Apologies to all the Brandonites who've been waiting on a blog entry - but I've got LOTS of excuses: I just tore my ACL ligament in my knee - but also got nominated for a Toronto Independent Music Award and am in the Canadian finals for another thing, so I've been busy... anyway, here it is - hope to see you all soon!

THURSDAY & FRIDAY (in which I play no music and get no sleep, but do get to fly first class)

It's my second year playing out in Brandon, Manitoba at their amazing folk fest and my third time playing Brandon at all. I love Brandon. It's this nice little city halfway between Winnipeg and Regina and I would've never known about it if it wasn't for a guy named Matt.

Matt Duboff is the Artistic Director of the folk festival - he is calmly organized, always seems to be enjoying a private joke, and somehow finds time to organize an entire folk fest while being one of the best drummers I've ever seen.

I don't know how I first got invited out to Brandon, but Matt found me somehow and we had a great show after which I got invited to a Halloween party where I got accosted by a women dressed as Aphrodite. To make up for this, Matt invited me back to his folk fest and last year, Brandon took a hankering to my song "Jet Pack" which I had to play non stop - at my tweener set, at the fire late into Saturday night (during which I apparently decided I was an amazing upright bass player...) and at every workshop regardless of the theme ("Unrequited Love songs... for a jetpack"). Anyway, Brandon holds a special place in my heart, so I was pretty pleased when Matt invited me back.

Of course getting there is always a problem. Thunder Bay, I always maintain, is the point of no return where if you're touring by car from Toronto, you may as well keep going to Victoria. But for some reason I couldn't pull together a tour and ended up back at square one with Aeroplan points - an indie musician's last resort. Another complication was that I had finagled a mainstage spot by suggesting to Matt that I could rig a band together in Brandon with musicians I had never played with... something I had never done.

I booked Lyall McDermid, a drummer who I'd stayed with last year and who was putting me up again, and on Matt's recommendation, Jesse Dietsche, a bass player from Brandon's Nu Phunk Orchestra. Both good guys - now the only issue was that Jesse could only rehearse Thursday night, when I was flying in - or right before the show...

Planning is not my strong suit and this particular plan was particularly complex and stupid. After several other crazy shows and mad prepping and packing and very little sleep for days, here is what I had come up with: I was going to fly to Winnipeg Thursday, sleeping the whole way, get in at 10:30, somehow find my way to the bus station, take an 11:45 greyhound to Brandon, get picked up at 2:30 am (3:30 my time) and then have a band practice.... and we still had no real idea how I was getting back to Winnipeg for my 6am flight on Monday.

What could possibly go wrong?!

Here's what went right: instead of a psychotic 3 am rehearsal, Jesse wisely agreed to an early Friday rehearsal (although this means that I don't get to rehearse with the full band until right before the show) and Stacey May - another amazing fest organizer - saved the day by offering to pick me up at the airport.

Here's what went wrong: my plane got delayed and I had no phone number for Stacey. They finally decided to switch me onto another plane ("for mechanical reasons" - an excellent reason in my books) and as I boarded I found out that I was in first class... I'd never been in first class... I didn't know what to do - clearly there had been a mistake. But no - I got royally treated the whole way there - which meant I didn't sleep, being finely dined, declining wine, and watching most of Batman Begins.

I show up in Brandon at midnight to find Stacey, patiently waiting. I once crashed on Stacey's floor for a night and later he saved me from Aphrodite, so he's extra awesome in my books. We talk tennis (Stacey plays - I used to) and music and whatever for over 2 hours, stopping only to appreciate that Winnipeg's gas stations offer SLURPEES WITH ICE CREAM. Ontario, get it together - Winnipeg is beating us severely in the frozen treat category.

We get in around 2:30 or 3. By this point I am realizing that Batman Begins and first class dinner was probably not worth falling asleep for the entire weekend. Plus I now have to pee. This is all made worse when we get to Lyall and Brenda's place where I'm staying and the door is locked (they'd fallen asleep)... Stacey checks the side and I run around the back, jump a fence, try the door, then jump over the fence and pee in an alleyway. Ah the life of a rockstar. Again, I crash on Stacey's couch and am out for a glorious 5 hours of sleep.

The next day, Lyall shows up to wisk me off to the Brandon Noon Show - which Matt has booked me on and which turns out to be a TV show where I'm being interviewed and playing a tune. I am completely out of it and have no idea what happened there - something about describing my music as "Canadian" - and since my voice has dropped an octave without sleep, Brandon is treated to a special Leonard Cohen version of Jetpack.

Next we head back to Lyall's - Lyall goes to work - and Jesse shows up to rehearse quickly. We breeze through the songs and I'm starting to thing that this whole crazy plan might just work. Jesse takes off and Brenda and Lyall get back from work. Since I last crashed with them, they've got hitched in Jamaica and are now expecting (Congrats you two!) - way more than I got done last year.

Aside from a baby, Brenda is also working on a "secret project" in the garage which Lyall isn't allowed to look at and neither am I. It somehow involves her nephew and a can a spray paint.

We saddle up and head out to the folk fest. I'm not playing tonight, which is AWESOME - it means I can dance, hang out in a hammock, hand out comics, eat amazing backstage food and see some old friends. I see Stacey and we talk about playing some tennis one of these mornings. Dave Barnes who always has a big folk fest party, tells me he's glad I'm back because I bring a descriptive eye for watching the festival - he says he's looking forward to reading my 2008 fest blog (no pressure!).

Backstage I say hi to some friends from last year, Char, Paul, etc. Funny how facebook makes it feel like we've actually kept in touch... I also meet the Outspoken Wordsmiths - spoken word anarchists who tell me about roadkill they found on the way to the festival.

Onstage, I catch some good tunes - including local Torontonian Sarah Burton, who I introduce myself to after. I always meet the best Toronto musicians outside of Toronto - I guess we're all too busy touring to hang out back home...

Lyall and I still haven't rehearsed, so we regretfully skip Deep Dark Woods' set and head back home to get in some rehearsing.

Lyall is a big rock drummer. He likes hitting the drums very hard to classic, big, awesome rock. I, on the other hand, play very pretty, sensitive, acoustic folk tunes where you should really hear the lyrics. Neither of these are bad things - but in combination they are not exactly chocolate and peanut butter. So rehearsing, while fun, is not easy and there is a lot of finding common ground and figuring out compromises. We skip a couple songs and head back in time to catch the Dusty Roads Band's set - I am, to be honest, a leeeetle nervous about the whole thing - but Lyall assures me it'll all work out once we're all together.

Matt finds me and mysteriously hands me a slip of paper for my Sunday workshop - "Songwriter's Sweatshop" - where we have to make up a new song for the festival. The challenge apparently is to work in a line that the audience has voted on: "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier"... thanks a lot, audience.

I collapse into a hammock. I doze to some good bluesy rock by Dusty Roads and a nice tweener by Serena Postel. But eventually I get restless. JFK & The Conspirators are good reggae, but I'm feeling far from home and I head out to the main road to find a pay phone. I sing to myself about not being a soldier, but don't come up with much.

Outside by a Burger King I find the "hang out and show off your car" crowd, but no pay phone. A couple blocks away I find the "dress up to get drunk and puke in the bushes" crowd. Neither has any idea that there's an amazing folk festival going on a couple blocks away.

I phone home and then head back and am tooooo tired for fire dancing - I know, I know - but I've been up a looong time - so I head back home and pass out.

SATURDAY (in which I break a string, break a sweat, break out my dance moves, get drunk, and don't remember much else)

I get up early to be a keener and write my "soul/soldier" song - I come up with 2 tunes - one about a guy I met down in Maryland (a soldier from Iraq who wanted to become a folk singer) and a goofy one about being a lover not a fighter.

Brenda, Lyall's wife and I hang out the rest of the morning. She makes fresh baked muffins and I make fresh made CDs and comics. The CDs are demos recorded in my living room featuring all my funny tunes - and especially Jetpack, since I thought people might riot if I didn't record it (I'm working on it! hold yer horses...). Brenda finishes muffins and leaves to continue work on her secret project - very mysterious... I eat a lot of muffins.

I head in for my workshop at one o'clock - "Songs I Wouldn't Sing to My Mother." I have a confession to make: I actually phoned my mother to ask her which songs I should play for this, since she's heard all of them. I opt for "Guilt Trip Song" (which I edit slightly for the youngin's) "Subway Sparrow" and "My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding" (although this is her favourite song). Joining me onstage is CR Avery, who does awesome-possum spoken word beatbox while playing keys, harmonica, and smoking 2 packs in an hour. He is the festival hit and jams with everyone. He also has matching sunglasses and ties - and, according to some of the ladies, very tight pants. CR loves "My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding."

After the workshop, I hang out with another old friend, Marni - then Lyall and I head back to rehearse with Jesse - but Jesse is delayed playing a show down south. Lyall and I keep wittling away the tunes, then head back to the festival, only to turn around once we get a call from Jesse. It's 6pm. We're playing at 8pm. We haven't played the songs together. I am quietly stressed out.

But like Lyall predicted, it all falls into place real nice. We get through all the songs, cutting one or two and it's all going swimmingly until... I break a string. @#%Q^$. I borrow Lyle's black acoustic and we head over in rockstar style in Lyall's $200 Fiat - getting in with tons of time to hand out more comics and to stress out a bit.

Marti Sabit opens for us with a tweener - last year we became myspace friends. Remembering my tweener last year, I try to set up quietly behind her.

8pm is one of the nicest sets in Brandon - the sun is setting behind us and even though some people have to squint, it is the sweetest atmosphere. Dave Barnes gives me a huge and very generous introduction. I start out with an inside joke, saying "there's been a lost item: has anyone seen a jetpack?" and then we kick into Jetpack. People dance - and from the back, Brenda comes out with her nephew - both wearing homemade jetpacks with "JETPACK - DAVID HEIN CO." written on them. Made out of old backpacks, with pop bottles and ribbons for flames, they are amazing and make me totally laugh mid-song. BEST SECRET PROJECT EVER. (Have I mentioned how great Lyall & Brenda are? Homemade muffins, drumming, jetpacks, snacks, alchohol, and awesomeness - and next year Brenda plans to make little jetpacks for all the kids at the festival. Best hosts ever.)

The set goes quick - the crowd is lovely and I'm pretty all around happy. Everyone sings along to Jetpack and seems to love My Mother's L.J.W.W. I make fake angry faces at Lyle during Guilt Trip Song. For the last song, Dear Aunty Emm, I somehow assemble a TON of other singers, non-singers and friends for an impromptu back-up singing session from the Brandon Tabernackle Choir - I think I taught about 5 people the part right before the show and yet somehow twice that showed up onstage - some completely confused about what they were doing. Awesome, awesome impromptu folk fun. Thanks to Jesse & Lyle for coming together to backup a completely unnecessarily-stressed lead singer.

Afterwards, I'm told later, there is a swarm on the CD tent and one nice couple runs up to me to get me to sign it. Apparently they really enjoyed my blog from last year (again, no pressure... =).

And the rest is gravy. Jacob & Lilly do a sweet set followed by Janksta! featuring the amazing Matt Duboff on drums and Brandon legend, Jan Ek writing cool dancey reggae-inspired political tunes - featuring the only song I know to feature prominently the word "vomit."

I dance a lot.

Afterwards, I hang out with Brenda waiting for Lyle and the crew to strike. Then we head out to Dave Barnes place for a traditional saturday night party - Lyle and Brenda give me a bottle of wine and I make my way through 3/4 of it (with some help) while jamming and slowly forgetting how to play guitar. At some point, Lyall loses me, but hears jetpack being requested and played across the firepit... Later - WAY later - we decide to go, but Dave first takes us down to the River quickly - one of my favourite views in Brandon: mist and cool blue moonlight reflected out of the darkness.... But we're late! A cab is waiting - so we tear through the darkness, really, really drunk and really, really lucky we don't kill ourselves...

SUNDAY & MONDAY (in which I play a brand new song and find my way home)

How did my feet get this dirty? I don't remember my feet getting this dirty last time...

We wake up LATE. We get some breakfast. We hit the festival with some time to hang out before my workshop. I catch Sarah Burton and Ory No'Man at the kids tent - nice new Toronto friends and good songsters. Serena Postal also does a sweet set.

I still have no idea how I'm getting back to Winnipeg - the plan right now is that I'm crashing with Mitch Podolak, founder of the Winnipeg folk festival, and then leaving at 4 in the morning to fly back. No rest for the wicked. But I still need a lift.... two rides have fallen through, but I've learned that stressing is not necessary in Brandon - it'll all work out somehow, I'm sure.

I head backstage with my new songs and hang out with Jan, Sarah, and everyone else - all prepping for our sweatshop. I bully Marti into writing a song on the spot and ask Matt if we can bring our lyrics onstage with us. "Well it's up to you if you want to look professional," he says.

There are a lot of us, so we only get one song, which is fine. I host by making stupid jokes inbetween each act. What's great about workshops like this is that they're specific to THIS festival - they're immediate - and they're pretty cool - each of us comes up with a totally different interpretation of "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier." Jan, is my favourite - he comes onstage with about 80 sheets of papers and lays them out at his feet and launches into a rap about how everyone fights for something and is therefore a soldier - he fights discrimination as a gay man in Brandon - but it's this fighting that gives us our soul. VERY cool.

Me, I go with a goofy song "for all the lovely ladies in Brandon." Sarah calls me a suck-up and a I agree. Here's the tune:

I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier
I've bot bowls, but I'm a terrible bowler
I'm a gentlemen, but not a gentlemen caller
I'm coming to Brandon, so lock up your daughters

Cause I-I-I, I was not made for fighting
Just occasional biting, baby, maybe you and I
were made for making babies
Why-y-y, why don't you spend the ni-i-ight?
Cause sometimes a singer can make a hot husband
I'm not made for fighting, no ladies, I'm just made for loving

I've got bags, but I don't have baggage
I take cabs, but I don't like cabbage
I've got all kinds of patience, but I'm not a doctor
I heard all of the girls in Brandon like rockstars

I-I-I, I was not made for fighting
Just occasional biting, baby, maybe you and I
were made for making babies
Why-y-y, why don't you spend the ni-i-ight?
Cause sometimes a singer can make a hot husband
I'm not made for fighting, no ladies, I'm just made for loving

I've got hands, but baby that don't mean I'm handsome
I'm stealing your heart, gonna hold it for randsome
My heart's on my sleeve, or maybe on my pants
and I'm looking for more, but let's start with a dance

I'm a man, but I've still got manners
but I've been banned from some bands for my banter
I've heard some ladies questioning which guy is best for them
Tell them the answer is playing in front of them

I-I-I, I was not made for fighting
Just occasional biting, baby, maybe you and I
were made for making babies
Why-y-y, why don't you spend the ni-i-ight?
Cause sometimes a singer can make a hot husband
I'm not made for fighting, no ladies, I'm just made for loving

Afterwards, I buy a souvenir for my cat - a little yarn ball thing - and cash out at the merch tent - doing okay too, thank you very much. I trade a couple CDs with other musicians and then chill out with Brenda and Lyall.

Finally Matt hooks me up with Jacob & Lilly for a lift. Jacob and Lilly are actually Karla and Caleb... and they're not together... it's confusing... but they are amazing musicians who have been kicking ass and taking names across the country.

We head out and talk music, fast food, and yackity yack until Winnipeg. They're great, great folks who I hope will end up being good friends. Karla's all motherly and they give me some great music advice. Nice!

I get to Mitch's at around 10 and hang out with his family, talking babies with his son and Nazis with Mitch (you have to know him to understand...). Mitch tells me that he wants to book me for a series of house concerts - apparently, he had "spies" in Brandon who told him I was good. I go to bed for about 3 hours pretty darn happy with the whole weekend.

4 in the morning is very early, but riding first-class makes it better. I should really be sleeping - but Iron Man is playing....

Last weekend I performed as a Canadian finalist in the Mountain Stage New Song Contest - which is cool for many reasons - the first is that one of my favourite cassettes as a kid was a Mountain Stage "Canadian" live recording featuring Blue Rodeo, Barenaked Ladies, Moxy Fruvous, Cowboy Junkies, Bruce Cockburn, and more. Second, I got to play at the Ottawa Folk Fest with the likes of Broken Social Scene, Sarah harmer, Rufus Wainwright and more. And third, I shared the stage with some amazing other songwriters from across Canada like Andy Sheppard, Linda M, Mary Knickle, Lynne Hanson, Hannah and her Sisters, Tanya Davis, Daniel Casavant, Steve Brockley and Koko Bonaparte. I didn't win, but was in very good company and won some excellent friends - please give it up for Tanya Davis, who'll be representing us canucks down south.

Last Wednesday, 3 GUYS FROM THE PRAIRIES TOOK OVER THE FRINGE at the Cameron House. For those of you not in the know, 3 GUYS are Jeff Straker, Grant Tilly and I doing probably my favourite night of singer/songwriter-ness ever. We were celebrating Grant and my musicals in the Toronto fringe festival - and Jeff just released a CD and opened for Mel C from the Spice girls - so we were all pretty happy.

And pretty exhausted. Well deserved though - Grant's THE CHRISTIAN REPUBLICAN FUNDRAISER IN DAYTON, TENNESSEE got 4 NNNN's from Now and a "Highly Recommended" from the Toronto Star and mine, DEATH TO DATING got 4 STARS - Eye. And Jeff opened for Mel C in the middle of Pride. Which meant we hadn't slept a lot. Which meant a crazy fun show where we all felt a little rough - Jeff decided randomly to out Grant on stage in front of his father (which was stranger because Grant is pretty darn straight) and there were a couple of non-sequitur moments (Jeff, I'm looking at you for the pizza story =).

I'd decided we needed a video of us playing and thanks to Landed Entertainment's awesome posse we had a 3 camera shoot. But thanks to part of the set, apparently I was out of my light the whole time... still, we'll get some video up soon and you can all decide for yourself how sleepy we were.

More charity show fun and more strangeness - this time at the Smiling Buddha for bikers (the pedalling kind) who are taking part in the Ride to End Cancer. They and their friends rounded up a bunch of great performers... including Miss Tease and the Bitter Blondes who ended the night. Miss Tease does dance music... really explicitly sexual dance music... Her "bitter blondes" are two girls in blonde wigs that back her up. Their final song was called "Jizz" and featured some really, um, clever lyrics...

All in all, lots of bizarre fun.

So I got booked to play a charity event at a Goodlife Fitness in Kitchener - raising money for their Kids Foundation, which promotes healthy living and exercise to kids. I wasn't sure what to expect - but something like other acts maybe, and presenters, and a crowd - maybe hors d'oeuvres if I was lucky.

Instead, it was me busking next to the treadmills for 2 hours. Literally, for 2 hours, people were running away from me and my guitar.

But we raised a little bit of money and it's for the kids - and I can now say that I've played in the middle of a gym...

HERE'S THE QUICK VERSION: I played in NY, PA, and MD, blew out my back playing football with a dog, met a bunch of great people, including a fair number of lesbian jewish-wiccan couples (who for some reason, really liked my song, "My Mother's Lesbian Jewish-Wiccan Wedding") and won first place in the Susquehanna Music and Arts Fest (SMAF) songwriting contest! And I did a somewhat drunken interview for acousticmusicscene.com. Then I came home.

HERE'S THE LONGER VERSION:

Last week I toured down into the States. I'd won my way into the finals of a songwriting contest at the Susquehanna Music & Arts Festival. 10 finalists would be attending, each performing 2 songs for 10 minutes - the winner would win a cash prize and a spot on the mainstage the next night. But honestly, I wasn't sure how worth it this was - it's an 9 hour drive for a 10 minute show... anyway, I decided in order to make it worth it, I'd set up a tour through NY, PA and MD - nothing major, but enough that I could cover gas and not feel like an idiot if I didn't win and just had to turn around.

This would be a nice tour - I was hitting Binghamton, NY - where my wife's cousins and their families lived - and then Lancaster, PA - where my aunt and uncle lived. Lots of family time - but unfortunately Irene couldn't come with me because she's a ridiculously busy actress.

NEW YORK

The drive to Binghamton was uneventful - my dual citizenship greases me through customs and it's only 5-6 hours away - we should really visit more. Especially since it's immediatley warmer and greener south of the border. I've done this drive a million times but still almost drive around Buffalo twice. I crossover the Susquehanna river, which I'll be playing along in 2 days, and realize that my US geography is sadly lacking...

In Binghamton, I head to Joe & Becki's place - they have 3 adorable kids, Devon, Hanna and Gabe, a cute cat, and a gigantic slobber machine name Boogy. They have dinner ready and afterwards we play football out back. It's super nice, except for the part where I almost killing myself avoiding Boogy and jumping for a pass.

We head out to bar. I literally picked a bar a random on the web to apply to - so I have no idea what the "Cyber Cafe West" will look like. But it's amazing! It's a maze of little rooms and huge one with a stage in the back. Packed with videogames, a chess group in the back, and pool tables upstairs, it's a pretty sweet little venue. Plus there are enough regulars on a Wednesday to make it feel like a good show. I play for two hours, playing a bunch of Canadian covers (6 hours south of the border no one knows who Blue Rodeo or the Tragically Hip are - and they've heard of the Barenaked Ladies, but have never heard One Week... it's like an alternate universe where the music I grew up on never happened). Anyway, the show is great. The chess club calls out requests from the back and everyone seems to enjoy it.

Jeff, who runs the place, says it sounds great. I thank him for booking me on such short notice and he says something like, "I knew you'd be good. You're Canadian. All Canadians sound good."

After I play, Joe & Becki and I explore around - apparently, the bar was recently doing work out back and accidentally broke through into an old prohibition still - still filled with old moonshine equipment. Very cool. I sell a couple CD's (one to thess club) and then we take off.

Back at home, Joe & Becki break out the karaoke machine and sing me country songs that I've never heard, as I chill out. Then we play pool and Joe, who is an ex-navy marksmen, kicks my ass all over the place.

The next morning, we head out for breakfast to Denny's - Joe and I are stupidly excited about Denny's and we have a coupon from his bowling magazine. Joe gets bowling magazines because Joe runs a bowling alley (coolest job ever!). Later, Joe takes me for a quick tour of the bowling alley (coolest bowling alley ever!). Sadly, I have to get going...

PENNSYLVANIA

There is something wrong with me and Pennsylvania, because I get lost a LOT finding my way to Lancaster. Even though my uncle and aunt, Ken & Judi sent me pretty specific googlemaps, I am still stupidly lost. I weave back and forth across the Susquehanna - at least I'm going in the right general direction!

Finally, I make it though and end up at their place, which is plastered with Obama signs all over the front lawn. Ken & Judi are, as far as I can tell, the special ops of the Lancaster, PA democratic movement and have done an amazing job of promoting Obama in a relatively Republican town. They're also wonderful family members - I don't see them enough, so it's nice to get to spend a couple days with them.

There wasn't enough time to book a show in Lancaster, but Judi's found me some open mics, and I'm hoping they'll be alright. We finally find parking at the Alley Kat bar only to be told that the open mic that they advertise on their website isn't actually happening... so instead we head to the neighbouring town and roll up to a tiny pub way off the beaten path, next to rail line.

Inside, there's a band setting up for an open jam - I rarely do these, but like them well enough. We sit up front, a little hesitantly since it could easily end up being a painful, loud night. Because it's "killer beef night" I order the "killer beef" which sounds scarier than a roast beef dip ought to.

The band plays a short set and is fantastic - I love finding pockets of awesome blues musicians in the strangest of places - these guys are killer players, but just play at this funny little pub - and are totally happy there.

I'm first up and get a solo set to warm up - I play some upbeat tunes - Jetpack, Caroline and One Week (bringing the Canadian content wherever I go) and then the band joins me for some tunes - Magic Carpet Ride and Brown Eyed Girl. Ken & Judi sit happily up front tapping along. Everyone applauds - I sell a couple CD's and give out comics - and the drummer from the band tells me I'm going to make it big.

Afterwards, Judi says, "we haven't been out to see live music in years." "Decades!" Ken says. And they had a great time - it's a real treat to be able to drag them along on my little rock'n'roll adventure.

MARYLAND

The next day, I head out to the festival. Ken asks me if I'm nervous, and I'm not, but I get more and more stressed heading down into Maryland. My back, which I hurt playing football, gets worse and worse from stress and so much driving.

The festival is just across the Susquehanna dam - a huge expanse of water on your right and a trickle on the left. Past the bridge you turn onto unpaved, country roads and follow bright, beautiful cardinals through the trees until you get to a summer camp in the woods.

I unpack, check in my merch, and join the other songwriting competition folks in front of the stage. Sherry walks us through the competition. There are 10 of us - we each get 10 minutes to play 2 songs. The judges will judge us on originality, lyrics, whether the music suits the lyrics, and whether they want to hear the song again. We all draw numbers and I get lucky number 6.

I scope out the competition - it's a good looking professional bunch and I'm a bit nervous. But we all introduce ourselves and everyone's so nice that the fact that we're competing kind of disappears. I thought I'd be the one coming from farthest away but Emily is from Alaska and Mark is from the West coast.

We've got some time to kill, so I wander around - it's a big beautiful summer campground with a barn, pool, tennis courts, cabins, etc. Unfortunately, it's drizzly and cold, but on a warm day, the fest will be amazing. I cross my fingers for tomorrow and rub my hands together to keep warm.

Finally we go up - the crowd is pretty good considering it's rainy - I get the feeling that the songwriting competition is considered a fun time and the hosts, from the band We Are About 9 are totally fun. I honestly don't remember the order we played in, but everyone was great. I got totally intimidated by some amazing numbers crossing over folk, country, politics, and singer/songwriter-ness. We all agree that we should make a compilation album later. If you're interested, I totally recommend checking them all out. Here's their websites:

Friction Farm
Lara Herscovitch
Jenny Goodspeed
Janet Bates
Emily Kurn
Hungrytown
Mark Ward
Alicia Keister
The Milroys

My back is killing me by this point. I wish I'd brought painkillers, but there's nothing to do but stretch and move around. I finally get to play - I sing Subway Sparrow and Where's My Jetpack? It's kind of a quiet crowd, so I have no idea how these go over. Subway Sparrow is folky enough for a folk festival, but Jetpack is probably the biggest rock song of the night so far, and really, it's about me wanting a jetpack - it's not exactly shakespeare - so I quickly convince myself that I've lost. After that, I enjoy myself a lot more, hanging out with new friends and wandering around.

We finish playing at 7:30 and they don't announce the winner until 9:30. A couple people have come up to me and said they liked my tunes, so I start to feel better. And one guy comes up to talk to me about Jetpacks! Don, a military pilot, apparently always wanted to build one. He just got back from Iraq too where he was "flying a desk." So if he couldn't fly there, he decided to turn to another love, music. So while in Iraq, he enrolled himself in some Berkely internet music courses, shipped a piano over, learned to play, and started a band.

Don mentions some of the anti-war songs that have been played and, since this is his first folk festival, he wonders if he's welcome. I suggest that the people here can differentiate between the war and the soldiers.

Suddenly in the middle of our conversation, they announce the winners. I honestly missed who got 3rd (Hungrytown) and 2nd (Emily) or forgot, since my mind apparently blew up when they announced that I won first place. Don had to say "hey! That's you!" and push me forward. I wound up onstage accepting a cheque and stumbled back down to get congratulated by the other performers. Although I'm thrilled, I'm kind of stunned and feel bad for everyone else and haven't thought of what to say. But they're all amazing sports and pat me on the back. I buy a couple other contestants beers, since my tour suddenly went from being in-the-hole to being in-the-black. Suddenly my back feels much better.

Lots of people come up to congratulate me. I meet a ton of nice folks from the folk scene who all say they were rooting for me and some of the judges introduce themselves. Nice! One of the organizers asks tentatively, "umm.... you're okay to play a half hour set, right?" I still have mixed feelings afterwards - everyone was great and totally deserved to win, so I sit by myself and listen to the music.

After a terrific set by SONiA and Disappear Fear, we all wander over to "The Barn" (built in 1876 - 100 years before me!) and have a songwriting circle. I am fall asleep at my guitar, but play Lost Together by Blue Rodeo - and surprisingly a bunch of people know it here.

I get lost coming back in the middle of the night, but get a thorough tour of Lancaster.

PENNSYLVANIA & MARYLAND - PART 2!

The next day, Ken & Judi show me the sites of Lancaster - which is a gorgeous city - a "tree city" as apparently it's known - filled with green streets of old victorian building. Built in 1718, its claim to fame is that it's the birthplace of the worst President in the history of the US, James Buchanan (apparently worse than Dubya). It was also the capital of the country for a brief period.

We head to a giant garage sale that Ken & Judi are taking part in (they sell 4 tires) - then Ken and I drive over to the market in the center of town - filled with Lancaster Amish delicasies of which I try (A) a red beet egg (basically a hard boiled egg, soaked in beet juice - yummier than it sounds), (B) wet-bottom shoo-fly pie, which is sort of like pecan pie, without the pecans (which basically leaves pie crust and liquid sugar) and (C) something called "chow-chow" which is a sweet relish of vegetables.

This time, I'm don't get lost heading back to the festival. And I realize that my back feels excellent - must have been the stress of everything yesterday. I arrive in time to a harmony workshop - featuring some amazing artists - and then see a fellow Toronto-ite, Lenore, perform as part of the "Country to Country" workshop, which features artists from other countries (including Texas, for some reason...). Unfortunately, there isn't a huge crowd, but they still play amazingly.

I wander a bit and eventually end up back at the mainstage, where I get to play that night. Judi & Ken have arrived and we watch some excellent folksy acts.

I'm not really nervous about the show that night, but there is a certain amount of pressure to be more than just a 2-song trick pony. But it all goes great - the crowd is very receptive and laugh in all the right spots. I dedicate My Eyes Wide to Ken & Judi, who have been dating since high school and have never broken up with anyone!! "My Mother's Lesbian Jewish-Wiccan Wedding" goes over like a house on fire - afterwards, at least 5 people come up to tell me that they have either been in, or attended a lesbian jewish-wiccan wedding - and one person told me that they attended a lesbian jewish-buddhist wedding. We all decided we should start a group of some sort.

Anyway, my set finishes nicely with Dear Aunty Emm - everyone sings along and I'm pretty happy leaving the stage. Lee, the stage manager, invites me to play in her house concert series (May 2009). She says, "you know why I think you won? Apart from having good songs and performing them well, of course. All of your songs sound different and original - each one sounds new." I've never thought of it that way before - probably kind of a double-edge knife, but it's nice to hear. Terry, the producer of the whole shebang, comes up and invites me back to the festival for 2009 (also in May). And a lot of people buy CD's, which I sign happily - and some new friends take me out to their car, where I get rum & coke from their trunk.

Afterwards, I do a interview with Michael Kornfield, from acousticmusicscene.com - I am, as many of you know, a cheap date and am a bit buzzed, but we have a nice conversation about how you define music (folk/rock/guy with acoustic guitar...) and Michael's a great guy who I hope to run into again. I also meet Paul Mischler and Gordon Nash, who are part of the Budgiedome (hard to explain - kind of a meeting place/performance spot at the Falcon Ridge Folk Fest - and run by big time Moxy Fruvous fans - who knew??).

And that's that - I sell some CDs, hang out with Ken & Judi. We watch a bunch of great performers. Dylan Visvikis, a teenage up-n-comer, Anne Feeney's great political folk tunes, Dan Warner's Australian rock, and Tret Fure's beautifully powerful songs. My favourite though was the closer, We're About 9 who do incredible harmonies and quirky offbeat songs like my new favourite, Nobody Flying This Plane. All worth checking out.

Afterwards, I trade CD's with everyone and then I head back to Ken & Judi's. Once again, I get lost and circle Lancaster, but I finally make it home and pull into their driveway, just in time to see a deer in their backyard.

BACK HOME

The next morning, Ken & Judi suprise me by offering to buy me a GPS system - apparently they couldn't take me getting lost anymore. =)

I head back home - listening to all my newfound CDs - breaking record time to get back to Toronto in 8 hours - just in time for Mother's day. I have 5 mothers, so this is a day filled with dinners and phone calls. And this time, I have so nice news and stories to tell them.

I just got back from a short tour through NY, PA and MD - the highlight of which was winning the Susquehanna Music & Arts Festival (SMAF!) Songwriting Contest and playing on the mainstage. And I've been invited back to play there again next year! Thank you all for your crossed fingers - it worked! You can read the whole story in my blog section above.

Also, check out the article that was written about me in Acousticmusicscene.com - I was technically a little drunk during this interview - but it's nice all the same.

Yesterday, I played solo at the Toronto Independent Music Awards "best live" Showcase at Healey's Roadhouse bar. I got down there a bit early and hung around outside, while a nice homeless guy struck up a conversation about Jeff Healey and how sad he was that he had died.

I played my last CD release at Healey's last bar, so was glad to get to check out the new one. Maybe it's my nostalgia, but I miss the coziness of the old one - the new one is massive and great, I'm sure, for sales - not to mention capitalizing on Second City audiences etc., but I liked the old place, nestled in the corner of seedy Queen & Bathurst.

The Toronto Independent Music Awards are run by a pretty amazing lady named Daniella - in order to choose "best song" "best band" "best act" etc. she sets up showcases throughout the Summer and has industry folks rates the bands. I'm usually anti-battle of the bands since Emergenza (which we did quite well in - at the expense of my friends' money ($20 a ticket???!)), but the TIMA's don't feel like a scam - except that the acts don't get paid for playing - but there's lots of show like that in Toronto and you make it up in CD sales.

Anyway, because the TIMA's cover many genres, the showcases can sometimes be pretty eclectic (although there are some solid singer/songwriter nights). This night, I was playing after Shawna Cassidy, a great solo acoustic wunderkind, and before a bunch of GIANT ROCK BANDS.

Shawna started her set to almost no one, but the place started to fill up quickly - mostly with people eager to watch the metal bands after us - but with some people who were into our folkiness - so a bizarre audience that only assembles for eclectic battle-of-the-bands type shows. Shawna's set was amazing - she has a beautiful voice, a gigantic guitar, and really sweet songs - plus someone told me that she looked like Angelina Jolie - which can never be a bad thing.

My set flew by - mostly to baffled looks from the audience at songs like "My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding" - but enough people bopping along made me feel good. Afterwards Daniella told me I was hilarious, which hopefully means there's a "most hilarious toronto musician" award...

We went out for Indian food and made it back in time to see DAME do some HUGE cool metal music - not really my thing, but I'm pretty proud of Katie Lee, who used to be little sister to the Nick Lee Band, who I used to play with frequently. Now she rocks out in her own band, has cat tattoos on her chest and is totally badass.

The TIMA showcases continue all Summer building up the big awards show - so go out and support folk musicians and metalheads alike.

I've now played two of my favourite shows ever with the same two guys at the same club... so something good must be going on. It was another Wednesday at Bread & Circus down in Kensington Market with Jeff Straker and Grant Tilly. Although we'd done a night a month or two before, this was our first "3 GUYS FROM THE PRAIRIES" show. We'd designed a logo, we'd thought up Prairie stories and got the whole shebang catered by THE GIRL catering (featuring perogies, prairie-dogs-in-blankets and prairie wedding cake (or something - Jeff said it was a prairie must-have, but apparently I never went to any wedding in Saskatchewan...). We'd also rehearsed (and I use the term loosely) a couple of eachother's tunes and a big finale, which I couldn't seem to remember the words to.

Here's why I love Jeff & Grant's music: because on our own, we are kind of quirky guys who do some theatrical stuff in our sets, like people to sing and clap along - and in the indie rock world are generally a little quirky (or dorky, depending). But put us in a room together and suddenly it's an awesome statement about bringing ENTERTAINMENT back to live music. The audience laughs their asses off - sometimes at our funny songs and sometimes at us being being idiots - and we laugh back too. It's this great feedback loop of laughing and singing and fun. Seriously, the next time we do one of these shows, you have to come.

The show was great. Grant debuted a couple new tunes (one of which my wife said was "sexy" - my wife isn't allowed back at these shows anymore...) and I debuted a new song called "High School Geography" which referenced Regina... Grant also played nose flute on my new song, "My mother's lesbian jewish wiccan wedding." Jeff and I had actually rehearsed him playing piano for my tune, "Subway Sparrow" but I'd completely forgotten, so, despite rehearsing, it looked totally improvised. One of my favourite moments, was forgetting the words to Dear Aunty Emm and having the entire audience shout suggestions for what they thought ought to be next - hilarious!

And then we got to the finale. Appropos of being from the Prairies, we had settled on sharing the lyrics to "Go West" by the Pet Shop Boys. "Together... we will find out way... together... we will leave someday... " And together we all knew the lyrics, but I swear I never knew what was happening throughout. A glorious, hilarious train wreck of an ending. Afterwards, the guys at Bread & Circus pumped the 80's tunes and everyone stuck around and danced.

And did I mention the perogies?

BEST... SHOW... EVER.

Two shows to catch up on - Played a show back at the Brickyard BBQ - which turned into a surprise party for the manager - lots of fun - and very nice that Jo-Anne and Jean-Guy turned up with friends. Can't wait to play here once the snow disappears and the patio busts open.

Then a St. Paddy's day show at a Novotel in Mississauga (who knew?) playing lots of Irish tunes and breaking out my tin whistle. Jeff Daze joined me for a dynamic duo - we stayed up the night before learning every Irish song we could (at some point we decided the Beatles were close enough...). We ended up with a huge table of Korean men who didn't speak a word of english cheering for encores. Afterwards they all needed to shake my hands and share their beer with me. I have no idea what they were doing in a Novotel in Mississauga on St. Paddy's day.

Everyone wore green and my pictures was plastered all over the entire hotel - on every tv screen, computer screen saver, and in bizarre picture frames on every table. Hard to fit my ego out the door afterwards. =)

My new song "Subway Sparrow" got lots of good brownie points this week for landing me a spot at the Susquehanna Festival songwriting contest finals in Maryland in May, as well as a runner up prize at www.songwriteruniverse.com. Excellent work, song.

I'm going to try to turn the trip down to Maryland into a tour - seeing some family and travel a bit - which I’ve been missing over the Winter. Cross your fingers for me on the Friday night - the winner of the Finals plays the festival mainstage on Saturday.

I just got a runner up for best song... of the month... at www.songwriteruniverse.com. It comes with a bunch of excellent prizes and the glory of being on this webpage - check out the other winners and let me know what you think.

On Valentine's day, I played at Factory Theatre, one of Toronto's best playhouses and intrepid backer of great new Canadian works. The gig was for a band, but since the building is ancient, there wasn't enough energy to plug in, so Jeff Daze & David Pontello and I whipped up an all acoustic band featuring David on light drums and Jeff on 2nd guitar.

The night was Russian-themed - featuring Factory's new play, aptly titled "The Russian Play" and we were set up in the casino/food/bar room in a corner. Playing acoustic is challenging because you've got to project to be heard over the drums (not to mention the over 100 talking people in the room) but it's also kind of freeing because I get to dance around and sing over people's shoulders, etc.

We weren't the only musicians that night. Also on the bill was James Gray, former keyboard player with Blue Rodeo, wandering around with his accordion. He introduced himself early and said he'd come back and jam with us. Word on the street is that James and Blue Rodeo didn't part ways amicably, so jamming on Lost Together (although it would have been very cool) didn't quite feel right. James came back though in the middle of One Week, which he punched up with accordion and then later returned to jam on my tune, Caroline - which in my repertoire is pretty close as anything to a Blue Rodeo tune. Lots of fun. Who knew accordion could be so awesome? Besides Blue Rodeo... and James... and Spirit of the West... and Weird Al Yankovic... okay, so everyone knew, but I didn't and it rocked.

We played for a loooooong time, using up every song we'd rehearsed and then some, even throwing in my new tune "My mother's lesbian Jewish Wiccan wedding" and, to tie in with the theme of the night, an unrehearsed "Back in the USSR." Jeff provided sweet harmonies and noodling and David's drums kept the card dealers tapping their hands on their tables. I just tried not to lose my voice. Shouting over 100 people is not the prescribed method for excellent vocal delivery - but it seemed to go alright - although a late night request for Subway Sparrow proved that my low range had left the building for the night. Later we scored a gig for a 50th birthday party and Lynn from Factory took our information for more shows. Plus between sets we got mashed potatoes with gravy and cheese in martini glasses - and nothing says awesome night like fancy poutine.

I think I'm aging in reverse this holiday. I started with a trip down to Virginia to see my wife's grandparents. Then through Bingamton where we hung out with her cousins with 3 kids each and then back to our house and one-cat. For presents, I got a robe, a book, and a couch for Christmas and then Guitar Hero 3 for my birthday. And then I did some circus themed shows - so I'm feeling all young at heart...

The first show wasn't actually Circus themed, but was at a small club called "Bread & Circus" in Toronto's Kensington market. Jeff Straker, a good friend of mine, invited me to play a round robin night with him and Grant Tilly - a singer/songwriter I'd heard a fair bit about around town.

Bread & Circus is a tiny bar buried (It's address is actually 193 1/2) in Kensington market - one of my favourite places to play. The bar is about 8 feet wide but about 50 feet long, so when you're on stage you'e facing about 2 people - and everyone else is either to your right or left - so you feel a little like an oscillating fan. Still, it's a warm, great place, and the mural on the facing wall gives you the feeling that you're in an opera house (with a kangaroo), so it's all good.

Jeff is a good friend and amazingly talented, but occasionally we haven't completely gelled onstage - he plays big, gay piano music and I... don't. But tonight - maybe it was Grant, who has a similar style to mine - we all just fused into this funny little, awesome threesome. Totally fun.

Jeff had billed the night as "The Three Guys" - finding common ground only in our gender and non-opera singer status. But we actually all came from the prairies, all had theatre backgrounds, and all made the crowd laugh a fair bit.

Anyway - a sweet, fun night with a great audience of opera singers, theatre people, gay men, and wonderful sing-a-longers. I debuted a new song called "My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding" which went overly nicely. And a friend of mine, Dave, also occasionally known as Sketchy the Clown invited me to guest at the Zero Gravity Circus' "Lunacy Cabaret" on Saturday. Which is where the actual circus part comes in...

The Zero Gravity Circus is an actual cricus troupe that operates out of Toronto (who knew?) in a cool old theatre/warehouse place called "The Centre of Gravity." They are made up of clowns, acrobats, musicians, and boufans (who are dirty, rude clowns - and lovely people underneath). The last time I played with them, I played "Winter Wonderland" for their xmas show, so I knew sort of what the show would be like, but at the same time, had no idea what to expect. The show would include: incredible acrobatics, dancing, music, and likely a lot of swearing, curse, bodily fluids, disgusting skits... and me. Good family fun.

The show started with "Siegfried and Roy: The reunion" and ended with "9/11: The Musical." It transitioned through bizarre clown drinking, cowboys singing about milk (and then pouring it on themselves), a banjo player made of groan-inducing jokes, and a magician who swallowed swords. I played Jetpack and Guilt TripSong which went over great (video to be uploaded soon hopefully...). Afterwards, Dave's wife June told him,"see, they loved him - and he didn't even mention bodily fluids." Dave responded that he could be just like me - but WITH bodily fluids - even better!!!

Hope 2008 is excellent for all y'all - it's already been great for me with a couple sweet circus-y shows and a copy of Guitar Hero 3. You can read about the shows (& maybe some guitar hero too) in my blog section above.