Introspective views, self definition and understanding, the song “You’re So Afraid”

We are the composite of our own personal experiences, circumstance, situations and background. Nothing in the universe is static, so what we are will evolve into what will become. Many people define themselves as being this or that. I for example, when asked about myself will usually reply, “I’m a musician”. But of course we are all more than just one thing or the other. A father, a brother, a friend, a husband, and a multitude of other attributes, functions and skills. In the stream of life as we flow along, the achievements, interactions, possessions, accumulate to form our history, but underneath this we are humans and all basically the same. As such we should strive to treat each other with benevolence and respect, loving kindness, forgiveness and due regard for the sanctity of life. Each and everyone of us is trying to be happy. We are all acting and reacting in a manner that we think is best, at that moment, in any given situation. This can be hard to remember when faced with someone who is angry, not willing to listen to reason and no longer is seeking the reality or truth, but rather some form of vindication. If you can remember that we are all the same, you may be able to remember frustrations in your own life and relate in a more forgiving humane manner. Again seeking what is best.

The point of the song “You’re So Afraid” is to remember to not box yourself in. As life progresses, the repertoire of what composes who you are changes. Also, to remember that everything is connected and we are all basically the same. We each want love, comfort, food and shelter. We are bound together with all that is through water, air and this planet earth. We are bound together with the plants and every other living creature.

Tesla said that we are energy and frequency. Einstein concurred saying this was a matter of physics, not philosophy. As a musician I understand that frequency vibrates, it resonates and emulates. This relates to the inner self as your feelings emulate an energy wave. This is how animals discern how to react to you. How it is that you can “feel” if someone else is angry, sad or exuberant, when they walk into a room in a heightened state of emotion. The feelings, the frequency, the energy, the life force within you is the mortar that binds us to the mind, our consciousness, our perception of life and our biomass, our animal nature. Not any of these elements on their own, but rather a balance or blend of these characteristics.

Lets strive to treat each other with truth, love and respect. We can change the world one step at a time.

Until next time, Brother T

A few thoughts and observations from a life long musician

Nothing good in this life comes easy and if it did for you, be damn thankful. I have, during the past several months, been running a variety of shows which included featuring other musical artist. It’s a great way to keep things interesting for the audience that come out to my shows locally and a great way to expose the amazing talent that resides here in the central Vancouver Island region. One of the things that has amazed me is the number of performers that are not very astute when it comes to self promotion. In today’s entertainment business you have to constantly strive to keep up with technology and trends. Learn your craft. That means more than just wood-shedding guitar chops or honing the craft of songwriting. It means learning about all of the aspects of your endeavour. How to maximize on social media, press releases, networking, socialize at jams and open mics, find out what’s going on in your area. I have been amazed that many musicians don’t even know the ropes of facebook!

John T the Drifter AKA John Massop

My two oldest brothers helped me along in the early part of my musicianship, my apprenticeship if you will. Brother John showed me the street level skills required to find gigs, work a stage and an audience. He showed me a lot of things our parents wished he wouldn’t have being 18 years senior to me and being quite the “rounder”. Brother Gerry, my eldest brother, started to give my musical endeavors a guiding hand when I was about 24. I had over 10 years of performing under my belt at that point and showing no signs of slowing down. Gerry saw that and taught me about the “pro” side of music. He was a well respected musical journalist who had lots of savvy and always drove home how important understanding the business side of music was. “When you look at the words ‘music business’ you’ll notice that the word business is nearly twice as big as the word music. Treat your career the same way, you need more than just talent to survive” he would say.

JR and brother Gerry jamming with Chico

Gerry also told me often to think globally and act locally which has proven to be valuable advice over the years. International radio airplay and sales wouldn’t have happened for me without thinking globally.

These days the music industry is changing more rapidly than ever. It can make your head spin trying to keep up with emerging technologies and trends. As a modern musician you have to constantly be searching out not only new venues to perform at, but also keeping your ear to the ground in an effort to understand trends and what’s coming. Yes, maintaining web sites, facebook, twitter, blogs and all may cut into a little practise time. Still, you have to find a way to balance all these elements in today’s music world in order to survive and thrive. The music is the muse and sharing the music is why we all get into this. It is easy to get hooked on that stage time adrenalin, so you have to have a good musical foundation. Without that element, you’ve got nothing. In reality it’s not all that you need. Raw talent on it’s own does nothing to help you through the maze of today’s industry. Everywhere you turn companies stand with their hand out offering to help you for a fee. It seems to be a trend many are using for survival, so be cautious. Talk to others who have used these services before signing up to anything that puts it’s hand in your wallet. Some companies are reputable and will deliver as expected, others are less scrupulous and once they have your money can be difficult to deal with. While no one is an army by themselves and your career will be helped along with the right people assisting you, choose carefully and wisely who you tie yourself up with. Un-doing those ties can be costly and difficult. As my life long friend and ex-bandmate Dennis Olsen use to say, “love many, trust few and always paddle your own canoe”.

Until next time, happy gig hunting and trail blazing through the mind boggling maze of the music biz. Brother T.

Busy times and crazy days

Sad to see the warmth of summer coming to an end. The heavy rains are beginning to come here on Vancouver Island and they are wet indeed. Mother nature’s way of reminding us human beings that we live in a rain forest here on the island and we are no match for her power. 

Welcome to the "wet" coast.

It’s all cycles though, so I really don’t mind too much. I’m simply not as charmed with winter as I am with the easy feeling of west coast summers.

So I’ve been one busy little guitar strummer lately and that always makes me happy. Happy to be have been blessed with the gift of music in my life and the ability to share that joy with others. The Songwriter Showcase dinner shows at the Corner Bistro have been great fun. Our first show was with outstanding local musician Glen Foster. I manage to capture a little of Glen’s performance on video and you can check that out at this link.  In week two, Jeffrey Randle and his bassist Nathan took the stage after my opening set. Again a great show, but this time I didn’t have my video camera, so no video folks. I had my camera with me for Brian Hazelbower’s show the following week, but pretty much every clip had someone speaking to me so there isn’t much that we’ll be able to post. Brian brought along his musical friend and co-writing partner Dave Studer, so the two of them gave us a fine performance. Fortunately for me I get to close out the evening for the audience after the feature has finished. A big house with a warmed up audience, what more could a musical madman like me ask for? So it’s been an absolute blast for me. Beside that I get a dinner to go at the end of the night and yum, yum.

Next week I am thrilled to have Ira Pelltier as my featured songwriter. Ira has a real bluegrass feel to his excellent tunesmith skills. A superb guitarist and mandolin player, he’s sure to give us a spellbinding performance. 

Ira Pelletier

The continuing Songwriter Showcase series is going to be bringing in some of our amazing local talent with the likes of Eliza Gardiner, Dave Kilbank, Henry Locke, Bobbi Schram, Birgit Kuit, Mark Crissinger and more. Every Wednesday evening I start the night off a little after 6 and bring on our featured songwriter for a hour long performance around 7PM.  No cover charge for these dinner shows and the food is outstanding. I hope you can take in some these presentations. The Corner Bistro is located at #1-75 Front St. in Nanaimo.

On the BoodAbooM front, I have been exploring the possibility of engaging a management firm. I feel that it is in the best interest of all to be speaking to only one firm at a time. This does tend to slow the process, which in my case was further impeded by our trusty snail mail. One of my critical promo packages never made it to the destination and took 8 weeks to come back to me. Oh well, at least I was able to figure out the delay in getting a response from the entertainment firm I am dealing with. The next package went out with a tracking number so I know what’s going on.

I have recently added a playlist to my YouTube channel called “Raw and organic”. These are videos that have little or no editing and the soundtracks are absolutely live untouched recordings. Check out the live recording of the song “Be Still”. This was taken during the summer of 2012 at an outdoor event. 

As well you can now listen to a few of the songs from "The Answer" by BoodAbooM on Soundcloud. If you wish to download either "The Answer" or my previous album "Choices" they are available through links from my website or at iTunes. (links on the album titles above) Links to on line purchasing of CD's are on my web page as well.

Amongst the other shows I am playing, I have also been booked for some private performances and will be returning to play at the Lantzville Farmer’s Market October 13th. I love the farmer’s market shows because they are so relaxed with a great bunch of people and it ends up more like hanging out in someone’s kitchen than a concert performance. It’s cool to be able to stop and chat with folks one on one. Last time I play the Lantzville Farmer’s Market, they sent me home with a bunch of yummy food and locally made products. Much appreciated.

Hygrade - Party Rock

The Hygrade band rocked the Ladysmith “Sporty” pub last month as well as kicking it out further north up the island at the Northgate pub. Both shows were well attended and huge fun for me as I get to play harmonica to songs that don’t normally have harp in them. Challenging for me as a harmonica player and I am glad to have a chance to exercise my harp skills.  The Northgate has booked us back for October 26th and November 23rd with the promise of more to come. Hygrade will also be returning to the Sportsman Hotel in Ladysmith and I will be posting the date upon confirmation. Here’s a video of one of the first jam sessions I attended with this line up. “New Orleans is Sinking” from the Tragically Hip done with a harmonica twist!

My friends from the Nederlands jazz band Kogging are returning to Canada for a fall tour and if you are a jazz fan do your best to attend one of their shows. A video sample of their last visit to Vancouver Island can be seen at this link.

So, what’s been crawling under my skin? This month I will shine this little light of mine on the invasion of private lives by internet snoopers and far too many prying eyes. In 2009 I took a job working for a company that contracted to a major cell phone provider. Yes, I have had to do more than just music from time to time in my life. A word to all young musicians, don’t be afraid of taking a job to make ends meet or find a way to pay for the next recording session. At that time I was astonished to learn during the course of my training that all cell phone calls made in the USA boundaries were being recorded and stored in a massive database. I didn’t think it could ever happen in Canada, but 4 years later the same scenario is big news on an international scale. Obama said, “if you want security, you don’t get privacy”. That somehow seems imbalanced to me. Between facial recognition software, massive unwarranted surveillance, facebook and gmail, the normal person doesn’t stand a chance should the powers of the day decide to make you look evil. Here is a link to an interesting article on the subject from a Canadian viewpoint. Also if you’d like to sign a petition against this kind of invasion, click here.

On a lighter note I would like to say thanks to my international readers. According to my ‘stats’ program this blog has been read in 27 different countries. Pretty cool I’d say!  Stay in touch with my musical endeavours by checking the BoodAbooM web site and for the party rock cover band Hygrade you can also check the Hygrade web site.

Remember that we all do well to try and be loving, kind and forgiving with each other. It’s one approach that can bring healing and change.

Brother T

The BoodAbooM album, video, tee shirts, Juno Awards, change and the erosion of free speech

As May begins and the spring brings new growth, things are still bubbling along on the BoodAbooM front. Distribution and who to go with for manufacturing has been a process to be reckoned with. There are a lot of considerations and while “Choices” will remain with CD Baby for distribution at least for now, “The Answer” by BoodAbooM will be handled by Indiepool. One of the big reasons is because Indiepool is a Canadian company offering the same services as what are otherwise American firms. So as this blog is being written, the wheels are in motion to have CD’s available in about three weeks.

The BoodAbooM tee shirts have been manufactured and look great! It was a push to get them in time for the show in Port Alberni April 19th and I was happy to find an accommodating company to do the deed. Marisha Devion joined me for this performance playing her upright acoustic bass. It was a real treat for me as Marisha has a great ability to fill out the sound of a duo with sweet harmonies and a nice percussive approach when needed with her massive upright bass. I hope to do more shows with Marisha in the future. 

If anyone is interested in buying a BoodAbooM tee shirt, send me an email and I will personally contact you to work out the details. For that matter you can also send me any comments regarding this blog or whatever at boodaboomband@gmail.com

The first video from “The Answer” has been posted on my Youtube site. The song “Another Sunny Day”, our inaugural visual offering, reflects on the cycles of life and this world. A funny little side note is that “Another Sunny Day” was actually written on a rainy summer day knowing that the sunshine was right around the corner. The road of life, the cycle of seasons, the day, the night and that ever forward driving motion of striving for a better tomorrow. Check out the video and let me know what you think.

As much as I regard award shows in the entertainment business with some disdain, I found this year’s Juno Awards quite entertaining. The old joke is they are called the Juno Awards because people watching the show say, “who’s that? Juno who that is? I dunno?”. Not quite that way anymore with the likes of Carly Rae Jepsen on the younger side and KD Lang on the established side represented at the awards show. Artist like those along with Justin Bieber, Diana Krall, Rush and The Tragically Hip to mention a few have certainly heightened the profile of Canadian artist internationally. Michael Buble was a fine host with some funny antics and of course his golden voice. Serena Ryder was pretty good with her anticipated “Stompa” and I thought it was cool when Serena accompanied Billy Talent for a tune. I enjoyed watching KD Lang get her “hall of famer” status and again, the presentation from Anne Murray was excellent. I expected the absence of Stompin’ Tom references as he was not a supporter of the Juno awards, the academy in general or how the music industry conducts itself. He was truly a rebel and a Canadian icon that will be missed. My eldest brother Gerry was a music journalist who interviewed Stompin’ Tom and considered that amongst his most treasured moments in the journalistic field. One thing that did surprise me was that there wasn’t a greater tribute to our other great loss in Canadian music, Rita MacNeil. I believe there was a mention, but I expected more given the stature of this amazing talent. Rita was another who typified Canadiana. Rita and Tom will both leave a great void in the Canadian musical landscape.

Not a part of the Canadian music scene, but a great loss to the world of music is the passing of Richie Havens. At the cusp of my adolescent years, I remember being blown away by his spirited performance of “Motherless Child” in the Woodstock movie. Imitating his style, I would wail away like a wounded puppy in my mother’s basement pounding the poop out of my brother’s acoustic guitar. Richie showed me how to just let it flow. Brother Bert taught me that pick marks on his Gibson was not cool.

Beyond the music there have been a lot of things in this world rattling the chains of my being. The tightening control on the last vestige of free speech and dissemination of truthful information without the risk of that information being filtered by the powers in control. What does that mean? The Internet is constantly under attack, either directly or indirectly. Freedom of speech is being eroded. The recent attacks at the Boston Marathon have come under suspicion in true 9-11 fashion while the mainstream internet feeds and the evening news spin and entirely different picture. Our controlling political party, Stephen Harper and his Torie buddies miss placing 3.1 billion dollars and having a hard time figuring out where it went. I had heard yesterday that Stevie baby has said it’s all a misunderstanding. So much for transparent politics and honest government.

I have often alluded to how radical change has less of a chance becoming the standard than does incremental change. One thing is blatantly obvious and that is that the world needs change. Feed the rich and forget the poor is not working folks. Change is inevitable and sooner would be better than later because things appear to be falling apart. I’ve started reading a book about and called “Peace Pilgrim, her life and work in her own words”. Her message was simple, if we wish to achieve world peace we have to start with finding inner peace. A good place to start the change I’d say.  So I leave behind the thoughts of bungling bozos in politics, eroding freedoms, and flying falsehoods, having shined the light of blogging on the issues. Now I will return to seeking inner peace and striving for the ability to approach the world from a standpoint of loving kindness.

Nudging my way to a better day.

Brother T

New shows, cool shows and crazy politics

So I’m kind of a crazy busy guy. I’ve had this urge to blog often over the past few weeks. Either it was some move on the part of Stephen Harper, our own Nanaimo City council, cool shows I’ve gone to see or cool stuff to talk about, the urge to write has been large!! Unfortunately in trying to keep balance in my life, everything seems to take a little longer than I expected including getting back to the blog.  Let’s start with some music before I rant on about local, provincial  and federal politics. Something I said I would avoid in the new blog, but sometimes you just have to raise your voice in case someone is listening or at least get it off your chest.

As to the music, I have been quite occupied with several projects at once! One of the projects has been to expand my rehearsal space from a modest 150 square feet to about the 260 / 270 square feet. That included fresh flooring, carpet and laminate, as well as a double, double window and a door to the shop / storage area. I have been rehearsing a with a few different line ups including a four piece rock cover band where my main duty is to play harmonica. Big fun for me as I don’t get to do much of that in the BoodAbooM band. The way things were, I had to either take out the back wall or blow out the front window with sound pressure. A little engineering to supply bearing supports and we got it done. Smacked my Canadian salute fingertip with a hammer which made practising tough for a while. It was also hard to show anyone my injury without looking like I was flipping them the bird.

Expanded music room, note the modern hillbilly motif.

Progress on the BoodAbooM album / project is moving along. The protective digital fingerprint is in place, the distribution selection is narrowing down and a release is not far off. Work on the art, images and layout for the CD are now in progress. The first official BoodAbooM performance will take place in Port Alberni on April 19th at Char’s Landing, a super cool all ages venue where the first show is an acoustic duo. Marisha Devion is back on Canadian soil and as much as she is a sought after bassist, Marisha will be joining me for this and coming BoodAbooM performances. Since returning to Canada after performing internationally, she has been adding her talents to the theatre performance “Patsy Cline’s a closer walk”, as well as several other well known acts and recording engagements. I’m looking forward to sharing music with folks from my old hometown and the opportunity to perform with Marisha.

Before that happens, March 30th will see myself and Dean Doyle banging out a night of party tunes and covers at the Landlubber Pub in Nanaimo. Dean and I have performed at a variety of shows together from the theatre performance “A luncheon of Leonard” which was a Leonard Cohen tribute performance, to concerts, private functions and various fundraisers. This will be our first “pub” performance as a duo. In this case the duo consists of myself and Dean on drums, kind of like the Black Keys or White Stripes. I will play a few of the original tunes for those who are fans of my music, but the focus will be on a rockier selection of favourite covers. We will be playing tunes from Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty, Bob Marley to current stuff like yes, The Black Keys. No cover charge and great deals on meals, so be sure to mark your calendar for a fun night and join us.

Managed to take in a couple of cool musical shows, “Diggin’ Roots”. I went to “Diggin’ Roots” show with my buddy the mountain man, Paul Jay. “Diggin’ Roots” is a Juno Award winning musical act centered around Raven Kanantakta and his wife Shoshona Kish. The couple hail from northern Quebec and lay down a funky mix of styles on a blues rock foundation. Very entertaining indeed. My friend Paul had to leave his camera at home for this one, so no images. On the subject of Paul Jay, A.K.A. “The Mountain Man”, he is responsible for most of the images captured and displayed on my web sites. I also attended a show my friend Fiona Stuart did where she was joined by bassist / instrumentalist Kenny Brault (Sgt. Helmet Fender), Jeffery Randle on percussion and Maxime Alarie on didgeridoo. I always enjoy Fiona’s performances. She has interesting renditions of covers like the classic “Killing Me Softly”, great original songs and also performs traditional Yiddish songs. Very cool and an entertaining show. This beautiful young jewish woman knows how to command a stage and engage her audience.

I was please to see that the little island I call home yielded 9 Juno nominations for 2013, Diana Krall, Helen Austin, Carly Rae Jepsen, Alex Cuba, Hey Ocean, Nelly Furtado, The Tenors, Japandroids and Ian McDougal all have Vancouver Island connections and roots. Not bad for an island of fewer than 900,000 people.

Ok, what’s been crawling under my skin? Well, let’s start local and work our way up to the federal. The Nanaimo Port Authority has decided to hand over our boat basin to Pacific Northwest Marina Group, an American firm with a questionable reputation. The crazy part of this deal is that the NPA is willing to hand over the taxpayer owned working harbour, on a 30 year lease with only 5 year projections / commitments in return. Furthermore the American company plans to change the boat basin from a working harbour where private and commercial vessels share the facility into a high end yacht only marine destination. This is not what the people of Nanaimo and area want. Most enjoy the boat basin work what it is. Sure there is room for improvements, but we all love buying fresh fish directly from the fishing boats. Sitting with a hot espresso and a good friend along the existing venues watching the boats is a wonderful experience. You can watch this short video to understand and see it for yourself. The folks living on Protection Island which is part of our inner harbour would see their access to downtown Nanaimo cut off which will affect their property values and life stlye. Nanaimo city councilman Fred Pattje asked the city to stand by it’s citizens with this issue, but mayor John Ruttan said there was little he could do. Former mayor Gary Korpan disagrees and publicly criticized mayor Ruttan’s position.

Provincially, Christy Clark and her crew crawled under my skin with a story about the Liberal party spending 64 million dollars on an advertising campaign that more or less says, “look how well we manage your money”. Ah, I find that rather paradoxical.

On the Federal level we have Stephen Harper. Some of these links are to stories about how he is muzzling scientist who are bringing forth information that he doesn’t want made public. I once heard a group of political analyst on CBC call Harper “an affront to democracy”. These links add testimony to their view. If I got into all the details, I’d be here a long time before the blog would be posted. Beside that, when it comes to the matter of how Stephen is running Canada, I could write a book.

Well I’m jumping over my 1200 word limit, so there is no time to talk about the 105 year old Zen teacher who likes boobies, facebook’s evil plan for world domination or the whole Tesla vs Edison thingy. If you’re interested, check out the links above.

Until next time, remember that it serves us well to be kind and loving to other. Do your best to be aware and mindful.

Brother T

Acts of kindness, BoodAbooM and new videos

2010 at the Red Willow Coffee House

November 2012 is in it’s last days as I write this and December is closing in quickly.  The recording of the BoodAbooM collection of songs is moving along slowly, but as my brother Gerry use to say, “slow movement is better than no movement at all”. Mixing and listening, deciding what stays and what goes, what sequence of songs tells the best story, this has been the focus.  Music always evolves in the studio, a certain metamorphosis take place as the songs begin to have a life of their own.  It is interesting to observe from the songwriter standpoint, a little like watching children grow and flourish into adulthood. Just like the rest of life one never really knows what is coming around the corner and all we know for certain is that changes are coming. I, along with countless songwriters, have alluded to the feeling of being a conduit for the music that comes forth rather than the genius expressionary artist who is the creator. Although the ideas have filtered down through my experiences, my consciousness, my mind and hands playing the instrument as the songs come into being, all things are connected and have lead us to this moment. So I feel I am not alone in the creation of this music that springs from my soul.

It looks like it will be in the early part of 2013 before the BoodAbooM project will be ready for release. I have a show booked for the Red Willow Coffee house on February 8th of 2013 in Nanaimo and hopefully the CD’s, download cards and a few other items will be ready for public consumption. Still undecided as to if the show will be solo or duo. If you think the February show might be something you’ll attend, send me an email as to your preference, a solo performance or duo? Maybe I’ll go crazy and show up with a trio! Send your suggestions to boodaboomband@gmail.com

I should mention that I am absolutely thrilled with the results coming from our recording sessions. It’s been “goosebump city” with my arm hair standing on end, so am very excited about presenting this collection of songs and following up with string of performances ranging from solo to the full band. I’m hoping to do some video shoots as well so be sure to check out my YouTube channel from time to time.

Speaking of my videos, I have recently compiled, edited and posted a few new ones. “Start a Revolution” has a video that includes a little live footage of a concert performance, but mostly images of the “Occupy Movement Canada”. I got the images from Occupy Canada and permission to assemble this. I’m proud to have done this as I am a believer in the power of peaceful resistance. It is time to reevaluate the way things are done and perhaps level the playing field. Another recent add to the YouTube channel is a video set to the title song from my previous album “Choices”. In this video I used images that have been collected over the past few years (mostly) of people I have share the joy of music with and places I have been. Not all of the folks and not all of the places, it was intended to be a video not a feature length movie.

I’d like to close out with a couple of wonderful examples of "random acts of kindness” that thanks to the Internet I found out about. I love the way that some stories rise to the surface on their own in this day and age of digital image capturing and Internet. These two stories surfaced on the same day for me and I found them very inspiring. One takes place in New York where a police officer was seen giving a pair of all weather boots and socks to a barefoot homeless man in the middle of a cold spell. The officer felt compelled to reach out and help someone less fortunate and was unaware that he was being observed. Nearly the same thing happen north of the border here in Canada when a bus driver in Winnipeg stopped his bus, took off his shoes and handed them to a less fortunate young man who was in tattered clothes and walking in bare feet. Inspiring stories partly because they were on the spot decisions made to reach out to someone who is obviously having a harder time than they themselves were. My hat goes off to those of that mindset of loving kindness.

As Christmas draws near many think about the less fortunate and while I agree that it should be thought about throughout the year, if it takes a certain season to make us aware of our personal blessing, so be it. Better than not stopping to be thankful for what and where life has brought us. No matter where you are in the scheme of things there is always someone who is better off than you and always someone who is facing greater hardships than you. Be thankful for what you’ve got and give to those with less.

This will likely be the last blog for this year, how west coast of me. I will post a new blog with updates as to the BoodabooM project and any new shows that are booked in January. That is if the Mayan’s merely got tired of carving the stone calendar and said “that’s enough”. Only later thanks to the Internet did anybody say.... “It’s a sign of the end!!!!”. Exactly right! The end of the documented calendar they created. Bouncing Buddha! They had to stop somewhere.

Wishing you all peace and blessing through this season and all seasons.
Brother T

Getting closer to complete

Rick Salt and Joel Spillette

Blaise Zhiam

The upcoming BoodAbooM album is still in production down at Lois Lane Studio. The bulk of the recording has been done, bed tracks, the majority of the guitar tracks, keyboards and lead vocals have been laid down. We are still adding the harmony vocals and a few other odds and sods before sitting back in “digesting mode”. That’s when it’s time for critical listening, as well as deciding any final judgement calls on the mix. We were moving along quite well and should be finished within the next couple of months. A few schedule set backs happened as we allowed for other acts to bump in when needed, but that was taken into consideration some time ago.

The songs are feeling great with wonderful performances from the same crew that put together the “Choices” album. Blaise is of course on bass as an integral element in the BoodAbooM sound, joined by Billy Hicks on drums, Joel Spillette on keyboards, myself on the majority of guitars with Rick Salt lending his magic guitar licks to a few of the songs as well. The songs are ranging from lay back ballads to full out rockers, toe tappers, foot stompers and a reggae tune in the middle to round things out. Twelve songs strung together around a theme of mindful awareness, appreciation and consideration for all things.

A couple of gigs have come and gone since my last entry, a rare BoodAbooM duo show in a local pub and a fund raiser for the local food bank. Pub gigs are fun, but many of our fans who had hoped to enjoy the usual engaged performance were faced with a packed pub which is considerably noisier than our concert / coffee house shows. The place was hopping and stayed that way all night. The opportunity did give Blaise and myself a chance to lean into the party time tunes which is always a blast. Tunes from “Toots and the Maytals” to “Ben Harper” mixed in with “Leonard Cohen” and “Bruce Springsteen” were served up ala BoodAbooM style. The food bank fund raiser was a concert environment held at Headliners in Nanaimo. The talent was quite amazing and included Jayden Holman, Mikaila Tombe, and young guitar prodigy Ian Perry. Terrazetto also deserves an honourable mention for their great performance. Ken and Len put on one helluva show.

Recently I compiled and posted a video for the song “Hummingbird” from my “Choices” album on YouTube. I love those little birds and was happy to realize they are in abundance around our new home. Our previous home was also a haven for hummingbirds which was the inspiration for the song. Please have a look and share a link with your friends who might enjoy.

The next show for BoodAbooM will be November 2nd when Blaise and I will be opening the show for Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart who are performing at Headliners in downtown Nanaimo. Stacey and her husband Mark are song writers who have toured internationally with their Americana Roots music style. Stacey is Steve Earle’s sister and both she as well as husband Mark toured with “The Dukes” in the early stages of Steve’s career before branching out on their own. I’m sure it will be a great show. Tickets are available by contacting Headliners, Arbutus Music or at Fascinating Rhythms in Nanaimo.

Beyond all of this I have had some correspondence with the folks on the Occupy Canada facebook page. With their permission, I will be compiling images taken during last year’s Occupy movement efforts and posting them in video form with the song “Start A Revolution” from my Choices album. It seems fitting, since I am a supporter of passive resistance as a means to edge toward change. Everyone knows, the world needs change. “Choices” which includes both of the mentioned songs is available for download from iTunes and at CD Baby.

Stay tuned to this blog for news about upcoming shows, videos, progress of the BoodAbooM album, as well as where and when we are having our CD release parties. Yes, there is likely going to be more than one!

Fall is arriving out here on the west coast and it’s been a beautiful transition from one season to the next. Although it’s been dry gentle weather out here, soon it will be colder yet. As with all things, that too will pass.  Everything changes, nothing stays the same, before you know it, summer comes around again.

Remember, treating everyone and everything with loving kindness brings the love back to you. Be kind to each other.
Brother T

Comments can be sent to boodaboomband@gmail.com

BoodAbooM recording project progress report

Blaise Zhiam

Bill Hicks

Myself, (Theo) on harmonica

Progress on the first BoodAbooM album has been an exhilarating experience. The first day in the studio is always a day that vibrates with anticipation. As things have come to be it looks as if the same band that recorded the “Choices” CD is recording the BoodAbooM collection with the exception of the bass of course. We still have to confirm the keyboard player, but Billy Hicks is back on drums, Blaise is on bass (my musical brother), Rick Salt will add some of that killer slide guitar and yours truly will be playing a lot more harmonica on this collection of songs. John Forrest who was the bassist on my “Choices” album passed roughly a year ago. R.I.P. Blackey, you were one helluva bass player and a character loved by many.

There is a lot of preparation prior to the actual recording session and I was pleased to be able to help Rick with that part of the process. The first day of laying it down with Blaise on bass, Bill at the drum set, myself on guitar and singing, was huge fun for a recording maniac like me. We put in a marathon session recording 12 songs in 10 hours with little or no breaks. It was exhausting, but once we were on a roll it was going fantastic so no one yelled “uncle” till the final hurdle had been leaped over. Good friend Paul Jay was privy to the inside skinny as he hung around for the session capturing digital images of the day’s activity. Click here to see some of those images.

The following few days were spent re-recording the guitar tracks. The original tracks are never destroyed, but usually re-recorded in order to be able to focus on and capture the most pristine performances possible. Rick is a master of guitar tone and beyond being a friend for long enough to begin counting in decades, he is a musical craftsman and an articulate audioscaper. I have asked Rick to help me produce the BoodAbooM album as well as engineer the recording. His ideas and input are greatly valued.

Lois Lane Studios is a busy place so next week is fully booked with other recording artist. BoodAbooM will resume with the keyboard tracks the following week. We will be recording keyboard tracks in the main part of the studio as a band of notoriety will be rehearsing in another part of the studio. I am hoping for a guest appearance on one of the BoodAbooM tracks by a member of that band but no promises, we’ll have to wait and see.

It’s a long row to hoe before we will be close to posting anything from the new album. As it stands though, we are flying forward full steam ahead and will complete as soon as possible. Discussion about graphics and merchandise continue, as well as a lot of thought about where to solicit some industry help. In today’s world of Internet, there are a lot of companies making money off of those wishing to impact the music world. Lots of promises, each one with a corresponding fee and no guaranteed results. The sharks still swim these waters. The truth is that no one can do this music thing alone, even if you are a dedicated soloist without management you still need your friends, fans, venues, followers and those interested in what you are doing to make it all work. We create the art without expectation, without pretence and bring it to our friends, fans and the world hoping enough of you support this through buying some merchandise and coming out to the shows. Blaise and I thank you for that.

Speaking of shows, BoodAbooM will be doing a duo show at the Quarterway Pub in Nanaimo on September 8th. Mark it on your calendar and come on down if you get a chance. Subscribe to this blog to follow along with the progress of the upcoming BoodAbooM recordings.

Please send your comments to boodaboomband@gmail.com where they will be screened and posted if appropriate. 

Until next time remember, a little kindness goes a long way.
Respectfully, Brother T

Many thanks to Paul Jay for the photos. Used by permission.