TROUBLE AND STRIFE performs on the stage with bluesman W.C. Clark at the recent Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival. Photo/MIKE MALONEY Dave Menard describes himself as “an outspoken anti- Republican” who has moved to Canada “to get away from the exclusive ways of the Republicans to the inclusive ways of the Canadians.”

Born in Missouri but raised in Florida, Dave ran off the tracks at about age 17. He began to party, drinking and smoking heavily until, in 1981, he “was killed” in a car accident.

Paramedics and the doctors in the emergency ward of the hospital where he was taken managed to revive him. Notwithstanding his miraculous recovery, he continued his wayward ways until 1983.

Then, after another traffic incident, he was persuaded that he was an alcoholic and began his road to recovery. He opted to take his rehabilitation in Maryland to be away from his party friends in Daytona.

“I rode my bicycle to the AA meetings two or three times a day,” he told me, “I did the course that Joseph C. Martin created based on the tenets of AA – we told jokes all day long.”

In his third year of “sobriety,” back in Florida, Dave realized his interest in music. He still has his original drum set except for the snares, which were stolen. He left Florida in 1989, from which he moved from place to place, playing with bands and learning the local passions. In Park City, where the American ski team live, he learned to ski.

In San Francisco, he learned how to play the “blues shuffle” on his drums and began playing the blues in earnest. He also acquired a Quarter horse and bought his first tract of land in Petaluma.

It was owning this land that prompted Dave to want to own animals. He had turkeys, roosters and hens and cats, he learned to ride his quarter horse and appreciate the joys of having animals around him.

With his love of music also intensifying, Dave wanted to go to Texas to become more involved with the Texas Blues. He met Bobby Boyd, a famous song writer whose songs have been hits for a number of big name performers. He had the chance to open for Willy Nelson.

“On New Year’s Eve into the new millennium, 2000 to 2001, Willy Nelson sat in with us and we harmonized Auld Lang Sang,” Dave reminisces. “It was really cool.”

In Texas, he bought another property, 70 acres, where he began again to acquire animals, this time another horse, a donkey, a couple of goats, cats, a couple of dogs, birds and nine cows.

Then came Hurricane Katrina and Dave exclaims, “I was so embarrassed and angry at the way the Bush government treated the blacks and the poor people after Katrina. I was ashamed to be an American.”

After suffering several heat strokes and losing a horse to lightning strikes, Dave decided Texas was too hot and too dangerous a place for him and he embarked on the long paper trail of moving himself and several of his animals to Canada.

He put the deposit on his new home in Hockley Valley after seeing a virtual tour of the place in Austin, Texas and began organizing the many details both in Texas for the transportation of some of his menagerie and the preparations of the home in Canada. From decision to conclusion, it took Dave two years to attend to all the details necessary.

He chose Hockley Valley because of its proximity to Mississauga and, especially, to Toronto. He wanted to live near Toronto in order to be able to drive in a day to Chicago for recording, as his ambitions to play and record with a band remains constant.

More importantly, the Hockley is beautiful and “10°F” cooler than the city. The place Dave owns is a charming spread, big enough and small enough, with lovely views all around.

Dave met Bruce Ley, blues and jazz man, composer and corner stone of the Trouble and Strife band, at Greystone Inn, one evening. Mr. Ley was playing the piano with a companion on bass.

“Greystone does great steaks,” said Dave as a digression. “Texans think they have good steaks but Canadian beef is 20 times better and the way the restaurants serve them is awesome.”

That evening, Dave went home to get his snare and sit in with Bruce Ley and the bass. They met again from time to time and Mr. Ley hired Dave to play with the band.

Dave has been deeply impressed with the Canadian approach to culture; he played with Trouble and Strife on the Main Stage at the recent Jazz and Blues Festival and told me, “The people stood in the rain. There was a tent for shelter but they came out of the tent into the rain to stand in front of the stage while we played. Canadian people don’t leave until the last note is played. Canadians are so cultural – they love art.”

Well aware of the tremendous arts community in the Dufferin/Hockley area, Dave says he is “just learning about the cultural life here.”

“The Canadian way is to share the wealth and the good experiences of life,” Dave praised. “I will not be living in the United States anymore.”

Welcome home, Dave Menard.

Trouble and Strife is coming to Hockley Village for the Strawberry Festival Saturday, June 26. They’ll be playing from about 11 a.m. until early afternoon.