We went to see Hawksley Workman last night at the Winspear.
Last summer he and I had convened at his studio on his ranch, north of Toronto to record my new CD. Since then, I've maybe spoken to the guy once. To his credit, he's been extremely busy with a new record of his own.
At any rate, last night was one for the "top 10" list. What a great show from start to finish. The show started off with Hawksley perched on a child's drum kit and his piano player "Mr. Lonely", on a "Linus & Lucy" style, tiny grand piano.
The show took off from there and included a true acoustic performance, when all of the band lined up across the front of the stage, with no amplification and did 2 amazing songs.
After the show we went back to say hi and i was greeted with a bear hug and Hawksley's infamous, infectious smile from ear to ear, which I left wearing on my own face.
Thursday, we'll be playing in Saskatoon, the same day he will be. I suspect there will be some level of shenanigans...
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Exclaim Cup
So close!
It was within our grasp.
This last weekend, I was out in Toronto with a handful of friends including the boys from The Wheat Pool and Paul Bellows
as we banded together to form the Wheat Pool Wailers; a rag-tag group of musicians-turned-hockey players.
As some of you may know, my team, The Yellow Pencils are 0 and 20 this year... A perfect season. So you can imagine the shock that was felt amongst us who were there playing for the Wailers when we actually won a game. Shock and awe...
It felt even better to score a couple goals and get a 1st star of the game vote too!
I have to admit, the first goal was a spectacular feat of athleticism on my part when the puck was fired in by one of our defensemen, bounced off my ass and went top shelf, into the net! They gave me the first star for that, you ask?!!?? I'll tell you right now, I had to be in the exact right spot, with the exact right, ass-angle for that shot to have gone in. No one else's ass would have done the job.
At any rate, I guess we decided that winning was fun because we ended up playing in the finals against Dave Bidini, of the Reostatics and his team.
Apparently, they wanted it more than us because we lost 5-2. It must have been at least partially the fact that we were all doubting the reality of the situation.
It was fun!
It was within our grasp.
This last weekend, I was out in Toronto with a handful of friends including the boys from The Wheat Pool and Paul Bellows
as we banded together to form the Wheat Pool Wailers; a rag-tag group of musicians-turned-hockey players.
As some of you may know, my team, The Yellow Pencils are 0 and 20 this year... A perfect season. So you can imagine the shock that was felt amongst us who were there playing for the Wailers when we actually won a game. Shock and awe...
It felt even better to score a couple goals and get a 1st star of the game vote too!
I have to admit, the first goal was a spectacular feat of athleticism on my part when the puck was fired in by one of our defensemen, bounced off my ass and went top shelf, into the net! They gave me the first star for that, you ask?!!?? I'll tell you right now, I had to be in the exact right spot, with the exact right, ass-angle for that shot to have gone in. No one else's ass would have done the job.
At any rate, I guess we decided that winning was fun because we ended up playing in the finals against Dave Bidini, of the Reostatics and his team.
Apparently, they wanted it more than us because we lost 5-2. It must have been at least partially the fact that we were all doubting the reality of the situation.
It was fun!
Monday, March 17, 2008
What a great tour!
Thanks to all of you who made it out to our shows in Victoria, Vancouver and Kelowna and helped us to have such a successful tour.
We arrived in Victoria on Wednesday and managed to cram Dave, Nathan and I and all our gear into a sub-compact, hatchback. Naturally, the car we had reserved was not there...
At any rate, we made it into Victoria and were treated to breakfast at our new buddy, Ian Farish's place. Great hash browns Ian!
We headed over to our first of 2 shows that day; St. Michael's University School, or SMUS for short. What a kick-ass gig! The students were awesome to play for and were really positive.
Our second show was Ian's CD release. Great turn out and the audience was treated to an excellent show from both bands.
The next day, we squeezed into the car and took the ferry over to Vancouver.
There, we met up with Darcy (our new, bass player-extraorinaire) and Chuckles (drummy drummerson). That night was a real treat, meeting up with a tonne of former Yukoners including a couple members of the Pepper Sands, with whom we shared the stage. Vancouver-ite, Winston opened up the show, solo. All the bands had a great turn out and left feeling that we had seen a great show.
The next night in Vancouver at The Main, we played on the world's smallest stage. 5 of us crammed on to a 6' x 4' platform. Some how Nathan managed to have all the room at the centre while we were pushed to the edges... At any rate, it was a unique evening in that Chuckles played standing up with just brushes on a snare and Ride cymbal. It was a great vibe and I think fans will see that format again in the future.
At any rate, this is starting to ramble so...
Kelowna was a jam-packed show with tonnes of great fans. We made it hope in one piece and now I'm trying to recover....
We arrived in Victoria on Wednesday and managed to cram Dave, Nathan and I and all our gear into a sub-compact, hatchback. Naturally, the car we had reserved was not there...
At any rate, we made it into Victoria and were treated to breakfast at our new buddy, Ian Farish's place. Great hash browns Ian!
We headed over to our first of 2 shows that day; St. Michael's University School, or SMUS for short. What a kick-ass gig! The students were awesome to play for and were really positive.
Our second show was Ian's CD release. Great turn out and the audience was treated to an excellent show from both bands.
The next day, we squeezed into the car and took the ferry over to Vancouver.
There, we met up with Darcy (our new, bass player-extraorinaire) and Chuckles (drummy drummerson). That night was a real treat, meeting up with a tonne of former Yukoners including a couple members of the Pepper Sands, with whom we shared the stage. Vancouver-ite, Winston opened up the show, solo. All the bands had a great turn out and left feeling that we had seen a great show.
The next night in Vancouver at The Main, we played on the world's smallest stage. 5 of us crammed on to a 6' x 4' platform. Some how Nathan managed to have all the room at the centre while we were pushed to the edges... At any rate, it was a unique evening in that Chuckles played standing up with just brushes on a snare and Ride cymbal. It was a great vibe and I think fans will see that format again in the future.
At any rate, this is starting to ramble so...
Kelowna was a jam-packed show with tonnes of great fans. We made it hope in one piece and now I'm trying to recover....
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
BC Tour
Looking forward to getting out on the road again.
Next week we'll be playing 5 dates in BC. We'll be meeting up with some new and some old friends to share the stage with.
In Victoria, we'll be playing with a guy I just recently met named Ian Farish. It's his CD release concert and he was good enough to have us open his big night. Ian recently played a great show here in Edmonton at The Crown Pub.
The next couple nights have us in Vancouver, which is always a good, laid back time.
We'll be playing with a couple bands. Both of which I am a big fan of. The Peppersands is made up of a 4 great folks, two of whom are from Whitehorse, where I'm originally from. They're always a blast and I expect to get pretty drunk.
Winston is a great guy/band I've played a handful of shows with and as it turns out, he's actually on the same label as I am.
Winston will also be joining us at our Kelowna show. I'm pretty excited about the Kelowna show. We've been getting some really good radio and press there and I'm expecting a good turn out.
At any rate, if you're reading this and you live in one of the cities I mentioned, come on out to a show. And if you don't live in the area, tell a friend who does...
For more details, check out the website:
www.jamesmurdochband.com
Next week we'll be playing 5 dates in BC. We'll be meeting up with some new and some old friends to share the stage with.
In Victoria, we'll be playing with a guy I just recently met named Ian Farish. It's his CD release concert and he was good enough to have us open his big night. Ian recently played a great show here in Edmonton at The Crown Pub.
The next couple nights have us in Vancouver, which is always a good, laid back time.
We'll be playing with a couple bands. Both of which I am a big fan of. The Peppersands is made up of a 4 great folks, two of whom are from Whitehorse, where I'm originally from. They're always a blast and I expect to get pretty drunk.
Winston is a great guy/band I've played a handful of shows with and as it turns out, he's actually on the same label as I am.
Winston will also be joining us at our Kelowna show. I'm pretty excited about the Kelowna show. We've been getting some really good radio and press there and I'm expecting a good turn out.
At any rate, if you're reading this and you live in one of the cities I mentioned, come on out to a show. And if you don't live in the area, tell a friend who does...
For more details, check out the website:
www.jamesmurdochband.com
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