History, Heritage and Now

Posted by Deon on August 10, 2008

I really love history and the heritage of things, nearly all things. I love seeing pictures of a city or street corner from years past, even more so i love hearing the story of the people who walked on that street corner or those city streets from years past. As soon as the story is about musicians/artists/poets/thinkers/movie makers etc I'm completely hooked.

Having read Bob Dylan's Chronicles volume 1 and visualizing his accounts of living and playing music in Greenwich Village in NYC, you can imagine how my mind was blown a few weeks ago when I traveled to the very same streets to play a show in Greenwich Village. Walking through the Village zig zagging down Bleeker St. I found myself morph into the ultimate tourist geek with my camera in hand pointing at each and every music venue that Mr. Dylan played. I normally love to quietly find a great neighborhood in a city and be a local for the time I'm there, in NYC on this my first trip, that was impossible. Much to much heavy heritage of the sort of things that went on there during the late fifties and all the way to today i guess. In all cases I'm sure the characters involved were simply going about their daily business doing what they do oblivious to how they were completely influencing music and culture for the foreseeable future. Bob in his book claims to have had a slight inkling of what was happening, this would certainly prove a portion of his mystique as an icon. I wonder if Ryan Adams felt the same way? Living at the Chelsea Hotel (Bob D also did) recording at Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village (originally owned by Jimi Hendrix) and shuffling down the streets of Chelsea, Soho, Greenwich Village, and the Lower East Side. I guess what i'm saying is if you love music history and heritage or even just love a great city and amazing food and the option of doing anything you want at anytime of day nearly, you should visit NYC.

The rest of the summer is going to be really busy for me, some great shows are planned and some great times shall be had! Since last we spoke, I have had the fortune of being involved and or playing at The South Country Fair (Fred Eaglesmith insisted I take a sip of some green mixture in his mug, Geoff Berner and I discussed how under rated Mike Macdonald and his influence through Dinosaur JR. is. Looking back some moments in the Artist Lounge strike a close resemblance to moments on the movie Festival Express, festivals are a lot of fun) and The Calgary Folk Fest. I didn't play the CFF but helped out as a tech on a side stage, some great musical moments were witnessed, if you haven't heard of any of the following musicians you should look them up. Outlaw Social, Sam Baker, Mark Erelli and Basia Bulat.

Take a look at the shows page and come on out to the closest gig to you, I'll do my best not to disappoint!

Next Time!

db

Updates

Posted by Deon on June 17, 2008

The beginning of summer has been quite good. All of the shows up till now have been really great and a lot of fun! Thanks to everyone who has been out to support and take it in.

I have been enjoying playing as a trio lately as well, it's nice to meet some great guys who eat sleep and breathe music throughout Canada, i have updated the photo gallery with shots from most of the shows i've played lately, have a look see.

Now on You Tube is a video of us playing "I Won't be Far" in Calgary at the Marquee Room see it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_M6A2yrPHs.

 later

db

Today and forward thinking...

Posted by Deon on May 7, 2008

Today marks the begining of an exciting summer of shows for me. I am sitting here in downtown Vancouver in what has become over the last 2 years "my neighborhood". I don't live here but have spent enough time here the last while that i feel completely at home. I have always loved Vancouver and have been trying to play here for a great long time. Well, today is official show number one! I have also decided that I need to relax and write and finish some of the 5 or 6 partial songs I have in the works this week. Lovely as well that the week will end with a show on Sunday at the Railway Club here.

I feel good these days, my newest album is called "Lessons and other things learned" you may well know, and it is quite fitting because I truly believe life is simply a series of lessons and I feel as though I am constantly learning. I guess some of us take longer to learn certain lessons though? Today's lesson is that its fine to happy today with today instead of a constant expectation of the future. OK enough now, sorry I have songs to write!

db

New shows! New York City here I come!

Posted by Deon on May 2, 2008

Hello web followers!

lots of shows on the horizon if you're in any of these cities please come out and bring all your friends! I'll do my best not to dissapoint.

May 7th Cafe Duex Soliels - Vancouver, BC (solo)

May 11th The Railway Club - Vancouver , BC (solo, opening for the Human Staues)

May 17th The Marquee Room - Calgary, AB (Trio, opening for Manraygun)

June 3rd The Dakota Tavern - Toronton, ON (Deon and Band)

June 7th Hughes House House Concert - Calgary, AB (solo with guest Scott Macleod)

June 14th Crown Pub - Edmonton, AB ( band with Paul Bellows)

July 22nd Kenny's Castaways - New York City, NY (solo)

 I am very excited to make my USA debute in New York! Kenny's Castaways is in the historical Greenwich Village on Bleeker street and is said to be the first place Bruce Springsteen played in NYC!

Keep your eyes peeled for more dates, should be appearing in Toronto again this summer as well, all details for shows are in the shows section of the site.

be good all!

 db

Canadian Music Week mayhem!

Posted by Deon on March 14, 2008

Well!

How was CMW you ask? really actually quite good! I am as you may know a bit of a sceptic when it comes to this industry, shhh... don't tell anyone! But this little festival was great, I didn't attend one single conference or meeting at the Royal York with all the artists lined up to be seen. However I played my showcase at the Dakota Tavern and in the good old fashioned way I met a bunch of rad peeps!

Mr. Trainsleeper came all the way from Vancouver and backed me up on guitar and BG's, I sure hope he finishes his new record his stuff is great. Then a delightful group from Southwest Australia called The Audreys played, this night began a 4 night marathon of songs and suds with these Ausies. More on that later. The Deep Dark Woods played a scorcher of a set with Shuyler Jansen on keys and guitar (Think The Band but faster and harder) Then Shuyler Jansen played his fantastic songs with the DDW backing him, great!

Shawn is the owner of the Dakota and one stand up dude he is! If you ever get to Toronto on a Sunday make darn sure you end up at The Dakota Tavern you won't regret it it's a barn burner! The Beauties are the house band and they have many many special guests who join them during the night, I had the privelage of being one of them!

 What now you say? The post fest come down? nah to busy for that, I'll tell you whats next... The Dakota Tavern again soon and maybe just maybe....Australia?!

 OK go outside now.

db

Update: In the Key of A

Posted by Deon on February 1, 2008

My interview with Katherine Duncan will air on CBC radio one Feb 2nd 2008 at 5pm (MST)

Tune in to hear about all the artists I copy and about how my crappy love life makes great songs!

OK, maybe I'm just a bit self conscious about this interview... it probably won't sound that dismal, tune in to hear for yourself.

you can listen online at www.cbc.ca or on your local CBC radio frequency.

 ciao,

In the Key of A

Posted by Deon on January 21, 2008

Katherine Duncan host's a great radio show called in The Key of A that airs on CBC radio 1 on Saturdays at 5pm. On this show Katherine chats with an Alberta musician and plays tracks from their catalogue.

I will be heading down to the CBC studios tomorrow afternoon to chat about my new album and topics of the like. as soon as I know when the piece will air I will ensure you know!

Till then...

-d

P.S. did I mention I will be playing a showcase spot at Canadian Music Week in March? check the shows section to see the location

NEWS!

Posted by Deon on January 8, 2008

It looks like 2008 is starting out quite well!

new shows added, Canadian Music Week here we come! More chat later... -d

Top's for 2007

Posted by Deon on December 18, 2007

Ok, a bit early and I may revise as I give it more thought, but here are my top's for 2007. (keep in mind these are albums I discovered in 07' not necessarily released then) in no particular order.

Top 10 Albums of 2007  

Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger

Josh Rouse - Country Mouse City House

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

Richard Swift - Dressed up for the let down

Travis - The Boy with no name

Lyle Lovett - It's not big it's large

Radiohead - In Rainbows

Greg Laswell - Through Toledo

The Wheat Pool - Township

James Murdoch - In Transit

Top 5 live shows of 2007

Josh Rouse w/ Jason Collett - The Plaza, Vancouver BC

Ron Sexsmith w/ Jill Barber - The Cohn, Halifax NS

The Wheat Pool - Varscona theatre, Edmonton AB

James Murdoch - Haar theatre, Edmonton AB

Wilco w/ Richard Swift - Jubilee, Calgary AB

-d

Re scheduled show comes sooner than expected!

Posted by Deon on December 5, 2007

Canceled show

Posted by Deon on December 4, 2007

Hello internet,

Sorry but the show tonight at the Ironwood in Calgary with Twilight Hotel is canceled. Twilight Hotel had to cancel their entire tour (sucks). the Ironwood will host their regular open stage instead, I'll still head down to play and hang out.

Watch for a rescheduled show at the Ironwood soon!

 d.

New TV appearance

Posted by Deon on December 4, 2007

Dec 5th at 9am, if you live in and around Calgary tune in to see Deon live on City TV's Breakfast show, BT. 

Playing a tune or 2 from "Lessons" and chatting with the host.  

New Press

Posted by Deon on November 13, 2007

Francois Marchand spoke to Deon about the new record in the Edmonton Journal, read the interview online as well as the podcast guide.

You can find these pieces here in the reviews and press kit sections.

To Here...Here...From here...

Posted by Deon on November 9, 2007

To Here...
What a big 6 weeks it's been! After 6 long years the new album has been officially pollished up and released to the public, I have played my first 2 shows in Toronto ever (one a CD release show), crossed Canada once and most recently played two great full band CD release shows, one in Edmonton and the other in Calgary. Alberta radio has been very kind and the album has been recieving airplay and features on CKUA, CJSW, and CJSR, I have also played live and been interviewed on both CJSW and CJSR. (Thanks to all the DJ's and stations!) Thanks to everyone who helped with the release shows and also to all who attended and made them all memorable and special!

Here...
As mentioned the album is at the radio stations listed above as well as most university stations across Canada, please call and request it as much as you want, lets let everyone hear it!The album is also available for purchase at the following places

• Megatunes ( Edmonton and Calgary)
• Itunes online music store- www.shamelessrecordscanada.com
• At each and every show

It's been a long time coming but I will this week be a dot com! the website address is www.deonblyan.com and it is loaded up with reviews of the album, live pictures, and journal entries to give you some interesting web reading to start. I'll be sure to keep it updated and full of e - fun for all who enjoy such things.

From Here...
Concerts! Gigs! shows! whatever you wanna call em, I've gottem! After all the hullaballoo of CD release shows I'm gonna bring it all back down and play some acoustic shows. Some say this is what I do best, I love both full band and solo shows. check in the shows section for details.

Across the country...to here...

Posted by Deon on November 2, 2007

Well, Hi blog reading people, are you out there? I'll write this trusting you are and you’re reading...It's been an incredibly eventful 6 or 8 weeks; let me go back to the beginning for you... In the middle of September I left home for a 5 week jaunt across our great land. The weird thing is this jaunt started in the middle of our great land in Winnipeg. Winnipeg was oddly and yet expectedly cold for the middle of Sept. it was only a 3 day stay but a stay in the right part of town apparently...there was some big fashion convention or something and all the models were staying in my hotel! I never did lay eyes on any of these creatures but I got a pleasant description from likely one of Winnipeg's oldest night owls, a kind gentleman who you could find each and every night at the hotel bar. One night we conversed, Earl (I'll call him Earl here because I completely forget his name) with his cheese plate and white wine and me with my bottle of Stella. Earl adamantly proclaimed that Winnipeg was once a high class joint (never said it wasn't...honestly) and that I should go out get me a girl! I ended up at some grand establishment with some friends who wanted dancing; I watched them dance for a while and headed back to the hotel through the windy and chilly streets of downtown high class.Then I went to Vancouver! I love Vancouver I never get sick of going there. One week on the agenda to be in "Van." Night one in Van and my friend Mr. Trainsleeper guided us down to some "party warehouse" near East Hastings for the Vancouver Comedy Fest after party. There are a lot of comedians you've never heard of! and let’s just leave it as this was a really weird night. I went to see Josh Rouse and Jason Collett at the Plaza, great show! Josh is nice and rocking live really digs in. Ended up on the guest list for the Besnard Lakes, Mohawk Lodge and some band with one line of lyrics in their whole set, not to mention 2 drummers, 2 vibes players, a violinist and a sit in trumpeter, at Richards on Richards. Next to Toronto...straight from the airport to my show at the Savannah Room, nice little room and very kind staff, all in all a painless first show in the big smoke! A few days later my good friend Paul Bellows flew out to join another good friend J Ryan Waye and I at Holy Joes for my first official CD release show! This was a great night although a very small room we can proudly say all the seats were filled! Paul's Rochester NY fans showed up as well, quite a pleasant surprise. The Holy Joes night ended with us hungry and wondering why someone called the cops on us. (that’s a whole other story though).Now off to Ottawa! Ottawa was a place for recovery on this trip, took some time to sleep and relax. walked through downtown with an umbrella in the rain, sipped coffee across from the parliament and went to an Ottawa Senators game. Good times. Once my French friend arrived things got a bit more interesting. Late night in Hull Quebec (which very well could have been France to me) sitting in a pub surrounded by people gabbing at each other in French, so confusing! I need to learn French so then I can brush up on it. If you ever go to Ottawa go the Black Tomato restaurant in the Byward Market! magnificent!Halifax, still going yes! Land, stop at hotel, rush down to the Cohn theatre for Ron Sexsmith and Jill Barber, fantastic show! Ron is one of my favourites of all time, such great song writing and delivery. Wonderful guitar player and a real character voice. Ended up at the Economy Shoe Shop (go there) after the show with Ron and his band, chatting and drinking, another night that just took a turn for the absolute crazy and weird. (again that’s a whole other story though). the last night in Halifax brought me to some hip hop CD release show with 4 really not good artists and one really good artist (not sure who he was but I think it was his CD release show) he was like Kanye West from Halifax, pretty cool! up the next morning and finally on a plane home. Oh I drove to Moncton for 1 day when I was in Halifax.And that brings us from there... To here.

I got websited!

Posted by Deon on October 17, 2007

Look at me! I have a website!

No, I am not a deukabore or hudderite or anything like that, I just never bothered to get a website. But now, thanks to Nik, Glenn and the folks at Yellow Pencil - I have a website!

I will be adding more and more content as time goes on so don't be saddened by the lack of info, be gladdened that every time you visit there will be a little more of me revealed... kind of like a stripper... but with little-to-no nudity.