Alan's From the Road
2008
Tour Diary - March 27, 2008 - Home
Thursday, March 27, 2008
I’ve managed to have a healthy apathy about the weather for most of my life. With the exception of the occasions when GBS is slated to play outdoor concerts, I barely check the forecast. Most days I could care less if it rains, shines or freezes. I generally go about my day, indoors or out, regardless of the conditions. I’m convinced this Weather Zen is key to being a happy Newfoundlander, especially in the weeks that follow Paddy’s Day and lead to Summer. (Known most commonly as ‘Spring’, a season that skips the Rock annually)
Right now the sideways drifts of the third snowstorm in as many days are whipping up my street. Through the squalls, I cannot see my parked Grey Toyota Sienna, a rather large Mini Van, parked less than ten feet from my office as I type. I can feel my Zen resolve slipping; I can sense my apathy breaking. This winter is bringing me down a wee bit, I confess.
I must cast my gaze backward and forward on days and nights past and future as the present is cold and frozen.
Grand Paddy’s weekend a little while ago. Great fun to have Russell join us in DC for a song or two. Hard to beat his performances. I’ve learned a lot from his presence on stage and his conviction to the moment. I can think of few so eager to give themselves so completely to a performance when the curtain rises, the lights go down, or someone yells, “Action”.
Like many in the GBS camp, he also prides himself on hosting the best parties. The after show sing-along at the Hotel was one for the ages, with The Shantyman shining at his best, and Rachel M leading a lovely version of “Time After Time”. Grand, Grand Night.
The visit to Atlantic City proved to me that places can’t be as bad as people say. I thought the boardwalk was cool. I enjoyed the kooky old games areas. Reminded me of Tom Hanks and “BIG”, one of my favourite films.
A long flight from DC to Edmonton (for a fun gig) and back to Toronto overnight, followed by a snow delay, another snow delay, a detour to Montreal for three hours and a near crash landing 24 hours later in a windy St. John’s was not a fun way to end a fun weekend.
But things are looking up. Way up. Labels, management, and band are gearing up for the launch of the new CD. “Fortunes Favour” will be out on Tuesday June 24th in Canada and the US. Much work going on behind the scenes for touring throughout the Summer and Fall.
We are scheduled have photos taken and do a video for the first single, yet to be determined, in Toronto between April 12th and 15th. And by a wonderful coincidence, that puts us in town for the Oysterband Show on the 13th at Hugh’s Room.
For those of you who don’t know, the Oysterband have been heroes to GBS long before me, Sean and Bob ever got together. They are the quintessential British Folk Rock group that ran down the same corridors as the Pogues and Billy Bragg in England and Europe. They still have a huge following in Britain, Germany and Scandinavia, as their concerts are legendary and their songs are even better.
Ever heard of a song called “When I’m Up I Can’t Get Down”? GBS did pretty well with that track, thanks to the Oyster Gents who wrote and recorded many years before us. When we were compiling material for the ‘Play’ CD, we considered a couple of dozen Oysterband tunes to cover. We picked a good one, but there are literally several albums worth of songs as good or better in the Oyster catalogue.
We are not the only Canadian folkies to love their songwriting. John and Geoffrey from SOTW count the Oysters as early influences. Check out the Bara McNeils cover of “Northern Lights”, or Shanneygannock’s “This Town”.
Their song catalogue is Blue Rodeo Deep. Trust me. Check them out at OysterBand.co.uk
Check out the tour dates and see if there’s a date near you. Like I said, they play Hugh’s Room in Toronto on the 13th, and unless wild horses drag us away, so will the whole GBS Cast.
Spring is in the air. Somewhere.
Cheers,
Alan
Tour Diary - February 25, 2008 - Home
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
I wonder how many times I can write in this forum about my good fortune before you all start to get bored or worse, resentful. With apologies, I have to proceed. This weekend past was one for the books.
I exchanged a few emails back and forth with Jim C from Blue Rodeo over the past few weeks as I heard they were coming to town. I usually ask the band over for fish cakes or ferry a few of them around to a few hidden treasures in the Eastern Avalon area just to be hospitable. I’ve learned a lot from the gents in BR over the years and I like to return the favour when they are in my backyard.
It’s no secret that I’ve been a huge BR fan for a long time. Well before GBS ever struck a chord, I used to stand in the dark corner of Trapper John’s on George Street, just to the left of the two video lotto machines, barely in view and earshot of the few stragglers who would turn their ears to the solo dude with the guitar, to hear me stumble through a cover of ‘Try’, or “Rose Coloured Glasses”.
There’s a real good argument to be made that Jim and Greg Keelor’s partnership has yielded more great songs that any other in Canadian history. There’s a few Guess Who and Rush fans who’d beg to differ, but I’d put my money on the boy’s tunes any day.
I should also note that the boys in the band are the exception to the “Don’t ever meet your Heroes” rule. They’ve been supportive, helpful, generous and kind to us ever since they gave us an opening slot on their Eastern Canadian tour way back in the mid 90’s. They’ve done the same for many others.
I remember Sara MacLachlan opening for Blue Rodeo many moons ago in a hockey rink in Mount Pearl. It could have been Timmins, Ontario or Sherbrooke, Quebec, or Nanaimo, BC. The boys have played them all. There simply cannot be a band more dedicated to bringing music to Rural Canadians than Blue Rodeo. They’ve been doing it for almost a quarter century, with no signs of slowing down.
Mile One Stadium had white paper signs taped to the front windows as I approached Blue Rodeo concert on Friday night. The bold black letters read:
TONIGHTS EVENT IS SOLD OUT
That’s amazing…and very encouraging. I would do queer things to ensure that GBS could sell out a 6000 seat hockey rink on a freezing day in February in our 25th year. Looks like I’m still learning from the boys.
In the middle of their standing ovation earning set, Jim and Greg asked me up to sing one of my favourite BR songs, “What am I doing Here”. I closed my eyes sang as loud as I could, just to try to keep up.
I woke Saturday morning worried that the weather forecast might, for once, be accurate and blowing snow would ground us in St. John’s. Me, Sean and Bob had a plane to catch, you see. A plane to Montreal to sing the National Anthems at the Bell Center at the request of Habs GM, Mr. Bob Gainey, who just happened to having his Jersey retired and raised to the rafters that very evening’s hockey game.
Its no secret that I’ve been a huge Montreal Canadiens fan for a long time. As kids, myself and brother Bern would do almost any chore asked of us on the weekends to earn the right to stay up late enough to watch Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights. We never had cable TV, of course, but our Black and White floor model with the rabbit ears made from clothes hangers and wire picked up the signal nicely on most nights. The game always seemed to feature the Habs vs. Toronto or Boston.
I loved every shift of every period of every game. The Montreal Forum was like Narnia to me. It was my Hollywood. A place that I knew existed but I would never get to see. The games were like mass. The ritual of the opening procession, the standing and facing the Queen, the respectful removal of the gent’s hats, the bowed heads twitching in anticipation as the camera panned the stands. And the players, marching armies onto opposing sides, eyes closed to ease the nerves and to summon courage and patience.
The fans, opposing players and officials all pause for the Anthem. The one time when the whole room is united as the games could not begin with out the ceremonial song. Roger Doucette was the regular Anthem singer at the Canadien’s games during my childhood and beyond (I wonder what happened to that guy?). Clad in his black and white tuxedo, he brought a note of formality and class to the evening that I thought the night deserved. What a gig. One song and you get to see every Habs home game from ice level.
So, it was with nervous excitement that we gladly accepted Mr. Gainey’s invitation to song the Star Spangled Banner in English and Oh Canada en Francais.
Here’s a bit of a confession that may surprise some of you. GBS rarely rehearses. I can recall less than a half dozen times in our years of touring that we all gathered to do nothing but practice. We’ve often gathered to write, or to re-arrange traditional songs, but most of our honest to God rehearsal has happened at sound checks or (gasp) right in front of your eyes at gigs.
Last week, leading up to the Anthem gig, we rehearsed three times. With all due respect to all you Americans readers, risking an off the cuff version of the US Anthem in Montreal, did not bother me one bit. But I was shite-baked to shag up the French Oh Canada on the hallowed ice surface of Les Canadiens. So I begged Sean, Bob, and Kris to run over it with me numerous times. (Murray had a gig in T.O. by the way and could not make the last minute anthem call, much to his chagrin)
We sat in the schmancy suite for the Jersey retirement ceremony. We shared canapés and tipped glasses with Habs legends and witnessed a spectacular moment for the Gainey Family who’ve had more than their share of dark days recently.
Just before the heading to the ice surface to sing, we were corralled into an alley behind the players’ benches to wait to be introduced. An official asked us to step aside momentarily. I was not sure why till one of the Habs, Steve Begin, I believe strides in to the hall way from swinging doors and waits for the rest of the team. We were standing right outside the Habs dressing room!
Starting goalie Carey Price was next out and bent in deep concentration psyching himself up to lead the team onto the ice. A few more players strode past when I realized that I might actually get a wink or a nod in with Bonavista, Newfoundland native Michael Ryder, who plays for the Habs, as he marched to the ice. I turned to Mac Daddy to get him to click on his video camera, but he was way ahead of me. He captured this:
Deadly. Full knuckles from Ryder his way to the ice. Cool grin from Mr. Gainey at the end as well. He knows childlike obsession for hockey when he sees it.
I can’t say much about the Anthems. We walked onto the ice, Sean belted out the Star Spangled Banner, and I doted out Oh Canada en Francais, the crowd cheered, and the game was on. Perfect.
To make the night even cooler, a wonderful coincidence found all my siblings in Montreal for the event. Little sis Michelle was in town to fulfill her Green Card formalities as she is singing and living in Ft. Lauderdale these days. Big sis Kim had planned long ago to join her for the weekend. When I got the Anthem gig, brother Bern was not to be left out. So all four of Tom and Jean’s kids sat and cheered at the Montreal game on Saturday night.
Long way from Petty Harbour and the black and white TV.
Cheers,
Alan
Tour Diary - January 14, 2008 - AC Flight 654, Halifax-St John’s
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
I’ve written in this forum many times about my affinity for New York, and at the risk of boring you, dear reader, I am compelled to do it again. With my ears still ringing from the chanting of the Faithful at the Bowery, my legs sore from all the walking around Uptown and Little Italy, and my taste buds still perked from a dose of Lombardi’s Pizza and Enchiladas from Mexican Radio, I have to say that the world’s greatest city never disappoints. That said, I would have preferred that my first visit to a Rangers game at Madison Square Gardens might have yielded a different result.
I flew down to NY a day early, you see, to catch the Habs play the Rangers. My buddy Brendan got us seats against the glass for the Saturday night event and it was a dandy experience to see my favourite sport played in one of its most hallowed halls. Too bad the Habs had such a poor showing and got trounced 4-1 by the home team. It was good for the legions of local Rangers fans who make for a most entertaining night at the Rink.
Most of the kind folks who paid to see us at the Bowery would have no idea that the gig was, in part, a showcase event for a conference that was on going in the Big Apple. The delegates of this conference are all buyers for the major theatres and concert venues in North America, and the Sunday night show was a chance for GBS to get in front of a bunch of them at once. Smart planning by manager Louis and US agent Brian, I figure. Hope they were all impressed and hire us to play all over the place.
I’d like to say thanks to everyone who attended the GBXmas gig and help to raise around 50k for Daffodil Place. On behalf of the band and the fundraising committee, I am very grateful for your support for such a worthy cause.
All hands looking forward to the BNL Cruise in a couple of weeks. I’ve never been on a cruise and honestly never thought I’d ever go on one. But the thoughts of a floating music festival where we’ll get the chance to do our own stuff but more importantly, jam with everyone else, tickled my fancy, for sure. I hope to join some of the other band members for foolish 80’s cover in the bar, shanties on the deck, or drinking songs in the pub. According to Ed, from BNL, pretty much anything goes. Yeha.
The plane just tipped its nose ever so slightly which tells me we are about to land. I’ve been running ahead of the bad weather all day and had some serious doubts that I’d get to see the little fella before his bed time for the third night in a row. It’s funny how that kind of simple thing matters so much when you’ve got a small kid. Don’t want to miss a thing.
GBS has a private gig in Whistler next weekend before heading for the Sunny South. Ski Hills and SCUBA gear all in the same week. I love my job.
Rock On.
Cheers,
Alan
