Our beloved Great Big Sea is taking a hiatus and its members Alan Doyle, Bob Hallett, Kris McFarlane and Murray Foster are busy with their individual projects. For those of us who follow Alan Doyle on social media know he has been writing and producing music for his next album and has been doing his community work for great causes. Causes close to his heart and home and sharing them on social media and in the traditional media along with other members of the community. These included the Bannerman Park skating loop, a school fundraiser, raising awareness and funds for the Shorefast Foundation at Fogo Inn on Fogo Island Newfoundland and a speaking engagement at the Newfoundland Hospitality Conference in Gander.
Alan Doyle, The Bannerman Park Official
Facebook page, the schools involved social media pages and community have shared
some beautiful photographs and words from the events. Alan Doyle shared some photographs
and words on his official webpage Alandoyle.ca, and via Twitter. Other
participants in the Shorefast Foundation event on Fogo Island including photographer BrianRicks@BrianRicksPhotos shared some amazing images on Twitter and on his official photography site of a
working kitchen in black and white. There was also an article in the local
media about Alan’s attendance at the hospitality conference copied below. Together
the community created and share the stories in a way they wished to share.
@lyndahere was also there at the Bannerman Park skating loop
opening and at a school fundraiser bootlegging and taking photographs which she
loaded up onto her YouTube site and shared links to via Twitter and social
media. Although I did not pay to go to the school fundraising event, I did
watch a 15 minute video of Alan Doyle performing some people’s favourite songs
including Thunderstruck by ACDC and Jessie’s Girl by Rick Springfield. It was I
must say Alan Doyle with Stickman Tak (his guitar) at his best, informal and
funny in front of his home crowd and among friends and family. Alan Doyle was totally
brilliant.
As much as fans like me love hearing about what our
favourite guys have been up to during their hiatus from Great Big Sea, when do
we over step the boundaries and become invasive and voyeuristic? Basically I
believe I had no right to be there even though it was bootlegged by @lyndahere
at a respectful distance. It was an American determining what the world should
see about this community. And although the bootleg was primarily about Alan
Doyle performing it was also about the community as well. The bootleg allowed the
world in fact, and people who did not attend and who were not part of this
community to make comments about the community. Lots of images were also copied of this video and circulated. I believe those involved in a fundraising
community event should determine what they want to share and how it should be
shared whether via the traditional means of newspapers, radio or television and
through social media. There are somethings that should remain private and with the community. Because the person doing the performing is well known doesn't mean it should be circulated. And if they choose not to share events with the world
then that is their choice and it should be respected.
@alanthomasdoyle No attitude from us here. None at all @vocmopenline. 9 Feb 2014
Sometimes all it takes is one photograph to tell a story. This is one of them. A fun photograph from the official Twitter page of Alan Doyle at theVanier School fundraiser. (No copyright infringement intended)
No ordinary day Great Big Sea frontman promotes province’s uniqueness by Kevin Higgins in the Advertiser at www.gwfadervertiser.ca © Kevin Higgins photo published 3 March 2014 (no copyright infringement intended)
NOT
ORDINARY – The message musician/actor Alan
Doyle had for the delegates at Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador’s annual
Conference and Trade Show in Gander last Thursday was simple — Newfoundland and
Labrador is unique, and it’s this that makes it attractive to tourists. The
lead singer for Great Big Sea also passed along some steps of success the band
has followed during the past 21 years.
Alan
Doyle has travelled around the world and rubbed shoulders with men and women
from all walks of life — that’s just an ordinary day for the lead singer of
Great Big Sea.
However,
his love and pride for his home province is not so ordinary, and he expressed
his sentiments very clearly Thursday to delegates attending Hospitality
Newfoundland and Labrador’s annual Conference and Trade Show in Gander last
week.
Doyle,
who was born and raised in Petty Harbour, said the best thing about
Newfoundland and Labrador is its uniqueness — a uniqueness that makes it stand
out globally.
“The more
I talk to people (about Newfoundland and Labrador through my travels) the thing
I get most often if I ask ‘Why are you going? Why are you here? What’d you
think of it?’ They say it’s different…they love it because it’s different,” he
said. “That’s so amazing. We have something that’s different than anywhere
else. We have something that’s like nowhere else in this day and age, when
everything is like everything else.
“I’m
blown away with what we (Newfoundland and Labrador) have. The experiences we
can offer people in music, geography, weird places to stay, weird meals to eat
that they never had before, stories, acting, drama, bars, streets, hikes…the
product, the material, the heart of what we sell to people we don’t need to
make up, and I think almost everyone (else) needs to do that.”
He said
those involved in the hospitality and tourism industries in the province are so
lucky to be from a place where the heart of what they sell is readymade.
“It’s key
for us (in the tourism business) to be ourselves…people love that and it’s why
they come,” he said.
To
illustrate the point Doyle recounted a conversation he had with his good
friend, Russell Crowe, during one of the actor’s visits to this province.
Crowe is
a world-renowned actor, producer and musician, having starred in such films as
Gladiator and Robin Hood.
“I wrote
a song with Russell, after I asked him why he comes here, and he said he feels
like he comes to a different place…he said, ‘I’ve been in Canada (Toronto and
Hamilton) and now I’m in a different place…I don’t feel like I’ve been in the
same place…I don’t feel that I’ve been anywhere like this place before…That
doesn’t happen to me very often’,” said Doyle. “The song (Where We Belong)
speaks to the heart of the unique place we’re from.”
Working
advice
Doyle’s
address was not just filled with anecdotes, but sprinkled with suggestions.
He
offered advice on how people in the hospitality industry can keep visitors
coming.
“Make a
plan, be organized, and work with people —not have people work for you or you
work for people,” he said, referring to some advice that was handed to him,
Sean McCann and Bob Hallett from Sean’s father, Ed McCann, when they first
formed Great Big Sea.
Doyle
compared the entertainment business to the hospitality industry in the fact
that every day a hospitality operation is open for business is showtime — just
like in the music or movie industries.
“They
both have a showtime, and there’s nothing more important than to be ready for
showtime,” he said, noting this is something he has been more aware of since
becoming friends with Crowe.
“You need
to be ready. Getting ready is something you can do nine times out of 10. The
most successful people are ready for what they have to do. You can’t fake being
ready.”
Doyle
told the audience of a recent experience he had requiring a level of readiness
from a hospitality operator that proved just what he was saying about readiness
brings success.
Just a
few weeks ago he was stranded at the Inn when the ferry didn’t run.
However,
he said, the operators of the Inn are ready for such incidents, and he was
flown to St. John’s so he could meet his other obligations, while an Inn staff
member drove his vehicle back to St. John’s.
“They’re
ready, and I can’t stress it enough that you need to be ready.”
The third
bit of advice he passed along was that in the world of business you need to do
whatever it takes to be successful.
“You need
to do whatever the days asks of you, not what you would hope the day would ask
of, not what you thought it would ask of you, or not what is convenient, ” he
said. “People need to do the good and the bad stuff…it’s the small stuff, if
they go wrong, that results in big problems. You need to do whatever it takes.”
These
have been three of the strategies followed by Great Big Sea, and himself, have
followed to earn success.
“I wish
you luck with it all,” he said in closing.
