Cowboy Jim in Canmore Alberta!
February 09 Newsletter
Hi folks...
Just packing up to head back to the U.S. after a few snowy days
here in the Royal City.
Up above is a pic taken last week with me and the Gordon Boys
on stage at the lovely Old Theatre in Oriental North Carolina.
We're using our new "dispersed focus" method of engaging
an audience. And yes, I'm playing my iPhone!
here's where I'm headed in February. Hope to see some of you there:
Friday January 30th- Shirley MA..at the BULL RUN folk series 8 p.m. 215 Great Rd., Rt. 2A 978-425-4311 - 877-536-7190 Toll Free 16 dollars or 12 in advance bullrun@bicnet.net
Saturday January 31st
I'll be in good ol' Old Lynn Pennsylvania at one of my
favourite concert venues- The Old Church. call 570-965-2889 lores@epix.net
Sunday Feb 1st it's Ithaca NY at Cornell for WVBR's BOUND
FOR GLORY.. always a great time at this legendary live concert
and live radio show! Anabel Taylor Hall 8 p.m. bfg@wvbr.com
Feb 9-13th Toronto ON Rhyme Capsules Song-writing In the
Schools Program ..Crestwood School,
feb 14th... Under The Covers All-star Dance Party! my annual
rock and roll extravaganza at Mitchell Hall in Guelph... 8 p.m.
tickets 20.00 available at 10 Carden street or at the door....
Special valentine's array of dance/love songs featuring 20 performers
for 20 bucks.. including Molly Kurvink, Harri Palm, Geordie Gordon,
Sam Turton, Jane Lewis, Ian Reid, and many more... always a ton
of fun...
Thursday Feb 19th I'll be in Vancouver making a special
appearance at the Fraser Basin conference. ( rivers. my favourite)
Friday Feb 20th I'll be in Chemainus B.C. on the island
at the Dancing Bean.
Saturday Feb 21st -- Victoria BC... house concert in the
Oak Bay area.. hosted by Jane McCannell... this one is nearly
sold out already... you can reserve a ticket if you act fast..
at jmccannell@shaw.ca she'll give you directions
Sunday February 21st.. the Roxy Theatre on Gabriola Island
BC!
Tuesday February 23rd.. Vancouver BC.. Bluebird North hosted
by Shari Ulrich...
Time: 7:30 PM
Venue: The Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Cost: Tickets $12, Discount at door for SAC members w/
card
Tickets: Information (604) 224-6201
Saturday Feb 28th... Live on the air on Jim Marino's Morning
show at CFMU Hamilton Ontario!
In March I'm finally getting around to working on a new CD, and I'm very excited to announce that my songbook will be released then too. Details coming soon.
Also in March I'm participating in a unique
new venture designed to reduce our carbon footprint. Kick
in a pledge to the website address below! I'm giving up on the
lovely Miss Sue Baru for one day.. leaving her to fend for herself
on those mean streets.
www.livefreecampaign.ca/live-free-life/james-gordon
In April I'll be touring in Michigan.. There are a few empty dates still, so if you're a Michigovian and you'd like to host a house concert.. let me know! It's easy and fun and it will appear at least for a night that you have many close friends!
For February's Tale of the Month I've jotted down some highlights from last week's trip through the South-Eastern U.S.
Thanks as always for listening and reading.
Look for updates on the website: jamesgordon.ca
talk to you again next month
see you along the road somewhere!
James
The trip got off to an inauspicious start...
The day before we had to set off for the U.S. I had a gig here
in Guelph. I packed the lovely Miss Sue Baru to her gills. ( Well,
she's not actually an amphibious vehicle but you know what I mean.)
It was a really cold day here on little Pipe Street. "How
Cold?" I hear you all eagerly asking. Well, when I slammed
down her cute but brittle little derriere, her back window shattered
into a million pieces- mostly nestling into the musical equipment.
I had to drive to the show in -20 conditions with no window, unload..
rush her to the auto glass place, dash to the gig and then leave
in the early morning for Virginia. Somehow it all worked.
On the way through the Allegheny Mountains I passed the Zippo Lighter Museum. Somehow I resisted the temptation to visit.
In Virginia Beach, home of the great Tidewater
Folk Series, I start the day and the tour with a kid's concert
in the library.
Spotting a little girl all dressed in pink with really cool shades
on, I asked her if she was a rock star. I'm guessing she was about
4 years old, and she said that, no, she was actually a Ballerina
Princess.
"Close enough" I said, and invited her up to sing a
song with me. When she got to the stage I asked her what her favourite
thing to do was.
"Cleaning floors" she replied. Ballerina Princess is
going to make someone very happy some day.
We sang a song requiring her to answer back each line. She ably
sang along and had appropriate Ballerina/princess moves to go
with it, but she interrupted me in mid-song by tugging on my pants
and said "Excuse me, I'm a bit poopy so I better sit down"....
I acknowledged that she had made the right call and hoped that
she didn't have to do any floor cleaning in the theatre.
After the show I picked up my rock star kids at the Norfolk Airport. They had been recording in New York at a fancy pancy studio there. Being In Virginia Beach, and since it was the first time we had seen a day free of snow in, like, foreEVER, they naturally wanted to go straight to the beach. We drove around for an hour and never found it. They should change the name of the city to VIRGINIA STRIP MALL.
We had a good show that night though, and
I returned the jet-set kids to the airport the next day ( they
would fly back later in the week for more concerts ) and headed
in to North Carolina.
Had two pleasant days off- and was able to visit the Outer Banks,
Kitty Hawk, Nag's Head and Roanoke Island, home of Sir Walter
Raleigh's ill-fated attempt at the first English settlement in
the Americas in the 1580's. I know why the colony disappeared.
No restaurants open in the off-season.
It WAS an exciting week to be in the U.S.
with the Obama Coronation and all. A lightness of being that was
very infectious. I got to play at TWO inauguration parties. The
first in Winston-Salem, and the next night in PIttsboro. In this
pretty little town they had MOVED the inauguration party because
there was too much snow the night before, sending North Carolinians
into a general panic. My concert got moved ahead a bit in the
evening so that the blues band that was supposed to be playing
at the party the night before could play after me.
It was a raucous crowd that gathered to celebrate the inauguration.
Most of them hadn't come to hear ME play, so it was a bit hard
to get their attention as I started in to my set.
Throughout my all-too-long career there's always been a great
debate as to whether it's the performers job to ask an audience
to be quiet or not. Personally, I feel that if whatever you are
doing isn't grabbing their attention, it's your fault and you
shouldn't hassle them about it. In this case though, I had a new
experience. The organizer of the event came on stage after a couple
of songs, and asked me if I could sing a little quieter
because the audience was having a hard time talking over it! So
much for my rock star princess ballerina ego!
After I finished playing, it turned out that only the lead singer of the blues band had showed up, a great Creole entertainer named Rhonda Robichaux. The band couldn't get out of another gig when they had switched the date. She had her guitar, but was looking scared at the large and unruly crowd, and she asked me if I would be HER band for the night. I couldn't say no, so I ended up being a one-man blues and funk player for a while, and by the end of the night, we were getting offers for gigs together. Yah right.
Just Back from my tour of the Midwestern States with Geordie Gordon! Here we are in Crystals Falls Michigan. This was an amazing theatre built in the 20's. Everything is still the same including the audience. Can you tell that I'm afraid of heights?
my BIG news is that I've finally finished my long-awaited collection of road stories! It's an audio book, and it's dedicated to the memory of Miss Sue. Here's the official press release from the head office:
Pipe Street Records Proudly
Presents
James Gordon,
with his new Audio Book-on-CD
The Highway And I
"Stories and Songs From My 30-year Romance With The Road"
James Gordon has been collecting comic tales
of action and misadventure from his long career in the Canadian
music business for 30-odd years. Very odd years. Since he began
including a new story each month on his now-legendary e-newsletter,
fans have been clamouring for a book-form collection of these
tales. After pulling them all together, James realized that these
road stories should be listened to while YOU are on the road,
and the result is "The Highway And I", a FIVE CD AUDIO
BOOK! You can take it with you and listen to these road reminiscences
on the same highways he's been criss-crossing for a generation.
Five and a half hours of listening! That will take you from Toronto
to Detroit and liven up the deadly dull Highway 401! The first
four CDs contain SIXTY-ONE stories, and the fifth is a compilation
of TWENTY road songs that James has recorded, drawing on his catalogue
of over 30 CDs. Included are three new songs never before recorded.
Some of the stories not to miss: "The Great Duncan Heist",
"Astronaut For A Day", "Moose On The Highway",
"Thorndale Farmer Appreciation Night", "The Stroke
Survivor's Luncheon" and "Montana And Idaho", which
details an infamous gig at a nudist resort. ( That's the late
great Miss Sue Baru in the picture, taken on her last ride!)
Gordon's most ambitious recording project yet, "The Highway
And I" is retailing for the remarkably reasonable price of
30.00. For you stalwart newsletter readers, if you order a copy
now, you can get in on the EARLYBIRD price of just 25 dollars!
( Since the U.S. dollar has decided to fall to the lowly level
of the Canadian Dollar, this price holds for both countries.)
This offer is just for the month of October, so place your order
today!
You can order from this website, ( go to the order form page)- OR send a cheque for 25 dollars plus 4 dollars postage ( It's a big package!) to Pipe Street Publishing, Box 714 Guelph ON Canada N1H 4A5. If you live in Canada, add 6% GST, ( 1.50) and if you are lucky enough to live in Ontario, add 8%PST ( 2.00). It's a steal! My 2-CD best-of collection Mining For Gold is 25 bucks, and it's just TWO cds! We're practically giving them away! You can also send your Visa OR Mastercard number, along with your mailing address, to james@jamesgordon.ca or fax 519-837-3776.
I'll be doing readings from "The Highway And I" at bookstores and concert appearances over the next few months. Thanks to all of you who have encouraged me to complete this project.
And there's other news too!
I'd also like to announce a new project with my Guelph songwriter pal Katherine Wheatley. We're hosting a
"Winter Songwriting Weekend"
here in Guelph January 11, 12 and 13 08.
Here's the press release:
Two of Canada's finest songwriting instructors, Katherine Wheatley
and James Gordon, are presenting a unique opportunity in
Canada's renowned "City of Music" for experienced and
aspiring writers. For three days this January, they will
share their considerable knowledge about their craft, helping
you to improve your songwriting while providing a fun and relaxing
escape from the bleak midwinter!
The immersion course takes place at the luxurious and historic
London House Bed And Breakfast, a gorgeous 1893 Victorian mansion
overlooking the lovely Exhibition Park, a short walk from downtown
Guelph.
Limited to just 20 registrants, the weekend, (7 p.m. Friday to
4 p.m. Sunday) includes:
· Songwriting sessions with both Katherine and James.
No Experience Necessary!
· Song-sharing circles and jam sessions
· One-on-one mentoring
· A Friday night house concert and reception featuring
Wheatley and Gordon
· A songwriting assignment
· Q and A session about songwriting and the music business
· All meals including the London B and B's famous breakfasts
are provided.
( Drinks and finger foods Friday night, Dinner Saturday Night,
Breakfast and Lunch Saturday and Sunday, refreshments throughout
the day)
Registration Fee: 285 dollars PLUS accommodation. ( Earlybird
price of 250 dollars if you sign up by Dec. 1st. ) If you
live near or in Guelph, you don't HAVE to book accommodation,
but it will be more fun if you do!
Accommodation: For this special event The London B and B offers
a 10% discount on rooms, and 20% if you book before December
1st! Prices range from 75 (single occupancy) to 145 dollars (double
occupancy )per night plus taxes. Each room is unique, some are
ensuite and some with shared bath.
Book your rooms at www.londonhouse.ca
info@londonhouse.ca 1-877-836-6874 or 519-824-6874
When their seven sumptuous rooms are booked, they will
book you a room in one of three nearby compatible B and B's.
you guys know all about me: but here's Katherine's bio. We've
been writing some songs together lately. She's the best in the
biz!
·According to the Toronto Star,
Katherine Wheatley "turns pebbles of every day life into
dreamy mountains of song". Her first CD spent 17 weeks
on Sam The Record Man's Top 10 Independent Charts. Since
it's release, Katherine's been a regular at folk festivals, concert
series and clubs across Canada. As well as her own career,
she is a member of the Toronto band, Betty and the Bobs, a guitarist
in Wendell Ferguson's trio "The Smoking Section" and
she presents songwriting workshops at schools, folk clubs and
music stores across Canada and the U.S. Katherine's been
a musical guest on Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe, TVO's Studio Two,
CTV's Canada AM and Good Morning Canada. "As a listener,
it's hard not to sit back, close your eyes and watch the movie
play. And man, can this serene red head ever play guitar"
(See Magazine, Edmonton). www.katherinewheatley.com
you can register by sending a cheque
payable to Pipe Street Publishing, or enclosing a Visa or Mastercard
# with your name, address and contact info to Pipe Street Publishing,
Box 714 Guelph ON N1H 6L3 OR by e-mailing the info to james@jamesgordon.ca OR by faxing 519-837-3776
. We can do it over the phone if by chance I'm at home, at 519-837-3757.
· The great New Jersey folksinger Mike Agranoff has recorded
my silly ditty "The Humline Song" on his new CD "Ain't
Never Been Plugged". He's releasing it this month. You can
order it directly from Mike at Mike@MikeAgranoff.com
· I was a finalist in a songwriting contest that I forgot I had entered. The international Unisong contest, which I only entered because the entry fee included a free membership in SONICBIDS, picked my song "Levee's Broken" as a top-twenty finalist. Didn't win though. Story of my life. You've got that song on the "Nine Green Bottles" CD, right? Oh dear.. well, you can order it from www.borealisrecords.com
· In the Pipe Street Studio, we're celebrating the release this month of two fine albums produced here by two excellent Ontario roots acts. Allison Lupton's new CD is finished, ( we recorded her debut here, and we KNOW you'll like this one!) order it through learig@sympatico.ca. "Two Roads Home" a very distinctive duo from Toronto, finished up their CD "Sweet Shadows" here, and you can order it from their website http://www.tworoadshome.com
Here at Pipe Street HQ.. we've got a new face helping out around here... Sebastion Bevelander is a co-op student in Grade 12 here in Guelph-- he's a skilled musician and will be working for slave wages transcribing songs for my songbook.. due out next year. Watch for it!
That's it... thanks as always for listening
and reading... Hope to see you out on the road somewhere...
As promised, a few words about Miss Sue for your story-of-the-month.
Cheers
James
In her declining years, the Lovely Miss Sue
Baru was acting less lady-like than in her prime. After her fuel
pump needed to be replaced, which broke her heart, she growled
and groaned her way down the road, attracting suspicious glances
from other cars. She became incontinent and would leave little
dribbles in driveways and parking lots everywhere. Very embarrassing.
In her dotage she eventually became a gasket case. Her head gasket
went... and we decided that to leave her on life support systems
after that was going to be just too painful for her. She tried
her best.. Some days she'd work fine, but others she'd get all
boiling mad and her radiator would make a real scene.
I couldn't even get her under her own power to the car lot, where
they offered the humiliating sum of 500 dollars for her on a trade-in
IF I could get her there.
I had to wait a few days for my shiny new Subaru to arrive at
the car lot... and Miss Sue behaved fairly well while I waited...
she even made it all the way to the car lot, ( about half an hour
from home) so I could prove to them that she existed. Then, on
the appointed day, we departed on what we thought was her last
ride early in the morning. She made it to the edge of town and
then gave up. After some coaxing, we turned around and she sputtered
her way home. I had to call the car lot and tell them I would
try another day.
We tried again. Same deal. Then, to test her out.., I took her
on a short trip north of town. She did fine. She just wouldn't
drive to the car lot. Who could blame her? Eventually I got my
son Evan to help and he followed me in his car, figuring if she
just made it half way, I'd abandon her where she quit, and I'd
try to get the rest of the way the next day. Proud to the end,
with Evan watching from behind, this time she made it all the
way, though the car lot was closed. Evan gave me a ride home,
and to prove that she really ran, the next morning I hitched a
ride early to the lot.... drove her to a nearby breakfast place
before the lot opened... then roared in to view just as they opened,
for all to see. We closed the deal for the new car, I said goodbye
to Sue, and as I was about to leave in the NEW car, the mechanic
came in to say that he couldn't get her started. She had one last
trick in her. I left as fast as I could.
We did some hard travelling together. I regret that I never fixed
that big dent in her fine figure that she got in Middletown Ohio,
( a story in the new book!) It made her look old. I figure 10
car years is about 100 person years these days.... so she did
pretty well!
Reviewers have been more than kind about the new James Gordon And Sons Cd 'Nine Green Bottles" too. ( You've got it right? Oops.. if you've neglected to purchase a copy you can order it from any record store, ( remember those?), or online from Borealis Records at www.borealisrecords.com
You can read recent reviews and listen to 3 songs at http://www.sonicbids.com/JamesGordon
If you're not tired of weblinking by now, there's a couple of
interesting, ( to me anyway)- stories and interviews at http://www.sonicbids.com/JamesGordon2
including "A conversation with James Gordon" from
the New Quarterly, and a story from Nova Scotia called "Master
Songwriter In Tune With The Valley".
Here in the Pipe Street Studio, the demand for recording time
here is so great that Evan Gordon is now working nearly full time
as a producer/engineer when he's not on the road. just like his
old man. - We've recently upgraded our equipment and spruced up
the joint, and it's going pretty well around the clock.
In honour of my old band Tamarack's 30th Anniversary this November-- here's a list of milestones from that group's shady past!
1. Worst Motel: Barrhead Alberta. - This place
put wet sheets on the beds when their dryer broke down. They explained
that they thought the sheets would dry faster on the beds than
in a pile, since it was the middle of winter. At least they had
been washed. #2 was also in Alberta, a dismal cold room in Oyen
where we had to break the ice in the toilet bowl before using
it. #3 was a really scary place in Chicago, where the proprietors
were really surprised that we wanted a room for more than an hour!
2. Cheapest Motel: Central Butte Saskatchewan, ( 10 dollars a
night!)--- I'll always remember this place because, on a blustery
winter day, it's where I started to write my song "The Lonesome
Cowboy's Lament", which begins- "there was no blind
on the window/ I looked outside and watched the wind blowin'/
the snow tracks that led to that ten dollar dive's door".
3. Worst Road Food: Packenham Ontario, ( which cured me of Hot
Turkey Sandwiches with Gravy). There are hundreds of runners-up
for this prize though.
4. Best Road Food: Dawson City Yukon. Worth the drive fer sure.
5. Furthest North Gig: Inuvik NWT.
6. Furthest South: Gaudalajara, Mexico. ( This year I got to add
the Farthest-From-Home gig ever: Hanoi, Vietnam.)
7. Stupidest Drive: Sydney Nova Scotia to Hamilton Ontario, non-stop.
8. Scariest Drive:, Winter storm, Kootenay Mountains, B.C. ( where
the promoter of the gig we were driving to advised us to "stick
to the mountain side of the road"! )
9. Least Successful Drive: Missed Trans-Canada Highway by 18 feet
after hitting black ice near Blind River Ontario.
10. Most Brutal Tour: 50 shows in 50 Days, 1986
11. Worst Tour Van: 1975 Dodge. ( OK. I can't believe that I bought
another Dodge after that, but my Dodge Caravan mini-van in the
late 90's was a TOTAL Lemon.)- Of course I'm now touring in the
Lovely Miss Sue Baru, who is celebrating her 10th birthday this
year!
12. Longest Gig: 7 hours straight in a bar in St. John's Newfoundland.
13. Largest Venue: Cotton Bowl, Dallas Texas, where I also visited
the World's Largest Bar and ate the World's Most Poisonous corn
dog!
14. Smallest Venue: The furnace room of the library in Elgin Ontario.
15. Tightest fit on tour: 5 people plus a double bass, a dozen
instruments and a lot of gear in a Pinto Station Wagon, 1978.
16. Worst Bathroom: Frontenac Hotel, Kingston ON. You don't want
to know.
17. Most Inebriated Audience: German sailors in Ginger's Tavern,
Halifax NS
18. Longest Drive to Shortest Gig: Ottawa ON to Chicago IL for
a fifteen-minute appearance
19. Coldest Gig: Ottawa Ontario, outdoors at Winterfest.
20. Hottest Gig: When we did the T-shirt, this honour also belonged
to Ottawa, but since then I've played in Washington DC when it
was over 100 degrees F.
21. Poorest Paying Gig: Rockwood ON, New Year's Eve 1980, where
our bar tab exceeded our fee by 150 dollars.
22. Most Exciting Gig: As always... it's my next one! After all
these years, I still can't wait!
Thanks for listening and reading. Have a great year. Keep checking
jamesgordon.ca for details.
all da best
James
A pic from my trip to Vietnam
Below, I'm on stage in Hanoi belting it out with too Vietnamese Pop Stars. Yes, we're singing "We Are The World"! And, in Vietnam, I'm tall! The woman beside me almost wearing a red dress is "Missou".. I forget the gent's name, but he obviously got all his rock moves from studying my instructional videos.
This Summer I had the great pleasure of debuting "James Gordon And Sons"- with my uber-talented boys Evan and Geordie we played some folk festivals, did a tour right around Lake Superior, and finished our first album together, due out on Borealis Records in March. Here we are at the great folk fest in Red Rock Ontario. That's Evan on the accordion pretending he's a folkie.
Photos
by
Margaret
Evans
This summer also saw the launching of THE ERAMOSA BELLE, my new solar houseboat, on the Severn River in Ontario's Cottage Country. Isn't it Cute? It's got a stage on top, naturally, so watch for dockside concerts next year. It's a true folkie boat, took two years to build with my father Don, and it's all made out of cedar and pine!
Then In September, I was priviledged to be able to make my third consecutive appearance at the Deep Roots Festival in Wolfville Nova Scotia.
Look how happy that makes me! (Photo by Ellie Kennard)
- Just heard that The Great Canadian Songbook (Volume 1) is finished and available in stores. Sheet music and lyrics for 50 fine songs about Canada. I'm proud to say that "Teamwork" , a song that I co-wrote with Alex Sinclair, is among them.
You can find out more about it at www.fromseatosea.com
Check out some new pictures from my travels on the "Travels With James" page.
( Check out Other tales on the "ROAD DIARY" Page)
I'll update the story every month I promise..
Thanks for reading... Drop me a line at james@jamesgordon.ca
if you'd like to receive an e-mailed newsletter once a month.
Here's my favourite sign from my travels last year.
This was in Vietnam.. I want to work for this company-
Cheers
James