Soul Revelations: Random Thoughts

2010-02-20T20:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the

Mackenzie MacBride - This Is How Much It Hurts Me - Music Video - Official

Click here to view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ9VNcTQNt4

Synopsis:

Imagery of a giant stone cross, an enormous container ship sailing out to sea, a huge gurgling harbour, and a 20 tonne anchor create an unusual backdrop for the story of a little green pea. Cowboy boots in seaweed, frozen food confetti tosses, sunsets on the ocean, and even a tiny Moon seem to ask in unison, "When it comes to love, when will my ship come in?" This is possibly Mackenzie MacBride at her most wavy gravy.

"Aren't you just like McDonny's red boxed, baked apple pie,

You've been around forever but you burn me every time."

iTunes and Facebook: If you like the video then you're invited to join the Mackenzie MacBride Facebook Page which is linked below.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Mackenzie-MacBride/10503822505?ref=ts

If you like ths song you can buy it for 99 cents on iTunes., also linked below.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/believe-in-love-mysterious-ways/id294579937?i=294580003&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Hope you enjoy!

2009-12-01T09:28:00.000-05:00

Mackenzie MacBride - Believe in Love (Mysterious Ways) - Music Video - Official

Welcome to the music video for "Believe in Love (Mysterious Ways)"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZU_quyVY9s

A song of hope for all the world to sing!

People have mentioned that this song and video have helped them "scrape themselves off the driveway" of heartache so to speak, so that makes me feel like my dream encouraging hopefulness, despite the odds, is coming true.In some ways I feel I was naive when I made this video, in others ways, I know I am right to still believe... During the film shoot, there were many vivid moments for me. Moments that cut the air like diamonds when they fell. Moments that were too "meant to be" to be coincidence. So many moments that I had to put this video away for a long time. I make art mostly "to understand", and at a point, in the case of this video, I felt I no longer understood. Now, this time later, I better understand all of those events, or at least have accepted them. So here you go.

Synopsis:

(Ofcourse whatever you get out of it is great... who's the artist to say...)One possible interpretation is:

The film follows the journey of a woman as she climbs out of heartache and slowly floats up into the hope that she can still find true love.The womans emotional journey is symbolized by her travelling through the cold, bleak and empty streets of earth towards the top of a mountain.On the path the woman finds essentials that she thinks will help her overcome heartache: truth, as symbolized by the see through ya dynamic of the glass mannequin head, willingness to love again, as referenced by the 1980s heart shaped earrings, and music, as depicted by the tiny red accordion known as Cherry Supreme.To her surprise, slowly but surely, she also finds the most important treasure of all, a hopeful spirit, as symbolized by being given feathers for her bare, neglected wing.

She eventually finds enough feathers to fill her entire wing, makes it to the top of the mountain, dances with the angels of love, and flies free of her misery into a sky full of promise.The subtext of the film is the exploration of whether the relationships between shopkeepers and people who've struggled to make real friends are ones of commerce, sincere friendship, mutual self-preservation, or all of the above. (Not these particular shopkeepers, who are obviously cool.)If you like the video then you're invited to join the Mackenzie MacBride Facebook Page which is linked below.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mackenzie-MacBride/10503822505

If you like ths song you can buy it for 99 cents on iTunes., also linked below.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/believe-in-love-mysterious-ways/id294579937?i=294580003&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

2009-08-18T20:27:00.000-04:00

Pride Toronto 2009 Part 2 Mackenzie MacBride Montage

Welcome to the video montage for the Pride Toronto 2009 Concert (Part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Z65IUbFtU

Part 2 of a Montage of songs from Mackenzie MacBride's Pride Toronto 2009 showcase. The songs performed are, "Learn To Crawl", "Born In The Flames" and, "Believe In Love." Includes behind the scenes footage of Mackenzie sharing her comments, which are by turns heartfelt, sharp and whimsical. In Part 2 she continues to talk about her journey as a person and a musician. A rare expose into the world of Canada's woman of "Heart Music". Check out Part 1 as well.

2009-07-15T20:23:00.001-04:00

Pride Toronto 2009 Part 1 Mackenzie MacBride Montage

Welcome to the video montage for the Pride Toronto 2009 Concert (Part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfnmZpWLU_Q

Part 1 of a Montage of songs from Mackenzie MacBride's Pride Toronto 2009 showcase. The songs performed are, "Curtains Came Down", "I'm Not Marilyn Monroe" and, "Your Flowers Are Still Alive." Includes behind the scenes footage of Mackenzie sharing her comments, which are by turns heartfelt, sharp and whimsical. In Part 1 she talks about her journey as a person and a musician. Of Note: At 7 mins 30 secs, a Random bouquet is handed to Mackenzie at the moment she's about to sing, "Your Flowers Are Still Alive" in memory of Alexandrea Tucker. (Angels at work? We think so!) A rare expose into the world of Canada's woman of "Heart Music". Check out Part 2 as well.

2009-06-28T19:20:00.000-04:00

Mackenzie MacBride - Music Video - I'm Not Marilyn Monroe

Welcome to the music video for the song, "I'm Not Mariln Munroe"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEjtPNvylPU

Well, to start with, the tiny accordion, "Dusty Diamond" glitters mysteriously at 5:21. (Unscripted glimpses of the sublime...)

The plot of the music video, "I'm Not Marilyn Monroe" is a sort of "return home", and a first walk on the beach for the character who has been away for years. Essentially, she comes back to find her beach, after having found herself. While there, she reunited with a person of significance who she has not been in contact with in a long time. (In real life, this video is the live filming, not a recreation, of Mackenzie MacBride's return to her beach for the first time in almost 10 years.)

The music, lyrics and video have little to do with mainstream pop, rock, indie music, folk etc and everything to do with outsider music and the glamour, quirk, and audatiousness of counter culture art.Featured in this video is the first little stretch of Mackenzie MacBride's secret beach. While she is rumoured to have handed out over 5000! touist guide books in her time, not once did she give anyone the directions to the red sands of her heart."I'm Not Marilyn Monroe" is from the album, "An Outsider's Heart", which can be purchased real cheap from iTunes by following this link: http://www.apple.com/search/ipoditunes/?q=mackenzie%2Bmacbride

2009-05-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

Pride Toronto - Saturday June 27 th @ 6:20 pm

I will perfrom at 6:20 pm on Saturday June 27 th at Pride Toronto. Please check the schedule in June to determine the exact location if you would like to attend, which I hope you will. I will be performing songs that have never been played in public as well as some favourites. My goal for the performance is to offer the message that we all need to dance in life, even if we are missing a shoe.

2009-05-15T19:49:00.001-04:00

May 15 – Death’s Chariot

( A short story about an ambulance ride .)

He says the smell of vomit is the worst part of the job for him. Out of all of the grotesque sights he’s seen working as what he calls, “an ambulance guy” for 26 years: blood, tears, death, it is smell of kindergarten classes during flue season that turns his stomach the most.

At first he doesn’t like me much: just a lip glossed woman with a cell phone glued to he ear after a traffic accident. The people in the city bus had been hollering to the driver that he had turned the wrong way for the #14, and he had been hollering back in a thick accent that he’d been driving the #5 all morning, and the people were yelling back, “right bus, wrong way” when the screech of metal on metal at 70 kms an hour began tearing through the air like ravens with steel tipped wings. A shiny half tonne truck, that was distinguished by it’s odd plum colour paint job, more so than having been jacked up on monster truck shocks, skidded along the side of the bus like an amateur snow bunny down a picturesque peak in the Alps. Inside the sensation was like being in a sardine can and having the metal lid peeled off. It was only later that I pieced together that the accident had been caused by a garden-variety traffic fuck up: the bus driver not checking his blind spot.

The ambulance guy tells me he’s seen, “more than what the average person sees, that’s for sure.” He doesn’t elaborate, other than to say dealing with people’s emotions is another hard part of his job. He mentions having to go to tell old people that their spouse of 50 years is dead. “That’s not easy.” A voice calls out from a loud speaker, “Female patient. Vomiting blood. Her co-worker is with her.” “A lot of times it’s not as bad as it sounds,” he says dryly.

Overhead there’s a sign that says, “Think Hypo-something-or-other” and offers a “Top 5 Signs” of this medical predicament, which include “hematoma of the head”, “erratic breathing” and other indicators of the immanent separation of body and soul. I notice the discrepancy between the popular notion that if a person gets in an ambulance, that they will have made it into some well equipped medical haven, some safe house with bars on the windows to hold out the pain, a sanctuary where professionals pamper over them like a pedicure parlor. I could see death’s chariot offered no such appointments. With it’s metal framed cots and it’s walls lined with the same sort of metal cabinets found in an old man’s garage, it was clear that the Grim Reaper doesn’t “think you’re special.”

The ambulance guy himself is far from a tender passerby tending to a 5 year old’s freshly scraped knee. It’s not that he’s mean, it’s just that I can tell he’s, “on the job.” He’s like one of my singing teachers who said, “I don’t really care what your goals are”, in response to me sharing my fragile creative aspirations. There was a pay cheque at the end of these inconvenient human interactions, and these men were going to find it. The less the client confuses their needs as being the men’s primary motivator, the better for everyone involved.

The ambulance guy does take a bit more interest in me once he learns I volunteer at a campus radio station. I’m amazed to think anyone is actually listening. “I thought I was talking to the wall.” He says he thinks he’s heard my voice before as he passes me a single use plastic hot pack for my neck and then enough gauze to bandage two wounded soldiers to wrap the scalding little packet in. He ends up telling me his father plays the old time fiddle and his son has just started learning to chord on the guitar. “I never picked anything up,” he adds with a sort of twisting of his mouth and a distant look in his eye, that might suggest he’s hurt by this truth, but somehow it’s clear he doesn’t care. As we ride along in the rain I start telling him that I imagine that a lot of people die with a lot of resentment towards others, feuds between friends not fixed, lover’s quarrels unresolved, loved ones not on speaking terms, regret for what could have been, and bitterness burning in their soul. (I think about my own life.) The ambulance guy offers only, “Things happen fast.”

By the time the door opens at the “Emergency” entrance to the hospital, I’m still thinking of what song I’ll dedicate to the ambulance guy next time I volunteer at the radio station. After hours in the waiting room observing the misery of the human condition juxtaposed against subtitled soap operas playing on muted tv sets, I see the doctor. Secondary diagnosis: “whiplash”. Primary diagnosis, “ Keep on trying to find joy, to the point that you “become joy.” The night before hadn’t I just been visiting with some new-agers with wine glasses in their hand saying, “You don’t have time to educate people, or hold his hand or give him therapy about how he finds his feelings for you too inconvenient to deal with. Life’s too short!” Now these facts are made true all over again by the glint of the ambulance’s mustard yellow paint job that was still flickering in my eyes. Back outside the sun has come out. I ditch the single use hot pack and began to feel fairly refreshed after my reminder of the temporary nature of mortal life. . From what I saw, the Grim Reaper doesn’t have any time for “poor me” routines, so neither should I. It was time to get on with things. As I rode along on a bus destined for downtown I thought: “There’s no particular “key” in your head to turn to “get on with things” - that’s true - but all the same, try to “hot wire” it.

2009-03-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

Thank you - Top 10 on CHUO Radio In March 2009

My album, "An Outsider's Heart reached the Top 10 on the University of Ottawa's CHUO campus radio station during the last week of February / first week of March, 2009. thank-you to the djs who played the songs and to people who phoned in and requested the songs. My goal in music these days is to make music for whoever is meant to hear it, and get benefit from it. I hope you're hearing the songs if you are meant to, and they are making you happy.

2009-02-21T13:35:00.002-05:00

IN The SAW-NA

After four months of working on it my music video for the song "Believe In Love" will be screened on Thursday (February 26, 2009.)

The last part of the video editing had Pixie and I sitting in the editing suite for 9 hours. We ended up calling it "the SAW-NA." All it was missing was hot rocks, steam, and some starched towels.

At one point I burst out of the room and started confessing I thought that one of the resident video guys made me weak in the knees. It became an episode of "True SAW-NA" confessions. Everyone had a laugh, and a good sweat.

I really hope you will all enjoy the video and it will inspire you to "Believe In Love" in your own lives, despite whatever obstacles, and heartaches you have faced.

It's a message of hope, so please think of coming out to the SAW Gallery on Thursday. The screening of the film is at 10 pm. I've decided not to put the video on You Tube for an indefinite period, so this will be one of the only times to see the film, especially on the big screen, for the foreseeable future.

2009-02-20T12:00:00.000-05:00

You're Invited!

Mackenzie's Music Video for "Believe In Love"

will be premiered on the big screen at SAW Video on Thursday Feb. 26, 2009.

PRESS RELEASE

SAW Gallery presents:

Band of Outsiders
(Music/Arts - Exhibit )

Thursday, February 26, 2009 at 8:00pm

Exhibition opening and Outsider Art Fair:

Curators: Stefan St-Laurent (Ottawa) and Ainsley Walton (Ottawa)

A refreshing look at the influences of outsider art on contemporary art practices, the smash exhibition Band of Outsiders brings together 13 emerging and established artists from the Ottawa and Gatineau regions, some of whom will be exhibiting their works for the first time! Expanding upon the definition of outsider art, the exhibition includes a wild array of contemporary, folk, intuitive and naïve art, displaying the personal and visionary work of Angie the Barbarian, Irene B., JeanGuy, JP Danys, Marika Jemma, Anne Johnson, Karen Jordan, Mike Hewko, Trevor Laalo, Ron Noganosh, Rene Price, Herman Ruhland and Tina Tolgyesy.

Band of Outsiders highlights include:

An Outsider Art Fair during the exhibition opening with the participation of Canteen,
H'Art of Ottawa, Nomad Gallery and La Petite Mort Gallery. Presented by Galerie SAW Gallery and La Petite Mort Gallery.

the Fair will also feature the special launch of Mackenzie MacBride's newly released album An Outsider's Heart and the world premiere of the video for her début single “Believe in Love”

Galerie SAW Gallery
67, rue Nicholas Street
Ottawa, ON
www.galeriesawgallery.com
Contact Info Phone: 613 698 9205
Email: sawprogramming@artengine.ca

"Those works created from solitude and from pure and authentic creative impulses—where the worries of competition, acclaim and social promotion do not interfere—are, because of these very facts, more precious than the productions of professions. After a certain familiarity with these flourishings of an exalted feverishness, lived so fully and so intensely by their authors, we cannot avoid the feeling that in relation to these works, cultural art in its entirety appears to be the game of a futile society, a fallacious parade."
—Jean Dubuffet, on outsider art

2009-01-11T12:00:00.012-05:00

Go Get Your Pants On - New Mackenzie MacBride Album EP - Now Available

The new EP An Outsider's Heart (A Short Alt Rock Opera – Opus 5) is now available in stores (see store locations below) and online at ITUNES as a Limited Edition, for a limited time.

Yes, An Outsider's Heart ...

the playlist for rebels, shut-ins and skeptics, the sarcastic, the wretched, and the just plain fed up…
the soundtrack to add 27 minutes of intrigue and angst to a dull Sunday afternoon…
the sing-a-long mix tape for morning showers and evening battles with dirty dishes…

which was voted "Honourable Mention - Best Country Album" in the Ottawa Xpress Magazine 2008 Reader's Poll is now up for grabs.

An Outsider's Heart is, as the button on my hat says, "Here Today, Gone to Maui." So don't miss out.

Inside The Box, Outside The Lines:

This is a 5 song record I completed on Halloween Day 2008 that features a selection of the songs that were crowd favourites when I performed them live.

So, I present this record as a present and a souvenir to fans of music I've made, and a primer to those of you who are just now discovering the fun question marks "outsider music" can paint on your faces.

Dramatic Thematics:

The themes of the songs on An Outsider's Heart cut zig zags acrosss the front lawn of the human condition including:

Questions of whether love can be as intense as it was in high school, even as it stares it the face of park bench infidelity.
The lost and found of friends we hung out with in small apartments.
Moments of Marilyn Munroe-esque glory snatched away at their crescendo.
The frozen peas we jam into our ears, and other vices we jam into our hearts.
The rollings around on beds, dance floors and yoga mats that we do to try to come to grips with our searches for people and feelings that we've already found, but thrown away.

Big News on Subversive Soundz:

For the first time on any of my records, real acoustic instruments are played throughout An Outsider's Heart. From pianos to percussion, this is live heart music. The musicians were a group of excellent players that I located in various obtuse locations, including the dim corners of folk cafes, the practice rooms of university music programs and the blissed out jam sessions of hippie hangouts.

As well, for the first time, this CD was professionally manufactured, so it will be sure to both play, and play real loud on your home stereo.

Fine Print Reading List:

There's also a booklet with all of the song lyrics (without typos) and pictures of me standing in a snow drift in my bare feet, like an idiot, I mean "artist."

Genres, Influences and Punches:

An Outsider's Heart was influenced by, and occasionally breaks bread with these genres:
Outsider Music
Alternative Country
Heart Music
Eccentric Story Songs
Freak Folk
Avant Pop

(those last two descriptions are new ones on me, that I read about in, of all places, Manitoba, so let's throw them in as well).

What It Aint:

A lot of the "chick with piano" CDs that I've bought recently technically "work", but at the end of the day are really just records to "pass the time"; they don't go anywhere other than the usual cliché "Baby Be Good To Me" places.

An Outsider's Heart is not meant to be "safe" background music for doctor's offices or public broadcasters. It's meant to match the gritty moments of your life, when you need heartfelt music and subversive singing to stir you into action, not put you back to sleep.

I'd also like to think that this CD is not the female equivalent to "Sad Bastard" music, as, contrary to the pablum of that genre, this record does have at least a unique character and a spirit of hope that is meant to inspire you "onward", even if you're missing a literal or metaphoric shoe.

If You Like:

If you like any of these artists, you would probably like parts of, or all of An Outsider's Heart

Dolly Parton
Regina Spektor
Antony & the Johnsons
Tracy Chapman
Bonnie "Prince" Billy

Holdin' Your Own:

The price on the store shelves in Ottawa is $7.99. In Toronto it's about $8.99. My father always used to say, "You don't like it because it's cheap!", which I guess is a mentality that does exist.

So, even though my father was yelling about hamburgers at a Friendly's Restaurant when he leveled this enduring quote against snobs of commerce far and wide, I would like point out that I would only put this record out if I knew it could have some soul-value for people who are open to receiving it.

Okay, it is cheap, I agree. For the price of a coffee shop snack you can have:
a new coffee table conversation piece
epic sing-a-longs
an artifact of Outsider Canadiana
some sounds of New York City's underground

When I say, Limited Edition, Limited Time, I mean these record store locations have about three copies each, and the deal is once they are gone, they are gone.

So I hope you will treat yourself and own An Outsider's Heart, the very first chance you get to go shopping this weekend.

CD/ Hard Copy Locations:

Ottawa, ON –

Sounds Unlikely:
5 Arlington Avenue
Ottawa, ON
(613) 565-1661

Compact Music:
785 1/2 Bank Street
Ottawa, ON
(613) 233-8922
(Glebe Location Only)

Toronto, ON –

Criminal Records:
493 Queen Street W Toronto, ON
(416) 364-5380

As well as other independent record stores in Toronto (shop around, or contact me if you need another location.)

If you are not in Ottawa, ON or Toronto, ON, then for a limited time / limited quantity you can catalog order, "An Outsider's Heart" directly from:

HMV Music Store (across Canada)
Amazon.ca (Across North America)

Digital Downloads:

If you prefer a digital download of "An Outsider's Heart", the price is approximately $3.99 and is available from many online music retailers including these, and many more:

ITunes – Available Worldwide

Here is the direct link to get "An Outsider's Heart" from ITunes

http://www.apple.com/search/ipoditunes/?q=mackenzie+macbride

More Digital Download Options:

OD2 (Loudeye) - Europe
Pure Tracks - US and Canada
R2G - China
Rhapsody- World
Rogers Wireless- Canada
Sprint - US
Virgin Mobil - US
Virginmega.fr - France, Monaco

2008-11-15T12:00:00.000-05:00

Honourable Mention - Best Country Album

An Outsider's Heart was voted "Honourable Mention - Best Country Album" in the Ottawa Xpress Magazine 2008 Reader's Poll. Thank-you Ottawa!

2008-06-30T19:51:00.000-04:00

June 1

Cards

...I tell you the green olives made me go hungry. But my hunger is not up to you...

June 2

Museum

...The poor old pecan tree was in rough shape. It couldn’t have grown a pecan if it wanted to...

June 3

Distant

...Quietly reminding me, without knowing you are saying anything...

June 4

Stoop

...Small planes used to fly over the potato and cabbage fields...

June 5

Ticking

...He told himself it was “art nouveau” to make himself feel better about his treachery...

June 6

Across

...Someone says they’d run a coffee shop and bake all the muffins they sell...

June 7

Mindless

...One of them spent two summers as a factory worker...

June 8

Bars

...The jailor dragged me back inside. I did some kicking and screaming as he scraped me down the cobblestone corridors...

June 9

New Cold

...It aint a list of the reasons why we first loved each other...

June 10

Mars

Then I notice the cards you gave me

June 11

Window

...The veranda prevented any light from reaching the first five feet wide of earth...

June 12

Pro

...He produced a little tackle box and started an impromptu show n’ tell...

June 13

Ice

...I was simply there by myself. I was free. Or was I?...

June 14

Over

...Noone was thinking about her the week before...

June 15

Disappointed

...And that some common dandelions would grow...

June 16

Crumbs

...It was another one of her “sunny side up” statements...

June 17

Vanished

...I see you staring off into the distance silently...

June 18

Slice

...With red sugar gel lettering on top...

June 19

Haven

...And near brushes with irreversible disaster...

June 20

Written

...Possibly even thinking of me, on my birthday...

June 21

Choir

...I found a variety of snake oil and self-appointed shawmen...

June 22

Social

...Surrounded by fences covered in ivy...

June 23

Level

...I wasn’t all wrong about you...

June 24

Away

...It’s welcome sign is weathered...

June 25

Lists

...All of these motionless tasks were your path...

June 26

Occasional

...its flickering made it impossible to focus my eyes on...

June 27

Downstairs

...A colour print out of David Bowie is on the bulletin board...

June 28

Next

...There are condors out there...

June 29

Library

...Because they were only things, “other people did.”...

June 30

Stillness

...I had cut corners in terms of “wait times.”...

2008-04-23T20:34:00.000-04:00

Chew Fast

...Forget walking by your door. That’s not nearly as upsetting as tasting the taste of seven years ago. I don’t think they’ve even changed the recipe...

2008-04-22T20:32:00.000-04:00

Many Bills

...We fought back against, skeptics and fatigue. Feeling oppressed. Pushed back the impossible onto it’s heels and made it take notice of us. Even for a short time. It didn't split us in to. Nearly did. I shake my head...

2008-04-21T20:28:00.001-04:00

Confessions

...Well, if you think of how a person has to feel about another person for them to want to tell them the very secrets of their soul. If you think of it like that...

2008-04-21T20:28:00.000-04:00

Confessions

...Well, if you think of how a person has to feel about another person for them to want to tell them the very secrets of their soul. If you think of it like that...

2008-04-20T20:25:00.000-04:00

Fires In Fields

...The air began to smell with the most beautiful fragrance. All of the ladies of France would throw their crystal vials off of their dressers into the cobblestone streets and yell, “We’ve been robbed”, if they could smell all of the apples of long ago...

2008-04-19T20:21:00.000-04:00

Or Go Hungry

...Run over this bridge with me. The bridge I’ve walked alone. Thinking of another love. While you sat with another love in real life. Forget those miseries. Those crow bars prying open the door to our sacred love...

2008-04-18T20:22:00.000-04:00

Creaking

...Creaseless young faces. We used to look at them as we kissed against the wall. They are all gone now. To research bacteria in test tubes. To pursue folk rock careers in Winnipeg. To wear the occasional tie and sit in a carpeted cubicle...

2008-04-17T20:21:00.000-04:00

Kitchen Counter

...Can I greet you with the branches of a 1000 year old tree. Lashed by a hurricane as it watched all of the other tress around it fall?...

2008-04-16T20:16:00.001-04:00

Morge Make Up

...“I really like the Oil of Olay Daily Best cream. But I can’t afford it. So I was thinking of trying a cheaper one.” “Well just try this dear. Do you like samples? This one protects from uv rays.”...

2008-04-16T20:14:00.000-04:00

Idling

...The old man probably isn’t thinking about all the jobs he’s had in his life. All the hours of his life he sold to construction companies who needed drywall put up. All if the neighbours who offered him $50.00 to fix their backed up toilets...

2008-04-15T20:12:00.000-04:00

Reading Aloud

..."Thank you to Elizabeth and the other program officers who finance my operation. I view myself as a Sheppard of Canadian content.” Crunch. Man, those Ms. Vicki’s chips were sounding good...

2008-04-14T20:08:00.000-04:00

Line Up

...“Well people who go to counseling for years miss the point a bit.” “What’s the point?” “To sort out a specific problem and get on with it.” “Oh.”...

2008-04-13T20:07:00.000-04:00

Occasional Lace

...I stand in the Bay on stained department store carpet that’s been walked on by 25 years of women buying themselves a bra to help them with their “grieving process” with one man or the other...

2008-04-11T20:51:00.000-04:00

Glimpses

...They told me this joke last time I saw them. I had hoped there wouldn’t be a next time. But since the person I love disappears for weeks on end - ...

2008-04-10T20:48:00.000-04:00

Ruins

...Wondering how many of the doves that came to rest in my hand were actually real. And how many were just the rushes of air from my lungs on my hands as I sighed laments composed of one silent note...

2008-04-09T20:46:00.000-04:00

Lessons Learned

...What could be worse? I didn’t even get a taste of your mouth. But yet I have to deal with awkward silences and “Are we there yets?” racing in my mind faster than dinky cars down the railing of a childhood staircase...

2008-04-08T20:45:00.000-04:00

Sound Bytes

...I hug your back as you sit on the bar stool. Your back is hot. Someone's tale of making it big in the music business has kept you waiting so long that you’re half asleep...

2008-04-07T20:39:00.000-04:00

Clearing

...When we were walking back to the house, suddenly I looked ahead and saw you walking in front of me. Your body was laughing. He had lifted off of you. A shadow banished by Natives who are skilled at ridding people and rooms of evil spirits. You were there alone. Suddenly naked and free. Though fully clothed. I didn’t mention it because I thought I might seem weird...

2008-04-06T20:38:00.000-04:00

Unearthed

...But yes we were happy. Before differences were differences. Or before they were noticed. Or if they were noticed, then before they were cared about...

2008-04-05T20:37:00.000-04:00

Interrupted

...He's being upstanding. Honest even. But he's never asked if I stand by myself at the centre of the north pole...

2008-04-03T20:34:00.000-04:00

Contagious

...Wasn’t I mean to ride a motorcycle with wind in my hair? Why am I letting money stand in the way? I’ve wasted so much already...

2008-04-02T20:32:00.000-04:00

Destiny's Saviour Is Running Late

...Cuz your asses look good in tight jeans. And I’ve got an old hippie in my midst. An old woman who runs ahead of me,. Explaining my reality to old timers with white bristly beards. Little lesbians in thick black Clark Kent framed glasses working at the till. They understand the politics. So she tells me...

2008-04-01T20:29:00.000-04:00

Sneakers

...But maybe the gold is already in my pockets. Marked with the best and worst years of my life on the faces of the coins. Rattling there. But can’t be heard because I’m chattering about how much more I need. And running to fast after the black diamond in the sky...

2008-03-31T20:28:00.000-04:00

Melt

...What confidence do I have that I’ll ever hit the right target. All I see is an outline. Bullet holes in the wall. I could count them to see how many times I’ve missed you. And you’ve missed me. But I’d rather not...

2008-03-25T20:27:00.001-04:00

Too Close

...The snow is flying around my ears like butterflies. And I’m leaving phone messages on answering machines so I won’t be tempted...

2008-03-22T20:24:00.001-04:00

Tender

...You’ve shown up with wet hair. Looking like a child. Lost and disoriented in a crowd...

2008-03-20T20:21:00.000-04:00

Repairs

...you appeared and disappeared within the span of these dark months. Plus another five odd days. But all those moments in your apartment listening...

2008-03-19T20:18:00.000-04:00

Alive Again

...And in the morning the pipes were seized up. Someone forgot to keep the water running all winter. We forgot...

2008-03-18T20:16:00.000-04:00

80s Rock All Over Again

...I asked God for your love for a lifetime. Now I’m trying to find a night when you could come over for an hour. To be alone. Oh Jesus, to be alone...

2008-03-16T20:14:00.000-04:00

Upstairs

...I waited for years on end in little rooms without a lost soul calling. So now that I have a chance to go see you in the attic, I want to mention every mouse and every old newspaper clipping I see...

2008-03-15T23:11:00.000-04:00

Another Night Of Theatre

...I stand outside myself and just watch the picnic blanket unroll with a crack into the wind. All of the extended family members of chaos have come to sit in the sun. Can I have a few bread crumbs? What about some of that suntan lotion that expired half way through last summer?...

2008-03-13T20:07:00.000-04:00

Amusement

...Immediately inside there was a small iron train engine and some old fashioned cars. You could climb in them, but they didn’t go anywhere...

2008-03-12T20:02:00.001-04:00

Footsteps

...Thought you were gonna tell me when you left. Play it on your homemade autoharp made of multi coloured yard sticks. In a cardboard box that should had an blue felt hat made around 1890...

2008-03-11T20:55:00.000-04:00

Asleep

...In late Spring you’d have to taste every row of fresh green beans to find what’s left of me. But for you I would race through the traffic on a bus that was full of people and smelling of pepperoni. I’d bang on the door of the store that closed at 6 pm at 6:03 pm...

2008-03-10T20:01:00.000-04:00

Fading

...I was ready to stand in the pit and look up at you at the edge. As we work the writer’s saw up and down by hand...

2008-03-09T20:48:00.000-04:00

Dishes To Do

...There’s even peaches or pears on the side. Your choice. I got you both...

2008-03-07T23:05:00.000-05:00

Aisle

...It's all such a boutique. Just a bit of wrapping ribbon to tie your wrists. Don't squirm too much...

2008-03-06T20:37:00.002-05:00

You Can't Deny

...And as I lay there on the wet snow. With blood blooming as if it were a Spring rose, all I could think was “I’m too beautiful for this...

2008-03-05T20:36:00.000-05:00

Resist

...And I played hookie from your padded cell. With every corner bright as the apocalypse under those florescent lights. Long and skinny and running with the heft of miniature subway cars...

2008-03-04T20:33:00.000-05:00

Satisfied

...Should I watch the net rise with the incoming tide. Then return up the wooden stairs. Painted brown once a year. And wait. Wait the 8 hours. Watch the sky. Until the tide goes out again?...

2008-03-03T20:31:00.000-05:00

Cheap Words

...On a dream that cost 2 thousand dollars at a minimum. And I’m exhausted from the fishing I have to do...

2008-03-02T20:29:00.000-05:00

Only

...Of all the lies I told, there’s some truths I know. I know that love aint a sin. No matter how many directions it goes. I won’t have to ask the angels to overlook it...

2008-03-01T20:28:00.000-05:00

Pocket

...Staring at the pursed red lips I got for Valentines and the starfish’s corpse outfitted with a decorative plaque that says “dream.” I prayed you would be back...

2008-02-29T22:39:00.000-05:00

Verdict

...If that’s what it will take. For the jury to see that I can’t judge myself by the same standards of music, of beauty or even luck...

2008-02-28T22:33:00.000-05:00

Brush Stroke

...And I was made to feel like a nuisance when I came over during the proceedings. And I didn’t get to see the watercolour results...

2008-02-27T22:30:00.001-05:00

Tricks

...And somehow the word “Destroyed entered my mind in 3D...

2008-02-27T22:30:00.000-05:00

Tricks

...And somehow the word “Destroyed entered my mind in 3D...

2008-02-26T22:29:00.000-05:00

Scrub

...Silverware clutters under the soap suds. Deep inside my mind. Please. Not one more bent dinner fork...

2008-02-25T22:23:00.000-05:00

Stitches

..And the truth is I’ve had an accident. I paid my life’s fortune to take that medicine man's ride...

2008-02-24T22:19:00.000-05:00

Every Issue

...People say it’s all I talk about now. I recite the article aloud. I don’t need to run my eyes over the type face...

2008-02-23T22:15:00.000-05:00

Wing

...Then there is silence. And I forget to check to see if they got out into the sky at the chimney’s top. Or whether they are dead on the grate...

2008-02-22T22:12:00.000-05:00

Tred

...Right now the wind is whispering in my ear. Telling me that highway is the way I have to go...

2008-02-21T22:06:00.000-05:00

Temp Work

...Staring at our temporary reflections. Being cast back down at us. Our noses and cheeks reflecting in the ripples of a slowly moving but ever so giant stream...

2008-02-20T22:03:00.000-05:00

Dealer

...If noone came to buy the car of the week then we would eat just a little less boiled potatoes...

2008-02-19T22:00:00.000-05:00

Not So Forbidden

...Went to the washroom. Looked in the mirror. Washed the diner taste out off my mouth. Only to come back to the table. And find the only shiny dime I’ve ever known is stolen...

2008-02-18T21:59:00.000-05:00

Horn

...It took you coming out of the desert. Another lost soul showing me the shine of their soul under their dusty skin...

2008-02-17T22:36:00.000-05:00

Reform

...Dragged in on winter boots and left there like memories of kissing you in the door...

2008-02-16T22:12:00.000-05:00

Motives

...To stop feeling alone for one blazing instant. Just a crutch under my sweating armpit...

2008-02-15T21:35:00.000-05:00

Tinny Sounding Tune

...And walking down the street with your arms around me. And coming face to face with people who hold me when I cry over you...

2008-02-14T22:31:00.000-05:00

Bricked Up Window

...I havn't slept more than a few hours since the possibility of gettin' what what I want first came into my consciousness. Like an long gone lover reaching out to me in a dream. And me not being able to look away...

2008-02-13T22:57:00.000-05:00

Precious

...Their arches no longer make giant dounut holes. Framing the sky between their knees and the red beach sand...

2008-02-12T23:09:00.001-05:00

Chimes

...Just knowing. I said, "She is here." It wasn't cheesy like a widgy board at a junior high party. It was wonderful...

2008-02-11T22:30:00.000-05:00

Morning's Truth

...And after I've sighed, When will you be back?" about a hundred times I turn my mind to other subjects. Turn it like a Pontiac doing handbrake turns...

2008-02-10T22:09:00.000-05:00

Thrown

...And now we come to it. Decending the stairs I refused to tread down last summer...

2008-02-09T23:07:00.000-05:00

Dance

...That's when it was cooler and you could go outside. Drive to the coast with your mother at the wheel...

2008-02-08T22:45:00.000-05:00

Farm

...It's all what you focus on. The food in your belly or the chicken between your teeth. The view of the ocean we can almost see from here...

2008-02-07T22:41:00.000-05:00

Still Searchin'

...Let a little gold dust fall from their cheeks when they open the door for me and start to smile...

2008-02-06T22:03:00.000-05:00

Pictures

...More than the Dali Lama's love. At 50 % off...

2008-02-05T22:48:00.000-05:00

Swing

...Oh set me free! Get me a small mirror. Or the face of a watch. So I can hold it up to the sky...

2008-02-04T23:41:00.000-05:00

The Many and The Few

Sometimes it is best to remember some people would do almost anything to have these kinds of problems.

2008-02-03T22:47:00.000-05:00

Legacy

...The legacy of your intimate and my stranger lives on in both of us...

2008-02-02T21:03:00.000-05:00

Your Size

Oh miracle of thread, spool and supply .

2008-02-01T20:47:00.000-05:00

Annonymous Again

...The world of stars is not for the mortals that yearn, grind and plead...

2008-01-31T20:39:00.000-05:00

Proof

...I have someone to see tonight. A picture to put in their hand...

2008-01-30T22:30:00.000-05:00

Last Chance At The Sea

...Have I been inland so long that I would even consider not going?...

2008-01-29T20:22:00.000-05:00

Snow In The West

...The snowboarder is friendly. The only one who isn't trying to sell me something who speaks to me...

2008-01-28T20:08:00.000-05:00

Cake

...I raised up the waves. Kissed my hands one at a time...

2008-01-27T20:38:00.000-05:00

Your Eyes

...Walking down Granville St. with a hot chocolate in my hand...

2008-01-26T14:56:00.000-05:00

Vancouver Tour

I will do some shows in Vancouver, BC between January 27 and 29 th. Following the urgings of my soul (and a friendly concert organizer), this seems like the right time to visit Canada's West Coast for the first time.

2008-01-25T20:41:00.000-05:00

Phone Call The Same

...Was right to hesitiate four years ago...

2008-01-25T14:58:00.000-05:00

Sky

...We go our seperate ways. For an eternity of a few days...

2008-01-24T20:27:00.000-05:00

Further

...Reminded of all this. It was good. The soup at the Holiday Inn was not...

2008-01-23T22:55:00.000-05:00

Escape

...Was really glad that I had a plane ticket and not a mortgage...

2008-01-22T22:22:00.000-05:00

Signs

...What was so long denied. Actually at ease...

2008-01-21T20:20:00.000-05:00

Trust

Trusting is best done after reading the warning signs correctly. Now you tell me. Why not me? Because I'm from the ocean. Because I trust too much.

2008-01-20T23:35:00.000-05:00

Devestating News

...Lingered in a place once peaceful. Then chaos...

2008-01-19T20:12:00.000-05:00

Storms

...Scrunched up some hair. What a look...