10 March 2010 - TORONTO -



( direct link )

11 March 2010 - TORONTO - by Jane Stevenson, QMI Agency

Canadian folk singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn, Montreal's Rufus Wainwright, banjo player Bela Fleck, and actor John Malkovich will be among the music performers at the Luminato Festival in Toronto from June 11 to 20.

Cockburn, 64, will celebrate his 40-year catalogue with a tribute that will include fellow musicians Hawksley Workman, The Cowboy Junkies' Margo Timmins, Toronto-based jazz guitarist Michael Occhipinti, Quebec's Michel Rivard, and guitarist Colin Linden performing his tunes at this year's Canadian Songbook night at Massey Hall on June 16 (tickets $55-$85).

"I thought, 'Yeah, 40 years feels like a milestone, let's do it,'" said Cockburn following Tuesday's unveiling of the Luminato music lineup.

"And I'm happy to be part of it, but the really exciting part of it is having all these other people being in on it and hearing their takes on my songs and me being able to participate with them. That's the most fun part of it for me. I'll be on stage a fair amount during the evening, I think."

Cockburn's hits have included Wondering Where the Lions Are, Coldest Night of the Year, Lovers in a Dangerous Time, If I Had a Rocket Launcher, and Waiting for a Miracle and everyone from Barenaked Ladies to Jerry Garcia to Jimmy Buffett have covered his songs.

The Ottawa-born Cockburn, who left Toronto for Montreal in 2000 and now calls Kingston home, said the Canadian songbook idea was mentioned to him about a year ago by his manager Bernie Finkelstein who was in discussions with Luminato.

"It kind of feels like my 50th birthday," said Cockburn. "Forty years just seems like a milestone. Thirty years didn't. I don't what the difference is other than 10 years. Forty feels like, 'Yeah that means something,' to have been around that long and to be continuing to put out new stuff through that period." Cockburn's last studio album was 2006's Life's Short, Call Now, but said he'll go into the studio in June with Colin Linden producing and violinist Jenny Scheinman (Bill Frissell, Ani DiFranco, Lucinda Williams) on board with plans to release the new disc in 2011.

The theme of this year's music program is the celebration of the Diva, East/West, and works that express human and artistic rights. Luminato tickets go on sale April 15 at Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at 416-872-1111 or online at ticketmaster.ca. Check www.luminato.com for the full schedule.

~ from The Peterborough Examiner by Jane Stevenson, QMI Agency, 11 March 2010.

9 March 2010 - TORONTO -

Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity, is pleased to announce its music programming for 2010. This year’s program features Canadian singersongwriter Bruce Cockburn, world music legends Béla Fleck and Bassekou Kouyate, and awardwinning actor John Malkovich in a performance with the Vienna Academy Orchestra. The music program supports the 2010 Festival’s celebration of the Diva, East/West, and works that express human and artistic rights. Luminato takes place June 11-20, 2010. Tickets go on sale April 15.

Perennial favourite The Canadian Songbook returns this year paying tribute to the 40-year catalogue of Bruce Cockburn, one of Canada’s greatest guitarists and singer-songwriters. Cockburn will share the stage with friends and fellow musicians in this one-night-only performance at Massey Hall.

The Canadian Songbook

Luminato pays tribute to the music of Canadian guitar-legend Bruce Cockburn as The Canadian Songbook returns for its third year at Massey Hall. Cockburn is joined by other renowned Canadian musicians who perform classics from Cockburn’s extensive 40-year musical catalogue. Artists confirmed to date include Canadian rock sensation Hawksley Workman, Margo Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies, Toronto-based jazz guitarist Michael Occhipinti, Quebec’s Michel Rivard, and Juno Award-winning guitarist Colin Linden. The Canadian Songbook is produced in association with Massey Hall and presented by National Bank Financial Group. Wednesday, June 16, 7:30 PM at Massey Hall , tickets $55 - $85

9 March 2010 - TORONTO -

Forty years after his first solo album dropped, legendary Canadian artist Bruce Cockburn will take a look back at his storied career – live, with a little help from some friends.

The singer-songwriter is a headline attraction for Toronto’s fourth annual Luminato Festival in June, when he will join an array of other musicians to pay tribute to, well, himself. For the first time, The Canadian Songbook, a popular Luminato mainstay that gathers artists to celebrate a renowned Canadian musician with inventive covers of his or her work, will include the person being celebrated.

"The first time I heard people do my stuff, it was a bit like the first time I heard my own voice played back to me from a tape recorder. You sort of go, ‘Whoa, that’s a totally weird perspective.’ "

n It’s Cockburn’s latest return to the familiar Massey Hall stage, which (he thinks) he first played when he opened for British folk-rock band Pentangle in late 1972.

"It’s a beautiful hall. They built them good in those days, you know? Especially for acoustic music," he said Tuesday at an announcement of the festival’s musical lineup, held atop the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto.

To date, Hawksley Workman, Margo Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies, jazz guitarist Michael Occhipinti and Montrealer Michel Rivard are confirmed, with more to come, though Cockburn isn’t revealing who might be added because he doesn’t "want to jinx it."

"'That’s one of the interesting parts of it, collaborating with people on their versions of my songs," he said.

Cockburn admits that he "sometimes&Quot; finds others appropriating his work a tad unnerving, but he has got used to it and mostly takes it as an expression of appreciation for what he has done. "The first time I heard people do my stuff, it was a bit like the first time I heard my own voice played back to me from a tape recorder. You sort of go, ‘Whoa, that’s a totally weird perspective,’ " he said.

During the festival, Cockburn may well cross paths with Rufus Wainwright, with whom he played at a 90th-birthday tribute to Pete Seeger last year. Wainwright will be in town for the North American premiere of his debut opera Prima Donna, but festival artistic director Chris Lorway also revealed yesterday that Wainwright will give a one-night solo concert at the Elgin Theatre, kicking off the North American tour for his new album, All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu.

But first, the festival opens with a pair of performances of The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer, starring Oscar-nominated American actor John Malkovich, on June 11 and 12. The show, written and directed by Michael Sturminger and described as “part theatre, part opera, part concert,” tells the strange tale of Austrian serial killer and recidivist Jack Unterweger, accompanied by the Vienna Academy Orchestra, which will also perform an afternoon program of Schubert, Haydn and Mozart on June 12.

As part of a thematic look at East-West dualities, Luminato has commissioned a new work, Dark Star Requiem, with Tapestry New Opera Works. It’s an oratorio on the history of HIV-AIDS in both North America and Africa by composer Andrew Staniland and poet Jill Battson, and features the Gryphon Trio and the Elmer Iseler Singers as well as soloists and percussionists.

For a free, outdoor experience, try 10 hours of Global Music: Rock the Casbah & An African Prom staged in Toronto’s Queen’s Park on June 12. The day-long festival features Algerian-born punk-rocker Rachid Taha as well as Bela Fleck and Bassekou Kouyate. The following Saturday, the same space will host another musical marathon, this time dubbed Global Divas and Global Blues and headlined by Salif Keita, tagged by some as the "golden voice of Africa."

The festival closes with TSO Goes Late Night: Beethoven Symphony 9, a concert with an 11 p.m. start time and a late-late after party. Luminato runs June 11-20 in Toronto, offering more than 150 performances and events at about 40 venues.

From -James Bradshaw From 9 March 2010, Globe and Mail

Info submitted by: Jeremie Poirier - Finkelstein Management

22 February 2010 - Earth Day Canada is pleased to honour Bruce Cockburn with this year's Outstanding Commitment to the Environment Award. For three decades, Canadian singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn has been an outspoken voice on issues relating to the environment. He has performed benefit concerts in support of the Haida Nation and the Stein River Valley and their fights against logging; spoke out against the destruction of tropical rain forests and the Exxon oil spill off the Alaskan coast; narrated a television documentary on the Mali desert; acted as honorary chairperson of Friends of the Earth; and of course wrote the anthemic "If A Tree Falls".

"The whole point of writing songs is to share experiences with people", says Bruce, looking back on a career that includes 26 albums, numerous international awards, including the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Tenco Award for Lifetime Achievement in Italy, 20 gold and platinum records in Canada, and countless concert performances since he released his first solo work in 1970.

Born in Ottawa in 1945, Bruce set his sights on a career in music after growing up listening to Elvis records. He landed at Berklee College of Music in Boston in the early '60s before moving back to Ottawa in 1965 to play in a series of rock bands. He eventually found his voice as a songwriter and developed a highly personal finger-picking guitar style that merged Mississippi John Hurt blues with modal jazz harmony, melodic lyricism and cycling rhythms.

Bruce was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1982 and was promoted to Officer in 2002. The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) inducted him into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame. He has also received numerous honorary doctorates for his contributions to music, culture and social activism.

~ from www.earthday.ca/gala/bruce.php

12 February 2010 - Bruce is doing a TV show there [in Winnipeg] with one of Quebec's greatest stars, Michel Rivard. You might remember many years ago Bruce performed with Michel during a benefit concert in Montreal which also featured Crosby, Stills and Nash.

The TV show is being taped February 17 during the Festival you're referring to [Festival du Voyageur]. I don't have much more detail for you other than it's for the French CBC in Quebec and the French national network in english Canada. I don't have the air date.

Bruce will most likely do three of his songs with Michel (expected to be Pacing The Cage, Lovers In A Dangerous Time and Homme Brulant) and then do three French songs of Michel's. All six songs will be done with Michel in some form or another. This will all be worked out in rehearsal in Winnipeg.

More Info

3 January 2010 - to launch the Official Bruce Cockburn Facebook Fan Page, just launched today.

Everyone who joins the official Bruce Cockburn Facebook Fan Page fan page between now and March 14, 2010 at 11:59pm EST will be entered into a draw. On March 15, 2010 we will give away three Bruce Cockburn prizes:

1st Prize: 1 signed Poster & 2 signed CDs
2nd Prize: 1 signed Poster & 1 signed CD
3rd Prize: 1 signed CD



Tenor Richard Margison sings with folk hero Bruce Cockburn
Documentary reunites opera star and folk music

23 January 2010 -

World famous Victoria tenor Richard Margison didn't always hum tunes from Il Trovatore or dream of performing at the Met.

As a young man he sang in Victoria's coffee houses and small smoky clubs, performed in his own rock band and preferred Gordon Lightfoot to Verdi or Puccini.

A film about those early days and the emerging talent, which took him to the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden, Barcelona and Sydney Opera House, will be featured at 5 p.m. tomorrow on Bravo television. The hour-long film, The Folk-Singing Opera Star, is directed by local filmmaker Michael Maitland.

"I did some research on Richard and found his story fascinating ... his birth mother came from a very musical family, and when she gave him up she insisted Richard be placed in another musical family. He comes from a tremendous multi-generational musical gene pool," said Maitland.

Viewers will learn about Margison's folk-singing roots, hear a musical collaboration with Bruce Cockburn taped at Margison's cottage and listen to interviews with his beloved voice coach Selena James.

"Richard is such a great guy," said Maitland. "He's constantly on the road and performing in leading opera houses, but so well grounded and easy going. What really comes through in the film are his insights into the creative process, what motivates him. He was born with this incredible gift, but also talks about the responsibility of embracing and sharing it."

Maitland admits he was "blown away" by the international star's thundering volume and explosive high notes. "Filming about 10 feet away from him at the Victoria Conservatory of Music was just incredible. What an impact. His power is phenomenal."

Reached at his home in Toronto this week Margison chuckled about that, and noted an opera singer trains his vocal chords like a marathoner trains his body. "We may not look like athletes, but the devotion and practice and training we go through is gruelling. And a performance is incredibly athletic.

"It takes years and years of discipline to build up a support system in your body ... later you spend a lot of time with languages and memorizing. It's a life journey of self discovery."

Margison is performing with Metropolitan, Vancouver and Cincinnati operas this year, and is also passing on his knowledge through an opera studio course at his cottage in the Haliburton Highlands (highlandsoperastudio.com) on the southern tip of Algonquin Park.

He last performed with Pacific Opera Victoria in 1998, when he donated his performances as Riccardo for a summer run of Verdi's A Masked Ball.

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist. By Grania Litwin, Times Colonist January 23, 2010.

Airing on BRAVO on January 24, 2010 - You can purchase the DVD or Download here. More info at www.thefolksingingoperastar.com.

Lovers in a Dangerous Time from Pan Productions on Vimeo.

20 January 2010 -

When you have the ears and the hearts of some of the leading musicians in the world, that is what you use to get people to give. Paste magazine today launched its creative response to the tragedy in Haiti with a “Songs for Haiti” Web site that offers access to MP3 tracks to those who donate. Tracks come from artists like Ludacris, Of Montreal, Andrew Bird, Hanson and Bruce Cockburn among 200 artists who contributed their work to the effort. Visitors can donate to the charities with whom Paste is partnered - Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross and Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund - or they can declare where else they have donated in order to access the Paste vault of 250 songs. It is on the honor system, the company says. As of this morning, the site reported over $45,000 in donations.

Paste says it is passing 100% of donations to the partnered organizations. Artists are being asked by the magazine to contribute songs to be held in the vault.

"We obviously don’t think people would need incentive to donate in this effort, but perhaps the campaign will inspire more music fans to get involved, or to encourage people who have already donated, to donate again," said Josh Jackson, Paste magazine editor-in-chief in a statement. "Music has always been a force that brings people together, and to have so many fantastic artists drop everything to contribute to this effort was very touching."

Bruce has contributed Waiting for a Miracle from Anything Anytime Anywhere.
[ this info from www.brucecockburn.org Thanks Daniel. ]

~by Steve Smith, www.pastemagazine.com/songsforhaiti

16 December 2009 - A two-DVD set featuring the star-studded concert held last May that celebrated Fishkill folk singer Pete Seeger's 90th birthday has been released.

"The Clearwater Concert" was held May 3 at Madison Square Garden and included performances by Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews and many others. Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Kris Kristofferson, John Mellencamp, Emmylou Harris, Ani DiFranco, Bruce Cockburn, Toshi Reagon, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Tom Paxton, Billy Bragg, Taj Mahal, Michael Franti, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Bela Fleck, Tommy Sands, Tony Trischka, Dar Williams, Steve Earle, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Ben Harper and Tom Morello also performed.

Visit www.seeger90dvd.myshopify.com for information. The DVD costs $35 and all proceeds from sales will benefit Clearwater, which has taken an active role over decades in cleaning up the Hudson River and its watershed.

In a press release, Seeger said, "I never expected to see 18,000 people in Madison Square Garden for a birthday party, much less one of my own. Bless you all and bless all the great musicians on stage! This is one of the greatest singing audiences I ever heard in all my life."

More on this story at Bruce Cockburn at Pete Seeger Party.

2 December 2009 - Backstage at the PEN Canada benefit "Cockburn & Ondaatje: An Evening of Music and Words", which was held at Toronto’s Glenn Gould Theatre on Nov. 21 [setlist]. From left: Bruce Cockburn, Lydia Cacho (the recipient of PEN Canada’s One Humanity Award), musician Sarah Harmer, Michael Ondaatje, and moderator Laurie Brown. ~ By Nathan Whitlock (Photo courtesy of Matt Hayles)

~from All content copyright Quill & Quire. Quill & Quire is a registered trademark of St. Joseph Media.

Update 8 January 2010: You can listen to this show on CBC / Inside the Music archives. ( http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/programs/insidethemusic/2010/01/03/cockburn_ondaatje.html )

TORONTO, 22 November 2009 - Some groups celebrate the release of a new CD in a halfhearted way, using a date that had already been booked and calling it a release party.

Not Kyra and Tully. The local Kingston folk duo spent three years making their new album, Wildlife (in and out of the city), and they want to celebrate. So they've booked a legitimate concert venue, Sydenham Street United Church, and some first-rate talent to perform with them.

Headlining will be Halifax's Jenn Grant, whose music is the theme song for the popular CBC-TV show Heartland and whose recent album, Echoes, has won critical accolades. And in a real coup, they have managed to snag Bruce Cockburn, who has a house near Kingston, who will perform a couple of songs on stage just before intermission, including one with Kyra and Tully.

The duo (whose married name is Pearson) have known Cockburn for a few years now. Each had songs on the Artists For The Algonquin benefit CD last year

"When I asked him, he said I'll let you know," says Kyra. "So we waited on pins and needles for three weeks. And then he said he could do it and feel free to leak it out but that he would only be doing a couple of songs.

"It's an amazing thrill to share the stage with him."

It might seem like a big task to stage a concert, and it is, but the duo are not without resources. When the Sydenham Street United Church is used for concerts, Tully is usually part of the tech team. And Kyra has front-of-house experience, both at the Church for Queen's Performing Arts Office concerts and also at the Baby Grand. Plus, many of their musical friends have volunteered to help out.

"We just can't wait to get it out," says Kyra of the CD. "It's a really big deal for us and we put a lot of sweat and tears into it."

It's not that the journey wasn't a pleasant one, however. The process started in 2007 when 13 bedtracks were laid down, including vocals, bass and drums. From there, the process became a little more leisurely.

"Chris (Coleman, at whose Leopard Frog Studios the CD was recorded) was a real pleasure to work with," says Tully. "And if we wanted an extra bit added, we could ask some of our musical friends."

The songs themselves date back as long as 10 years ago. One of them is one of Tully's favourites, Thunder Bay. "I did it with Me Man Jack as a reggae song but it really begged to be done this way as a folk song," he says. "At the time, I was writing songs about going to San Jose, which I'd never been to, so why not Thunder Bay, which I had.

"I like songs that have that feeling of a ghost in them like Bruce Springsteen's Atlantic City. That's what I'm attempting to do in that song."

Kyra's favourite is one she wrote called Stitched on a Cloth.

"It's about our little community of friends and how we can feel their embrace and their help," she says.

The 11 songs on the CD can roughly be divided between Tully's songs from the road and Kyra's from the heart.

Tully says you could also say that the CD is "Canadiana for the whole family.

"We mention nature, and [Hwy.] 401 and Thunder Bay, which are Canadiana themes. And I even say I'm sorry."

The essentials:

Who: Local folksingers Kyra and Tully are celebrating the release of their new CD Wildlife (in and out of the city).

What: They are having a concert in which they open for their friend, Halifax's Jenn Grant, and get Bruce Cockburn on stage to play a few songs.

When: The concert is tonight at 7 p. m. at Sydenham Street United Church. Cost:Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Children under 12 free.

Where to get tickets:Tickets are available at Queen's Performing Arts Office (JDUC), Zap Records, Tara Foods, and Brian's Record Option. Album: The CD is available at the concert for $15 and also at Zap Records and Brian's Record Option. Also present will be Lake Ontario Waterkeeper.

from ~ Touch of Canadiana, By Greg Burliuk, The Kingston Whig Standard, November 21, 2009.



Bruce Cockburn & Michael Ondaatje
A collaboration of music and words

TORONTO, 19 November 2009 - This program will be recorded for future broadcast on CBC Radio 2's Inside The Music. Check the listings as the show may not be archived.

A bit of the setlist from that show, thanks to Audrey.

There is a new instrumental "Bohemian Three Step". Sarah Harmer was there and played with Bruce.

Setlist for Bruce solo:
Bohemian Three Step
Strange Waters, Lovers in a Dangerous Time, Let the Bad Air Out, Bone in my Ear, Stolen Land

TORONTO, 21 September 2009 - PEN Canada is thrilled to announce that Bruce Cockburn and Michael Ondaatje will appear onstage together in a rare collaboration of music and words at the Glenn Gould Studio on November 19. The two Canadian legends will give their fans a once in a life time opportunity to witness a unique artistic endeavour, as well as to see them share their thoughts on the joys and challenges of the creative life. CBC Radio Two's Laurie Brown will host the evening. The event starts at 7:00 pm at Toronto's Glenn Gould Studio. Tickets are $50 and can be purchase now by phone through Roy Thomson Hall at 416-872-4255, or online at www.roythomson.com.

"As an as organization that defends freedom of expression and advances literature and literary dialogue, we are extremely pleased," says PEN Canada President Ellen Seligman, "to launch our 2009-2010 season of PEN events with Alice Munro and Diana Athill, followed by Michael Ondaatje and Bruce Cockburn in creative collaboration."

The second event in PEN Canada's fall literary lineup on November 19, will bring together two Canadian legends, Bruce Cockburn and Michael Ondaatje in a rare collaboration of music and words, with a conversation about the joys and challenges of the creative life. CBC Radio Two's Laurie Brown will host the evening. The event will take place at Toronto's Glenn Gould Studio at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $50 and are on sale now. This event is in honour of Constance Rooke (1942-2009), who was a past president of PEN Canada and a passionate advocate of freedom of expression and the arts.

Event proceeds will go to PEN Canada in support of its vital work on behalf of writers in prison, writers in exile, and freedom of speech.

About PEN Canada

PEN Canada is a centre of International PEN that campaigns on behalf of writers around the world persecuted for the expression of their thoughts. In Canada, it supports the right to free expression enshrined in Section 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In the past five years, PEN Canada has helped to free over 40 writers from prison. http://www.pencanada.ca.

About the IFOA

The International Festival of Authors was inaugurated in 1980 with a mandate to bring together the best writers of contemporary world literature. Like the weekly reading series, the IFOA includes readings, interviews, lectures and round table discussions as well as public book signings and a festival bookstore. The IFOA also presents a number of special events including readings by Scotiabank Giller Prize, Governor General's Literary Awards, and Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize finalists, as well as the awarding of the Harbourfront Festival Prize. http://www.readings.org.

from ~ © Newswire.ca







Cockburn visits brother in Afghanistan
The Canadian Press

Canadian entertainer Bruce Cockburn was among entertainers who performed at a forward-operating base in the Panjwaii district of Afghanistan on Thursday. (Bill Graveland/Canadian Press)

27 August 2009 - Canadian songwriter Bruce Cockburn is known as much for his political activism as he is for his music.

His song, If I Had a Rocket Launcher, was written after he visited Guatemalan refugee camps in Mexico that were attacked before and after his visit by Guatemalan military helicopters.

Cockburn, who has made 30 albums and has had countless hits, visited another war zone this week: Afghanistan. And the conflict involves a member of his own family. His brother, Capt. John Cockburn, is a doctor serving with the Canadian Forces at Kandahar Airfield.

"I was very curious. I have my own reasons aside from national pride and the love I feel for these people," said Cockburn, 64, who has a long history of being outspoken about human rights.

"The older I get, the more I see these young faces doing what they are doing and the chances they are taking — they feel like my kids."

Ottawa-born Cockburn has travelled to many countries, including Iraq and Mozambique, and written songs on political subjects ranging from the International Monetary Fund to landmines.

Arriving in a land that is rife with landmines, and with Canada in the middle of a war and with soldiers dying in the war-torn country, has given him pause to think.

"It's a long discussion on whether we should be in Afghanistan — whether anyone should be in Afghanistan," he said thoughtfully.

"But since we are, and since we've gone this far, I don't think it's appropriate to leave at this stage.

Ottawa-born Bruce Cockburn, left, visited his younger brother, Capt. John Cockburn, at Canada's Kandahar base hospital. (Bill Graveland/Canadian Press)

Troops 'believe in what they do'

"Certainly I have not had the idea that anyone I have talked to among these soldiers is hiding anything or been trying to slant things to a particular point of view," he said. "They believe in what they do and are witnesses to what they are doing, and I have to accept the truth in what they're telling me."

Cockburn spent some time visiting with his younger brother, John, 57, who joined the Canadian military two years ago. The former Canadian national ski coach was looking for something new to do.

"I had done a stint volunteering in Rwanda and it was the first time I really got a sense of the military and their medical role," John Cockburn said. "I thought I would be too old to join, but I wasn't, and I was interested in coming here and it all kind of worked."

Big brother Bruce was supportive about his decision to join the military.

"He was jealous," he said with a laugh. "He has always been interested, even as a kid, in military issues and hardware and explosions.

"I think that's just remained and, with all the various exposures he's had to conflict zones, I think he's accepted the reality that the military is necessary, like it or not."

Bruce Cockburn, along with other entertainers — including the group Finger Eleven and sports celebrities such as Guy Lafleur and Patrice Brisebois — got a rare look "outside the wire" of the main base in Kandahar when they were flown to a number of forward-operating bases in the Panjwaii district.

The reality of war hit home as the Canadian military responded after a suicide bomber blew himself up near a police vehicle in a bazaar in the nearby village of Bazar-e-Panjwaii. Six police officers and three civilians were injured in the attack.

The experience was an eye opener for the members of Team Canada visiting Afghanistan.

Performed If I Had a Rocket Launcher

Cockburn drew wild applause when he sang If I Had a Rocket Launcher, which prompted the commander of Task Force Kandahar, Gen. Jonathan Vance, to temporarily present him with a rocket launcher.

"I was kind of hoping he would let me keep it. Can you see Canada Customs? I don't think so," Cockburn said, laughing.

~ from http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2009/09/10/bruce-cockburn.html.
Photo: Bruce and Rocket Launcher - The Canadian Press / Bill Graveland. (~ from www.brucecockburn.org/media.htm)

27 August 2009 - Bruce played at the Ottawa Folk Festival on August 22, 2009.

Cockburn creates magic with just voice, guitar
Performers display wit, wisdom, flair
By Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen

Freedom of expression was the order of the day at the Ottawa Folk Festival on Saturday, with a program that ranged from the politically charged music of Bruce Cockburn to the wacky comedy of the Arrogant Worms. Both acts are folkfest favourites in Ottawa, and have played at the Britannia Park site in past years.

Under a starry sky, the darkness was alive with possibility, as Cockburn sang in the 1986 song World of Wonders, with which he opened his headlining performance. Wearing a purple shirt and black jeans, the silver-haired troubadour performed solo, creating magic with little more than his voice and an acoustic guitar.



With Last Night of the World and Night Train, the legendary Canadian singer-songwriter went for the slow build, ensuring the spotlight was on his hypnotizing acoustic guitar work rather than his rather scratchy vocals. He spoke to the crowd a few times, but there were also long periods of silence between songs.

The familiar strains of If I Had Rocket Launcher banished any sleepiness in the crowd. A powerful version of the Cockburn protest song led into a Bill Hawkins tribute with The Trains Don't Run Here Anymore, which featured a guest appearance by cellist Anne Davison.

To the delight of the audience, the setlist also included terrific versions of two of Cockburn's most popular songs, If A Tree Falls and Wondering Where the Lions Are.

Earlier in the evening, the Arrogant Worms were in fine form, obviously comfortable during their 89th performance at the Ottawa Folk Festival (or so they estimated). Joking about being pushed back to an earlier time slot, they declared their unhappiness with their "diminished role" and asked to be traded to Chamberfest.

The trio displayed a quick wit and improv ability and gleefully teased the folkfest audience about the hydration stations, falafels, and their concern for the environment. The jokes were fresh, but many of the songs were familiar, including the Worms' declaration of love to Céline Dion and the misfortune of being Jesus' brother, Bob.

Another of Ottawa's favourite artists, ukulele wiz James Hill, surprised everyone with a bold performance, featuring his partner Anne Davison, a talented cellist. The couple debuted a new piece that combines a experimental ukulele sounds with modern dance. "Maybe it's because we feel safe in Ottawa," Hill said. "We always feel like we can take chances here."

Forget about stepdancing to jigs and reels; this was something entirely different. As Hill inserted a chopstick into a uke laid across his lap, he altered the uke's fundamental musical nature. Davison rose from her cello stool, lunging into a series of jerky dance moves that reminded me of Tinkerbell, while Hill created a techno backdrop on his uke, complete with throbbing bass. Kudos to Hill for constantly pushing the limits of the pint-sized acoustic instrument.

Last night's bill also featured excellent sets by the Good Lovelies and Digging Roots, as well as several brief between-set performances on the small satellite stage.

Canadian folk icon Bruce Cockburn performed at the main stage of the Ottawa Folk Festival, August 22, 2009.
Photograph by: David Gonczol, The Ottawa Citizen. Story by Lynn Saxberg.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
( http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/Cockburn+creates+magic+with+just+voice+guitar/1921245/story.html )

8 June 2009 -

Last Night Of The World

I’m sipping Flor De Cana and lime juice, it’s three a.m.

Maybe on the east coast. But in L.A., it’s just shy of midnight.

I should be winding down, loading up my car and driving to Felice’s house for some shut-eye. But I’m all revved up, buzzed, even though writing’s ultimately gonna keep me up all night, I have to.

I know these people who live in the West Valley. So far out, it’s got a different area code. Could even be a different time zone for all I know. They may not lunch at the Palm, you might not see their names in "Hits", but they’re in the music business. They’ve all got jobs, but their work is secondary to their avocation, putting on house concerts. And one of these music lovers decided to go big time, to put on her own acoustic music festival on the Santa Monica Pier.

On one hand, it was a mistake. This is a professional business. You can’t compete with those who’ve dedicated 10,000 hours. They know how to rip you off, scam you in a way you can’t foresee. But Renee Bodie wanted to put on a festival that no one else would, and therefore she had to do it herself.

I was stunned that the sound was so good. It’s so hard to get it right outside.

Richard Thompson reminded me of the days when an executive like Hale Milgrim would sign an act like him to a major label. Natalie MacMaster was a real surprise. I went from not caring to running right down front, needing to be closer to her magic.

But I was absolutely stunned by Bruce Cockburn.

I was talking to Russ & Julie, Renee’s West Valley counterparts, when I heard the P.A. system go live. I walked out to hear Renee give her thank yous. And then Bruce took the stage.

I bought my first Bruce Cockburn album back in the seventies, at Grammy N’ Granny, my favorite record store in Westwood. Back when the record emporium was my shul, when I made a weekly pilgrimage every Friday afternoon. I’d say I was their best customer, but Ken Russell used to come and buy an armful of soundtracks at a time.

Then Donnie Ienner gave Bruce a big time chance twenty years back. But even though those Columbia albums are stellar, they didn’t break through. Bruce Cockburn works the margins. He’s not an acquired taste, he’s just a prisoner of the cognoscenti. If you know…

I thought I knew. But I HAD NO IDEA!

Bruce walked on stage wearing a thigh-length jacket that would keep the sand from your insides in the Sahara. I wasn’t sure if it was a look, or whether, like the rest of us in attendance, he was fighting the unseasonable cold.

He picks up a green guitar, yes green, and starts playing in a unique way. How he’s picking the notes, I can’t exactly tell. He’s got both a lead and a bass line happening simultaneously. It’s riveting. I’m immediately transported to that place only music can take you. One where the rest of the world doesn’t matter.

I’m slapping my thighs, caught up in the groove.

And then Bruce plays "Last Night Of The World".

I’ve got three versions on my computer, NONE of them are as good, as great, as the one I heard tonight!

The radio’s playing Superchunk and the Friends of Dean Martinez

Old acts are supposed to be old farts. I don’t know how many people in attendance knew who these two referenced acts were. But when Bruce sang this line, I swooned. You see "Last Night Of The World" is one of my personal favorites. It’s the song I play when things are imperfect, when I see the challenges, but have enough oomph, enough chutzpah, to carry on.

Midnight it was bike tires whacking the pot holes
Milling humans’ shivering energy glow
Fusing the space between them with bar-throb bass and laughter

Today a show is spectacle. Handlers say the MTV generation demands it, that music is not enough. But they’re wrong. One man with one guitar can move the world. Those in attendance tonight remember. With their graying hair and lumpy bodies, they had to come out for that hit, that only music can give. Bruce is thwacking the guitar strings, punctuating the licks with lyrics. It’s a concoction only an alchemist can create. Where before there was silence, now we were experiencing something exquisite, far more valuable than anything Tiffany can craft.

If this were the last night of the world
What would I do
What would I do that was different
Unless it was champagne with you?

What would you do if it truly was the last night of the world? Log on to you bank account and see how much money you have? Go sit in your automobile? Luxuriate in your mini-mansion? That would be sad. If it’s truly the last night of the world, possessions, accoutrements no longer matter, we’re all equal. It’s time to go out in the streets amongst the people and communicate, and party.

If it’s the last night of the world, I want to be at the gig. A Bruce Cockburn show would be perfect. Because it would make me feel fully alive before I die.

I’ve seen the flame of hope among the hopeless
And that was truly the biggest heartbreak of all
That was the straw that broke me open

I awoke to a tweet asking me if "the state of music has ever been THIS bad?" I responded that tech drives the world today. And that’s truly heartbreaking to those of us who remember when it was the opposite, when you had to listen to the radio, to records, to know what was really going on.

Tonight I had hope. And I’d been hopeless. There were no paparazzi, no TV cameras. I thought I was at the Santa Monica Pier for an evening of entertainment. But that’s not what I got. What I experienced was the ESSENCE OF LIFE ITSELF!

You play these records at home. Over and over again. You go to the show and the performances don’t quite capture the magic, they’re perfunctory. Without the studio wizardry, they just don’t measure up. BUT NOT TONIGHT! My favorite song came early in the set, before I expected it. I could barely contain myself. I was singing along so loud I was afraid of irritating my neighbors, I was bouncing in my seat like I was spastic. That’s what music does, it takes over your body, you’re no longer in control, YOU’RE POSSESSED!

I’m looking up at the sky. With those clouds off in the distance, and the full moon illuminating the surrounding the landscape. On one hand, I’m so far from home. Where I grew up, the ocean was on the other side. Where you went to college, who your parents were, they were all that mattered. Rejecting that, I got in my car and drove to the land of the Beach Boys, where all could be accepted, where a bit of fun with your work was not taboo. L.A.’s where you come to reinvent yourself, where you come to take chances. Renee Bodie took a chance and started her own festival. I was the beneficiary. Bruce Cockburn’s performance of "Last Night Of The World" was the best thing I’ve heard all year.

This YouTube performance is good, but nowhere near as great as tonight’s performance. Because playing solo, Bruce Cockburn had to carry the entire tune, he had to be the engine that kept the song moving forward. Tonight, he was a veritable FREIGHT TRAIN!

Thanks to Bob Lefsetz for writing from the heart the feelings Bruce brings to us all.

Related Links

~bobbi wisby

25 May 2009 -

A photo book of Bruce at work is on the way by Daniel Keebler.

The book contains more than 110 photographs taken at soundchecks and performances from 1994 to 2008. The last series of photographs were taken at a recording session in Seattle in November 2008. The book contains both color and black and white images.

I (Daniel Keebler) am pleased to say the book will be released with the cooperation of Bruce and his manager, Bernie Finkelstein. The four page biography was fact-checked and amended by Bruce.

UPDATE: 8 July 2009 - The book is available for purchase at Blurb.com : http://www.blurb.com/user/store/keeb !!

Bruce Cockburn – a view from the Woodpile, is now available for purchase. I am publishing the book online through a Print On Demand (POD) publisher called Blurb (www.blurb.com). While this method is more expensive than the traditional off-set printing procedure, this is the only way I could afford to make the book available. Most of the retail price of the book goes to Blurb for printing. My cut is minimal. I did not set out to make piles of cash off the sale of this book, but rather to share my photos with fans of Bruce Cockburn, hoping it might offer a slightly unique view of him at work. I think this is the first book out there dedicated solely to Bruce.

This is a small project. There are people who might appreciate having the book but may never find it. I have no big advertising campaign. If you want to help spread the word about this book, I would welcome that and be most appreciative. Consider including a link to the book as part of the signature on your emails. If you have Twitter, My Space, Facebook, a blog, a website… a simple link to the book at Blurb would be all that is needed.

The book is available in two options:
paperback
hardback with a dust jacket

The book is 120 pages long and is ordered from the Blurb website and mailed directly to you. It contains photos from performances, soundchecks, a recording session and a few other locations, between 1994 and 2008. There is a two page introduction, a four page biography (Bruce assisted with the bio), a discography and a few other tour-related graphics.

The fact Bruce supported me on this project means a lot to me personally, but I also think it helps to validate the project in a broader sense. Since I started Gavin’s Woodpile in late 1993, it has been important for me to document Bruce’s work as accurately as I can. By trusting me, Bruce has helped me make that goal a lot easier. For that I am grateful.

My big thanks go to all of you who have supported Gavin’s Woodpile through the past fifteen years. It is lifting to know you are out there. ~ Daniel, July 8, 2009.

Bruce Cockburn Photo Book Bruce Cockburn Photo Book

Purchase the book here: Blurb.com.

19 May 2009 -

These fragile bodies of touch and taste
This vibrant skin, this hair like lace
Spirits open to the thrust of grace
Never a breath you can afford to waste

There is a sense of the world split open in the work of Bruce Cockburn, like a ripe fig pulled apart by strong hands, the innards tasted hungrily and savored with closed-eye wonder. Since his self-titled 1970 debut, the Canadian singer-songwriter has extended what Wallace Stevens termed "the palm at the end of the mind." There is an intensity of experience and colorful, wholly engaged beauty that runs from head to tail in his music. His lust for life makes one feel a bit more alive just for being exposed to his bold observations and gorgeous melodies.

A tireless veteran live performer, he's never achieved U.S. recognition on the same level as contemporary Neil Young, but the two share a number of striking similarities: a distinct voice in a field that makes individuality difficult, wicked guitar playing skills, a ribald and rebellious nature and an embrace of most of the finest, enduring traits of human beings. While widely celebrated in his native land, in the States he's only occasionally popped up on the mainstream radar with singles like "If I Had A Rocket Launcher." However, he's developed a devoted core audience in the U.S. and around the world that understands the pervasive oomph of his massive catalog and always-intimate concert appearances.

His newest release, Slice O Life (released March 31 on Rounder Records), is a double disc live collection that's as fine an introduction to Cockburn's work as any assembled. It presents his potent baritone tackling pieces from all across his career as well as signature influences like Willie Johnson's "Soul of a Man," with the lot embellished by entertaining, informative anecdotes that offer off-handed insight into one of the most complex, poetic men in contemporary music. Culled from live performances and soundcheck explorations, Slice O Life provides a winning snapshot of an artist of tremendous stability and unbroken quality.

Few things are simple with Bruce Cockburn. He likes to qualify and broaden his ideas and answers, but in the way the Japanese admire, where complication and clouding in language rarely points to one meaning, one destination. In this way, Cockburn's music is spacious, diverse and capable of mutable forms, drawing readily from blues, jazz, rock and folk to create a flexible, inviting hybrid overlaid with vivid imagery and open feeling.

Given JamBase's own love of variety and intense talent, we are tickled several shades of pink to have scored an hour of Cockburn's time, where we discussed spirituality, playing solo, his influences and much, much more.

JamBase: One of the challenges now after 30-some albums and almost 40 years of professional work is where does one jump in? That's a lot of music, man [laughs].

Bruce Cockburn: It's a challenge for me when somebody says, "Where do I start? What should I listen to?" I don't know [laughs].

JamBase: The new live album provides a pretty good foot in the door. It offers a pretty wide cross-section of what you've done.

Bruce Cockburn: It sorta does go back to the beginning, so I guess it is that [introduction], partly because it's solo and that strain of what I've done over the years, which is how I started.

JamBase: One man, one guitar. There's something very pure about that.

Bruce Cockburn: I don't think I was thinking purity, exactly, at the time [laughs]. There certainly is simplicity, in musical as well as practical terms. It was a choice. I'd come out playing in a bunch of bands in the second half of the '60s and I was tired of noise and tired of bad jamming, and I figured maybe other people were, too, and there might be a place for a guy doing things alone with an acoustic guitar. And I'd been interested in folk music and traditional music for a while, so it wasn't too big a leap.

JamBase: Had you been writing songs already at that point? It seems like you arrived on your debut with a fairly intact vision. There's a sense of personality to even the early records.

Bruce Cockburn: During that band period I was writing songs; originally I was writing songs for all the bands I was in and thinking, to some extent, of those bands when I was writing songs. But after a few years went by I noticed I had this little repertoire of songs within that that really worked better when I played them alone. And they were all the best ones [laughs]. When I came out as myself and not as the guitar player in somebody's band it was with a sense of the songs I wanted to do and an idea of how I wanted to see myself. In some sense, it was an embracing of the sensibilities of the era but also a reaction to the collective thing, which never really sat right for me. I never did very well as a hippie [laughs].

JamBase: There's very little hippie-like about your records in that period.

Bruce Cockburn: I just didn't fit with that. I never really fit with anything, which is partially why I sound like me and not somebody else. It was certainly true then. I felt like I'd learned a lot being in bands. I learned how to be onstage and what worked musically and what didn't, and certainly what I was capable of. There's always room for growth, of course, and you never really know what you're capable of, but I had a pretty good sense of it relative to what I'd been doing. So, it was a natural step.

JamBase: One of the things I'm struck by in your music, and it's there from the beginning, is, I wouldn't say an overt spirituality but an engagement with that type of subject matter. I've never found your work to be preachy but I've also never found it tenuous, which tends to be the case when people take on those types of concepts.

Bruce Cockburn: When we talk about taking on things in terms of songwriting, well, I guess if that's what you do it carries certain conditions and risks perhaps, but I never felt like that's what I've done. I always felt like I just wrote about what's sitting there. So, when it looks like I'm taking on something it's because I've been thinking about that thing and I'm having a reaction to that thing. If it's a political song, a spiritual song or a song about sex it's all the same. This is what I've experienced and how I feel about it, and it's kind of grabbing you by the lapels and saying, "You better listen to this!" I just need to convince somebody they should [laughs].

JamBase: I think terminology matters. I used the phrase 'taking on' but it's clear your work emerges from a more personal space. It's not like you have a cause you're trying to grind out. It's not like you're a cause person anyway, though you have been labeled as such by some over the years.

Bruce Cockburn: Yeah, I've been associated with all sorts of causes, and I don't really mind that generally. If I get labeled as an environmentalist because I care about the survival of the planet for my child and grandchildren to me that's not a cause, it's just, "Come on, let's stay alive! Let's get on with it! This is life!"

JamBase: Yeah, I guess if there's one unifying thing I've picked up on about your music as a long-time listener is it's about life, it's about being engaged with things and sometimes in a very earthy way, which wins you points with me.

Bruce Cockburn: Sometimes it's downright smutty! I think it's just about truth, and not wanting to sound pompous, it's about the human experience, what we are. And we are creatures of the flesh and we have the capacity to comprehend a larger reality than our senses can encompass but we feel is there. At some point in the future scientists may discover what spirituality really is, and if they do it's going to look something like capitalism [laughs]. I think there's going to be all kinds of mysterious strains in there, maybe reducible to numbers, maybe not. To me, that's at the core of everything.

JamBase: There's a tendency to divorce the physical aspects of humanity from the spiritual aspects.

Bruce Cockburn: It's unfortunate. The senses may lie – and do from time to time – but they always connect us to a bigger reality. And by senses I include whatever we consider to be extrasensory, too. I think that's just a word for senses we don't have a proper name for, but the capacity for feeling that bigger reality exists in all of us. In different ways, to different degrees, it gets expression in often radically different languages, and that expression suffers badly from the attempt to detach it from the flesh.

JamBase: When you take those two things away from each other they're both going to suffer.

Bruce Cockburn: There's no question of that, and you're probably going to go out and make someone else suffer, too!

JamBase: So true! When we carry some big wound or detachment in us there's a tendency to cause damage around us.

Bruce Cockburn: We project it out and blame other people for it. We blame Jews or we blame Communists or we blame Muslims or they blame Christians. It's all bullshit! It's all about projection of that interior wound.

JamBase: We're getting pretty lofty [laughs]. In more practical terms, I'm interested in the process of playing solo. How has that developed over the years?

Bruce Cockburn: For one thing, there's the obvious difference that when a band's playing it covers up a lot of what the guitar is doing. Even if we've been careful about keeping space clear for what the guitar is doing there's other stuff for people to notice, or should be; those musicians aren't standing up there to be models, they're playing their instruments and you want people to hear that. But, what happens when you don't have those musicians there is you have a greater focus on what the guitar is doing and how the guitar and voice relate to each other, which is how I write the songs. So, something more essential happens with respect to the song. It's less of a performance, though I hope the performance aspect is adequate and interesting to people. But it's less about that and more about the song itself as a composition.

JamBase: With the guitar work more exposed you have to carry a bit more on yourself but at the same time the original intentions of the piece are more naked. Your guitar work comes out of the blues tradition initially but I've always liked the echoes of the British guys I've long been mad for like Bert Jansch, John Renbourn and John Martyn.

Bruce Cockburn: It's interesting because I never listened to them but other people have said that. I attribute it to the fact that those guys and me all listened to the same things. And we're not coming at it from an American perspective, whatever that means. There is something different. There's no denying the whole vibe of England is much different than America, and different from Canada as well. The fact that I was filtering those influences through my Canadian experience may have been enough like the English thing for there to be similarities. Nick Drake is another guy that comes up a lot with me, and I've never listened to a Nick Drake album all the way through. I've listened to a few songs here and there because people said I should check it out and I didn't like it! It was okay, respectable stuff, but it didn't touch me particularly. The exception [in this area] may be Bert Jansch and his first album before there was Pentangle. Really, the people I was listening to were the old blues guys and, of course, Bob Dylan, and the world of finger-picking that was out there didn't escape my notice.

JamBase: That's interesting. Maybe the way things move in the world is they hit a few different places simultaneously, the lightning hits in a few spots at precisely the same time.

Bruce Cockburn: It's one of the really good reasons to not get a swelled head about all the really cool stuff you're coming up with [laughs]. There's a really good chance somebody out there is doing the same thing.

JamBase: How did this stuff come into your life? How did a young white guy in Canada discover that he really liked black blues music?

Bruce Cockburn: At first it wasn't black blues, it was the early Sun Records era of Elvis [Presley] that made me want to be a musician. I liked the music and wanted to play it before I even got a guitar. And Buddy Holly, too. It was white people playing things that were basically based on black music but where I grew up there weren't any black people! That's what you heard, that's what was on the radio. I loved rock 'n' roll and then when I started taking guitar lessons I was exposed to other stuff, and that wasn't very black either – Les Paul and Chet Atkins – a step removed from the rock thing – and then jazz. Eventually I came around. Towards the end of high school I met some people that played so-called folk music, and I was fascinated. I had never finger-picked before that; I was strictly flat-pick, a little jazzy and a little of that. So, I brought something to my contact with those guys that they didn't have in their background, but here were these guys playing Leadbelly and Brownie McGee songs and finger-picking. Once that door was open, well, you see what happened.

There was a club in Ottawa that I used to go to all the time that I eventually ended up doing dishes and making espressos at, and ended up playing at in time. You weasel your way into the scene. Chances are you don't arrive fully formed. This is a way to enter a scene. You're just a guy who plays guitar and you know a few things, and the way to gain entry to a group that's relatively closed is often social. You don't just crash your way in and say, "You need me because I'm a great guitar player." You do it by being friends with people, and when you're 17 and excited by this stuff you do it by washing dishes and hanging out and just being there.

JamBase: There's a vividness to your lyrics, a sense of scene that's cinematic and full of strong imagery. I wonder if poetry has had a strong impact on what you do. It does seem you draw a bit more from that world than the usual verse-chorus-verse folk singer kind of songwriting.

Bruce Cockburn: It's had a huge influence, and predates the effect of hearing Elvis. I was interested in poetry before I knew I wanted to play music. I remember somewhere in the middle of grade school encountering in English class studying what I think of as dumb rhyming, and it wasn't very interesting to me except for something like "The Highwayman," which had a kind of gothic quality. A lot of stuff we studied was just boring. Then, along comes this poem called "Ars Poetica" by Archibald MacLeish that I memorized, and it was kind of an abstract or surreal poem. That shocked the shit out of me and this world opened up right there. Words! A poem doesn't have to be defined by the strictures of rhyme or the need to tell a story or whatever kind of stuff we'd been taught. Language assumed a whole new significance for me right there.

JamBase: It is a different way of communicating ideas. There's a comfort level with making leaps that sort of poetry has that's closer to songwriting than structured poetry.

Bruce Cockburn: The leaps are what it's all about, really. There's a lot of different things that can be called poetry, and I guess justly so, but you can tell the story in a poetic manner and it doesn't have to be Beowulf or The Iliad. Those have their strengths and power but they too rely on their ability to create visual imagery. They paint word pictures you're invited to dive into – the shiny helmets and whatever it might be – even with Homer, who apparently couldn't see any of this stuff!

I've always loved movies, too. I think movies are as big an influence on what I do as poetry or old blues guys. The first movie I ever saw was a Roy Rogers movie my dad took me to, so it wasn't a good beginning but I really liked it. In the latter years of high school I got introduced to Fellini, Bergman and the more cutting edge people of the day, and I loved them, Bergman in particular because it related to that northern sensibility and because a couple of his films are set in medieval times, and I was always fascinated with that, too. Here were these movies that were SO not Hollywood and so intelligent that represented a realm, especially then, that I fantasized about being in.

JamBase: I think the title of the new live set, Slice O Life, almost suggests a film, and in a way you paint a series of scenes within it, especially because it jumps back and forth across your career.

Bruce Cockburn: I guess I thought when I was putting together the repertoire for these shows I wanted to do a cross-section; I always do that but I guess I thought about it a bit more here. We didn't know what would end up on the album. You throw all this stuff out there, and I spent weeks and weeks weeding through 40 hours of recordings to find the right performances of the right songs. It was quite excruciating actually [laughs]. But it was something that worked quite well in the end.

JamBase: The editing is crucial. It can pour out of you pretty fast but then you wonder, "What the hell do I do with all of this?"

Bruce Cockburn: Exactly! You wonder, "Does this make any sense?" I feel very fortunate to not have to answer to suits, but some of the same weeding process has to happen; you have to be tough with yourself. There are exceptions to this; Dylan does very well with this, creating songs that sprawl all over the place but are still powerful. Usually you need to edit what you're doing and weed out all the crap, though sometimes not weeding out the crap creates the strength of the "film." So, I don't know. I guess I back away from making any kind of generalization.

Ottawa poet Bill Hawkins, who was kind of a mentor to me when I first started writing songs, told me that when you're writing a poem just write what's coming out of your head and then go back and cross off everything that doesn't absolutely have to be there. And you're left with something like the finished poem. Although you wouldn't necessarily know that listening to my songs but it's been an important principle to me over the years. It's true and it remains true for me.

~from http://www.jambase.com/Articles/18077/Bruce-Cockburn-Water-Into-Wine/0 by Dennis Cook.

Photos by Kevin Kelly, Riddle Films Inc, and Janet Spinas Dancer.