First up, a great bit of news - Great Big Sea songs in space:
from the Canadian Space Agency:
For mission STS-127, Canadian astronaut Julie Payette will be bringing aboard the International Space Station, a sampling of music from across Canada in honour of Canadian artists of all musical styles and regions.
Follow the link to see Payette's out-of-this-world playlist with Great Big Sea's Fortune's Favour at the very top of that list. Now that is frigging cool.
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As good as that news is, there isn't much of anything I'd consider to be better news than a new journal entry from Alan. As always, an engaging and endearing read, the gist of which is perhaps best summed up by Himself in this one revealing sentence:
Many funny and odd aspects to this wonderful detour I find myself exploring. - Alan Doyle
At the risk (more likely the certainty) of serious self-repetition, I am going to have to say (again) how much I love it that Alan has chosen to take his wonderful detour to his grand adventure, as well as how proud of him I am for being brave enough, bold enough, and confident enough to make that choice. Over the past 10 weeks, he has been learning new things, meeting new people, discovering new abilities and talents within himself, seeing life, and himself, from a totally new perspective - and that is about as grand as any adventure can be. I'm personally going to miss seeing him even more the next 10 weeks than I have the first 10, but there's still just about no other place I'd rather he be than on his wonderful detour.
Even though there were a few initial moments of "Mr. Big Shot Movie Star had better not hurt Alan" when word first came out about Alan's initial collaboration with Russell Crowe, I'd always respected Russell Crowe for his acting skill and admired him for his inarguable passion. I've since come to have quite an appreciation for his music and an outright affection for the man, on stage and off. But what I like most of all about Russell Crowe, what has completely and irrevocably won me over, is the way in which he has given Alan several opportunities to spread his wings a bit wider, helped him to realise he can fly a bit higher and faster and farther than he might have thought on his own. A reciprocal gift, I am guessing. May they both keep flying as high and fast and far as they choose, separately and together.
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A perfectly timed segue back to the rotated videos of my favourite songwriter and his Newfoundland songs, this time versions of three songs that haven't been officially recorded/released as GBS tunes, not yet at least.
The first song is one of Alan's very best so far, high praise indeed for a songwriter with so many excellent tunes in his portfolio. "With this sordid offence/A town's innocence/Is lost now and no one can save it" is just a small. sample of how well this song is written My own opinion, of course, but ir'a an opinion that the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television shares: The ACCT nominated Alan's Young Triffie (which was the title song for the Mary-Walsh-directed 2006 film Young Triffie's Been Made Away With) for a 2007 Genie Award. What makes this even more of a Newfoundland song than "just" being the title song of a movie about and by Newfoundlanders can be found in the songwriter's own inspiration: the still-unsolved 1981 murder of 14-year-old Dana Bradley, whose body was discovered near 11-year-old Alan Doyle's own small town and whose death marked the end of innocence for many.
Other GBS members play instruments on the film version of Young Triffie, but so far the song has not been officially released. I'm hoping it finds its way onto Alan's first solo CD. Or his second. I'm not fussy.
The second song, a song which looks longingly back toward an irretrievably lost part of Newfoundland's (and the songwriters') past - a wistful lament over the loss of a commonality of experience the song's speaker will never share with his own son - has been recorded and released by the Irish Descendants, appropriately enough, given that Alan co-wrote the song with Con O'Brien, the Descendant's co-founder and front man. Even more appropriately, the song appears on the (excellent) Southern Shore CD Alan produced for the Descendants:
No way am I going to let it pass by without mentioning that I dearly love how he looks in those clothes. That is Alan's sweetest "look" and nobody comes close to wearing it as well as he does.
Last up for today are a few versions of a song that apparently did not meet with Hawksley's approval for the Fortune's Favour CD. Looks like I am going to have to disagree with Hawksley yet again, Hawksley and/or whomever else kept this song off the FF CD while putting Heart Of Stone on it. Don't even get me started on Heart Of Stone instead of Where I Belong - and no offence at all intended to Kalem...I rather like his original version Heart Of Stone.
This one's been variously titled as 1-2-3-4, Here We Go Again, and Hold On For Your Life - the latter being my own favourite title, largely because it remimds me of the day GBS gamely went on stage just hours after having gone through a tour-bus rollover on the road into Vancouver, along with what an apt metaphor that rollover - and the subsequent need to "hold on"- is for the ups and downs of life in a travelling band. As a song about what the Road Experience is like, it's a classic GBS song and that makes it a full-fledged Newfoundland song too. I can't say for certain if this is an all-Alan tune or a co-write. But based on its content, I can say it is Alan's song. Hats off to those who understand the difference.
I'm including one more video of this song, not a vertical video but helpful for the purpose of deciphering lyrics, something I promised someone I would do when I put these particular videos up here. I'm going to keep my promise, but it is going to have to wait until a bit later because right now I've got something I have to go do before the hockey game but there's no reason to make the entire entry wait that long too. I am expecting it will take me a while to make a decent attempt at the lyrics. If anyone else would like to give it a good listen and a diligent try, please feel free and let me know what you come up with too. There are a few lines I have never been quite able to catch.
Of course, it would be even better if we were all able to hear this one again soon and catch the lyrics that way, perhaps as part of the testing-out-period for songs on the next GBS CD. Or it could be Track Two on Alan's solo CD. Works for me. Again, not a bit fussy.
And speaking of potential solo works by GBS members, anyone and everyone who is likely to be delighted about what might be the first of many solo GBS-band-member efforts to come should be keeping up with Sean's Twitter Page. More wonderful detours and more grand adventures - and more great Newfoundland songs - lie ahead...for all, I hope. After all, even the sky's no limit for a band whose music gets heard out in space. Talk about walking on the moon.
Now off to my errand before the puck drops. This could very well be the last hockey game of the season.
*snicker* Tell me what you really think about HoS Lynda. It is kind of muddled up, granted.
Not For The Money would be a good GBS song, I can hear the harmonies in my head. Bob on fiddle maybe? It kinda sounds waltzlike so a fiddle would sound good.
If Alan does a CD Triffie belongs on it and Where I Belong should be the first song. Hold On should be a GBS song because its about being GBS. If their other songs they had done are as good as Hold On I hope they get on the new CD.
I'm almost scared to hope for Sean's solo lullaby album. I want it to happen so much and if it doesn't I'm going to be so disappointed for his sake and mine. It would be so good for him it does but so bad if it doesn't. Hope hope hope hope hope.
It's funny, I can imagine what a solo Alan CD would be like and a Sean one too, but what about a solo Bob? I can't get my brain wrapped around what he could do on his own.
Alan sounds like he's glad he decided to do Robin Hood. Good on him for taking a chance.
Do you seriously want help with the lyrics to Hold On? Want to tell which lines you have trouble making out?
Posted by: Mari | 09 June 2009 at 07:59 PM
I find it a bit difficult to explain what I think of Heart of Stone; it's not just the song that's muddled - the same can be said for my own response to it. Which might be a perfectly logical reaction, in an odd sort of way.
I really like the song's constituent parts: I liked Kalem's original version from the first time I heard it; I like the sound of Sean's vocal and especially of Bob's pipes (not so much the plinky-plunky banjo, though); I like the melody line of the bridge part that Jeen O'Brien added (I think that's her work there). There's a lot that's good going on in the song, but it just sounds too much to me like an initially good song that got re-worked with the idea of making it better, but that work simply never got finished. Heart of Stone doesn't sound "done" to me - it just doesn't play like a completed whole. Which is why it sounds muddled, I suppose.
To a lesser degree, I feel the same way about Here and Now, especially lyrically. I really like the song - and I absolutely love how it plays live - but some of the lyrics still sound to me like a work-in-progress, like just a bit more time and effort could have made it an even better song. Don't get me wrong, I still think Here & Now is a much better song, and a much more "finished" song, than Heart Of Stone - just pointing out something they have in common.
Like nearly all methods in most every kind of endeavour, Hawksley's approach to producing music has its strengths and its weaknesses. From what they've all said, the chief strength Hawksley brought to Fortune's Favour was to create an air of excitement and bring a sense of immediacy to the act of creation, something that has to have been wonderful for a 15-year-old band working on their 10th CD. All that's good about Hawksley's approach shines through on FF and in the live shows too.
But the laws of balance demand a few weaknesses go along with the strengths; at times, as great and as exhilarating as it is to create in the moment, it can be equally great, equally necessary, to then set aside that creation for a bit and come back later to...well, to "whet and sharpen and hone" it. To un-muddle it, as it were.
No coincidence that some of the strongest songs on the FF CD - England is a perfect example, Straight To Hell too, along with Walk On The Moon - are songs that have been crafted with care. There's not a single, solitary stray wrong or even weak lyric to be found anywhere in England, and there are damn few songs that are word-perfect, with nary a possible change/improvement coming to mind (at least to my mind). Inspiration for that level of songwriting can certainly come in the moment, as can initial lines and even great first drafts (not going to venture into instrumental aspects for lack of knowledge) - but excellence in craft takes time and lots of effort to get as right as it can be.
The highest accomplishment is holding onto that initial urgent, dizzying burst of creativity, along with all of the inspiration and excitement it generates, throughout the subsequent crafting process - in not editing out the song's passion and sincerity and truth. But if you try to hold onto all that energy by not doing due diligence to the after-crafting, you run the risk of a muddle and/or of winding up with a song that doesn't quite live up to its potential, or one that doesn't quite ring true because it has parts that were written in a rush to "fit in" with the other parts of the song you "really" liked.
Hawksley's approach really lends itself to creating a sense of freshness, and it packs quite the emotional wallop too, all parts of what makes FF such a strong and good CD. The same is true of how Hawksley's own CDs play. He brought something into the GBStudio that they really needed, Heart of Stone included - now the next step is up to them...can they/will they take what they've learned from Hawksley about the power of creative immediacy and then marry that to the level of craft and care and skill and sincerity that they achieved in the past with SoNC, TH&TE, and especially with Something Beautiful? If they can, if they do, then that is going to be the seminal GBS work. So far.
Sorry to go on and on. You did ask me to tell you what I really think about Heart of Stone. All your own fault.
Great point about wondering what a Bob solo CD would include. He's really got quite the artisitc range, though there's a part of me that wishes he'd let his Inner Joe Strummer come out to play. Or he could just be the fellow he let us see at the Fan Club Show on the last cruise; I honestly had no clue Bob could be so disarmingly charming. His Easy and Slow was unforgettably touching. I think Bob could do very well at just about anything he might choose on a solo CD, and I am sure I'd be happy hearing whatever that might be. That's true for all of them.
Sure, take a shot at the Hold On For Your Life lyrics if you have the time. I don't want to say which lines I have never been able to catch because I'd rather people go at it with fresh ears and not be influenced/biased by my own struggles to understand.
Yes, Alan does sound glad he made the decision to accept the film role. And that sure makes me glad in turn.
Posted by: Lynda | 10 June 2009 at 10:19 AM
Hehheh good summary. Hardly anybody talks abour Rocks of Merasheen. I love it. Dance Dance is fun too.
GBS is Floating in Space for real now. Maybe ET will hear them too.
One more game to go. Cheers for a 7 game series! Go Wings!!!
Posted by: Kath | 10 June 2009 at 12:44 PM
You ought to write an official CD review. I haven't read anything half this good elsewhere.
Newfoundlanders with their names on the Stanley Cup, Newfoundlanders with their music in space. We really are Haves now. What's next? Whaddaya think? Danny for PM?
Posted by: Roger | 10 June 2009 at 06:26 PM
Alan's FTR's are always the best. Any word on the book he said he was going to write? I guess he doesn't have much time to do it but maybe he will eventually. I can't stand Twitter but I made an exception and read Sean's messages. His art work preferences are making me wonder about his lullies.
Kudos for answering the comment a couple of posts back about not being an issue of liking or disliking subsets of fans and coping mechanisms. That exchange was good. It made it clear why you don't OKP nowdays too. Too bad exchanges like that can't ever happen elsewhere in the Fandom but good they take place somewhere. Thumb's up.
I've heard Left Coast rumours of a GBS invasion. Are they true? Pretty please? :o)
Posted by: Liss | 11 June 2009 at 07:59 AM
Hello, Liss. It feels like ages since I've seen you. Yes to the rumours, a couple of times, as a matter of fact, though so far all I've heard of is in my own back yard. Not sure yet if there will be any more extensive of a westward-ho along our side of the continent. Not after the winery show, I don't think; that appears to be more of a weekend venture. But later on...maybe.
I'm glad you enjoyed that exchange. I found it a bit difficult to write, but it felt good once it was written, so all for the best, I suppose. I don't want to go on too much about what can or can't, does or doesn't, get said in the overall group of people who call themselves GBS Fans. These days, I think the people running the official site do a pretty good job with it, message board included, contrary to what it was like when they first started in with it.
The board and the site do what they're supposed to do, which is promote the band and encourage (or at least not discourage) people to come to shows and buy CDs, etc. There's a very logical, sensible argument to be made for anything that doesn't work toward achieving these goals not belonging on the official site. By the terms of that logical, sensible argument, that includes me.
It was bloody hard for me to admit to myself, but the simple truth is that I'm not good for their message board. It's still not easy to face up to that, even after all this time - not easy to accept the hard cold fact that good motives don't matter at all if they keep leading to bad results. But it's the truth and there's no sense in running or hiding from the truth.
Not only did I consistently attract some frigging insane/hateful people whenever I posted there (and they'd be right back there like clockwork, spewing away as bad as always, if I ever did it again, count on it), I also see (and say) things too differently from the best way to see and think and talk in order to work toward what's supposed to be the point and purpose of the site.
There's a time and a place for marching to your own drummer and for having a different way of seeing things, but the OKP was/is neither of those things. All it ever led to was pissed-offedness and arguments - and instead of helping the band, it hurt them. Not like I had any kind of mature understanding of or reasonable handle on all that at the time. 20/20 hindsight and better late than never. Not ideal, to be sure, but better.
I hope Alan hasn't given up on the book idea, multiple books someday, I hope. I've thought of him as "Alan The Author" for quite some time now - though I too wonder when he'd ever find the time in his always-busy life. So far, Sean's artwork candidates look pretty much exactly like what I'd expect from him for a solo project. If "Mr. Bunny" is a reliable indicator, it looks like it's going to be fascinating ride, and listen.
Roger, I think I kind of just did write a review of Fortune's Favour, without really planning to, probably as official as it's going to get from me. Though I did have an idea about putting videos of some of the FF songs with commentary, including the stuff from the studio films from the DVD and outtakes too. I like the idea but it's a lot of work, so it will depend on how much time I have too. Maybe after I get back home.
Haves, for sure. Now all that's needed is for more Newfoundlanders to accept and embrace their Havedom. What I think I'd like best about Danny as PM is to see him take on my own country. Americans wouldn't know what the frig to do with Danny. "But...but...but...aren't Canadians supposed to be polite and self-effacing? What's that? Newfoundlanders? Isn't New-found-land a frozen rock out in the ocean somewhere by Iceland? What the fuck does that have to do with Canadians?" Then Fox News could bring Pammie Sue on as an Expert Commentator and spin it all till everyone was dizzy.
Kath, Rocks of Merasheen is one of my favourites on the CD. I love how GBS does it (love too how it sounds done a cappella - I really need to get my sound-only video of that song from Atlantic City uploaded one of these days), and I love the song itself. I wish more people who hear the song also knew about its context, about the way Merasheen Island was resettled in the '60s, and then they could feel the true force of the song's speaker's lament: He truly can't ever go back home to his lady again, not simply because of his own choices and actions, but because his home no longer exists. It was resettled away from him, a community and life - and lady - forever lost to him. His exile is permanent, irremediable.
When you know that context, that's when the song achieves its full power. It makes me picture those hard rocks of Merasheen with the ghosts of the past walking along them, sombre and sad and silent. (Well, the occasional summer-cabin dweller too, but that kind of messes up the mental image.)
Oh, I love Dance, Dance. It was such a welcome delight when Alan did it at the Fan Show on the cruise. It is such a perfect portrait of its speaker and the time and place he lives in. When I hear it, I always think of Alan when he was playing the outport dances with his uncles' band, him up there on stage watching the courtship rituals taking place all over the dance floor.
And the way he sings the words "Sunday slacks" is cause enough all by itself to love the song. That whole verse reminds me of Alan himself, Alan the perpetually sweet Petty Harbour boy - who he might have been if he'd been born just a generation or two sooner.
I really like the boy in that song, the boy for whom wanting to ask his lady-love to have sex with him is unquestionably the exact same thing as asking her to marry him...there is a sweetness and an innocence about it that cuts straight through the heart while it makes you smile with keen pleasure at the same time. And that too reminds me of Alan. He has that same effect, always.
I've heard that some of them don't care for this song, and I simply don't understand why. It's real and honest and true to its subject - at the same time, it's fun and lively and engaging. I've heard countless people say they love it too, with hardly anyone saying otherwise. I think they're really missing a grand opportunity by not putting Dance, Dance in their live show - what a great first encore tune it would be, for that matter a wonderful opening tune too.
The space thing is really cool, isn't it? I read today that Payette's actually taking the CDs along with her, then apparently giving them back the artists.
I'm thrilled that this series has gone all the way to Game 7, especially since some of the earlier series were so shitty and one-sided. The finals should always go to Game 7; that's how it's supposed to be and it's what's best for the sport. Now all that needs to happen is for Cleary to score the winning goal in the last seconds of the second OT. Final score: 1-0 Wings. Then Cleary and Osgood can share the Conn Smythe.
So much for how I'd write it. Whatever happens, I'll be there Dukeside, pints and chocolate-peanut-butter balls in hand(s), for the last hockey game of the season.
Posted by: Lynda | 11 June 2009 at 11:42 AM
Word.
I figured out what was going on when you were followed by the pair of trouble makers over to the RC boards and then they promptly disappeared the split second you stopped posting there. The only agenda they had was to trash you and drive you away, didn't give a crap about RC or his fans.
So...word.
Posted by: Cathi | 11 June 2009 at 07:19 PM
On the OKP of olde you were like a missionary vegetarian in the middle of the feeding frenzy at the waterhole on the veldt. The outcome was preordained. Now it's a jungle boat ride at the amusement park, harmless but why keep riding after a few times around the artificial lagoon to see the animatronic hippo wiggle his ears on cue? The outcome is still preordained and that's boring.
Among the larger grouping of fans in general you're always going to be the 'What doesn't belong with the rest?' item. If you're okay with that, you get no arguments from me.
I'll confess a little shamefacedley to being a sucker for Dance Dance. In a brotherly sort of way of course. My masculinity's not threatened, not me, no sir, no way.
Stephen
Posted by: Stephen | 11 June 2009 at 08:42 PM
If it hadn't happened the way it did you'd have to keep fighting with the crazies in all their fake ID's and you wouldn't be here with your blog. That would be a big loss for the rest of us who don't conform to the OKP way. {{{hug}}} It could have been handled way better than it was but it all worked out in the end. :)
I didn't know that about Merasheen. I googled and got more info too. Wow! Now it's tragic instead of sad. I totally love Dance Dance too. I hope the guys decide to do it live and I get to see it. The video is great but to see it live would put me in space like the CDs. :D They'd have to play somewhere near me too, but sooner or later that's bound to happen. I'll keep a close eye out for more autumn tour dates.
Posted by: Ellen | 12 June 2009 at 11:59 AM
Cathi, Stephen, and Ellen: I took forever answering comments on the most recent entry, and now there's a late invite to the pub, so I'll be back later to answer here too.
Posted by: Lynda | 14 June 2009 at 05:34 PM
A bit later than I'd intended, but better than never, as the saying goes.
Ellen, I agree about things having worked out pretty darn well overall. Yes, "things could have been handled better" (by myself as well, for sure), but which of any of us has never been deserving of that little epitaph, on a personal level, a business level, a national level, and so on? "Things could have been handled better" is quite likely to be the epitaph for our species. Seen in that context, it's not so bad.
I really want to go to Merasheen one of these days. It's on the short list for future exploratory travels. Next up before that is St. Pierre & Miquelon, maybe the Change Islands too. I seem to have a passion for islands. Peninsulas too,though - probably the next jaunt will include the whole of the Burin Peninsula, which I have yet to see much of at all. Today's journey is much closer to home - today is pefect day for Cuckold's Cove.
I hope you get a close-by show, Ellen. Do keep an eye on the tour schedule, especially for November. There's a decent chance something might work out for you. Don't know about Dance, Dance - so far that's just in my own hopes. I was so glad Alan did it on the cruise, but surprised too, because I didn't think he was going to. Maybe the enthusiastic response they got for it there will help to encourage them to try it out during regular shows.
Stephen, are you calling me a herbivore? We'd better be speaking metaphorically...I don't think I could bear to part with chiliburgers and erotic fish & chips. Or roast turkey. Not to mention sausages.
Actually, I kinda like that jungle ride with the twitchy-eared hippo, but I do see your point about there not being much reason to keep going on it again and again and again after a certain point. I think there's a good chance that most fan-type message boards probably work the best for newer fans; they give the new fan who might not have many friends who share their own appreciation of the band's music a place to interact with those who do.
It's good for there to be some longer-time fans still around too, so the inevitable questions can get an answer Has anyone else noticed there's a hidden track on Play? How old is Alan? Are all the boys married? What CD should I buy first? Do they do meet and greets? What's your favourite song?.
But those longtime fans need to have an exceptional amount of patience (giving a nod to Anne here); otherwise, too often the oldbies wind up getting a bit snippy with the newbies because they're jaded from hearing the same questions asked over and over and over and over again. That's when the new person gets treated rudely or dismissively; lately I've noticed the "answer" given is too often merely a link to threads where it's already been discussed before, that link frequently being offered up by some of the very same fans I can recall asking their own breathless newbie questions when they started out...questions that had also already been asked and answered before.
Whenever people get that jaded, they need either to move along and leave the message board to the newer fans or they need to shut the fuck up and just lurk because they have begun to get in the way of the point and purpose of the board.
That comment alone is probably ample argument in support of your "not one of us" theory. Such is life. I've met plenty of good people in the larger group, some who see eye-to-eye and some who don't. I've never been much of the kind of person who needs to run in a pack anyway, though the missionary days are long ago and far away.
Of course your fondness for Dance, Dance is all in a brotherly sort of way. Absolutely. It never would have occurred to me that it could possibly be otherwise. She said insincerely, suppressing a sardonic snicker. And suspecting that you're nearly as charmed by the way Alan says "Sunday slacks" as she is. Nearly.
Thanks, Cathi. Yeah, they did make their intentions pretty obvious, didn't they? But there was no shortage of people who wanted to hear their lies, in that fan group for no other apparent reason than the simple fact that I liked Russell and thought really well of his music. At least the sourest and nastiest of fans in the GBS group have the "concert-envy" excuse...the biggest Willing Believers of the lies in the Russell Crowe group were mostly the ones who professed a dislike of Russell and a detestation of his music. How nuts is that?
Those same two, and the couple other "fans" who also followed over for purposes of hate, would likely be right back at it if I posted either there or the OKP again. They're still around, like rats lurking inside the walls. I used to get their hate messages sent here too when I first began the blog, but once they realised that their shit (A) Wasn't going to see the light of day and (B) Wasn't going to impact me in any way, it pretty much died off.
There are still the semi-regular crazies that pop up every now and then to spew, but even that's gotten quieter of late. Maybe even the cracked and the crazed take hiatuses too. We'll see how it goes when the shows start up again, though I think that the larger purpose behind the hate-mongering - the pathetic attempt to get noticed and therefore feel you've got some impact in life, to feel like maybe you are "real" after all because you have the power to hurt or anger another person- gets taken away when the target simply refuses to react to it. That and the attempt to discredit a person by spreading lies about them - that one gets shot in the foot when the liars can't get their lies posted publicly on a site or a blog. There's always Twitter and Facebook and the like for that kind of shit, though. Again, just ask Trent Reznor about that level of "social interaction".
At the end of the day, it still comes down to there being no place for liars and haters to get their way if there are no people who want to hear their lies and hate. That's where the real problem is, apparently into perpetuity.
Posted by: Lynda | 15 June 2009 at 07:43 AM