Dean
Doyle and I had big fun playing the Landlubber pub on March 30th. We
have worked together in various line ups in the past including
performing as a duo, but this was the first time we took it to the pub
for a party night of favourites and cover tunes. As anyone who’s ever
been to my performances would know, I always play some of my own tunes
so the night was “mostly” cover songs. We even threw in a Black Keys
cover and witnessed one of the patrons doing the “lonely boy” dance.
Playing the pub was very different from the duo gigs we’ve done in the
past. It was really cool for me because in the musical sense it is
pretty raw and naked. A circumstance like this dictates that the
musicians be extremely in tune with each other in terms of syncopation
and groove. Listening to your partner becomes critical and mistakes
become glaring so there is very little wiggle room. I couldn’t help but
recall my previous guitar / drums duo with Peter Scheibel, my spiritual
brother and fellow musician. We played a bunch of gigs under the
monicker of the “Tea Pad Revue”, including “Bathtub Weekend” in Nanaimo
during the 80’s when the bathtub race was quite the big deal.
Admittingly the room was on the shadier side of town, but we really
loved it down there and the nights were rocking. I’m usually not one to
reminisce, although I will admit that Peter who also sang harmony on the
“Choices” album passed in 2007 and rarely does a day go by where he
doesn’t cross my mind. Again, the only thing constant is change.
Permanence is the grand illusion. The pub night was a huge success and
you never know, we may even do it again sometime.
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| Dean and I at the Landlubber Pub Photo by Paul Jay |
April
19th will see myself and Marisha Devoin performing under the BoodAbooM
banner for the first official concert featuring all 12 of the songs from
“The Answer”, my recently completed album. As of the writing of this
blog I am still frantically trying to get Cd’s and tee shirts
manufactured in time for the performance. It looks good to get them in
time right now, although I don’t want to count chickens until the eggs
have hatched. Still ironing out details surrounding distribution and
available services for the promotion of BoodAbooM’s first album, “The
Answer” which is my personal third collection of songs to be released as an album. Char’s landing where we will be performing is a really sweet venue up in
Port Alberni. The building is a converted church that is now an arts
centre for the community. From painters to poets, dance to touring
musical acts, Char’s is proving to be a cultural gold mine for Port
Alberni. This will be Marisha’s inaugural BoodAbooM performance and
hopefully the first of many to come. Marisha is an internationally
travelled musician who is one of the finest bassist in our area. Here is
a video link to her jamming with the great Victor Wooten at a recent
Gabriola Island performance. She and I started working together a few
years back under the “Theo Massop Trio” moniker, but Marisha left to
tour with “Kings Without”. Her incredible talents have taken her through
a myriad of styles and stages, cruise ships and concerts. I am so
pleased to be sharing the stage with her for the upcoming show.
 |
| Checking things out at Char's Landing |
I
had convinced myself that this new blog would be void of political
rantings and raving about things that seem misguided to me. Things that
make me want to say, “that’s just not right!”. It’s hard not to do that
and I now understand why my eldest brother Gerry took to writing as an
advocate for the challenged in his later years of journalism. Sometimes
things crawl under your skin and you simply have to raise your voice in
hopes of being heard.
I
hate to keep hammering on the Harper hijinx, but Stevie baby seems to
continually be crapping on Canadians. Under the leadership (if you can
call it that) of this Prime Minister, the international respect Canada
once held is being completely eroded. We are looking bad on global
environmental efforts and Mr. Harper is being accused of making a
mockery of democracy. It’s no wonder Stephen Harper is being criticized
when you look at his treatment of his own people, yes we the Canadians.
He signs off on giving away Canadians jobs, as in the RBC case, to
foreign workers while sending our own qualified people to the
unemployment lines. This in the name of greater profitability. The big
banks are already making billions annually, but it’s not enough. They
want more. I quite liked the article I read referring to the RBC case
as “a new meaning to the words ‘piggy bank’.” Since Stephen Harper can
create laws and put them into effect at will, he’s decided to put in
Cyprus style banking laws allowing the banks to confiscate your money if
they get into trouble. All this while the Canadian people are either
slumbering or being silenced by his regime. Imbalanced mandatory
imprisonment laws, long term murky trade deals with China, deregulation of thousands of protected waterways, when is enough going
to be enough? I just caught myself letting out a great sigh of
frustration, so it’s time to switch subjects. I’m sure Harper thinks
he’s doing the right things for the country, but most Canadians no longer agree.
Back to the music before I cross my 1200 word limit.
I
was recently asked by Marius TV Lohmann to write and record a short
theme song for a video project he has been working on. Project Paintball
is a potential series currently available on YouTube surrounding, you
guessed it, the sport of paintball. He came to me with specific ideas of
the type of song and sound he was looking for. Marius was pleased with
what I had conjured in my own tea pad studio, Theo’s temple of tunes,
and decided to use my offering. Regardless of my super cheesy theme
song, Marius proves himself to be an awesome videographer, editor and
production manager. The show is excellent quality and even if you’ve
never paint balled, quite riveting! Check it out at this link and
subscribe, there seems to be more to come. Very entertaining. Be sure
and tell any of your paintball friends to check it out as well.
Incidentally “TV” is Marius’s actual middle initials.
For
this blog I would like to leave you with a thought, a quote from the
late great John Lennon, “It doesn’t matter who you love, where you love,
why you love, when you love, how you love, it only matters that you
love.” Yes my friends, I think John was right. Love is “The Answer”.
Let’s
strive to be as loving and kind to each other as we possibly can. Love,
kindness, forgiveness, ahhhh... the words just feel good don’t they?
Until later, Brother T
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