For the first time since 2010’s “Small Source of Comfort”, Bruce Cockburn is back in the studio recording album number 33!
True North Records is aiming to release the album in 2017 but exactly when, is not yet known. The album will be produced by Colin Linden and be recorded in several studios throughout North America.
The album will contain all new songs written by Bruce.
Bruce has written more than 300 songs on 32 albums over a career spanning 45 years. Twenty-four Cockburn records have received a Canadian gold or platinum certification as of 2013, including most recently 6 times platinum for his Christmas album.
Bruce will be doing a couple of numbers at the Canadian Folk Music Awards in Toronto on December 3. ~ Bernie Finkelstein
Oct 27, 2016 – The Canadian Folk Music Awards, now in its 12th year, are coming to Toronto, Ontario from December 2-3, 2016. The 72 talented artist nominees for the 2016 CFMA were recently announced at Toronto City Hall and hail from Canadian provinces and territories from coast-to-coast-to-coast. This year’s gala event is taking place at the Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles St West in downtown Toronto on Saturday, December 3, 2016.
The gala is hosted, in both official languages, by award-winning musicians Jean Hewson and Benoit Bourque (La Bottine Souriante) and is open to the public. Tickets for the gala are $45 (plus a $2 processing fee) and are available here.
http://uofttix.ca/view.php?id=1287
Doors open at 7 p.m. for the event.
The Canadian Folk Music Awards are pleased to announce the 2016 gala line-up, which includes prolific Canadian songwriter Bruce Cockburn. His achievements and decorations include being an Officer of the Order of Canada, an inductee of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, 13 Juno Awards, 24 Gold and Platinum records, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement, numerous honorary doctorates, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Award-winning guitarist, producer and singer Colin Linden also graces the CFMA performer line-up. The founding member of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings has had an exceptional career, releasing numerous albums with the band, as well as several solo albums. He has also produced and shepherded many upcoming musical talents. Since 2012, the iconic man in the black hat has been the Music Director on the hit TV show Nashville.
Juno Award-winning trio and CCMA nominated sisters from Newfoundland, The Ennis Sisters, bring their beautiful vocal harmonies to the line-up. Past CFMA winners and 2016 nominees The Sultans of String join the gala line-up, adding a view of worldly folk; their music merges Celtic and Cuban, flamenco and Gypsy-jazz, Arabic and South Asian in one delirious musical swell. Winnipeg folk trio Red Moon Road return from a rigorous European tour to join the gala line-up, adding some forward-thinking folk live performance to the proceedings. Quebec folk multi-instrumentalist Klô Pelgag adds some quirky excitement to the gala line-up (and possibly large scale fruit costumes.)
Along with the gala awards event, the weekend features two open-to-the-public musical showcase concerts. On Friday, December 2, 2016 from 8 p.m. – 11 p.m. at Hugh’s Room (2261 Dundas Street West, Toronto) the evening features CFMA 2016 nominees Jocelyn Pettit, The Small Glories, Hillsburn, Beppe Gambetta & Tony McManus, Old Man Luedecke and Élage Diouf. A brunch showcase concert happens Saturday, December 3, 2016 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Hugh’s Room (2261 Dundas Street West, Toronto) and features 2016 CFMA nominees Rosie & the Riveters, The Andrew Collins Trio, Keltie Monaghan, William Prince, Ten Strings and a Goat Skin. Both showcases at Hugh’s Room are $29 in advance via hughsroom.com and $32.50 at the door.
The CFMA will hand out twenty awards throughout the gala evening. Nominations for the CFMA were announced this September at Toronto City Hall during the second annual #NationalStrum, celebrating folk music across Canada. Born from a pool of volunteers deeply invested in the wealth and breadth of folk talent in Canada, the CFMA celebrate all genres of folk music from across Canada. Well known for having a vibrant culture of folk festivals, folk traditions and folk values, the country comes together for a weekend of celebration.
Canadian artists and groups whose albums were released in Canada between June 15, 2015 to June 14, 2016 were eligible to submit their work. The CFMA currently boast 19 categories and one special achievement award. For the category awards, five nominees are chosen for each category. A two stage jury process by 95 jurors located across Canada, representing all official provinces, territories and languages determine the official winners in each category. Complete eligibility requirements are listed here: http://folkawards.ca/eligibility/
Bruce Cockburn – Des Kennedy – Denman Island Writers Festival 2016
On Friday July 15, he was interviewed by Des Kennedy, a former CBC host. They both came onto the stage, Bruce poured the wine. Des said first “Turn your cell phones off.” Bruce took his phone out of his pocket and turned it off. The audience burst out laughing.
Bruce Cockburn – Denman Island Writers Festival 2016 – photo BrentReid
Des explained that having Bruce at Denman was like having a visit from Pope Francis. This miracle visit was achieved through Heather MacAndrew, (The Man They Call Juan Carlos) who is a mutual friend of both Bruce and Des. She contacted Bruce a year ago about appearing and he said “Why not?”
Unfortunately the interview was not recorded.
The next day, Saturday, Bruce did a solo reading from Rumours Of Glory. We do have the full recording of this reading… enjoy!
21 September 2016 – Bruce’s 1984 album Stealing Fire has been nominated for a 2016 Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize.
This Prize honours Canadian albums of the pre-Polaris era from four distinct time periods: the ’60s & ’70s, the ’80s, the ’90s, and the ’00s (2000-05). Like the Polaris Music Prize, winners and nominees for the Heritage Prize are albums of the highest artistic quality, without regards to sales or affiliations.
For 2016, two albums from each era will be selected, from a total of ten nominees in each category.
One winner in each category will be chosen by a special jury, and one by the public. Voting is now open here, and the winners will be unveiled on Oct. 24th.
Stealing Fire was a landmark album for Bruce and contained many great songs including “Lovers In A Dangerous Time” and “If I Had A Rocket Launcher” among others.
Like CBC Radio and the wilderness-painting tradition, poetry has helped define and connect Canada while locating a certain wintry aloneness in the national condition. One of the last of the two-fisted writers, Al Purdy travelled all the byways before crafting poems for the ages. His skill didn’t mature until he was past 40, but Purdy managed to eke out a poet’s existence for the rest of his life, unsupported by day jobs, grants, or the usual academic resorts.
A case for his greatness is made in this first feature for critic turned director Brian D. Johnson, who uses much archival footage, plus wry observations from contemporaries and students like George Bowering and Margaret Atwood (with the latter seen playing billiards in a beer hall). Some of Purdy’s better words are read or interpreted by musical figures such as Leonard Cohen, Sarah Harmer, Gord Downie, and Bruce Cockburn. [Editor note: Bruce wrote and performs the song, Three Al Purdys.]
Coasting through the 90-minute doc is the diffident figure of Purdy’s spry widow, Eurithe, sanguine about the poor family skills of her late husband, who died at 82 in 2000. He managed to pretty much ignore their son, who had mental problems. And she even more assiduously avoided Brian Purdy, his son from a previous marriage, who made a late appearance in the poet’s life, with mixed results, as recounted here in the younger Purdy’s own beautifully read poem.
The emphasis is less on family than on home—in this case, the Ontario cottage-country A-frame that provided sustenance (largely alcoholic) to subsequent generations of poets. The film looks at the loving restoration of that Roblin Lake cabin, now being used as a place for writers in residence. Purdy left his mark, but unlike Kilroy’s, his reveals much more upon closer inspection.
Song for All Beings 2017
Saturday, February 25, 2017
7:30 PM
Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium
San Rafael, CA
$95, $76, $49
a new show has been added:
Song for All Beings 2017
Sunday, February 26, 2017
1:30 PM
Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium
San Rafael, CA
$95, $76, $49
A Dazzling, Huge-Hearted Cirque d’Spirit
Join 100 performers and 2,000 friends in a ceremonial concert.
A communal celebration of gratitude and one-world activism, Song For All Beings is a seamless collaboration woven by scores of musicians, dancers, and storytellers. The high-level performances spring from many spiritual and cultural traditions, creating a ceremonial concert that unfolds on stage and in the audience over the course of the evening—and long afterwards.
With Jennifer Berezan, Jack Kornfield, Patti Cathcart(from Tuck and Patti), Joanna Macy, Rhiannon, Anam Thubten Rinpoche, Raz Kennedy, Melanie Demore, Gina Breedlove, Chris Webster, Vicki Noble, Kiva Simova, Sovoso, Rita Sahai, Dance Brigade, Damond Moodie, Bouchaib Abdelhadi, Naomi Newman, Nina Wise, Luisah Teish, Sarah Dugas, Christian Dugas, Rocio Mendoza, Jami Sieber, Barbara Higbie, Julie Wolf, Barbara Borden, Carolyn Brandy, Afia Walking Tree, Michaelle Goerlitz, Children’s Chorus and many more. With special guest Bruce Cockburn.
“MAGNIFICENT in every imaginable way. It was the most moving, heartfelt, and extraordinary concert we’ve experienced in a decade! ”
Ken Dychtwald,
Author of Bodymind
Jay Schlossberg wants to take us back in time to an “era of cultural, social and political upheaval.” During those years from 1961 to 1983, he and countless other mostly teens and twenty-somethings were steadfast fans of the free-form progressive radio station that rocked the metropolitan area’s airwaves from the Triangle Towers apartment building in downtown Bethesda.
Bruce Cockburn & Jay Schlossberg – WHFS – photo by Jay at City Winery
“Feast Your Ears – The Story of WHFS 102.3 FM” is Schlossberg’s work-in-progress documentary about WHFS, where locally-legendary DJs—including Weasel, Cerphe, Damian, Josh, Adele and Thom—spun non-Top 40 tunes and chatted about the important issues of the day. “It was more than a local radio station,” Schlossberg said. “It was the voice of a generation.”
The substance was transmitted in more than one way. “Not only were we getting messages through the music of these national and local musicians,” said the Dufief resident who is the film’s director and executive producer, “but we also were getting local news (on topics like) when an anti-war protest would be held, where to buy records, health food, the nearest surf shop. The station served as a conduit for all the thriving retail businesses that sprung up around the culture.”
Most important, Schlossberg emphasized, was that WHFS promoted and supported local music. “We heard news about the live music venues—who was playing where and when.” After rattling off the names of some of the major places—The Psyche Delly, The Cellar Door, Redfox Inn, the Bayou, Lisner, the Warner, he observed, “’HFS was the center of it all.”’
Schlossberg’s allegiance to the station was cemented at age 17 when the Charles W. Woodward High School student was fortunate enough to have a summer job there. “I’d pay you to let me work here,” he remembers thinking in 1972. At Montgomery College the following year, Schlossberg was among 16 students who started the campus radio station. He served as WMCR’s program director and DJ, aspiring to be like Weasel and Cerphe, and honed his guitar skills by jamming in the student lounge when he was supposed to be in class.
The idea to tell the WHFS story came to Schlossberg some 30 years later after seeing a group photo on Facebook of the iconic station’s DJs, taken at the April 20, 2013 Record Day celebration at Joe’s Record Paradise in Silver Spring. “I said out loud, ‘Oh my God, they’re all not dead yet. Someone needs to tell this story,’” he recalled. “Of course, I knew them all already, but seeing the photograph just crystallized it. A flashbulb went off.”
Schlossberg is president and owner of Media Central, the global crewing, production and post-production services broker-agent company he founded on Aug. 1, 1993 (Jerry Garcia’s birthday, he noted). His clients have included HBO, Lucasfilm, Discovery Channel, Paramount Pictures, Showtime and BBC Worldwide. His company Media Central Films has produced a web series, “AutoExotika Presents: Cars ‘N Coffee,” with episodes in Bethesda, Las Vegas, Santa Barbara, Cincinnati, Palm Beach and Paris.
Despite his successful businesses and concomitant media industry contacts, Schlossberg had never done a documentary before. Thus, it was essential that he research and brainstorm the project by talking to people who had been there as well as industry professionals. About six months post-epiphany, he hosted what he called a “meeting-party” with the WHFS DJs in the building where they once broadcasted.
Maryanne Culpepper, former president of National Geographic Television, was enlisted as executive producer “to help with the front and back ends, to help me get the plane off the ground and into the air and with the landing,” he said. “She knows about film festivals.” Also on the team are consulting producer Jonathan Gilbert AKA Weasel; story consultant and former Washington Post writer Richard Harrington; and Bethesda native and writer of “Homicide” and “The Wire” David Simon, who helped with background and context.
Filming began in June 2014, and a Kickstarter fundraising effort in October and November 2015 raised $65,000 for the project. With two-thirds of the filming completed, Schlossberg expects the editing process to begin in September with a rough cut by the end of the year. Plans include local screenings—perhaps at AFI in Silver Spring and Landmark in Bethesda—and Netflix and Showtime and even director Morgan Spurlock have expressed interest and encouragement. Schlossberg is confident and optimistic about the film’s future. “We have gotten a lot of positive feedback from the trailer,” he said. “And I think the film will have wide-ranging international appeal, too.”
Having acquired a taste for music documentaries, Schlossberg is also acting as executive producer of “The Humbler,” a film about legendary guitar player Danny Gatton.
Visit www.feastyourearsthefilm.com to see the trailer, donate to the film, buy merchandise and read other stories about the documentary.
Musician and producer Steve Dawson has a new podcast called “Music Makers and Soul Shakers” that Bruce was interviewed for. You can stream the episode here, or subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes.
Some of you might recall that Steve produced the wonderful tribute album to the Mississippi Sheiks called “Comin’ My Way” and that Bruce did a cut for that album “Honey Babe Let The Deal Go Down“.
It’s a great album and worth picking up. Further I have a history with Steve as well. I released a few albums on True North for the great group Zubot & Dawson and in 2003 one of those albums “Chicken Scratch” won a Juno Award.
The podcast is really worth listening to especially if you’re a guitar player.
Bruce’s show in Niagara On The Lake is sold-out but here’s a chance to get tickets plus a special “meet & greet”. You also can support one of Bruce’s favorite causes War Child. Take a look and maybe you can get the last remaining tickets.
BID HERE NOW for the Best Seats in the House tickets and a Meet and Greet for Bruce Cockburn’s August 19th show at Jackson-Triggs. Auction closes Sunday, August 7th! All proceeds support War Child.
