A couple nights ago I made my second appearance on CJSF (the radio station for Simon Fraser University) on a show called Melodies In Mind.

I love being around good musicians.  It feeds my creative soul.  I got to share the airwaves with two bands: Tough Lovers (a brand new indie band full of young energetic musicians) and Brighter Lights Thicker Glasses (a collaboration of white-haired gentlemen playing various styles of music with  an assortment of instruments: snare drum, cello, guitar, harp-guitar, and some other sort of stringed instrument).  I had just as much fun listening to music as doing my own performance.

We each had a 20 minute feature of interview and performance and then did a song circle (see videos below).  The show will do a repeat airing on Monday, March 29th 9am-10am on CJSF 90.1 FM

Please click on the links below to hear my feature (this is different stuff from the videos below):

Jeff on CJSF Part 1

Jeff on CJSF Part 2

Jeff on CJSF Part 3

Jeff on CJSF Part 4

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.

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.

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.

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.