I was driving home recently when I spotted a customized license plate on a 2018 Kia Sorento with the word PLAYD and my interest was piqued because I couldn’t figure out what it meant.
I followed the driver and watched him go into a music shop and then quickly snapped a photo of the plate. But I was so curious about the plate, I walked into the music shop and spotted the driver and told him I write about license plates and showed him my business card. I asked if I could interview him and he agreed and told me his name, David O’Hearn, and that he was a musician. We we agreed to meet at a coffee shop a couple days later.
When I returned home, I checked out David’s LinkedIn account and it provided an extensive bio of an individual who has been performing in local musicals and dramatic theatre since 2005. He has appeared in 85 productions, both on stage as an actor and playing guitar in the orchestra. He does about 150 dates a year as a solo act, duo and in various bands. The groups include Time Trip (www.timetripband.ca), Age Of Reason, Blackboard Blues Band (www.blackboardbluesband.ca), Streetfire (www.Streetfire.ca) and Andy Butler & The Diplomats. He has created original music scores for several independent short films and one feature. He also has a home-based project studio.
In his bio, it said “I’m The D In PLAYD.”
I asked David to explain the meaning behind it. It proved to be quite interesting. Back in mid-2008, he was working in a software company he co-founded in 1989 with two business partners directed at custom brokers and freight forwarders in Canada. He wrote the software but grew tired of the business and decided to retire from the company. He wondered what he’d do next and decided he loved music and theatre. He’d always signed his software code doh, as in David O’Hearn, so when he came up with a new business he called it playDOH and developed a website and promotional materials with the name.
“When I registered the domain, playdoh.ca, it was available and the cost was $10 for a year” he told me. “I thought if Hasbro hasn’t registered it, they obviously don’t care about it.”
About eight months later, he received a registered letter from Hasbro saying it felt he was infringing on the company’s trademark.
He called up a lawyer friend who coincidentally happened to know the Canadian lawyer for Hasbro. David was offered a financial settlement to change his company name.
“It was a nuisance for me because I had to re-register everything,” he said.
He then checked for PLAYD.ca, which was available.
He thinks of it as Play David or a variation on playing music.
The Sorento, which he purchased used with 62,000 kilometres, seats seven, but he frequently has to fold down the back rows to accommodate transporting his musical equipment, which can range from a few guitars and knapsack to a full-blown PA system for a 10-piece band.
“I go where the work is and the gigs interest me,” he said. “I love the studio because you can be very precise, very creative, creating something out of nothing. I also write pop songs for myself and music for film and TV.”
He has also utilized his studio extensively in the past with other artists, producing and playing on their tracks. He enjoys playing live because of the immediate feedback from the audience.
David had once dreamed of playing in a band for a living, but settled into family life, raising two children. Music became something he did on the side while working a day job.
“Most musicians have day jobs,” he said. “I think for me playing music is an outlet for creativity. I feel thwarted if I’m not creating something. Maybe I’m doing a cover tune, but I’m putting my own flair on it. Or I’m creating new music in the studio.”
He is 62 and I wondered if he’s done what he wanted to do in life.
“It’s like that Rolling Stones song, You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” he said. “You can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need. Back at York University in 1982-1983 I wanted to be a film composer. That’s still a goal.”
He plays several instruments, such as guitar, keyboards, bass, drums, along with vocals, so I wondered how he classifies himself.
“I’d say primarily I’m a vocalist and guitar player,” he said. “I’m passable on keyboards, even though I was never trained to do it. I play a mean bass. I can program good drums. But I like to think of myself as a good arranger/producer, too.”
Incidentally, I asked him to bring a guitar to do a photo. While shooting a few pics, I thought he looked too passive and asked him to pose like a guitarist with an attitude. That’s when I got the shot I wanted.
I told him he looked like Jack Black from School Of Rock. He told me he’d appeared in a musical production of School Of Rock at Meadowvale Theatre in Mississauga in 2024, using the guitar he had brought with him (an Epiphone Jared James Gold Glory model).
I guess there was a reason I followed David into the music store. Call it coincidence or serendipity, but it all began with my curiosity of his license plate.
Perry Lefko is the Content Manager of The Car Magazine. He can be reached at [email protected]. Feel free to forward any story suggestions or comments.
