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.
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.
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.
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.
