Frequent readers here will know that I often start these correspondences with something like, ‘its been a crazy week’ or ‘much ado since we last gathered here’ or whatever. For this installment, I have to tell you these statements will most likely not suffice at all. So much has happened since the last post here that I cannot really write about it all as it would be too long and difficult to describe in deatail. I wonder if point form is the best way to go in this instance?

Forgive the name dropping. I guess you’ll just have to trust me that I am not trying to gain your favour by mentioning famous people. Or am I?

In somewhat chronological order…

-arrived at fitting for Winters Tale film and immediately was shaved into a full porn stache, not unlike Lemmie’s from Motorhead.

-2nd day on set I learned several valuable lessons on the craft of film making from one of the greatest actors and one of the greatest screen writers of our time
-don’t f*&k around with these dudes
-Kevin Corrigan is an a brilliant actor and knows more about music than most musicians.
-Thankgiving Weekend in NYC is a big deal, and 6 year old boys really like big inflatable things.
-driving a Model T Ford in 1918 was a really difficult thing to do
-The Smilingland Gig in Toronto was once again an awesome time for a great cause
-flying in a chopper over the rivers that surround Manhattan is an amazing experience.
-attending Les Mis Premier in London was an amazing experience, though sitting directly between Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert while watching the film was kind of nerve-wracking.
-Les Mis is the best Movie-Musical I’ve ever seen, and one of the best films I’ve ever seen.
-Russell’s Javert is a triumph and he has never sung better. Many people will truly understand the Inspector for the first time I think.
-Hugh Jackman’s 24601 could very well win him an Oscar.
-I’m not sure how anyone is ever going to sing ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ again after Anne Hathaway’s version goes public. One of the most beautiful and tragic performances I’ve ever witnessed.
-Samantha Barks is a world star in waiting. What a thrill to have sung with her a few times myself.
-there is not a single bad performance in the rest of the cast of Les Mis, and yet it looks so beautiful, I could watch it with the sound turned off.
-Joes Pub is an excellent place for an Indoor Garden Party with the gang. RC and Hugh’s Confrontation was the highlight.
-Scott Grimes and Bob Guiney have a great act you should check out. Bob is charming and very talented. Scott is the greatest singer on earth.
-Richard Marx has long been a guilty pleasure of mine and I got to see him play solo at the City Winery, the same gig I played a few months back.
-Colin Farrell is a great fella, an amazing horseman, and brilliant actor.
-attending Les Mis Premier in New York was an amazing experience…again forgive the name dropping, but in the spirit of giving, here’s a few celeb sightings and comments…

-Lorraine Bracco is as beautiful as she ever was.
-Jon Bon Jovi is as beautiful as he ever was, and smiles patiently when he shakes your hand while you are geeking out telling him you used to play his tunes in your high school band, like he’s never heard that before.
-Anne Hathaway is as beautiful as she ever was, and is as multitalented a human as I’ve ever met and is a really really nice person as well.
-Tony Danza is as beautiful as he ever was, and his smile is still huge, even when he shakes you hand while you are geeking out telling him you really loved his show when you were a kid, like he’s never heard that before.
-Sharon Stone looks exactly like Sharon Stone. Seriously.
-John Krasinski is as beautiful as he ever was, and does not at all seem to mind hearing that The Office is brilliant, like he’s never heard that before.
-Jennifer Connelly could very well be the most beautiful human alive or dead.

…perhaps I’ll stop there. Moving on.

-a sad and most unsuspected call came to the set late last Wednesday, having me bolt for the airport to head NorthEast in a hurry.
-RIP Don Pardy, my Father in Law. A wonderful, selfless Dad who loved his family and friends. I will miss you.
-holding the hand of someone you love while they take their last breath is an amazing experience. Truly an honour.
-walking the people you love through the hardest hours of their lives is an amazing experience. Truly an honour.

-getting stuck in three different cities in one week because of airline and weather delays is not an amazing experience.
-leaving home 9 days before Christmas is not an amazing experience.
-getting to recount all this to you honestly is an interesting mix of relief to get it off my chest, and guilt as it all sounds kind of self centered to yammer on about my own experiences this much.

I’m sitting in my trailer awaiting my friends Perry Chafe and Allan Hawco to join me. The Republic of Doyle gents are in town for a couple of nights and I’m eager to tip a jar with them.

A couple more beats for Dingy Worthington this week, then home for the Holidays. I’m really looking forward to a few weeks home and quiet. I’ll be ready to ring in the New Year after that. The Year of GBS and a celebration 20 years in the making.

More soon.

Cheers,
Alan

It is still Thanksgiving Weekend for most in the US. But following a four day break, the Main Unit of Winters Tale is back on the job.

But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ve been cast as Dingy Worthington, a thief, in Akiva Goldsman’s screenplay adaptation of Mark Helprin’s classic novel. I met Akiva when I met Russell about 8 or 9 years ago when they worked together on a film in Toronto. Akiva is directing this film and he and Russell sent me a note about a tow months ago asking if I had any tie available in late November-early December.

I pointed out that the GBS XX press would be done by mid November and with the exception of a couple of Christmas concerts on a Saturday or two, I had time to consider whatever they had in mind. Dingy is what they had in mind. It is a small but really cool role in a film that once again sees me standing shoulder to shoulder with the greatest moviemakers on Earth. What a thrill.

I can’t say much about the film or the cast. There’s a lot of info online about who’s in it and who’s not etc. I cannot confirm or deny any of it, but believe me, this is friggin cool.

I should be here for three weeks or so. And here is New York City.

For those of you who regularly read this blog, you’ll know how often I’ve praised this place. This is the greatest city on earth. No question about it. I’ve travelled more than the average person and have really only wanted live, for a short time at least, in three cities outside of home in St. John’s. London, England. New Orleans, and New York, USA.

The Robin Hood film got me a four month stay in greater London; in Richmond to be specific.

The GBS recordings for Safe upon the Shore got me two two-week stays in New Orleans.

And now Winters Tale has me unpacked in a New York apartment for almost a month.

I am a Lucky Bastard.

Here’s the thing. There are many wonderful places in the world to visit. Places where the post cards are nice and you go see the attractions and leave there happily.

Then some of those places turn out to have more to offer than listed on the tourist post card. Places where you can quickly get off the beaten paths and find something that the tourism commercials don’t mention. You can, on your own, find out what its like to be from that place if you atke a left turn here and there.

Then there are places like London, New Orleans, where millions of tourist come and go constantly and have an amazing time as tourists as there is so many excellent touristy things to do in these places. But most well travelled folks will tell you that Friday night on Bourbon Street tells you very little about what its like to live in New Orleans. What I mean to say is that the tourist attractions of these towns are awesome and totally worth the visit but actually bear no resemblance to the daily lives of the people who live in them. When you come across a place like that, the curiosity in me peaks and I need to have at least a temporary address there to feel like I know the place at all.

I am hoping to have that chance in the coming weeks. I am living in New York. I can’t tell you what a thrill is to type that sentence. Cool. Friggin Cool.

Many thanks to all of you for the massive response to the launch of the GBS XX Box Set and Tour. As you may have heard, the CD went Gold in Canada in just over two weeks. Tickets to the Tour are selling like crazy. A few sell outs are likely to be announced in the coming days and weeks despite the fact that the gigs are not till March.

The other night I had a chance to chat with a bunch of the cast from Les Miserables just after they had attended a cast screening of the soon to be released film. They and everyone else were literally glowing from the experience. I spoke to a few hardened film folks as well. Folks that had nothing to do with this production who were positively thrilled by the film. It’s been a long while since I’ve been this eager to see a movie. Really happy for Russell and all the gang from the other night. Hope to get to one of the Premiere’s and hope it hits a homerun at the Box Office.

A couple of other cool things coming up. GBS is playing at The Smilingland’s Great Big Give event in Toronto next weekend. What a contribution that charity has made. Hundreds and Hundreds of thousands of dollars for needy causes have been raised by this organization.

Also, getting to sing with the Barra Macneil’s at a show in Toronto in a few weeks. They have been great friends to me and GBS over the years and remain some of the best traditional musicians I’ve ever seen.

More stuff to come including book news and other live dates etc.

I am wearing suspenders in this costume. I am really enjoying them. I hope that’s cool.

Cheers,
Alan

Well, after nearly half of my life in the making, GBS XX has been released to the world. Just a day or so ago the 5-disc box set hit the shelves with books and posters and calendars and more cool stuff than the eyes and ears and hands can enjoy in one sitting.

I am not usually one for nostalgia. Myself an Sean and Bob are not often found patting ourselves on the back. Plenty of time for that in years to come I figure. But if you’ll forgive me, I’d like to take a moment to say how proud I am today of the whole GBS cast and crew, including myself. Being in a band is really fun and a pleasure and privilege to do for a living. And in all honesty, doing it for a summer or two when your are in your early 20’s is not a real big chore. A station wagon, 24 beer, 4 subs and two hotel rooms and off you go. What a laugh. But staying in a band and keeping all hands employed and interested over the changes that happen in normal adult lives between the ages of 20 something and 40 something is much more difficult a task. There’s a million reasons why bands don’t stay together.

Some people get sick of airplanes, vans, hotels. Some grow to dislike the music or the other band members. Some others get married and have kids that they choose never to travel away from and bid farewell to the road life forever. Many just can’t make enough money on a consistent basis to support their growing families and most honorably take a day job and pay the bills.

Many bands just simply run out of ideas, musical or otherwise. Most bands just simply lose their audience. For a myriad of reasons they just can’t sustain the interest of the masses for a number of years and after a moment or two in the sun, and gratefully or not, accept that their run is done and fade away to do whatever comes next.

But a few bands remain. A few sustain and whether they meant to or not, wind up proving that they are in it for the long haul; that they are the real deal; a musical and performance entity that though sheer longevity and consistent appeal puts them in rare and fine company. If you don’t mind me being so bold, today I just might allow myself to think that we have become one of these bands.

Congrats to Louis, our life long manager and all the agents and crew who have braved the storms with us. Special thanks to Darrell Power who left the band about a decade ago, but who’s humour and good nature got us through so many long nights, late drives and early mornings. Really special thanks to Kris Macfarlane and Murray Foster who breathed new life into our weary ship right when we needed it the most. The result was Something Beautiful.

And most of all I would like to thank Sean McCann and Bob Hallet, easily the two most influential people in my adult life. I would most likely be a High School Teacher now and hopefully happy enough gigging in some pick up band on the weekends if it were not for the vision of these guys and their confidence my place in it. Just about everything I know about Celtic and Newfoundland Traditional Music I learned from Sean and Bob. They either taught me everything I know about being a performer or had the patience to stand there and suffer through my learning it on the job.

Thanks to those of you who’ve picked up the box set already and thanks in advance to those of you who are about to. I hope you love the various bits in there. Also check out all the tour dates announced at www.greatbigsea.com. Many more will roll out in the coming weeks and months.

Myself and Bob doing a bunch of press stuff and the whole gang gathers in London on Saturday to rehearse the new tunes and play at a Fundraising Event and in Toronto for a concert/CBC Radio taping on Sunday night. Fun stuff.

Next week, I’m doing some more promotions for GBSXX and singing at some Gold Medal Plates fundraisers in Ottawa, Montreal and St John’s.

Hope to do some recording with friends while in La Belle Province. Keep you posted on that one.

Also keep you posted on some book and film news as it gets firmed up.

Off we go and off we go.

Many thanks everyone.

Cheers,
Alan