the dread pirate roberts

After I had finished leading/speaking/singing at Rouge Valley on Sunday, John sidled up to me and, with a whispered "thank you," slipped me this portrait that he'd drawn. Apparently his ancestor, Bartholomew Roberts, was a pirate. And not just any pirate - the one who, in 1734, designed that skull-and-crossbones image that we all know. Yes, that one.

And now his great-great-great-great-great grandson (or whatever), John Roberts, Stouffville resident and accomplished artist in his own right, is carrying on the family tradition. Artistically anyway.

Thanks, John! I'll treasure this portrait! What's that - more treasure, you say...? Inconceivable!

amazing grace(s)

After a month at the receiving end of hospitality in so many places, I am profoundly grateful. Meals, rides, a bed with extra blankets, an offer to do some laundry, an invitation to visit, or to rest... and one of the generous gestures that moved me more and more was the simple act of prayer.

Around so many tables, before so many meals, I was led in prayer by folks who prayed for me, and included me in their intimate and ordinary conversations with God about the day-to-day stuff of life. As time went on I found myself more and more moved by this simple but powerful experience.

Including a special "welcome home" supper last night, with the (rare, but delightful) experience of being led in prayer by our own 12 year old son.

Amazing grace, indeed.

one more sleep...

... one more gig... one more train ride and it's homeward bound... can't wait to be home with Julie and Matthew again...

surrounded by art

Touring is definitely an experience of being "immersed" in one's art... I still have to shake my head and give myself a pinch, knowing that I get to travel around and sing my songs for and with communities all over the place... and in the last few communities that I've visited I've been particularly struck by what an affirming and life-giving thing it is to be surrounded by art, including art of your own making.

As I write this I am sitting in Hilda and Jake's living room... a couple in their eighties that have been generously hosting me here in Saskatoon... and as I look around I see 4 beautiful paintings by Hilda on the walls... and a series of 6 framed drawings that were made and given to her by her grandfather, who carried them out of Russia... that art is over a hundred years old...

At supper last night we enjoyed Jake's homemade wine made from buffalo berries and choke cherries that Jake and Hilda picked themselves (Hilda showed me the bush during our walk yesterday). This morning we had choke cherry and buffalo berry jam on our toast.

And the night before I did a house concert (and later slept) in the living room of the old schoolhouse which has been lovingly and beautifully restored by and is the home of Colleen and Jeff, sister and brother, in Duval Saskatchewan - both amazing artists in their own right, Colleen with songs and the written word, and Jeff with his pottery...



Before the house concert we had a potluck meal with about a dozen people, and every plate, cup, serving dish, pitcher... all of it was made a few feet away in Jeff's pottery studio... with more pottery displayed on shelves and bookcases all through the house. And during the concert Colleen sang one of her songs and dedicated it to Jeff and Nadia, who got engaged less than 24 hours before...

Even in the few hours I was in their home in Regina, I could tell that Ron and Toby are experienced - and take great delight - in their artistry as hosts (their home is known as the "Grace Mennonite Guest House"). Talking with Margaret and Gary about their pastoral vocation, and watching them interact with their community at the Hanley Community Centre on the evening of my concert there on Saturday, I was struck by the same kind of care and delight and artistry and quiet confidence...



There is something so affirming, so encouraging, so good and right about having a sense of vocation, of seeing and enjoying the fruit of your labours, together with friends, neighbours and strangers... something not always easy to find or experience, but what a joy when it is... A reflection, I'm sure, of the delight and creativity and satisfaction of a generous and creative/creator God who looks around the workshop (the garden, the kitchen table, the community centre), intimately acquainted with the process and materials of each and every piece, and says, with a great big smile...

"It is good."

pre-concert bike ride in hanley, saskatchewan

I thought I'd go for a quick spin around the block at Margaret and Gary's place.





It's a big block.

fun in edmonton, grueling days ahead

My Edmonton hosts definitely got the short end of the stick, train-schedule-wise... Tim W-N graciously picked me up at the train station just before midnight on Wednesday night... and the other Tim (Chesterton) is heroically getting up at the unearthly hour of 4:30 am to take me to the bus station - that's right, bus station - for my 6:00 am bus to Saskatoon (the one part of the trip where I couldn't get the train schedules to work).

... a long bike ride with Tim W-N down the Mill Creek Ravine path (is that the right name?) and along the North Saskatchewan river... an informal "song circle" gathering with some folks from First Mennonite... a late-night-and-mentally-taxing-but-astonishingly-fun game of "Pandemic"... an enjoyable afternoon discussing various things theological and ecclesiological, and hearing yet more great songs from Tim Chesterton... a fun concert at St. Margaret's Anglican Church, where it was a special treat to do a couple of songs together with Tim (including his "Jonah" song which I recorded on the new CD)...

It's been a full and good time in Edmonton. Now begins the most grueling part of the trip... a 7 hour bus ride tomorrow, followed by 3 performances (or 5, depending how you count them) in 25 hours in 3 different Saskatchewan communities... and 6 (or 8) in the next 5 days... crazy, I know...

Time to catch a few hours of shut-eye.

fascinating folks on the left coast

Sitting on the ferry from Victoria back to Vancouver (I just saw a whale fin! I’m not kidding!)... thinking about all the fascinating folks I’ve had the chance to get to know during the last few days here in BC:

- Bruce Cockburn (actually, he spells it Cowburn, but pronounces it just like one of my musical heroes...sorry, I couldn’t resist...) of the United Church of Canada, who coordinated the “F-Word” (“faith-based fundraising”) stewardship conference together with folks from the Anglican and Evangelical Lutheran churches...

- Nathan Dungan, whose keynote addresses were riveting and inspiring - if you ever get a chance to hear him, or have him come and speak to your community, DO IT!

- Jane and Rick, who hosted me in their home and introduced me to the undeniable and extraordinary benefits of bopping to the “Momma Mia!” soundtrack as pre-concert and pre-worship vocal warm-ups...

- The LMF gang - Henry, the only pastor/strawberry farmer/soccer-coach-who’s-never-played-soccer that I know... Martin and company who recently broke the Guinness World Record for marathon board game sessions (they played Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights in the LMF library for 50 consecutive hours)... Brad and Esther who put on an incredible fondue meal spread that lasted 3 delectable hours... Ruth, who has written a book and CBC documentary film on letters from Mennonites in Stalinist Russia... Rick who strapped down my guitar and drove me to Vancouver in his Mazda Miata convertible...

- Hans, who learned to play the accordion at age 70 and is now a regular at various Vancouver churches and nursing homes...

- Corny and Agnes, who told me about watching his father being taken away to Siberia in the 30s (Corny), and served me grape juice, cherry tomatoes, and plum jelly all grown on their little Vancouver back yard (Agnes)...

- Ingrid, who pastors and intercultural church and speaks English, German, and Spanish and is now learning Farsi... and who spent her Monday morning lugging me to the train station to drop off a bag and then off to the ferry to Vancouver Island...

- Andrew and Monica and Isabella, whose house (with chickens in the back yard)and Italian bakery in Victoria have been a wonderful halfway-through-the-tour resting point... not to mention gourmet local foods and delightful conversation...

Now in Pacific Central Station and on VIA's wireless connection, so I can post this... grateful indeed for the generosity and hospitality of so many wonderful people.

Edmonton, here I come!

photos from the train

Yes, I had my camera handy while we rolled through northern Saskatchewan...





... Jasper (compare Mt. Robson to how it looked the last time I was here)...





... and into the Fraser Valley...



I even had a meal in the dining car this time, courtesy of Mom and Dad. Wild Mushroom Ravioli, with chocolate cheesecake for dessert... mmm good... Thank you!



Ahhh, the life of the poor musician, suffering for his art...

inspiration

While I was in Manitoba I got to visit two people who are huge inspirations for my life, musically and otherwise. They both happen to be named "Susie"... although I know them best as "grandma."



I remember as a child hearing Grandma Suderman - the most quiet and gentle and unassuming homemade-buns-and-noodle-soup-making grandma imaginable - telling what sounded to me like incredibly exotic stories about traveling to Mexico - Mexico! - as a girl. And talking about how she used to play the guitar. My grandma, playing the guitar? I never saw it, never heard it, but somehow the incongruity of that image fascinated me and fascinates me still.

Now she lives in Salem Home, receiving wonderful care, and because of her dementia she doesn't recognize people (didn't recognize me), and aside from initial bursts that are usually right on the money, she doesn't put words together in a way that makes sense to the rest of us. But she smiles and giggles and can still get off a zinger (like when I asked her if she likes to go for walks and she said "Sure" and then pointed at my dad and said "He doesn't!" and we all started laughing uncontrollably).



And my Grandma Goertzen (formerly Penner... nee Neufeld) is still going strong at age 87, puts her CDs on and listens to music first thing in the morning and got pretty darned frustrated when the cleaning person bumped some buttons and messed up the settings so she couldn't listen to music for THREE WHOLE DAYS! Grandma retired 5 years ago after playing the piano and organ for worship at the Winkler Bergthaler Church nearly every Sunday for 65 years... yes, you read that right... and conducting innumerable Ladies Choirs, German Choirs, Senior Choirs, Childrens Choirs, Christmas Choirs... and when she and grandpa used to go down to Arizona for the winters she'd organize choirs of "snowbirds" to conduct down there.

As a child I was always fascinated by the fact that she played the piano and accordion with the pinky finger on one hand cut off at the second knuckle... a childhood injury that never slowed her down. I'm proud to say I still have her accordion (bought for her by her dad, K.H. Neufeld, at a used music store in Winnipeg sometime in the 40s)... and as you can hear on the zydeco tune "How Do You Know?" on the new CD, it's still getting used (although I want to play it more).

Grandma Goertzen came to my concert in Altona... the first time she's seen me "do my thing" now that this is "what I do"... and that was a special and emotional moment for me...

Thank you, grandmas. I want to be like you.

concerted efforts

It had been a long time since my parents had been to one of my concerts... and last weekend they went to all three. Thankfully, when you’re doing concerts for “small and tall” together, every night is an adventure and no two events are the same.

Friday night in Winnipeg there were LOTS of children, including lots of very young children. This makes for lots of energy... and a particular kind of energy... and means that the concert can go in many different directions, but there are definitely a bunch of directions that it can’t go. Lose a crowd like that, and it can be very tough to get them back... so it definitely keeps you on your toes.

Saturday night in Altona was a considerably smaller group, with few children, and the children that were there were somewhat older. This group also happened to be remarkably quiet, and sang along gently, rather than boisterously, even during some of the more rowdy stuff. So that concert went in some quite different, more “reflective” directions.

And Sunday night in Steinbach was a mixed age group that participated and sang boisterously and enthusiastically, but most of the children were school-aged and were also able and interested to listening to some story-telling and reflective songs as well as the more active and funny ones.

Different again was the “Sunday School singing” with the grades 4-6 children at Douglas Mennonite Church, and leading congregational singing during worship (including the first few rows of very young children who aren’t usually there during that worship hour)... I hadn’t been back to Douglas for a Sunday morning since for over 6 years, when we moved to Ontario and I transitioned from the youth ministry I was doing there to pursuing this music ministry full time. Wonderful to be back.

Every place, every group, every event, every day is different, and there are plenty of songs to sing. What could be better?

vancouver bound

Packing up and off to the train in an hour for the next leg of the journey... hopefully on the train I'll be able to do some more writing about this past weekends' experiences (there have been plenty!), and then I'll post them when I get to BC.

safe and sound in winnipeg-land

Although I boarded the train Tuesday night, this trip began on Sunday with a Sunday School concert with the good folks at Heise Hill and then back to Stouffville in time for my home church to "commission" me. They sent me out by singing the words of my own "Sending Song" back to me...

"As you go out from here, may the Lord go with you
The face of God shine on you every day
We are sent by God wherever we are living
Salt and light as people of the Way."

A wonderful way to start the trip.

The GO bus was late enough to make me nervous I'd miss the train, so J and M drove me in to Union Station in Toronto. The train ride from TO to Winnipeg was the smoothest and most on-time that I've ever seen on that route... met some interesting traveling companions, like Mauricio from Venezuela, Andrew from London, England, and a composer - why do I keep finding composers on the trains? - from Holland.

Today I've been enjoying my parents' company, and Mom's bean soup and vereniki with Winkler farmer sausage, and a walk to Sargent Sundaes for ice cream.

New strings on the guitar... tomorrow it's singing time!

9000 km 24 hours earlier than expected

I know the title for this post is incomprehensible, but it does sound kind of dramatic, don't you think? The underlying facts being:

1) I will soon embark on another long-distance riding-the-rails-to-sing-my-songs odyssey, this time from Toronto to Vancouver and back (back-of-envelope calculations with the numbers on the VIA railroad map yield the 9000 km figure... just over 9000 km, actually). Articles like this and this have begun popping regarding said trip...

2) Julie astutely pointed out that Sept. 15, the date on my train ticket for my departure from Union Station, is not in fact Wednesday (which is what I've been telling everyone for some time), but Tuesday.

Needless to say I've got a few things to do before then... so my next post will likely be from Winnipeg (you can see my almost-up-to-date itinerary here)...

agreed

Here's the most thoughtful reflection on our music-making work in Paraguay that I've seen online so far...

And here are some pics from the MWC photographers... and here are some from my roomie and fellow mutli-instrumentalist/percussionist Carlos...

Maybe I'll post a few of my own sometime when I get around to it...

there and back again

Yep. I was in Paraguay, part of the music team leading singing at the Mennonite World Conference Assembly there. A great experience, and met and made many dear friends from all around the world.

And now J+M are back from their major trip as well, and we're settling into the rented townhouse that is our new home in Stouffville.

And I'm a few days away from finalizing the mixes and the graphic design for the new CD.

So, yeah, it's been busy. And good.

how many styles in a week?

... let's see...

Thursday morning - recording some bluegrass for the new CD with Darren and Rick at CedarTree.

Friday night - all-ages concert in Alma

Saturday night - performing some Cuban and Andean music with Amos, and jamming with South African jazz musicians at the "World Music Collaborative Concert" at the "Sound in the Lands" festival

Sunday morning - accompanying congregational singing, led by Julie, with our church community

Tuesday night - recording some Amos Lopez originals in our kitchen

Wednesday morning - laying down some accordion parts and pretending to be a Cajun player at another recording session for the new disc...

All in a week's work. Whew! Good fun.

upcoming stuff

I'm involved in some upcoming events that you might want to participate in (you're warmly invited!) if you're in the area:

- this Thursday (June 4) - the Sound in the Lands conference begins, and guess who they have listed as presenting the first workshop...? (Hint: it's on "Community Supported Music: An Alternative Business Model for the Arts")
- also Thursday - Mennofolk (I'll not be performing, but lots of great folks from far and wide will be)
- Friday evening - I'll be doing a concert at Alma United Church in Elora
- Saturday evening - I'll be accompanying Amos Lopez (who arrives from Cuba this afternoon) as part of the "World Music Collaborative Concert" at the Sound in the Lands conference
- Friday, June 19th, I'll be leading worship in the morning at the North America Stewardship Conference in Toronto (here are the presenters at that conference), and doing a concert there in the evening.

In the midst of all that I need to get my May "delivery of songs" out to the members of SmallTall Music (yes, it'll be a few days late this time)... and do a bunch more sessions with different musicians to finish recording the new studio album so that it can be in the mixing stage by the time I leave in July to be part of the songleading team at the Mennonite World Conference Assembly... for which I still need to get a visa (a little something I overlooked)...

Yikes!

It feels kind of daunting at the moment... but at the same time, I'm also very grateful... it's what I love to do... and it's wonderful to have so many vivid experiences of being part of a global "body" together...

a different place

This was a different kind of weekend, as I had 5 different sessions with folks from Trinity Mennonite Church just south of Calgary. That's more than I often do in a congregational weekend, and I was also rather surprised that quite a number of the same people showed up to all 5 events! What a difference it makes when there's a chance to get to know people better, and to have more than one chance to connect with them through the music...

It also made me realize just how limited I've had to become in my song selection for my typical one-hour "all-ages interactive concert." By contrast, over the course of this weekend - according to some quick back-of-the-envelope math - we probably did 35 different original songs...

I know this is no big deal for people that have been doing this for a long time, but for me it was something of a revelation... not to mention lots of fun.

A particular highlight was the session that I was most hazy and uncertain (and anxious) about. Saturday night was billed as an "informal singing time with Bryan" - and I wasn't at all sure what that meant, since I'd done a "concert" the night before (which, of course, included plenty of "singing along"), and was going to be leading singing during Sunday school the next morning, as well as speaking/singing during the worship service... so I didn't want to repeat myself or "steal my own thunder"...

Anyway, I didn't really know what to expect, but people brought their instruments, and their voices - it was a much bigger group than I expected - and we had a blast singing and playing whatever the people wanted to sing, with a few of my originals thrown in here and there for some variety and to get people moving and to give them more time to come up with another favourite. Three pre-teen girls naturally took on leadership in a few of the songs, and that was great to see/hear.

And Shannon brought her flute and accompanied and played a solo on the new bossa nova (it's going on the new CD - can't wait for you to hear it!), and WOW! I was blown away.

What a treat, and a blessing.

how can you tell...?

Top 10 signs that Bryan's back from tour:

10) blogging is back to its normal once-a-week-I-have-a-life-you-know rhythm

9) the smell of burnt grilled cheese sandwiches wafting through the air

8) spotted wearing something other than those 2 all-purpose tour shirts

7) father-son competition for household airwaves (Guitar Hero vs. CD collection)

6) refresher (remedial?) course in "where things go in the kitchen" and "which items go in which recycling bin"

5) back to daily rhythm of yerba mate at 3:00 pm

4) instruments and books again sprinkled like manna all over the apartment

3) first father-son session with the ball and gloves this spring, with attendant fervent and forlorn hopes for the Blue Jays

2) spousal celebration of safe return with an evening out (yes, a date!) enjoying Crooked Still at Hugh's Room

And the number 1 sign that Bryan's back from tour?

1) laundry

houses and fields, brothers and sisters everywhere

I had finally figured out a train schedule that would work for that elusive jaunt from Washington DC (where I was leading worship in the morning) to Lancaster PA (where I was doing a concert in the evening). The train schedules have worked remarkably well this whole tour... except for this one day... these two cities looked so close on the map and - “well, it’s the east coast, I’m sure there’ll be lots of options”...

hmmm...

So I called on Sunday morning, just to confirm with the Lancaster folks that my train was scheduled to arrive at 5:55... and I was really REALLY hoping it would be on time so I could make it for the 7:00 concert... It was definitely too close for comfort, but I didn’t see any other option...

“Oh... but the concert is at 6:00.”

Gulp.

So off we went to the morning service, and I still didn’t know how I was going to make it to my evening performance... maybe I could take the train to Philly and rent a car from there (if I could find someplace open on a Sunday afternoon)...

As I was wolfing down a smallish portion of the delicious potluck spread after the service (in time to catch that train to Philly), Eric came over and said “Bryan, I’d like to drive you to Lancaster.”

I nearly choked on my pasta. “Really? You would do that?”

This past month of touring has been a miracle of generosity from start to finish. To each family who shared their home and their dinner table, to each person who gave part of their day (sometimes a large part) to get me to where I needed to go, to each one who planned and organized and put up posters, to each one who set up and ran sound, to each one who sang and smiled, to each one who prayed and supported in ways seen and unseen, I am so deeply grateful.

As this tour concludes (I'm writing this at the border stop at Niagara Falls, waiting to begin the last leg of the journey home), I feel like I have experienced Mark 10:29-30 again, and again, and again:

“Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age - houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions - and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”