Category: fatherhood
0 Cross Canada 2011. From east to west and back again
Well; the last cross country tour has been over since May 28th and I have been back in Montreal decompressing, catching up, gigging a bunch, and getting even more time with my boy. This tour was a real hard one with lots of gigs, tonnes of shows, and about 13,000 kilometres put on the van, all by me. Needless to say I have required some real downtime at home.
After I returned from tour I immediately went into my studio to prep for some shows with The Jimmyriggers as they needed my help filling in for some pretty cool shows. One of them was opening for CCR at The Rock N Bull Rodeo happening here in Montreal. It was a blast and we had a great opening set that people seemed to really dig!
After that we had a couple more shows. One in town doing a benefit for a local radio station and the other was in Ottawa at The Elmdale Tavern. We had a blast at both of those shows.
For now I am spending a bunch of time in Montreal as Cash’s mum is out of town during the week all this month doing shows with Ladies Of The Canyon around Toronto, Hamilton, Oshawa, and Peterborough. She is back on weekends and that allows me to get some new projects going.
In July I head to Pembroke to unveil my country band “The Marshalls” at Sabstock Festival. Here are some promo shots we will be using for the website.
In a week I will be jamming with some new and very talented musicians in a project called Exit 451. I am really looking forward to that!
I have also just started some throwing my photos up on Instagram. Its a great iphone app that allows me to put cool old style effects on my digital shots and then share them online. If any of you out there are on Instagram feel free to add me and follow all the cool shots I am putting up. You can find me there under @lewishandford.
Till next time
-Lewis
0 Juno weekend and April: where has it gone already?
I am realizing more and more how hard it is to keep up with blogging.
It’s been almost 2 weeks since The Junos and I haven’t even written about it.
April was supposed to be quiet with lots of downtime but I find myself
just as busy as I always am.
My friend Geoff says I should have a bunch of blogs in reserve. Always
staying ahead of the game. I should have planned this out better.
Well; The Junos were fun. Lots of elbow rubbing with stars, riding
around in vans, cool shows(Hugh’s Room and the Dakota Tavern), great
hotel rooms, whiskey, sushi, plus I got to wear my black biker boots
and my Frys!
Here are a few sample pictures of the weekend.
Now here we are coming up to the 2nd week of April. I have a small
holdout of snow in my backyard that refuses to go away, I still need a
sweater, my scarf remains a permanent fixture on my neck, but the
forecast calls for double digits on Monday.
Wow. Double digits above zero. How great is that?
So even though I am living in the present; I look to the future. I
have some great shows in town coming up. The Dirty Grants tomorrow and
Saturday, Satori on the 16th, and I’m heading to Ottawa with Laurel
Jackson and The Attractives on the 23rd. Next month takes me and Cash
across the country with Ladies Of The Canyon and 2011 Juno award
winner Old Man Ludecke. We’re packing up and hitting the road. All
the way to my home town of Sooke, BC.
Hopefully I can keep up with this whole blogging consistently idea.
We will see won’t we
-Lewis.
0 Quebec Tour March, 2011
Well; here we are. Yet another successful tour under our belt. This was a great one! Sold out shows(almost all of them), great staff at all the venues, appreciative crowds, wicked dressing rooms stocked with all sorts of yummy treats, and Cash got to learn a new lots of new things, especially the french word “loge” which means dressing room.
He learned that on the first evening of the tour in Rimouski. This was an absolutely incredible venue as evidenced by the following shot:
We even got to drive through one of the worst winter storms the region has had all year when we drove to Matane from Carleton. They weren’t lying. We had some slippery moments and weren’t quite sure what was going to happen but we got to the venue. A little stressed, hungry, but glad to be safe and sound.
After making it to Matane we discovered that it is one of the quaintest towns we have seen in a long time. The venue is run by some great artists and it attracts a thriving artists community. We even met a waitress from Wisconsin that decided to stay.
Then we got to cross the St. Lawrence on a ferry. Took us 2 hours and was pretty good. We didnt even hit any rough weather! That evening we were in Port Cartier at one of the most amazing venues. In fact, all the venues were spectacular. Full of character, and great sound. Quite a nice side of Quebec to see. Here are just a few examples.
After Port Cartier we drove back down to Montreal. There were so many amazing sights, incredible vistas, and we got to cross the Saguenay river.
Through it all Cash was a trooper. He had fun, he ate all of the riders, watched his movies, chased the band, tickled his mum and giggled like a mad man, thoroughly enjoying himself and all that he had offered. Plus he got to see a whole lot of this province and met all the great people in it.
Lewis Handford 