A life ofwriting song

Poet, singer, song-writer and visual artist Robert Anstey with his guitar at his home in Chilliwack. KARI MEDIG/THE PROGRESS

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One night I was dreaming

I was out in a blizzard

and it was raining popcorn on me

I woke up screaming

until I finally realized

I was working at the C4C

Fiction doesn’t interest Robert G. Anstey. He doesn’t care about the best-seller lists.

And even though he loves writing, he won’t be trying to craft a novel anytime soon.

“I write about things that interest me,” he says — reality, daily life, the people he knows and the people he meets. He’s been writing songs, poetry and music for most of his life.

For the past two years, that’s meant writing about his job at Cottonwood 4 Cinemas, the ‘C4C’ in the verse above.

He did it quietly, making note of poignant images of co-workers and customers at nightly showings of the newest movies. Then, in the morning at home, he would write out his ideas. He wrote songs and made music. He was steadily creating stories about the theatre, enough to fill a book.

So he did something that many writers wish they had the time or resources to do.

He published that book.

The result is Songs, Ballads and Poems of the Cottonwood 4. It’s a tribute to Anstey’s part-time job, but the project also fed a passion he’s had all his life.

“I’m a songwriter anyway,” he says. “And I’ve always written about daily events. In that writing, I just started to mention things about the theatre. I thought ‘why don’t I put the books together with some commentary?’”

For most, that would seem an insurmountable goal. But not Anstey.

The Cottonwood 4 book has roughly 160 predecessors, and he’s published a few more since its April release.

It’s a skill he learned while living in Vernon, publishing a small literary magazine called Teak Roundup.

“We had that for about five years and it taught me a lot about literary things,” he says. But eventually, the work was not paying for itself, and they had to move on.

He dropped the magazine, and focused more on his own writing. He picked up painting and began studying abstract art, while working with a family crafting business.

When crafting became big business, and retailers starting pay attention, the family company was squeezed out.

Anstey was left wondering what to do, and spent about a year looking for a part-time job to supplement his artistic endeavors.

He found that just around the corner from his home, at the Cottonwood. And even though writing, music and art are such a big part of his life, the book was a surprise to his co-workers.

“I don’t really talk about what I do, when I’m at work,” he says.

It wasn’t until one of his co-workers got married, and held her reception at the theatre, that his secret was out.

“I did play a song for the general manager,” he says. “Then the cat was out of the bag.”

In addition to the book, Anstey has recorded a CD of some of the songs. And that’s really where his heart is.

“Music is what I’ve done all my life,” he says. “In my teen years, what really got me through was music. Music really kept me.”

To find out more about Robert G. Anstey, or to order his books and CDs, visit http://rganstey.ca.