Commotion for a cause

>> Montreal musician Robbie Tucker has
a million-dollar idea for taking on
Parkinson’s disease

FROM PD TO PDQ: Robbie Tucker

By RUPERT BOTTENBERG

“The day after I first took the medication,” recalls Montreal musician Robbie Tucker over a plate of pasta, “I ran up to Sherbrooke and ran as far as I could—jumping off stairs and avoiding people like the Flash or Batman—until I literally couldn’t run anymore. It felt so good!”

Tucker’s thinking back to 2005, when, at age 28, following months of increasing misery and despair, the New Brunswick native was at last properly diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, the devastating neurological disorder that keeps one trapped in an increasingly unresponsive body. “I had reached the point where it was so bad that I couldn’t play on stage anymore. It took me five minutes to get my guitar out of the case.

“It’s like someone took a big block of kryptonite and threw it over there,” he says, gesturing away from himself, “Aw, that’s great, thank you so much—but it’s still over there.”

If anyone gets a pass on superheroic self-reference, it’s a guy who’s not only faced down both PD and the serious side effects of his medication, but taken his regained musical chops to new heights, and lengths, as a device for stirring up awareness and action.

Tucker’s recent third album Green Room happily betrays his two gurus. Vocally in particular, he’s in awe of Roy Orbison, “someone who’s never been duplicated, ever—his voice is so unbelievably unique.” Tucker’s tunecraft nods to Paul McCartney. “He doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks about him anymore, I’m not sure he ever did. He just plays.”

Throwing in some Tim Burton ornamentation while keeping the foot-stomping rock intact, Tucker shows a knack not only for sharp melodies but for wit, theatricality and the unpredictable. “To have to sing something that’s three minutes long—verse, verse, chorus, verse, a generic song—to sing six of those in a row would be boring for me.

As ambitious as his pop-rock tunes are, Tucker’s myriad initiatives connect his music with PD militancy. His Web skills have proven pretty useful in both departments. In addition to his own site, Tucker has recently established two others of note. The first is MAPmusic.org, for Musicians Against Parkinson’s, which he intends to throw open for other artists concerned about PD to upload their work for fundraising purposes. The second is pdMoves.org, a locus for information and networking among people living with PD—he hopes to offer round-the-clock online neurologist visits, in time.

Offline (and back on stage after too long a wait), Tucker’s also launching a series of Parkinson’s awareness concerts, under the banner “Music for a Cause, a Cause for Music,” and breaking in his new backing band, the Dangerous Crayons. Now get this—Tucker aims to raise a million bucks over the next year, and has put up request.com pages twisting the arms of McCartney, Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres and noted PD sufferer Michael J. Fox for help. Aiming high? Hell, why not?

But he’s less interested in seeing what money he does raise go to feel-good PSAs than towards practical results. An example he gives is, “Tonight, this person in Pennsylvania needs deep-brain stimulation, and they haven’t got insurance. Without it, they won’t have much of a life, so we’re going to try to raise enough money to pay for it.

“Okay, maybe we won’t start with deep-brain stimulation, that’s pretty pricey, but a wheelchair, or something that’s going to help someone in that field.”

With Take the Boys and Miss Tabasco at
Théâtre Ste-Catherine on Friday,
Feb. 22, 8 p.m., $10