“What you don’t say can’t be used against you,” Bob Bossin’s father, Davy “The Punk” Bossin, taught his son, a lesson Bossin Junior clearly never learned.
The talented musician and author presents The Stories and Songs of Davy the Punk at Shuswap Theatre this Friday.
Bossin’s book about his father’s life in Canada’s gambling underworld of the 1930s and ’40s was published in March 2014 by The Porcupine’s Quill to glowing reviews.
It sold out its first printing in a few months.
Now Bossin is bringing the book to life on the stage.
Davy, Bossin’s father, was born in 1905. Finding his way blocked by the rampant anti-Semitism of the time, Davy blazed his own path in a new, vibrant, international industry – gambling.
There he matched wits with cops and mobsters, grifters and grafters, crooks and judges.
His court cases set precedents that affect us to this day.
Bossin has been writing about odd corners of Canadian life for 40 years. Around 1970, he wrote poetry (some published by the fledgling House of Anansi Press), but was tempted away by the bright lights and big bucks of Canadian folk music.
With Marie-Lynn Hammond, he founded the iconic and long-lived Canadian folk group, Stringband, with whom he wrote and recorded such songs as The Maple Leaf Dog, Dief Will Be the Chief Again, Show Us the Length, Tugboats and Ya Wanna Marry Me?
Three collections of his music are currently in print. On disk, actually.
Bossin has also written non-fiction, including the book Settling Clayoquot (1981), and the play Bossin’s Home Remedy for Nuclear War (1986). Settling Clayoquot sold 9,000 copies and Bossin’s Home Remedies had 200 performances in four countries.
Bossin has been nominated for a national magazine award, and his short story, Latkes, won second prize in a fiction competition.
Along the way, Bossin has garnered rave reviews for his work.
“Only a handful of songwriters have created a body of work that constitutes a portrait of our country,” said noted another renowned storyteller Stuart McLean. “Stan Rogers did that. So did Gordon Lightfoot. And so does Bob Bossin.”
The Stories and Songs of Davy the Punk rolls out at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10. Tickets are $20 and are available at Acorn Music.