Note from HW
15 years ago i hired a piano for my apartment in paris. i was fasting and I needed a distraction. the piano came up 2 flights of stairs and was awkwardly rolled into an open corner. desperate not to catch lusty whiffs of baguette, wine and cheese, i stayed in and wrote. this was in the strange and heady time of late september 2001 and in those days life and reality pulsed uneasily with an almost druggy undulation. i was raw and wanting to connect to things that were real and comforting. i thought of my grandma. she was still alive then, and i wanted her to understand the influence she had on me while i still had a chance. her joy. her fascination with life and her love of christmas. i had 8 days till the band was landing at CDG airport to begin another european tour, which were never ending back in those days. i wrote all day, every day. after 5 days i had an album’s worth of music celebrating my grandma, christmas, food, family, fire and singing. it’s still one of my favourites. i’m blessed that some of those songs have gone on to find an energy of their own, and have found listening ears and willing voices to sing, three generations, first snow of the year, almost a full moon and the libidinous claire fontaine, among others. these songs, like diary entries take me back to a time and place, but they also reflect a glow into the future. a willingness to define and redefine the simple loves and pleasures it sought to celebrate some 15 years earlier… i still get teary eyed singing “3 generations”. i still feel the petulant grind in my gut when sing “merry christmas (i love you)” and the yearning and subtle humour in reciting the list of ingredients for a winter soup in “almost a full moon”. this december, my faithful musical brother mr. lonely and i set out to play and sing and enjoy and share this music again. to celebrate community and connection. to give voice to the benign bits of joy that straggle behind the big glowing events. the days will be getting shorter, and in turn the nights longer. let us gather with nostrils full of fresh pine, browning onions and burning fires. i look forward to singing with you, joining voices to brighten back winter’s hunkering gloom. see you in december.
h.
TOUR DATES / On Sale Now:
12.05 – Winnipeg, MB @ West End Cultural Centre SOLD OUT
12.07 – Vancouver, BC @ St. James Hall (tickets)
12.08 – Edmonton, AB @ The Club at the Citadel Theatre SOLD OUT
12.09 – Edmonton, AB @ The Club at the Citadel Theatre SOLD OUT
12.10 – Edmonton, AB @ The Club at the Citadel Theatre SOLD OUT
12.11 – Edmonton, AB @ The Club at the Citadel Theatre SOLD OUT
12.13 – Fredericton, NB @ Wilmot United Church (tickets)
12.14 – Halifax, NS @ St. Matthew’s Church SOLD OUT
12.16 – Hamilton, ON @ Hamilton Public Library In The Round Series (tickets)
12.17 – Huntsville, ON @ Trinity United Church SOLD OUT