Water

Today is International Blog day and the theme this year is water.

I am connected to it. I live beside it. Whenever possible I swim in it. Sometimes I float on it. I drink it. It is part of my body. It flows through my house in pipes. It falls on my roof in drops. It makes my food grow. Hot water calms me. Cold water invigorates me. Warm water bathes me.

It comes from the ground and from the sky. It surrounds me. I am grateful...and worried.

I believe we will not value our water until all the oil is gone. Then we will look to the ocean and see that all the fish are gone too.

I believe the next great war on the earth will be over water. I believe the battles will pollute the sky and the ground and contaminate the reason for the fighting. Then we will try, but never successfully harvest our tears.

I am a water sign. I am a water worshiper.

I thank the earth for this gift and treat it like family, because it is alive, and it is in my blood.

Lucid Dream Tea

I believe I left you in Quebec, having just entered the Playlist For The Planet.
I didn't reach the finals...and I am back in Vancouver now...
The good news? I'm an environmentalist and a Quebecer regardless...lol
The more interesting (I won't call it bad) news, is that I have no job.
Resounding monetary stresses aside, this is kind of exciting. I am looking for a job that will be more fulfilling than serving while I work on my music career (for those of you who didn't know, being a musician has always been my life plan...and I don't have a plan B..). But if I end up serving again, it will be with a refreshed attitude...for two reasons...1) I have had the time to heal (emotionally and physically) from the abuses of the industry..2) I read in a Newspaper article the other day that Reid Jamieson currently works at The Hyatt in Vancouver as a server! I am a huge fan of his, and I assumed, based on the quality of his music, that he would be living in a mansion in Kits somewhere...
I suppose its kind of funny that I am encouraged by the idea of him serving, instead of being discouraged because an immensely talented and accomplished Canadian Songwriter still needs a day job to get by. (don't worry Reid, that's something we can work on changing together...call me!)
My friend Heidi once asked that I buy her some Lucid Dream Tea from Quebec before returning to Vancouver. It is only sold in Quebec by a very small company and all the herbs are hand picked and harvested by the husband and wife who own it. Heidi said that it makes dreams more vivid. I told her that I almost never remember my dreams. She made me try the tea. I can't say whether or not my dreams were more vivid than usual, because I still couldn't remember them. She was surprised, because her head was overflowing at night (hence the need for some clarity provided by the tea).
It made me wonder if her nights are full because her days are full. She is one of those people who is always going day in and day out. I am one of those people who can sit on a park bench at the beach for hours and be content.
She is about to start writing a blog, and I am hoping she will unlock the secret of busyness for me. I wonder if she will run through some lists of things she accomplishes in a day, and how she comes up with those lists, and what she does if she reaches the end of a list before bedtime. I feel that in my current state of unemployment, I should be at my most productive...but I often find myself thinking and worrying about all the things I should do instead of crossing them off a list.
So i think I will give this list business a try.
Disclaimer: I get a decent amount done in a day...In fact, today I brought my CD to The Peak, Vancouver COOP radio, and QMFM. I learned the hard way that it is important to deliver things in person whenever possible----and get the name and contact information of the music coordinator to follow up...and I also brought my CD to Trees Cafe on Granville, and they said they will listen to it and consider me for a show one night...
Wish me luck!

Playlist for the Planet

I just entered David Suzuki's Playlist for the Planet contest to find an environmental anthem for Canada.
When I first heard about the contest, I thought I would write a song, and a million different ideas went through my head....which caused problems...I couldn't decide what to focus on, there is so much out of balance on our planet right now...but there are also so many beautiful and inspiring things in nature that I would love to sing about.
Then a friend of mine suggested that I had already written the song, and it was sitting right under my nose...and the more I think about it, the more I see that she was right.
I wrote a song that is on my album, Matthew McCully and the matter of Principle, called Mark of the Mermaid. I wrote it after spending a day at White Pine Beach with my two best friends and their kids.
(They are exceptional mothers, and watching them work is enchanting)
I thought about how we much we had changed over the years...from being kind of arrogant and unaffected by the world beyond what we could criticize, to feeling a genuine sense of gratitude for the earth that sustains us.
And it was beautiful to watch my friends passing that on to their children...as we worshiped the sun...and played in the water...and curled our toes in the sand...and waited patiently for a cool breeze across our faces...
To be included in that experience was magical, and I felt that protective force that people feel but don't acknowledge enough...the feeling of family...the feeling that we, as a group have that secret and binding extra strength that will always keep us safe...
And thats where Mark of the Mermaid comes from...
I just re-read what I wrote...lol...although it doesn't really demystify the lyrics for you, it explains the emotional force behind the song...and I think it extends pretty organically from my small group of friends to all people.
I am talking about hope...and about the future...and my belief that, as bad as things get, we will be ok as long as we work together...

Sky To Ground

I am home.
Life has kind of been on hold for a while here, which was nice, and the reason I haven't written in a while. Not a lot to report...I baked six cakes...my nephew accidentally swallowed an earwig while swimming in the pool( or so we told him...lol)...I went to Mansonville, Qc and it reminded me of Hornby Island...I learned a new cover song by David Hopkins...saw my grandmother...secretly let my parents dog up on my bed...ate more in a week than I did all of last month!
I did a interview today for a newspaper article about musicians trying to get their music onto the radio. I shared my frustration with sending out dozens of Cds and getting no responses. I am still optimistic about being heard, I just need to find creative ways of side-stepping the walls of silence.
I am playing tomorrow night at The Singing Goat in Sherbrooke. I hope my Lennoxville and Sherbrooke people will represent.
Heres how I feel right now....On the second day of our road trip down here, Dylan's Iphone was set to random playing music as we drove through the mountains. As we were coming down a big hill, Sky To Ground, by Xavier Rudd and Izintaba. I had never heard it before, and it was so nice that I teared up.
I think that when I left Vancouver and started this trip, like a true Pisces, my head was in the clouds. I had all these romantic ideas of what would happen, that I would play music everywhere, get on the radio, meet Ron Sexsmith along the way, make enough money to drive back to Vancouver...I have to say that the trip incredible. I learned a lot about myself, and I developed a new love for Canada.
And as for my head? It has made it from the sky to the ground.
not to say I have given up dreaming...I can leave my head up in the clouds just long enough to snatch up the tunes that floated out of my head the day before...and then bring them down to the ground...and play them...and play them...and play them...until someone listens.

Flowers

When I left you last, I was living in a VW parking lot waiting for the service station to open. Well, while we were waiting, Dylan flipped through the owners manual of the '81 Vanagon, located the starter, wacked it with a crow bar and just like that it started up! It was 9:30pm, but the van was packed up and rolling about two minutes later. I suppose you could say we waited in that parking lot for nothing, but I think it happened for a reason. If we hadn't broken down, I never would have played that show at the cavern, so I think things turned out for the best. I just got an email from James Brown, the manager of the bar where I played. I left a CD with him, and he said he enjoyed it, and said I sounded kind of like Joel Plaskett or Tom Petty. I am flattered by a comparison like that!
So from Winnipeg we made our way up to lake country in northern Ontario. Slept at a really nice rest stop, and in the morning I jumped into the lake for a swim/bath...(I think it was Dixie Lake) The water was crystal clear and really warm, but after I got dried off and dressed, I noticed something poke its head out of the water and look around. It turned out to be one of the biggest turtles I have ever seen. I'm glad I only noticed it after, cause I don't think I would have jumped in for a swim with him. Against my advice, Dylan fed him some bread...lol
We then went to Red Lake to visit with Dylan's friends Mike and Amy. We had a great meal, a great sleep in a bed, a shower...It was a really nice recharge for us, I can't thanks them enough for their kindness. I gave them my CD, and they both seemed to enjoy it. The next day we made it to Sault St. Marie. On the way we passed Old Woman Bay during some heavy wind. The water was a magical shade of blue, and the waves were huge! It reminded me of one time when I was young, travelling back to New Richmond from Campbellton, and in Maria, the wind made the waves in the bay crazy. We pulled over, and we all jumped into the water for a swim, and we got thrown around by the crashing waves. I remember asking my eldest sister if she remembered that day. She did, but her memory was very different from mine. Her memory was one of panic. Since she was the oldest child, and shared the responsibility of keeping the younger ones from being pulled by the undertow.
We took it easy today. Gave the van an oil change, only drove for about six or seven hours. We picked up another hitch hiker. His name is Zohar (AKA Alex) He had VW van on his T shirt, so we just had to pick him up. He was full of questions, and really excited about driving in a Westy...So Dylan and I romanticised it a little for him, even though travelling in these things is not as easy as it sounds. you need to be in kind of a zen-like state knowing that each time you turn the key, it may not start, every time you slow down you could stall, if you are on a hill that is too steep, you may need to turn around and find anothr way...and you could end up stranded in Winnipeg for three days...lol
Zohar bought my CD.
I can feel some new songs brewing, but I need to be alone to work them out. I will have some time when I get to the Townships in a few days to go somewhere quiet and see how the musical part of my brain has processed the trip.
One thing that sticks with me...Flowers. I've lost count of the number of times we've passed bouquets and wreathes of flowers on the side of the road, no doubt in memory of people who have died or disappeared from there. Sad. And definitely sends a blow to the invincibility you feel watching the world go by at one hundred kilometers per hour.

The Zoo

So, its a holiday Monday. The dealership reopens tomorrow morning, hopefully we can get the van fixed quickly. We had a visit from the police, then the volkswagon security detail, and a multitude of curious car shoppers...I feel like i'm living in a cage right now...I really want to be back on the road.
My show went well. Even though the bar was pretty hard core and I was opening up for a heavier band, people seemed to be into what I was doing. I sold a CD, and some people came up and complimented me on my set, which felt really good...I had been out in the sun all day, and was very tired and dehydrated, and I didn't even play till around 11:30 pm. I'm glad to know I can bring it when the time comes...
I think I will blow my daily budget and go see a movie today. Spend some time in an air conditioned building. Its 30+ degrees here.
More on the music front...We found the two radio stations in Winnipeg, and I will go see them tomorrow while the van gets looked at. Still no reply from any of the emails I sent out for gigs, including people that said yes and I was just confirming details, so now everything is up in the air.
I am just gonna try to enjoy seeing the country, and hopefully I can find places to play on the fly. But for the record, I am done with Winnipeg and ready to move on...

Gladstone

OK, lots to report...Where was I...Took a ferry across Kootney lake, the worlds longest free ferry...Picked up Jonah the cherry picker...again...brought him to Creston, BC, slept in a nice rest area off the highway...drove through most of alberta and Saskatchewan in a day, shot a bunch of fun music videos in front of cool motel signs and out in fields...the van died in Swift Current, SK...then revived itself after 5 min...Slept in a Husky parking lot, drove straight through to Elkhorn Manitoba...where, after filling the tank, the van died...and did not revive itself. I played two songs at the Elkhorn Motor lodge Saloon...got paid in Taco slices(don't bother asking what they were... a kitchen experiment, but they were free...) Waited till 10pm, got towed to Winnipeg. We are camped out in the parking lot of a Volkswagon dealership waiting patiently for the service center to re-open and get us a new starter...We walked around this afternoon, asked about cool places to play music...most of Winnipeg went to the lake, so the city is pretty dead...But we walked into a bar, turned out a band had canceled, so I will play there at 9pm. Exciting! Finally, an actual show!

I noticed that we passed two different towns in two different provinces called Gladstone. I used to live on the corner of Gladstone and Kingsway in Vancouver. And there is a Gladstone street in Winnipeg. And i've noticed lots of other names repeating from other places i've been. Its kind of comforting...and at the same time makes me feel like I should google these names at some point and find out who these epic Canadians were.

Thats about it for now. I feel pretty good, since I went for my first shower in three days at the Y. I'm gonna go eat something, then relax and get ready for my show tonight.

Rock on!

KD

Slept at a Husky truck stop last night. Dylan made some awesome KD for dinner...
Today we are in Ainsworth, we took a slight detour to soak in some hot springs.
We picked up a hitch-hiker named Jonah. He is a cherry picker. He liked my music but did not buy my CD.
Still looking for a break the ice show...
I should go, we need to get to a ferry and think about dinner and a place to sleep tonight...and maybe a place to play some music...

Sunburn

I went to Wreck Beach the other day with my friend. It was a beautiful day, but I was consumed by my anxiety about my upcoming trip. It was ridiculous to think I could book a full cross Canada tour in under two weeks. I had just given my notice at my job. I had no money...and I got a sunburn...
Which brings us to today.
I went to visit that same friend, and she told me something that I can't believe I either didn't know or had forgotten, even though I felt I was entering into my wiser years...
"If you spend your whole trip worrying about what will happen when you get back, you will have wasted your whole trip...so let it all go!"
Simple advice...easy enough to follow...were I to commit to it...but as my sunburn on the beach a few days earlier had proven, I was distracted by an uncertain future.
So I looked her in the eye, which I feel seals pretty much any deal, said thanks, you're right, and headed home to finish packing.
I have to admit the packing is nowhere near done. I have a ridiculous amount to get done before Dylan and I leave tomorrow at 10am...ish... But my mind is ready. I am working for myself now, so I can make my own hours. I don't know how many shows I will get to play, how many CDs I will sell, how much money I wil end the trip with. But I know that tomorrow, I am busting out of the city in one of the coolest vehicles ever invented (the yellow Westfalia), with one of the coolest people i've ever met(my friend Dylan), to drive across my country and happily sing for my supper.
I am shedding my skin, and in this new life I will not allow myself to ignore a beautiful day!

Video for Elephant Trainer by Kim Simard

My friend Kim was experimenting with animation, and was inspired by my song. She asked to use it as background for her video, and I was happy to oblige. I was astounded by the final product! She did a tremendous job capturing the feeling of the song with the illustrations that she chose.

I'm a blogger

I just settup my blogger.com account! Trying to figure out how to integrate it into my website now, wish me luck....