What a great summer it was!

Not as much blogging as I had hoped to do this year, but that’s because I have been a very busy musician. Not sure where I left off in the stream of things. Still trying to iron out some of my distribution woes on the BoodAbooM album “The Answer”. I’m hoping that will finally be resolved before 2015 arrives. Thankfully the album has been well received and is selling at iTunes, as is my previous album “Choices”.

BoodAbooM duo - photo by Ian Johnstone

I gigged my butt off throughout the summer with solo shows, duo and trio BoodAbooM shows, as well as with the band Hygrade playing the manic rock harmonica. Mid way through August saw me playing with the BoodAbooM trio at the Vancouver Island Exhibition and with another band called Donny Boyd and Fine Company during the same event. Wow, what a great day that was. The bands that followed our performances included some of BC’s rock royalty in the form of Chilliwack, Prism and The Grapes of Wrath. It’s hard to believe that one can be so busy in what is considered by many to be the greatest slump in the past hundred years of the music industry. I suppose it’s because while I do expect to be paid for my musical services, money is not my main motivator. The muse of music itself is what drives me deeper and deeper into my relationship with music.

BoodAbooM Trio - photo by Paul Jay

And yes, I said relationship because music is a reciprocal affair, you give and it gives back. A very “Karma” like circumstance between performer and audience exists, as well as being a spiritual / emotional experience at times.

One of the big projects for me last summer was to be the producer for a 12 song album recorded by Donny Boyd and Fine Company. What exactly is the producer’s role in the studio will be subject for a later blog. Suffice it to say that a multi-faceted job of being the liaison between the artist, the studio and the musicians. A thorough understanding of musical theory, songwriting, engineering, arrangement, as well as the ability to source the appropriate musicians for the appropriate tracks all comes into play. Budget and time constraints are always major concerns, coordinating recording sessions and keeping things on track are also of major importance. Beyond all of this the producer should be able to draw out the best of performances from each of the musicians involved. A tall order to say the least, but tons of fun for me. We recorded the project at Wayon Sound with engineer Wayne Veillet. Rick Salt of Lois Lane Studio handled the mastering process. Having played guitar, harmonica, keyboards and background vocals on the album, I earned a spot in the Donny Boyd and Fine Company musician line up. The album “Watch The Pretty Flowers” was released at the 2014 VIEX show. More sessions are lined up for other projects as well, but strictly as a musician for those gigs.

BoodAbooM Trio - photo by Ian Johnstone

The next couple of months will see fewer performances for BoodAbooM while I work on some administrative duties. We are scheduled for a couple of mid-island shows. One on November 22nd at the French Creek Marine Resort in Parksville and another on December 6th at the Shady Rest in Qualicum Bay. Both of these show will be with Marisha Devion on bass and Rich Bazille on drums. New songs destine for the next album are part of the mix of tunes we’re kicking out at these shows amongst my usual mix of unusual songs and rocking faves. For those who can, I hope you can come to the Mid-Island shows this fall. Details are on the website under “shows”.

One of the tasks at hand this fall is to sort through a lot of video from last summers performances to see if there is anything to be posted. A few videos of live performance have been posted on my YouTube channel. Happy Man and Rebellious Fool have been posted from the VIEX show with Wayne Veillet on bass and Billy Hicks on drums.

For those who may be interested, here is an article regarding the “real life” income of musicians. After that you’ll understand why it has to be a labour of love, something you are called or driven to do.

So likely this is the last blog until early in the new year. Remember, love, kindness, understanding and forgiveness is the best approach to all situations. Be good to each other.

Brother T

M.I.A.? Nope, just gone video crazy!!

Crazy days of summer are winding down as we can feel the autumn coming on. Maple trees are beginning to turn colour and the air is far more humid than it has been for the past three months. Speaking of which it’s been nearly three months since I sat down to blog.  I have actually started a blog several times throughout the summer, but got swept away in the tides of life.

Normally I tend to spout off about what I find disturbing in the world with links to things that the mainstream media doesn’t want you to know about. For this blog I will dispense with the rantings and stick to the music. I do try to bring into the light only that which is founded in truth. That is why I always try to back up things with links to the source. It’s not that Steve’s antics or his cousin puppet Obama haven’t stirred my ire, but so much has gone on in my musical world and that’s ‘mostly’ what this blog is focused on.

So here’s my best attempt at a recap of the last three months. A lot of attention was paid to getting things ironed out with my new distributor. Thanks to the people at Indie Pool, the BoodAbooM album “The Answer” is available through a secure purchasing portal and of course where would we be without iTunes. There are still some things that are being worked out over at Indie Pool and it would have likely been easier to stick with CD Baby as I did for the “Choices” album. Both companies have their advantages and disadvantages, the problem is disadvantages are not usually discovered until after the deal is done.

There has been a whole lot of video getting done since my last blog entry. The video for the song “Run” was done back in June. Shot in the backwoods of Vancouver Island we choose a remote location since there was to be shot guns fired off, flash bombs and a lot of zombie characters running around. For most of the videos I’ve done there is usually only a handful of people. In this case we had a lot of bodies running around and doing things. Jeffrey Randle joined me in the shooting of the “Run” video for the musical portion and director Marius Von Lohmann did the headless chicken routine directing the actors, setting up scenes and zipping around with the camera. Also, this is the first time I've let anyone else take control of the script for my videos. Check it out and tell me what you think. We felt a little tongue in cheek approach offset the more serious subject matter of the song.

Shooting Zombie video for "Run"

I went a little video crazy after that and produced another video on my own.  I had been pondering on how to present the song “Not For Me” in it’s video form when a little experimenting lead me to featuring “Pepper the feathered philosopher”, along with some video taken in the studio during the recording of the BoodAbooM album. Again a bit of a humourous tact and a lot of fun. I must admit that lip sync is much harder with someone who has no lips!

The video madness didn’t stop there as I rediscovered some clips from previous concerts and shows I’ve performed at and began a series on my YouTube channel called “Raw and Organic”. I’ve posted a video clip on myself and Marisha Devoin playing the song “Living Peacefully” from my BoodAbooM album “The Answer”. Just the upright bass, guitar and voices in this stripped down version. No editing, no digital wizardry, just straight from the heart raw and organic performances. Check back on my YouTube channel as there are more of these “live” videos coming soon. To hear the studio version of “Living Peacefully”, check the sample tracks on my iTunes site.

During the summer of 1988 I was fortunate enough to have one of my songs reach the #1 position for Canadians on the RPM Weekly Adult Contemporary charts. “The Voyager” was the title song from my album which had already seen action with the songs “Lot On My Mind” and “Mephisto Waltz” from that collection. At the same time as “The Voyager” was playing in every major market in Canada, my distributor of the time lost every piece of inventory they had at the warehouse. So while the title track was receiving great reviews and radio support, I had nothing on the shelves to sell. A year later my vinyl and cassettes were discovered during an inventory. They had the wrong numbers on the outside of the boxes and hence were continually overlooked. A year after the album had run it’s course, the inventory represented far less value.

Still I am grateful for the radio exposure and the chart numbers. Digging through the archives I decided to compile a  video for this song as well. So check out this very “late 80’s” sounding rendition of “The Voyager”, my A/C hit from 1988.

Beyond the world of video, I have been performing throughout the summer at various gigs and open mic nites. I like the open mics because not only is it an “audience building” experience, but the social aspect of hanging with your musical peers and meeting music enthusiasts is fantastic. The people you meet and the sharing of ideas is amazing. Jeffrey Randle joined me for a few shows including a private hall “pub night” and the “Nanoose Art in the Garden” festival which was also a fundraiser for the local food bank. Just prior to the “Arts Festival” show, Jeffrey also joined me in support for an interview / performance video segment we did with Shaw Cable TV.  Kait Burgan conducted the interview which can be seen here at this link.  

Jeffrey Randle

I’ve done a couple of shows at the Corner Bistro which is a new establishment in a renovated familiar location. Phil from the Corner Lounge has taken on 75 Front Street in Nanaimo and turned it into a top rate Bistro with incredible cuisine, roomy surroundings, great service and a focus on live entertainment. Being a bistro also means that minors are welcome, as long as they don’t indulge in alcohol libations available from the full service bar. It has been mostly music shows so far, although I know that Phil is planning to host a comedy night as well. Who couldn't use a good laugh every now and then!

As for me, plans are to be hosting a series of “Singer / Songwriter Showcase” nights starting on September 11th at the Corner Bistro. Starting a little after 6, I will open an evening of music after which I will bring on an invited guest for an hour concert of songs and stories from their respective albums. All of the invited guests are recording artists with CD releases starting with Glen Foster on the 11th, Jeffrey Randle on the 18th, Brian Hazelbower on the 25th and Ira Pelletier on October 2nd. After their concert I will close the night out. It should prove to be a great dining and musical experience for the patrons and audience in attendance. September 20th I will be taking the stage with a party rock cover band that I joined called Hygrade. We are working on getting our ‘web presence’ in order, but these things do take time. The Hygrade band is a four piece ensemble, but we are all busy campers managing other careers and endeavours.

Me and the boys in the band

The show takes place at the Sportsman Hotel in Ladysmith. The twist with this band is that I sing only a few songs while drummer Dean Doyle ( part of the BoodAbooM family ) takes the lion’s share of the lead vocals. We play all the party time rock favourites with a twist, tons of harmonica on songs that don’t usually have harp on them. Here’s a “raw and organic” video of an early jam we had on the Tragically Hip tune “New Orleans is Sinking” to give you an idea. Come on out and see what else we have in store for you. I am belting out a few songs a night which is fun for me as I don’t always include songs from “The Black Keys” in my solo / duo shows.

Ok, I’m over shooting my word count so let me leave you with these links to ponder. Sad to hear that J.J. Cale passed, Greta (my sweetie) and I saw him perform many years ago in Victoria. A treasured memory.

A statistic most aren’t aware of, in 2009 over 50% of Canadians were living on or below the “low income cut off”. That’s the more semantically soft version of “the poverty line”.

Not sure if Canadians realize that the Snowden / NSA fiasco is not just a USA modus operandi. In Canada we have our own snoopers at the CESA.

A 2 minute brilliant discourse from author Robert Anton Wilson on belief systems, even your own. Check what he says about everyone’s B.S.

And finally, I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard a better social commentary than this on “Why everything sucks”. Craig Ferguson is a very funny man, but in this 3 minute clip he delivers a very brilliant observation on today’s world in his own hilarious way.

Let me end as always with a reminder to be mindful of others. Do your best and strive to approach every situation from the standpoint of loving kindness and forgiveness. Conquer hate with love, evil with good, falsehood with truth. Let’s bring the humane back into the human being.

Until next time, 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

Party at the pub, the next concert, big banks and bully politics

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.

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