Robert recently posted this on Facebook in relation to our latest video (linked below)
It has been an interesting few days, processing what’s been going on.
A couple of weeks ago Cailin + I went to Nova Scotia Community College and played some songs for the 1st year TV/Broadcast students to get experience doing live video work. They were enthusiastic and really, really great.
We got the raw footage and selected songs to edit into video. One of them, ‘Big Hearts And Small Towns’ is a co-write with Doug Folkins and Lucy LeBlanc which is essentially the story of how our family lost our house to a fire. Easter Sunday 1966. Forever etched in my mind. The images… the brand new house in flames, watching the the plastic of the railing drip in to the basement, the roof crashing down and flames leaping higher. Gone in 45 minutes to ashes and soot.
And then as I listened to and watched the video, thinking about whether it was ‘good enough’ to put out there, I heard the news from Alberta. My home province. I grew up in Edmonton and that’s where we lost the home and the history and gained some lessons.
And I know from my experience, as an 11 year old kid, that it’ll be okay for them… one day. They too may wake up in the night, 30 and 40 years later, and smell the smoke that is only in their imagination but still have to walk the house to be sure. And they too may come to the same realization I did: it’s just stuff.
And they too, mostly, will be okay.so, yes, the video will be fine, musical warts and all, and Nick Smith is helping us make it as good as he can and it will go online tonight or tomorrow.
Our hearts go out to all those in Alberta who fled their town as they watched their homes and history burn. It’s not a pleasant place to be.And thanks to those firemen, they’re doing everything they can.