Blair seems bent on appearing at least once a year with a band, whether people like it or not. This year is no exception, with a date coming up in late November (the 29th), once again on a bill at the Rivoli for the Internatiuonal Pop Overthrow Festival. Says Blair "I haven't yet asked David Quinton if he will join me onstage again, but I'll bet he will if he's in town. Last year was a blast, and this year will likely be the same, only with (wait for it) new songs! One or two, anyway..." Details to follow here...
 
At seminars sponsored by Canadian Music Week, the Songwriters Association of Canada, and Astral Media, Blair visited seven Canadian cities in September and October to talk about "What Is In A Song?". To audiences across the country, Blair talked about writing strong lyrics, better melodies, and structuring your songs in a way that will hold the listener's attention longer. "It's all about keeping the listener engaged, so they 'get' your message. From the most commercial pop to the most personal and intimate, singing a song is an act of communication, meant to convey an emotion or a thought or both. And there are ways to help the listener receive that communication, ways that often--not always--'work'." The tour visited Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, St. John's, Halifax and St. John with Blair along for the ride, as well as Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa and Montreal, with other writers as guests. Joining Blair on the trip were tour organizer and singer/songwriter Mary Simon, singer/songwriter Tomi Swick, music publisher and new media guru Tony Tobias, and EMI Music Publishing's Mike Fox. Audiences ranged in size from 35 to 150, and seemed to to get a lot out of the program. "Songs rely a lot on tension and release, the establishing of a pattern, then letting that pattern go, to hold a listener's attention...I talked about that and other aspects of songwriting that got a great response. And I had fun on the road!"
UMBER SONGWRITING WORKSHOP ENJOYS VISIT FROM BRUCE COCKBURN
The fourth annual Humber Summer Songwriting Workshop (July 19 - 25) proved to be a full and resounding success, with its myriad guests and new faculty. A visit from legendary songwriter and performer Bruce Cockburn capped off what was an amazing week of writing, collaborating, performing and networking. (Indeed, "networking" doesn't really describe what went on: "making lifetime friendships" is more like it!)
This year's faculty consisted of Shari Ulrich, Emm Gryner, Terence Gowan, James Linderman, Fergus Hambleton, Ember Swift, and Christopher Ward, along with workshop co-ordinators and founders Rik Emmett and Blair Packham. Each afternoon, the faculty would listen to student songs, commenting where appropriate, offering constructive suggestions and support, all in the name of writing better songs. In the mornings, most faculty members offered classes on specifric subjects near and dear to them. Also in the mornings were guest panelists. For example, SOCAN's Dan Kershaw, also a great writer and player, told us about copyright and performing rights and other industry-related stuff, while Eddie Schwartz ("Hit Me With Your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar) told us about the Songwriters Association of Canada's proposal to "monetize" peer-to-peer file sharing so that songwriters would be compensated for the use of their music. Paul Sanderson, entertainment lawyer, addressed our students' legal concerns, while Mike Northcott of Nelvana described how he goes about selecting and using music in Nelvana's animated television shows. DALA, Wendell Ferguson, Greg Wyard, and Arlene Bishop performed and told us about their songwriting process.
Thursday evening saw the annual student showcase at Toronto's famed Hugh's Room. Rik Emmett graced us with the Triumph barn-burner "Lay It On The Line", while Terence Gowan killed us with his over-the-top Christmas song
. Fergus Hambleton trotted out "Ice On The Road", a beautiful song he wrote many years ago with lots of life left in it. Then, it was the students' turn, and they were wonderful. Heartbreaking, funny, energetic, and (gasp!) professional, they each turned in great performances, many of songs they had written during the workshop week.
Finally, at the end -of-week gala luncheon, the workshop was visited by Bruce Cockburn, who had consented to an intimate interview and Q&A session for our students. We were thrilled to have Bruce join us, and were pleased to present him with the 2008 Euterpe Award for Excellence and Achievement in Songwriting (previous Euterpe winners included Barenaked Ladies' Ed Robertson, and Andy Kim, writer of "Rock Me Gently" and Sugar, Sugar").
"ROCK TALK"
Attempting to fill the big pants, er, shoes of departing co-host Greg Godovitz, Blair Packham is joining Bob Reid as host of CFRB's "Rock Talk", heard Sunday nights at 6 PM. Featuring interviews with the famous and up-and-coming, "Rock Talk" is a magazine-style show with lots of information, live music and lots of laughs. Past guests have included everyone from Alice Cooper, Ray Davies, Craig Northey (The New Odds), Revival Dear, and Rik Emmett to Murray McLauchlan and Alan Frew. Listen 6 to 7 PM, Sunday nights, CFRB in Toronto, or listen on the Web at CFRB's RockTalk.
Added in April 2008: The Bridge Is Burning (1990), featuring Blair, Danny Levy, Matthew Greenberg and Peter Nunn. This song was co-written with and produced by Jules Shear. The video was directed by Curtis Wehrfritz, and was a MuchMusic staple in Canada back in the, er, day (Ed. note: "I hate that expression").
As of early January '08 Blair has posted many Jitters videos on YouTube, including the independent "Take Me As I Am" from 1984. Also posted: a rarely-seen in-house promotional film used to introduce The Jitters to Capitol Records Canada in 1987. Other clips include very lo-fi footage from the downstairs El Mocambo (lots of unreleased Jitters songs) and TV appearances in Canada and the UK.
 
Vancouver November 27, Bluebird North
2008
On two separate occasions, (July 12 and September 6, 2008), Blair has joined the Niagara Rhythm Section at The Anchorage in Niagara-On-The-Lake, a beautiful town about an hour and fifteen minutes from the city of Toronto. Both times, Blair appeared with old pal Steve Goldberger (they last played together in Sensible Shoes, Formula One, and Goldilox and the Bagels, in the late 70s and ealy 80s), as well as Niagara stalwarts David Norris (who used to be in Tony Malone's Drastic Measures, late of Toronto's 70s punk scene), and new friends Herb Nelson, Steve Griswold and Penner MacKay. These guys are a GREAT band, and they can follow ANYTHING. Voted #1 Blues Band at the 2007 Niagara Music Awards, they are much more than that--they can play anything with style, conviction and heart. (In fact, Blair suspects they have several convictions between them). Early in 2009, Blair plansd to join them again at The Anchorage, a nmice old hotel with great food and beer, as well as terrific music.
Friday May 23, Blair appeared in a solo opening set at the Pilot Tavern's Stealth Lounge. Upstairs at the venerable drinking hole, Blair warmed up a crowd expecting to hear the music of Bob Marley and Bob Dylan, as performed by Jason Wilson and Fergus Hambleton. He did this by performing the songs of Blair Packham as interpreted by Blair Packham.
On Saturday May 17 Blair opened the show for ex-Northern Pike Jay Semko at Toronto's Rivoli. It was great to see so many familiar faces in the audience, and to hear Jay's great new songs. Speaking of new songs, Blair debuted his newest, "Slippery Slope".
Blair went to Chicago in mid-April, the great Midwestern city that is the birthplace of the skyscraper, the latter-day home of Muddy Waters, the home of John Prine, Saul Bellow, Studs Terkel, Emma Goldman, the Wobblies, and to much American history (both great and shameful). Blair played an impromptu set at the Bird's Nest in Lincoln Park on Friday April 18, including NV, the song he and Arlene Bishop wrote together in 1997. Saturday April 19
at The Spot, as part of International Pop Overthrow 2008, Blair played another acoustic set, dedicating his performance to the late Steve Goodman, an early hero and Chicagoan.
Blair went to British Columbia for three acoustic shows in February. The first was as part of Just Singin' Round, ther monthly singer/songwriter event held on behalf of a different charity every time. At the Vancouver Rowing Club in Stanley Park, the gig also featured the wonderful Coco Love Alcorn and her sultry voice, plus Christie Grace with Daryl Jahnke, Melanie Dekker, Mark James Fortin, and Yvonne McSkimming. The music was wonderful, and so was the food. And the audience was a DREAM--attentive, full of humour and warmth.
Two days later, Blair appeared at The Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre, playing another Bluebird North, along with the aforementioned Coco Love Alcorn, the-also-wonderful Craig Northey, Kelly Brock, Craig Zurba and Shari Ulrich. Again, a great audience, and some amazing music.
Blair then did a full set at The Main along with Taylor Harp.(myspace.com/taylorharpmusic)
Tuesday January 15, 2008 saw the fourth installment of Blair's songwriter-series-with-a-twist, WISH I'D WRITTEN THAT! at Hugh's Room, in Toronto's west end.
Guests were Alan Frew (Glass Tiger), Fergus Hambleton (Sattalites), Lee Whalen, and the indescribable-but-amazing Bob Snider.
"Wish I'd Written That!" is all about covers. Great songwriters are asked to perform songs that rocked their world, made them laugh, made them cry, made them think, or maybe even made them say "I wish I'D written that!"
Past guests have included Greg Godovitz, Liam Titcomb, Gregg Lawless, Lynn Miles. Mia Sheard, Allister Bradley, Jim Creegan (Barenaked Ladies), Eric Schenkman (Spin Doctors), Wendell Ferguson, and Dean McTaggart ("Dark Horse", "Birmingham" for Amanda Marshall).
2007
Blair enjoyed his short set at Graffiti's in Toronto's Kensington Market as part of Songwriters Unite! on Friday December 7, as well as the opening set he did for Greg Wyard at Toronto's venerable Cameron House, December 10.
At The Rivoli in Toronto on November 17, Blair appeared with a band to play his particular brand of "unpopular pop". As part of the International Pop Overthrow festival, and presented by Bullseye Records, it was the rocking-est late-afternoon show ever been gave, featuring former Dead Boy David Quinton on drums and Terence Gowan on bass.
"It was great to see so many familiar faces in the audience," said Blair, mopping his brow. "I should play in the late afternoon more often." The set featured songs from both Blair Packham discs, plus an old Jitters song that hadn't been performed since about 1985, "Stick It In (And Give It A Twist)". Loud, irreverent, and (hopeully) charming, Blair, Terence and David intend to do it again soon.
On October 24th, Blair hosted the Justice For Children and Youth benefit for Street Youth Legal Services at Hugh's Room. Along with musical friends Mia Sheard, Simon Law, Ryan Granville-Martin, John Teshima, and Jen Schaffer, Blair joined Lucian Thomas and the re-formed (not reformed, they're still bad boys) Lowest of the Low. Thanks to all the friends and fans who came out.
As of June 2007, Blair has joined The League of Rock, as a corporate songwriter coach. Along with Erica Ehm, and Michael Zweig, Blair coaches corporate participants in songwriting. The topics are decidedly NON-corporate, however, as the "students" tackle subjects like drinking and drunkenness, debauchery, transvestitism, drinking and more drinking. Hi-brow? No. Fun? Yes.
see www.leagueofrock.com
Blair is assembling songs for his third full-length recording. He has nearly six finished songs, with another five on the go. Though no producer is in place yet, Blair is excited. "Danny Michel offered to produce a recording for me last year, but I didn't have the songs yet. I'm getting closer, and when I have them all, I'll check Danny's schedule and see if he's still interested." He continues, "I've got lots of ideas, lots of songs started, album titles, cover ideas--it's all starting to flow."
When he wasn't writing songs and playing gigs , Blair was busy with all manner of other musical projects. Scoring 26 episodes of Global Television's "The Jane Show" was perhaps chief among them. From December of 2005 until May of 2007, Blair worked hard helping to bring out even more humour from the wonderfully-conceived and -written shows. "What a great experience," says Blair. "I can't believe the fun we had putting the musical touches on that show. The producers and the show's creators (Teresa Pavlinek and Ralph Chapman) were truly wonderful to work with. They made me feel part of the creative team, not just a necessary evil or an after tthought like so many film and TV people treat the composer." Regrettably, Global decided to cancel production on "Jane" in June of 2007.
In addition to his TV and film work (at Christmas 2005, Blair also scored a feature documentary called "Move Your World" about youth AIDS in Africa) Blair continued his work as Program Coordinator of the Humber Songwriting Summer Workshop. Year Three under his belt, Blair was responsible for booking all of the workshop guests, who included Jules Shear, Murray McLauchlan, Tom Wilson, Lynn Miles, David Steinberg, Christopher Ward, Mia Sheard and Ember Swift.
The Bluebird North songwriter series that Blair produced in Toronto for the last ten years has finally come to an end. "When we started, songwriter circles were pretty rare in Toronto. There were a few, like Jason Collett's Radio Mondays, and a handful of others, but the Bluebird really led the way, eventually becoming a touring show that crossed the country six times. Over the years, guests included Ron Sexsmith, Jane Siberry, Joel Plaskett, Haydain Neale, Tom Wilson, Stephen Fearing, Choclair, Danny Michel, Sarah Slean, Damhnait Doyle, Kardinal Offishall, Dala, Peter Elkas, Charlie Major, Russell DeCarle, and many, many others. It is sad to see it go, but the decision was mutual between the Songwriters Association of Canada (the show's sponsor) and Blair, due mainly to heavy competition from other varied events. "There are now so many multi-act shows in Toronto and other centres, from Michael Wrycraft's "Girls Do Boys/Boys Do Girls" series, to my own "Wish I'd Written That!" show."
2006
Blair still has copies of Could've Been King
(available here). for sale, and of course it's also available at iTunes and via CDBaby.com. Recorded in a whirlwind three days at the
end of November 2003, Blair joined Craig Northey, Pat Steward and Doug Elliott, all
late of Canada's gone-but-not-forgotten Odds ("Someone Who's
Cool"), and Simon Kendall (Doug & The Slugs) at Baker Street Studio in North Vancouver. Colin Nairne engineered the eleven songs with assistance by Mike
Rogerson. Other guests included Kevin
Fox (cello), Michael Zweig (harmony vocals), Perry White (baritone and tenor sax)
and Danny Michel (lead guitar and Hendrix-like mumblings). Never one to shy from a
bit of "fairy dust" production, Blair and Jeremy Darby even added a choir to the
title track, with the help of Tamara Williamson, Mia Sheard, Imali Perera, Monique
Barry, Lori Cullen and Arlene Bishop. For a look at some session photos, click here.
Could've Been King features songs about betrayal, failure, death and destruction,
going insane, and the general unfairness of life. And those are the happy songs.
2005/2004
January 31, 2004 saw Blair once again launching another national Bluebird North
tour. The Bluebird North is a regularly-held songwriters show that is well-established
in Toronto and Vancouver, but it has only visited other cities in Canada a few times.
Sitting in a row, each writer takes turns telling stories and singing songs, in an
evening that's spontaneous and inspiring. Taking place over three weeks, the 2004 tour
visited fourteen cities: Halifax, Montreal, Wakefield, Ottawa, Kingston, Guelph,
Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Spruce Grove, Calgary, Banff and North Vancouver.
The artists on the road in 2004 included Stephen Fearing, Andy Stochansky, Haydain Neale
(jacksoul), Tom Wilson (Blackie & the Rodeo Kings), Lennie Gallant, Russell deCarle
(Prairie Oyster), Sue Foley, Lynn Miles, Alana Levandoski, Joel Kroeker, and Tal Bachman ("She's So High"), as well as hosts Blair Packham and Shari Ulrich. For a look at some
tour photos, click here. In the past, the tour has featured the likes of Sarah Slean,
Jian Ghomeshi, John Mann (Spirit of the West), Neil Osborne (54:40), Danny Michel,
Arlene Bishop, Roy Forbes, Snow, Damhnait Doyle and Choclair.
2003
The spring and summer of 2003 were spent making music: Blair played in many places
in Canada, solo or with his trio.
Owen Sound, Ontario, a town that is always welcoming, saw two visits by Blair &
partner Arlene Bishop, one to the Summerfolk Festival in August, and the other to
the launch of Winterfolk '03.
Another music festival that hosted Blair and Arlene in the summer of 2003 was
Folk On the Rocks, in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The trip up north was
long and arduous: flying first to Ottawa, the pair then transferred planes and
headed to Iqaluit on Baffin Island, near the Arctic Circle. After a stop at Rankin
Inlet, more than twelve hours later, Blair and Arlene landed in Yellowknife, where
the sun set just after midnight and rose again at about 3 in the morning. Talk about
disorienting! The other acts featured at Folk on the Rocks were the excellent
Hawksley Workman and band, bluesy Sue Foley and her band, and the Cajun spicyness
of Swamparella. Closing the festival was UK act Horace X; their Day-Glo costumes
and funky hyper-kinetic rhythms were anything but traditional folk music! The
audience, and Arlene in particular, loved it. There was much dancing in the midnight
sun, along with swatting of the bird-sized mosquitoes.
In addition to traveling, Blair appeared a few times at hometown pub fave C'est
What, usually with Terence Gowan and Sean Kilbride in tow. Drunkenness often
ensued, and a good time was had by whomever happened by.
2002
Blair scored two feature films, with
Terence Gowan leading the way. The first, in 2002, is a funny crime caper called TRIGGERMEN which stars Neil Morrissey, Adrian Dunbar, Donnie Wahlberg and Michael
Rappaport. The co-written score features a slinky, funky guitar-and-Wurlitzer-piano
combo that perfectly suits the action onscreen. Morrissey and Dunbar are particularly
engaging in TRIGGERMEN, both with a sort of dowdy screen presence that adds to the
comedy. Morrissey's work is well-known without Neil actually becoming famous, by
the way: he's the voice of international kids show sensation "Bob the Builder."
(Speaking of international kids sensations, in 2002, Arlene and Blair co-wrote the
theme to BEYBLADE, a show about battling tops that is aired around the world)
The next film Blair scored with Terence was HOLLYWOOD NORTH--which was in limited
release in selected cinemas across Canada and featured at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film, a story of how a Canadian
tax-shelter movie was made and the disasters that ensue, stars Academy Award™winner Alan Bates, Matthew Modine, and Jennifer Tilly. It was directed by Peter
O'Brian, who is probably best known for his production work on such seminal
Canuck films as MY AMERICAN COUSIN and THE GREY FOX.
2001
On September 15, 2001 Blair played an opening set for Martina Sorbara at Toronto's
Rivoli. Telling the audience that Arlene was at home in labour (which was sort of
true--by September 15, the contractions had begun!), Blair called her on his cell
phone from the stage. The audience of a hundred or so people said "Hi, Arlene!"
and "Congratulations!" (Baby Owen Jupiter was born September 25, 2001 at about 8:20 PM).
CONTACT BLAIR: blair@blairpackham.com or mail to BLARE! MUSIC 260 Adelaide Street East, #131,Toronto ON M5A 1N1 |
click here to view blair's tour photos
photo: Ania Ziemirska
