Douglas Stanley:  

hout a doubt was Ernie Taylor, my art teacher. In my opinion he was an artistic genious whose talents were under appreciated. The pain of his personal torment over the loss of his children and wife in a fire haunted him for the rest of his life. That is what held him back I beleive from becoming one of Canada's foremost artists of his time. Canada's loss was our gain at West Ferris because of his coming to teach there. He brought me out of my shell and nourished my talent as an artist, for that I am so grateful to him. Unfortunately his death will prevent me from ever letting him know how much I appreciated him. As for favourite crush. Well I won't go there being as there really wasn't a "favourite" since there were so many young attractive girls in our school. Then there was the partying. Mark McWha's house was an absolute blast when his parents went away on their holidays. That was when we partied hard but always repsected the house of his parents and never damaged it but man did we have great times. One of my funniest moments was when a rock band we had started was rehearsing under the main auditorium. We had been given permission to rehearse on a Saturday afternoon and I was all set up with my drums on a riser and we had the guitars and horn section wailing away as well. As I recall we were in the middle of the Rolling Stones "Jumping Jack Flash" when Wally Soroka, the Vice Principal comes running red faced through the door furious at us. We were stunned & told him the teachers name who gave us permission. He calmed down & explained that the Ontario Science Fair awards show was going on right above us & that when we were playing it was like we were on the stage up there! Completely drowning out the announcers and in fact the judges had even given up & were dancing to our music on stage. Wally had troubles finding where we were but did simmer down once he found out what was going on. College Recently finished a Langara College Documentary Film Production course & getting connected for funding for 4 documentaries I have ready to be produced. Went to the Ontario College of Art in Toronto right after High School. But there was a "revolution" going on at the College with the students revolting against the curriculum that was being forced at them in the first two years of their 4yr program. This really spoiled things at that time. The CBC did a documentary on the Revolution at the Ontario College of Art in the early 1990's & it was only then that I realized how much it had impacted my decision to leave the College. They were basically rehashing things that Ernie Taylor had taught me in high school the previous five years. So off I went to Rock & Roll & the school of "Hard Knocks"..see my Life section of my bio. But in 1985, with my son just born & my daughter on the way, I decided to get with it, went back to college & took up Computer Operations. At the time I was designing & building a recording studio for a Record Production Company in Vancouver & computers were starting to be used in the recording studios. So I had to research the computers installation requirements for the studio & saw quickly that this industry was about to become huge. Realizing again that the owner of the Recording Studio was using me, just like my art endeavours, I left for College. Got a really good job in computers within 6 months of being in the school & have never looked back since. Music Career: But I did spend some time singing & drumming in rock bands & art work after high school in the 70's, 80's & 90's. At first I hit Art college right after high school, unprepared for the TO. & got wrapped up in sex, drugs & the rock & roll industry. Therefore wasting what Ernie Taylor, my high school art teacher, had taught me as I travelled around in bar bands. But man did I have a blast touring with bands around Ontario & then BC. First drumming & then switched to Lead singing, where I really shone, wouldn't change it at all. Met some famous musicians along the way from INXS, The Headpins, The Payolas, David Bowie's guitarist & bass player, The Stray Cats, Highway 101 etc. Over the years I did do work as an artist & as a cartoonist for a small paper out here on the West Coast. But I was basically getting ripped off all the time. Also did t-shirt designs, again for peanuts. Then I did wall murals but again getting ripped off. You're starting to see a pattern here of how people don't really appreciate artist's & musician's work here in western society. They look at artists as lazy bums unless you become very successful or have a piece of paper from a college that says "Doug's an artist". Then & only then, will they give you respect & financial remuneration. That forces so many artists & musicians to end up stifling their talents & then pursuing a career path that goes against their natural inclinations.