I don’t remember how it happened, but one year while in college my friends appointed me with a special status (or a title, or a catch phrase… I don’t really know what to call it).  Whenever they saw me, they would shout: “Jeff Hawker is on the prowl!”  I think the reasoning for it is that I was single at that time (in between multiple break ups with the same girl… buy my album to hear more about it!).  My friends assumed that if I was single, I must be out roaming the streets trying to find a new girlfriend.  I thought their routine declaration of “Jeff Hawker is on the prowl” was pretty funny, but it wasn’t very accurate.  I wasn’t really hunting around for a new relationship.  In fact, I never really hunt for anything.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about how there were two major types of tribal people in early humanity: hunter-gatherers and farmers (I think there’s a fancier name for it).  Metaphorically speaking, I must be part of the farming tribe because it is really hard for me to hunt down whatever I want or need.  For example, I hate looking for jobs.  There’s something that just rubs me the wrong way about going around to prospective employers and telling them how great I am.  I also dislike trying to find a new apartment.  Shopping around to find the place with the best combination of location, price, size, and aesthetic is just not my cup of tea.  I guess it might even be a similar situation when it comes to girls.  Yesterday, my friend Tony said that he would love to have a girlfriend, but he doesn’t want to put in the work to get one.  I can relate to that.  Relationships are tough.  And if you’ve heard my album, you know I’ve had some bad experiences.  But I do want to change.  I hope I come to realize the value of the “hunt.”  And I guess that’s what it comes down to.  I need to get used to hunting because most of the major things that I want aren’t just going to come to me.

Well… currently I’m on the hunt for gigs.  I need to play more concerts.  And what I’ve realized is that booking shows is challenging.  Venues often don’t reply to emails or respond to calls.  And when I go in person they just tell me to send an email or call.  It’s a vicious cycle.  Perhaps I should dedicate this whole week to contacting venues as well as other artists in order to find places to play.  So there you have it… Jeff Hawker is on the prowl.  I’ll keep you updated on this venture.

Actually, I have a gig tomorrow night at Simon Fraser University’s Highland pub at 8pm.  Check out the event on Facebook or Myspace.  I hope to see you there.

When I was a kid (and by kid, I probably mean teenager), I would daydream about being a rock star.  I remember spending extended periods of time in the washroom staring into the mirror - pretending to sing to huge stadiums full of screaming fans, and conducting one-way interviews where I would explain what life is really like as a tortured artist.  I think my toothbrush made a decent substitute for a microphone, but it wasn’t quite the same.

Now if I’m perfectly honest, I’ll admit that perhaps I still entertain the mirror from time to time.  There’s something fun about picturing a distant life of prestige and stardom.  However, in all reality, I don’t foresee any stadium-rock or MTV interviews coming my way anytime soon.  But things are happening, slowly but surely, and I’m getting pretty excited about it.  

Yesterday was my debut radio appearance.  Tony Bookless, and I drove out to Abbotsford (singing along to Michael Jackson songs most of the way) to meet Nathan at CIVL radio.  I had no idea what to expect.  I didn’t even know if we were going to do an interview, or if I was going to co-host a show, or if I was going to play a song, or whatever other options there could be… so I brought my guitar and some CDs and hoped for the best.

Nathan greeted us at the door and that immediately gave me a good first impression of him and the studio.  We proceeded into one of the booths and just started chatting casually.  Tony joined in the conversation from time to time, but was mostly there to shoot footage for the new Jeffisode # 3, which will be coming soon.  Nathan interviewed me with very well-phrased questions.  He even did some research on me and quoted my bio a couple of times.  I was quite flattered about that.  I felt like I was some sort of professional (which, I guess, is what I’m trying to be).  I am not very good at speaking off the top of my head.  I tend to stumble over words, so I was a bit nervous about being interviewed.  But Nathan asked questions in such a way that made it easy for me to sound interesting.  The guy’s got skills.

After the interview, he had me record something called IDs, which is something like, “Hey! This is Jeff Hawker, and you’re listening to CIVL radio.”  That was pretty fun.  But not quite as fun as what came next… I got to perform “Shame on Me” in the studio.  Interviews and IDs are part of the job and I enjoy them, but it is the music that I get excited about.

Anyway, I had a great time at CIVL radio.  If you get the chance, look them up online at www.civl.ca  They support local artists and they are doing something really good here.  I’ll let you know when you can get the mp3 recording of our interview.

“Shame on Me” seems to be my most popular song, which makes sense because it’s up-beat and catchy. The lyrics are a bit cheeky and the song has a good rhythm to it. In fact, my mom said she played the song for her preschool class and the kids all started dancing. If a song makes kids dance, it’s got to be good, right? (Oh no - please tell me I’m not going to be the next Sharon, Lois and Bram!)  Well… I’ve also seen some adults dance to it, so that’s a good sign.

I wrote the song for my Dark Before Dawn album when I realized that my slow-to-fast-song ratio was out of whack.  So on a rainy mid-week afternoon, wearing nothing but boxers and a house-coat like any good hermit, bum, or artist, I picked up my guitar and just started playing.  The first thing that came out was the guitar part for the verses - that simple “G” to “Gsus9″ for all you guitar players out there.  I really liked it, but it almost sounded familiar.  I later found out that Ryan Adam’s song “English Girls Approximately” uses the same chords, but it’s quite a bit slower and has a different groove to it.

The original melody of “Shame on Me” was a bit fancier than it is today, but when it came time to record, I wasn’t a good enough singer to pull it off, so I simplified it.  I’ve realized recently that I should continue to try to push my skills to new levels when I practice, but when it comes time to perform, I should pull back a bit and make sure I stay within my skill level.  A simple melody sung well sounds much better than a fancy melody sung poorly.

Lyrically, “Shame on Me” is a story about a guy who is in love with a complicated girl.  She’s hard to read, she’s closed off, she’s wild, she’s dramatic, she’s demanding, and she takes control, but she’s beautiful, breathtaking, and mysteriously lovable.  I’ll leave it up to your imagination on how much this girl is based on a real person.

This afternoon I was looking for banjo videos on youtube because I am trying to teach myself banjo.  I first watched the one where some guy sets the world record for fastest banjo playing.  Then I watched something with Steve Martin and Bela Fleck, which was pretty cool.  Then that led me to this video of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones playing “Big Country”.  I had heard of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones a long time ago, but I never really listened to them.  Well, I can’t stop playing this song over and over again.  I just love it.

The song is 8 minutes long, but trust me, it is worth the time.  My arm hair stood straight up when I heard the part where the bass player, Victor Wooten, does a duet with the saxophone player.  Check it out and be inspired.

I went to another open mic last night.  It was a good experience, but nothing glamorous.  Open mics involve staying up all night in a crowded room listening to a lot of bad performances (and being blown away when someone half-decent takes the stage) only to play just a couple songs when your name is called.  It is unlikely anyone will buy your CD or even remember you the next day because most of the people just came to play their own stuff - they aren’t really interested in listening to the other acts.

Open mics are to a new singer-songwriter as moring sunrise shoots are to a new photographer, or as blogging is to a new writer.  They are good practice and they do help to get your name out there, but, in a way, you have to force yourself to go to them.

For as realistically dull as I made open mics sound, I actually did have a great time last night.   There was one girl who had a fantastic voice, and there was another group that was fun to listen to.  And there were a handful of other decent acts as well.  And of course, I got to play, which is always enjoyable.  There is something indescribable about shaking off my nervous twitches, stepping on stage and just givin-er.  Some people actually started dancing to “Shame on Me“, which was so awesome to see.

Tony actually came with me to the open mic and we shot some video footage for a Jeffisode (…that’s right… I’ve combined the word episode with my name, Jeff,  for my new web reality series).  I believe this one will be for Jeffisode #2.  Stay tuned.  I believe we’ll post Jeffisode #1 (behind the scenes of the music video) pretty soon.

If you aren’t already following The Great Blog Off, I encourage you to join the group and tell your friends.  Remember to vote for the best on April 1st.

I woke up this morning feeling a little bit uncomfortable.  And I don’t mean a sore back or sore neck.  There was a sense of something wrong - not danger, but a troubled soul.  This was odd because things are going quite well for me right now - I have a good job, I’m pursuing my dream of playing music for a living and getting good feedback about it, I have good friends and family, everything seems to be going well.  But still there is an unsettledness inside of me.

I think I have drifted into living life for my own personal gain.  I’ve focused most of my energy on trying to get people to hear my music, come to my shows, visit my website, buy my CD.  And what am I doing for anyone?  Not very much.

I am thinking about volunteering somewhere to do some good in the world.  But now I’m scared that this would only be for selfish reasons as well… volunteering only so that I don’t feel so bad about not doing anything.  It’s a complicated situation (it reminds me of that episode in FRIENDS where Phoebe bets everyone that every good deed is selfish in some way).  I don’t want to just put a band-aid on the issue selfish living and pretend like nothing is wrong.  I want a change of heart - a heart transplant, if you will (I love saying “if you will”).  I don’t know where to start, but I’m going to try.

By the way, I probably won’t write a follow-up to this post because there would be the danger of boasting, which is selfish.

I am a person with many weird quirks:

- I only boil water once (I grew up dumping out kettle water that had already been boiled before, which is weird because boiled water is pretty much the safest water)

- I always try to hawk up phlegm after brushing my teeth (I can’t explain why… I just feel like I need to)

- I cut my own hair (I’ve saved so much money this way!)

- I cook one huge meal once a week and eat leftovers every day in order to save time

- I’ll go out of my way to get airmiles and I somewhat doubt I’ll every use them

- I only ever desperately need to use the washroom when someone else is using it (my body is playing a crew trick on me)

- I have no shame about farting in public (what? …you don’t do it too?)

- I am excellent and terrible at many of the same things (I’m good and bad at driving, organization, listening, directions, and much more)… or perhaps I just have an odd self perception

- I have strong convictions about downloading music without paying for it, but I barely think twice when it comes to TV and movie downloads (this one actually haunts me a bit… I’m hypocritical)

- I cook with too much onion and wear ski goggles so that my eyes don’t water (I wouldn’t want to look weird with tears steaming down my face now would I?)

I wonder what weird quirks other people have…

Somehow I got roped into this blogging competition, The Great Blog Off, with three friends of mine: Adam Loewen, Alan Schram, and Tony Bookless.

I think that blog-off sounds like a British swear.  I can picture Gordon Ramsay yelling, “Blog off you bastard!” and then throwing someone out of his kitchen.

Anyway, if I understand it correctly, The Great Blog Off works like this: You join the facebook group and read as many articles as possible in all four blogs.  At the end of the month, comment on the facebook group saying, “I vote for Jeff” (you could say something else, but I suggest that one)

All three of my competitors have their own advantage:

- TONY is the comic threat (plus he makes friends as fast as Jamison Dick… if you don’t know either of them, it’s a bad sign)

- ADAM is the creative threat (he did all the photography and production for my album)

- ALAN is the intellegent threat (plus I think he’s a hacker… he’ll find some way to rig the vote)

- ME, well… I’ll probably just lose… :(  …vote for the underdog!

Here are the blog links:

http://jeffhawker.ca/blog/

http://alanschram.blogspot.com/

http://adamloewenphotography.wordpress.com/

http://tonynobooks.blogspot.com/

The show in Nanaimo was great.  We had a full house at the Buzz coffee shop.  Thanks to all who came out to enjoy local music and thanks to the Buzz for hosting us.  It was great to see old friends and family (Nanaimo was where I grew up).  I missed playing with my accompanying band, but I managed to perform a decent set by myself.

There’s something bitter-sweet about coming home to Nanaimo though - my parents feed me a month’s worth of food in a few days.  I love eating, but it forces me to at least consider working out, which is frustrating because I’ve finally got a job where I don’t have to do anything physically.  I’m getting used to being lazy.  Poor me.

I also played at an open mic in Nanaimo, but that wasn’t too glorious…