Six String Nation - blog_entry

Incredible Kyrie

root — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 04:54:35 -0700

We're back in Ottawa - again at the invitation of the National Capital Commission - who have been real champions for us. It was a conversation with Mark Kristmanson in December 2005 that really shifted the project into high gear when he asked if we'd be ready for Canada Day 2006 so he could build the show around it. And everyone else there has been fantastic too: Joel, Therese, Alain, Julie, Stephan and others.

Meeting Michael Brook

root — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:07:25 -0700

A real thrill today - meeting Michael Brook.

Michael is originally from Dundas Ontario. I had the chance to meet him years ago but declined because Brian Eno was going to be at the dinner and I was too nervous to contemplate having a meal with Brian Eno. Boy do I regret declining that invite.

Anyway, it turns out that Michael Brook and I have a few friends in common but he's been living in London and, more recently, L.A., where he's in huge demand as a producer and composer.

Lawless Activity

root — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:01:38 -0700

It was a while in the making after a couple of chance encounters but we finally got to hook up with Greg Lawless, who performed a sold-out show tonight at Hugh's Room.

I love these Hugh's Room shows - not only because it's a great venue but because it's just a couple of blocks from my place.

No room for portraits there, unfortunately, but lots of interest in t

Fresh Air and Orangeville

root — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:01:13 -0700

That was testament to the power of radio.

Doug and Sarah and I came up to Orangeville early this morning so we could stop at the home depot for some material we needed for the portrait set up at Orangeville Mall. We listened to the piece with Don Ross and me on Fresh Air with Jeff Goodes and it sounded fantastic.

We got to the mall and started setting up. I'd say a good half of the people who showed up over the course of the day to get their pictures taken had heard the show and came out just to see us. This was confirmed for us by the end of the day when the mall management came up to thank us for increasing their traffic significantly. We got lots of great shots - including the wife, daughter and granddaughters of Elmer Iseler!

Peter's Cellar

root — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:41:09 -0700

It's been a big week.

For the past 7 days, the guitar has been in the possession of finger-style guitar master Don Ross. I commissioned a new piece from him specifically for the guitar to accompany a documentary being made by radio producer Steve Wadhams. This is the first time it's been in the hands of someone else for such an extended period. Given that it's Don Ross, I have no qualms (except that he and his wife Brooke Miller had a whole bunch of gear stolen from their car on a trip to Montréal back in October - gulp!).

Riverdale Share

root — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 08:23:45 -0700

Riverdale Share is an annual community event in Toronto that benefits families in crisis in the Riverdale neighbourhood. They've gotten pretty good at it after 14 years of practice so today's show - the 15th - was a very glossy, well-produced and well-attended affair.

A great chance to chat with Stephen Page and Jim Cuddy and - whaddya know - Gregg Lawless was there too!

The portraits portion, unfortunately, was sort of poorly considered so we didn't get much traffic (but bless the ChoirGirlz) but Jian Ghomeshi used the guitar (with full children's choir backing!) for the finale of "Happy Xmas, War Is Over" by John Lennon. That was a blast.

Chinguacousy/North Peel - School's In

root — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 08:11:09 -0700

Back last summer, I got a message from a guy who heard me say in a radio interview that I was excited about all kinds of people playing this guitar - not just famous ones. He wrote to say that he was not famous but definitely wanted to play the guitar.

His name was Don Ablett and we began a correspondence. It came out through the conversation that he was a high school principal in Brampton by day and a guitar enthusiast the rest of the time - even with a CD to his credit. I told him that I was anxious to get the guitar into schools and he absolutely ran with the idea. We set up a date for a visit - which happened today - about 2 or 3 months ago. In the interim, the teachers at his school had been using the stories that are in the guitar materials as a platform into their subjects. And that's just the beginning.

Have a Very D'Addario Season

root — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:55:17 -0700

D'Addario Canada has been our very generous sponsor of guitar-strings from the beginning of the project but I've never actually met them before.

I had sent some copies of the portraits to Larry Davidson - who runs the D'Addario Canada shop with his dad, brother and a small staff that might as well be family. He loved the photos so much he asked us to come up and get shots of the whole staff to use in this year's holiday card collage. So we went up this afternoon and had a great time (and came back with an armload of strings to boot!)

An Ally Retires

root — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:35:45 -0700

There are not many people around like Charlie Coffey.

He's Vice President of Community and Government Relations for the Royal Bank of Canada. He's a banker. And yet he's so unlike anyone's picture of a banker. He is sincere and dedicated and actively engaged in getting the bank to do the right thing with regard to women's issues, aboriginal issues and many other causes.

Democracy at Deerhurst

root — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:23:32 -0700

My friend Peter MacLeod will be Prime Minister one day. He's a brilliant young guy. So brilliant, in fact, that it's embarrassing to note how much he's accomplished for someone so young.

Anyway, before he actually ends up running the country, he wants to make sure that he's not actually running it but that he's doing the work of an informed and engaged electorate. So he's been working with the Ontario Government's Electoral Reform process to engage youth in the discussion.