Country kid turned radio host Norm Casler jumped at the chance to blow harp with Buddy Guy and J.J. Cale

Casler, left, with rock legend Paul Rodgers and some guy who smiles weird

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON AUG. 8, 1996

By Steve Newton

When you’re the host of a popular blues radio show and you also happen to blow a mean blues harp, life can be good. Just ask Norm Casler–aka Storman Norman–host of the weekly CFOX Sunday Blues program. A couple of weeks ago he was camping at sunny Long Beach, hangin’ out and jamming with his pals in Vancouver blues-rock act Black Cat Bone, who were booked at a nearby pub. The next week he was off to San Francisco, this time in the company of local band Noah’s Great Rainbow, for an afternoon gig at Golden Gate Park.

I wonder what the guy does for fun!

Born in Penticton and raised in Fruitvale and Trail before moving to Vancouver in ’86, Casler developed a fondness for the blues through blues-derived rock bands such as AC/DC, as well as the cool-guy antics of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in the Blues Brothers. Then he got hooked on the harp.

“A buddy of mine in high school had one,” says Casler, “and I just totally loved the sound. And I used to play accordion, so I kinda had that accordion thing goin’. My buddy told me, ‘Hey man, you gotta get one of these, they’re only 10 bucks!’ So I went and asked my mom to get me a harmonica, and she said, ‘Yeah, I’ll buy you a harmonica–if you cut your hair!‘ So I went to school the next day with a crew cut and a new harmonica.”

That early hair-for-harp deal has paid off nicely for Casler, because not only can he handle the instrument well, his radio job offers the type of jamming opportunities most amateur players would die for. Examples can be heard on Storman Norman’s CFOX Sunday Blues Live, a 19-track CD that–as well as showcasing B.C. acts such as David Gogo, Brick House, Harpdog Brown, Black Cat Bone, and Johnny Ferreira & the Swing Machine–finds Casler blowing harp in the company of such international stars as Buddy Guy and Kenny Neal.

“Those guys are all really good for that,” explains Casler, “they’re so gracious. Buddy was just in the studio and said, ‘You play, man? You play?’ I’m like, ‘Um, well, you know, a little bit,’ and he goes, ‘Let’s hear that shit, man.’ And then after that he said, ‘Shit man, you come out and play that thing with me tonight.’ And that was the dream come true, you know.”

Sporting a gap-toothed grin even wider than his usual happy one, Casler strutted out onto the Commodore stage and did himself proud, trading sassy riffs with the blues god in front of a sold-out house. No chicken, Casler has always put the prospect of playing with seasoned pros way ahead of any feelings of inadequacy due to his limited stage experience.

There was the night about 12 years back when a starry-eyed Casler wound up playing with one of his biggest idols, J.J. Cale.

“That’s another great Commodore story,” says Casler, revealing through his wistful tone that he already misses the historic, recently closed venue. “I was a kid from the country and [former Commodore owner] Drew Burns gave me a backstage pass because I, like, asked for one, and told him I was a kid from the country. One thing led to another, and somehow I ended up talkin’ to J.J. Cale. We’re just sittin’ around the table and he asked, ‘Do you play, man, or what?’ And I was like ‘Oh boy, do I play.’ I whipped out my harmonica and he laughed and said, ‘Bring it up later, man.'”

During the five years that his radio show has been in existence, the gregarious Casler has leapt at the opportunity to jam with everyone from the late, great Albert Collins to southern-rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd. But two years ago his dream occupation was almost snuffed out when CFOX Sunday Blues was briefly pulled off the air.

“That was pretty harsh, man,” he recalls. “That’s ’cause they got a new program director who came in and said, ‘What, blues? Nah, that’s it, we’re a rock station.’ But then everybody phoned and wrote letters, and it was a rally of support to get the show back. The program director said, ‘Hey man, that’s cool. I don’t know everything.'”

Sunday Blues was reinstated, albeit in an abbreviated form, down from its original three-hour format to just one. But even just an hour of Casler’s gravelly articulations and contagious commentary on the blues beats the hell outta no Storman Norm at all.

As well as being the the main motivator behind the CFOX Sunday Blues CD–which recently sold out all of its 1,000 copies, raising roughly three grand for B.C.’s Children’s Hospital in the process–Casler keeps busy emceeing Sunday Blues-sponsored concerts and organizing such events as Storman Norman’s CFOX Sunday Blues Cruise, which takes place on August 18, with Brick House performing on board the party boat Boomtown. He’s also working on organizing a free, family-oriented showcase of local blues bands that’s slated for September 21 on Granville Island.

For details and updates on these events–or just to kick back and revel in the funky tone of Casler’s voice–tune in to 99.3 on your FM dial Sundays from 8 to 9 p.m.