Dad and I played for the first time in Quyon, Quebec at Gavan’s Hotel and Tavern on November 18th. What a great, historic building in a unique, little town in the Pontiac region. Gavan’s is an Irish pub with a hotel upstairs and I gather it’s where fiddlers from the Ottawa valley would play a lot during the 1960s. I haven’t been to a venue with a feel like this is quite sometime - decor straight out of the 1970s and an amazing staff working hard as the place filled up. The place was inspiring and I shot a couple of rolls of photographs from the day and evening.

The drive there was interesting. I saw this.

And this.

And these.

Then we arrived at Gavan’s. Man, I felt like Shania.

Before soundcheck I had an interview with K.C Jordan for the local paper, The Equity.

K.C snapped this photo of me. Thankfully I’m 50 and I had my ID with me.

Dad deciding where he’d like to sit.

Decision made.

My road manager/soundman, Steve, sizing up the joint.

The joint sizing up Steve.

A nice surprise- Nik Field was the house tech for the evening. Nik’s a talented cat - a great musician, technician and he also designed my website and the ones for Fang Recording and Friction Books (where paid subscribers to the Window Inn also happen to get a 10% discount ;)!).

Gavan’s new owner, Jim Cain, and his better half (whose name I’ve forgotten but I’ll add it if they see this post and let me know!)

Jim and family are the third owners. Here are the first two.

Lennox and Marguerite Gavan.

Jim father, Lorne was staying in the hotel to help oversee some renovations. Wonder if his father was James M Cain?

The Barman Always Rings Twice

All folks working at Gavan’s were great. Didn’t get the names of these folks with Lorne, but a big thanks to all who make the place happen.

Steve & Dad and fish & chips

Dad & Nik

The Holy Dartboard

Dad plans his stage dive for the end of the show.

Figures he’d best get a drink to work up the courage.

Decides on Bud Light draft.

Chrissy seemed to be making everything happen and holding down the fort.

Shuttling cases to the basement down The Beer-a-Chute.

I can see why the old furnace was never removed from the basement.

The inside of the building was so cool I had to remind myself to get outside and take a photo before the sun went down.

Mars Aspen (right) played a great set to kick off the night. Here they are with friend, whose name escapes me. Thanks Mars!

What a bar!

What an audience!

Chrissy & Kala were closing the place down at nights end.

Dad, Lorne, myself and Jim.

Now to sing some Songs That Lennox Sings.

Flash

Flash

Flash

Lights Out

Uh Huh - JP

The Avening Community Centre in Avening, Ontario is one of my favourite venues in Canada. I had two sold out shows there on November 15th & 16th that were a total blast. My father, Bill, came along for the ride and joined me for the second set each night. At the bottom of the post, paid subscibers will find a scrappy recording of the two sets from the second night. My iPhone was sitting on the guitar boat behind me. Nothing fancy and a lot of foot tapping but fun memories and lots of crowd singing.

Here are some photographs I took while we were there…

Day one - before the snow.

Dad on the windy streets of Creemore after lunch.

Steve & Dad (aka Scary & Serious) backstage in Avening.

Steve with Bill, Andrew and Sarah. These folks made the show happen!

Audience Night #1

Audience Night #2 (I think! Were any of you there?)

and in colour!

Sarah, Dad and I at nights end.

Gear is loaded, the hall is closed and we’re getting ready to roll.

Here are the recordings from night #2

Set One - first half

Intro, Love This Town, Before You Leave, West Cork Blended Irish Whiskey, Precious Precious Precious, Outroduction, Park Avenue Sobriety Test, Fill in the Blanks, talking about Todd Snider….

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My Old Man, Bill Plaskett, (more nerdy, Neil related dad jokes to follow) accompanied me on guitar. I played my four string tenor and we performed Thrasher, a favourite of mine since I first heard it on Rust Never Sleeps as a teenager. In a box somewhere there’s a four track cassette tape recording of me singing my own “shakey” version at sixteen years old. If I ever dig it up and manage to get it digitized, I’ll add it to this post.

Rust Never Sleeps is acoustic & trippy on Side A and fuzzed out & rockin’ on Side B. It basically set the template of how I’ve wanted to roll since first hearing it. It’s like Neil gave me permission to chase art, hit the pedals and make it up as I go along. At Massey, Dad and I leaned into that Side A mood. I managed to remember the words with an exception - I sang “in the sidewalks” instead of “on” them. I must have been thinking about carving my initials. I sure love this song.

After Thrasher, Dad left the stage and Sarah Harmer stepped onto it. Sarah has been a friend for a long time and I’d know her striking voice anywhere. We sang Look Out for My Love together. Thanks to Alex Johnson for taking the video of these performances on my mobile.

It was a full tilt shindig and there were many people on and backstage that I never got to meet or say hello to. I’ve tried to mention and link to as many folks as I can in this post but if someone reading this sees that I’ve forgotten or mis-credited anyone please let me know in the comments.

I had a great time taking photographs. Thanks to Devin at Friend of a Friend Film lab for the developing and great scans. On a technical note, I’m still learning how to use my camera and the flash was set too hot for most of the backstage photos. The 21mm Super Angulon wide angle shots from the encore are scrappy as I couldn’t frame them properly through the camera’s 50mm viewfinder and I was trying to sing along to Cinnamon Girl at the same time. Nonetheless, upon closer inspection they reveal some fun moments and give a sense of the jam packed stage.

I dig this one…

… that upon zooming in highlights a Riser Party in full swing with Densil McFarlane and Colanthony Humphrey from The OGBMS, Shamus Currie, Sate, Jim Cuddy, Charlotte Cornfield, Peter Dremainis, Serena Ryder and Carleigh Aikins.

Below is Aaron leading the band from center stage with his flying V. Brian Kobayakawa is in the foreground on bass and right above his head tucked in there on piano is Thomas Hammerton. Anna Ruddick (also on bass) has her back turned and is facing Doug McBrien who is way back there smiling on the guitar. Luke Bentham from The Dirty Nil is facing the audience on the right…

When you zoom in on that one you find Pete from July Talk grinning ear to ear because Dani Nash is laying it down while planning her memoir, Even Cowgirls (in the Sand) Get the Vampire Blues…

Here the encore is about to get rolling…

… so Anna calls for world peace and/or two songs.

That full head of hair belongs to Glenn Milchem (of Blue Rodeo fame) holding down the other trap kit on the “Horse” side of the stage. That’s Skye Wallace & Matt Soliveri behind him.

Mighty Ian Blurton could start a tribute band to himself and Neil called Change of Heart of Gold.

Luke Doucet, Aaron, Tim Allard and Chelsea McWilliams of The Red Hill Valleys getting ready for the country.

Luke showing the audience how to play guitar. That’s my pal, Stephen in the bright white shirt up front.

The back row in the side stage shadows reveals the supergroup “W4” (Webb, Wilson, William & Woods), whose songs double as investigative reporting. Produced by Cripps & Milchem. I’ll play drums so Glenn can focus on the horn arrangements.

I was going to wear my Harris tweed that night but Matt Mays beat me to it. I’m calling it now for our Shore Club gigs next summer.

Julian Taylor and Dad show the audience the size of the fish they caught Down by the River.

Tim, Julian, Ian, Sate, Massey Hall… Everybody’s Rockin’

Side stage with the supergroup Cornfield, Edwards & Ryder. I’ll play drums.

Dallas Green and Sarah. Only hugs can break your heart.

Gordie Johnson and Ian making a lifetime in rock & roll look easy.

Charlotte smilin’ because she knows how cool her sweater looks.

Kathleen and Colin - properly plaid. Colin is holding that Firebird tightly because he knows my guitar envy is real.

To all the naysayers telling me I had to provide proof that the amazing Rose Cousins was in fact at Massey Hall that night, read the tub and weep.

Loel Campbell and Joel Carriere hangin’ ten.

My finest photo of the back of folks heads as they congregated in the green room to sing Happy Birthday to Sarah Harmer. Sarah has the same birthday as Neil Young. I share mine with Conan O’Brien.

Getting ready to sing, “Look out, Mama, there’s a white boat comin’ up the river!”

Serena and Jem Roberts in the hallway of fame.

This shot of Ruby Waters was taken at quite a distance with no flash. Thanks to the magic of Ilford HP-5, the zoom-in gets so grainy it starts looking a little like the cover of Tonight’s the Night.

Dad, Peter, Julian and Leah Fay looking my way because I asked them to.

Luke standing tall and handsome like he is about to get married.

“Dallas sang bass, Willam sang tenor…” wait, I got that backwards.

Glenn, Ian and Anna (whose outfit was only upstaged by her bass playing). Shamus sheepdoggin’ from ‘round the corner.

I really like this shot of Toronto record & music man, David “Click” Cox. Shadow making a Golden Glow that brings one back to the Truro NSLC in the 90s.

Colin, Dad, Gordie and Dallas talking in the free world.

Missed the beginning but caught much of Gordie’s ripping version of When You Dance (I Can Really Love) on my mobile. That guitar was LOUD.

For the first song of the encore, Gordie and Matt played a triple neck “Crosby, Stills & Nash” model Gibson SG .

After that Gordie switched to his double neck. The top neck is named Hey Hey, the bottom is My My.

Moments after I snapped that picture, photographer Lindsay Duncan caught this one of me trying to get in on the action. I quickly jumped ship and went back to taking photos when I realized Hey Hey was in a drop tuning.

Lindsay was one of several excellent photographers there that night who took my picture. I had to reciprocate!

Liv Sacco took this fun photograph of me tempting fate as I think there was still a little red wine in that cup.

Moments later I took this one of her.

Here are Denise Kamp and photographer, Vanessa Heins making that stairwell light up.

Vanessa’s a pro and took these three nice photos:

Dad and I backstage

Gordie, Dallas Green & I - a future press shot for “321” (I know it sounds like a boy band). I’ll play drums.

Having a nightcap while contemplating the first 321 single, Last Call at the Imperial. A legendary pub and two days later it closed its doors for good as developers get ready to tear it down. I bought their t-shirt. Cue Brand New & Brokenhearted.

Speaking of night’s end, here are a handful of fun ones from the post show backstage and after party - not long before we hit the Imperial Pub.

Tom Wilson and Margot Burnell looking d-a-p-p-e-r.

Here they are with Thompson and Sinead.

You know it’s been an epic night when your longtime songwriting friend, Al Tuck, magically takes the Cripple Creek Ferry straight to the after party.

Alex Johnson, Al, Dad and Gordie getting lit via flash and/or whiskey.

The legendary Dave Hodge with the legendary Dad.

Aaron - After the Goldstein Rush…

… remembering his Journey Through the Past…

Matt Mays and El Daddio.

Dad with Tom Power wondering why the flash is so damn bright.

Dallas and Vanessa as the Massey bar shut down and the dudes in the back pondered stuffing their pockets with the last of the catering.

Anna and Gordie singing “I was talking with a ghost”.

That’s a wrap.

Dad is 80. So is Neil Young. Long may they run.

xx JP

There is plenty to catch you up on eventually but today I wanted to share some memories from The Kay Meek Theatre shows in Vancouver on October 17th & 18th. It was a tribute night and a celebration of Lucinda Williams and her impeccable album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, a record I’ve loved since it was released in 1998.

Below are a handful of film photographs I took that night as well as a few side stage videos of my performances captured on an iPhone by Theresa, Lindi and Geronimo.

The show was organized by Fiona Black (the artistic director for the Vancouver Folk Festival) and bandleader/singer/songwriter/guitar slinger & slide man extraordinaire, Steve Dawson.

The rockin’ big band Steve put together consisted of Geoff Hicks, Darryl Havers, Liam MacDonald, Jeremy Holmes, Jerry Cook, Malcolm Aiken, Dominic Conway, Tristen Paxton, Chris Gestrin and Eliot Banner. Fingers crossed I’ve covered everyone here - as you can see, the stage was full.

The special guests (other than yours truly) were:

Pony Gold (aka Theresa Bromley), Chuck Prophet & Mercy Walker

Shawn Verreault (shown here with Matt from Pony Gold)

The Eisenhauers (Sheree and Jeremy)

Dawn Pemberton

Lindi Ortega and Regina McCrary

and Regina’s tambourine!

By the end of the second night, had three tour buses pulled up outside the venue, we all could have happily taken this show on the road.

Here I am singing I Lost It.

I rarely sing covers but this song has been close to my heart since it came out in the late 90s. I recorded a fuzz-pedaled live version of it in 2019 for 44, sang it with the acoustic for this session for the National Post back in 2015 and first tried my hand at it back on December 5th, 1998 at The Marquee with the early Emergency Band (Dave Marsh, Tracy Stevens, Andrew Glencross & Charles Austin). Here’s a recording of it from that show. It’s just of the second half of the tune as we were recording on a four track cassette machine and most likely the tape ran out at the end of the previous song. I’m a pretty shaky on those top notes but we’re going for it!

At the tribute we also played some other great Lucinda tunes. Here I am singing a version of her classic, Passionate Kisses…

… and I took a verse of the last song of the night with everyone, I Just Wanted To see You So Bad.

Thanks to Steve and Fiona for the invitation to play a part in these fun shows and to Lucinda Williams for making a timeless record stacked with such memorable and evocative songs.

- Joel

It’s been a busy summer but I’ll stepping into a few more stages before this year’s end. Here’s what’s in the immediate horizon (all tickets here or click on individual cities):

Tomorrow - Friday September 12 in Fredericton at Harvest Jazz and Blues is the last show of the season with The Emergency. 5:30 pm set! Will be a fun one!

Then solo:

Sept 19 - in Halifax at Habitat for Humanity's Huge House Party (Steele Wheels Motor Museum). Fingers crossed I can recruit JP Cormier to join me for a few here!

Sept 20 - Bridgwater, NS at Harvest Moon Festival (Pijinuiskaq Park)

Oct 17 & 18 - Vancouver, BC at Kay Meek Centre as part of Lucinda Williams’ “Car Wheels On A Gravel Road” tribute show.

Nov 14 - Welland, ON at Notre Dame College School (Leon Theatre)

Nov 15 & 16- Creemore, ON at Avening Community Hall. 15th is sold out but 16th is on sale tomorrow!

Speaking of stages, here are a handful of photographs I took from the stage, the backstage and the shotgun seat over the last while. Maybe a few of you reading this will spot yourselves…

Things got blurry with The Emergency at the Back to the Farm Festival in Bath a few weeks ago.

Looking down on to the street stage from my “dressing room”in the Baddeck courthouse.

Last summer on Canada Day in Saint John at that container village.

I’m thinking this is at Redstone winery in Beamsville. Can’t recall if this is this summer or last. Gotta dig analog photos with no time stamps.

Mighty Charlottetown on Canada Day this summer.

Burlington in June. I can spot Andrew, Louise, Andrea and Leah in the audience.

Rosebudders rosebuddin’ in Rosebud, Alberta.

Side stage in Rosebud.

Through the window, backstage in Rosebud.

At the gig on the way to Rosebud the crowd was kinda small but, holy cow, those who were there were into it. Gary Larson opened the show.

Hope to see ya somewhere soon,

JP

Been a spell here at The Window Inn. Life’s been busy with summer shows and, if all rolls as scheduled, will continue that way until later in September. Amidst the gigs (which have been great fun), I’m also happy to get back to writing and sharing a few things here in the newsletter. I’ve unpaused the subscription billing for paid subscribers. New subscribers can also now sign up again.

So a little catch up and more to follow soon…

I had a great time on Gabriola Island last week at their Cultivate Festival - a sweet community gig in a beautiful part of the world. This sunset, taken from our hosts Anne and Doug’s deck, stopped me in my tracks. I’m reminded me of how fortunate I am to get to do what I do and experience different places.

Moving back to April - below is a photograph with my manager, Sheri Jones, taken at Ditch Records in Victoria in April (by Erica Chan). As many of you likely already know, Sheri floored me a week before my 50th birthday with an incredible gift. Songs From the Gang: A Celebration of Joel Plaskett is a record featuring 23 covers of my songs, recorded by friends. You can stream it here.

Honestly, I’m at a loss for the right words when it comes to expressing how much this surprise gift has meant to me. At the risk of sounding biased- the record is fantastic ;)!. My eyes still well up listening to the songs, and hearing the words and melodies in the voices of others is such a trip. Many friends contributed to this and I’m told over 100 people were keeping this a secret from me for over a year, including the folks on the floor at Precision Records who were manufacturing the vinyl.

Most importantly though - Sheri orchestrated this record, contacted all involved and made it happen. We’ve been working together since 2002. She’s an exceptional manager, a trustworthy friend and a beautiful soul whose heart goes into everything she does. This busy summer of shows has everything to do with the organization and energy Sheri puts into bringing my music to others and I feel so fortunate to have her in my life. She deserves an essay in this newsletter, but seeing as she usually proof reads these before I post them (ain’t no Chat GPT happenin’ in this Window Inn) and knowing her work ethic I suspect she’d tell me to cut to the chase and mention my upcoming shows.

With that in mind - cue a scene from Bullitt- and I’ll remind you all that I’ve still got some good gigs ahead of me in case you can make one. Solo gigs include Perth this Saturday, Lake Country and Penticton later next week, then back east for Iona, Riverview & Baddeck, then back to Ontario for Port Carling, Peterborough and Bath.

For those who dig the Emergency band gigs - we’ve had a few stellar ones already this summer in Burlington, PEI and Miramichi and our last two of the summer are in Windsor on August 2nd and Bath on August 17th at MacKinnon Brothers brewing.

Love to see you at a show - all the details are here.

Here’s a photo I snapped from the stage at the Burlington gig as we were being announced. I can spot Andrea, Leah, Andrew & Louise who traveled from Minnesota, Michigan and Glasgow for the shows that week. Where’s Waldo?

On June 20th I had a blast opening for City and Colour at The Budweiser Stage. Big thanks to Dallas and his manager, Joel, for inviting me along to part a part in their sold out show. It was a beautiful night. Here’s a photo I took of the giant screen during soundcheck- my stalwart road manager/soundman, Steve “Snickers” Smith testing the piano like he’s Billy Joel and my old pal, Peter Elkas, at centre stage who joined me on the Ontario acoustic shows that week. Big thanks to them both. Was quite a night when all those seats filled up.

As I’ve mentioned before, my recent Character Witness documentary (which you can watch on CBC Gem or here on Youtube) has some nods to Marshall McLuhan’s work thanks to the course I’ve been taking from his grandson, , on Understanding Media, Marshall’s crystal ball of a book on media ecology and technology from 1964.

In late June I was able to visit with at The McLuhan Institute outside Picton. What an inspiring place with an deep collection of books and archival memorabilia from three generations of McLuhan studies. That’s Andrew tucked in at the desk behind the bookshelf.

Andrew kindly passed along a crisp copy of The Sensus, Communis, Synestheisa and the Soul written by his late father, Eric McLuhan. Here’s a good quote from new introduction written by :

“At a time when our attention is scattered by screens and our senses scrambled by the cacophony of media, Eric McLuhan dares us to rediscover a deeper harmony of perception- a harmony that unites the body, intellect and spirit.”

Yes please.

Not so coincidentally, the book is also available at Friction Books (10% off with a Window Inn subscription - cue the jingle for 45 Portland Street).

Andrew and his family came to my show at the old air base where I sang my assignment for Chapter II and Andrew’s son, Virgil, drew me a cool card (Joal is the new Joel).

I borrowed Andrew’s scissors to cut some film to load in the old Leica and captured this photo of Andrew a few minutes later. His truck is more in focus than he is but the last couple months have been a bit of a blur so that’s the gas pedal and them’s the brakes.

Heading to Ottawa today to make my way to Perth for tomorrow’s Stewart Park gig. Swing by if you’re in that neck of the woods!

Thanks all. More soon,

JP

PS: Below the paywall for the paid subscribers is an old video file I found on a hard drive of the show that Dad and I played for the Berkeley Sessions in Toronto in 2010. Younger men - and I don’t need the suspenders anymore to hold my pants up. Time Flies.

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Hi Folks,

Last Wednesday the CBC posted Character Witness on Youtube, a 22 minute music doc/art piece featuring music from One Real Reveal, performances from the fall tour and studio interviews. You can read the short piece I wrote about it for the CBC here.

It will be out on CBC Gem this Friday, April 11 and broadcast on CBC Atlantic on April 18 (my 50th!) at 14:40 in the Maritimes and Newfoundland.

This project was a lot of work and a real group effort.

My sincere thanks to:

Mike Hall for going the distance with his great camera, lighting and editing work. Mike’s been such an amazing guy to collaborate with over the last few years on video projects for the Window Inn and more. I’ll write more about our work together in a future post.

Eric Stephen Martin for the ace lighting, second camera and photography work.

Sarah Swire for her performance direction, great interviewing and general cinematic suss.

Bill Stevenson for his musical wisdom and masterful keyboard playing - both live at the Sanctuary with me and on the record.

Nicole Cecile Holland for running the cameras with Mike at the Sanctuary shows.

Pat Martin for recording the Sanctuary shows.

Josh Seguin for the camcorder footage from my Montreal show.

Thomas Stajcer and Alex Burris at Fang for the studio recording, live show mixing and final sound editing (which is a highly detailed job that requires a lot of focus).

Erin Costelo for the insightful feedback along the way and to her CBC colleagues, Natalie Dobbin and Victoria King, for their part in helping make this happen.

We captured some great footage for Character Witness in my old home town of Lunenburg on a cold, snowy night in February under the full moon. Above is a photograph I snapped that afternoon with cold hands on my old Leica Rangemaster of Mike, Sarah and Eric in front of my elementary school, The Lunenburg Academy. That building, the graveyard that surrounds it, and the overgrown path up Gallows Hill are all time traveling portals to 1984, which happens to be the same year I won a copy of Van Halen’s 1984 by being the first person to call into CKBW in Bridgewater to name the first three singles - “Jump”, “I’ll Wait” and “Panama”, which came on the radio yesterday while I was buying horseradish in the grocery store and I drew some attention to myself air drumming on jars of mustard and mayonnaise. How’s that for a run on sentence?

Joel

PS: a few more dates for June and July have been announced. The Emergency at Burlington Sound of Music Fest on June 15th, solo in Gravenhurst on June 18th, and a second Penticton at the Dream Cafe on July 27th.

I’ve been much, much slower than I should be on the Window Inn newsletter front. The fall tour was great fun but after all that singing and rattling on I was pretty tired of my own voice and I admit to feeling a bit of writers block the last while. I started several newsletter posts over the last couple months and, for one reason or another, abandoned them all. Case in point, this one here has been a draft for a week undergoing several versions only to land where I’m landing now.

With all this tardiness in mind, I just discovered I can pause the subscription charges for paid subscribers in Substack. So I’ve done this for the next couple months as I ponder how I’d like to move forward. Your support is very much appreciated but I want to make sure I can hold up my end of the bargain. I’ll let you know you know if and when subscription charges begin again.

There’s another feeling that’s kept me from writing recently - the sense that the value of the written word is being obscured by the sheer amount of it everywhere. It’s not unlike the flood of music on streaming services. The sheer volume of everything on tap is giving me pause for thought as to how much I want to contribute as I don’t want to feel like I’m “delivering content”. I also have this unsettling feeling that AI is starting to pad out some of the long form writing I’m encountering online on Substack and elsewhere.

I suspect most of you are subscribing here for my music rather than this ramblin’ prose writing and perhaps its very apparent Chat GPT or an equivalent isn’t involved. No doubt some AI could hammer this newsletter into some proper efficient form - but could any large language model adequately convey how the recent facemeltingly rockin’ documentary, Becoming Led Zeppelin, made me feel 13 again?

My son took this photo a while back. A product of AI or human beings with a subtle sense of humour who save their best work for their clients?

In February I started to get back in a musical groove - wrapping the “One Real Reveal on Wheels” tour with a couple gigs in Ontario and a showcase at the Folk Alliance conference in Montreal.

I also got to work on a 22 minute video piece called Character Witness. It features music from One Real Reveal, interview footage we filmed in the studio as well as some live performance filmed on the tour. Mike Hall put the finishing touches on it this past week and it will be out on CBC Gem on April 2nd. Here’s the “cover” shot for the video taken during the shoot by Eric Stephen Martin. We took some hot and cool lighting inspiration from the documentary “This Is Marshall McLuhan - The Medium is the Massage”from 1967. I’ll be curious to hear what folks make of it once it’s released.

Some solo and band dates are starting to roll out for June through August. Solo in Guelph on June 16/17 (with Peter Elkas opening) and Penticton July 26th and then with The Emergency in Miramichi (with July Talk) on July 4th and Windsor, Nova Scotia on August 2nd. You can keep an eye for more to follow here. Looking forward to them all.

World’s a wild, weird place right now. Perhaps it’s always been but I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of technology in our perceptions as it seems the smartphones and the algorithms are well upstream from much of the conversations as we swim in opinion and information overload. The medium is a mess these days. I’ve been attending ’s weekly online reading class on part two of his grandfather, Marshall McLuhan’s, crystal ball of a book, Understanding Media. With the chest beating politics of the world ramping up daily and the tides of emotion pushing up and over the sandbags and borders, I’ve found it helpful to remind myself of McLuhan’s salient observation that “the ‘content’ of a medium is like the juicy piece of meat carried by the burglar to distract the watchdog of the mind.” Information is addictive. Along with McLuhan’s writing I’ve been enjoying other writers also looking these challenges- , and are a few who come to mind.

At the end of the day, I still find much solace in music where the moving truths can reveal themselves implicitly and I can find some room for my own thoughts. Peace Piece by Bill Evans is my go to calm down tune and, more recently, The Day the Mississippi Died by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings lands some great lyrics for the times we are living in and a glorious falsetto yodel in the chorus that lifts the spirits along with it.

Lastly, the stage is where I live less in my head and more in my heart, hands and feet. Below is a raucous and roomy live bootleg recording of the Emergency (myself, Dave Marsh and Chris Pennell) performing at the Danforth Music Hall, December 21, 2018. I haven't listened to it all, as I’m not one listen back much but I recall it being a pretty epic night pushing two hours. On quick perusal, it seems I was counting tunes in pretty quickly which is a good sign adrenaline was high and we were having a blast. Erin Costelo (who opened the show) joined us as the night went on along with Clive MacNutt on guitar and Leith Fleming Smith on keys. The crowd singing along at the top of their lungs hits most of the notes I don’t. Were any of you there? The set list can be seen here.

Big thanks to Adam Rodeniser who brought it to me this fall on a memory card (along with a number of other JP, JPE and Thrush Hermit shows he’s bootlegged over the years). Here’s the “cover” he made for it as well as a photo someone sent me from the back of the room that night. Fond memories.

Til next time,

Joel

Summer Rock was a one or two week summer camp in Halifax where young musicians would form bands and learn two or three songs to perform at a final concert. Our band played ‘Love Her All I Can’ by Kiss and a Sly and the Family Stone tune -I can't recall which  - hence our clever band name mash up, Kiss the Family Stone. Haven't kept up with Ben, Mack or Dan but Phil Zwicker (who ripped the SHREDDING guitar solo) and I have been friends since we were five and walked to grade primary together at the Lunenburg Academy. Rock lives.

JP

I did some archive digging with Thomas in the old hard drives the other day and found some recordings from the Three tour back in 2009. At some point I’ll find time to the mix a shows worth of tunes from the tour but in the brief time available we mixed this rocking performance of ‘Run, Run, Run’ from the Rebecca Cohn in 2009. This was the end of the first set and listening to it now really brings back memories of a great night. Dave Marsh on drums, Chris Pennell on bass, Ana Egge and Rose Cousins singing, Peter Elkas on guitar and Dale Murray on pedal steel.

Were any of you there?

Hope the holiday slows everything down for a spell and you all have a very Merry Christmas. 

xo JP

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I hope to do a proper …

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Nothing too fancy, but here is an iPhone video shot from in front of the soundboard of three of my favorite songs : Snowed In, Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’ and Face of the Earth. Rebecca’s great drawings from the artwork were projected in the background.

Good fun- hope ya dig!

Joel

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Home from tour and getting back in the hometown swing. It was a really fun and uplifting tour. Thanks to all of you who came out to the shows, danced and sang along.

I forward to seeing what the fall and winter brings. We have a few shows with the Arkells in November but in the meantime I’m going to do some songwriting and plan some more Window Inn sessions for the coming months. I had the thought it might be fun to make a few videos where I could feature some of my favourite guitars, tell you about where and why I got the them and play a song on it. I love unusual old instruments that have a really distinct sound, like the old Regal Serenador guitar that Absentminded Melody was recorded on. If a little series like this might interest any of you let me know as I’m not sure how many folks here are guitar nerds like me.

I’m also planning an hour long livestream Q & A for subscribers some weekday evening in the next month. I’d be happy to talk songwriting, production and music with any of you who’d like to tune in and I‘ll have my guitar handy so I can sing a song or two if the occasion calls for it. Stay tuned for the date and details.

In the meantime I’m going to post a couple of the other soundcheck requests that I was too busy to post in the homestretch of the tour. Here’s Happen Now in London.

Lastly, I’ve noticed some new subscribers over the last few weeks - thanks again to all of you for the support over here. The response to the Window Inn Sessions you helped make happen have been great. I loved listening nightly on this tour to Mo sing their version of True Patriot Love and playing drums while Dave sang What I Like About Charles from the piano.

Always love hearing what connects and I look forward to bringing some more music to you over the coming months.

Joel

As requested by Luke and Andrea in the thread of my last post- here’s a reverberant, scrappy iPhone recording Mo shot of us soundcheckin Radio Fly at the Starlite in Edmonton on Thursday. First time we’d played the song in years (…

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Couple of YouTube vids here from The Carleton shows and below the paywall a raucous version of ‘It’s Still Rock & Roll to Me’ with a dancing crowd from the Dakota Tavern in Toronto and a couple reheasals for Fang: ‘I Don’t Want to Be Alone Anymore’ & ‘Close to the Borderline’ with some triplet rolls towards the end I’m quite proud. Headset mic in full effect.

- JP

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