SONGS FROM EIGHTH AND EIGHT
Tim’s new solo album is underway!
SONGS FROM EIGHTH AND EIGHT
Tim has started work on his new solo album, Songs From Eighth and Eight which Andy Cooke (Dataloaf/Chronolord) is co-producing. It features songs written at Eighth and Eight creative spaces in the Massey Theatre at New Westminster. Tim will be continuing with his songwriting residency at the venue in September. Six songs have been recorded up to now at Riverbank Studios in Vancouver and are being edited, mixed and mastered at Andy’s studio in the new location of Portland, Maine, USA. No release date has been announced yet.
NEW EVENTUALLY BROTHERS VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE
There’s three new videos now available on YouTube featuring songs from the latest album by The Eventually Brothers, Love Songs Dark and Bright.
Summertime Crush – A bouncy, joyous, pure pop ode to the giddy infatuation that arises when Summertime and Cupid join forces.
Alan Millen says: “A 1965 b/w movie called The Beach Girls and the Monster provides the video segments. It’s a public domain classic. It probably turned up on more than a few drive-in movie screens. Apparently, the female dancers were recruited from the Whiskey A Go Go. I ran everything at half-speed to better match the song’s tempo. The reel-to-reel tape recorder segment freed me up to pretend that Summertime Crush is the song the guys and gals are dancing and frolicking around to.”
https://youtu.be/Ja4mN762Qdg?list=PL8F6B65ACE8B6F484
Afterglow – A mellow instrumental reflecting the sense of contentment that follows what the sleeve notes euphemistically describe as ‘episodes of personal intimacy’.
Alan Millen says: “The same movie includes a totally irrelevant surfing segment, which I ran at one-quarter speed and found it worked rather well with our instrumental from Love Songs Dark and Bright.”
https://youtu.be/p-HllK1vulA?list=PL8F6B65ACE8B6F484
Press To Play – Relying on a bottle of rum and a juke box full of evocative songs, a dejected ex-lover professes his lingering desire for another chance with the woman who has ended the relationship. The songs he selects provide some solace from his pain, combined with the sting of salt in his still tender wounds. This is a bouncing rocker with a slightly bitter edge.
Alan Millen says: The storyline in this rocker by The Eventually Brothers is of a heartbroken jukebox owner, who turns to his Rock-ola for solace after a break-up. For hopeless romantics and jukebox owners everywhere.
SONGWRITING AND MUSIC PRODUCTION SERVICE
The newly launched Songwriting and Music Production Service Tim started recently with his co-producer and songwriting partner Andy Cooke is taking off. Full details are available here.
We’ve been working on songs for The Exiles, and a couple of Vancouver based singer-songwriters. We’ll let you know if and when anything is released from these sessions.
If you’re interested please get in touch by going here and clicking on the ‘Book Tim’ icon and let us know how we can help.
LIONESSES SONG VIDEO
This song was written and recorded within a week of the 2023 Women’s FIFA World Cup Final in Sydney, Australia, which England lost 1-0 to Spain. It offers a wistful perspective from an England supporter. We went for a melancholic, minimalist approach but no doubt it would have all been more effusive if we’d actually lifted the trophy! As we England fans always say at times like these, it’s not the disappointment that kills you, it’s the hope! You can see the video here.
INTERVIEW WITH ANN AND JOHN LAW
Tim recently completed an interview with Ann and John Law for the Canadian folk-roots music website rootsmusic.ca. The full interview is featured online here. In the meantime, here’s a couple of excerpts:
After Ann and John Law left their native Scotland for Canada, they eventually arrived in BC in 1977. They took up residence in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast, just across the water and a short ferry ride from Vancouver. To this idyllic seaside location they brought a love of Scottish traditional music and an energy and commitment to get involved in creative musical adventures. This is the story of how they helped establish the well-renowned young musicians group, Coast String Fiddlers and the Sunshine Coast School of Celtic Music – a very popular annual music camp.
We brainstormed a list of all the people who were involved at one time or another and the list of musicians that the Laws came up with on the spot in our conversation makes for impressive reading – and there’s lots more we didn’t mention!
“Fiddlers who started with us or came to teach like Chelsea Sleep, Jocelyn Pettit, Serena Eades, Yvonne Hernandez, Trent Freeman, Mairi Rankin, Kira Raymond. We had Natalie Haas teaching cello and Nuala Kennedy from Ireland doing flute. Oh and Erin MacDonald who became a great viola orchestral player. Troy MacGillivray, Alastair Fraser, Andrea Beaton, Mary Ryan, Oliver Schroer, Graham MacGillivray and Gabriel Dubreuil from Early Spirit. So many!”
MAUI NEWS
One of the few pieces of good news to come out in the aftermath of the horrendous conflagration that consumed the town of Lahaina and many other areas of the Hawaiian island of Maui was that our dear friend, Maui Celtic’s head honcho, D.J., surfer, Celtic artist and whisky expert, Hamish Douglas Burgess survived the fire.
Another fragment of hope came to us from the Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker’s widow, Delia Becker and the Estate of Walter Becker. Their home of many years is still standing.
I guess we have to be grateful for small mercies at times like these. Delia gave this brief report with some words about how we might help in the recovery:
Maui No Ka ‘Oi*
Doubtless you know the sad news from Maui. The phrase utter devastation has been overused to breaking. But that’s pretty much it: Utter devastation — and devastating heartbreak.
Most of the world knows Lahaina Town as a quaint, delightful tourist mecca. But Lahaina was home for over 12,000 Kama’aina, many of whom worked as backbone for the “hospitality” (tourist) industry. It was also once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and has been witness to — and survivor of — wave upon wave of quasi-colonial stressors relentlessly seeking to extract, rather than plant: to earn, not invest. In many ways, Lahaina holds the historical, cultural Braveheart of Aloha.
With the exception of over 100 souls lost (and counting), Lahaina’s amazing people are still right here. But everything else is levelled: businesses, cultural and historical artifacts, homes, too many beloved pets — now nothing but ash.
Upcountry also suffered grievous losses in the (relatively) smaller wildfires during the same period. Although the rest of the island — including the Becker burg — was physically untouched, the ripples of dislocation and disruption (along with waves of grief, confusion, and anger) have quickly engulfed us all.
Anyone who’s moved to help can visit MauiNuiStrong for some ideas. From my local vantage point, emergency and short-term goods and supplies appear well stocked, thanks to the generosity of all. But now the real work begins: clean-up: rebuilding: somehow reconstituting a new Lahaina while fending off the vultures.
With that in mind, you might especially consider local, grassroots groups who, long after the alphabet agencies have decamped, will be on the front lines for the long haul. The Maui United Way (not the National United Way!) and Boots on the Ground are but two of many for your consideration.
Note to potential visitors: all other areas of the island are most definitely ‘open for business’ and rely on your spending to survive. And if you do visit, perhaps you’ll consider donating some of your time in Paradise to one of the many restoration activities and projects available to vacationers.
Mahalo Nui Loa
-db
*The phrase Maui nō ka ʻoi means “Maui is the best” in the Hawaiian language.
