A little time away ...

Tomorrow my Halifax friends and I are going to hold a Watermelon picnic in my backyard and film it. We're going to sing the songs from the new album. Everyone knows them here by now. I've been handing out advance copies like it's going out of style and the album is never going to actually be released for real. Well...

It's going to be fun. I'll share it all with you soon.

But first ...

I'm going to Montreal and to my family's country house on Friday to take some time off. The summer has been non-stop for me. Not so much non-stop in the sense of touring and playing shows and press conferences and late-night airplane trips. Non-stop in the sense that my brain has been going non-stop, worrying and agonizing over the new album and how to release it and where to go and what to do. It's gotten to the point that I can't see the forest for the trees. I need a little rejuvenation. A little windsurfing. A little visit to my old summer camp, Camp Massad. Though the summer session is over. But my best-friend is the director. The whole thing is very grounding. That's what I need right now. You see, to give myself fully to you guys through music, performance and communication online, I need to be happy with myself and centered. If I'm not than I start to resent the whole thing, and that's not gonna make it good for either of us. I really want the whole experience of sharing my music and thoughts with you guys to be an organic and full-bodied thing. It's gotta be somthing that I live and wanna do. Anyway, I'm losing myself a bit now. The main point is that I need a bit of time away from music and career stuff. I hope to come back at it in a few weeks time refreshed and ready to start sharing again! And let me say this - I have lots to share. Once I can look at a computer screen without shooting anxiety again, I'm going to be posting lots!

I hope you have all had meaningful summers and good hikes. Here are some photos from the last two weeks:

a hike with Sarah



















a show at Gus' Pub in Halifax

really excited...

Hey folks,

I'm really excited to get my new music out there in the world. We've all got to be patient, and the album will come out in due time. Hopefully soon ... I'll do my best to give you all previews and nuggets of joy along the way. It'll be worth the wait!

Love Mike

Singing

I just came back from a Singalong at Heartwood Bakery and Cafe in Halifax. My friend Levon who works there bought 2! pianos just like mine in the last few months. The better of the two he keeps at the restaurant and he bought it for $150. (I bought mine for $1500!) And his sounds great.

Anyway, we had this idea to have a singalong night where I just play piano (and my friend Shannon came by with his mandolin and great voice) -- and all our friends come by and sing and request songs ... a lot of oldies. Tonight was amazing ... there was obviously a flow to the night and sometimes there were songs that we didn't know as well and people were just talking and having a good time. But there were also songs that everyone knew and there was just this swell in voices and energy! Such a rush to be there. A lot of Carole King songs, we realized. She's such a great songwriter. It's such a skill and gift to write a song that's simple and universal and catchy. She's got that with a lot of her songs. And we all tried to sing "Out in the street" by the Shangri-Las. that's an amazing song.

I feel so lucky to be a part of the music community here. In a way I feel like it's a perfect fit ... everyone loves the old classics from the 50s, 60s and 70s. We did lots of McCartney, and I even gave into my reluctance to play Billy Joel and Elton John (you know, being a piano playing singer/songwriter, I've always wanted to establish that I'm more than just a tribute act) -- those cats are my roots and it felt great to strip my pretenses and just enjoy singing and playing "Only the good die young" and "Rocket man".

Lets see, we also played a lot of Beach Boys early on. Jason McIsaac was there, he's in a band called the Heavy Blinkers and they love the Beach Boys. It was a bit nervewracking to attack some of those songs with him, but the payoff was huge. It was especially fun singing "Add some music to your day" and "I get around". The most fun I had was playing songs I'd never tried to play before but that I've heard a million times.

Anyway, a very fun night all around. I hope it happens again.

Talk to you all later...

Welcome to my new blog, folks

I've got a new album, and now I've got a new blog. The album, called Good Watermelon, is not out yet. I'll let you know when that's happening. But the blog is out and i'm sure it's gonna take on a life of its own. I've got some cool things planned. But I think I'll ease into it. Auuugghh. This is gonna be nice.

Well, it's summer in Halifax (where I live now), and I still haven't made it out to Cape Breton yet. Nor have I made it to the beach to go windsurfing. I hear there's a great one near Laurencetown called Stoney Beach. I'm gonna check it out soon. Mainly I've been taking advantage of unlimited yoga and getting into jogging and frisbee. And I bought a huge hula-hoop last month that's been a lot of fun.

Anyway, this might be a blog that's slightly on the boring and mundane side, but have no worries - I'll be coming at you with all sorts of clever and life-altering observations. No ... mainly I'll be letting you know what I'm up to day-to-day. Some music stuff and some ordinary stuff too. Maybe some thoughts on books and movies too. I've been watching a lot of movies this summer. Did you know that Halifax has the best video store I've ever come across? It's called Video Difference and it's open 24 hours and they take Canadian Tire money (for those of you who don't live in Canada - Canadian Tire is a generic chain that sells everything from tires to flashlights and camping gear - it's classic stuff, and they give out their own kind of money with every purchase).

Anyway, more on everything later. Good night. I've come up with a rule that only lets me be on the internet for 2 hours each day. I'm over by 30 minutes. Gotta go to bed and read a bit. Here's what I'm looking like this summer ...