Alan Doyle And The Beautiful Beautiful Band...My favourites for 2017.

The winners and runners up of my favourite fan and professional photographs, videos and reviews as voted entirely by me...the fan.

Many thanks to Alan Doyle and all the professionals and fans who generously shared their words, stories, photographs and videos online. There was lot of promotional material produced by both Alan himself, the professionals and the fans from the creators, concerts, book and CD tour and it was very difficult to chopse my favourites.

The winner of my favourite Alanthomasdoyle official social media account...

For the past couple of years my favourite official Alanthomasdoyle social media account has been Instagram. Everything Alan has posted on there including his stories and work at home and away has been gold.

However, towards the end of this year I have really loved all the videos he has taken and loaded up on to his official Facebook account, especially those from the CP Holiday Train charity event. Those videos made me the fan feel included on the trip of a life time travelling across part of Canada and helping those communities in need. By the number of likes and comments from the fans they loved them too.













The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Beautiful Band photograph is...

The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Beautiful Band photograph was taken on the CP Holiday Train towards the end of the trip.

The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle fan photograph...

The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle fan photograph was taken on the 'A Newfoundlander in Canada' book tour in Denver, Colorado at the Tattered Cover bookstore. The photograph was shared on Alan's official Twitter account. I just love this photograph of Alan reading a passage from his book.





The winner of my favourite Alanthomasdoyle social media story...

Alan shared a lot of posts and stories about his work on social media including the creation of his new album and book, making videos, the promotional tour, his concerts and charity events at home and away. They are always my favourite promotional material. This year it was really difficult to pick a favourite.

However, my favourite social media story was the making of Alan's new album 'A Week at The Warehouse' in Vancouver. I learned a lot about how Alan and the Beauitful, Beautiful Band go about making music. 

I totally loved the black and white documentary made by fellow band member Shehab Illyas about the making of the album. Snippets were released as publicity for the album on all of Alan's official social media accounts. I collected a few of my favourites from this story that were shared by Alan and the band on two posts soon after the completition of the album in January.








My other favourite social media story was the charity work Alan and the band did on the CP Holiday Train. Alan and the band travelled by a train that stopped and performed in towns across Alberta and British Columbia and collected goods for disadvantaged Canadians. 

As a fan who is from overseas and has never been overland across Canada I just loved these videos and photographs. These were a great addition to the excellect collection of photographs and bootlegs taken at various locations by staff on the CP Holiday Train and fans and shared on their official social media pages.

The winner of my favourite fan videos are...

As I have said before it is always worth the wait and to look for what other fans post on a range of sites than be content with what is shared on established fan sites by the usual fans. There were lots of great fan bootleg videos made throughout the year at a range of events around the world. As I have said on many ocassions before on my blog I am not fan of fans who record and load up a whole concert or everything a celebrity says. Most fans just bootleg a few favourites and enjoy the concert.

My favourite bootleg goes to regular Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle bootlegger Squintyt4e. This concert was bootlegged at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA on the 22 March 2017 and includes special guest Murray Foster from Great Big Sea who travelled with the band for some of the concerts early in the year. 

These bootlegs are some of the best I have ever seen. Although the band was rather confined on stage the bootlegger made quality recordings of this concert. They used a range of shots of all the band members bringing the concert to the viewer. I loved the close ups of Murray Foster on guitar, Kris MacFarlane on drums and Todd Lumley on piano at the back of the stage rather than usual recordings being on the those at the front of the stage.

The fan recorded a great collection of Alan Doyle's new and unrecorded songs from the new album, old favourites, Great Big Sea favourites with a new twist such as Sea of No Cares and a Cory Tetford song. While the bootlegs are great there was a downside. I couldn't help but notice how rude some Americans were in the audience who just couldn't stop talking and whose voices could be heard talking over the performances of some members of the band. I have shared some of these on my Google + page.




My second favourite collection of bootlegs goes to dobwat at the John Mann Benefit charity concert in Vancouver. The bootlegs by dobwat included performances of a new Barenaked Ladies song recorded with back up vocals by Alan Doyle and Jim Cuddy and a couple of great songs with Dustin Bentall, Barney Bentall and Kendel Carson. 

These bootlegs were very well recorded from a little future back and very inclusive of all the performers on the stage who gave up their time to help out a fellow musician out. I also really liked some bootlegs from Shaun Ledding who was a little closer to the front and have circulated some on my Google + page.

I have circulated a copy of 'If I Had a Million Dollars by the Barenaked Ladies' (with Sara M and Alan Doyle) and '3000 Miles' and 'Cariboo Express' by Barney Bentall, Dustin Bental and Kendel Carson by Shaun Ledding and the new Barenaked Ladies song 'Canada Dry' (with Alan Doyle and Jim Cuddy) by dobwat. Many thanks for sharing and I hope you enjoy them as much I have.

The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle events...

Throughout 2017 Alan Doyle and some formation of The Beautiful, Beautiful Band did a range of concerts, radio and television appearances for the promotion of the new album and book and charity events.

My favourite event has to be the mini Great Big Sea reunion concert with Alan, Bob and Murray in New York City on the eve of St. Patrick's Day at B.B. King Blues Club. Murray Foster was filling in for Beautiful, Beautiful Band regular Shehab Illyas who was on leave for personal reasons. And what a night it was for the artists and musicians.




My other favourite events are those Alan does in St. John's, Newfoundland when he performs solo with Stickman. 

This year one of the great highlights for me was Murray Foster's Toronto Songwriter's School course in St. John's, Newfoundland. There were great photographs and videos shared on social media by the school and participants. The event looked totally awesome. 

Both Alan Doyle and Bob Hallett gave talks and advice about writing music to the participants and these talks were recorded and shared on Facebook. Listening to Bob Hallett sing one of my favourite songs 'Follow Me Back' solo was totally awesome.





The other event which I would have loved to have attended in St. John's was a funraiser Alan did with some other artists and musicians for the renewal of Victoria Park. This would have been totally awesome fun and being able to help out a great cause too. I have shared a screenshot of the artists and musicians from the official Victoria Park Renewal Facebook page.





The winner of my favourite professional review was...

My favourite professional review beautifully written by Great Big Sea and Indoor Party Garden fan Jaime Lubin a regular contributor to the online news site The Huffington Post about the mini Great Big Sea reunion in New York with Bob Hallett and Murray Foster. The article called 'Return to the King: Alan Doyle and the Beautiful Gypsies Take NYC by Storm Again' was published on the 21 March, 2017 and shared on social media. 

The band played some Great Big Sea classics, some songs from the Boy on Bridge album, the So Let's Go album and a couple of other favourites including 'Sonny's Dream' and 'Row Me Bully Boys Row'.

Some beautiful words from the review about the reunion...

"...Throughout, the event's master of ceremonies proved why he's the one to call when you need cheering up. True to his goal of wanting "to be the guy that lived the most," Alan enjoyed himself every step of the way, radiating that cheer to his bandmates and the entire crowd. During the sweetly romantic "Where the Nightgales Sing," he encouraged people to waltz-and raised a glass to toast the couple in the front row who actually did! It's easy to be impressed by Alan's versatility onstage, switching rapidly from guitar to mandolin and back again and bouncing from a spiritual welcome ("Dream of Home") to scorching rock ("Are You Ready To Go?"). But watch how the man shines the spotlight on his fellow performers and lets the audience find the beauty in their cohesion. As all good Canadians (and honary Canadians) know, it's the whole that makes the party."

"...But sometimes you can't quite go home again. Joyful as the show was, there remained a bittersweetness to the proceedings...And I'm sure among the onlookers felt a twinge when Alan, Bob, Murray and Kris joined together for "Come and I Will Sing You," knowning the days of GBS are past and it's time to make other memories..."

The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle professional photographs are...

The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle professional photographs were taken at the Calgary writer's festival Wordsfest. The photographer David Kotsibie at Persuasion Photo took photographs of the setting, Alan on stage being interviewed, interacting with the audience, the audience and Alan at the meet and greet with the fans after the talk. 

I have included a copy of one of the photographs I really liked. The photographs are available on the Wordfest 2017 photo site on Flickr. No copyright infringement intended.

I also really loved the gorgeous black and white photographs taken of Alan and some of The Beautiful, Beautiful Band by Vanessa Heins Photography for 'A Very Strombo Special Holiday Special' broadcast on Sunday, December 17, 2017 on CBC Radio 2. The photographs were shared via the official social media sites including Twitter and Facebook. I have included a screen shot here posted on Alan's official Facebook page.

My favourite fan moment of 2017...

On many occasions Russell Crowe and Alan Doyle have provided fans with constructive feedback (both negative and positive) and encouragement on their creative endeavours. Over the years a young English fan Meg Doherty has attended concerts in London and contacted Russell Crowe and Alan Doyle for music advice which they kindly provided with much encouragement. Recently Meg recorded some songs on an album called Northern Girl and again contacted them for advice. Not only did both Russell and Alan provide constructive and encouraging advice they both lead the charge to buy Meg’s album which they promoted via Twitter. I just thought this was a really awesome gesture.





The CBC Crosstalk live interview and performance...

The highlight of the book and album tour at home in St. John's for me was the CBC Crosstalk interview and mini performance on the local radio CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Alan talked about the new book and album and Alan, Cory and Kendel performed some songs in the studio that included 'Come Out With Me', 'Row Me Bully Boys', and a nice interpretation of an old favourite 'I've Seen A Little'.

The official CBC Newfoundland and Labrador news feed wrote an article title 'First Listen 'I'm super-grateful': Alan Doyle releases new book and solo album' that was distributed via social media. The lucky fans who won the contest shared some nice words about being fans of Alan Doyle. I have circulated a copy of the article on my Google + page.

The interview and performance was recorded and loaded up onto the official CBC Newfoundland and Labrador Facebook page for local and international fans who could ring up and comment on. At the time of the writing of this post the interview and performance was still available.

Some Canadian Copyright News 2017...An update.

As a fan blogger I have always tried to educate myself and share articles that help to educate other fans on the various perspectives on copyright and piracy and how they impact on the artists and musicians we love.

The following article was shared by the online copyright and piracy site Torrent Freak about the current review of Canada's Copyright Act next year.

I found the comments ... “The reality is that Canada is already home to some of the toughest anti-piracy laws in the world with many legislative tools readily available for rights holders and some of the largest damages provisions found anywhere in the world.” really interesting.

As a fan of television shows made in Canada I have always found that getting access to Canadian content, in particular episodes of television shows on YouTube really easy. There are many ways for piraters to get around notice-and-takedown rules. To me some Canadian creators do not have the resources or the willingness to stop pirated content on YouTube through notice-and-takedown rules.

I have provided a copy of the article below for those fans interested and a link to the original. No copyright infringement intended.

'Canadian Government Triggers Major Copyright Review' by Andy published at TorrentFreak.com on 14 December, 2017.

https://torrentfreak.com/canadian-government-triggers-major-copyright-review-171214/

The House of Commons has triggered a parliamentary review of Canada's Copyright Act, to be conducted by the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. The music industry was quick to weigh in, congratulating government ministers and making it known that the so-called Value Gap, which concerns copyright takedown regimes and artist remuneration, will be high on the agenda.

The Copyright Act of Canada was first passed in 1921 and in the decades that followed has undergone considerable amendment.

Between 2005 and 2010, several bills failed to gain traction due to opposition but in 2011 the Copyright Modernization Act was tabled. A year later, in the summer of 2012, it was passed into law.

The Act tackles a number of important issues, such as allowing time and format shifting, plus backup copies, as long as DRM isn’t circumvented along the way. So-called ‘fair dealing’ also enjoys expansion while statutory damages for non-commercial scale infringement are capped at CAD$5000 per proceeding. Along with these changes sits the “notice-and-notice” regime, in which ISPs forward infringement notices to subscribers on behalf of copyright holders.

The Act also mandates a review of copyright law every five years, a period that expired at the end of June 2017. Yesterday a House of Commons motion triggered the required parliamentary review, which will be carried out by the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. It didn’t take long for the music industry to make its position known.

Music Canada, whose key members are Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music, enthusiastically welcomed the joint announcement from the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

“I applaud Minister Bains and Minister Joly for initiating this review of the Copyright Act,” said Graham Henderson, President and CEO of Music Canada.

“Music creators, and all creators who depend on copyright, deserve a Copyright Act that protects their rights when their works are commercialized by others. This is our chance to address the Value Gap threatening the livelihood of Canadian creators and the future of Canadian culture.”

That the so-called “Value Gap” has been immediately thrown on the table comes as no surprise. The term, which loosely refers to the way user-generated platforms like YouTube are able to avoid liability for infringing content while generating revenue from it, is a hot topic around the world at the moment.

In the US and Europe, for example, greater emphasis is being placed on YouTube’s position than on piracy itself, with record labels claiming that the platform gains an unfair advantage in licensing negotiations, something which leads to a “gap” between what is paid for music, and what it’s actually worth.

But the recording labels are unlikely to get an easy ride. As pointed out in a summary by Canadian law professor Michael Geist, the notice-and-takedown rules that facilitate the “Value Gap” are not even part of Canadian law and even without them, the labels have done just fine.

“The industry has enjoyed remarkable success since 2012, growing far faster [than] the world average and passing Australia as the world’s 6th largest music market,” Geist writes.

“The growth has come largely through Internet streaming revenues, which now generate tens of millions of dollars every year for creators, publishers, and the broader industry. The industry is also likely to continue to lobby for copyright term extension, as foreshadowed by a lobbying blitz just last month in Ottawa.”

As reported in September, telecoms companies and the entertainment industries are pressing for website blockades, without intervention from the courts. The upcoming copyright review will provide additional opportunity to push that message home.

“Bell admits that copyright reform is not needed for site blocking, but the link to the Copyright Act ensures that the issue will be a prominent part of its lobbying campaign,” Geist notes.

“The reality is that Canada is already home to some of the toughest anti-piracy laws in the world with many legislative tools readily available for rights holders and some of the largest damages provisions found anywhere in the world.”

But for copyright holders, a review also has the potential to swing things the other way.

The previously mentioned notice-and-notice regime, for example, was put in place as an alternative to more restrictive schemes elsewhere. However, it was quickly abused by copyright trolls seeking cash settlements from alleged pirates. It’s certainly possible for that particular loophole to be closed or at least addressed as part of a comprehensive review.

In any event, the review is likely to prove spirited, with interested parties on all sides trying to carve out a smooth path for their interests under the next five years of copyright law.

Great Big Sea And The New Year In St. John's 2000...Throwback Thursday.

As fans make plans for Christmas and New Year in Canada and around the world St. John's, Newfoundland is always the first provience in North America to see the new year in.

When St. John's, Newfoundland was the first provience to see in the new millennium, Great Big Sea was there to share their experience with their families, friends and hometown fans. What a night and concert that would have been !

The CBC Digital Archives contains lots of videos and tapes about how Canada saw in the new millennium. The description below is from the webpage with the news report.

"This is unbelievable. I'm so excited... I'm so honoured to be... a part of this... celebration." Standing amidst a crowd of some 100,000 gathered on the harbourfront in St. John's, Nfld., an emotional Shaun Majumder describes the coming of the new millennium. Throughout the day, Canadians have seen worldwide celebrations starting with the Kiribati Islands in the west Pacific to China to Italy.

And now the time has come for Canada to take the spotlight. On stage, the popular East Coast group Great Big Sea sets the mood with its hit song Goin Up. The eyes of the world are on Newfoundland and Labrador as it becomes the first location in North America to see the dawn of a new century."

I have circulated a video of the news report from the night from the CBC Archives about how St. John's brought in the new millennium on my Google + page. 

The link to the the CBC Archives is here... http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/year-2000-arrives-in-newfoundland-canada

The images are from the video on the CBC Archives webpage. No copyright infringement intended.

Murray Foster And The Cocksure Lads Movie...A fan review.

I have always admired Murray Foster and the way he went about trying to make a living while remaining true to his creative calling since the Great Big Sea hiatus. I admire anyone who has an idea and dream and can turn that idea and dream into a money making reality whether it be a song, album, book, television series or movie. Murray Foster wrote, produced and directed the Cocksure Lads movie in 2014.

Over the past couple of years I have read quite a lot about Murray Foster and the Cocksure Lads band, music, movie and now stage production but had never seen the movie due to where I live. Finally, the Cocksure Lads movie was released internationally and legally available online in Australia and I was able to buy a copy. And I loved it.

The Cocksure Lads movie is about a group of naive and ambitious English musicians who go to Canada, have a fight over contributions and royalties and decide to go their separate ways putting their gig at night at risk. The movie follows their individual adventures around the streets of Toronto from drinking in bars, fighting, chasing girls and discovering what it means to be in band and playing music for a living. The movie is supported by a nice collection of 1960's British pop like music. There are some guest appearances by Alan Doyle, Kendel Carson and Walk Off The Earth.

Prior to writing this post I read some mixed reviews from newspapers and online media sites attached to the Cocksure Lads IMDb site. The reviews identified both some positive and negative aspects of the movie. I was interested what these reviews mostly by male reviewers thought about how women both musicians and fans were presented. None of the reviews touched on this issue except for one viewer.

While it would be easy to make a movie that romanticises music and male musicians and portrays modern female north American music fans in a politically correct way the movie challenges this. The writer and director Murray Foster writes about something he knows a lot about as he was a member of a number of music bands from an early age and that is what it means to be in a band, staying true to your creative callings and female music fans.

The movie in my opinion treated female music fans from a range of diverse backgrounds in a rather negative than positive light. The reality is that there are female fans who are extremely idealistic about music and playing music. There are those female fans willing to chase and engage with musicians for purely sexual reasons, those female fans who are only interested in musicians because they play in a band and there are those female fans with obsessive tendencies about particular music groups.

I have a couple of criticisms of this movie and one is that Murray Foster himself didn't make a guest appearance. The character of Monty the long suffering roadie, stage hand and one time musician wasn't explored making the connection between the current band and it's history and connecton with British pop music. I was also not fond of the clip with the nurses in sexy uniforms which I thought was unnecessary. Although I am not a fan of bad language I am not really offended by the 'w' word as much as I am by the 'f' word which did not appear.

Prior to writing this post I read some professional reviews about the movie from the IBMD site. I have copied a few quotes from those reviews here. I have also circulated a copy of the official Cocksure Lads movie trailer. As always no copyright infringement intended.


'Cocksure Lads Bring the Funk' by Cinemablographer Pat Mullen.

"...The Cocksure Lads offers a different set for musical comedy as the bandmates take their own separate paths, roam the streets of Toronto, and ponder the future of The Cocksure Lads. The film features a variety of performances and songs with a range of catchy musical numbers. Some sets take the form of conventional band performances, songs flow logically with the rock band storyline as The Cocksure Lads rehearse and get pumped up for the gig that may or may not happen, while other numbers take a more escape approach with sexy nurses joining the party as, say, one Lad bursts into song at The Beach. Animated cutouts bring to life numbers about mushy peas and spam, and the humour mostly lives in the lyrics and tongue-in-cheek energy with which the bandmates perform the songs. The Cocksure Lads plays like the Spinal Tap of the Canadian indie film scene with a dash of lo-fi funk..."

'Canadian Film Fest 2015: The Cocksure Lads Movie.' by Sean Kelly 25 March, 2105

"...The Cocksure Lads Movie is a musical comedy directed by Murray Foster, who is a member of the real band the film is based on. The Cocksure Lads are a Britpop band, who seem like they came straight out of the 1960s. A good comparison to this movie would be Flight of the Conchords, particularly through the use of multiple music video-style song performances throughout the film. Each of the band members get sing at least once song each, most of which have some pretty ridiculous lyrics. The film as a whole is an ode to the love of music and how achieving fame isn’t always the greatest aspiration.

Much of the plot of the film involves the band members going on their own separate ways and interacting with various individuals, including indie rocker Chloe (Chelsea Leaman), Coldplay loving Lily (Laura Vincent), groupie med student Jennifer (Laura Tremblay), and promiscuous Lucy (Sophia Fabiilli). The film also features cameos from Great Big Sea’s Alan Doyle and CBC’s Matt Galloway. While much of the film is pretty enjoyable, one aspect that doesn’t really work is the inclusion of two Brit-hating numbskulls, who are only there to give the film antagonists. Altogether, The Cocksure Lads is a fun musical comedy."

Murray Foster And Tall New Buildings...Throwback Thursday.

I found this great interview with a very young 19 year old Murray Foster and his band mates talking about their band Tall New Buildings, their new album and touring Ontario and Quebec during the summer of 1983. He played with this band during the 1980's and then went on to play with Moxy Fruvous during the 1990's, before joining joined Great Big Sea in 2003.

You've got to love 19 year old Murray's hair and the interviewer holding up a vinyl record cover, the norm back then.

The photograph of Murray Foster and the interview is from the CBC Archives. No copyright infringement intended.

I have included a copy of the link to the CBC Archives site http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2247622020 for those fans who visit in the future. 

I have also circulated a copy of the video via my Google + page. 

Alan Doyle And 'A Newfoundlander In Canada' 2017 ...A professional interview and some photographs.

As much as I appreciate fan generated material, the fan sites that generate them and the discussion that follows, some fans choose not to share some wonderfully produced professional material that comes along way after the event because it may be competition to their own of for other reasons but for what ever fans miss out on some real gems. I always find the wait for professionally made material worth the wait rather than exist entirely on fan generated subjective material. 

Recently I found two awesome examples of professionally made material, a video and some photographs. The first is a professionally recorded video of Alan's first sold out interview and talk about his new book 'A Newfoundlander In Canada' by the Toronto Library. Alan was interviewed by a sometime Newfoundlander and professional sports writer Stephen Brunt.

I always enjoy his wonderful articulate and very funny story telling in particular, when he talks about Newfoundland, their music, culture and history and the importance of representing Newfoundland on mainland Canada and to the world. He sang Excursion Around The Bay with the audience and there was an audience question and answer session which were also awesome. I was really impressed with how positive and complementary he was to his fellow band mates (including Sean) and about his experiences with Great Big Sea.

The video is available on the Toronto Library's official YouTube site as part of the Appel Salon series. I have also shared the video via my Google + page for those fans interested. 

The second is a collection of 103 gorgeous photographs taken at the Wordfest writer's event in Calgary. The photographer David Kotsibie at Persuasion Photo took photographs of the setting, Alan on stage being interviewed, interacting with the audience, the audience and Alan at the meet and greet with the fans after the talk.

I have included a copy of a couple of the photographs I really liked. The photographs are available on the Wordfest 2017 photo site on Flickr. No copyright infringement intended.

Alan Doyle And TBBB On The @CP Holiday Train 2017...Part one.

On Saturday 9 November, 2017 Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Beautiful Band hopped aboard a leg of the CP Holiday Train in Calgary to Port Coquitlam that helps raise goods for food banks and people in need across Canada.

Alan and the band will be making 32 stops along the way performing shows for approximately 30 minutes at each stop. The schedule from the official CP Holiday Train site is copied below. They played a mix of Christmas carols and other songs. 

What the train means to local Canadian communities...

From the Visit Minot blog...

"All About The Holiday Giving Train" published 12 December, 2017...published at http://blog.visitminot.org/2017/12/12/all-aboard-the-holiday-giving-train/


The post has been edited for copyright reasons...

"The festive train arrives on December 14 around 6:45-7:15 p.m. at Main Street Crossing in Downtown Minot. This event is free and open to the public. With the warm weather, we’ve been having this is a great year to see the train as it chugs into town.

The Holiday Train is around 1,000 feet long and has 14 decked-out cars making it a truly magical sight. The thousands of LED lights that cover the train are never turned off, except for when the train passes through customs.

Once the train arrives–though known to be a tad late–the side doors of one of the cars opens up to become a stage for a cheery musical performance. This year’s performers are Terri Clark, Dallas Smith, and Kelly Prescott.

After the first song, a short presentation takes place with a selected local food bank and a city official after which, the show carries on.The Holiday Train is about more than just holiday spirit. Put on by Canada Pacific, dating and giving back is the true destination.

Minot Area Homeless Coalition executive director Mac McLeod organizes the event and is excited about what the people of Minot can do when they come together.

“When the holiday train comes in, its to raise awareness of hunger and to benefit one of the local food pantries. Food pantries get hit hard during the holiday season,” McLeod said.

McLeod said the train is a wonderful thing to bring attention to their food pantries as the pantries are “hit hard” during the holiday season.

At the event, there will be a donation center put on by Minot Community Foundation who will give all donations to the Lord’s Cupboard–this year’s chosen beneficiary. Acceptable donations are all non-perishable food items as well as monetary donations.

There will also be a small concession stand hosted by Minot Area Homeless Coalition at the event where all items are paid for by free-will donation. Every dollar spent at the Holiday Train event goes right back into the community.

Some special guests will also make an appearance when the Holiday Train arrives. Mayor Chuck Barney will be at the event as he does almost every year. Santa will also be there and will be available for photos.

Since their start in 1999, the CP Holiday Train has raised more than $13 million CAD and $4 million pounds of food for North American food banks."


The music videos...

The official CP Holiday Train Facebook page shared some awesome videos of Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Beautiful Band taken from the stage at various stops along the way and the great crowds who came to seem them. They sang some Christmas carols, Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle songs.

The videos are available at the official CP Holiday Train Facebook page.





The social media posts...

Alan has shared some amazing social media posts along the way via his official social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter including photos and videos. As there are a couple of days to go I'll wait before posting any more.

I love absolutely love the videos Alan has taken from the train. It certainly would be an amazing journey travelling across Canada on the train. 

Some photographs...

There are a nice collection of photographs of Alan Doyle and the Beautiful Beautiful Band and Colin James on the CP Holiday Train on the online music site Canadian Beats and their Facebook page.

The photographs are by Adriana Malinowska and no copyright infringement intended.

The schedule...

Alan Doyle, The Beautiful Beautiful Band And Strombo...Talk about stuff and the meaning of the Christmas holidays.

Prior to getting the CP Holiday Train Alan Doyle did an interview on the Strombo Show on CBC Radio 2 in Toronto.

Alan talks about his new book 'A Newfoundlander In Canada' and new album 'A Week At The Warehouse' and performed some songs with some members of The Beautiful Beautiful Band (Cory, Kendel and Todd). The songs included were 'Come Out With Me', 'Somewhere In A Song' and 'I'll Be there Christmas Eve' (Ron Hynes Cover).

I really enjoyed listening to Alan and the other members of the band Cory, Kendel and Todd talk about their religious beliefs and their experience at the Christmas holidays.

I have shared a copy of the interview via my Google + page. For those fans interested in only Alan and the music, the interview begins at approximately the 1.30 minute stage of the total 3 hour show. Be sure to check out the show's home page and play list for some other awesome music.

There were some totally awesome black and white photographs of these sessions taken by Toronto photographer Vanessa Heins and shared via social media. If you love black and white photographs like I do, check out the official Twitter and social medias sites of the Strombo Show and Vanessa Heins' official webpage and social media pages for some of her amazing photographs.

I have copied a couple of photographs shared on social media via the official Strombo Show and @alanthomasdoyle Twitter accounts. As always no copyright infringement intended.

Alan Doyle And Always Coming Home...A reflection revisted.

"...The members of the Newfoundland band say getting off the Rock was why they started up to begin with.

"I'll be honest with you," says vocalist Alan Doyle. "The only reason I ever wanted to be in a band in the first place was to see the rest of the country -- to see if I could find another place to live."

Now that they've seen the rest, they love the Rock all the more, he said...."

Monday, April 15, 1996

'Newfoundland rockers arrive in B.C' available at http://greatbigsea.tripod.com/athome/articles/april15.html

Over 20 years later Alan Doyle shared some photographs of going home to St. John's Newfoundland from the air on social media after having been away.

I love these photographs shared on Alan's official Twitter account and I have included a copy of some here.

The rest of the photographs can be found at the official Twitter account of @alanthomasdoyle. No copyright infringment intended.