2008 MEDIA
2004-2007 media
are
in the ARCHIVES section
-
Posted: June 13, 2008
Musical star-power unites for Algonquin cause
- KingstonThis Week.com
- by Kyra Walker Pearson
- June 13, 2008
He doesn’t consider himself an activist,
but he’s front and centre this weekend for a local cause.
Bruce Cockburn, a Canadian music icon,
has contributed to “Artists for the Algonquin,” and will appear at the
sold-out Artists for Bob Lovelace concert at Sydenham Street United Church
Saturday.
The CD and concert are fundraisers for
Lovelace, the Queen’s professor who was jailed for three months after
protesting at a proposed uranium mine site near Sharbot Lake, and
environmental efforts by the Ardoch Algonquin First Nations.
“Bob Lovelace is an activist, he’s out
there getting arrested,” counters Cockburn. “Singing at a concert to support
him is worthwhile, but it’s obviously not the same.”
Cockburn, a Kingston-area resident, is an
officer of the Order of Canada. He has earned 20 gold and platinum records
in Canada, 11 Juno Awards and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of
Fame. His 29th album release in 2006 was “Life Short Call Now.”
Cockburn grew up camping and canoe-
tripping in Ontario’s Algonquin Park. The camp that he attended constantly
drilled into the campers to leave their campsite better than they found it.
Cockburn carried that attitude into adulthood.
“In the big picture the whole planet is
the campsite,” he says, “and not leaving it better than we found it will
have us racing headlong toward rendering it uninhabitable so we all have to
do whatever we can to slow or stop that process if we can.”
Donated tracks, in addition to
Cockburn’s, include award-winning musicians Daniel Lanois, Susan Aglukark,
David Francey, Jenny Whiteley and Fred Eaglesmith. The music comes from a
deep commitment to aboriginal rights, social justice and environmental
protection.
A number of artists wrote songs
specifically for this issue, including David Francey, Terry Tufts, Maya
Thau-Eleff (a student of Lovelace) and recorded them at Leopard Frog Studio.
Chris Coleman mastered the album.
Cockburn doesn’t know if he makes a
difference, he just does what he can to help.
“It seems to me that everybody that lives
on this planet has to do something to help preserve it. That’s a bit of an
over-simplification, but not much.”
Cockburn is pleased the timing worked out
and he was able to contribute a song to the compilation album and perform at
the concert.
“The uranium mining prospect is so close
to us, it’s ridiculous. We have to stop it, that’s the short answer,” he
says.
He thinks “the deck is stacked the other
way with various government interests in this kind of stuff, but the people
have to be heard. I haven’t run into anyone yet who is supportive of uranium
mining in the area.”
The song Cockburn contributed to the CD
is “Stolen Land.” It was initially written in support of the Haida Nation to
protect the Gwaii Haanas (Islands of the People) in British Columbia, an
area slated for logging and dumping that became one of the central human
rights and environmental issues in Canada in the ’80s.
Cockburn and his band played two sold-out
Vancouver concerts to raise funds for legal fees for imprisoned protesters.
In 1987 Gwaii Haanas was designated a
National Park Reserve.
Funds raised by the “Artists for the
Algonquin” CD sales will go to a trust fund established to assist the Ardoch
Algonquin First Nations and their efforts to protect the land and water in
North Frontenac.
CDs are $20 and go on sale at the concert
and at downtown stores.
- Posted: May 19, 2008
- D. Keebler
-
-
I received the
following email from Bernie Finkelstein with an update on the recording of the
coming live, solo CD:
All is going extremely well on
the road. Both the filming and the recording are looking and sounding great.
Lot's of stuff being filmed on the bus and backstage.
Also, we've been recording the soundchecks where there is some new material
being tried out and learned. Not sure if these new songs will make it into any
of the performances or not but we do have them on tape, so to speak.
Bruce is changing around his sets each night so there are going to be lot's of
different song choices.
I don't have any photo's to send at this time but might be able to later.
Most likely we will film the benefit shows in Kingston and Victoria as well,
although that's not 100 %.
That's all for now.
Posted: May 16, 2008
Bruce Cockburn: Sharing
his - and our - truth
- May 15, 2008
- by Ryan Alan
- Foster's Daily Democrat
Bruce Cockburn sees himself as a creature of his times.
When it comes down to it, that's what we all are, reasons the much honored — and
even revered — Canadian singer-songwriter-musician who headlines a 7 p.m.
concert Friday, May 23, at Moody Mountain Barn, 101 Pork Hill Road, Wolfeboro.
It is part of the Wolfeboro Folk Concert Series.
"And I've been singing about these times and my relationship to them all these
decades," he said. "People like the sense they are being communicated with. They
can, if not feel their own truth, though sometimes they do, recognize they are
hearing my truth and that's meaningful to people."
The entire point of writing songs, he has said previously, is to share
experiences with people. He has been doing that admirably through a career that
so far has spanned 26 albums — 20 of which went gold or platinum in Canada —
numerous international honors, induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame
among them, and receiving the Tenco Award for Lifetime Achievement in Italy.
Along the way there has been deeply committed philanthropic work and passionate
involvement in causes — oft expressed in his music — designed to make the world
a more livable place.
Never strayed
He said he has never been tempted to stray from his guiding philosophy of
insisting on "singing your own truth," even if making compromises would have
benefited his career.
"I've been lucky that way," said Cockburn. "I got lucky when I appeared on the
scene when I did." That was an era in which a variety of "personal
truth-telling" was embraced, he said, as was "being able to operate without
commercial considerations."
If he were starting today, he does not think he would be so fortunate. "But once
you had the momentum sort of going back then, with those kind of attitudes, it
was possible to keep going. I'm able to do what I do. I've recorded all these
years for True North, an indy label that doesn't put demands on me and has
provided a buffer between me and the mainstream music business."
His entire career has been about taking the next step when it seemed
appropriate, he said. "I had no idea I'd ever be where I am. When I dropped out
of Berklee, I just knew I'd be some kind of musician, but not knowing what I
would do," he explained.
At 63, the artist said while he can hear the chronological clock ticking, it
does not necessarily serve as motivation to finally take on some projects that
he may have promised himself to attempt someday.
Now, he said, it's about trying to keep things interesting. "Somewhere was the
intention to be a jazz guitar player and composer, which is why I went to
school. But when I left I kind of gave up that notion," he offers as an example.
Today, his accessible folk-rock base takes side trips into jazz, blues and other
genres.
"I don't have any particular thing I feel I need to do, except to keep on
growing as long as I can until it's irrevocably downhill," he added, laughing.
Cockburn certainly does not seem at risk of burn out.
"For one thing, I like hanging around younger people, my daughter's friends or
other people I meet in the course of things. I'm a bit of an energy vampire.
It's helpful to be surrounded by that sense of freshness that youthful people
bring to the table."
Beyond that, he added, it is necessary to be conscious of a sense of
exploration. He brings that philosophy into his current solo acoustic concerts.
MacLellan opens
Catherine MacLellan, the critically acclaimed young singer-songwriter from
Prince Edward Island, is opening the shows. She is the daughter of the late Gene
MacLellan, whose songs "Snow Bird," (a hit for Anne Murray) "Put Your Hand in
the Hand" (a hit for the Toronto rock band Ocean) and "The Call" are considered
Canadian classics.
His shows will be recorded for a solo live album release later this year and,
hopefully a DVD.
He said it's possible to interact in a much more personal way with audiences at
solo acoustic shows. There probably is more banter, he said, but also more focus
on all of the songs.
Acoustic programs invite a person in, he said. " 'Drawn' is the operative verb,"
he noted. "The quieter the music is the more you have got to go to it."
Continued embrace
Quiet or loud, enthusiastic fans continue to embrace the music of Bruce
Cockburn.
He senses that his audience is comprised of people who like to be entertained by
something that asks something of them. "Some want something that doesn't require
any effort," he acknowledged, "but there are those of us who would rather be
challenged by a book or a film or music. I'm reaching for that crowd."
Posted: May 16, 2008
Cockburn plans Portland show Performance at First Parish Church to be recorded
for upcoming live album
- Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel
- May 16, 2008
Legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce
Cockburn is planning a performance at the First Parish Church in Portland
Thursday evening -- a show that will be recorded for an upcoming live album.
"I think, for people coming to the show, the
fact that it's being recorded is probably the only thing out of the ordinary,"
Cockburn said during a recent telephone interview.
"There may be one or two new songs in the
show -- I don't know yet -- and I won't know until the day of whether I'm really
going to do a the new songs I have or not, but it is entirely possible."
Cockburn's well over the half-way mark of his
fourth decade of his illustrious career, so it really isn't surprising tours
have a tendency to blur together.
"If you're doing 10 shows it's not too hard
to remember which 10 they were, but if you're doing a hundred, it becomes
difficult," he said with laugh.
The road trip that will bring him to Portland
next week actually began with three shows in Alaska on the first of May --
again, from one side of North America to the other in one tour. And this is on
top of a very busy winter.
"It was supposed to be a quiet winter for
me," he said, "but I ended up saying 'Yes' to a whole bunch of benefits and also
work on a film that we shot in Nepal in November and December. I do the
voice-over and there's a bunch of music in it, too, so I've been busy when it
was supposed to be down-time where I could collect myself and write, as an
artist."
The singer-songwriter confessed he's in need
of solitude to do writing nowadays and as he was unable to do it this past
winter, he plays to schedule in some time to let his muse communicate, but at
the same time, Cockburn's excited about this tour.
"I'm actually looking forward to (it) -- it's
a short little tour, only 13 or 14 shows -- but it seemed to be a good thing to
do at this moment. We've never done a solo live album before, so that'll be the
direction that this will go -- the shows are going to be solo so the album will
be, too, that'll be fun and add a little something to the shows."
There is a downside to the solo show that
balances off all the freedom, he said, and it's something one wouldn't think
about necessarily.
"It's also lonelier, so there's a trade-off
-- as there is with anything, so there's the freedom we've talked about, but I
miss the energy of the other people on stage, too. It works both ways for
different reasons."
---Lucky Clark is from Sweden, Maine---
Posted: May 16, 2008
- Bruce Cockburn returns
to Ithaca Saturday night
By Luke Z. Fenchel
Special to The Ithaca Journal
May 15, 2008
For more than 40 years, the singer and songwriter Bruce Cockburn
(pronounced with a long “o” rhyming with toe) has offered a distinctive brand of
folk that is religiously inspired and politically aware. His lyrics can best be
described as conscious: they are engaged and engaging without resorting to
sloganeering or one-dimensionality.
This Saturday, May 17, Cockburn will perform a special live solo show at
Ithaca High School's Kulp Auditorium. Advance tickets for the 8 p.m. show are
$27 and are available at the Clinton House Ticket Center or by calling 273-4497;
tickets will be $32 at the door.
The show is part of tour of the northeastern U.S. that will culminate in
the release of a live solo album. This will be Cockburn's 30th recording in a
career that stretches back to 1969; yet it will be the first ever solo live
recording in his catalogue. (Two other live records with a full band, 1977's
“Circles In The Stream” and 1990's “Live” are gems.) Cockburn will perform songs
from his entire career; though hopefully he will include a handful from his
beautifully introspective 29th album, “Life's Short, Call Now.”
A superstar in his native Canada, Cockburn has only had one song that
could be considered a hit in the U.S., “Wondering Where the Lions Are.” That
song, like much of Cockburn's oeuvre, manages to be both timely and timeless.
The lyrics obliquely address a conflict between the USSR and the US on the brink
of war. Cockburn's most recent album contains a potent track called “This Is
Baghdad,” which reads almost as reportage.
I caught up with Cockburn by phone on the brink of his upcoming tour.
Q: I really enjoy that the way “Life's Short” is sequenced, and the way
that instrumentals work in conjunction with more intense songs. How did you
decide to put songs without lyrics on albums with lyrics-based tracks? And what
can songs without words mean to you?
Cockburn: Interesting question. Well, they come by very different means.
With the songs with words that are lyric driven, I collect words in my notebook
and then try to write the music to carry those words. That's the more typical
way for a song to come into being for me. I start with lyrics, and then I
construct the music around the lyrics. The challenge there is to find music that
supports the song without overwhelming it.
With an instrumental piece, they mostly come from me dicking around on the
guitar—you know, practicing or whatever. And they're woven out of strictly
musical content.
The difference of course is that in context of a normal album of mine like
“Life's Short” there's a place for instrumental pieces because the lyrics are
intense for people. And it's nice to offer a break from that—like Shakespeare
would stick Falstaff into a play, you know. It's more like a reprieve than
anything else.
But there's another function as well. When you listen to music and there
are no words to wrap your mind around, then your mind is able to float freely on
the music. And it's quite a different effect on the listener. So it's
interesting to hear those pieces in that context instead of just as relief.
And I hadn't really thought about that side of it before working on this
album. There's a psychic space that is created that is really nice, you know?
Q: My feeling is that “This is Baghdad” and “Beautiful Creatures” are the
centerpieces in a way to the album. The latter has the falsetto and the former
seems so relevant at this time. I wonder if you could broaden the idea out of
what you mean when you talk about your own private imagery.
You are an artist that really engages in the world. I wonder how, as a
musician, it is to engage in topics of war and peace? Which sometimes read like
the tragedy appearing on the news—and unfortunately frequently become timeless
in its themes...
Cockburn: Yeah, unfortunately that tragedy continues to play itself out
repeatedly. I don't know how I got there. I was so influenced by beat writers
when I started. I mean, I had read “On the Road” and Ginsburg and all these
people, and I thought that it shaped my life in a way. The attitudes in those
books—of a kind of individualism, really rugged individualism—but one that is
full of concern and awareness. It's focused on what's going on around you. It
was a literature that was always engaged.
And it was engagement out of love. And this was the starting point; and
then I was of course influenced by Bob Dylan: a guy who was writing all kinds of
songs: love songs and silly songs, and songs that were very engaged politically
and socially.
With those models, it was a natural thing to include those aspects of life
in my own songs. At first, you didn't get so much of that because my travels
were exclusively in Canada. I had been a tourist a bit, but I really didn't tour
outside of Canada.
It's only with getting out of Canada at end of ‘70s when stuff that is
engaged starts showing up on the “Humans” album, and moves on from there. And
then the international side starts to come in.
And even then I was very cautious about putting political stuff in the
songs. I had grown up with this idea that art would be tainted by involvement
with political. It just seemed—I guess it was a white liberal notion, I suppose,
that if you mix the two the art would be watered down or tainted in some way.
But when I went to Latin America in the early ‘80s it became clear that
that was an artificial distinction. Only people living in relative luxury could
make that claim. In Latin America the distinction just wasn't there at all. If
you tried to talk to them about that they wouldn't have known what you're
talking about. So it was like, “Well, I can drop that one!”
And then the next step of the process is the recognition that the
political is as part of the human experience as anything else. Politics is as
much a part of life as sex or spirituality and everything else. It therefore
deserves the same creative attention than those other topics do.
Q: And you have such a delicate touch when you do that. I do believe that
the distaste of politics in art is a very privileged notion.
Cockburn: I realize that I've heard African artists make similar
statements to that—music is music and not about politics. But in their case,
somebody coming from an area of conflict or ruled by a government that isn't
answerable to its citizens, you have to be careful about what you say in your
songs. There's a fear factor that's pretty legitimate in other parts of the
world as well.
Q: Of course, but if I think of one of my favorite artists from last
year—I think of them as quite political: the band Musafir. And you've recorded
with Vieux Farke Toure, and he is political as well. Perhaps not political in
the sense of sloganeering. When I think of your art as engaged, I don't think of
it as sloganeering...
Cockburn: I hope that it's true. I want that to be true; so thank you for
saying it. To me, when you get into sloganeering you run the severe risk of
hurting the art. We can look at Soviet graphic art from the ‘20s and think that
it looks very cool, and that it has good design even though it is about
propaganda. But for me it is important thing to have the songs tell the truth as
I can grasp it. So it's not about sloganeering, and it is not about a simplistic
look; it is about the experience that I've had. For me, that's what separates
the art from the propaganda.
Posted: May 16, 2008
- The Kingston Whig-Standard
- May 16, 2008
Star-laden
Lovelace benefit sells out
A star-studded benefit
concert to raise money for imprisoned Algonquin protester Bob Lovelace has sold
out.
All 815 tickets for the June 14 Artists for
Bob benefit, featuring folk rocker Bruce Cockburn, bestselling author Michael
Ondaatje and a slate of award-winning artists, have been purchased, said
co-organizer Ellen Hamilton of Kingston's Leopard Frog recording studio.
Also appearing will be local Juno
award-winning musicians David Francey and Jenny Whiteley, as well as aboriginal
singer Susan Aglukark, who is considered the cultural ambassador to the Ardoch
Algonquin First Nation.
Well-known Kingston novelist Steven Heighton
and local musicians Joey Wright, Terry Tufts, the Algonquin Drummer, and Unity
will also perform at the show at Sydenham Street United Church.
The venue has 850 seats, 35 of which went to
artists and the Ardoch Algonquin family heads.
Lovelace is a former chief of the Ardoch
Algonquins and a Queen's University lecturer.
He was sentenced to six months in jail in
February for refusing a judge's order to stop blocking access to a uranium mine
prospecting site north of Sharbot Lake.
People from as far away as Victoria, B.C.,
and Nunavut have bought tickets for the show, Hamilton said.
Posted: May 16, 2006
By
L. David Wheeler, staff writer
Daily Messenger
Thu
May 15, 2008
Rochester, N.Y.
Still Kicking at the Darkness
“Pachinko jingle and space torpedo
beams/Comic book violence and
escaping steam ...” (from “Tokyo”)
“Huge
orange flying boat rises off a
lake/Thousand-year-old petroglyphs
doing a double take/pointing a
finger at eternity/I’m sitting in
the middle of this ecstasy ...”
(from “Wondering Where the Lions
Are”).
Bruce Cockburn has a journalist’s
eye for detail, which filters
through a Beat writer’s
sensibilities and turns of phrase.
That makes sense: The Beats,
especially Alan Ginsberg, were among
the earliest literary influences for
the Canadian singer-songwriter and
guitarist, who plays the German
House theater in Rochester on
Monday, May 19.
“In the early days it was those guys
who got me excited about writing and
kind of shaped my life,” Cockburn
said in a phone interview. “... As
soon as I discovered it was possible
to create these word pictures that
weren’t required to rhyme or tell a
story — at one point I suddenly
discovered there were other kinds of
poems, that evoked a feeling.”
He married this poetic impulse to
his gumbo of musical influences —
the jazz of Montgomery, Coltrane and
Coleman; Elvis and the early rock
and roll; the sixties powerhouses of
Dylan and the Beatles; and the
global spectrum of what would later
be called “world music” — resulting
in a musicmaking career of more than
four decades.
Busking
around Paris and attending Boston’s
Berklee College of Music for awhile
in the early 1960s, Cockburn
returned in his native Ottawa to
play in a series of rock bands,
developing a distinctive,
conversational vocal style and a
lyrical focus on the natural world
and matters of the spirit, lyrical
focuses that infused his first
several albums, starting in 1970.
A
well-known figure in his home
country, Cockburn was mostly a cult
figure in the United States — and
largely remains so, beloved by a
core fan base.
It wasn’t until 1979 that he
charted in the States with the
evocative, wonder-drenched
“Wondering Where the Lions Are.” A
later bout with U.S. recognition
came in the mid-1980s when he had a
modest U.S. hit with “If I Had a
Rocket Launcher.” That was one of
life’s assorted ironies: By then,
Cockburn’s writing had taken on an
increasingly political, largely
leftward, bent as he traveled the
world and observed people’s
hardships, exacerbated by
geopolitical tensions. “Rocket
Launcher” took direct aim at
Reagan-era U.S. policy in Central
America:
“How
many kids they’ve murdered, only God
can say/If I had a rocket launcher,
I’d make somebody pay.”
“Man,” he said, “it’s the last song
that I ever thought would see the
light of day on radio.”
In the 1990s and 2000s, Cockburn’s
repertoire has presented more of a
balance. Songs of love, romance and
connection, like “Bone in My Ear.”
Songs of spiritual and personal
reflection, like “Strange Waters.”
And the pointed political
statements, with as much bite as
ever:
“Everything’s broken in the
birthplace of law/As Generation Two
tries on his tragic flaw” (from
“This Is Baghdad,” 2004).
Recently he has teamed up with
retired General Romeo Dallaire,
former head of the United Nations
peacekeeping force in Rwanda, for an
October concert in Victoria to raise
awareness of the problem of child
soldiers worldwide and raise funds
for organizations trying to stop
their use and rehabilitate children
who’ve been indoctrinated and used
by warlords.
It’s one way to “kick at the
darkness ’til it bleeds daylight,”
as Cockburn put it in “Lovers in a
Dangerous Time.” But what happens
when the light doesn’t seem to bleed
through at all?
“Little bits of it do here and
there, and that’s what keeps you
going,” Cockburn said. “I go back
and forth — there really isn’t any
reasonable expectation of a good
outcome, but then, what the hell,
what else are you going to do? One
has to keep going on; otherwise what
are you going to do, just die? It’s
not as dark as it looks — it is as
dark as it looks, but there are a
lot of people focusing on fixing
things, and trying to keep things
from getting worse.”
Posted: May 15, 2008
Legendary
Mississippi Sheiks to get their due
- By Tony Montague
- Straight.com
- May 15, 2008
On a recent holiday, Steve
Dawson—guitar maestro and founder of local label Black Hen
Music—had the bright idea of putting together a tribute album to one of
his favourite bands, the Mississippi Sheiks.
Other than the blues classic “Sitting
on Top of the World”, the Sheiks’ songs are largely unknown to today’s
music fans, despite having been revered by Americana-influenced
musicians since the ’30s. In those days, the trio was one of the
hottest—and sauciest—acts around, and it influenced such legends as
Memphis Minnie, Robert Johnson,
and Big Bill Broonzy.
“Much of their stuff remains
obscure,” Dawson told the Straight. “They disbanded in 1935, but were
one of the first bands to generate crossover interest from both black
and white communities. What’s going to make this different from the
regular tribute album is that, for the most part, there’s going to be a
house band and the musicians are coming here to record over a three-day
period.” The artists appearing on the album—which is scheduled to be out
in March 2009—include Madeleine Peyroux,
Bill Frisell, Bruce Cockburn,
John Hammond, the Carolina Chocolate Drops,
Bob Brozman, Kelly Joe Phelps,
Geoff Muldaur, Van Dyke Parks,
and Dawson’s recording buddies Jim Byrnes and
the Sojourners.
“Ry Cooder
has also agreed to do it, much to the chagrin of his lawyer. We don’t
know how it’s going to shake down, but he would be recording in L.A.,”
Dawson said.
- May 13, 2008
- D. Keebler
Bernie Finkelstein is currently
on the road with Bruce in preparation for the taping of his live shows in the
Northeast of the U.S. From the road I received the following email... with some
exciting news:
Hi Daniel,
Great news.
We have a film crew with us on the
road with an eye towards making two projects:
1. A "solo" concert film taken from the first five shows of this current tour
being shot in High Definition. Colin Linden is on the road and is doing the
sound for the "concert film" as well as the "Live" CD.
2. The beginning of a Bruce Cockburn "bio" film that will use footage shot
during this current tour and lot's of archival footage from all periods of
Bruce's career.
Just for clarity we will be shooting the shows in Northampton (both shows),
Boston, Ithaca, and Rochester as well as having the cameras on the bus and
backstage etc.
There is no release date at this point planned for either of the above projects
or the "Live CD." The shows will hopefully be aired on TV stations around the
world and of course on DVD.
We'll send you more info as we get it.
Bernie
Posted: May 9, 2008
The diversity of singer-songwriter Bruce
Cockburn’s humanitarian efforts is bested only by the depth of his songbook.
Musically, his sights are set on his first live solo-acoustic album, but
altruistically, his current focus is harder to pin down.
“I was in Nepal for a month before
Christmas, and that trip will be the subject of a film that’s in the final
editing stages,” Cockburn said. “I don’t know where that film will turn up,
but it’s a documentary on development in Nepal.”
He’s also working to benefit Ardoch
Algonquin First Nation retired chief Bob Lovelace, jailed for blocking
prospector access to a proposed uranium mine site in Ontario, and
war-affected children in Rwanda through the Child Soldiers Initiative.
“Once people know you’re willing, there’s
no end to requests,” Cockburn said. “It’s been a pretty interesting part of
my life since the early ‘80s.”
The folk singer, activist and storyteller
— whose legendary status in Canada is concentrated to a cult following the
United States — will play a rare acoustic show in Fairbanks on Saturday.
Cockburn said his aid work has helped
nurture his own understanding of how the world works.
“The whole approach that I take to
writing my songs is that they all come from some kind of experience or at
least imagery that at least comes from people I’m in close contact with,” he
said. “Mostly, it’s my take on things, and if I wasn’t seeing those things
up close, I wouldn’t have any take on them.”
His involvement in aid organizations
leads to new experiences that sometimes breed songs, but that’s a
side-effect, not the goal.
“It’s really about trying to do my bit to
leave the campsite better than I found it,” he said.
Musically, his pendulum has swung from
inward-looking exercises in the ‘70s, to outward in the ‘80s, with a little
of both through the ‘90s. Today, with a laugh, he describes it as “totally
chaotic and schizophrenic.”
“Chaos is a pretty big influence in the
world,” Cockburn said, describing how he tries to ride the wave of life
experiences to find connections in the world’s bigger picture. “I find
myself doing that a lot, just waiting for the next thing to whack me into
some other kind of awareness.”
Cockburn keenly interprets his own
environment through song, and his drive for truthful storytelling has been
the hallmark of his long and storied career.
“I grew up under the influence of so many
artists who were striving for some kind of artistic freedom, kind of free of
commercial consideration — or at least said they did — and I bought that
myth when I was young,” he said. “I used to think, ‘I don’t care if anybody
buys these records,’ but of course I did, and now, I want people to buy them
and like them.”
Those factors haven’t driven his career.
“I’ve always had power of veto over
everything that’s happened, and that hasn’t changed. And the music business
has always been at arm’s length to me thanks to my manager and a small,
independent Canadian label,” he said. “I’ve never had to really face the
worst of what can happen when you’re dealing with business the way most
people do.”
Part of his current tour will result in
his first live solo-acoustic album, the 30th album for the man known best
for “Wondering Where the Lions Are” and “If I Had a Rocket Launcher.”
“I’ve done live albums before, but always
with a band, so it’ll be nice to be able to offer a solo,” Cockburn said.
The album will be recorded at the end of
his current tour, in the New England area, and though Fairbanks and
Anchorage shows won’t be included, his performance will reflect the song
choice for the upcoming album.
“I have a brain capacity of I don’t know
how many mini-bytes, but I can keep about 40 or 50 songs in my head after
recording about 300,” Cockburn said, “The 40 or 50 I play in Alaska will be
the same.”
-Michelle Peterson
is a freelance writer for the News-Miner.
Posted: May 8, 2008
Cockburn kicks off Shorebird
Festival
Canadian artist seeks to
change the world one song at a time
By Katie Emerick
Homer Tribune
May 7, 2008
Bruce Cockburn is not a man known for
avoiding politics in his music. In fact, anyone who has heard his song “If I Had
a Rocket Launcher” - written after a trip in 1983 to Guatemalan refugee camps in
Mexico - can have little doubt that Cockburn is a man with a steadfast
propensity to speak out with brutal honesty. After seeing the refugee camps,
Cockburn wrote in his notebook, “I understand now why people want to kill.”
For Cockburn, 2006 saw the release of his
26th album, “Life Short Call Now.” The collection travels through exploratory
musical planes of blues, rock 'n' roll, jazz and folk, using styles born from
around the world. Through his travels with various humanitarian aid projects in
Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Cockburn is something of a
living legend. A profound lyricist and deeply talented musician, he has spent
the past three decades - since his first solo album release in 1970 - honing his
art and learning from life.
Fresh from high school in the mid 1960's,
Cockburn witnessed a society that was in the midst of massive transformation.
“The 60s had a ripple effect that showed people you could change the world,”
Cockburn said in an earlier interview. “At least there was the possibility that
people could accomplish something - not anything perfect, but something
workable.”
In an interview with Bob Duran, Cockburn said
that he “believed for a long time that music was somehow above politics, that
art could be held separately from the rest of human affairs.” Over time,
however, Cockburn said he learned the importance of paying attention; that even
if one chooses to ignore the unpleasant, it doesn't mean that the unpleasant
ceases to exist or that its effects won't be felt.
“You have to decide whether you want to take
a stand or not,” he explained. “To me, it's a legitimate decision if you decide
to take a stance of non-involvement, but it has to be a deliberate choice and
you must realize the implications.”
Cockburn chose to take a stand.
But to say that Cockburn is purely a
political artist, however, is entirely too one-dimensional. Cockburn himself
said he's not an activist, he's a songwriter. And like the best songwriters, he
draws material from his life experiences as a father, a Christian and a
traveler.
For Cockburn, when it comes to songwriting -
a process he likens to “finding your way in the dark by starlight,” - the
purpose is to create good art. He contends there is no point in having words to
music if they don't say anything. Cockburn said he often finds more direction
for his writing from poetry and looks to other countries' musical traditions - a
quality lacking in Canada, he says - for inspiration. Whether it's reggae,
Afro-pop, traditional Ethiopian or Malian sounds, Cockburn finds a place for it
in his music.
“It's the sharing of human experience,” he
said.
That human experience has given Cockburn the
material to become a world-class singer-songwriter, as he uses life as a tool
for self-expression through music. And whether he finds himself writing about
love, loss or the state of the humanity, Cockburn is a man who has seen much of
the world at its worst and yet still manages to find incredible inspiration in
it.
Cockburn will come to Alaska to perform for
the first time with a solo show at the Mariner Theater. The Homer gig will be
his first in the state before heading to Fairbanks and Anchorage, and provides a
great opportunity to see a man working to change the world, one song at a time.
Posted: May 8, 2008
Life’s Short
By Saby Reyes-Kulkarni
- Anchorage Press
- May 8, 2008
Nearly forty years into his
solo career, Bruce Cockburn’s social conscience appears to be as
stimulated as it ever has been.
Since a trip to Nicaragua in
1983 during the Sandinista revolt, the critically acclaimed
singer-songwriter has maintained a steady focus on humanitarian and
environmental issues. Cockburn (pronounced “co-burn”), has not only made
it a point to reflect his convictions in song, he’s also done a great
deal of traveling to impoverished, often war-torn parts of the world, on
behalf of various relief efforts, including, most recently, to Iraq in
2004.
Unsurprisingly, Cockburn’s
travel experiences emerge frequently in his songs, such as “This Is
Baghdad” from his latest album, 2006’s Life Short Call Now.
Generally speaking, Cockburn
prefers a direct lyrical approach. But although he says he writes from
the point of view of a “reporter” (one that just so happens to have
dropped the quest for—and pretense of—objectivity), he also strives for
poetry in his delivery.
“By juxtaposing the images or
scenes that you create, you add layers of meaning,” Cockburn says. “You
take a car bomb going off and you put it in the context of a sunny day,
and it’s no longer surrounded by gloom.”
Cockburn says he still
struggles sometimes to fit all the layers in.
“With a song like ‘This Is
Baghdad,’” he admits, “it was frustrating because there was so much to
put in. It wasn’t so much a question of what to leave out, but knowing
how to put it together into a picture that made any sense without
including everything. What I couldn’t put in the song, or couldn’t
figure out how, was the degree to which the passersby were utterly
unmoved by this event. It was in the distance, but no one gave any sign
that they’d even heard it.”
Cockburn marvels at the
extent to which people can become inured to stress and violence. On the
other hand, the conditions in the places he visits often bring out the
best in people. Often, the generosity and warmth he encounters can, to a
degree, help reaffirm his faith in people.
“You see people rising to the
occasion,” he explains. “At the very least, it suggests ‘okay, maybe I
could do as well in these circumstances,’ and it’s like ‘more power to
these people.’ It’s kind of reassuring in a weird way. In most of the
situations that I’ve been in, there’s something affirmative going on.
You tend to see this resilience and sometimes, by great effort,
imagination brought to bear on the difficulties at hand.”
That isn’t always the case,
though. Cockburn has also witnessed depths of depravity that most
people, if they’re lucky, can barely fathom.
“The second time I was in
Mozambique,” he recalls, “it was really depressing because it didn’t
seem like there was any of that. Everything was broken, every single
thing. Every human and social bond. You had the sense that children
didn’t trust their parents and vice versa and that everybody would sell
everybody for whatever.”
Musically, Cockburn has a
knack for weaving together these two disparate extremes: tenderness and
humanity on the one hand, distress and angst on the other.
On Life Short’s title track,
for example, he underscores a sky-is-falling mood with the line you’ve
no idea how I long / for even one loving caress. As the song
strolls—almost lollygags—along, gently nudged by his acoustic guitar
strokes, Cockburn sounds more vulnerable than weary, more wise than
despairing.
But as much as the words and
music appear to flow together, Cockburn’s primary emphasis has always
been lyrics. In fact, over the course of 25 studio albums, he can only
recall one instance where he didn’t write the lyrics first.
“The majority of the songs
are lyric-driven,” he says. “I have an interest in music per se, apart
from words, but it always seemed to me that if you’re going to have
words, then they might as well say something. And once you get on that
track, the words start leading the procession. When I get a set of
lyrics that’s complete enough that I know what direction they’re going
in, then I start looking for music to carry those words. It’s analogous
to putting a score on a film. The music has to support other elements.”
Indeed, Life Short crackles
with those elements. Billboards fill the air with visual clutter as
animal species die off while a peace march surges onward and the
aforementioned car bomb goes off and, in one song, an arms dealer
propositions a young Cockburn to accompany him on a job (a real-life
incident, by the way; Cockburn actually considered the offer before
demurring). As these scenes unfold, it’s hard to deny the underlying
sense of hope in spite of the album title’s fatalistic ring.
“Things look pretty damn
dark,” he laughs. “I think we’re going to get a die-off one way or
another, whether it’s a die-off or a kill-off. Because a lot of the
stuff that’s going on in the world is going to produce severe conflict.
It looks dark —but not hopeless. Hope, in my own frame of reference, is
a good concept, but it’s also a bit of a fantasy. The probability is
that we’re in deep shit. But, it’s a probability. It’s not a certainty.
And even if it were a certainty, I don’t think it would make much
difference in how I operate. You have to try to make it better.”
- Posted: Aprl 26, 2006
- The London Free Press
- Event deftly ties
chamber, world-beat
- by
James Reaney
One of the major artistic accomplishments in
London for 2008 -- or maybe any year -- will take the songs of Gordon Lightfoot,
Joni Mitchell, Bruce Cockburn and other Canadian folk icons to new places
tonight.
Songs of the Land is a remarkable
collaboration between a top chamber choir, London Pro Musica, and the Antler
River Project, a world-beat ensemble.
Famous songs like The Circle Game, Helpless
and If You Could Read My Mind and innovative recording techniques, which had
choir members recording vocals while watching videos of Ken Fleet conducting,
are part of its saga. "It was a total London project when you think about it,"
says Juno-winning Fanshawe College professor Kevin Doyle. "Nothing like this has
ever been attempted in Canada before."
Doyle produced Songs of the Land. It is being
launched tonight at a London Pro Musica concert, with the Antler River Project
and other guests, at Dundas Street Centre church at 8 p.m.
An early version of Songs of the Land's
treatment of a Cockburn song has made its way to the singer-songwriter.
Doyle sent a version of the Pro Musica/Antlers
piece to Cockburn's manager, Bernie Finkelstein, an old friend. "They've heard
it. They're ecstatic. They can't wait to hear the CD," Doyle says of Finkelstein
and Cockburn's reaction.
Like many London masterpieces, Songs of the
Land was years in the making and has too many heroes to be mentioned in one
place. The Antler River Project, including arrangers Oliver Whitehead and
Stephen (Steve) Holowitz, used some of Canadian folk material in 2004.
In 2005, London Pro Musica's Songs for the
Land concert added to the Antler's folk icons. "The whole project was both
wonderfully self-indulgent and a huge labour of love," London Pro Musica's
Catherine McInnes said then.
Tunes from that concert are standouts on the
new album.
McInnes and fellow London Pro Musica singer
Jenny Nauta are executive producers on Songs of the Land.
That means many things, including hours of
checking details in scores. It also means a chance to arrange songs by their
heroes. For McInnes, that is Cockburn. For Nauta, it's Mitchell.
"I really wanted to do a Joni Mitchell song
because she is one of my favourites and what she has done in every genre is so
important," Nauta says. She arranged The Circle Game, one of Mitchell's earliest
masterpieces.
"Catherine McInnes and Jenny Nauta understood
the concept," Doyle says.
Both had worked with Doyle on their own
projects. McInnes has a solo CD. Nauta is part of jazz vocal quartet After Four,
who recorded with Doyle on an album with Toronto vibes master Peter Appleyard as
a guest.
"Working with Kevin, one needs to be flexible
and follow the creativity," Nauta says. "There was a lot of enthusiasm and
willingness to make some changes on the spot . . . the LPM singers really rose
to the occasion."
You can hear that enthusiasm on Songs of the
Land. Fleet, who has been part of about 25 recordings, is finding a new personal
hit daily. "Two days ago, I would have said Big Yellow Taxi. Night Ride Home,
that was my favourite yesterday," Fleet says.
I know what Fleet means. There are so many
dimensions to Songs of the Land. Fiona Wilkinson's flute. The rustle and pulse
of the Antlers' percussion. The marvellous singing. The marvellous songs. The
imagination. The only to do is go out tonight and marvel.
IF YOU GO
What: CD launch for Songs of the Land, by
London Pro Musica choir and Antler River Project. The programme includes songs
by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, the McGarrigles, Bruce Cockburn and
Gordon Lightfoot.
When: Tonight, 8 p.m.
Where: Dundas Street Centre church, 482
Dundas St. (at Maitland)
Details: Adults, $20 in advance, $22 at door;
seniors, $18 advance, $20 door; students, $10, $11. Call 519-679-8778 or
519-666-1577 or check londonpromusica.org
Posted: April 21, 2008
Finkelstein Management Press
Release
Bruce Cockburn
To Record His First Ever Live Solo Album
Bruce Cockburn
will be recording a live solo album on his spring tour of the Northeast
US. As well there is one date in Quebec that is taking place during the
Festival des Guitares Du
Monde.
This will be
Bruce’s 30th recording in a career that stretches back to
1969 however it will be the first ever solo live recording in his fabled
catalogue. In the past he’s recorded two other live records (Circles In
The Stream, 1977 and Live 1990) as well as one live EP (You Pay Your
Money and You Take Your Chance, 1998). However, all of these recordings
were done with a full band.
The CD will be
produced by long time friend, Colin Linden. The recordings are expected
to be released by True North in fall of 2008.
Bruce has long
been regarded as one of the world’s finest solo performers. Performing
alone is a format that allows his sparkling musicianship and amazing
guitar prowess to shine through, as well as completely focusing the
attention on his amazing catalogue of songs which have now received over
250 cover versions by such great artists as Jimmy Buffett, The Barenaked
Ladies, kd Lang, Judy Collins, Jerry Garcia and Third World to name only
a few.
All of the
following shows will be recorded for the live record.
- MAY
14 NORTHAMPTON MA -THE IRON HORSE
- MAY
15 NORTHAMPTON MA -THE IRON HORSE
- MAY 16 BOSTON
MA -SOMERVILLE THEATRE
- MAY 17 ITHACA
NY -KULP AUDITORIUM
- MAY
19 ROCHESTER NY -GERMAN HOUSE THEATRE
- MAY
20 SELLERSVILLE PA -SELLERSVILLE THEATRE
- MAY
21 LONDONDERRY NH -TUPELO MUSIC HALL
- MAY
22 PORTLAND ME -FIRST PARRISH CHURCH
- MAY
23 BROOKFIELD NH -TUMBLEDOWN FARM BARN
- MAY
25 ROUYN-NORANDA,
PQ -CONGRESS CENTRE
Posted: April 17
- Provincial Journal
- Fredericton, NB
Faculty union holding private
party
FREDERICTON - The St. Thomas faculty
association plans to celebrate the end of a long, hard year Friday. The union
spent more than 11 months in negotiations with the university administration.
The labour dispute ended with a lockout, a strike and binding arbitration. The
contract from the arbitrator isn't expected until mid-June. The union is hosting
the party for its friends and supporters at the Sweetwaters' Rockin' Rodeo room
in downtown Fredericton on Friday. Musician Bruce Cockburn will be the
entertainment. The event is not open to the general public. The union hopes to
raise money at the concert to help other unions that take similar job action
during contract negotiations. Friday's event will start with a potluck at 5:30
p.m. The Cockburn concert will begin at 8:15 p.m. Sweetwaters' Rockin' Rodeo
will be closed to the public for the event until 11 p.m. Friday when it will
open as usual.
- Posted: April 17, 2008
- Finkelstein Management
SOLDIER AND SINGER JOIN
FORCES TO END THE USE OF CHILD SOLDIERS
Romeo
Dallaire and Bruce Cockburn headline benefit concert
Singer/songwriter Bruce
Cockburn and retired General Romeo Dallaire, both University of Victoria
honorary degree recipients, will team up this fall at the university for
Child Soldiers No More, an evening of song and spoken word in
support of ending the use of child soldiers. An estimated 300,000
children in more than 30 countries serve as soldiers, human mine
detectors, porters, spies, suicide messengers and sex slaves.
Proceeds from the October 4
concert will aid the Child Soldiers Initiative, developed by three UVic
School of Child and Youth Care researchers. Sibylle Artz, Marie Hoskins,
and Daniel Scott are working on a process to re-integrate war-affected
children back into their communities. “Our research is aimed at
developing effective methods of re-introducing these children to a
stable life,” says Artz.
Tickets for the concert are
$75 each and go on sale April 26, 2008. For further information contact
the University Ticket Centre at 721-8480 or visit
www.auditorium.uvic.ca
Since witnessing the Rwandan
genocide, which he documented in his award-winning book, Shake Hands
with the Devil – The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, Dallaire has
devoted his life to helping war-affected children. Cockburn has long
been a spokesperson for global peace. “It is a great honour to be
working with General Dallaire and raising awareness about this
initiative,” he says.
“The active involvement of
children in violent conflict is a concern for everyone working toward
stability, peace and prosperity. Removing all children from combat is an
essential step to end cycles of violence,” says Dallaire.
Posted: April 17, 2008
General, singer team up for
show
Concert at UVic to raise
money and awareness for child soldiers
- Kim
Westad
- Times
Colonist
April 17, 2008
At first blush, they're an unlikely
concert duo.But
retired general Romeo Dallaire and singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn
share a passion for humanitarian issues, one they'll bring to the
stage at the University of Victoria in a concert Oct. 4 to raise
money and awareness about child soldiers.
Cockburn said yesterday he was a
bit surprised when the request came from UVic, but he jumped at the
chance to work with a person he admires. "Well, we might be about
the same age," Cockburn laughed when asked what he and the senator
have in common. (They're a year apart.) "But actually, it's not too
far out of line considering the topic and the point of the benefit."
The idea for the unusual pairing
came from the university's School of Child and Youth Care, where
three researchers are working on a process to re-integrate child
soldiers back into their communities.
Dallaire has helped war-affected
children since witnessing the Rwandan genocide, which he documented
in his award-winning book, Shake Hands With the Devil. Dallaire led
the ill-fated United Nations peacekeeping mission into Rwanda in
1994. Cockburn has long been a spokesman for global peace. And both
men have honorary degrees from UVic.
The concert is billed as an
"evening of song and spoken word." Cockburn will definitely sing,
but don't hold out too much hope for Dallaire doing the same. "I
don't want to say a singalong between us will never happen, but I'd
say it's less than likely."
The two met at Dallaire's senate
office last week and talked for an hour. "He's one of those people
who makes you feel special by the way he listens so intently to what
you say," said Cockburn, interviewed en route to a benefit concert
in Fredericton, N.B.
Tickets for the Oct. 4 concert go
on sale April 26. The $81.50 tickets are available at the university
ticket centre. For further information, call 721-8480 or go to
www.auditorium.uvic.ca
Posted: April 17, 2008
- The
Kingston Whig-Standard
-
Kingston, Ontario
Ondaatje, Cockburn to headline benefit concert for mine protester
World-famous writer
Michael Ondaatje will join Canadian folk-rock artist Bruce Cockburn at a
June benefit concert to raise money for jailed Algonquin uranium mine
protester Bob Lovelace.
A recipient of the
Order of Canada and the illustrious Booker Prize, Ondaatje is perhaps
best known as the author of The English Patient. He, Cockburn and
several other artists will perform at the Artists for Bob concert at
Sydenham Street United Church, 82 Sydenham St., on June 14 at 7 p.m.
The other artists who have agreed to
appear include Susan Aglukark, David Francey, Jenny Whiteley, Steven
Heighton, Joey Wright, Terry Tufts, Unity and the Algonquin Drummers.
Lovelace, a retired chief of the
Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and a Queen's University lecturer, has
been imprisoned for blocking prospector access to a proposed uranium
mine site in North Frontenac.
All funds raised through the concert
will go to Lovelace through a trust fund.
Unreserved seating costs $30 while
limited Free Bob Lovelace Supporter tickets cost $100. They include
preferred seating, an Artists For The Algonquin compilation CD, and a
pass to the artist after-show party.
Tickets are available at Brian's
Record Option, Novel Idea, Tara Natural Foods and The Grand Theatre box
office, located inside City Hall.
Tickets can also be ordered by
phoning 613-530-2050 or online at www.grandtheatre-kingston.com.
-
-
- Posted: April 16, 2008
- Finkelstein Management
Artists For Bob
Lovelace Benefit Concert
A concert featuring Canada’s best musicians and writers takes place Saturday,
June 14th at the Sydenham St. United Church in Kingston. Bruce Cockburn, Susan
Aglukark, David Francey, Jenny Whiteley, Joey Wright, Terry Tufts, Unity, and
the Algonquin Drummers will perform at what will be an incredible night of music
and community spirit. The event will raise funds for Robert Lovelace, father,
retired chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and Queen’s University
professor, who has been imprisoned for his peaceful opposition to uranium mining
in North Frontenac. All proceeds from the benefit concert will go to Bob
Lovelace through a trust fund established for him by OPIRG Kingston.
Bruce Cockburn, an officer of the Order of Canada, has earned 20 gold and
platinum records in Canada, 11 Juno Awards and is inducted into the Canadian
Music Hall of Fame. Inuit singer-songwriter, Susan Aglukark is also a member of
the Order of Canada and a multiple Juno Award winner. Multiple Juno winners
David Francey and Jenny Whiteley will also perform along with two of Canada’s
best guitarists, Joey Wright and Terry Tufts. The Algonquin Drummers will open
the show with a ceremonial Algonquin drum and Unity, an aboriginal women’s
singing group will sing both traditional and original music.
Unreserved seating is $30. Tickets are available at Brian’s Record Option, Novel
Idea, Tara Natural Foods and The Grand Theatre Box Office at City Hall, phone:
613- 530-2050. For online ordering contact:
www.grandtheatre-kingston.com.
-
Posted:
April 11, 2008
- Report and photo by George Baker
Bruce performed four songs to an
audience of about fifteen people at WXRV in Boston on April 8, 2008. He played
Child of the Wind, If I had a Rocket Launcher, Wondering Where the Lions Are and
If A Tree Falls. He also spoke about agricultural issues.
Posted: April 5, 2008
- The Kingston Whig-Standard
- April 5, 2008
-
Canadian icon Cockburn to perform at benefit
- Posted By Frank Armstrong
Canadian folk-rock icon
Bruce Cockburn will perform at a June benefit concert for jailed Algonquin
activist Bob Lovelace.
Cockburn, who has a home in the area, will be
the headline act at the Artists for Bob concert June 14 at Sydenham Street
United Church.
Co-organizer Ellen Hamilton, who runs
Kingston's Leopard Frog music- recording studio, said she and a handful of
others in the local music industry asked Cockburn to perform because they
thought it was a cause he might support.
"He has consistently spoken up for what's
right and just and he seems quite interested in social justice," she said. "We
also know he lives in the area."
Tickets, which will cost $30, will begin
selling Monday through the Grand Theatre, Brian's Record Option, Novel Idea and
other retailers.
Also playing Artists for Bob will be
three-time Juno Award-winning Aboriginal recording artist Susan Aglukark,
legendary Sharbot Lake-area guitarist Joey Wright, and Unity and the Algonquin
Drummers.
"We're also close to getting two other famous
artists in Canada, but can't release [names] yet because we're still negotiating
with them," Hamilton said.
The organizers came together after Lovelace
was imprisoned Feb. 15 for six months for refusing to obey a judge's order to
stop blocking uranium exploration north of Sharbot Lake.
Lovelace, a father of two adopted young
children and a Queen's University lecturer, was also fined $25,000.
Like many others, Hamilton said she was
watching the story about the uranium protest from the sidelines until Lovelace
was jailed for protesting peacefully.
"This sentencing of Bob Lovelace, it was a
wake-up call for some of us," she said.
Posted: March 21, 2008
Arthur C. Clarke, the science
fiction writer, best known for “2001: A Space Odyssey” died on 19 March 2008. In
1953 Clarke wrote his most famous short story, “The Nine Billion Names of God.”
John Clute in The Independent dated 20 March 2008 wrote that “the story rewards
a triumph of science with the calm extinction of the universe. An Asian sect
hires a computer expert to tabulate all the possible names of God, in the belief
that the universe will end when that essential task has been accomplished. The
computer makes short shrift of the task. And the stars begin to go out.”
On 22 May 1990 Bruce Cockburn wrote the song One Of The Best Ones which was
released on the album, Nothing But A Burning Light (1991). The track includes
the lines:
Like the nine billion names of God
Don’t bring you any closer
To anyone you can simply set eyes on
-Complied by Richard Hoare
Posted:
March 10, 2008
Bruce Cockburn visits
Truro for Seedy Saturday event
- Truro Daily News
- March 8, 2008
TRURO - Amongst the stream of
people coming and going from St. Andrew's United Church this weekend in support
of Seedy Saturday, one man stood out with his long black leather jacket and
small round glasses.
Canadian folk/rock icon Bruce
Cockburn quietly strolled around the crowded room, stopping every few minutes to
checkout a particular displays or chat with a vendor about their product and how
it affects the environment.
Cockburn was there to represent
the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada, an organization he's been supporting
since he got the first paycheck from his first album in 1970.
"All of the sudden I had this big royalty check. It wasn't a large amount of
money by modern standards but it was more than I had ever seen in one place. And
I though oh my God I cant just spend this, it was too much money," said
Cockburn.
He's been a "mouth piece" for
the organization ever since. Travelling all over the world in support of small
farmers and the environment for 30 years.
Photo by: Colin MacLean
Posted: March 6, 2008
Cockburn here to promote food
safety
- by Cathy Von Kintzer,
Truro Bureau
- The Chronicle Herald
- Nova Scotia
- March 6, 2008
TRURO — Canadian musician Bruce Cockburn
comes to Truro on Friday to help kick off the four-day Real Food, Farming and
Flowers weekend focused on food security and related issues, both locally and
globally.
Mr. Cockburn, who recently returned from a
USC Canada trip to Nepal, will also be in Halifax on Saturday night for the Food
Sovereignty and Biodiversity event at the Garrison Brewery on Marginal Road.
"There’s a lot of talk about buying locally,
growing your own food and supporting farmers’ markets," Mark Austin,
co-organizer of the Truro and Halifax events, said by phone Wednesday from his
home near Truro.
"I believe, as many do right now, we have to
find a way to reconnect with where our food comes from. Along with that, we need
to produce food in a sustainable way. In other words, I’m not a great believer
in industrial farming and processed foods."
Mr. Cockburn will discuss farming in Nepal
and West Africa when he speaks on Friday during a community gathering from 7 to
9 p.m. at St. Andrew’s United Church on King Street in Truro.
A farmers’ market, cafe, small film festival
of food and farm-related documentaries, and children’s entertainment will be
held at the church Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will also be displays
focused on local food and healthy landscapes and a workshop on saving seeds.
"It’s kind of like a meet-a-farmer event and
a chance to find out about farm-gate opportunities in the area," Mr. Austin
said.
"I want to be informed when I go to the
supermarket or the farmers’ market about what my choices are. But I’m also very
aware that there are people around the world who don’t have choices."
Mr. Cockburn, along with USC Canada executive
director Susan Walsh and others will be at the Garrison Brewery in Halifax
Saturday from 8 to 10 p.m. for discussions, food and music focused on real food
and farming around the world. USC is a non-profit international development
organization. Tickets are available from Mr. Austin at 896-0184 or at the Wooden
Monkey restaurant on Argyle Street.
Events conclude Monday with a seminar
entitled Challenges of Organic Integrity in a World of GMOs and Nanotechnology.
Pat Mooney, an agricultural biodiversity activist, is featured and the talk
begins at noon in Room C24 of the Cox Institute at the Nova Scotia Agricultural
College.
Posted: January 9, 2008
- The
Mississauga News
- January 8,
2008
-
-
Mississauga executive rules
True North
- By John Stewart
When Geoff Kulawick was a
kid growing up in Ottawa, he learned to play the piano by listening to the
Downchild Blues Band on a record called So Far.
These days, Kulawick is
president and owner of Mississauga's Linus Entertainment and is in the process
of re-issuing
So Far: A Collection of Our Best, by the Mississauga-based band.
Kulawick, now almost 44,
has gone from being a recreation room music fan to running his own record
company to which he can sign his musical idols.
Not only that, but he has
just finished spearheading a megadeal with two other major Ontario investors
that has put the iconic Canadian True North record label into his fold.
In an interview from his
south Mississauga home, Kulawick said the thing that first attracted him to the
music business — artists and the wonderful work they produce — is still what
fuels his passion.
"I think music is more
important now than ever in people's lives," says Kulawick, whose wife, Brooke,
was born and raised in Mississauga. "It is still one of the most emotional
communications people have with each other."
There was never any doubt
about what Kulawick wanted to do with his life.
"I always loved music,"
says the father of nine-year-old Karina and seven-year-old Matthew.
"I played guitar and piano
and I knew it meant I had a better chance of getting girls," he adds, laughing.
"I always loved writing songs."
His rise through the record
business was anything but meteoric. It was a long, hard slug. After graduating
from Fanshawe College in London in music industry arts, he moved to Toronto and
took odd jobs in the business and knocked endlessly on closed doors.
"They pay you almost
nothing for 80 hours of work, but that is what I wanted to do," he recalls.
He got his break when he
was hired by Solid Gold Records. Kulawick became the tour manager for Gowan,
worked at A & M, moved on to be creative director at Warner/Chappell and then
got his dream job at Virgin/EMI in Mississauga, "only working with artists I
really wanted to sign."
He delivered a series of
platinum- and gold-selling records for artists such as Leahy, Choclair, Boomtang
Boys and La Bottine Souriante, a 15-piece world music outfit that became huge in
its home province of Québec.
But Kulawick could see "the
writing was on the wall" for big record companies. New technologies undermined
what was once their iron grip.
"There was no patience for
the long-term development of artists," he says with disappointment. "There was
less creative decision-making. Everything was based on delivering the big hit —
in that quarter."
Having gone to night school
to learn the business side of the equation, Kulawick struck out on his own in
2001, establishing Linus Entertainment in Mississauga, dedicated to Canadian
artists. His roster is a who's who of styles and genres from old folkies Gordon
Lightfoot and Ray Materick to the classy Mississauga-based classical Quartetto
Gelato to breaking jazz diva Sophie Millman, whose band features Mississauga's
Kieran Overs on bass.
A longtime admirer of
Bernie Finkelstein and True North Records who proved that Canadian music could
have international impact, Kulawick "reached out to him" as the new kid on the
block on independent label street.
"He is an upstanding leader
in a business that is known for questionable values," he says. "I was always
bending his ear."
At one of their regular
lunches, Finkelstein mentioned he was thinking of selling. Kulawick asked for
the chance to find a buyer. He recruited investors Harvey Glatt and Mike Pilon
and together they bought the label he loved, and will keep operating as a
separate entity. Finkelstein remains as chair and advisor.
"I'm going to be doing
everything I can to be a good caretaker," says Kulawick. "But we also want to
break new acts."
He already has some prime
True North candidates, including The Golden Dogs, a pop-rock band from Toronto.
Some day, he hopes to be as
associated with other Canadian artists as Finkelstein is with Bruce Cockburn and
his song, If I Had A Rocket Launcher.
"That's why I got in the
business," says Kulawick. "Songs like that still have the power to change the
world."
photo by:
Daniel Ho
END