One last public Toronto appearance!

I thought I was all done for Toronto appearances before moving out home to the east coast, but my dear friend, Maria Kasstan has invited me to stop by and play a few songs at her show this Thursday, December 16th at the Free Times Cafe (where she herself is filling in for Derek Patalia). I should be there around 10ish, I think, after an earlier, private appearance at a YWCA event. I encourage you to go to the Free Times early and stay for the whole night. Maria is amazing - a phenomenal songwriter, singer who is a powerful inspiration to me. Her songs will knock your socks off. Hope to see you there!

November Gigs

Hi Folks, I've got a bunch of gigs in the next couple of weeks. If you're in Toronto or Oakville, I'd love to see you at one or more of these. And wherever you all, hope you can catch me on the radio on November 22, 2010, or streaming from CIUT's website live and for the following week.

November 17, 2010, 7:30 pm
Flowetic Wednesdays
Ellington's
805 St. Clair Ave. West, Toronto
Poetry workshop at 7pm, performance at 7:30, reggae jam follows
Also featuring Jillian Christmas

November 18, 2010, 9pm
Acoustic Thursdays at The Bean
388 College St., 2 blocks east of Bathurst, Toronto
Open stage from 8-9
Also featuring Signe Miranda and Din (singer of The Soles)

November 22, 2010, 7pm
Acoustic Workshop on CIUT 89.5 FM
Interview and live performance
Listen on the radio in Toronto or online here.
(Shows are available for one week following the initial broadcast)

November 24, 2010, 8:30pm
Julie Cutler's Women in Song
The Moonshine Cafe
137 Kerrville Street, Oakville
Also featuring Jen Lane and Julie Cutler.
This is Julie's final edition of Women in Song, a fantastic series that she has been running for 5 years. Please come out to help celebrate Julie: her hard work and vision - and her fabulous songs!

Toronto Women's Bookstore - Three Day Cabaret (and cds for sale)

I'm delighted to announce that the Toronto Women's Bookstore at 73 Harbord Street is selling my new cd, The Day the Money Run Out.

And, I'm going to perform a short set at the TWB on Thursday, October 28 as part of their 3-day Cabaret in celebration of their grand re-opening.

Here's the line-up of performers (starting at 7pm and running to about 10pm). Hope you can stop by:

Anne Perdue - reading from her newly released book "I'm a Registered Nurse Not a Whore"
Dinah Thorpe
Alex Hickey
Alexandra Nunez, Shameema & Tony
Edgardo Moreno & Valeria
Gord Zubrecki Band

I'm looking forward to this celebration of the revitalization of a great Toronto institution. In addition to Thursday's musical extravaganza, there will be readings on Wednesday, October 27 and a dance party on Friday, October 29. More information available through the TWB's Facebook group.

The Day the Money Run Out - now available to download

It's October 19, 2010, the official release date for The Day the Money Run Out, and iTunes impressed the heck out of me by having the new cd available right after midnight. I thought they would be lagging a little behind CDbaby, but actually, it's the other way around. Thanks, iTunes!

You can link directly to my CDs in the iTunes store here:
www.itunes.com/alexhickey (please be aware that clicking this link will launch the iTunes application)

Happy listening!

Save a Penny!

I'm very excited to announce that The Day the Money Run Out is available for sale at Soundscapes (572 College Street) and at the Roncy location of She Said Boom (393 Roncesvalles Ave.)

If you are in Toronto and craving a copy before the launch party on Thursday, or if you aren't able to make it to the launch, please stop by and pick up a copy at one of these fine independent music retailers.

In the interest of optimum convenience, Soundscapes is open later hours that I am (though I'm generally awake long before they open, so if you ever need to get a copy of the cd before breakfast, get in touch). She Said Boom is a little further west that I am – just across the street from the awesome Revue Cinema. And shopping locally on Roncy is a great help to the businesses there during their massive street construction ordeal.

The CD sells for $14.99 at either store. I don't tend to carry that many pennies around with me, so if you buy your copy at the launch (or over breakfast sometime) it'll be an even $15.

The Day the Money Run Out Release Info

Please join in the upcoming celebrations for the release of my new cd, The Day the Money Run Out (virtually, or in person)

Digital release: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 via CDBaby
(Both physical cds and digital downloads will be available via CDBaby. The digital downloads will also roll out to iTunes—eventually. Physical CDs are also available from me directly, in person or via e-mail)

CD release party: Thursday, October 21, 2010 at Bread & Circus
299 Augusta Avenue (Kensington Market)
Toronto
Doors at 9, Show at 10, $5 cover

Album Notes - The Day The Money Run Out

Now that the artwork and the master for The Day The Money Run Out have been handed over to the manufacturers, I am taking a few moments to reflect on the genesis of the project before plunging into the nitty-gritty of putting together the launch: the party, the media push and all that jazz. Basically, I'm procrastinating, because none of that organizing work is going to be anywhere near as much fun for me as the process of creating the cd. At least not until we get to the launch party – that'll be a hoot, but with a date sometime in late October, there's still a ways to go before we get there.

In the meantime, I'm thinking about how this cd came into being. Because I've been writing for many years but only recording for the past couple, I have almost 4 albums of songs (with more added every month) waiting their turn to be recorded and released. So, the question is: what made me choose to record and release these songs at this time?

The Day the Money Run Out is basically an album about work: the good and bad sides of working – and not working. There are songs about corporate zombies and homelessness, success and getting stepped on. I wrote some of these songs years ago, and others (including the title track), since the current economic downturn began in 2008.

I think the bolt of lightening hit me in March 2009, when I saw Jon Stewart interview Bruce Springsteen on The Daily Show and The Boss said, "We've had an enormous moral, spiritual, economic collapse, and people go to storytellers when times are like that." That statement hit me hard and pointed me in the direction of creating The Day The Money Run Out.

Sometimes, there's an invisibility to hard times. A few months after his interview with Springsteen, I heard Jon Stewart question why people don't write songs about things like the economic collapse (I'm paraphrasing here because I can't find the exact episode – but can you tell that I watch The Daily Show compulsively?) I remember thinking, "Well, actually, lots of people write those songs, but they just tend not to be folks with major label deals who get played a lot on the radio. For songs about hard times, you have to look to independent musicians, people who are experiencing hard times, or who have experienced them recently enough to remember what they feel like. (One song that immediately leaps to my mind is "Woebetide the Doer of the Deed" by Old Man Luedecke, a no-holds-barred response to the actions that led to the current economic situation, released on his amazing album, My Hands are on Fire and Other Love Songs in the spring of 2010.)

Since I feel deeply connected with my own struggles around work, financial survival and urban living, when The Boss's lightening bolt hit me, I leapt at the opportunity to create an album that focuses on these topics. I hope The Day the Money Run Out will provoke new insights into the economic and cultural situation we find ourselves in. And I figure a little toe-tapping, a few laughs and couple of lullabies can't hurt matters, either. Maybe Human Resources Blues will help take the sting out of being downsized for you or someone you love. Maybe John Doe will inspire you to lend a hand to a fellow-traveler along the way. Maybe Rest With Me Tonight will lull you to sleep after a difficult and anxious day. I certainly hope so.

Track Listing:
one: buy more buddhas
two: elevator blues
three: the day the money run out
four: daytime lullaby
five: mercury lights
six: don river valley scene
seven: human resources blues
eight: salthill road
nine: john doe
ten: little girl
eleven: never too late
twelve: rest with me tonight

P.S. This blog post was written and posted in Dufferin Grove Park courtesy of Wireless Toronto. Thanks for the free wi-fi, folks!

Song Notes

I'm in the last stages of preparing my second cd, The Day the Money Run Out, for manufacture. The tracks went off to be mastered this morning—they sound amazing. And I'm in my studio at home, finalizing the album art, which looks pretty great, if I do say so myself.

Once again, I'm facing the disappointment of not being able to include notes about the songs in the cd booklet. (If only I could justify pressing vinyl, there'd be room for a whole libretto!) As it is, the lyrics take up pretty much all of the available space. So, I've decided to create a set of blog posts with notes for each of the songs on the new cd. I'll be posting them over the coming weeks, in advance of the cd release this October.

I'll tag them as "Song Notes", so they'll be easy to find. If I get carried away, I might post notes for the songs on Love Bites, and maybe even some unreleased songs, too. I hope you'll enjoy the posts—and the songs.

August 1st Benefit Show - Free the Hikers

There are a million good causes out there. A billion, maybe. Maybe 6 billion. The way our system is set up with a hierarchical power structure and all, a lot of us are struggling to get by these days. But some of us are in much more difficult situations than others.

The sheer number of causes can be overwhelming. A lot of the time, I fall prey to compassion-fatigue. I look from cause to cause to cause to cause to cause and do nothing. So, I rely heavily on my friends to shake me gently into action by telling me about issues and showing me ways that I can help.

That's what happened with the benefit show I'm playing this Sunday, August 1, 2010. A good friend invited me to perform to help Free the Hikers - an effort to liberate three travelers: Shane, Sarah and Josh, who have been detained for the past year in Iran, without charge or trial, after they were arrested while hiking near the Iranian border. I would never have even heard of their situation, if it weren't for my friend, and maybe you wouldn't have heard about them if it weren't for this blog post.

Please, come to the show if you can and/or visit the Free the Hikers web site, where you can click on the Take Action tab to learn how you can help advocate for Shane, Sarah and Josh's safe return.

Many thanks!

P.S. While you're taking a moment to help Shane, Sarah and Josh, you might also want to sign up with Avaaz, an organization that will give you information about other causes and ways to help. From putting an end to the practice of stoning in Iran to lobbying against offshore drilling, Avaaz gathers together caring people to advocate for a more just, humane and ecologically-sound world.

Creative Marathon Report - Summer Solstice 2010

So, I pronounced the creative marathon officially over around 7:30 pm today after a solid 13+ hours. The goal was to create 20 pieces of original work in one day. Did I make it? Read on to find out.

Here's a run-down of what my day looked like:

I woke up around 5:30 (I haven't been sleeping well lately and having a bad head cold did not help). Ate breakfast and checked the online world to make sure everybody was still here.

About 6:15, I got to work and wrote my first song, on a topic suggested by a conversation with Cynthia Gunsinger at Jamie Ridler's Groove-Back Dance Party last Sunday night. I like to gather ideas before a marathon, though if I'm adhering strictly to the rules, I don't work on them at all in advance, I just write them down and save them up for the day of.

I finished that first song around 7:30 and leapt into the next one, a quickie, which I finished around 8 a.m.

My fingers were sore after that (I haven't been playing guitar frequently enough lately), so I took a break to create a pastel abstract, humming while I drew. That humming sparked words, which sparked a poem/spoken word piece. Pieces #3 and #4 done.

After that, I sat at the computer for a bit and created the artwork for my new album cover (Item #5, though this was kind of cheating because I already had the concept totally worked out beforehand. However, it needed to get done and it was a nice break.)

For Item #6, I wrote another song, but wasn't very happy with it. Discouraged, I decided for Item #7 that I would create a nap - a completely unique and original nap. I lay down, but couldn't get to sleep and instead, wrote another song, an epic murder ballad with 9 verses.

Then, I started writing another song (Item #8), but stopped to make lunch and took another internet break to update on the marathon, check in with the rest of the world and cavill about the G20 disruptions in Toronto.*

Then, I started this blog post, which either counts as Item #9, or as the final item, depending on how I decide to tally everything at the end of the day.

Afterwards, I finished the song I had started earlier (Item #8) and wrote it down. I gave myself a hypothetical gold star for using the word "oligarchies" in it - definitely a first for me.

I was a bit at a loss after that, I must admit. It was about 1:30 and I was getting tired and thought maybe I'd just pack it in. Then I thought about my YA novel. Big confession: I'm a closeted novel-writer. I almost never talk about it. To anybody. ("If you talk about it, you won't write it." Though, to be honest, I've neither talked about it NOR written a word for almost a year. I started writing this book in 2002 - it's okay, you can go ahead and laugh, I understand.) So, anyway, I opened it up and completely reworked the beginning of the book, writing 5 brand new chapters in the remaining 5 hours of the marathon.

So, total tally: 5 songs, 1 album cover, 1 pastel abstract, 1 poem, 1 blog post and 5 chapters of a YA novel. Total pieces of original work: 14, but the writing was pretty significant and I feel like it brings the total to the equivalent of 20 items, or maybe more, even with the deduction of the album cover, that wasn't conceptualized during the marathon. In my personal opinion, the album cover, 2 of the songs and the 5 chapters are keepers and the rest is pretty much dreck. Not bad for one long, happy day.**

*I had a lot of fun sharing my creative marathon on Facebook and on Twitter (using the hashtag #creativemarathon). Many thanks go out to my Facebook friends and Twitter comrades for all of their encouragement.
**I wish to note that this was a great way to spend a day with a bad cold. It kept me at home and quiet, without getting bored or down-hearted. Plus, I am now totally exhausted which gives me a better shot at a decent night's sleep tonight. After my rehearsal for Thursday's Pollinator's Cabaret.

Greater than the sum of its parts

I'm busy working out the track order for my upcoming cd, The Day the Money Run Out. I am finding it a fascinating process. We've recorded 14 songs, so how many possibilities does that add up to? Anyone want to do the math for me? (If I remember anything from Grade 10, I believe that might involve exponents).

Some choices are so easy: the first and last songs are no brainers (Buy More Buddhas and Never Too Late, respectively), and for some unknown reason, it seems dead obvious to me - like a law of nature - that the title track should either be Track 3 or Track 4. Why? I have no idea, except that my favourite song on an album is so often the third or fourth, that it can't be a coincidence. As for the rest of it, it's all trial and error, moving things around, listening, rearranging, trying to create the right flow of tempo, theme, key.

How do you approach these kinds of tasks? Not necessarily in terms of an album: what about set lists or scenes in a story or play, arranging quilt squares or photos in an album or pieces of art for a gallery show (or on your walls at home)? What are the rules you're guided by, the beliefs, the prejudices? I'm curious to learn more about how ordering contributes to the impact of creative work, how a greater whole is created out of different elements.

Creative Marathoning

I know a lot of long distance runners, which is a pretty weird thing since I am a sprinter (in the sense of being willing to run short distances to catch a bus). I guess I got jealous of all of the training and the runner's high my friends described, and thought, there must be some way I can get the same effects doing something I love.

So, I started doing creative marathons. Marathon is really a misnomer here, because the event is more like a Creative IronMan. It requires stamina as well as inspiration, since it is a 12-hour event in which participants devote an entire day to creating in any way they choose. The goal is to create 20 original pieces of work in one day, in one or more creative disciplines – it might be 20 songs or 20 paintings, 20 quilt squares, 20 poems, 20 photographs, or 20 of anything! It’s amazing what great songs and art can be created in these sessions, and no surprise that some truly awful songs and art also get produced. And that’s all part of the fun.

And, it's also part of the point. Often, we are held back from creating by the voices in our head that say, "This is no good. It's not working. I can't do this." During a creative marathon, those voices usually get exhausted and give up, freeing each participant to create work without editing themselves. This is usually accompanied by giddiness, euphoria and an 'anything goes' attitude: the creative's high.

At the end of the marathon, participants can organize an optional potluck dinner party and show some of their work: I encourage people to share the work they like the best and the piece they think is the worst and/or funniest. In a context that makes creating feel like play again, we open ourselves up to our creativity and delight in our own and each other's abilities and talents.

I try to plan the marathons to take place near an equinox or solstice, but they are notoriously rescheduled. I welcome people to contact me to join in on the next one, which will take place on June 19, 2010 - or organize their own. The idea for these marathons was inspired by the book, “The Frustrated Songwriter’s Handbook” written by a Nicholas Dobson and Karl Koryat, a couple of members of the Immersion Composition Society. Visit their web site and/or buy their book; you'll find lots of great ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Why I love Twitter

Another month has rushed by and I find myself at the last minute again, wanting to write at least one post before the month is over.

The easiest topic to write about tonight is something I've been thinking about a lot lately: just how much I love Twitter.

The fact that I love Twitter actually baffles me. When I first started tweeting, I didn't get it at all. It seemed boring and pointless. Blah, blah, blah: just one more social network-y thing to have to pay attention to.

Then, I had an epiphany - I realized that Twitter would deliver information to me. Weird, random, funny, useful, useless, interesting information. Whenever I chose to look at Twitter, it would invite me to run madly off in all directions, following links about things I'm interested in and things I didn't even know I was interested in.

My friends who know that I love to tweet, sometimes ask me, "Will Twitter help me extend my brand?" "Will it help me enrol more students in my classes?" "Will it help me sell more records?"

The simple truth is, I have no idea if Twitter can do any of those things. I do know that it helps me feel more fertile as a songwriter: my tweeps tell me things I would otherwise never know and expose me to diverse and fascinating ideas and viewpoints. And, they inspire me. My twitterverse is populated with creative, energetic people who are deeply committed to their beliefs, their passions, and to our world.

It's a pleasure to spend time with all of you. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and insights, disappointments and triumphs, your beautiful humanness, 140 characters at a time.

Songwriting and blogwriting: Sometimes even writing once a month can be difficult

Gee, it's almost the end of February and I haven't once found time to blog. Fortunately, I have a perfect topic for this evening - the process of trying to write.

I was honoured to be invited to facilitate a songwriting workshop this past weekend. It was a fun one, intended to demystify the process a little and open up some space for the participants to write a song from wherever they were at. We had about 2 hours to work together, and in that time, a number of the participants created some lyrics or a tune, or part or all of a song.

I think it would be fair to say that some of the participants found the prospect of trying to write a song a little daunting. There is a sense that music-making is reserved for a 'special' subset of the population, not something that can be enjoyed by anyone.

Even those of us who write songs a lot experience times when the well is dry. The important thing, it seems to me, is to keep showing up, heart in hand, to see what is waiting inside us and outside us.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write a song today. No pressure. But go for it.

Zen and the Art of Hosting a House Concert

I love house concerts and they're definitely trendy these days. I get a lot of questions about them from friends and fans. What are they? How do they work? Are they fun? Could I host one?

With a major house concert performance coming up in just a couple of weeks, there's no better time to write about what house concerts are and how they work.

So, what is a house concert?
Simply put, a house concert is a performance that takes place in someone's home. House concerts are usually cozy affairs, unamplified, with lots of opportunity to chat with the musician(s), before, after and even during their sets. I often perform songs at house concerts that I would never pull out in a public venue - songs that are too intimate to share with the rowdy regulars heckling from the bar.

There are many benefits to house concerts - they are family-friendly (no need for a babysitter), recession proof (BYOB) and if you're the host, or a close neighbour, you won't have to go far to get home once the show is over.

Great House Concert Experiences
I played some fabulous house concerts last year, often as one of two singer/songwriters, swapping songs back and forth. Here are just a few of my magical house concert memories of 2009.

At a show just outside Halifax, with Dolores Dagenais, Dol wowed us all when she demonstrated her prolific songwriting abilities: she wrote an entire song during the intermission (the song was about Hurricane Bill which was forecast to strike Nova Scotia later that evening).

At a matinee in Newcombville this summer, Susan Crowe and I shared our ideas about songwriting (illustrating our points with our songs) to an audience of writers, and raised over $1,000 for the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia.

Outside of Peterborough this fall, I debuted my first ever spoken word piece to a lovely audience, while sharing the stage with Tanya Philipovich. On the drive there and back, Tanya and I brainstormed a bunch of ideas about how to improve our lives as musicians. I came away from that evening a whole lot wiser, as well as richer.

And last, but not least, my penultimate show of 2009 was a Christmas party at the home of a friend and fan; I performed two sets and then a number of us sang together into the wee small hours of the morning. Here's the feedback from that show (reproduced with permission): "My friends are all still raving about you!!!! In fact a couple of them said that unlike most musicians you sounded better live than on CD. And they should know as they listen to your CD every time they come over :)."

What is required to host a house concert?
All you really need to host is a love of music and space to put a enough people to pay the musician for their time and talent. Different musicians will be looking to make different amounts. Maybe you can fit 10-12 people and charge 20-25 dollars a head, or 20 people at 15-20 dollars a head, or 30 people at 12-20 dollars a head. Some hosts arrange for a portion of the door to cover refreshments, or to donate to charity; in other instances, all of the proceeds go to the artist(s).

Upcoming house concert!
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I have a big house concert coming up in a couple of weeks, on Saturday, January 23, 2010. I'm very excited about it. It is being hosted in Toronto's High Park neighbourhood by Sarah Hopen, the principal of STAR Company. She is running a series of house concerts from January to June 2010, with a broad spectrum of brilliant musicians and writers, so you'll want to get on her mailing list.

More information is available on the Starry Nights Facebook page.

Tickets for my Starry Nights performance ($12/person) are now available through Eventbrite.

One of the easiest ways to decide if you would like to host a house concert is to attend one.

(For more information about hosting house concerts, here are a couple of good online resources: Concerts in Your Home and Acoustic Roof.)