Debbie and I walked into the Denman movie theatre, glad to be out of the Vancouver rain and looking forward to the treat we were about to watch. It was a quaint theatre. There was only one employee. He had to run from the ticket booth to the popcorn machine in order to serve the different customers. There was funny colourful carpet and cheap decorations in the stairwell and foyer, but the theatre itself was quite nice. It had comfortable seats with plenty of leg room. The screen and sound was sufficient. But what really stood out to me was the film itself.

A movie about guitars and guitar players is obviously something that would intrigue me since I am a guitar player myself, but “It Might Get Loud” far exceeded my expectations. It is a documentary about three guitar players: Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White, who got together for a conversation and jam session. The film takes you through their own stories and interweaves the meeting of these three innovators in an inspiring narrative. There were too many good moments to describe, but one highlight was watching Jack White listen to his favourite song on vinyl: an old soulful singer belting out some blues, singing accapella accompanied only by his own clapping. I’m pretty confident I will buy this film when it comes out on DVD. If you have the chance to watch this, it is a must-see.

What a week!

I’m dog tired, and sick, and I have to wake up early to travel to the Interior for a wedding (which I am looking forward to, it will just not help the tiredness).

“Why are you so tired?” you say in an inquisitive and mildly concerned tone.

Well… the main reason I’m tired is because of kids.  About 40 of them to be specific.  This week I helped out with a kids camp called VBS.  It was a blast, but it drained me.  I spent hours upon hours running around, chasing kids, lifting kids, being attacked by kids, singing, jumping, yelling, dancing, playing “grounders” and other games, etc.  For a relatively-out-of-shape-non-athlete like me, this is pretty intense.  Oh yeah, I also had to wake up at 6:30AM everyday, which is also intense for a mostly-self-employed-rockstar-wannabe like me.

Crazy kids and no sleeping in would be managealbe by itself, but this was also busy week with music.  I was burning the candle from both ends (is that how the saying goes?)

Here’s what I’ve been doing:

- finding students and writing curriculum for guitar lessons
- finding musicians and starting auditions for a cover band
- playing shows (I had two this week)
- playing on a radio station

Yesterday, I met Julie Lee.  She is an amazing violinist and we got along really well.  She was so good that I invited her to play with me at my show that night (which Julia Spitale hosted so wonderfully).  We performed some songs that she had never even heard before and no one in the audience would have known - she’s that good (it’s like playing with Brielle, for those of you who saw her play with me).

The radio appearance was really cool.  It was at Simon Fraser University’s CJSF 90.1 FM station, on a show called Melodies in Mind, hosted by Ryan Fletcher.  There were three other performers - Aidan Mayes, Dana Marie, and Day Cart (four if you include both guys of  Day Cart - whose name is a reference to philosopher Rene Decarte) and we did a song circle.  We traded songs back and fourth.  All of them were really talented.  In fact one of Dana Marie’s songs almost made me cry.  It was a great show in general.  You can hear a few of the songs at http://www.myspace.com/melodiesinmind

Or download the full show here in two sections: one and two

Anyway, it’s been a hectic week!  I feel wrecked.  But what keeps me going is that I absolutely love everything I am doing.

This post is kinda late… oh well.

Canada Day this year was pretty awesome.  I started out with a block party.  I helped set up and tear down, I played music, and I fell into the dunk tank innumerable times because whenever the kids missed the target, they would so kindly walk up and hit it with their hand.  It never stopped being funny… for them.  I also floated around to help with whatever else I could.

Then after a quick nap at home, I headed out to my weekly Live Music Wednesdays show at Bean Around the World.  Two amazing acts from Abbotsford came out to play: Barbara Swain and Cale Stanage.  They brought a good group of people with them too.  Barabara’s voice is like an angel and Cale’s songs are so fun - one of his songs borrows the line “I scream for ice cream, you scream for ice cream, we all scream for ice cream.”  We were all sing along to that one.  When I played my set, I felt so alive.  The audience was really energetic.  People were clapping to the beat and singing along and cheering with enthusiasm.  I wish all shows could be like that.

To cap off the night, a group of us watched the fireworks from the park.  What a perfect day.

Because my music career is a self employed endeavor, it is up to me to make sure I spend my time wisely.  I could easily waste my whole day just watching TV… OR… I could make little developments with my music.  What I’ve realized is that I need to give myself some realistic tasks in order to make progress.  For example, I won’t sign a record deal tomorrow, but I could book a gig or contact a radio station.  A whole bunch of small steps will eventually equal a big step.  

Today I did two main tasks: (1) I got a busking permit, (2) I sent my CD to a lady who puts music on film and TV.  

It was a good day.  Both of these things could lead to some good development.  Busking is basically paid practicing and there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that!  And if I get my music on film or TV, that would be a dream come true.  It would also be some great exposure and potentially some supplementary income.  So this is a good example of how doing something small could lead to something bigger.

I wonder what sort of realistic tasks I might do tomorrow…

I guess I’ve neglected my blog for a little while… but I have a really good excuse - I’ve been busy!

Seriously, lots of stuff has happened since my last post.  Yesterday, CBC Radio 1 played my song “Shame on Me” (I had no idea they were going to do that.  My friend just called me up and said that he heard my song on the radio.  I was pretty excited, to say the least.), I played a show at the Railway Club (great turn out and great bands to open for: Fuzzcat and Missing Starla), and I auditioned for the Olympics.

…did he just say the Olympics?

Yes I did.

I will be an Olympian, skin-tight body suits and all, and I’m going for the gold!

Not really.  But I did apply to play music at the Olympics.  The weird thing was that my audition wasn’t for music.  It was for “movement”.  They figured that musicians have rhythm, so they must be able to dance and move.  Little do they know…

I’m not one for dancing, but I surprisingly had a lot of fun.  We did some line dancing and other movement exercises.  I think they were mostly looking for a few things: (1) good coordination,  (2) good at following instructions, (3) good attitude.  They would then train the people that they choose.  Apparently they are auditioning 3,500 people, so it’s a long and complicated process.  My audition was three hours long, but the time flew by.  I really enjoyed the experience and I hope to be chosen to “move” during the Opening or Closing Ceremonies.

At the end of the audition, they announced that three people will be asked to  stick around for a special audition.  They called out the numbers and I was one of them!  I was almost scared.  I thought I might have done something wrong.  But no.  This was awesome.  They wanted to audition us for carrying the Canadian flag as the Olympians come in behind us at the Ceremonies.  Could you imagine that?  If I get picked for this, basically the whole world could be looking at me on television for a short period of time.  That’s intimidating.  But it would be such an honor.

This will be my only post about Olympics stuff though because everyone who is involved in the Ceremonies is sworn to secrecy.  They want the performances to be a surprise.  They even specifically said that we cannot blog about it (I hope I won’t get in trouble for this post).  I won’t even find out if I’m chosen until September anyway, so you’ll probably forget all about it by then.

If there’s any lesson I learned from this experience it was that life is more exciting when I’m open to trying new things.  Even though my expectations didn’t line up with reality (I thought I would be auditioning for music, not movement), I experienced something new and fun.  Take this concept and apply it to your life.  Go be adventurous!

I finally faced my first major rejection.  I’ve had obstacles before, but any previous rejection was at least disguised as something else (e.g. “You can’t open for our band because our line up is full,” or “You can’t play at our venue because we book three months in advance”  …these could be legitimate, but you never know, they might be hidden rejections).

No, this time it was straight up rejection.  I emailed a number of house concert venues and one of them replied saying no.  They were vague, so I asked for clarification.  Among other reasons, they won’t book me because they aren’t “enthusiastic” about my music.  It’s a personal taste thing.

Fair enough.  Not everyone can like my music.  That’s reasonable.  It still sucks though.  It’s like working up the courage to ask a girl on a date only to have her look up at you with her pretty little eyes and say “no.”  It hurts the self esteem.  There is a disconnect between my desire and reality and there’s nothing I can do about it.

What happens now?

I move on.  I say, “Oh well.  Just one small opportunity lost.”  No big deal.  There’s plenty more fish in the sea (or in this case, venues in the world).

Music is a powerful source of life and unity.  One of the many reasons I love music so much is because it connects people.  I recently found a website that promotes peace through music collaboration.  It’s called Playing for Change. There are videos of musicians and singers from around the world playing music together.  It is all edited together to create the full song.  You have to see it and hear it.  Here’s one of the videos, but go to www.playingforchange.com to hear more:

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

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.

My friend, Adam Roper, came to visit for a few days and we wanted to experiment with making some videos similar to the blogotheque style. If you’ve never seen a blogotheque video, go to www.blogotheque.net right now and be inspired (you can also type “blogotheque” in the search on youtube). I can’t say that our day of filming was a major success, but we had a lot of fun and learned a fair bit about filming.

We just wandered around the city and spontaneously shot footage of me playing some songs.

We actually had a meeting with a former professor of ours, Nelson Boschman, and on our way to the coffee shop, I played “Shame on Me” in the back of the city bus. Then after hanging out with Nelson for a bit, we wandered down to the beach and I played “More of Myself Without You” on top of a boulder that sits under a city art piece. That one didn’t work very well, so we searched the area for a new location. I saw a cool mural on the wall of an alleyway and wanted to shoot there, but we almost got hit by a truck, so we decided against it and just started heading to my house. On the way, we stopped at a skytrain station and shot “Tired Eyes”. The train dominated the sound as it came it, but it looked pretty cool. The other downside was that some chauch dove in front of the camera as he got off the train. Somehow that didn’t get caught on tape though. As we continued heading toward my apartment, we saw a violinist busking at Waterfront station. He was really good, so I asked if he would jam with me for a few minutes. We played “Numbed” together. He was a nice guy. I think he said his name is David. He had a thick foreign accent that I couldn’t pinpoint. Finally after a short sea-bus ride to the north shore, we walked up to the look-out and filmed me playing “Won’t Wake Up”.

When we got to my place we uploaded the videos and watched them over a late lunch. The sound quality wasn’t great and there were some things to be learned about simplicity with videography, but we had so much fun and it was an adventure. Perhaps art is supposed to be adventurous – breaking forth into unmarked territory with creative attempts.