8 June 2009 -

Last Night Of The World

I’m sipping Flor De Cana and lime juice, it’s three a.m.

Maybe on the east coast. But in L.A., it’s just shy of midnight.

I should be winding down, loading up my car and driving to Felice’s house for some shut-eye. But I’m all revved up, buzzed, even though writing’s ultimately gonna keep me up all night, I have to.

I know these people who live in the West Valley. So far out, it’s got a different area code. Could even be a different time zone for all I know. They may not lunch at the Palm, you might not see their names in "Hits", but they’re in the music business. They’ve all got jobs, but their work is secondary to their avocation, putting on house concerts. And one of these music lovers decided to go big time, to put on her own acoustic music festival on the Santa Monica Pier.

On one hand, it was a mistake. This is a professional business. You can’t compete with those who’ve dedicated 10,000 hours. They know how to rip you off, scam you in a way you can’t foresee. But Renee Bodie wanted to put on a festival that no one else would, and therefore she had to do it herself.

I was stunned that the sound was so good. It’s so hard to get it right outside.

Richard Thompson reminded me of the days when an executive like Hale Milgrim would sign an act like him to a major label. Natalie MacMaster was a real surprise. I went from not caring to running right down front, needing to be closer to her magic.

But I was absolutely stunned by Bruce Cockburn.

I was talking to Russ & Julie, Renee’s West Valley counterparts, when I heard the P.A. system go live. I walked out to hear Renee give her thank yous. And then Bruce took the stage.

I bought my first Bruce Cockburn album back in the seventies, at Grammy N’ Granny, my favorite record store in Westwood. Back when the record emporium was my shul, when I made a weekly pilgrimage every Friday afternoon. I’d say I was their best customer, but Ken Russell used to come and buy an armful of soundtracks at a time.

Then Donnie Ienner gave Bruce a big time chance twenty years back. But even though those Columbia albums are stellar, they didn’t break through. Bruce Cockburn works the margins. He’s not an acquired taste, he’s just a prisoner of the cognoscenti. If you know…

I thought I knew. But I HAD NO IDEA!

Bruce walked on stage wearing a thigh-length jacket that would keep the sand from your insides in the Sahara. I wasn’t sure if it was a look, or whether, like the rest of us in attendance, he was fighting the unseasonable cold.

He picks up a green guitar, yes green, and starts playing in a unique way. How he’s picking the notes, I can’t exactly tell. He’s got both a lead and a bass line happening simultaneously. It’s riveting. I’m immediately transported to that place only music can take you. One where the rest of the world doesn’t matter.

I’m slapping my thighs, caught up in the groove.

And then Bruce plays "Last Night Of The World".

I’ve got three versions on my computer, NONE of them are as good, as great, as the one I heard tonight!

The radio’s playing Superchunk and the Friends of Dean Martinez

Old acts are supposed to be old farts. I don’t know how many people in attendance knew who these two referenced acts were. But when Bruce sang this line, I swooned. You see "Last Night Of The World" is one of my personal favorites. It’s the song I play when things are imperfect, when I see the challenges, but have enough oomph, enough chutzpah, to carry on.

Midnight it was bike tires whacking the pot holes
Milling humans’ shivering energy glow
Fusing the space between them with bar-throb bass and laughter

Today a show is spectacle. Handlers say the MTV generation demands it, that music is not enough. But they’re wrong. One man with one guitar can move the world. Those in attendance tonight remember. With their graying hair and lumpy bodies, they had to come out for that hit, that only music can give. Bruce is thwacking the guitar strings, punctuating the licks with lyrics. It’s a concoction only an alchemist can create. Where before there was silence, now we were experiencing something exquisite, far more valuable than anything Tiffany can craft.

If this were the last night of the world
What would I do
What would I do that was different
Unless it was champagne with you?

What would you do if it truly was the last night of the world? Log on to you bank account and see how much money you have? Go sit in your automobile? Luxuriate in your mini-mansion? That would be sad. If it’s truly the last night of the world, possessions, accoutrements no longer matter, we’re all equal. It’s time to go out in the streets amongst the people and communicate, and party.

If it’s the last night of the world, I want to be at the gig. A Bruce Cockburn show would be perfect. Because it would make me feel fully alive before I die.

I’ve seen the flame of hope among the hopeless
And that was truly the biggest heartbreak of all
That was the straw that broke me open

I awoke to a tweet asking me if "the state of music has ever been THIS bad?" I responded that tech drives the world today. And that’s truly heartbreaking to those of us who remember when it was the opposite, when you had to listen to the radio, to records, to know what was really going on.

Tonight I had hope. And I’d been hopeless. There were no paparazzi, no TV cameras. I thought I was at the Santa Monica Pier for an evening of entertainment. But that’s not what I got. What I experienced was the ESSENCE OF LIFE ITSELF!

You play these records at home. Over and over again. You go to the show and the performances don’t quite capture the magic, they’re perfunctory. Without the studio wizardry, they just don’t measure up. BUT NOT TONIGHT! My favorite song came early in the set, before I expected it. I could barely contain myself. I was singing along so loud I was afraid of irritating my neighbors, I was bouncing in my seat like I was spastic. That’s what music does, it takes over your body, you’re no longer in control, YOU’RE POSSESSED!

I’m looking up at the sky. With those clouds off in the distance, and the full moon illuminating the surrounding the landscape. On one hand, I’m so far from home. Where I grew up, the ocean was on the other side. Where you went to college, who your parents were, they were all that mattered. Rejecting that, I got in my car and drove to the land of the Beach Boys, where all could be accepted, where a bit of fun with your work was not taboo. L.A.’s where you come to reinvent yourself, where you come to take chances. Renee Bodie took a chance and started her own festival. I was the beneficiary. Bruce Cockburn’s performance of "Last Night Of The World" was the best thing I’ve heard all year.

This YouTube performance is good, but nowhere near as great as tonight’s performance. Because playing solo, Bruce Cockburn had to carry the entire tune, he had to be the engine that kept the song moving forward. Tonight, he was a veritable FREIGHT TRAIN!

Thanks to Bob Lefsetz for writing from the heart the feelings Bruce brings to us all.

Related Links

~bobbi wisby

26 May 2009 -

This new independant film will be screening at the Reelheart film festival in Toronto on June 26th. The film has been gaining recognition with film festivals; including winning Best Canadian Feature Film at the Okanagan International Film Festival and The Maverick Award at the Method Fest in Los Angeles.

www.inadangeroustime.com features a title song cover of Bruce's Lovers In A Dangerous Time by JBM.

This romantic ‘Canadiana’ tale centers around two former childhood friends; Todd, a small town could-have-been, and Allison, an overly nostalgic children’s book illustrator, who are reunited at their ten year high school reunion and embark on a childish yet romantic adventure recapturing the life they use to live. The result has them spiraling into delinquent behavior where scorching campfire antics, teenage bush parties and childhood memories only delay their impending return to adulthood. In the end, it’s a story about those that are unwilling to let go of their youth and the means they will take to hold on to it.

~ from www.inadangeroustime.com

25 May 2009 -

A photo book of Bruce at work is on the way by Daniel Keebler.

The book contains more than 110 photographs taken at soundchecks and performances from 1994 to 2008. The last series of photographs were taken at a recording session in Seattle in November 2008. The book contains both color and black and white images.

I (Daniel Keebler) am pleased to say the book will be released with the cooperation of Bruce and his manager, Bernie Finkelstein. The four page biography was fact-checked and amended by Bruce.

The book should be available for purchase in June, contact Daniel Keebler at www.brucecockburn.org.

19 May 2009 -

These fragile bodies of touch and taste
This vibrant skin, this hair like lace
Spirits open to the thrust of grace
Never a breath you can afford to waste

There is a sense of the world split open in the work of Bruce Cockburn, like a ripe fig pulled apart by strong hands, the innards tasted hungrily and savored with closed-eye wonder. Since his self-titled 1970 debut, the Canadian singer-songwriter has extended what Wallace Stevens termed "the palm at the end of the mind." There is an intensity of experience and colorful, wholly engaged beauty that runs from head to tail in his music. His lust for life makes one feel a bit more alive just for being exposed to his bold observations and gorgeous melodies.

A tireless veteran live performer, he's never achieved U.S. recognition on the same level as contemporary Neil Young, but the two share a number of striking similarities: a distinct voice in a field that makes individuality difficult, wicked guitar playing skills, a ribald and rebellious nature and an embrace of most of the finest, enduring traits of human beings. While widely celebrated in his native land, in the States he's only occasionally popped up on the mainstream radar with singles like "If I Had A Rocket Launcher." However, he's developed a devoted core audience in the U.S. and around the world that understands the pervasive oomph of his massive catalog and always-intimate concert appearances.

His newest release, Slice O Life (released March 31 on Rounder Records), is a double disc live collection that's as fine an introduction to Cockburn's work as any assembled. It presents his potent baritone tackling pieces from all across his career as well as signature influences like Willie Johnson's "Soul of a Man," with the lot embellished by entertaining, informative anecdotes that offer off-handed insight into one of the most complex, poetic men in contemporary music. Culled from live performances and soundcheck explorations, Slice O Life provides a winning snapshot of an artist of tremendous stability and unbroken quality.

Few things are simple with Bruce Cockburn. He likes to qualify and broaden his ideas and answers, but in the way the Japanese admire, where complication and clouding in language rarely points to one meaning, one destination. In this way, Cockburn's music is spacious, diverse and capable of mutable forms, drawing readily from blues, jazz, rock and folk to create a flexible, inviting hybrid overlaid with vivid imagery and open feeling.

Given JamBase's own love of variety and intense talent, we are tickled several shades of pink to have scored an hour of Cockburn's time, where we discussed spirituality, playing solo, his influences and much, much more.

JamBase: One of the challenges now after 30-some albums and almost 40 years of professional work is where does one jump in? That's a lot of music, man [laughs].

Bruce Cockburn: It's a challenge for me when somebody says, "Where do I start? What should I listen to?" I don't know [laughs].

JamBase: The new live album provides a pretty good foot in the door. It offers a pretty wide cross-section of what you've done.

Bruce Cockburn: It sorta does go back to the beginning, so I guess it is that [introduction], partly because it's solo and that strain of what I've done over the years, which is how I started.

JamBase: One man, one guitar. There's something very pure about that.

Bruce Cockburn: I don't think I was thinking purity, exactly, at the time [laughs]. There certainly is simplicity, in musical as well as practical terms. It was a choice. I'd come out playing in a bunch of bands in the second half of the '60s and I was tired of noise and tired of bad jamming, and I figured maybe other people were, too, and there might be a place for a guy doing things alone with an acoustic guitar. And I'd been interested in folk music and traditional music for a while, so it wasn't too big a leap.

JamBase: Had you been writing songs already at that point? It seems like you arrived on your debut with a fairly intact vision. There's a sense of personality to even the early records.

Bruce Cockburn: During that band period I was writing songs; originally I was writing songs for all the bands I was in and thinking, to some extent, of those bands when I was writing songs. But after a few years went by I noticed I had this little repertoire of songs within that that really worked better when I played them alone. And they were all the best ones [laughs]. When I came out as myself and not as the guitar player in somebody's band it was with a sense of the songs I wanted to do and an idea of how I wanted to see myself. In some sense, it was an embracing of the sensibilities of the era but also a reaction to the collective thing, which never really sat right for me. I never did very well as a hippie [laughs].

JamBase: There's very little hippie-like about your records in that period.

Bruce Cockburn: I just didn't fit with that. I never really fit with anything, which is partially why I sound like me and not somebody else. It was certainly true then. I felt like I'd learned a lot being in bands. I learned how to be onstage and what worked musically and what didn't, and certainly what I was capable of. There's always room for growth, of course, and you never really know what you're capable of, but I had a pretty good sense of it relative to what I'd been doing. So, it was a natural step.

JamBase: One of the things I'm struck by in your music, and it's there from the beginning, is, I wouldn't say an overt spirituality but an engagement with that type of subject matter. I've never found your work to be preachy but I've also never found it tenuous, which tends to be the case when people take on those types of concepts.

Bruce Cockburn: When we talk about taking on things in terms of songwriting, well, I guess if that's what you do it carries certain conditions and risks perhaps, but I never felt like that's what I've done. I always felt like I just wrote about what's sitting there. So, when it looks like I'm taking on something it's because I've been thinking about that thing and I'm having a reaction to that thing. If it's a political song, a spiritual song or a song about sex it's all the same. This is what I've experienced and how I feel about it, and it's kind of grabbing you by the lapels and saying, "You better listen to this!" I just need to convince somebody they should [laughs].

JamBase: I think terminology matters. I used the phrase 'taking on' but it's clear your work emerges from a more personal space. It's not like you have a cause you're trying to grind out. It's not like you're a cause person anyway, though you have been labeled as such by some over the years.

Bruce Cockburn: Yeah, I've been associated with all sorts of causes, and I don't really mind that generally. If I get labeled as an environmentalist because I care about the survival of the planet for my child and grandchildren to me that's not a cause, it's just, "Come on, let's stay alive! Let's get on with it! This is life!"

JamBase: Yeah, I guess if there's one unifying thing I've picked up on about your music as a long-time listener is it's about life, it's about being engaged with things and sometimes in a very earthy way, which wins you points with me.

Bruce Cockburn: Sometimes it's downright smutty! I think it's just about truth, and not wanting to sound pompous, it's about the human experience, what we are. And we are creatures of the flesh and we have the capacity to comprehend a larger reality than our senses can encompass but we feel is there. At some point in the future scientists may discover what spirituality really is, and if they do it's going to look something like capitalism [laughs]. I think there's going to be all kinds of mysterious strains in there, maybe reducible to numbers, maybe not. To me, that's at the core of everything.

JamBase: There's a tendency to divorce the physical aspects of humanity from the spiritual aspects.

Bruce Cockburn: It's unfortunate. The senses may lie – and do from time to time – but they always connect us to a bigger reality. And by senses I include whatever we consider to be extrasensory, too. I think that's just a word for senses we don't have a proper name for, but the capacity for feeling that bigger reality exists in all of us. In different ways, to different degrees, it gets expression in often radically different languages, and that expression suffers badly from the attempt to detach it from the flesh.

JamBase: When you take those two things away from each other they're both going to suffer.

Bruce Cockburn: There's no question of that, and you're probably going to go out and make someone else suffer, too!

JamBase: So true! When we carry some big wound or detachment in us there's a tendency to cause damage around us.

Bruce Cockburn: We project it out and blame other people for it. We blame Jews or we blame Communists or we blame Muslims or they blame Christians. It's all bullshit! It's all about projection of that interior wound.

JamBase: We're getting pretty lofty [laughs]. In more practical terms, I'm interested in the process of playing solo. How has that developed over the years?

Bruce Cockburn: For one thing, there's the obvious difference that when a band's playing it covers up a lot of what the guitar is doing. Even if we've been careful about keeping space clear for what the guitar is doing there's other stuff for people to notice, or should be; those musicians aren't standing up there to be models, they're playing their instruments and you want people to hear that. But, what happens when you don't have those musicians there is you have a greater focus on what the guitar is doing and how the guitar and voice relate to each other, which is how I write the songs. So, something more essential happens with respect to the song. It's less of a performance, though I hope the performance aspect is adequate and interesting to people. But it's less about that and more about the song itself as a composition.

JamBase: With the guitar work more exposed you have to carry a bit more on yourself but at the same time the original intentions of the piece are more naked. Your guitar work comes out of the blues tradition initially but I've always liked the echoes of the British guys I've long been mad for like Bert Jansch, John Renbourn and John Martyn.

Bruce Cockburn: It's interesting because I never listened to them but other people have said that. I attribute it to the fact that those guys and me all listened to the same things. And we're not coming at it from an American perspective, whatever that means. There is something different. There's no denying the whole vibe of England is much different than America, and different from Canada as well. The fact that I was filtering those influences through my Canadian experience may have been enough like the English thing for there to be similarities. Nick Drake is another guy that comes up a lot with me, and I've never listened to a Nick Drake album all the way through. I've listened to a few songs here and there because people said I should check it out and I didn't like it! It was okay, respectable stuff, but it didn't touch me particularly. The exception [in this area] may be Bert Jansch and his first album before there was Pentangle. Really, the people I was listening to were the old blues guys and, of course, Bob Dylan, and the world of finger-picking that was out there didn't escape my notice.

JamBase: That's interesting. Maybe the way things move in the world is they hit a few different places simultaneously, the lightning hits in a few spots at precisely the same time.

Bruce Cockburn: It's one of the really good reasons to not get a swelled head about all the really cool stuff you're coming up with [laughs]. There's a really good chance somebody out there is doing the same thing.

JamBase: How did this stuff come into your life? How did a young white guy in Canada discover that he really liked black blues music?

Bruce Cockburn: At first it wasn't black blues, it was the early Sun Records era of Elvis [Presley] that made me want to be a musician. I liked the music and wanted to play it before I even got a guitar. And Buddy Holly, too. It was white people playing things that were basically based on black music but where I grew up there weren't any black people! That's what you heard, that's what was on the radio. I loved rock 'n' roll and then when I started taking guitar lessons I was exposed to other stuff, and that wasn't very black either – Les Paul and Chet Atkins – a step removed from the rock thing – and then jazz. Eventually I came around. Towards the end of high school I met some people that played so-called folk music, and I was fascinated. I had never finger-picked before that; I was strictly flat-pick, a little jazzy and a little of that. So, I brought something to my contact with those guys that they didn't have in their background, but here were these guys playing Leadbelly and Brownie McGee songs and finger-picking. Once that door was open, well, you see what happened.

There was a club in Ottawa that I used to go to all the time that I eventually ended up doing dishes and making espressos at, and ended up playing at in time. You weasel your way into the scene. Chances are you don't arrive fully formed. This is a way to enter a scene. You're just a guy who plays guitar and you know a few things, and the way to gain entry to a group that's relatively closed is often social. You don't just crash your way in and say, "You need me because I'm a great guitar player." You do it by being friends with people, and when you're 17 and excited by this stuff you do it by washing dishes and hanging out and just being there.

JamBase: There's a vividness to your lyrics, a sense of scene that's cinematic and full of strong imagery. I wonder if poetry has had a strong impact on what you do. It does seem you draw a bit more from that world than the usual verse-chorus-verse folk singer kind of songwriting.

Bruce Cockburn: It's had a huge influence, and predates the effect of hearing Elvis. I was interested in poetry before I knew I wanted to play music. I remember somewhere in the middle of grade school encountering in English class studying what I think of as dumb rhyming, and it wasn't very interesting to me except for something like "The Highwayman," which had a kind of gothic quality. A lot of stuff we studied was just boring. Then, along comes this poem called "Ars Poetica" by Archibald MacLeish that I memorized, and it was kind of an abstract or surreal poem. That shocked the shit out of me and this world opened up right there. Words! A poem doesn't have to be defined by the strictures of rhyme or the need to tell a story or whatever kind of stuff we'd been taught. Language assumed a whole new significance for me right there.

JamBase: It is a different way of communicating ideas. There's a comfort level with making leaps that sort of poetry has that's closer to songwriting than structured poetry.

Bruce Cockburn: The leaps are what it's all about, really. There's a lot of different things that can be called poetry, and I guess justly so, but you can tell the story in a poetic manner and it doesn't have to be Beowulf or The Iliad. Those have their strengths and power but they too rely on their ability to create visual imagery. They paint word pictures you're invited to dive into – the shiny helmets and whatever it might be – even with Homer, who apparently couldn't see any of this stuff!

I've always loved movies, too. I think movies are as big an influence on what I do as poetry or old blues guys. The first movie I ever saw was a Roy Rogers movie my dad took me to, so it wasn't a good beginning but I really liked it. In the latter years of high school I got introduced to Fellini, Bergman and the more cutting edge people of the day, and I loved them, Bergman in particular because it related to that northern sensibility and because a couple of his films are set in medieval times, and I was always fascinated with that, too. Here were these movies that were SO not Hollywood and so intelligent that represented a realm, especially then, that I fantasized about being in.

JamBase: I think the title of the new live set, Slice O Life, almost suggests a film, and in a way you paint a series of scenes within it, especially because it jumps back and forth across your career.

Bruce Cockburn: I guess I thought when I was putting together the repertoire for these shows I wanted to do a cross-section; I always do that but I guess I thought about it a bit more here. We didn't know what would end up on the album. You throw all this stuff out there, and I spent weeks and weeks weeding through 40 hours of recordings to find the right performances of the right songs. It was quite excruciating actually [laughs]. But it was something that worked quite well in the end.

JamBase: The editing is crucial. It can pour out of you pretty fast but then you wonder, "What the hell do I do with all of this?"

Bruce Cockburn: Exactly! You wonder, "Does this make any sense?" I feel very fortunate to not have to answer to suits, but some of the same weeding process has to happen; you have to be tough with yourself. There are exceptions to this; Dylan does very well with this, creating songs that sprawl all over the place but are still powerful. Usually you need to edit what you're doing and weed out all the crap, though sometimes not weeding out the crap creates the strength of the "film." So, I don't know. I guess I back away from making any kind of generalization.

Ottawa poet Bill Hawkins, who was kind of a mentor to me when I first started writing songs, told me that when you're writing a poem just write what's coming out of your head and then go back and cross off everything that doesn't absolutely have to be there. And you're left with something like the finished poem. Although you wouldn't necessarily know that listening to my songs but it's been an important principle to me over the years. It's true and it remains true for me.

~from http://www.jambase.com/Articles/18077/Bruce-Cockburn-Water-Into-Wine/0 by Dennis Cook.

Photos by Kevin Kelly, Riddle Films Inc, and Janet Spinas Dancer.

16 April 2009 -

Bruce Cockburn will be honoured with a D.Litt (honoris causa) at McMaster University, Hamilton Canada on June 8, 2009.

Approximately 4,500 students will graduate in May and June this year. Honorary degree recipients are recognized for their contributions in such areas as public service, education and scholarship, creative and performing arts, and for their work within the McMaster community.

Faculty of Humanities/Arts & Science (Art, Art History, Classics, Communication Studies, Comparative Literature, Multimedia, Music, Peace Studies, Philosophy, Theatre and Film Studies, Women's Studies)
Monday, June 8, 9:30 a.m.
Bruce Cockburn, Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter, Doctor of Letters.

30 April 2009 -

Zunior.com turns five this year and the music retail website has organized a few special events to celebrate its birthday.

The first is the Independent Music Hall Of Fame, which the site describes as "a new award that we will present every year to two of the best independent Canadian artists of all time." You can nominate your favourite musical acts and vote on acts others suggest until May 31. A jury of Canadian music bloggers will deliberate for two weeks about who should receive the award.

Two winners will be announced on June 27 at the Zunior 5th Anniversary Extravaganza at Toronto's Tranzac Club. The victors will receive "in-depth profiles" on the Independent Music Hall Of Fame website, which is still being created.

Vote for Bruce at ZUNIOR.COM





Bruce Cockburn: A ‘Slice O’ Live’ in Aspen
His latest CD is a solo smorgasbord of vintage material by John Colson

5 April 2009 -

ASPEN — Canadian musician Bruce Cockburn returns to the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen on April 7, and he says he’ll feel right at home, even though the last time he was here was in 2004, at least as far as he can recall.

Since he will be continuing the habit of solo, or nearly solo touring that began back in the 1990s, the show will feel familiar to his more dedicated fans. His set list will be made up largely of songs from his newly released CD Slice O’ Life, a two-disc collection of live performances drawn from 10 stops on a tour in May 2008.

"Aspen is a great place to play," said the musician by telephone, as he drove between San Francisco and Tuscon, Ariz.

He said he has had "great skiing experiences" in his past Aspen gigs, and he has enjoyed the interplay with the audiences here. He seemed to wince when told that the snow is pretty good right now — and likely will still be good when he gets here next week — because he won’t have time to ski this go-round due to a cramped touring schedule.

All 25 songs on Cockburn’s new compilation are drawn from his own broad repertoire — tunes he minted himself and has perfected over the years. And with this collection, Cockburn has fashioned a powerful look back at his musical legacy, with his inimitable spicy wit and barbed political sensibilities woven into complex and often haunting melodies.

The only new song on the CD is a tune called The City is Hungry, drawn from his having spent considerable stretches of time in Brooklyn, N.Y., in recent years. It is a bluesy, soulful ballad, with Cockburn’s plaintive voice stretched over simple, blues-tinted runs on his guitar.

The song list is sprinkled with his few U.S. hits, including rollicking renderings of Wondering Where The Lions Are, If A Tree Falls, If I Had A Rocket Launcher and a couple of others, as well as rearrangements of fan favorites such as How I Spent My Fall Vacation, Tibetan Side of Town (a hearkening to his travels to the Far East) and Put It In Your Heart.

Aside from the music, Cockburn treats the listener to his patter between songs, a mini-monologues that showcase his quiet humor and self-deprecating nature.

For example, leading into "Tramps On The Street," he talks about his hometown of Kingston, Ontario, and the fact that "the bums there all know who I am” and recognize him on the street, interrupting their panhandling routine to chat with him.

"I don’t know what it means, that those are the people that are my demographic, in the town I live in, but there you are," he said, getting a laugh from the audience.

In the CD liner notes, which were written by Cockburn, he tells consumers, "We’ve made an effort to put them together as one show, in the hope of giving you the feeling of being present in the flesh. For the same reason, we chose not to apply too much polish. What you hear is what it was." He explained by telephone that the audience sounds and performances were mixed and matched to give as seamless an approximation of one, solid show as possible.

Cockburn said he plans to concentrate on the new CD in his Aspen performance, both because he enjoys playing the songs and because he is, technically speaking, on a promotional tour and that is what is expected.

Although, he conceded, "because of the nature of the album, it [the tour] is a little shorter and there’s less of it. It’s a tour-ette."

Asked if that means the show will be spiced up with sudden outbursts of obscene language and derogatory remarks about, say, the social elitism many equate with Aspen [as in Tourette’s syndrome], Cockburn chuckled and replied, "No. I try to keep that under control."

Seriously, though, he said the tour is designed as a low-key affair — as is the CD.

Aside from the songs on the CD, Cockburn said he may venture into some of the tunes he has written lately as he prepares to go into the studio to cut a new CD.

One such new song, grew out of an attempt during the George W. Bush years in the White House to "rehabilitate the image of [former President] Richard Nixon. It struck me, what would it mean to really rehabilitate Richard Nixon."

So he wrote a song, in the first person, about Nixon reincarnated as a black, single mother trying to make it in a white world.

"It’s kind of a personal song," he said, "and it’s not, really, that dark." He said he may play it in the Aspen show.

Cockburn is not sure what the new album/CD will be, although he has a number of songs written already and "a few people that I want to be involved with" in the studio.

Somewhat submerged these days is the incendiary Canadian whose politically charged, electrified, group-backed style in the 1980s scored several hits on the U.S. charts. This was a departure for a singer-songwriter who has typically been ignored by the music industry in this country, despite the apparent recognition of his abilities that lead him to be picked to open for a Jimi Hendrix show in Montreal in 1968.

What we have now is Cockburn, now 63, polishing his peerless guitar style on tours where he is either alone or with a backup musician or two.

He calls his newest tunes "folky" and isn’t quite sure yet if his upcoming studio sessions will be just him, or will feature one of a couple of new musicians he has allied with recently.

"It’s quite folky, which surprised me," he noted. "I suspected I’d be doing something much more noisy. I have this deep urge to make anarchic, destructive noise. But, it didn’t work out that way."

Although he conceded that some of his fans accuse him of mellowing over time, Cockburn said, "I don’t particularly feel mellow. I feel quite stressed a lot of the time."

But the new CD sure doesn’t reflect that stress, giving listeners a front-row seat at what appears to have been a long and happy concert event.

from ~ www.aspentimes.com by John Colson (jcolson@aspentimes.com).

31 March 2009 - Slice O Life - Solo Live has been released. There is a bonus track, Stolen Land, available at iTunes.

You can listen live to a podcast of an interview with Bruce at CBC.ca Radio2. Includes Bruce performing City Is Hungry and Put It In Your Heart. (Interviewer Rich Terfry.)

You can also listen to a podcast at www.cbc.ca/Q. Bruce played Last Night Of The World and World Of Wonders. (Interviewer Jiam Ghomeshi)








Bruce Cockburn's Etown show

25 March 2009 -

Bruce Cockburn's Etown show will air the week of April 1 - 7. Fans can find their nearest Etown affiliate here: http://www.etown.org/findstation.php.

Photo by Tim Reese.

~ from www.finkelsteinmanagement.com











Slice O Life - Live Solo
A review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange by Mark S. Tucker

21 March 2009 -

Though Bruce Cockburn's name will not be a new one to most readers of this forum, there are a couple little-known side facts that might provoke an eyebrow or two to raise for a moment and perhaps a small chuckle of mirth to escape from lips. Early in his formative career, Cockburn joined a couple of groups, then went on to form The Flying Circus (eventually renamed Olivus) with a guy named Neil Lillie, who was to leave the ensemble, change his name to Neil Merryweather, and issue a series of LPs under the new surname, later under the full stage name, then in a trio (Merryweather, Richardson & Boers), not to mention a duo (Merryweather & Carey) featuring a singer, Lynn Carey, who formed Mama Lion with Merryweather on bass. She went on to pose for Penthouse magazine and Merryweather kept seeking the big time in a blues and psych-rock basis. Too bad he didn't stick with Cockburn, as Olivus opened for The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream in '68.just after Neil departed. Ironic. Oh, and Bruce appeared on Saturday Night Live as well.

Merryweather never went much of anywhere, and his last two tries followed Iron Butterfly's closing LP pair in a synchronous plummet to psychedelic mediocrity. If it's any consolation to him, though, his works are now minor cult items in the collector market and not easy to find. Cockburn, on the other hand, dropped the drug environment and mindbending music, became a Christian, some say a mystic Christian, and began an inexorable climb to ever-widening success. With this release, his ouevre numbers in excess of 30 releases (anthologies included).

Early on, he issued Circles in the Stream, a double live LP, with an excellent backing band, producing a scintillating brace of tracks that helped curry aficionados to an ever deeper appreciation of the man's many talents. Two more live discs arose between then and now, and this is the fourth but his first solo recital live-just Cockburn, a guitar, and an effects unit. What's most surprising is how little has changed over the decades: his voice is confident and clear, lyrics as humanist as ever, and his fingerpicking just marvelous. In fact, all three may well be more polished than before-it's hard to tell with someone eternally at the top of his game. What Slice O Life is, then, is a harkening back to basics, to folkrock rudiments, while looking ever forward, especially in the writer's concern for his fellow man.

Bruce's handling of his axe is so delicate and complex that he lacks not a moment for magical sounds, feathering his distinctive voice in an atmospheric rainbow of sparkling glints and shimmering colors. Nor is his passion difficult to mistake, going from the contemplative to firm admonitions in his biggest hit If I Had a Rocket Launcher (a sentiment and determination the Left could do with a lot more of), convincing the audience of enthusiastic listeners here of the need to not disregard one's milieu or the possibility of crushing the evils surrounding us. A good deal of Cockburn's concerns zero in on being one's own and one's fellow's keeper. As a certain well-known anarchistic individual long ago instructed in Nazareth and thereabouts.

This double-CD, then, is a long immersion in what an individual and his art are capable of and a reminder to never forget that life is lived every moment, as skillfully as can be managed, radiantly if possible. The entire gig is completely engaging, accompanied by a number of spoken insights and humorous asides between cuts, mesmerizing when the composer is in his constantly unfolding troubador personna. The entire affair goes far to resuscitate the essentiality of a single human being pouring himself out to others, standing as an exposition of what's possible if we have the heart and discipline to follow our calling. More importantly, though, it's proof that as the more centered of the Baby Boom generation ages, it's doing so neither quietly nor without reproof for historic wrongs.but also too often, as the composer is quick to point out, without the sigh of introspection.

~ Reprinted from www.acousticmusic.com/fame/p05410.htm -- by Mark S. Tucker.

Rounder Records




Bruce Cockburn at Pete Seeger Party

18 March 2009 -

Pete Seeger is turning 90 years old on Sunday, May 3rd. We’re going to have a big ol’ party/fundraiser at Madison Square Garden to mark the occasion. All of the proceeds raised will go directly to The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, an environmental charity that Pete started back in 1966 to help clean up the Hudson River.

Pete’s work as a musician, environmentalist, educator and activist has been a huge inspiration for me. I’m thrilled to have been asked to be a part of this sing-a-long celebration. Hope to see you there. It should be a blast!

For complete concert information including the full list of artists, go to: www.Seeger90.com. Tickets for the show will be available for $19.19, going up to $250. They go on sale March 30 at 9am on Ticketmaster.

~ From Finkelstein Management

Note from Jenny Scheinman

23 March 2009 -

- Last month Ang Lee hired me and Bruce Cockburn to do some demo cues for his upcoming film "Taking Woodstock", a comedy set in 1969 at a resort in upstate New York. Our cues were great I swear! funny, moving, strange, even slightly Jewish! So when you see the movie late summer and hear Danny Elfman's brilliant orchestra swooping around the green slopes of the Catskills just try to imagine how much more memorable it would be to hear me sawing away on my squeakbox trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking my neck..

~ from www.jennyscheinman.com



Bruce Cockburn Signs With The Agency Group

17 March 2009 -

LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts/ Agency Group) - Jack Ross, Senior Vice President of The Agency Group Canada is proud to announce the signing of one of the country's most beloved and accomplished musicians, Bruce Cockburn.

Bruce Cockburn's career includes 30 albums, 20 gold and platinum records in Canada, and countless concert performances since he released his first solo work in 1970. He has received many honours, including inductions to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1982 and has since been promoted to 'Officer', and he was recognized with the Tenco Award for Lifetime Achievement in Italy. His hit songs like Lovers in a Dangerous Time and Wondering Where the Lions Are have become staples of the Canadian soundtrack.

"I have been a lifelong Bruce Cockburn fan and it is an honour and a thrill to represent Bruce for live engagements." - Jack Ross

As a long-time client of music business legend Bernie Finkelstein (True North Records), Bruce Cockburn has not had an exclusive Canadian agent in his 35+ years of touring until now.

"Both Bruce and myself are looking forward to working with Jack and The Agency Group. Jack has proven himself to not only be a great agent but also a brilliant strategist and we're happy to be part of the team." - Bernie Finkelstein
~ from top40-charts.com.

~bobbi wisby

Celia Shacklett - TRANSFORMATEURS
Bruce Cockburn Contributes to CD

1 March 2009 -

Growing up in the high plains of western Kansas during the 70s and the 80s it would seem unlikely that St. Louis performer Celia Shacklett would come across the likes of Bruce Cockburn and his music. "We listened to music in our house a lot: classical musis, operas, musical theatre", and the only music available on the radio was strictly mainstream contemporary, "Encountering Bruce Cockburn’s music ... was a miracle", she says.

When she was 15 her brother tossed her a copy of Bruce’s 1989 LIVE album; he quickly became her musical and songwriting idol. She poured over his lyrics, learning to play guitar listening to Hills of Morning and One Day I Walk. In 1994, at 18 years old, months away from graduating high school she found herself on the eve of her father’s funeral. "That particular night, I knew I was learning something that would last me the rest of my life: ... people and situations change, whether you want them to or not, and not much is constant." Grateful for Bruce’s music and the place it held in her heart she was able to convey her feelings in a letter she wrote to Bruce. To her amazement he wrote her back and they continued writing for several years. Finally they met in Lawrence, Kansas in the summer of 1997. Over the years their friendship has continued to flourish and when she asked him in 2007 to contribute to her recording project she says he didn’t miss a beat, "Well, I have a pretty busy schedule, but if you can make this convenient for me, I’d love to."

They connected in Memphis, the summer of 2007 while he was there for his own gig and spent an evening co-writing a song called, Things You’ll Miss. Working from Celia’s own ideas for the song he helped her write a chord progression and a melody, and helped develop the lyrics. She found working with Bruce as natural and easy-going as their friendship. She says this song is, "a song about death, about someone you love about to die or having just died, and you’re angry and spiteful, saying why would you ever want to go and do that?" She feels it’s a tribute to Bruce and her dad and Western Kansas, " ... and all the folks that I once knew that will die before I ever have a chance to look into their eyes again."

Won't you miss us demons when you go?
Don't you think you'll wonder where we've gone?
When you shuck your body like a pheasant skin
a husk of corn
these are the things you'll miss. . .

She recollects, "I remember my friend Grandpa Albert, across the alley, with his 5 grown sons, having just come back from the pheasant hunt with 60 birds. They'd slit the pheasant’s throats and pull the skin right off, in one movement, and throw those pheasant skins into the dumpster, and the sand in the alley would be covered in feathers and blood."

The following October she had another dream come true as they recorded two songs together in New York City, Things You’ll Miss and another Celia original, Armadillo.

She said, "It's funny, throughout the course of our friendship, I've seen so many of my daydreams realized, only to find that the real thing is so much more amazing and rich than any of these fantasies could ever be. It's impossible for me to describe the fervor that his music and lyrics excited in me at such a young age. Something about Bruce Cockburn's music spoke to me like no one else ever had." She says she’s still a huge fan, and she still writes him fan mail but she still can’t believe he wrote back to her 15 years ago.

Both songs are featured on Celia’s album TRANSFORMATEURS which is available at http://www.cdbaby.com/celiaband2 and all of the songs are also available at iTunes, Rhapsody, and digstation. Her website is: www.celiaisrock.com. Both songs bear Bruce’s brilliant mark in both his playing and vocals, The Cockburn Project enjoyed the chance to be introduced to this new artist’s work. Check it out!

Suzanne Myers - editor@cockburnproject.net

Slice O Life
Release date: March 31 2009

True North Records - Slice O Life

more

Bruce Cockburn Film to air across Canada
Return to Nepal

17 January 2009 -

Bruce Cockburn Film to air across Canada. Return to Nepal, featuring USC’s work, will air on CBC Documentary Channel. Travel with Bruce Cockburn as he returns to Nepal after twenty years away. The CBC Documentary Channel will air the broadcast premiere of Return to Nepal, a new documentary film chronicling Cockburn’s recent visit to the spectacular Himalayan nation. The film will show at the following times:

Monday, January 19th at 7pm and 10pm
Tuesday, January 20th at 1am, 9am, and 1pm
Wednesday, January 21st at 5am

In November 2007, Filmmaker Robert Lang followed the musician as he travelled to Humla – a region nestled in the Himalayan Mountains. There he found a land where, while much has changed, life is still often lived in much the way it has been for centuries. Farmers still work the steep mountain slopes and live in remote villages connected by an ancient network of footpaths.

Dirga Badhur Shahi talks with Bruce about the work he has done to prepare his fields for planting.

Return to Nepal is a revealing glimpse at this little-known corner of the world whose people have much to offer; strategies for survival in a tough land. The following clip is presented courtesy of Kensington Communications. USC will soon have DVD copies of the film available for purchase. Keep an eye on our website for further details.

Related Links

14 December 2008 -
This holiday season, give a Gifts That Grow to your colleagues, friends, and family, and help people in the developing world build a better life for their loved ones.

Bruce Cockburn supports USC Canada - and so can you! For years, Bruce has been giving to USC Canada, a charity that promotes social justice in rural communities in developing countries.

You can give seeds, livestock, clean drinking water, or support farmers' rights and biodiversity by going online to http://www.usc-canada.org/giftsthatgrow.

Give the Gift that Grows! Join Bruce, USC, and rural people in poor countries to build a better future. When you give your gift, we will send an E-card to the recipient, letting them know you've given a present in their name.

Give the gift Gifts That Grow that keeps on growing!





News from Bernie Finkelstein - The Solo Live CD & Bio Dvd

14 November 2008 -
It's a double CD called Slice O Life and should be out around the last week of March 2009. It will be on True North in Canada and Rounder in the US and through various others outside of North America.

Here's the track listing for the Bruce Live Solo CD, Slice O Life. The record features an interesting peek inside a Soundcheck. [Songs marked with ** are new songs. And ++ indicates stories about the songs.]

Disk One

1 Intro
2 World Of Wonders
3 Lovers In A Dangerous Time
4 Mercenary Story++
5 See You Tomorrow
6 Last Night Of The World
7 How I Spent My Fall Vacation
8 Tibetan Side Of Town
9 Pacing The Cage
10 Bearded Folk Singer Story++
11 End Of All Rivers
12 Soul Of A Man

Disk Two

1 Wait No More
2 City Is Hungry**
3 Put It In Your Heart
4 Tramps In The Street Story++
5 Wondering Where The Lions Are
6 If A Tree Falls
7 Celestial Horses
8 If I Had A Rocket Launcher
9 Child Of The Wind
10 Tie Me At The Crossroads

Soundcheck

11 12 String Thing - Soundcheck including a small part of The Trains Don't Run Here Anymore
12 Kit Carson - Soundcheck
13 Mama Just Wants To Barrelhouse All Night Long


from ~ Bernie Finkelstein, www.finkelsteinmanagement.com.

[The content was recorded at these shows.
More info on these shows is on 2008 Tour Dates Archive]

We continue to work away on the TV show but it won't be a DVD until we do a television license and I can't predict when that will be but certainly not until later next year (2009). It may well turn into two shows. One a documentary and one a concert film. Nothing is certain yet.

There is a possibility of some (tour) dates in the Southwest US in April but nothing is yet confirmed. Stay tuned.

Bruce has just finished recording a track for an upcoming tribute CD to the Band. He did a little known Band song called Sleeping and it's done with Blue Rodeo backing him.

He also just finished recording a track for the upcoming Mississippi Sheiks tribute CD being put together by Steve Dawson (Zubot & Dawson etc.). [More info here.]

I'm not sure when either project is coming out but both tracks sound great and Bruce had a fine time doing them.

The last few shows Bruce did were all very successful and we all had a good time and felt all of the shows were good and Bruce remains in good spirits. [More info here.]

We don't have any other shows on the schedule for now as Bruce is spending time writing etc.

from ~ Bernie Finkelstein, www.finkelsteinmanagement.com.

13 November 2008 -

Bruce just finished recording a track for the upcoming Mississippi Sheiks tribute CD being put together by Steve Dawson.

Daniel Keebler, of The Woodpile and www.brucecockburn.org was there, and has more photos. The song that Bruce chose to cover is called, Honey Babe Let The Deal Go Down.

Photo (right) used with permission by Daniel, thank you.

2 December 2008 - Steve has more photos up at his blog.

14 November 2008 - The last 3 gigs Bruce played were benefit concerts. Here's a synopsis with links to articles and interviews.

On 20 September 2008 on Mt. Nemo in Burlington, Ontario Bruce joined Sarah Harmer and others for a benefit show for PERL (PROTECTING ESCARPMENT RURAL LAND). Graham Rockingham of the The Hamilton Spectator has written a great article about this show. "Cockburn, looking like an old Zen master, added his own 40-minute solo set, delivering an acoustic guitar showcase with the instrumental Where All The Rivers End (End of All Rivers). He pulled out some old favourites like Tokyo and Wondering Where The Lions Are, as well as some eco-appropriate songs like If A Tree Falls and Beautiful Creatures."



On 2 October 2008 at the Wild Horse Theatre in Fort Steele, BC. Bruce gave a benefit show for the Jumbo Wild Campaign. Lindsay McPherson of the Invermere Valley Echo has a great article titled Cockburn loud and clear on Jumbo. And Daniel Keebler has posted another good read by Wendy Stueck of the Globe & Mail. (scroll down to early October dates for this one). One quote, "I can't see any kind of logic to this," Mr. Cockburn said recently in a telephone interview from Ontario. "You're going to build a 6,500-bed resort on a melting glacier at a cost of millions or billions ... a huge investment going into this resort at a time when the viability is draining out of ski resorts across the continent."

Another CockburnProject reader sent us the following report :

Tie Me at the Crossroads, Planet of the Clowns, Mines of Mozambique, Give It Away, If a Tree Falls, Baghdad, Kit Carson, and Put It in Your Heart. [Some new songs were played during the sound check as well.]

Here's the main gig report.

The concert opened with a traditional greeting from the local First Nation whose traditional territory includes the Jumbo Glacier. Everyone was especially concerned about grizzly bears. An elder gave a talk and said an opening prayer. "Grizzly bears hold everything for us." The elder made some remarks about being back in Fort Steele and the memories there. He made an impassioned speech about wanting to show his grandchildren grizzly bears, not just pictures of grizzly bears. "Let the grizzly keep what he has."

Set list :: Shipwrecked at the Stable Door, Lovers in a Dangerous Time, Tokyo, Don't Feel Your Touch, Last Night of the World (Bruce made some remarks that his vocation and avocation and travel taking him far away from his home and loved ones and he can't be there for them.) World of Wonders, Beautiful Creatures, Dream Like Mine (dedicated to all First Nations), End of All Rivers, Give It Away, Kit Carson, Put It in Your Heart (he came alive on this one), Wondering Where the Lions Are, If a Tree Falls, Mystery,

Encore :: Child of the Wind (where he had to stop and retune. He said the song was going to sound really horrible really soon if he didn't.) , Slow Down Fast, Anything Can Happen (he didn't remember the order of the lyrics, but didn't seem to be concerned).
He only had the green Manzer and the 12 string, so that might have influenced the song choices.

16 June 2008 - Bruce was recently on the road doing several shows on the East coast which were recorded for a new Live CD and a new Bio DVD. This report comes from CockburnProject contributor, Doug, who happened to have been at 5 of these shows.

How I Spent My (Spring) Vacation

I have been a lover of music for as long as I can remember. My father, who worked at a radio station during my early childhood, had a deep appreciation for "Big Band" music, and the sounds of Sinatra and Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller filled my home. In addition to these more classic sounds, my family was also the beneficiary of the radio’s station excess "promo" records of "modern"(i.e., late 60's/early 70's) songs, and I quickly developed an appreciation for a broad range of eclectic music. This interest in music translated into a much beloved record collection of my own, as well as an early taste of the beauty of live music, which I would seek out whenever possible.

Skip ahead to 1991, when I visited a local record/CD store with a listening station, anxious to sample the new releases of the day. Turning the dial to a CD entitled Nothing But a Burning Light, I heard, for the first time, the music of Bruce Cockburn. I was immediately struck by the depth of the lyrics; the wisdom and character of Cockburn’s vocals; the superb and diverse melodies and arrangements; and, last, but not least, the spiritual longing that seemed to touch every song on that record. I went to the checkout counter to make my purchase, and was immediately hooked.

In short order, I purchased the entire back catalogue of Bruce’s music. I discovered the outstanding (although now defunct) Cockburn news letter "Gavin’s Woodpile", and my appreciation for Bruce’s music and artistry increased exponentially. I finally was able to see Bruce in concert during the Dart to the Heart tour, and have since seen him in concert dozens of times, in places as diverse as Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Pennsylvania; New Hampshire; Washington (State); and California. I have never been disappointed by a Bruce Cockburn concert, and always walk away better for the experience.

I try to see Bruce in concert whenever I can, and track both the web version of Gavin’s Woodpile and the outstanding "Cockburn Project" on a regular basis to learn about Cockburn’s tour plans. I was delighted to discover a few months ago that Bruce would be touring the in the northeast area of the U.S., as close as Sellersville, Pennsylvania (2 hours driving) and nearby New England (a mere 1 hour plane ride). Checking my schedule, I realized that by combining work and travel, I could take in five (5) Bruce concerts over a nine (9) day period, and that is exactly what I did! This is my report.

May 14, 2008: The Iron Horse - Northampton, Mass.

First up was the opening night of Bruce’s northeast tour, at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Massachusetts. I arrived relatively early, but was greeted by a long line of fans who had arrived even earlier to get the best possible seats for this general admission show. (No harm in a later arrival, though, because the Iron Horse is a very intimate venue, and there is scarcely a bad seat in the house.)

There was a camera crew outside the event talking to fans about their interest in Bruce as part of a forth-coming documentary on Bruce to be aired in his native Canada. Everyone was eager to talk, and it was apparent that this was a crowd that was very familiar with Bruce and his music.

Although I am often disappointed by opening acts (they only delay my seeing the artist that I really came to see/hear), this opening set by Catherine Maclellan was a very pleasant exception to the rule. Catherine had a beautiful and captivating voice, and her sparse arrangements and seemingly simple songs revealed a gift for writing songs that seem almost timeless. I found myself looking forward to Catherine’s opening sets on each of the following evenings.

Finally, the moment arrived for the "main act", with Bruce looking pleased to be on stage, albeit with a slight (but nevertheless apparent) awkward awareness of the multiple video cameras pointed in his direction. He was dressed in black, and surrounded by his stunningly beautiful Manzers – three, including his gorgeous sunburst 12-string -- and his bright and shiny Dobro.



Bruce was chattier than usual, which was nice, as he is such a quick wit that I often enjoy his banter almost as much as his music. Here is the set list for the first night:
Going to the Country, Lovers in a Dangerous Time, Last Night of the World, See You Tomorrow, Night Train, Life Short Call Now, Beautiful Creatures (spellbinding/beautiful -- full of humanity), Wait No More (on the Dobro -- the highlight of the night. Smoking, smoking guitar work), Tell the Universe, Put it in Your Heart, Wondering Where the Lions Are, If a Tree Falls, Mystery,
Encore:
King Kong Goes to Tallahassee, How I Spent My Fall Vacation (with Bruce visibly delighted with the audience’s impromptu, robust singing of the chorus’ "de-de-de-de-de-de-da-da-da-da"). If I had a Rocket Launcher, Child of the Wind (hauntingly beautiful)

This was a very appreciative crowd, although marred by a few that were so loud that they were drowning out Bruce’s performance. But for this unfortunate distraction, it was a great musical night. ("Bonus" of the night was meeting the very talented and exceptionally gracious Colin Linden, who was off to the side acting as producer for the upcoming live CD. I have been an admirer of Colin for years, and was very glad to have met him.)





May 15, 2008: The Iron Horse - Northampton, Mass.

Same venue as the previous night, with an equally large (but more respectful) crowd. The set list:

World of Wonders (I was almost relieved to hear this song. Bruce’s acoustic rework of the title track from a much older album is a masterpiece, and stands first in line as an absolute "must" for the upcoming CD.)
Last Night of the World, See You Tomorrow (Bruce prefaced this song by commenting that "some of you were here last night, so you will have to hear this story again. I know that you were here last night because I am psychic.")
Night Train (A brilliant performance. I'll bet money that this night's version will make the live CD. Perfection; the crowd knew it and Bruce knew it. He said maybe he should stop right there and quit while he was ahead!).
Lovers in a Dangerous Time, Life Short Call Now, Beautiful Creatures (Bruce talked about writing this song while living in Montreal. He said that he came to realize that although there was no life in the concrete that he saw everywhere, there was still life beneath all of the concrete.) Wait No More (The most dazzling of all of Bruce’s performances.) Let the Bad Air Out (Played in response to a "call out" from the crowd, and appears to have been impromptu . . . ). Put it in Your Heart (Bruce struggled with the lyrics on this one.) Trouble with Normal (Great! Fun to watch producer Colin Linden get into this song, playing air guitar along with Bruce.) Wondering Where the Lions Are, If a Tree Falls, Mystery (I love the guitar work on this).
Encore:
End of All Rivers, Pacing the Cage, How I Spent My Fall Vacation (This song was sung with Bernie "Bernie in his dream" Finkelstein standing 10 feet away -- how cool is that?!?

Last night I had the privilege of meeting Colin Linden. Tonight it was the privilege of meeting the legendary (and gracious) Bernie Finkelstein. It was a great night.

May 16, 2008 - Somerville Theatre, Somerville, Mass

The next morning, I made the beautiful drive from western Massachusetts to the Boston area. The venue was a beautiful old movie theater, and the crowd was large (but not sold out). Another great night of Bruce music (with the video cameras still rolling)! Here is the set list:

Going to the Country ("Let’s start from the beginning"), Lovers in a Dangerous Time, Last Night of the World, See You Tomorrow, Night Train, Life Short, Call Now, Beautiful Creatures (Bruce prefaced with an elaborate telling of the "last time" he took LSD. I can’t do the story justice – perhaps he’ll include it on his live CD.) Wait No More (stupendous, as always), This is Baghdad, Put it in Your Heart, Wondering Where the Lions Are, If a Tree Falls, Mystery.
Encore:
Stolen Land (Smoking!), Pacing the Cage, All the Diamonds (my favorite Bruce song - downright holy).

My impressions following the show: "Bruce's guitar playing and arrangements are absolutely symphonic. Every song -- literally ~every~ song -- is a stand-alone musical masterpiece." I returned to Maryland completely edified by three (3) magical nights of outstanding artistry.

May 20, 2008 - Sellersville Theatre, Sellersville, PA

Five (5) days later, I took the relatively easy car ride to Sellersville Theatre, with Bruce performing without the video cameras rolling. He was quite relaxed, and offered another night of musical magic. The set list:

Rouler Sa Bosse, Going to the Country, Lovers in a Dangerous Time, World of Wonders (Bruce’s acoustic arrangement has transformed this from a good song to a masterpiece.) See You Tomorrow, Jerusalem Poker, Life Short, Call Now, Wait No More, Kit Carson, Put it in Your Heart, Wondering Where the Lions Are, If a Tree Falls, Mystery.

Encore:

End of All Rivers, If I Had a Rocket Launcher, Child of the Wind.

The guitar playing this night was exceptional, perhaps the best of all of the shows that I saw. Another great night!



May 23, 2008 - Tumbledown Farm, Wolfeboro, NH

Last, but not least, was Bruce’s final leg of this brief northeast tour, held in the pastoral setting of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, in the beautiful Tumbledown Farm. It was a sold out show, with an appreciative crowd. The set list:

Going to the Country, Lovers in a Dangerous Time, World of Wonders, Last Night of the World, See You Tomorrow, Night Train, Life Short, Call Now, Beautiful Creatures, Wait No More, Kit Carson, Put it in Your Heart, Wondering Where the Lions Are, If a Tree Falls, Celestial Horses (This was, for me, perhaps the most spellbinding moment of the tour. The audience was absolutely riveted to Bruce’s account of the "Celestial Horses" – you could hear a pin drop between each stroke of the guitar and between each verse of a song that I now recognize to be a masterpiece. Here’s hoping that this performance makes it to the live CD – it was magical.)

Encore:

Pacing the Cage, This is Baghdad(in response to a request), How I Spent My Fall Vacation (with Bernie in the background looking on with approval . . .).

Summary :

Admittedly, five concerts in less than two (2) weeks may seem more than a bit self-indulgent. Indeed, my schedule is such that it is often difficult for me to find the time to see even one concert during an entire season. Fortunately for me, the stars were in the correct alignment, and I was able to make these two (2) magical weeks happen. In the final analysis, great art serves an important function for the human condition. It awakens our sense of humanity; rekindles our longing for the divine; and lifts our spirits in ways that little else can. Every night I was treated to what I believe to be musical masterpieces. Songs of such excellence and insight. Guitar playing that is beyond mesmerizing. Vocal performances that carry the songs to new heights. Whatever it is that art is supposed to do for the human soul was poured out in abundance each night, and I found myself full of appreciation for the gift of being alive. Thanks, Bruce. See you next time! ~Submitted by Doug.

Check out the 2008 Archives for more show reviews, setlists and photos.