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Beautiful Scars

Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home

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Beautiful Scars

By: Tom Wilson
Narrated by: Tom Wilson
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About this listen

 "I'm scared and scarred but I’ve survived"

Tom Wilson was raised in the rough-and-tumble world of Hamilton—Steeltown— in the company of World War II vets, factory workers, fall-guy wrestlers and the deeply guarded secrets kept by his parents, Bunny and George. For decades Tom carved out a life for himself in shadows. He built an international music career and became a father, he battled demons and addiction, and he waited, hoping for the lies to cease and the truth to emerge. It would. And when it did, it would sweep up the St. Lawrence River to the Mohawk reserves of Quebec, on to the heights of the Manhattan skyline.
With a rare gift for storytelling and an astonishing story to tell, Tom writes with unflinching honesty and extraordinary compassion about his search for the truth. It's a story about scars, about the ones that hurt us, and the ones that make us who we are.

From Beautiful Scars:

Even as a kid my existence as the son of Bunny and George Wilson seemed far-fetched to me. When I went over it in my head, none of it added up. The other kids on East 36th Street in Hamilton used to tell me stories of their mothers being pregnant and their newborn siblings coming home from the hospital. Nobody ever talked about Bunny's and my return from the hospital. In my mind my birth was like the nativity, only with gnarly dogs and dirty snow and a chipped picket fence and old blind people with short tempers and dim lights, ashtrays full of Export Plain cigarette butts and bottles of rum.
Once, when I was about four, I asked Bunny, "How come I don't look anything like you and George? How come you are old and the other moms are young?"
"There are secrets I know about you that I’ll take to my grave," she responded. And that pretty well finished that. Bunny built up a wall to protect her secrets, and as a result I built a wall to protect myself. Entertainment & Celebrities Music Celebrity Sports Indigenous Authors
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I'd never given nuch thought to Tom Wilson. He just happened to be a member of one of my favourite bands where the other front stage members - Stephen Fearing and Colin Linden - drew my attention. It was only a mention about this book, live from the Shrewsbury Festival Stage, that alerted me to its existence. It's a full throttle tale of Tom's early life struggles to cope with hardship, alienation and some fairly blatent falsehoods. You really have to wonder why some families make the decisions that they do.

Against this background Tom throws himself into a full on Rock'n'Roll lifestyle as his talent develops. Ultimately it's not good for him emotionally, socially or musically. This is where I get conflicted. His self destructive behaviour appeared to be tolerared to an amazing degree as compensation for his remarkable talent. But he obviously hurt a lot of people, friends and family, along the way.

Only Tom could have narrated his autobiography. It's a gripping saga of an extreme individual as he searches for his true family and ethnic roots. I shall certainly have to search out his solo musical works. I hope he's happier now.

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