Dave Haddock

Finally memorized David Lynn Grimes’ song ‘All Be Gone Tomorrow’. Feeling an intense need/desire/motivation/intention to do what must be done. Overcome resistance and fly in the face of it to be myself and do my work. After an intense week of inspiration and creative singing with the tribe and the discovery of a new family with whom to spread the word, things seem to have opened up. Personal life is reworking itself into a more solitary form. It’s time. The Living Room working title will thrive. This is how we live the dream.
This is probably a bit cryptic, but nevertheless, things have changed. Something has shifted. The improvisation that one might call my life has morphed in a new direction. The path will narrow and become clearly defined. Plans are being drawn. Travel will be initiated. New families born, and the circle grow ever more inclusive.
This new recording will be finished. New training will be initiated. New songs will be written and performed. New collaborations will become manifest. New languages from an inner fire will burst, pop, and disrupt, but be contained in the fire.
A new muse has appeared. A distant light to keep this heart alive.

Many kudos to organizers, volunteers, performers, vendors, and listeners for what was, in my experience, a great festival.
Singing with Big Soul was a huge charge for me. If all I ever had to do was sing, I’d be so happy.
But then, playing bass and/or guitar isn’t so bad. Sets with the Voodoo All-Stars and with Sarah MacDougall went well, too.
A workshop with myself, Del Barber, Declan O’Donovan, and Sarah MacDougall where we shared covers and originals in the big tent was also great. My favourite was hearing people singing along in the tent. And the chit chat between performers on stage. And I performed with a ukelele for the first time, except for the times I’ve used it as a clown (I know, I’m sorry).
Of course it’s all in the past and everything (not) is forgotten, somehow absorbed into our musical selves and memory.
It was a treat to see and hear “heroes” like David Grisman (and to see friends on stage with same) and David Lindley, both of whom I have listened to since everything was on Vinyl.

I continue to transition into more solitary things, hoping to continue work with Jordy on the new album (Goin’ Back to Church), grateful for the funding supplied by the Yukon Film and Sound Commission through their Sound Recording Grant.

Time for coffee? Or is that one of the things I have to give up? Not today.

Well done, friends. A very nice evening of music, clowning, puppets and film. Lots of fun and great people to work with.
This coming weekend Megan and I are doing a house concert together!

It’s Rendezvous this weekend. There’s my regular Thursday night open mic at the Gold Rush 8 – 11pm. I’ll be with the Whitehorse Blues All-Stars at the Gold Rush on Friday Night 8 – 11pm. And we’ll be doing two more shows in the Rendezvous Tent in Shipyards Park 10pm Saturday and 1pm Sunday. I can’t find an online schedule.
On Facebook

I’ll be the Musical Director for the ColdSpell: How We Winter show at the YAC on March 6. Schedule
It’s part of a series of shows for the Arctic Winter Games being held here in Whitehorse.
Is there a Facebook page? Who knows? On Facebook

Have a great week.

This is Brandon Isaak, Lonnie Powell, and myself, playing mostly blues. It’s a good band, worth listening to. I like it best when we hold down the groove and Brandon takes off on the guitar. We also have a good time when we “juke” – or improvise songs. The spontaneity is especially heart-warming this time of year. I’m joking about this time of year. I love the improvisation whenever it happens. We hope to see lots of friends down at the club.

Enjoyed performing with the Working Dogs on last Thursday night at the Arts Centre as part of the Night of the Living North show. This weekend we’re at the Goldpan with Annie Avery, Lonnie Powell, Rob Bergman and myself. It’s fun to play guitar, although it’s a continual frustration when I come up against my limitations. Oh well, maybe if I practiced “better”.
We are adjusting to the changes. The dance floor was removed months ago, as it was causing some trouble for customers just learning to walk who were tripping on the raised edges. Now, after some renovations in the bar, there is new carpet, new paint on the walls, no stage backdrop, and one stage platform has been removed. The corner of the stage was causing the same kind of problem for people walking by, so the management of the hotel had it removed. Hopefully they won’t keep doing any more of these kind of things without warning.
We do love playing there, the audiences are great and the staff is great, and sometimes the music is great too.

The open mic/jam continues. There is always a certain amount of chaos, and always some barrier to cross, whether it’s the comfort zone barrier of actually getting up on stage, or perhaps it’s the barrier of singing in front of people, playing a strange guitar, not being able to see the audience because of the lights in your eyes, the “I need to have a few drinks” and maybe having one too many barrier, getting used to being amplified, not being able to hear things in a familiar way. It’s an interesting way to spend an evening, facilitating the passage (for some) across some of these barriers.

So, I worked on the weekend as a sound mixer at the Gold Pan Saloon, one of the official venues for Breakout West here in Whitehorse. Of course, I was hired because there was a need for more techs than usually are available in town. It’s not ever been my main gig. It was a challenge to listen for that many hours and at those volumes. There were some loud moments, and perhaps only one or two notable ego flares. I’m not sure if it was me or him. Part of the job, I guess. Sometimes I just expect people to be reasonable as opposed to bossy, unreasonable and know-it-all. I was rattled a couple of times, but mostly kept it together and think most acts were happy (enough) with their sound.

I also played at the Music Yukon VIP la-de-dah hosted at the Yukon Brewery. Manfred Janssen and I each played a set of tunes for the chattering, yukon brew imbibing, appie munching crowd. Not exactly a high profile gig. Most people were obviously content to just hang and talk. Fine by me. Having reluctantly accepted the fact of no longer being a possible commercial commodity, being able to play music is a gift I’m willing to receive.

I enjoyed most of the music I mixed at the hotel. Outstanding highlights were Trio Bembe, and Ruth Moody. I had the most trouble mixing Fish and Bird, as I found the stage sound of the upright bass most problematic. This is a constant problem. I reflect on the possibility that because these bass amps are designed to throw the sound, or at least because these bass sound waves don’t fully form until they reach further into the room, that the bass player tends to turn up the amp in order to hear things clearly, dialing in a fair bit of high-mid frequency to cut through. The problem is that those frequencies all end up in the room where the sound tech is unable to control them. I had the bass pulled out of the mains, and it was still too loud and the mid range frequencies were throwing muffled honks into the room, enhanced by the tendency of the player to play in the upper middle range of the instrument.

I felt frustrated by this problem, enough to reflect on the need for what is essentially an acoustic band with acoustic instruments to choose to play with a drum kit played with full force. That’s a whole other topic of conversation, I suppose, but why choose to combine instruments that do not go together in an acoustic context. The other instruments then need to be amplified to unrealistic volumes in order to compete with the drums.

Have just spent a fabulous weekend in Vancouver with singers from all over NA. Impossible to describe in words, but feel energized, excited, and motivated to bring more of this improvisational singing work to the community.

These Thursday open mic nights have become quite popular. It’s a little unfortunate that there is a limited time for it to happen, what with the early start and early finish there at the Goldpan. Otherwise, it’s been great – a good turnout and good response. Keep it coming!