Ode to Vancouver - Vancity Medley

Ahhh... Sorry, yet again for the hiatus. I haven't had the equipment as of late to upload any more videos. This past week, however, i visited my two lovely sisters in Canmore and Calgary and I managed to snag one of their lap tops for long enough to knock out a few more tunes. So here's the first and stay tuned for a couple more oldies of mine. Songs from different life times almost. I'm trying to come up with a rhythm with this, a song and a story per week, i figure. That's the gist of the sidewalk if you haven't figured it out yet. I figure the two things i like doing the most are singing songs and telling stories. So if you like my songs and you like a good story, subscribe to my blog and join me on this adventure. (www.thepaintedbirds.blogspot.com).

This next song, isn't one of my own, although, i often feel as if it were. I think it was in the spring of 2008 when i came up with the idea to start playing covers of the people around me in Vancouver.

It must have been march or april when i first met Hannah Georgas. I was at the Railway club watching a group that i have since forgotten and Winston Hauschild walked in with this curly auburn haired girl. I'd heard some of her stuff on Myspace and I admitted to her that one of her tracks had really impressed me. Hannah shyly inquired if i wanted her recently completed EP. Being quite interested, I took one.

I had no idea what was in store. This girl seemed so modest, so green, so naive. Her CD had "Hannah Georgas EP the Beat Stuff" written in permanent marker and was neatly tucked in one of those white paper/plastic holders you use for your burned CD's like "summer mix 07" or "Radiohead b-sides".

"Cute" I thought.

The next morning while making breakfast, I decided to give her CD a spin. Before I knew it I couldn't stop listening to it. It was a fever, a sickness. For the next 2 days I played it over, and over and over again. If it ended, i'd get anxious and need to put it on again.

A couple of months later I was in Toronto with the Birds for North by North East. During an after party at the infamous Queen Street Studios, Shawna Beesley, AKA Adaline, snaked the guitar and started figuring out songs of the Vancouver musicians present. She played a bit of my song 'sidewalk', a hey ocean song, a said the whale song, and finally she sang a verse and a chorus from Dan Mangan's soon to be famous sing along 'Robots'.

It suddenly occurred to me. I needed to cover songs from my friends and the musicians around me. I don't know why but the urge was just too overwhelming. In my mind, playing their songs was the highest form of compliment that i could offer. It's a confession of my admiration for those around me and a thanks for their inspiration. A thanks for the days i've put everything on hold cuz i can't stop listening to Elias' 'Whale Watching', Hey Ocean's 'mama cries' or Moses Joans' 'Skin'. An admission that every time i hear Dan Mangan belt out 'Baskets' i feel the world stop. A confirmation that every time i sing with Adaline i feel as though if i died right then, i would die content...happy.

Later last summer the birds had an acoustic show and i decided to finally put together a medley. It all came together by chance and manages to work quite nicely.

So here it is, it includes sections of these songs.

Said the Whale - Curse of the Currents
Hannah Georgas - the National
Moses Joans - Angel or Marathon
Adaline - We've Got Something

Enjoy,

Dom