This is a fancy faux hotel in Laval -- a cosmopolitan red-necked town bordering Montreal where hearty Franco Canadian culture is paved over by suburban mall sprawl. This French provincial faux structure sits beside the MacDonalds and Burger King. Unless you hear people talk this could be the outskirts of anywhere. That being said it was a spectacular show last night in a beautiful theatre on the campus of College Montmorency. People went nuts. It was like music mattered. They were filled with joy...each one smiling and cheering in response to the flow...nobody just sitting back and "checking it out"...participating. Every person I've talked to here remains unflinchingly interested and ready with another good question.
Where is this antidote? There must be a counteracting mechanism for overcoming these oppressive aesthetics. The guy in the subway says it is a "closeness" that people want around here. They come here to be close together and not far apart. What if they cared about how they developed the land? In my travels I have found you can live anywhere and create a good life. Arrogance about one's locale is just plain dumb. I find Vancouverites (my city) are about the worst -- so proud of where they live but so unwilling to give it up for each other. Narcisists. In other cities its all business. Other cities have just plain given up. The cornerstones seem to be in place here in Laval but nobody gives two shits about making things good to look at. A few tweaks and we have paradise.
My lovely southern friend has left the frozen hard pan of Ontario and I'm off to rejoin the CJ Band tour in Regina. From 20 below to 40 below. The "Making It Up As We Go Along Tour" is sadly done for awhile. Paul Brennan got up to play the hand drum with us last night in Toronto and, as usual, we had a blast.
Toronto's NOW magazine ran a nice article by Tim Perlich... here it is
Special thanks go to Helen Ryken who helped us at each date and is actually the only person other than Jesse and I who saw them all. She is currently the world record holder in the "seeing Northey Valenzuela" department. 3 out of 4 shows in our short history.
There are pictures of tonight's show in Ottawa in the gallery part of the mulitmedia section. Thanks so much to Helen Ryken for taking the train up to Ottawa and hawking our CDs for us. Its cold up here.
Dear All,
You can see the Northey Valenzuela Canada AM performance on the Finger's Craig site
Thanks Tim
Had a fun time in Hamilton, too little sleep and then off to play Canada AM this morning. I hope some of you saw it and that you'll make an mpeg so I can see it. It always looks different from my angle. Its a joy to play live with Jesse and it would be nice to one day be able to do it more often. The acoustic trio set-up gives us a lot of room to get comfortable.
Cheers to Simon Kendall for debuting with us in Hamilton and holding down the sonic fort on TV. As Billy Ray Cyrus says, "some gave all". Simon gave that and some piano too. Paul Brennan just walked right in and made himself at home on the kit. Its like wearing your best jeans when you play with your pals. He's such a great friend for coming out in the 20 below freezing Toronto morning to play. Listen to him on Lindy's new album "Suspension of Disbelief".
See a few of you in Ottawa and Toronto I hope.
John from Chartattack did a little interview with me and you can see it here
What has happened to all the writing? It has gone underground. I have kept it close to my breast. The flow has been pretty splendid. The strangest thing is that I have gone back to listening. Where the hell was I? At a certain point there was just too much coming at me and I started to make choices. Gone were the days when I could go down through the layers of an album and work my way to its heart. For some records that takes more work than modern times will allow. X-box, Gamecube and Playstation time may make this a dying art. It’s not until the twentieth intensive listen through some albums that they become part of your body. Lights out. Laz-E-boy. The pilot light on the receiver bathes the room in enough low light that your eyes can still make out everything. Individual songs for your bathing pleasure:
Ray LaMontagne “Shelter”
Beach Boys “Caroline No”
Wilson Pickett “Don’t Let the Green Grass Fool You”
Arthur Alexander “I Hang My Head and Cry”
Gladys Knight & the Pips “the Nitty Gritty”
Sly & the Family Stone “Luv N’Haight”
Rockpile “Teacher Teacher”
…hell the whole “Seconds of Pleasure” album (Rockpile) gives me such …pleasure.
I don’t know why I pick those but they are full of real joy and sadness. Not like any of us need any sadness but if we can embrace it the world is easier to understand.
Hope to see some of you in Hamilton, Ottawa or Toronto. Those in farther away places can see Jesse, Paul Brennan, Simon Kendall & I on CTV's “Canada AM” on the morning of the 18th.
I leave today for the glorious frozen landing strip we call Canada. Please come see me with the CJB (dates on colinjames.com) or with "Northey Valenzuela" in Hamilton, Ottawa or Toronto (see show dates).
We'll be on "CANADA AM" - CTV on the morning of January 18th. Paul Brennan will be playing the drums.