News, views and thanks
September 09, 2007
There’s been a block in my blogger reflex lately. There has been too much music to stop and write down my abstract musings. Just wanted to thank Tim “the Finger” Der for all his hard work in the myspace realm and in all his collecting and keeping up with what is going on in my/our world. He has really expanded our group of friends and that is all under his own steam. Fantastic.
Last night we finished an intense run of “1 nighters” in a smelly van with “the New Odds” (not an Odds “reunion” as has been sometimes reported). Thanks to all the people who came out and sat ready to hear some new material. It really allowed us to get to the heart of the songs and have some fun doing what we love. We continue to record the record but we’re all very busy and we have to go out and hunt and gather in order to pay for all this. There is a new “links” page at thenewodds.com .
Huge thanks go to Jason George for putting that whole tour together and to Leeroy Stagger who opened all the shows and became our pal. His new album “Depression River” is fantastic. Get it now. Thanks to Eric "Big E" Webster for the beautiful portrait of 4 ugly Kraftwerk looking guys. A huge thanks to Blair Calibaba who helped us make all those old Odds records and who made us sound so good on this tour. Thanks to Blair there is always a refreshment in your hand and comedy on the stereo.
I think Tim is changing his tribute site from oddstp.com to oddsrock.com. Look for that change if it hasn’t already happened. He is the holder of all the cool archives.
I believe Tim has also archived the performance Pat & I did with Jeremy Fisher on Craig Ferguson’s “Late Late Show”. I look forward to that because I missed it.
I wonder if there is any cameraphone bootleg action from the run of 8 Kevin MacDonald "Hammy & the Kids" shows at "Just For Laughs" in Montreal. I wanted to send another big thatnks to the crew at Theatre St. Catharines. They are marvelous people. Had a ton of fun doing the new "Kids in the Hall" live show. I think any of you who saw it would attest that the new material stands up against the best material of the past. I am continually blown away by their killer chops.
I look forward to seeing some of you when I leave in 10 days for the Colin James & Craig Northey dates. We’ll be in the Maritimes and Ontario to start and there will be BC dates announced for November. Check colinjames.com for details. I will try to update all my web locales but …I have a lot to do at home and might not get to it.
Look for Pat & Jeremy (Fisher) on tour with the Weakerthans in the US in two weeks time.
Look for Murray Atkinson doing his solo thing as he has won the Vancouver Seeds 2007 contest for 99.3 FM. This means he gets some money to develop his songs and get out there. We’re very proud.
Look for Doug with Colin and I on select dates.
Hey…if you’re looking for something to read may I suggest you order Paul Myers book “It Ain’t Easy” about the life and times of Long John Baldry. It’s out in a few days. Check Amazon. Doug & Pat (New Odds) both spent time playing with Long John and I have great memories of watching him and talking to him over the years. A true unsung hero behind the music I love.
We’ve all read “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon” by Crystal Zevon. You’ll love it and we love him.