it's been a while since my last post. i've been busy living life in summer montreal. saw stevie wonder at the jazz fest last week and it was very moving as he made the show a tribute to michael jackson. some people were taken aback by him just letting michael jackson recordings take center stage at times through the show and with a medley at the end ... he and the band just stood there on stage and listened and sang along with the audience ... but i thought it was so beautiful. very communal.
well, i've been writing a lot. there are a lot of songs that i haven't posted on youtube yet, and i hope i get a chance to, but my computer has been very slow lately and it's been hard to allow it all the time it needs when i'm grabbing an hour here and there in cafes. all in all, i'm taking time to be without the internet whenever i can. it feels good. i understand that a lot of a musician's career unfolds on the internet these days, but i don't think it has to be like that all the time. and generally, it really blocks me up and i lose sight of what's propelling my art ... life and people and the outdoors and the city. yes. and the country too. so i'll do what i can when i feel like and sometimes when i don't feel like it too, but it won't turn out as good. so mostly when i feel like it. like right now.
i've got my 3 week us tour coming up. i'm very excited. yes. now i am. i wasn't excited when i was going to be away for 3 months.... but 3 weeks suits me at this point. i'm sure i'll go out for big tours in the coming years. i'm sure of it.
this might be my last tour ... actually it will definitely be my last one .... with traveling by myself in a car with my piano. it's lonely and taxing on me and i've done it for 5 years and i'll be looking to expand the operation. other pianos. ... we'll see what the fall brings!
i've got two periods of 5 days or so during my tour where i have nothing planned. so i'll be looking to go camping or something like that. something very different from sitting in a car on interstates. if you have any suggestions, please let me know. it's between nyc and detroit and also between michigan and wisconsin.
looking forward to nashville!!
anyway, i'm in the middle of uploading some more songs onto myspace. internet promotion stuff.
and ...
don't know where that and was leading to...
really into cat stevens these days.
i want my next album to be in the spirit of his early solo albums.
okay.... more to come.
i'm going to see a comedy improv show with my youngest brother this evening...
see ya on the road, if not this summer then soon.
i want to see all of you!!! i want to travel everywhere!!!
lovin' the world, and i haven't even seen most of it yet.
how is it?
will i be disappointed?
okay,
i'm leaving now....
bye,
mike
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
a week abroad
hye (that's my new greeting.... just a typo, but lazy and artistic can merge sometimes),
i just got back to montreal after a week east. i arrived at 5 am early monday morning. drove from halifax. kinda crazy. especially in the rain. but i wanted to have the day here. ended up sleeping half the day, so i don't know what's the smarter thing in that case. okay. rambling over here.
i had a really nice week away from montreal. but it's awesome to be back and get back into writing and cooking and just plain taking care of myself.
i left last sunday and headed to sherbrooke to spend a couple of days with andy creeggan's family. andy and i worked on some demos for 3 of my new songs. it was a lot of fun. andy's got a great shed that he converted into a studio. it's a bit chaotic, but it works that way. it was also real nice to play a grand piano. andy's got a nice one. so the songs we did are 'slow through the city', 'real tight', and 'do you feel the world'. maybe i'll post them... they're real rough and i had a cold.
on tuesday i made the drive from sherbrooke to halifax and i started to obsess over how to record a potential new album. and then i got caught up getting deeper and deeper into obsessive inner thinking and i found myself missing all of the wonderful external things that make this world such a fun place to live sometimes. so that's going to be my challenge for this next recording, whatever way i record it. to keep the creative flow and keep receiving wonderful signals from this old world. it's easy to get tunnel vision when recording. i don't know if i'm ready yet.
so halifax. it was so amazing to be back there. all of my friends and some more came out to the show on wednesday night at the company house. jason macisaac and the heavy blinkers ensemble opened up and played all new songs. jenn grant sang with them and it was beautiful. and i played solo but everyone helped me out at one point or another. such a wonderful vibe that night!!! i'm glad everyone had a good time.
thursday i went to musquodoboit to rehearse with the kids choir for the friday show. i also performed a 15 minute set for the school. a lot of the kids sang along to good watermelon, one of the songs they were planned to sing. the rehearsal went well and i have some of it on video. i'll post it maybe.... i only have like a couple of hours a day tops on the internet, so it's hard to fit in everything all the time. but it's all on my list to do!! thanks for staying with me....
the show on friday with the kids was a blast. it was electric. they sand good watermelon, and then i joined them for great pop song. one of the biggest highs of my life was after that song when i did some high fives with the kids and then it just ended up being high fives with every kid. i did 2 songs on my own, but the choir was still very involved, either by laughing at the lyrics or by clapping and singing. i sang if you were my girl and we should dance.
i also did some piano session work while in town.... a song on the next stance record. great fun guys. so nice. and a great thrill was to work with mike o'neill for a song on his next record. that was saturday afternoon. wow!! you know i've been obsessively listening to his 2000 record what happens now? so it was an honour.
i also caught some amazing live music while in halifax. on friday i saw erin costelo's cd release set! she burned up the stage. amazing. and then i also caught the first set from the new band called library ... an offshoot of the band i see rowboats. and on saturday i caught a fun show at st. matthew's church. hymm, ruth minnikin, the superfantastics and brent randall and his pinecones were on the bill. really was looking forward to that show. didn't disappoint. you should check out all of those bands!!! the highlight was hymm's duet between levon campbell and jess lewis called hills or something like that. it had the 2 of them at the piano playing together and singing together!!!
anyway, a really nice week away and now i'm back and a bit hungry, so i think i'll leave this cafe soon and head back home. yesterday my tire exploded on van horne street, so i gotta fix that too.
well, there.... a regular week away for me.
see you soon,
mike
i just got back to montreal after a week east. i arrived at 5 am early monday morning. drove from halifax. kinda crazy. especially in the rain. but i wanted to have the day here. ended up sleeping half the day, so i don't know what's the smarter thing in that case. okay. rambling over here.
i had a really nice week away from montreal. but it's awesome to be back and get back into writing and cooking and just plain taking care of myself.
i left last sunday and headed to sherbrooke to spend a couple of days with andy creeggan's family. andy and i worked on some demos for 3 of my new songs. it was a lot of fun. andy's got a great shed that he converted into a studio. it's a bit chaotic, but it works that way. it was also real nice to play a grand piano. andy's got a nice one. so the songs we did are 'slow through the city', 'real tight', and 'do you feel the world'. maybe i'll post them... they're real rough and i had a cold.
on tuesday i made the drive from sherbrooke to halifax and i started to obsess over how to record a potential new album. and then i got caught up getting deeper and deeper into obsessive inner thinking and i found myself missing all of the wonderful external things that make this world such a fun place to live sometimes. so that's going to be my challenge for this next recording, whatever way i record it. to keep the creative flow and keep receiving wonderful signals from this old world. it's easy to get tunnel vision when recording. i don't know if i'm ready yet.
so halifax. it was so amazing to be back there. all of my friends and some more came out to the show on wednesday night at the company house. jason macisaac and the heavy blinkers ensemble opened up and played all new songs. jenn grant sang with them and it was beautiful. and i played solo but everyone helped me out at one point or another. such a wonderful vibe that night!!! i'm glad everyone had a good time.
thursday i went to musquodoboit to rehearse with the kids choir for the friday show. i also performed a 15 minute set for the school. a lot of the kids sang along to good watermelon, one of the songs they were planned to sing. the rehearsal went well and i have some of it on video. i'll post it maybe.... i only have like a couple of hours a day tops on the internet, so it's hard to fit in everything all the time. but it's all on my list to do!! thanks for staying with me....
the show on friday with the kids was a blast. it was electric. they sand good watermelon, and then i joined them for great pop song. one of the biggest highs of my life was after that song when i did some high fives with the kids and then it just ended up being high fives with every kid. i did 2 songs on my own, but the choir was still very involved, either by laughing at the lyrics or by clapping and singing. i sang if you were my girl and we should dance.
i also did some piano session work while in town.... a song on the next stance record. great fun guys. so nice. and a great thrill was to work with mike o'neill for a song on his next record. that was saturday afternoon. wow!! you know i've been obsessively listening to his 2000 record what happens now? so it was an honour.
i also caught some amazing live music while in halifax. on friday i saw erin costelo's cd release set! she burned up the stage. amazing. and then i also caught the first set from the new band called library ... an offshoot of the band i see rowboats. and on saturday i caught a fun show at st. matthew's church. hymm, ruth minnikin, the superfantastics and brent randall and his pinecones were on the bill. really was looking forward to that show. didn't disappoint. you should check out all of those bands!!! the highlight was hymm's duet between levon campbell and jess lewis called hills or something like that. it had the 2 of them at the piano playing together and singing together!!!
anyway, a really nice week away and now i'm back and a bit hungry, so i think i'll leave this cafe soon and head back home. yesterday my tire exploded on van horne street, so i gotta fix that too.
well, there.... a regular week away for me.
see you soon,
mike
Saturday, May 16, 2009
muffins and the market
today i took time in the middle of the day to check out the jean-talon market here in montreal. i bought some neat stuff and it felt amazing to be around people enjoying simple things like gardening and buying produce. it was contagious.
i went home and baked banana muffins. and if i may say so myself, they taste great!! i'm never buying another muffin from a cafe again .... but that's obviously a lie.
anyway, i don't know why i always write these blogs at night when i just want to get home and to bed.
you know, i still have to steal internet time away at cafes or my parents' or friends' houses, because i don't have internet at my place. and it feels really nice too to not have it.
that said, i'm off there now.... just bought some postcards to hang up yesterday around my place. there's one of john travolta in the 70's in a pop-art style. i love it. also some movie posters (paris, texas, down by law) and some cool random ones too. the place is looking nice..... getting into incense too. except the building people came around yesterday to install a new battery in my smoke detector and it went off when i was taking a shower and in the middle of the night when i had my humidifier on. so i don't know about the incense.... no, i don't know about the smoke detector....
anyway, i thought i was wrapping this up.
bye and good night.
mike
i went home and baked banana muffins. and if i may say so myself, they taste great!! i'm never buying another muffin from a cafe again .... but that's obviously a lie.
anyway, i don't know why i always write these blogs at night when i just want to get home and to bed.
you know, i still have to steal internet time away at cafes or my parents' or friends' houses, because i don't have internet at my place. and it feels really nice too to not have it.
that said, i'm off there now.... just bought some postcards to hang up yesterday around my place. there's one of john travolta in the 70's in a pop-art style. i love it. also some movie posters (paris, texas, down by law) and some cool random ones too. the place is looking nice..... getting into incense too. except the building people came around yesterday to install a new battery in my smoke detector and it went off when i was taking a shower and in the middle of the night when i had my humidifier on. so i don't know about the incense.... no, i don't know about the smoke detector....
anyway, i thought i was wrapping this up.
bye and good night.
mike
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