Alum returns to retro roots

By: Steve Bertrand

Posted: 11/9/04

Every Brock student knows acoustic guitar duo Moose and Carl, but very few of today's Brockers know about their predecessor, musician-turned-chiropractor Pat Hewitt.

As a singer and acoustic guitarist, this Toronto born musician started performing in bars in 1976 while studying at McMaster University. Like our Moose and Carl, Hewitt kept his audiences entertained through every performance by playing cover tunes and taking requests.

Hewitt began singing at a young age and was profoundly influenced by his exposure to music through his teachers.

"I've been involved with music since I was five or six years old, originally through church choirs and then when I was in grade seven in 1969, the summer of love, I had a number of teachers that were practising hippie culture types and they used to play their guitars for us in school in almost every class," said Hewitt.

As a self-taught guitarist, Hewitt learned how to play guitar by borrowing his brother's every chance he got and teaching himself how to play all the music that was popular at the time.

Hewitt was influenced by various folk and rock music artists when he first started singing and playing guitar and thus has contributed to the style of the original music that he has produced over the years.

"All that stuff that was popular at the time Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor, John Denver, Jim Crocher and on the band side of things was ... The Beatles, The Moody Blues, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Lovin' Spoonful all the sort of acoustic hippie folk rock [musicians]," said Hewitt.

In the autumn of 1977, Hewitt began playing at Alphie's Trough, Brock's old campus bar, during his second year at McMaster, following a visit he had with his girlfriend, and continued as a regular performer at the pub for many years thereafter.

"I came down one weekend to visit her and I brought my guitar and we were just sitting around in the [DeCew] residence, in a lounge area they called the knuckle, playing [guitar] and singing. I attracted a bit of a crowd and one of the people there was the bar manager at Alphie's Trough at the time and he invited me to come and play at the bar a few weeks later, so I did," said Hewitt. "During the late '70s and through most of the '80s I was playing two or three weekends a term Thursday, Friday, Saturday night at Alphie's Trough."

After Hewitt graduated from McMaster in June of 1980, he started Chiropractic College in 1981 and graduated from there in 1985. He has been a practicing chiropractor for almost 20 years now and even established a large, multi-doctor, whole-health facility in Mississauga that centres on Chiropractic Care, mental/emotional state, exercise, nutrition, and rest in the creation of responsive, adaptable, optimal health.

Initially following graduation, performing in bars was Hewitt's primary source of income, but he continues to perform today for the love of playing music and entertaining crowds.

"Singing was my main source of income because you start a practice from nothing and you basically have nothing but debts ... so it was still my principle source of income," said Hewitt. "I continue to do it as long as people don't throw hard objects. I continue to go and play pretty well every single Saturday night, in 2003 I did about 57 shows and this year I've already done about 50 something shows."

Aside from performing cover tunes in bars, Hewitt has become an accomplished musician over the years and he has released various albums containing only original material.

"The first thing I released was way back in 1980, when they were still making vinyl 45s, and I had a 45 that I released and then an original music cassette that I released in 1988. Then my first CD was in 1995 another CD in 1998, and I'm working on an original music CD right now," said Hewitt.

Hewitt's performances are entertaining and memorable, as he urges the crowd to have as much fun as possible by letting loose and getting involved by singing along.

"I play a number of originals but the thing I do on stage is very pub-oriented; it's just fun be stupid and have a good time. The kind of music and a lot of the stuff I do is meant to involve the crowd, to get them to shout or sing along, and a lot of the songs I teach to the crowd before I start the song," said Hewitt.

Hewitt will be performing at Isaac's Bar and Grill as part of the Badgers Athletics weekend. At Hewitt's performance, students can expect to hear a variety of classic rock and some recent tunes from popular bands and some of his original material as well.

"I know some Hoobastank and some Incubus and some Five for Fighting ... but I pretty well stick to what I know from my own past," said Hewitt.

Pat Hewitt will be at Isaac's on Nov. 13.