I can’t believe I’ve jumped on another social networking bandwagon.  That’s right.  I am now a twitter-er (is that what we call someone who twitters?  Or is it “tweets”?).  I find this whole thing ridiculous.  But when I look back on my experience with these kinds of things, I remember that I took forever to get a myspace page (of which I’m on my third one now) and even longer to get a facebook page… I would resist for as long as I could until I just felt left out.  Well… this time I resisted for just a short while and decided to give in to the cultural psychosis of hyperactive social media.

If you’re interested in “following” my tweets… pop on over to www.twitter.com/JeffHawker

Does anybody else laugh at all the new internet lingo that has arisen in the past ten or so years?  When I was a kid, writing on someones wall was considered vandalism, but now it’s just how we say hello.  Terms like “add me” and “comment me” actually make sense to most people, when really they sound like bad grammar.  Whenever I had a dumb questions when I was young, my dad would tell me to look it up (or he’d make up a false answer and I was gullibul enough to believe it, which is why I bowed like a royal prince at the end of my children’s play)… now when I have a dumb question he tells me to “google it” or “wikipedia it”.  Somehow this language has become a social norm.  We accept these terms without thinking twice about them.  And now I will accept the new term “tweet”.  But I still can’t say it with a straight face.

A couple weeks ago I visited CIVL radio in Abbotsford and had an interview with host Nathan Moes.  We talked about all kinds of things, including bow saws and life after death.  You can listen to it here or go to www.civl.ca

They also have a podcast, so check that out if you’re interested.

I love it when my friends come out to my concerts because it’s always great to hang out with them and I feel supported by their attendance.  However, I totally understand that they can’t come to all of my shows… that would be a lot of time and money for them to invest.  But whenever they are able and willing, I really appreciate it.

There is actually something good, however, that comes from me playing gigs alone.  It allows me to spend more time getting to know new people, whether they be other artists, musicians, or fans.  And in an industry so dependent on connections, it is very good for me to spend some time getting to know people.

Last night I played a show at the Railway club here in Vancouver.  This is a venue that bands like the Barenaked Ladies and the Tragically Hip have played at, so I was pretty stoked.  When I got to the club, I met the other performers and found out that we were going to all stay on stage for the whole set.  This was a foreign idea to me.  Usually concerts are divided into sets with different acts - one or more opening act and then the main event.  But we were all up there the whole time.  I would play a song, then Jenny would play a song, then Super (that’s his real name, I think) would play a song.  It was different, but kinda cool.

As I was mentioning earlier, playing shows alone allows me to meet new people.  As I was drinking free beer (perks of performing), I had a conversation with a man named David.  He had a fantastic D’artagnan mustache (you know, the mustache accompanied by a soul patch).  For a living, David makes wooden horns… like didgeridoos and stuff like that.  He told me a story about sneaking into a public park at night to cut down the perfect branch to make a horn with.  He dressed completely in black and even painted his saw.  He even got a woman and her dog to come with him to be on the lookout and to also be a distraction in case anyone was coming (he also told me that this was a great way to seduce women… there’s nothing more romantic than breaking the law together).  Apparently he almost got caught by the cops once, but managed to sneak away.  He seems to think that no one would notice a branch missing from the park, but admits that he would look mighty suspicious walking past a police car, all dressed in black, holding a saw in one hand and a giant branch in the other.

Later on I had an inspirational conversation with Super, one of the other performers, about the music business.  He encouraged me to keep playing shows and told me that I have some good talent.  Encouragement is like the fuel to my music career.  It drives me to keep performing.  I think I will always play music nomatter what, at least privately, just because I love it… but in order for me to play publicly, I need to know that other people actually appreciate my music.  It would be selfish for me to play songs that people don’t even like.  A few months ago I was unsure if anyone would like my music, but now I’m starting to think that it really does connect with quite a few of people.  I just need to get the exposure so that people know about my music.  If you have any ideas or connections for me, let me know.

I just tried googling myself (that sounds so wrong) and found out that my album is now up on various online stores.  If you haven’t yet bought my CD, you can download the album for a lower price at the following stores:

iTunes (just search for “Jeff Hawker” or click the link below)

eMusic

Napster

Amazon

I would also appreciate it if you were to write a review of the album, so that other people have an idea of what I sound like and what to expect from the album.  I’d really like to hear your thoughts on my music.

Thanks.

The music industry is tough.  There’s so much competition.  It seems like everyone who can strum a few chords is trying to make it as a singer-songwriter these days.  A select few get their 15 minutes of fame and then appear to fall off the face of the Earth.  I think music fans get a sensory overload with so many bands and artists trying to grab their attention.  That’s why only the most dedicated artists get a good piece of the pie.  It’s survival of the fittest yet again.  Music only ever gets noticed when it is repeated.  Sure… my friends and family will remember the name Jeff Hawker (obviously), but what about that random guy that heard me at a coffee shop and thought I was pretty good, but didn’t have any money to buy my CD.  He’ll forget about me by the next day.  That is unless he hears or sees me again.

That’s why I’ve decided to pretty much take everything I can get.  Anything goes.  I prefer playing at coffee shops, pubs, and other music venues.  But I’ll do weddings, parties, barmitzvas… anything!  I’m also going to contact more radio stations, and local tv stations to see if I can perform or do an interview live.  I also want to make more videos and I’m considering contacting film schools to see if they’ll do some probono work for me.  In fact, maybe I’ll go do that right now.  There’s no sense writing about doing something when I could just be doing it.  I’ll write more later…  Adios.

I used to work for a company called Classic Tents and Events. I would set up those big white tents for weddings, festivals, and corporate events. I would also deliver chairs and tables and whatever else the client might need for their party. It was a decent job and I had a very gracious and generous boss. I was never really able to attend any events, but I did get to take part in the “behind the scenes” activities. This sometimes meant experiencing the wrath of an executive or a mother-of-the-bride (who happen to be some of the most intimidating people on earth… not the executive… the mother) if something went wrong.

The biggest mistake I ever made at that job was when I was told I could park my truck on the grass at a garden wedding in order to be close to the set up area (well I guess it was actually the fault of the person who told me to do that, but I still felt bad). Little did I know, the earth beneath the grass was very soft… I got the truck stuck in muddy grass! This could have been fine if we were setting up for a wedding that was the next day, but we weren’t. Gardens (at least garden that rents out their property for weddings) tend to leave very little time for set up. The wedding started before we could get the truck pulled out of there. To make matters worse - the truck was parked in the spot where the bride was supposed to come walking through (sort of like walking down the isle, just without an isle). So instead of walking through this beautiful entrance to the garden, the bride had to tiptoe around an ugly work truck. I felt so bad for her. But from my hiding place, it looked like they still had a good wedding. I’ve never had a worse day at work than that day.

I remembered this old job I had because I’m starting to think of doing music for weddings and events. This would be in addition to playing concerts of my own. Things have gone fairly well with my week of hunting for gigs. I’ve gotten three shows confirmed and a couple still pending. I will continue looking for more opportunities to play my original music. However, I know that I could get some good supplementary income from performing cover songs at events. I’m trying to decide if I should do it acoustically or start some sort of band. What do you think?

If you or someone you know has a wedding or event coming up and you want some live music, send me an email: contact@jeffhawker.ca

If you need some professional photography, send Adam Loewen an email: info@adamloewenphotography.com

I was only home for an hour or two after a long day of serving coffee, cleaning washrooms, and organizing random canned foods at the Mission Possible soup kitchen (see my blog post called “Selfish”… not completely related, since this was an event for my youth group, but I did feel good about serving) before an elderly couple that I am becoming friends with invited me to an open house at an art gallery.  It sounded interesting, so I quickly chowed down my dinner and headed out with them.

The gallery had three rooms with distinctly different artwork in them.  The main room featured giant canvases with paintings of the night’s sky.  Each one was painted at a certain intersection in Vancouver.  They were each selling for $22,000.  It was an interesting concept for a series, but I didn’t quite get it.  Was there a deeper meaning?  Was I just not deep enough to understand?  I wasn’t too concerned though… there was free wine.  Any painting looks good when drinking free wine.

There were a few really good works of art though: a ceramic sculpture of a tooth with a broken crown (entitled “sweet tooth”), a ceramic sculpture of a kid peeing his pants (entitled “accident”), and an impressionist painting of  looking out a  hostel window in Paris (that one brought me back to the three days I spent in Paris  a while ago… so good).

However, the thing that really intrigued me about the art gallery was not the art or the wine or even the people there… it was this plain white door that simply said “Private.”  It took everything within me to not open that door.  I’m not sure if it was my rebellious side wanting to disobey the restriction, or if there was something more to it.  Maybe it was the idea that something special could be behind that door just waiting for me to come join in the adventure.  Whatever the reason for my wanting to open that door, I’m glad I didn’t.

I’m a person with little privacy in my life… I share a one-bedroom apartment with a roommate, I sing songs about some of my most painful moments, I blog almost daily about anything and everything going on in my life, I’m currently on Facebook and Myspace, and I’m considering more (perhaps Twitter).  The thing is - I may be willing to sacrifice my own privacy, but if there is ever a “door” saying Private, I expect myself to not walk through it.  Why?  Because disrespecting privacy is like stealing intimacy.  It’s like the inappropriate-hug-guy.  I don’t want to be that guy.

On the way to the Highland Pub, we got lost about five times and had to ask for directions.  The venue is a bit difficult to find for people who don’t go to Simon Fraser University.  My friends got lost as well, so that’s proof that I’m not just bad with directions.

When I finally found my way inside, I was greeted by the other artists and band members who were working on a sound check.  The lead singer of Makeshift Innocence, Jesse James, tossed me a shaker and so I shook along to the beat of a song (at the end of the show, I actually joined them on stage and did the same).  I think I impressed him with my sweet shaker skills.  And he and the band impressed me with their humble greetings.  It’s so nice to work with people that are easy to get along with.

My friends arrived not knowing that the show was going to cost anything (to be honest, I didn’t know it was going to cost anything either), and they didn’t have any cash on them, so I had to pay for them to get it.  Not a great start… I was losing money already.  They bought a pitcher of beer and shared it with me, so that helped.

There wasn’t a great turn out at the show.  I think there were a number of reasons for that: it was Monday night (many students were probably studying), it was snowing, the venue was hard to find for outsiders, and all of the acts were fairly unknown.  The people that did show up really seemed to like the music though.

My set went fantastically well.  I think it was the first time I didn’t really make any actual mistakes.  I could have still done better with some details (stage presence, etc), but I thought it was a great show.  I had Alicia Krueger sing with me, so of course it went well (she always makes me sound better than I really am).

Makeshift Innocence and the other opening acts did really well too.  They all had a bit of reggae flavor, which was cool.  It made me want to go relax in the sun.  Speaking of relax… I really need to get to bed.  It’s been a long day (I just got back from the show before I started writing this).

It’s day one of my week-long hunt for gigs.  I haven’t have a lot of time, so I decided to just look online rather than going out to places.  I searched myspace for semi-well-known Vancouver artists such as “Said the Whale”, “Hey Ocean”, “Mother Mother”, and “Dan Mangan” .  I sent them a message asking to be an opening act for them sometime.  Dan Mangan replied saying that my music sounds good and it could be a possibility in the future (I don’t think he’s playing in Vancouver any time soon).  I haven’t heard from the others yet.

I eventually realized that it would help to be asking to open for artists who are actually playing in Vancouver sometime soon.  So I looked up all the upcoming shows in town and started sending out messages.  This was taking a really long time and many of the artists were actually DJs, cover bands, metal, or electronica (none of which would fit well with indie-folk).  So I limited my search to folk music and continued messaging artists.  I made sure to listen to them a bit and compliment them on their music.

I was surprised to see four replys (not including Dan Mangan’s) within an hour… all possitive!  One of the bands said they could add another date to their tour if I can book the venue for us.  The other three said that I could open for them.  So there you have it -  four prospective gigs, all from just a couple hours’ work.  Not too shabby.  If I can keep this up, I’ll be touring in no time.

Well I gotta get ready for my show tonight.  It’s at 8pm at SFU’s Highland pub.  Hope to see you there.