Alan Doyle And A New Video...'Come Out With Me'.

I love professionally made music videos. They are always worth the wait.

There are so many things I love about professionally made music videos including the quality of the sound and production, the stories they tell and that any proceeds, no matter how small, whether views, likes or money when shared in places like YouTube go to the musician and/or creators.

Not a lot of information was shared about the making of this excellent music video. The music video shows Alan Doyle and his Beautiful, Beautiful Band (Cory Tetford, Kendel Carson, Todd Lumley, Shehab Illyas and Kris MacFarlane) performing the song 'Come Out With Me' live on stage to a sold out crowd in a beautifully restored theatre somewhere in Canada. I love the inclusiveness of all the members of the band and the crowd.

I love the story this music video tells. It shows us the fans what it is like to be a musician in a band performing, doing what they love with good friends and how these musicians interact with their audience from their unique position on the stage. The audience are up on their feet, singing, clapping and dancing and are certainly loving this performance of this song.

From the number of views of professionally made music videos verses the average bootlegged concert music video, fans seem to enjoy professionally made music videos much more.

Perhaps my only criticism is Alan Doyle should consider leading a tour with a professionally made music video like this one as it would not leave a fan or any person considering going to a concert with any doubt about buying a ticket to one of his concerts when they visit their town.

I have shared a copy of this music video on my Google + page. The music video is available on Alan Doyle's Vevo YouTube site. The screenshots are from the music video. As always no copyright infringement intended.

Great Big Sea 2018 ... And a lovely day in St. John's.

Recently a photograph of the original founding members of Great Big Sea (Alan Doyle, Bob Hallett and Sean McCann) having a meeting in St. John's, Newfoundland shared via their official social media accounts.

The photograph brought a lot of pleasure to many of fans who weighed in on the discussion on the various official and fan social media sites. Most fans were pleased to see the boys sitting down together and trying to sort out a few of their differences.

However, not all fans felt that way offering a few different interpretations especially of the body language between the three boys.

I have included a copy here just for the record. I have also included a totally drop dead gorgeous photograph of the original members including Darrell Power shared by Darrell on his official Twitter account. No copyright infringement intended.

Darrell Power And A New Album...Available this Fall.

Recently former Great Big Sea founding member Darrell Power announced on social media he is about to release his first solo album in the Newfoundland Fall. This is very exciting news for Great Big Sea fans around the world.

Darrell did an interview with the local Newfoundland newspaper The Telegram about working on his solo album and named a large collection of local musicians working on the album including his former Great Big Sea band mates Alan Doyle, Bob Hallett and Sean McCann. I am really looking forward to this album. 

Darrell has also been keeping himself busy musically playing gigs in a local pub in St. John's, Newfoundland. There are many times I wish I was living in St. John's where I could attend local music gigs and this is one of them. 

Darrell shared a photograph of himself and his former bandmate Bob Hallett working on the album and of himself performing at the Blacksheep in St. John's on social media. I have included a screenshot of those below. 

I wish Darrell all the best with his solo album. I for one can't wait for this album's release.

I have included a copy of article that appeared in The Telegram about him making the album. As always no copyright infringement intended.

'After decades playing with other groups, former Great Big Sea bassist is making a solo album' by R. Mullaley published on 13 June, 2018 in TheTelegram.com (no copyright infringement intended).

‘It’s always been on my bucket list’

Darrell Power spent more than three decades playing with well-known music groups.

From his four years as a member of Rankin Street in the late 1980s and early 1990s, 10 years as a member of Great Big Sea, three years partnering with singer Kevin Evans and more than 10 years as a member of Timber, the talented bassist, guitarist and vocalist has helped many other musicians create magical music moments on the local music scene.

Now, he’s ready to create some of his own.

The 50-year-old from Outer Cove is pursuing his first solo album.

After more than 30 years of writing his own material and hoping to record it someday, he said now was the right time to do it.

“Those (bands) were all fun, but making a solo album, it’s always been on my bucket list,” Power told The Telegram during an interview Tuesday at a downtown coffee shop.

“I always knew I wanted to do it, but every time I kept getting close to it, I kept writing more songs. That seemed to be my habit, to back away from it a little bit more.

“The way it is — and most musicians are alike — you think you really can’t sing, you really can’t play and you really can’t write.”

However, when some of his original songs went over well during his solo acoustic performances at the Black Sheep bar on Water Street in downtown St. John’s this year, it gave him the confidence he needed to record them.

“I’d joke that you write songs and put them under the bed, but they were finally broken out,” said Power, who owned his own recording studio for seven years. “And people were really liking them.”

Things took off for Power a few months ago after a chance meeting downtown with Robert Kelly, a native of Fogo and well-known sound engineer.

“We bumped into each other and he said, ‘Why don’t we record it?’” Power said of Kelly, who recorded the album in Rick Hollett Sr.’s studio on Bond Street, not far from where Power lives. “That was a Thursday. On Saturday, we were in the studio, getting started on it. It all came together so fast.”

He said he’s known for four years what he would call the album — “Happily Ever After,” “because it answers the question, ‘What ever happened to Darrell Power?’” he said, laughing.

“Which is a total joke, because who lives happily ever after? But it’s a nice thing to strive for.”

He said the album includes “a little bit of everything,” but mostly folk and folk/rock tunes. His favourite is the self-titled track, the last of 12 tracks, which he said is like a southern Baptist gospel tune.

“I like to describe it as a story of ‘a life’ because the album does tell a story,” he said. “There are bits and pieces of my life, but it’s also living in other people’s heads, which is another (aspect) to songwriting — to write from their perspective.”

Power — who has two sons, ages 15 and 17 — said he’s glad he waited so long to make the solo album, as his boys are older now and, as a musician, he has more experience as a songwriter and more knowledge about making song selections.

As exciting as it is for him to be venturing out on his own, he admits it was big move.

“(Great Big Sea’s) albums were a lot of fun. I loved that whole process. That’s four people butting heads about songs, arrangements — and believe you me, we were pretty good at butting heads when it came to the price of tea in China or whether it’s a D (chord) or G7, and that’s a fact,” he said, laughing.

“So, it’s a different experience when you’re by yourself. The decisions you make are yours alone, so you weigh every word, every chord.”

He was happy to have some talented local musicians accompany him on the album.

They include drummer Devon Milley, who played in a thrash metal rock band called Monsterbator; Hollett Sr. (piano); Kevin Evans (banjo/mandolin); Luke Welsh (violin), a member of the Punters; Hey Rosetta! cellist Romesh Thavanathan; and Terri Lynn Humber (piano, vocals), who plays in the band Weight of the World.

His Great Big Sea bandmates — Alan Doyle, Sean McCann and Bob Hallett — also make contributions, either instrumentally or vocally.

“They all appear somewhere on the album and I’m glad they are on it,” Power said. “They are all old friends and that was really important to me.”

Since Kelly’s schedule is taking him out of the country for several months, the album will be completed long distance “thanks to Dropbox technology,” Power said.

It’s due out this fall.

“I’m really looking forward to (having it released),” he said. “Now that I’ve done it, I’m definitely going to do it again.”

Happy Six Year Anniversary...500 blog posts.

I was hoping to finish off my six year anniversary by writing 500 posts and I did. I have achieved my goal.

Where to next? I don’t really know.  I have diverted a bit from my original goals of this blog being about the fans and fandom, to the work of the artists and musicians by writing posts about what they are doing and sharing resources about them that don't come from the usual sources. 

I am still interested in what the fans have to say on social media and how they share their stories and creative work.

I am also really interested in a range of topics for example music and bootlegging, copyright, sport and television with an Australian focus. These posts are probably not as popular as the others but they also have the goal of education. 

I hope I have managed to educate and change some fan's perspectives on how they engage with music and in particular music piracy and bootlegging along the way. 

Thank you to all the people who visit my blog every day and to all the artists and musicians I am interested in for sharing. 

Thank you to all the fans for sharing their love of music, concerts and fandom via social media. 

The Fan, The Musician And Streaming Music...A reflection.

"Whenever you listen to a streamed song, like it but don't buy it and instead stream it again, you are casting a vote for the future nonexistence of professional musicians, writes Professor Peter Godfrey-Smith." (Chau, 2018)

While there are many definitions of who is a fan accompanied by just as many actions, one thing fans all share is we want our favourites to keep on doing what they do best, so they make a comfortable living and are happy professionally and personally and we can enjoy the results of their labour.

I was reminded recently that some people who call themselves fans of particular artists, musicians and groups find it acceptable to listen to music only via music streaming services. These fans seem to find it acceptable that they do not pay for albums and be rewarded for listening to Spotify and other streaming services in which their favourites get little income for their music.

Maybe I am just old school, but I don't really care how much money any of my favourite artists and musicians make, I want to pay them for their services whether they be television shows, movies, books, albums, concerts or merchandise. And that is we have to pay them for their creative services we enjoy at a fair price. Nothing we wouldn't want from our own working lives.

It is well documented artists and musicians are finding it more and more difficult to make a living in the digital age including competing not only with illegal means like music piracy and bootlegging, but also the legal means such as music streaming services and other content streaming services.

I don't support music streaming or any kind of streaming because I don't like paying for content I don't own outright. I don't know anything about music steaming services except they pay artists and musicians next to nothing for their content.

So I went in search of how much money do music streaming services like Spotify pay artists and musicians.

The first article I found 'Spotify sued for $2b in copyright infringement lawsuit' by David Chau published on 3 January, 2018 at abc.net.au is an excellent article that provides an overview of the recent copyright infringement lawsuit brought against Spotify. The article describes how Spotify was being sued for not getting some of the correct licenses and not paying artists and musicians any compensation at all.

The second article I found 'What Do The Major Streaming Services Pay Per Stream?' by Hugh McIntyre published on the 27 July, 2017 at forbes.com is also an excellent article that outlines the difficulties in collecting reliable data on how much each of the music streaming service pays artists and musicians. Spotify, Pandora and YouTube were at the bottom of the list with the lowest rates. Spotify paid $0.0038 US per stream.

I have copied the two articles here for interested fans. No copyright infringement intended.

'Spotify sued for $2b in copyright infringement lawsuit' by David Chau published on 3 January, 2018 at abc.net.au below. (No copyright infringement intended).

Music streaming company Spotify has been sued for at least $US1.6 billion ($2 billion) for copyright infringement.

California-based Wixen Music Publishing alleges 10,784 of its songs were streamed or downloaded "billions of times" via Spotify's app — without a licence or compensation being paid to the music publisher.

Wixen describes itself as an independent publisher which "administers" more than 50,000 songs by "some of the most popular and acclaimed music artists of the last 100 years".

It is the exclusive licensee of songs by artists like Tom Petty, Neil Young, Janis Joplin and the Doors.

"While Spotify has become a multi-billion-dollar company, songwriters and their publishers, such as Wixen, have not been able to fairly and rightfully shares in Spotify's success," Wixen stated in documents filed at the United States District Court.

Spotify, which is planning a stock market listing this year, claims to have over 140 million active users and more than 30 million songs in its playlists.

Despite rapid growth in users and revenue, Spotify is not making a profit, primarily because of large licensing payments to record labels.

The Stockholm-based music company said it has paid $US5 billion ($6.4 billion) in revenue to music rightsholders (as of September 2016).

But Spotify "took a shortcut" to win the "race to be first to market", according to Wixen.

"In 2011, Spotify faced a choice to either obtain all the required rights to the songs and significantly delay its US launch, or move forward without proper licenses and face the legal ramifications later," the publisher stated.

"As a result, Spotify has built a billion dollar business on the backs of songwriters and publishers whose music Spotify is using, in many cases without obtaining and paying for the necessary licenses."

In May, Spotify agreed to pay more than $US43 million ($55 million) to settle a class action from a group of American songwriters including David Lowery and Melissa Ferrick — who alleged the company failed to pay them royalties.

But Wixen has criticised that settlement for being "grossly insufficient to compensate songwriters and publishers for Spotify's actions".

Spotify has declined to comment.



'What Do The Major Streaming Services Pay Per Stream?' by Hugh McIntyre published on 27 July, 2017 at forbes.com.

While streaming has completely taken over the music industry, that doesn’t mean all is going well for everyone involved. In fact, nobody seems to be making quite enough money from the growing format, and almost all of the businesses trying to survive are losing incredible amounts of cash. It’s a rough game to be in, and it can be especially difficult for up-and-coming musicians trying to making a living off of their art.

The discussion of how much each service pays per stream is a tricky one for a number of reasons. Many companies won’t release exact numbers and several artists have come forward to share their payouts, which sometimes conflict with what others have stated—but no matter the company or the reason, every firm has an extremely low payout scale that only adds up to a liveable wage if the artist or band is attracting some serious attention.

Data collection and visualization blog Information Is Beautiful has updated its infographic outlining what the most popular streaming services pay per stream to reflect some changes, using a number of sources to compile the data. These numbers probably aren’t perfect, and the actual amount artists earn from streaming sites can vary widely, but these figures can give some insight to those that may not have any idea what even the most popular streaming outlets are paying.

Coming in a somewhat surprising first place is Napster, which was the brand that helped usher in the era of people stealing music en masse online. The company merged with streaming platform Rhapsody a few years back, and eventually, the latter name was discarded in favor of Napster, which was already a legitimate streaming platform in some territories around the world by that time. That company pays $0.0167 per play, and if that sounds like it’s too small to matter to anyone, the numbers only drop from there.

Jay-Z-owned platform Tidal is the second-best for artists according to the report, which states that the relative newcomer to the scene is one of only two options that pay, on average, at least one penny for every stream. The rest of the streaming sites included in the roundup all offer only fractions of cents for the music millions are listening to.

The three most popular options in the world of streaming—Spotify, Pandora and YouTube—are at the bottom of the list with the lowest rates, though artists often see their music played on those sites far more often than on platforms like Tidal or Napster, which haven’t yet been able to rack up the same kind of user numbers as the largest in the industry.

Here are the estimated payout rates per stream for eight of the most-used streaming companies in music, according to Information is Beautiful.

Napster - $0.0167

Tidal - $0.0110

Apple Music - $0.0064

Google Play - $0.0059

Deezer - $0.0056

Spotify - $0.0038

Pandora - $0.0011

YouTube - $0.0006

Cory Tetford And A New Video...'In the Morning'.

Recently Cory Tetford (accompanied by Kendel Carson on fiddle) made a fabulous new video to go with the beautiful song 'In the Morning' from the album of the same name released late last year.

The video was shot at the Stone Mountain Arts Centre in Brownfield, Maine. Cory Tetford is one very talented musician and the video is beautifully shot by Shehab Illyas. The video is available from Cory Tetford's official YouTube channel.

I have circulated a copy of this totally gorgeous video on my Google + page. I have included some screenshots from the video. No copyright infringement intended.

Fandom An Unexpected Journey Six Year Anniversary... My personal favourite post.

With the six year anniversary of my blog 'Fandom, An Unexpected Journey' approaching I found it interesting to revisit some of my posts. My statistics provide valuable information as to what readers like and keep revisiting, but I mainly write about what I find interesting including not only the artists and musicians I am interested in but also the subjects such as music piracy and bootlegging, sport and television.

'Great Big Sea, Newfoundland And The Fan Pilgrimage' published on the 14 May, 2013 was my personal favourite post over the past six years of writing my blog. The post was viewed 171 times. I wrote it on my first trip to St. John's, Newfoundland to see Great Big Sea for their 20th anniversary tour. It was the trip of a lifetime where I wanted to walk in the footsteps of my favourite band.

The photographs contained in this post are not mine and are from the Internet. No copyright infringement intended. 

'Great Big Sea, Newfoundland And The Fan Pilgrimage' published on 14 May, 2013 

"From the moment I stepped off the plane and took the short ride from the airport to my accommodation in downtown St John's I have been in love. Newfoundlanders have been friendly and welcoming, a change from the hustle and bustle of a big north American city that is Toronto, the weather glorious in all it's Spring shades from the deep biting cold grey overcast skies and rain to the sunshine blue skies. It is spectacular physically, culturally and historically. I understand why the members of Great Big Sea Alan Doyle, Bob Hallett and Sean McCann are eager to return here after weeks away on the tour. It would be easy to call Newfoundland home.

I have been fortunate enough during my time here to visit all the sights associated with Great Big Sea. Alan Doyle tweets affectionately his love of Leo's fish and chips. It was one of my first stops on this fan pilgrimage. I sat in a booth with a picture of the boys in their younger days signed hanging on the wall along with other famous people who ate there for example the Barenaked Ladies eating yummy fish and chips but made the big mistake of not ordering the gravy and dressing. I have also been to The Duke,The Ship, walked past Erin's (Bob Hallett's pub), Fred's Records, down George Street, visited Petty Harbour the home town of Alan Doyle, the LSPU Hall where Russell Crowe and friends did the first Indoor Garden Party Shows, Memorial University (where a poster of an early GBS show hangs on the wall) and walked up Signal Hill. St John's and its people are glorious indeed.













The loyal faithful fans gathered at the Mile One Centre in the early evening on the 29 April 2013 to celebrate twenty years of Great Big Sea. It was a full house as one would expect from the people of St John's. People came from St John's, all over Newfoundland, the Canadian mainland and overseas to listen to music and celebrated with the boys in the band. It was interesting watching the meet and greet among fans, the music of this fabulous band uniting and bringing people together who probably only see each other at Great Big Sea concerts.

From the moment they stepped on stage they thrilled the audience. The crowd was certainly diverse including the more mature folks who enjoy a sit down concert to the young group who love dancing and drinking. But pretty soon every one regardless of age was up dancing in their seats. They played most of their old favourites like The Night Pat Murphy Died, Ordinary Day, Lukey's Boat, Consequence Free and Donkey Riding pleasing the die hard fans and playing some new music like Heart of Hearts and Live This Life while continuing to evolve and move on successfully with the crowd loving it.

The home crowd and the big stage enabled Great Big Sea to shine. After years and weeks on the road together on the bus for this tour the members of the band Alan Doyle, Sean McCann, Bob Hallett, Murray Foster and Kris McFarlane still had a lot of friendship and love for each other. While Alan Doyle is clearly the showman of the band the other members each held their own as talented singers and musicians playing an incredible diverse range of instruments and shining in their own right not to be left out.

There were two encores as one would expect. The first with talented and funny trumpet player Paddy Joe Boyle and the second with former member Darrell Power. The boys graciously acknowledging his contribution and welcoming him to the stage, leaving the audience wanting more.

I don't often agree with Lynda Elstad or @lyndahere in particular about her observations about the audience at Great Big Sea concerts but with these observations she has written about in her blog. While it is great the band has attracted some younger people to concerts and their music, seated in front of us were three young guys who arrived really drunk. They drunk, well skulled what seemed like a drink for every song and could hardly stand up by the end of the concert. They hung around in a group like teenage boys spending more time checking out girls and the audience, checking their phones and taking the occasional video than watching the band perform and listening to the music. Guys maybe time next the pub may be a better venue for you.

It is a shame that Great Big Sea don't play as often as they should in their home town and as often as their home town would like. It leaves their fans not taking them for granted and appreciating them when they do play. It also allows room for other new and emerging talents to develop and take the stage and the tradition that is Newfoundland music to evolve and continue.





Photo by staff photographer Ted Pritchard at The Chronicle Herald in Halifax. The Halifax show was the previous night. (No copyright infringement intended)."

Fandom An Unexpected Journey Six Year Anniversary... The most visited post.

With the six year anniversary of my blog 'Fandom, An Unexpected Journey' approaching I found it interesting to revisit some of my posts. My statistics provide valuable information as to what readers like and keep revisiting, but I mainly write about what I find interesting including not only the artists and musicians I am interested in, but also the subjects such as music piracy and bootlegging, sport and television.

The most visited post on my blog over the last couple of years was 'Russell Crowe, Alan Doyle And The Musical Album…Part one' published on the 10 March 2017. There were over 5000 hits on this post alone during the week the Indoor Garden Party was performing in London. The total number of visits to this post were 5742. 

I was totally blown away during that week considering that I have never promoted my blog.





'Russell Crowe, Alan Doyle And The Musical Album…Part one' published on the 10 March 2017

Earlier this week Russell Crowe announced on his official Twitter account that fans can soon expect a new album from him, Alan Doyle and their Indoor Garden Party friends. This album has been a long time coming. The band is called The Indoor Garden Party and features members of the Indoor Garden Party concerts including Scott Grimes, Samantha Barks and Carl Falk. The album is called The Musical.

Russell Crowe and Alan Doyle’s previous collaboration the Crowe and Doyle Songbook, Vol. 111 was released in 2011. I have included a copy of a review below previously published on a post written about the first Indoor Garden Party in St. John’s, Newfoundland in 2011.

I have circulated some videos of songs from the their album from Russell Crowe’s South Sydney YouTube site on my Google + page including 'Disappeared' 'Too Far Gone', 'Perfect In Your Eyes' and 'From Here Clear To The Ocean' just to remind us how brilliant Russell Crowe, Alan Doyle and Scott Grimes are together along with their friends Samantha Barks and Carl Falk. I can’t wait for this new album.

The images are from Russell Crowe’s official Twitter account. No copyright infringement intended.








‘Russell Crowe & Alan Doyle The Crowe/Doyle Songbook, Vol. 111’ by Ryan Belbin on the 4 August 2011 in the Independent.ca (no copyright infringement intended)

It’s easy to take the collaborative friendship of Great Big Sea frontman Alan Doyle and Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe for granted, particularly with the former’s role as a minstrel in Robin Hood last year, and the latter’s highly publicised visit to St. John’s. Outside of the spotlight, however, the two initially bonded over music, writing and recording songs together over the last number of years.

The Crowe/Doyle Songbook, Vol. III is Crowe’s most recent foray into music, since the Doyle-produced My Hand, My Heart in 2005. Whereas that record was clearly based around Crowe’s band, the Ordinary Fear of God, the Songbook is all about the duo.

The album, which exists solely as a digital record, can best be described as a singer-songwriter collection of tunes. Doyle’s band is a good starting place in describing the sound, particularly with its contemporary folk vibes, but that doesn’t quite cut it. There are influences of rock (“Perfect in your Eyes”), old-school country (“Killing Song”), heraldic folk (“Queen Jane”), and even R&B (“Love is Impossible”), but the production and mouthfuls of poetry are what stand out. The nine songs on Songbook are denser in subject matter, music, and lyrics – don’t expect any breezy pop songs, but don’t misinterpret the album for pessimistic or cynical.

Take the chorus from the leading single, “Too Far Gone,” about a doomed relationship: “Your fingers tear at my skin / Release the blood, let the feeding begin / Your intentions will never be blamed / We’re both too far gone to be saved.” The word that immediately comes to mind is sophisticated, and any concern that this project is just a novelty ought to be dismissed.

The two musicians are joined on most songs by Danielle Spencer, an Australian recording artist who also happens to be married to Crowe. With three distinct voices at their disposal, the opportunities for interesting arrangements and nuances are numerous, especially considering that Great Big Sea have turned harmonies into a trump card. However, the performers share the mic more often than not, usually singing the same melody line, reminiscent of a few friends having an impromptu jam. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the lyrics and the music are at such a high calibre that you can’t help but wonder how the songs would have sounded if they had taken the effort to explore the vocal arrangements. There are glimpses of this, where the voices become distinct and offer different perspectives to a single song – the bridge of “Sadness of a Woman” does it best – and they make the melding all the more conspicuous.

Crowe himself has been performing music since the ’90s, but it’s tough to picture the Gladiator with a guitar, and begs the question of whether or not he can actually sing. His growl is so similar to Doyle’s baritone that the two voices gravitate towards a single entity, and when one stands out it’s usually Doyle, so we never really get to hear him alone. Still, he’s not sitting on the sidelines or ridding any coattails (or, even worse, lending his famous name to the project); the partnership demands the two musicians complement each other, and that’s ultimately what happens.

Also noteworthy, The Crowe/Doyle Songbook includes the original demos of all the songs. Although the final versions are stronger, these tracks offer the bare bones of the lyrics and instrumentation, and suddenly the “friends having a jam” image becomes “friends having a jam, and you’re personally invited.” With the release of this album coinciding with Doyle and Crowe’s intimate and informal shows at the LSPU Hall, the duality makes sense: two experienced artists at the top of their games, crafting quality songs that, when the lights go down and they abandon their egos to embrace acoustic vulnerability, are still capable of standing on their own.

By the sounds of it, neither is too far gone yet:

Fandom An Unexpected Journey Six Year Anniversary... The second most visited post.

With the six year anniversary of my blog 'Fandom, An Unexpected Journey' approaching I found it interesting to revisit some of my posts. My statistics provide valuable information as to what readers like and keep revisiting, but I mainly write about what I find interesting including not only the artists and musicians I am interested in, but also subjects such as music piracy and bootlegging, sport and television.

The second most popular post visited was 'The Great Big Break Up...some reflections' published on the 12 February, 2013. The number of visits to this post were 2207. 'Sean McCann Endings and New Beginnings' a four part series also had hundreds of visits. 






'The Great Big Break Up...some reflections' published on 12 February, 2013.

A lot has been said about the decision by Sean McCann not to tour with Great Big Sea any more. When Sean announced his decision before the last leg of the tour he refused to elaborate at that time. Sean’s parting gift a song called ‘Farewell My Old Friend’ was placed on Sound Cloud and fuelled a lot of rumours by fans. It is several months since then. Sean has released another solo album ‘Help Your Self’, and has done a string of interviews with various media including radio, newspapers and television to promote it. He elaborated on the reasons behind his departure from Great Big Sea.

In an interview with Melissa Tobin on CBC Central Morning Newfoundland and Labrador (4 February 2014) Sean discusses his decision to leave Great Big Sea (paraphrased).

…”Great Big Sea hadn’t been focusing or agreeing on things in the same way we had which is natural and normal. For the past five years it had been an uphill battle on getting anything done and we agree on things using a consensus and we didn’t see things in the same way… After three to four years of trying to push a rope around, the best thing to do was for me to remove myself from the situation. We decided on this last January... At the end of the tour we didn’t actually talk about it or didn’t address it all…Great Big Sea has a specific mandate and is more of a brand than a band. When bands make it big they tend to become more brands than bands. As a song writer I had difficulties in being in the confines of a very structured band…

He goes on to make some very interesting comments about the role of managers, agents and record companies and the future of music in influencing his decision to go it alone. 

In an interview with Bob Mersereau for East Coast Music CBC New Brunswick, Sean McCann said on leaving Great Big Sea (4 February 2014),

“Leaving Great Big Sea is discussed in detail in Wish You Well, a classic break-up song except it's a band, not a lover: "I don't care to start a fight, don't care who was wrong or right, but I'm not gonna waste another Saturday night pretending we're all right." McCann is quick to point out it's not a personal attack in any way at his bandmates, but more at the music business in general, and he was thinking as much about Steve Jobs, Apple and iTunes changing that business as he was about leaving the band when he wrote the song. He says the split came a year ago: "Last January, we sat down, we'd done a big tour and made the box (the 20th anniversary collection, XX), but we couldn't agree on a number of things. We weren't going in the same direction, and its not a good time (in the music world) to not be focused, so I just felt it was the best thing for all of us, and we all agreed, that I remove myself."

In the interview in The Telegram in St John’s with Tara Badbury Sean McCann said….

“Over the past five years, McCann says, he found himself focused on different things than his bandmates, and it became a source of frustration. He struggled to get his ideas in line with theirs, but in the end, it didn’t work”...

“I’m not comfortable delivering the same message over and over. From what I hear, from smart people who are business people, branding is all about staying on message and Great Big Sea has been really successful at that. I’m not as interested in that anymore”...

He hasn’t had much conversation with the other guys in Great Big Sea, but insists they’re not enemies, just ex-partners. He chuckles when he mentions his departure from the band didn’t make it to the news section on their website”...

“My departure was really met with silence. There was nothing. That hurt a bit,” he says. “I don’t know what the reason is for that, but fair enough. Maybe feelings were hurt, I don’t know. I’m over it now. I wish them the best, I honestly do, and knowing Bob and Alan, they’re already well on their way.”

Leaving the band is like getting a divorce, in more ways than one, McCann says, and he’s having a hard time letting go.

“Maybe me exiting that band will be the best thing to ever happen to it,” he says. “When I was the most useful and the most happy in Great Big Sea was when I could contribute songs and we did a lot of work, but that faded away over the last five or six years. The stuff I was interested in went away.

“I don’t know where this will go, but what’s important to me is this reality,” he explains. "That there’s truth in it and that I’m saying something that means something larger. Is it brave or is it insane? I don’t know. As proud as I am of being in Great Big Sea, that’s not the only legacy I want to leave behind.

(The interview from the Newfoundland Herald was not available online to the best of my knowledge).

While Sean McCann made comments in the article about his departure not being mentioned on the official Great Big Sea webpage, the Great Big Sea webpage posted a picture and link to Sean McCann’s new album on the 29 January 2014. “The wait is over! Sean McCann’s new album, Help Your Self is available. Head to greatbigsean.com to order now and in case you missed it check out the video for the title track”.

On Twitter Alan Doyle contacted Sean McCann congratulating him on the release of album. @alanthomasdoyle “Congrats to @greatbigsea on the launch of the new CD today. Check it out at greatbigsean.com”. @greatbigsean responded “thank you @alanthomasdoyle…for everything. 29 January 2014.    

Alan Doyle commented briefly on Sean's new album in an interview he did for kickasscanadians.ca on the 8 February 2014 “At the moment, Great Big Sea is taking a hiatus so they can recharge from their XX Tour and deal “administratively and creatively” with the fact that Sean McCann recently left the band (totally amicably, for the record). “We’re all kind of going back to our solo personal projects, whether it’s music, or movies or management” says Alan. “Sean just released a record last week called Help Your Self that he made with Joel Plaskett’s that’s super awesome...the remaining members have no plans to disband, but they are looking forward to a breather”.

To me it was very nice to see Alan Doyle’s graciousness and support for Sean after he left the band.  

But the biggest surprise for me came from Sean McCann himself after I watched the Help Your Self movie on YouTube to supplement the newly released album. Sean McCann further elaborated on his departure and relationship with Great Big Sea. He stated he was no longer a ‘shareholder’ in the band and there may be a possibility of them working together in the future. 

For fans like me who love Great Big Sea in their purist form we can continue to hope there will be a reunion and some new music in the future, possibly.

Fandom An Unexpected Journey Six Year Anniversary... My other favourite posts.

With the six year anniversary of my blog 'Fandom, An Unexpected Journey' approaching I found it interesting to revisit some of my posts. My statistics provide valuable information as to what readers like and keep revisiting, but I mainly write about what I find interesting including not only the artists and musicians I am interested in, but also the subjects such as music piracy and bootlegging, sport and television.

My second favourite post was 'Alan Doyle And The Beautiful Gypsies…My favourites for 2016 are...'. published on the 18 December, 2017. 

I really enjoy finding and sharing resources that don't come from the usual fan sources. This post had 51 visits.






'Alan Doyle And The Beautiful Gypsies…My favourites for 2016 are…' published on 18 December, 2018.

Last year I wrote a post called Alan Doyle…My favourites for 2015 are…and was published on the 27 November, 2015. I have decided to do the same again this year.

The winners of my favourite fan and professional photographs, videos and reviews as voted entirely by me…the fan blogger. I also included my favourite event that I would have most like to have gone to and Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies fan of the year.

Many thanks to Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies, the professionals and fans who generously share their words, stories, photographs and videos online. I really appreciate and enjoy them.

My favourite Alan Doyle tweet from his official Twitter account this year is…

Alan Doyle as part of Great Big Sea and now on his own has always shared his knowledge of Newfoundland history and culture, challenged stereotypes of Newfoundlanders and spoken up for Newfoundland and Newfoundlanders. These are some of the reasons why I am a fan and absolutely adore him. It takes a lot of guts to speak up sometimes.

As a fan I find it pretty hard to remember all the things that happen during the year in the professional life of a favourite musician and artist when one relies so much on social media for information and when your favourites take full advantage of social media not only to share information but to interact with fans.

My favourite tweet of the year was when Alan spoke up for a fellow Newfoundlander and member of parliament after they shared their story of online abuse.




My second favourite tweet was when Alan spoke up for Newfoundland when a Canadian mainland journalist admitted her firsts impressions of Newfoundland were wrong after she visited the island during the summer.

The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle official social media account…

My favourite Alan Doyle official social media account goes to Instagram. I love all the photographs he posts from home in Newfoundland or on the road touring. I of course absolutely adore his selfies.

It was hard to pick a favourite but I adore both these absolutely drop dead gorgeous Alan selfies. The first one is of him and his dog Spencer and the second one is from earlier this year with his Winter beard. 

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

I love this Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies band photograph taken during a tour of America. This photograph was published originally Alan Doyle's official Twitter and then Facebook accounts.





The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle fan photograph is…

My favourite fan photograph of Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies was taken during the Canadian summer at PNE in Vancouver. The fan then got the photograph autographed by the members of the band and posted it on the Great Big Sea Online Kitchen Party Facebook page. It is absolutely awesome. No copyright infringement intended.

The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle fan videos are…

There were two highlights for me. The first one was of an excellent sound recording of an early Great Big Sea pub concert in St. John’s, Newfoundland. This sound recording was made available for download to members of the Great Big Sea Online Kitchen Party on Facebook.




The second one was a bootlegged Alan Doyle Trio concert in Ithaca. Alan and The Gypsies were caught at the Canadian/US border without the correct documentation.

Although I don’t agree with the philosophy of bootlegging full concerts these bootlegs told an interesting story and were well recorded. I really love the bootlegs of a solo Alan Doyle and guitar. Again these were distributed on the Great Big Sea Online Kitchen Party on Facebook.

The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle professional photograph is…

This year Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies played at a range of festivals over the Canadian summer. These festivals were attended and written about by reviewers and photographers from a range of online music webpage pages. As part of their story Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies were included especially in photographs.

After extensive research my favourite photographs are these two taken at the KL Community Complex on 25 June, 2016 by J.R. Doaust. I copied my two favourites here and provided a link to the official site. No copyright infringement intended.

Kirkland Lake Festivals Committee http://klfestivals.com/index.php?id=62







My other favourite photographs of Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies were taken by Sean Sisk and are now used as promotional posts for their concerts. No copyright infringement intended.

The winner of my favourite professional concert review is…

My favourite review was by regular Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies concert goer Jaime Lubin. The article was titled ‘Take Us Home: Alan Doyle and the Beautiful Gypsies Come to Eddie’s Attic’ published on 23 March, 2016 in the Huffington Post. A link to the photographs is copied below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jaime-lubin/take-us-home-alan-doyle-a_b_9525610.html

My other favourite review was ‘1, 2, 3, 4: Alan Doyle & The Beautiful Gypsies at Boots & Hearts 2016!’ Photos by Ray Williams and Trish Cassling, published 7 August, 2016. The review contained some absolutely gorgeous photographs of Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies. A link to the photographs is copied below.

http://www.thereviewsarein.com/2016/08/07/1-2-3-4-alan-doyle-the-beautiful-gypsies-at-boots-hearts-2016/

Alan Doyle favourite event of 2016…

My favourite Alan Doyle events and wish I was there events are those held in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

The event I wish I could have gone to the most this year was the Concert for Fort McMurray at O’Reilly’s Pub on George Street or Erin’s on Water Street. The event was supported by Alan Doyle and lots of local Newfoundland musicians for a great cause and raised a lot of money.

Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies fan of 2016…

For their contribution to social media and providing appropriate emotional support to fans in need.

Fandom An Unexpected Journey Six Year Anniversary... Another favourite post.

With the six year anniversary of my blog 'Fandom, An Unexpected Journey' approaching I found it interesting to revisit some of my old posts. My statistics provide valuable information as to what readers like and keep revisiting, but I mainly write about what I find interesting including not only the artists and musicians I am interested in, but also the subjects such as music piracy and bootlegging, sport and television.

My third favourite other post was 'Alan Doyle...My favourites for 2015 are...'. posted on 27 November, 2015. 

I really enjoy finding and sharing resources that don't come from the usual fan sources. This post had 127 visits.



'Alan Doyle...My favourites for 2015 are...' posted on 27 November, 2015.

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, all the professionals and fans who generously share their words, stories, photographs and videos online.

My favourite Alan Doyle tweet from his official Twitter account this year is…

In response to a fan’s question today…

How do you not let negative things get to you? I can’t seem to let go of my ex and how bad he made me feel? Any advice?

Alan’s response…

Hmm…I have been very lucky and been treated well so I don’t know for sure. But I have lots of negative thoughts just like anyone, I suppose. The best day has something bad init. The worst day has something good. I also think happiness is not something we should wait on…I don’t think it comes to anyone, rather it comes from us. We make it, ourselves? Not sure honestly, but that’s what I think lately. Hope this helps. Cheers.

My favourite Alan Doyle official social media account…

My favourite Alan Doyle official social media account goes to Instagram. Every photograph he posts on there is a gem. I of course love the selfies, but also love all the photographs he takes of Newfoundland. He can do no wrong.

The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle fan photograph is…

Alan Doyle at a public appearance (21 November, 2015)

Alan Doyle performing with Cory Tetford and Kendel Carson at an appearance at Sunrise Records, Carlingwood Shopping Centre and generously shared on the Great Big Sea Online Kitchen Party Facebook page published on 22 November, 2015. The photograph and a bunch of others were taken by Nancy Kelly of Ottawa, Canada. No copyright infringement intended.



(No copyright infringement intended)

The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle fan videos are…

‘Sonny’s Dream’…Alan Doyle’s tribute (21 November, 2015)

Alan Doyle performing with Cory Tetford and Kendel Carson at an appearance at Sunrise Records, Carlingwood Shopping Centre published on the Great Big Sea Online Kitchen Party Facebook page published on 22 November, 2015. The video was taken by Nancy Kelly of Ottawa, Canada.

‘Never Had’… New York City (Alan Doyle and Oscar Issac) (30 April, 2015)

‘Never Had’ was performed at the New York City Winery show. The video was recorded by concert goer dagalagas and shared on YouTube.

The winner of my favourite Alan Doyle professional photographs are…

Alan Doyle at the Hagersville Rocks Music Festival (25 July, 2015) by Dwight Edwards.

There was a review of the festival and a large inclusive collection of photographs published in the Hamilton Rock and Country Magazine online. The photographs were taken by the brilliant Dwight Edwards and generously shared via social media. This is probably the best photograph of Alan Doyle on stage I have ever seen. As always no copyright infringement intended.



(no copyright infringement intended)

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

1, 2, 3, 4 (Alan Doyle with Ed Robertson and The Beautiful Gypsies) (3 October, 2015)

Paper and Fire (Alan Doyle with Cory Tetford and Kendel Carson) (26 January, 2015) for the National Post

The runners up of my favourite professional Alan Doyle video is...

The Night Loves Us (Alan Doyle with Cory Tetford and Kendel Carson) (19 May, 2015)

Forest Festival (Alan Doyle, Cory Tetford and Kendel Carson)

The video was taken by newspaper staffers Matthew Desrosiers and attached to the newspaper article “Forest Festival experience a hit despite rain” by Mark Arike. The video was taken of Alan Doyle, Cory Tetford and Kendel Carson on a platform on a lake against the sun setting using a Great Big Sea classic and a new Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Gypsies song.

The winner of my favourite professional concert review is…

The Barenaked Ladies + Alan Doyle & The Beautiful Gypsies at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on October 26, 2015 by Andy Scheffler for the Concert Addicts webpage. I thought this review and photographs were really well done.  

Alan Doyle And First-Ever Tour Band Dreams...Throwback Thursday.

I was just re-reading Alan's description from his most recent book 'A Newfoundlander In Canada' about early band dreams. I thought this description and some recent photographs shared on social media would make a great post.

"...We were headed out to cross Newfoundland and back on our first-ever tour, our entire gear barely filling two small cars. Just two speakers, an audio mixing board, microphones and stands, two acoustic guitars, a bodhran, a bass, an accordion, a mandolin, a fiddle, and some tin whistles. There was much joking and carrying on as we rolled west, but in the few quiet moments, each of us had own fantasies of a much bigger tour to come sometime in the near or distant future. Of a fleet of buses, fitted with cushy bunks, for us and the crew of technicians who'd carry and tune our instruments. Of transport trucks full of sound and lighting equipment to load into the biggest concert venues in the country. Of record deals, music videos, and heartfelt acceptance speeches on televised award shows. We joked about these things like we were talking about winning the lotto, not letting on that somewhere in the bottom of our hearts and the back of our minds, we actually believed all this possible..."

As those of us who are fans know most of the dreams shared in this paragraph have come true for Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle. There have been many images of various tour buses for Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle and The Beautiful Beautiful Band shared in videos, on webpages and on social media. When I read this passage from the book I thought of one of the most recent images of Alan approaching his tour bus parked in the Toronto airport for the third leg of the 'Come Out With Me' Tour in 2018 shared on his official Twitter account Alanthomasdoyle. No copyright infringement intended.

Another recent image that came to mind was a photograph that was taken at the end on the second leg of the 'Come Out With Me' Tour of the whole gang including The Fortunate Ones, The Beautiful, Beautiful Band members and the crew. I have included a copy of that photograph shared on Alan's official social media site on Instagram. No copyright infringement intended.