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.

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.

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.