CMW: Friendly Rich If someone told you there are no interesting musicians anymore, then they obviously haven't met Richard 'Friendly Rich' Marsella. Friendly Rich, a composer from Brampton, ON, is a man who has taken his passion for music and the unconventional and fused them together to create a world so unique and compelling, that it pushed an entire community to support his elaborate visions. In 2000, the creatively-charged suburbanite wanted to give back to his hometown, so he founded the Brampton Indie Arts Festival, an annual event that he directs, which promotes underground artists. From events like a parade of fourth graders marching through town playing homemade instruments to appearances from folks like Kid Koala, eclectic is not quite the term: "It's uplifting and encouraging to watch your community come together," explains Marsella. His passion for music and his community is strong, and it is this that ultimately drives and motivates him. In his latest venture, Marsella, along with his oddball troupe, The Lollipop People, assembled his version of a modern Vaudevillian stage show, entitled The Friendly Rich Show. This ragtime-esque journey through his own mind captures the whimsical and darker side of his personality. "I enjoy making people scratch their heads and ask questions." It would seem reasonable to assume that a nearly-naked, tattooed old man dancing on stage with Marsella and his right-hand man David Hannan, aka Soot, parading around and howling at the often mesmerized audience, might make people stir a little, but says Marsella, "If I had it my way, we'd be running the show out of a circus tent." Marsella, who expresses individuality to a degree seldom seen, says, "I've always been independent and have never known anything different." In fact, the Brampton Indie Arts Festival is funded primarily by Richard himself. "It's the most rewarding feeling. It's tough sometimes, but it's all worth it." To date, Friendly Rich has recorded seven records and since 1994 has had his own record label, The Pumpkin Pie Corporation. His most recent endeavour is an album with The Lollipop People, We Need A New F-Word, released last year by Hazelwood Records out of Germany. With the deal comes a tour of Germany, which the band will embark on later this year. All this, along with regular rotation on CBC Radio 2's Brave New Waves and providing the background music for The Tom Green Show on MTV a few years back, Marsella is man who is well-versed, but who also wants more: "I love what I do. It makes sense to me. I could never see myself not doing something." And for a man like him, that's precisely the way it needs to be.