Chapter 1 – The Illegal Bust I first encountered the Bad Cop in 1974 while I was a graduate student at the university in Saskatoon, an artsy college city on the prairies. I began performing semi-professionally on campus, then got my first real gigs at the Parktown Motor Hotel, just across the 25th Street bridge from the university. No pubs were on campus then, so thirsty students flocked to Parktown. I started off as a single performer on guitar, then, after some initial success with the Parktown crowd, I formed a quartet called CONTINUUM in which I could play sax & violin as well as sing my original songs, many of which are available to hear on this website. The Parktown was our semi-regular gig for some months, so we got used to the routine. There was a handy free parking spot on the street right outside the main door, where I habitually parked my 1941 Dodge Kingsway Special. For those unfamiliar with that model of car, here’s a photo: Notice the groovy “suicide doors” into the large back compartment, just like an old Al Capone car, able to seat 5 with extra jump seats. As young people may forget, marijuana was illegal in those days, and long-haired “freaks” or “heads” like me were considered to be criminals by the police and often stopped and subjected to illegal searches on the street. Some cops, like the rotten apple I sing about, found hippies to be easy targets and specialized in busting them in order to boost their careers. We were aware of police cars which cruised slowly through Parktown’s driveway near the stage area from time to time while we were playing there but didn’t think that much about it. CONTINUUM would typically play an hour set, then take a half hour break. Our habit was to go out to my Dodge, crowd into the large back seat and smoke a fat reefer to give us inspiration for the next set. In retrospect, my old car stood out and made it easy for predatory cops like John to figure out what we were doing. My initial musical training had been on classical violin, and I was able during this time to secure a position with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra , which rehearsed once a week in downtown Saskatoon. I was the only longhair in the orchestra, but the Maestro was of a liberal mind, plus they needed violinists. One Monday evening at about 6:30 pm or so, I was driving my Dodge down 2nd Avenue, one of Saskatoon’s main streets, on my way to symphony rehearsal, when I was pulled over by a police cruiser for no apparent reason---I was not speeding, nor had I made an illegal turn or any such thing. When the cop came up to my window, I could tell by his manner that he seemed to recognize me, using a sarcastic pseudo-friendly tone of voice. Without any justifying preamble, he immediately told me to get out of the car, which I did. Before I really knew what he was planning to do, he immediately checked the breast pocket of my jacket. Don’t you know it, I had a pre-rolled reefer in there for after the rehearsal, which he found, to his obvious pleasure and delight. I didn’t know his name at the time, but that cop was John Popowich. Having so easily found exactly what he was looking for, John became really over-the-top sarcastic and overbearing, and that’s when I saw John’s huge over-inflated ego really come into play. It was evident that he got a big personal charge from having nabbed me, way beyond the legal aspect. He was sky high on the power trip, and actually strutted back to his cruiser in his bliss at busting me. I won’t dwell on the drearier part of the story, wherein he took me into the police station, charged me with Possession of Marijuana and made me spend the night in the can. I found out later that John had done the same or similar thing with many many other young potheads and others. In fact, by then John already had a rep in the force for being the “king hippie buster”, and he later bragged about it to his official biographer, including his trick of pretending to smell marijuana before illegally searching people (stay tuned to read all about that juicy part of this wicked story in Chapter 6). All I knew at the time was that he emanated that heavy power-tripping attitude which too many cops seem to use routinely to intimidate citizens, even to this day. I believed then, and still believe now that police training courses should get better at weeding out that type of aggressive individual who loves to be in a position to push people around. Unfortunately natural bullies are attracted to a career in the police force, for obvious reasons. John was one of those natural bullies, and in my mind he brought dishonour to the whole police force. Of course I subsequently had to go to court, with all that that entails, and ended up paying a hundred dollar fine. It was bad enough being busted, but I was particularly bothered by the circumstances, and felt a strong pang of injustice after the whole ordeal. For one thing, John had not said anything about a traffic infraction as justification for stopping me to begin with. Neither had he presented any suspicion or other legal justification for having searched me on the spot, though afterward, he claimed to have smelled marijuana in my car, a convenient lie. Even without formal legal training, I was aware that John’s behaviour was a flagrant exploitation of his role as an officer of the law. With John, evidently, ego gratification ruled. It was easy to conclude that John had targeted me because of the use of my stand-out car as a handy smoking chamber between sets at the “hippy bar”. As to what I could do about it, the only answer was (and still is) “Not a DAMN THING!” However, I knew that John was a particularly rotten apple and not typical, luckily, of all police officers, most of whom performed their jobs honourably back then, as they do now. I hit upon an idea and decided to take one small step within my power to accentuate the difference between power-tripping monster cops like John Popowich and the rest. Chapter 2 will explain the simple little device I used to bring attention to John’s sickness throughout the city of Saskatoon. This is still only the beginning of a long twisted tale---we’ve hardly scratched the surface, so STAY TUNED to find out how well it worked to screw John up in the long run, mostly by his own doing.

SUPER CIRCUIT MAN BAD COP SONG Dance On The Breeze Performance Videos My Cup Runneth Over Turn It Off The Lie The Inevitable Passing of Our Youth Give My Heart to You You Gotta Keep Beatin' Your Head Against the Wall SUPER CIRCUIT MAN Turns It Off! A Dream within a Dream, Wrapped in an Enigma... This video tells the story of how Ross, a humble computer clerk, accidentally stumbles into the digital universe of SUPERCIRCUITMAN , who takes him on a SuperCircuitDream, dialling up a fantasy band to kick out Turn It Off! , a Ross Campbell song. Computer Ross gets high on the technology and trips out with his fantasy band, only to be plagued by his Alter Ego, Caveman Ross, who fights back with a low tech solution. All of which, amazingly, Ross had dreamed as a young lad. The video was Written & Directed by Allan R. Stein, to whose memory this website is dedicated, Edited by Marke Slipp, & Produced by Ross Campbell, with the much-appreciated assistance of many members of the Edmonton Film Community, the dance troupe, Kompany, and funding from The Alberta Foundation for the Performing Arts. Thanks to all, & Happy SuperCircuitDreams! Entre Chien et Loup Dempster Ross (near the Arctic Circle)

COMING SOON!

Give My Heart To You 00:00 / 03:31 Dirty Love Give My Heart To You This laid-back reggae song of Ross Campbell's contains a "dirty" lyric that he originally thought would come across as an E dgy W itticism, but which he came to regret as a clumsy case of Bad Judgement. Here are the lyrics to the second verse: "You were born in riches & I was born in rags And up to now we've always been in completely different bags But here is where the change comes, from now on we'll be thick Give me just your smile, Girl, & I will give you dick. " It seems naive now, but Ross originally intended "dick" to mean "nothing", as in "Dick All", as in Sweet Dick All, a derivative of Sweet Fuck All, which, as everybody knows, means "Nothing". Unfortunately, many well-meaning persons have taken this intended edgy witticism as a reference to the male member, which suddenly plummets the song into the realm of Gangsta Rap, not really Ross's thing. We'll never know how many potential radio spins have been denied Ross's CD SUPER CIRCUIT MAN because of this Dirty I ll-Considered Word. Other than that, the song is quite a Sweet Love Song with a couple of Occult References thrown in. Anyway, that's our story ---is that Dirty enough for you? (If not, check out the last verse of Metaphors, listed under Metaphoric Love) If you like this song, you can DOWNLOAD IT FOR FREE HERE DOWNLOAD LYRICS VIDEO Ross Campbell loves this version of as i t includes Allan Stein & Mairi Maclean, his two former co-partners in their original Swing Band. They cover the back-up vocals while Allan also adds his distinctive masterful Guitar licks. Ross plays Rhythm Guitar & sings the Lead Vocal, Bill Mutual on Drums and Farley Scott on Bass provide an animated Bottom End, while Ken Hillaby has his wily way with his B-3 Organ, providing a Deep Deep Groove for Dancers who like Reggae. The If you REALLY like this song, please send Ross a couple of bucks to help fund his next album of Original Music, where your name will be included in the Credits, and you will become a Member of his TOP FAN CLUB! Thanks a lot!