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Demons, volume 2 – Synchronicity part 2 (Marathon)

A few weeks after my synchronistic moment in the book store (see previous blog), I had another one in the Toronto airport. We were flying home from one of our many tours of this past year when a man came up to me while I was standing in the immigration line. He recognised me, which is a rare thing unto itself, and he wanted to tell me that he was returning from the West coast where he had spent the past few weeks with his brother, who had several months earlier been diagnosed with ALS. He told me that the disease had ravaged his brothers body at a stunning rate and that his brother did not have long to live. One of the things that he had brought along on his trip was the Trinity Revisited DVD. And that he and his brother had watched Vic’s performance of Dreaming My Dreams over and over and they had cried together, a lot. The power of Vic.

For some of the Demons recording sessions Margo wasn’t available so we invited our good friend Andy Maize to join us and lay down “ghost” vocals as we worked on the bedtracks. Some of Andy’s vocals were so powerful and on-the-mark that we decided to keep some of them and Margo ended up working with them, creating a duet using the “ghost” vocals as her singing partner. One such song was “Marathon”, a touchingly beautiful lament set at the end of the line. Here is a rough mix of the bedtrack with Andy singing the lead:

Tiananmen Square and The Forbiden City
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Renmin Park, volume 1 – Cicadas

On June 4th 1989 we were touring the west coast of the United States, when word escaped from China about the massacre in Tiananmen Square. The world had been watching, there had been this sparkle of hope shining from a country that had been dark to us for so many years. And then it ended in such a brutal and final fashion. For the rest of that tour we dedicated Powderfinger to those who had been out on the square: ultimately, a futile gesture. Despite the futility, we performed the song each night because it felt right to try and mark this moment in history, it felt right to take pause.

The history of The June 4th Movement has all but been officially wiped out from China’s collective memory. It’s not a subject that is lightly raised among the older generation and yet in certain company mentioning it would draw honest blank expressions: for most people under the age of thirty it is like it never took place. Tiananmen Square is a massive public square in the heart of Beijing. The only thing rising from its stone is Mao’s mausoleum: when you stand in the middle of the square it’s hard not to imagine that night and the thousands of people gathered and the coming of the tanks and the panic and the fear and the terror. This was the last lyric that I wrote for the album.

Hear them buzzing in the trees

A lot like us a dying breed.

One voice now is all we need.

Hear them buzzing in the trees.

Nothing left but empty shells.

No memory now of where we fell.

No one left to truely tell

the tale of how we truley fell.

Once again the simple truth

is crushed beneath the leather boot.

A lot like us a dying breed.

No trees here to hide behind

those big red wheels they slowly grind.

Hear them buzzing in the trees.

Tiananmen Square and The Forbiden City



abortion ralley
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Tour Diary (July 21 – 22, 2010)

abortion ralley

Day 4  – Charlotte, NC: It was as hot as Megan Fox in Transformers 1. I barely left the bus: once in the morning to find coffee, and a second time to check out a very disturbing anti-abortion rally on a downtown corner, complete with raging preacher and photos of butchered babies. This is a strange town. But why wouldn’t it be. Lots of money floating around, lots of poverty too and then there’s that Southern thang adrift in the humidity. This venue (the McGlohan Theater) is a beauty. It looks good, it feels good and it sounds great. It’s always a treat to play here because the audiences are always enthusiastic. What comes first, the venue or the audience? I think that each feeds the other. I had a tough show tonight and could never really find the handle. It wasn’t a bad show, it just didn’t take off. But the audience cheered and egged us on throughout, which is always much appreciated.

IN DOOR

Day 5 – Knoxville, TN: I woke up in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The best thing about it was that I didn’t have to change out of my PJs to go shopping. A great way to start the day. We then moved on to a very good record store called the Disc Exchange where Margo, Jeff and I played a very fun acoustic set to a very appreciative gathering. Jeff and I watched Ed Harris and Vigo M play a couple of real cool cats in Appaloosa. After soundcheck some of us had a crappy dinner at a big brew hall down the street. Tonight, another very fine music venue, The Bijou, and a small, but excellent audience: enthusiastic and appreciative. I had a lot of fun. Our late night movie was 44 Inch Chest: a nasty and very twisted English gangster film, which doesn’t quite hit the mark.  Not too hot today, but steamy as a lobster pot in a Maine kitchen.

Father and Son

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NPR- All Songs Considered

NPR to the rescue again. They ran a nice piece today on the program All Songs Considered and have a posted a piece on their blog. Please check it out if you have the time.

Blog Post: http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2010/07/13/128485702/new-album-from-cowboy-junkies-rich-with-tales

The Show:  http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=128469300&m=128469299

Amazon release special

We are very pleased to announce that Amazon has made Renmin Park its MP3 Daily Deal which means that the album will be available  today only, (Monday, June 14th), as a download for only $3.99. The album will be officially released tomorrow (June 15th) and will be available at all your favourite retail outlets (we kind of hope that we are one of your favourite retail outlets).

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Happy Birthday Bob

(Here’s something from our friend Ron Wells…)
Robert Allen Zimmerman, born May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota
He was born an enigma wrapped in a cloak of mystery outside the Gates of Eden, outside of time and space, walking in the footsteps of Woody Guthrie, sitting amidst the blues of Blind Willie McTell, kin to Alan Ginsberg  and Jack Kerouac who taught him the Beat, and soulmate to Rimbaud who painted words in lavish strokes of color that defied meaning and spoke volumes. He writes songs that touch eternity and come back to visit earth, only to soar away like shooting stars as he strums his guitar and his soul roams the world looking for stories of sacred love, political lust and enduring life, a song and dance man playing electrified magical musical notes for the gods. And if you want to find him look inside the holy halls of the Chelsea Hotel, but it’s probably too late because he’s already hit the road on his way to some other joint down Highway 61, and if you hear some woman with her hands in her back pockets, Betty Davis style, whispering on the wind, “Happy Birthday, Bob”, well, he probably doesn’t hear her anyways because he’s an artist and he don’t look back as he heads for the Highlands where his spirit is on the water and his heart is traveling slow, onward, forever onward, passing mere mortals on the way to the next show.
“Thinking of a series of dreams
Where the time and the tempo fly
And there’s no exit in any direction
‘Cept the one that you can’t see with your eyes”
——-Bob Dylan
Philadelphia
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Tour Diary – Philadelphia, PA (April 24, 2010)

Philadelphia

(Jason Lent has forsaken the island paradise of Hawaii to follow us around for a few months. I have happily placed the tour diary in his capable hands. It should bring a new perspective to our ramblings.)

It was a wet and grey day when I finally reached Philadelphia. I headed over to the venue as the Penn Relays let out on the adjoining campus and found myself swimming upstream in a river of traffic. Time was short so the planned trip to see the Rocky statue was cancelled and I only caught a glimpse of downtown Philadelphia. The venue was modern and featured live music on multiple levels. There was seating if you ordered their expensive dinner but those interested only in music were left to stand.

It was a difficult night in Philadelphia. The band’s set appeared to be hampered by sound issues on stage all evening. The more rocking songs lacked the punch of the previous night and a few songs almost came undone as the band struggled to fight through the technical issues. On the last night of a tour that covered over 2,500 miles in nine days, the band managed to keep their sense of humor and deliver some memorable moments when they stripped down for the acoustic songs. Later, Margo really let loose and exorcised some of the night’s frustrations during “Good Friday.”

After the show, my friend and I strolled up fraternity row and settled into the counter at an all night diner. It smelled of burnt fry oil and the seats were torn. Two sisters, Ginger (the older at 19) and Jolina were working their third shift together as waitresses. They talked about becoming nurse technicians and someday seeing Hawaii. There was hope in their voices and a real belief that they were headed towards someplace better. I hope they get there.

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Benefit concert on Wednesday Night

This Wednesday Margo and I will be performing a short acoustic set at Hugh’s Room in Toronto. Joining us will be Barbara Lynch and brother John; Andy Maize and Josh Finlayson from the Skydiggers and Katherine Wheatley.  Its all in an effort to help raise some money for the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. If you are in the area, come on down. Here is a very cool rehearsal recording of the song In My Time Of Dying that brother John and Barbara Lynch made. Hopefully this will inspire you to come on down.

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