American Songwriter interview
There is a decent interview with me that has just been posted on American Songwriter. I discuss the Renmin Park album as well as the upcoming Demon’s (volume 2) album.
Cowboy Junkies
Renmin Park, volume 1 – A Few Bags Of Grain
One of the main reasons for my family going to China for three months was to bring my two daughters back to the land of their birth; a chance for them to experience it firsthand. The latest trend in international adoptions is “homeland visits.” Parents are encouraged to take their adopted daughters on a two week tour of China, culminating in a trip to the child’s orphanage. It’s definitely a worthy idea (and a smart way for the adoption industry to make a bit more cash), but my wife and I have always felt that to take your kid from the suburban splendours of North America head-first into the urban sprawl that is modern China would be a little too mind-blowing for even the most prepared and sophisticated child. So when we were offered an opportunity to spend three months living in a small city in China, which would give this homeland visit a bit of context, we jumped at it. We thought that the experience of walking into an orphanage and seeing a room full of squalling babies laid out in their cribs on wooden boards wouldn’t be as traumatic for our daughters if they had a better sense of the difference between living conditions in China and those in the West. We were wrong, of course.
A Few Bags of Grain comes specifically out of that experience – of returning to the girl’s orphanages. We always talk about the birth-mother in the adoption stories that we are told to tell our kids, but I don’t think we are capable of truly representing her. We usually portray her as a stereotype – a tragic, romantic figure. We also talk about abandonment in these stories, but what do most of us truly know and understand about abandonment? Returning to the birth towns and the orphanages was an awakening for us as parents and a life-altering experience for, at least, my eldest daughter (who had just turned eleven). When we began the journey, my wife and I had no idea what were heading in to. My daughter, on the other hand, seemed to have a much deeper understanding of what lay ahead. As we were, literally, stepping out of our apartment to head off on this journey, she pulled us aside and out-of-the-blue said, “OK…I’ll go to the orphanage, but I don’t want to go to the place where I was found…”. She already knew what this trip was really about and what it was that she was going to have to face.
The song is about the “worthlessness of girl,” an attitude that exists not just in China, but all around the globe and shows itself in different ways. And, it’s about, that worn old saw, the indomitable nature of the human spirit.
Here is a video taken inside one of my daughter’s orphanages. Don’t watch this if you are in a public place, unless, of course, you don’t mind bawling in public.
If you’d like to catch up on some past blogs about the Renmin Park album, just click on a link:
Tour Diary – July 23 – 24, 2010
Day 6 – Asheville, NC: It was a very bumpy and uncomfortable ride through the mountains last night. No one got much sleep. Tim and I took any early morning walk through the streets of Asheville and found an exceptional breakfast at the Early Girl Eatery. Today was day one of a three day street festival in downtown Asheville. It’s a huge affair and we are in direct competition. Margo and I did a short set at the local radio station. It was hot as a @#*he%#uc%&r. We had a pretty decent turnout tonight despite all of the free stuff going on outside. We love this place, this town, this club. We had a fun, we played loose with lots of energy. An excellent crowd despite the small gaggle of geese near the bar that Margo had to quiet down. Playing for an audience like this is what makes touring worthwhile.
Day 7 – Atlanta, GA: We spent the morning in a hotel parking lot in downtown Atlanta. Jared and I decided to kill some time and we set off for the new-ish Georgia Aquarium. The line-up to get in was stretching out the door and winding along the treeless plaza, so we headed back to the bus. It is freakin’ hot…no metaphor or simile is needed. Throughout the week we have been watching bits and pieces of 2012 on satellite TV. This morning we filled in the few missing pieces. You all should know that it doesn’t end with a whimper, but a bang. Once we got settled in behind the venue (The Variety Playhouse), next to the stinky dumpsters, I did the obligatory stumbling around the Little Five Points area. There was a Cake Boss marathon on the satellite this afternoon, so we partook. What a bizarre premise for a show. We figure that one could create an excellent reality TV show (in the Cake Boss mode) set around a tour manager: following him or her through their day and watching them deal with all of the hic-ups that occur. You could even have different bands guest starring as the tour manager moves from tour to tour. That is now a copyrighted idea so if you want to develop it you need to contact me first. We had another very good show tonight. It started off a little bit shaky but gathered steam as it went along. Another excellent crowd helped us to focus. We needed them tonight , it was show number six in seven nights…and did I mention how hot it was…..
We fly home tomorrow. The rest of the Summer and September (between time off with our families) will be dedicated to finishing off Demons, Volume 2 of The Nomad Series. We are aiming to have it available on the site by late October. In the meantime I’ll be posting a lot more stuff about Renmin Park and we’ll also start to post some of the work that we are doing on Demons. So check back often (or join us on Facebook or put us in your RSS feed). We’ll be back on the road in October, in the meantime, have a safe and fun Summer.
Tour Diary (July 21 – 22, 2010)
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.
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.
Tour Diary – (July 18 – 20, 2010)
Day 1: Camden, NJ – A very long overnight drive from Toronto to get us here. Why here? A three day festival just across the river from Philadelphia, put on by WXPN (one of the better music stations left standing). It was as hot as a two dollar whore on the 4th of July. I tried to stay as cool as possible and moved between the air conditioned bus and the air conditioned green room and didn’t get much of a feel for the festival grounds. It was definitely a well attended event with lots and lots of bands that I’ve never heard of (kids these days). We had a pretty good, if short, set. After the show we headed back to the hotel to recover from our heat exhaustion. Later in the night the police cordoned off the hotel parking lot…speculation was that a body was found in the back of a car. Welcome to Jersey.
Day 2: Annapolis, MD – A day off on day 2 of the tour is just a little unusual. But so be it. We woke and we drove. We watched the movie Greenberg in which Ben Stiller (in a serious role) plays an asshole who puts himself into cringe-inducing situation. We kept waiting for the punch line, which never came. And we watched Green Zone in which Matt Damon plays a soldier in Iraq who goes off on this ludicrous hunt for the missing WMDs. It was time well wasted. We arrived in Annapolis just in time to greet the noon day sun. It was so hot today the squirrels were fanning their nuts. I braved the heat to wander around Annapolis. I’ve always liked this little town, it has ice cream, good coffee, cobblestones and lots and lots of history: it actually has over three hundred years of history ranging from the inspiring (the ratification of The Treaty of Paris) to the terrifying (the bustling slave market that was this town’s economic engine for decades). I found a pristine hard covered copy of Ian McEwan’s latest book, Solar, in one of my favourite used book stores, I found a smelly pub and ate a semi-tasty BLT with a happy hour, half priced pint of local Pale Ale and had a cup of oh-so-tasty coconut ice cream at the Annapolis Ice Cream company. So it was a good day.
Day 3: Annapolis, MD – Another good day. Hotter than a McDonalds cup of coffee. I found a nice cafe and had a good latte and very good breakfast of smoked salmon with capers, onions and cream cheese on a toasted sesame seed bagel. I talked to my family who are ensconced in the Adirondacks; worked on a new song called Idle Tales; struggled through soundcheck; and then had a very fun show. The Rams Head is an odd space. It doesn’t have the greatest sound on stage (and it probably doesn’t have the greatest sound in the audience), but it’s always a fun place to play and that’s because of the audience. There is always an energy in that place which you just want to plug in to. We played a wicked version of Me and the Devil tonight. Before we went on, we watched a documentary on Miles at The Isle of Wight in 1970. So we were emboldened.
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
Tour Diary – Denver, CO (June 25, 2010)
(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.)
“…the song which defines that time is ‘200 More Miles’. It is about the wanderlust that infected us all during that year. When I listen to it I am placed right back in the van…alone with our thoughts, nobody on the road but us and the long haul truckers, and the music we are listening to is so piercingly beautiful.” – Michael Timmins
Leaving Phoenix, the band headed up the highway on a 15 hour trek to Salt Lake City while I weaved up the back roads that hugged the Grand Canyon and pushed on through Moab, UT. The eroded monoliths of rock were stunning and I stopped just outside Moab to watch the sun fall into a pillow of clouds. Two more sleeps and this journey would be over. Sneaking into Colorado through the back door of Grand Junction, I pulled over and slept until daybreak. As the sun rose over the green peaks and brought a deep blue to the sky above, I crossed the majestic Rocky Mountains. Denver came into sight as I made the final descent and the end of the adventure became a reality. When I get the rental car back to Chicago on Monday, I’ll have crossed 13,000 miles, seen over 30 shows and visited 37 states. Each night, I was reminded of the brilliant music the band can produce under any circumstances. Each day, I was blessed with their companionship. Tonight’s final show took place in one of the interlocking suburbs that connect Denver with Boulder. The small outdoor amphitheater was pleasant but sterile. It lacked the funky, eclectic vibe you hope to find at an arts complex. Having covered over 5,000 miles on this leg, the band took the stage tired but the music hid that truth from the audience. The acoustic set included a loose, fun ‘Anniversary Song’ and an understated arrangement of ‘Witches’ that ranks up there as one of the musical highlights of the tour. An emotional ‘200 More Miles’ lowered the curtain on my adventure. The song rooted itself in my soul on this journey and I’ll never let go of the experience. The desolate stretches of highway alone with my thoughts, the small moments of friendship shared in new towns, and each live performance reminded me of how precious each day can be when you follow your heart. To the band and crew, thank you.
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Tour Diary – Salt Lake City, UT (June 24, 2010)
Jason looked at the map and decided that maybe he should miss the 15 hour drive to Salt Lake City. So I am reclaiming the Tour Diary for Salt Lake City. Jason will return for the end of the road in Denver.
We started coming here twenty years ago. At that time it was pretty obvious there wasn’t a reason for the city to be here except that God had said it was to be so, and, unfortunately, God is not a very good urban planner. It was a dull, uninspiring town. But over the past couple of decades (and the Olympics probably helped a lot) this city has evolved into an energetic, if still homogonous, city. It’s still dominated by God, but there are enough outside influences kicking against the pricks, to give it a bit of a spark. There seems to be quite a few young street punks ambling about, which means that there is rebellion brewing in the suburbs, which is a sign of good things to come. It’s now an interesting place to visit and it should get even more interesting in the coming years.
Whenever we are in Salt Lake I always take the time to stroll around Temple Square, the Mormon Church’s power center. I find it to be one of the most peaceful pieces of public real estate in the urban USA (I guess its technically private real estate, but it’s always a very welcoming and open space which gives it a very public feel). It has a very focussed energy. The gardens and the buildings are absurdly tidy and clean but there is something inspiring about the place, maybe it’s all of those choice pieces of scripture carved in granite and set throughout the square.
It was an outdoor gig tonight, part of the Arts Festival, with a very enthusiastic audience. RocknRolla. It was a very fun night.
Tour Diary – Phoenix, AZ (June 22, 2010)
(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.)
More beautiful scenery escorted me to the New Mexico border and then I headed straight for Flagstaff, which was ablaze. Arriving in Phoenix with a day off, I spent a little time exploring Old Town Scottsdale. Downtown Scottsdale looks and acts like South Beach Miami but nestled in the center is a few blocks that kept the old west theme. Joining me in Arizona on a surprise visit were Kurisu and 2esses from the message board. Seeing some friends walk into this leg of the tour was a very welcome sight. The next morning, food poisoning knocked me out of action and I tossed them the camera and deputized them as tour diary photographers. I recovered enough to make the show and we headed over to the restaurant with our passports taped to our foreheads. The venue lacked the experience to pull of a sold out show by a national touring act and bungled the experience for those who came out to see the band. It didn’t matter that half the crowd seemed intent on talking and eating. The band’s engineer controls the knobs and turned the band’s sonic assault to full blast. Geese were drowned out and the band laid down a rocking set. The acoustic ‘Bea’s Song’ and a crackling ‘Sir Francis Bacon’ were the most memorable moments. It was Al’s birthday and the band and audience serenaded him during the introductions, which prompted him to move behind his amp. The local Scottish cultural center even sent some gifts over. Happy birthday Al!
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Tour Diary – Albuquerque, NM (June 20, 2010)
(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.)
I woke up in the backseat of the car in a truck stop somewhere in west Texas. I pointed the car down the asphalt artery cutting through the wasteland and set my sights on the horizon. The low standing shrubbery stretched to distant hills on both sides. Cutting north from I-10, the roads passed abandoned junctions where cinderblock shells and rusted metal trucks slept forever under an intense sun. At some of these junctions, a few well-kept homes would be visible off the road but there were no signs of life. Plans to spend the night in Roswell, NM were abandoned upon arrival. The sign at the bank put the temperature at 103 degrees but it actually felt much warmer. The GPS told me that Albuquerque was 200 more miles up the road. I decided to push on after a hilarious hour spent at the UFO Museum where most of the exhibits look like science projects done by 8th graders. I loved it. With the end of the tour in sight, I’ve been listening to ‘200 More Miles’ more and more. The spirit of the song has taken on new meaning as I push towards 12,000 miles of driving since the tour started in March. When it was written, the band was still driving themselves from show to show and I’m sure they spent some nights sleeping in the car like I did last night. It was their dream, their adventure. I know that feeling now. The venue tonight was a large, beautiful sounding theater. The audience was superb. A three-song encore wrapped an excellent night of music in a charming town.
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