoirs. These include his enthusiastic willingness to give the yet edited original version, its first read and upon doing so, eagerly accept my invitation to write the Foreword.

In the winter of '20/'21, while still employing my 'Covid Motive' policy, I began perusing through all my performance schedule calendars dating back to 1979 and also my vintage cassette and reel-to-reel tapes dating back to 1972. Until this process, I'd had wandering ideas about writing a book, but I wasn't sure of the subject matter. After my re-visit to my roots, I realized that I had a rich and interesting story to tell.

It took me ten months to assemble 70,000 words, with no supporting text in the form of diaries or jotted down notes. Everything was written from memory. I find that to be poignancy in its most vulnerable form at the juncture of then and now when compared to the daily occurrence of forgetting what I went downstairs for in the ten seconds it took me to get there.

I can candidly admit that turning over 50 years of memories into
Memoirs was as an enjoyable process as any album's worth of songs I've ever written, albeit, it wasn't like writing songs. It was more like telling stories around the campfire and I was the only one there. But as with my career, it was a labour of love. In hindsight, it was a natural extension of what I've done all my life and that was to write and then share those written words.

My original intention for writing this book was to resurrect those early days, the 70s, and the formative effect they had on not just my career but also my life. One word led to another, one paragraph led to another, one page led to another, one title led to another, one memory led to another and there I saw my entire life as it related to my career, and all those that joined me on
the long road of sharing, all those 'moments' encapsulated in the grand summation of...
having lived a life looking forward to looking back.

Note: Eric's Foreword is seen on the J.'s Book page.