When Dave Mason was a young man in Worcester, England, in the 1960s, he looked around at all the bands on the British rock-music scene “and I thought, I could do that.”The self-taught musician teamed up with Jim Capaldi in a couple of different bands before the pair met Steve Winwood and Chris Wood in the nearby city of Birmingham. The result, in 1967, was the band Traffic.
Mason’s career with Traffic only lasted for a couple of years — until, as he puts it, the band “didn’t need my services anymore” — but resulted in the hit song “Feelin’ Alright,” which he wrote when he was only 19 and which has since been covered by dozens of artists including, most notably, Joe Cocker.
When he was just 22, his “Traffic” days behind him, Mason came to the U.S. to pursue a solo career.
“Jazz, gospel, blues, rock are all American music,” he said. “I figured I should just up and go where it all started.”
After moving to the U.S. in 1969, ending up first in Los Angeles, Mason settled into the era’s rock scene — “It was a lot of fun. I was young,“ he said, laughing — and quickly found success in his solo career starting with 1970’s “Alone Together,” which went gold “and was regarded as a classic album for a long time,” he said. Four out of his next five albums also went gold and “Let It Flow,” released in 1977, went platinum and then some.
His newest CD, his first studio album in 20 years and which he thinks is some of his best work yet, is 2008’s “26 Letters and 12 Notes” — the title, which he came up with just as “something unique and different,” refers to the number of letters in the English language and the number of notes in Western music — which contains a rather eclectic blend of everything from rock to blues to funk in its 12 tracks.
But music isn’t Mason’s only passion these days. He’s on the board of the nonprofit organization Little Kids Rock, an organization that provides free instruments and lessons to public-school children.
“I support kids being taught music,” he said. “I think it should be part of every kid’s education.”
And most notably, he’s heavily involved in Work Vessels for Vets, which assists returning veterans with what they need to go into business for themselves. As the title implies, the charity started out providing boats, but they also give vets anything from a computer to a truck to a tractor.
Helping veterans in that way is a particular cause for Mason, whose father served in World War I.
“The price of freedom is constant vigilance. … These are the people who protect our way of life,” he said.
Mason and his band tour pretty extensively across the U.S. and Canada, performing some 120 shows last year alone. His audiences, he said, draw a whole spectrum of music-lovers, from younger people who’ve probably never heard of him before the concert to the long-time fans who remember his songs from when they first came out.
Many of the latter, he said, tell him at his concerts to “play the old songs.” But to him, “there are no old songs. There are just good songs and bad songs. A good song is right anytime.”
Dept of Labor Joins Work Vessels for Veterans,US/DOL VETS to Honor 11 With Laptops
Traffic bandmember Dave Mason makes a special appearance. They gave freely of their time and skills to serve this country in Operation Iraqi. Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan. So, on March 17, employees from the Connecticut Department of abor’s Office for Veterans’ Workforce Development, joined with the Noank-based Work Vessels for Veterans and the U.S. Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS), to give something back. Saluting 11 former soldiers from those wars, they presented each with a refurbished laptop during a ceremony in Room 217.
Attending from DOL, and joining John Niekrash, Work Vessels for Veterans president and founder, were Deputy Commissioner Linda Agnew; Terry Brennan, Director of the Office for Veterans’ Workforce Development (OVWD); and Louis Kennedy, USDOL-VETS Program Director in Connecticut. Participating from Work Vessels for Veterans was Niekrash’s wife, Debbie; Ted Knapp of Green Technology Recycling of Essington, PA; and musician Dave Mason, co-founder of the rock group, Traffic. Also taking part – and playing an integral role in the project — were DOL Office for Veterans’ Workforce Development employees James Campbell, a U.S. Army, a Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran now assigned to the Hartford CTWorks Center; Jason Coppola, a Connecticut Army National Guard, Operation Enduring Freedom veteran now assigned to the Waterbury CTWorks Center; Timothy Rockefeller, a Marine Corps veteran who served in both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, and who is now assigned to the Hamden CTWorks Center; and William Brewer, a U.S. Air Force and Vietnam War veteran who also works in the Waterbury
CTWorks Center. The four had collaborated with Work Vessels for Veterans to identify the veterans who would benefit from the laptops. Receiving the laptops were: Edwin Rivera of New Britain; Jennifer Delgado of Plainville; Juan Manual Sanchez of New Britain; Carla Arroya Vega of New Britain; Tyeona Fletcher of Waterbury; Matt Rossi of Prospect; Patrick Hackett of Torrington; David Castro of Wolcott; David Perotti of Torrington; James Charles of Waterbury; and Glenwood Anderson of Oxford. The story of John Niekrash – and that of the group he founded in 2007 – is an impressive one. A lifelong lobsterman by profession (and himself a non-veteran,) who was at the time in the market for a new boat, Niekrash decided he’d like to donate his old vessel, the Krasher III to a veteran from one of those wars.
Inspired by the story of Stonington resident Justin Clough of Stonington, who was severely injured Iraq in 2006 and whom he had heard speak at a charity golf tournament, Niekrash contacted the publication, the Commercial Fisheries News, offering to donate the vessel to the first veteran who contacted him. He had only one stipulation – that the recipient promise that the boat be used solely for the purpose of making a living. Niekrash eventually donated the boat to Marine Reservist Richard Giguere, a two-tour veteran of the Iraqi war; he today actively works the vessel in Rhode Island’s Narragansset Bay. Not long after that first donation, “people from other walks of life told me they’d like to help too,” Niekrash remembers. Among them were Kathleen Burns (general manager of Noank Shipyard, Inc, where Work Vessels for Veterans is headquartered), Ted Knapp, and Mason. They also helped set the organization’s
direction. “Ted (Knapp) asked me why the vessel had to be a boat,” Niekrash explains. “Why couldn’t we provide other vessels, or other methods of assistance to our returning veterans, something like a laptop, or a tractor or a truck - which was true, because our goal is not just to give the vets a hand, but a hand up,” he added.
That’s how the laptop aspect took shape. Earlier this year. Knapp and Kimberly Crew of Computer Systems and Solutions of Philadelphia, PA donated the laptops. GTR, a firm specializing in purchasing and refurbishing the devices, also became involved, as did Novartis Pharmaceuticals of East Hanover, NJ.
“We are pleased to be joining this volunteer organization to say thank you to these veterans for their continued sacrifices and as an agency, and we applaud Work Vessels for Vets in its efforts,” Agnew told those assembled. “At the Labor Department, we want to help our veterans return to a life that includes employment, or the opportunity to continue their education. These laptops will be a tremendous help with job search efforts or with academic endeavors.”
The interview you are hearing is from the Columbus, Ohio event. WVFV donated a 22ft fishing boat, courtesy of Delta Marine to the TAASC. To learn more about TAASC, please visit the PARTNER PAGE.
Dave Mason 60 TV/Web Spot for Detroit
Introductions of new laptops at the Hartford, CT Boat Show,
January 25, 2009
Shown here:
Ted Knapp of Computer Systems and Solutions and Green Technology Recycling.
Richard Giguere, 2008 Boat Recipient
Ann Liguori, Liguori Productions and WFAN Radio LI, NY.
John Niekrash, Founder and President
Soundings Magazine
June 2008 - Read the story and download the PDF. Click here>> (Reprinted with permission from Soundings Publications LLC.)
(NECN.com)
Lobster boat given as token of appreciation
Watch a video of the event from NECN's Brian Burnell. Click Here >>
(wfsb.com)
Fisherman Donates Boat To Iraq Veteran
Read the story and watch a video from wfsb.com. Click Here >>
"We serve because we love our country and every American, not the political machines that send us around the globe. Your selfless act crystalized for me, and I am sure for all that serve, the true meaning of "duty, honor and country."
Excerpt from a letter to workvesselsforvets.org from Jay Phinney
To read the rest of the letter Click Here >>
