UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND REMODELLING _ Sept. '24

UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND REMODELLING _ Sept. '24

UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND REMODELLING _ Sept. '24

I'm Valdy, a Canadian folksinger, and you're

in my website; welcome, enjoy.

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- Voice - Voce - VVoix

This page is my place to rant, my letters-to-the-editor page, and to mention what I'm up to or have recently accomplished.

I'm at: info@valdy.com

If you post me, please mention something relevant in the subject line, as I am merciless at dumping suspected spam.

And please don't hold your breath awaiting a response; life is full.

... let what's / Up beyond the stars guide what we're / Doin' here below_ ' /

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"....

Pond Hockey on Saltspring Island - Ahhh!!

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My Love Kathleen - - lucky me!!

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 Here comes Ski Season! Aprés Jam at Mount Cain

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Our Yorkies, Chirp and Bliss -, - photo by Fay Wardrop

There are hundreds of worthy pathways for a curious mind; a few have presently grabbed my attention:

Landscape Design and Building Placement

Lap Steel Guitar, Local Governance,

Lust: an obsession without a fixed goal, the shifting sands of desire.

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The very much beloved 'Reynolds Road Bon Vivant' known as "Dickens", also "Mr. Dickens" and 'Little Woolyman', passed away sadly around the same time as 'Fritz' the cat. He was lion-hearted, a most decidedly independent fellow, always with a mission up the road, whether visiting Claire and 'Wrinkles', a stop at a catfood dish along the trail, or tolerating gracefully the Drummond girls dressing him in doll clothes and pulling him around in a wagon. (He was thrilled when 'Ivy' relieved him of these duties!).

He loved Trish and Maggie too for his spot in their hearts.

Dickens was rescued in '92 on Christmas Eve from the downtown Vancouver pound and lived the ideal of finding his 'inner wild dog' here on Salt Spring.

He put in many hours of service as a 'therapy dog' for Bessie Dane Hospice and will be always remembered with great joy by K.& V. and multitudes of others... Our furpeople do indeed touch very deep places in our human souls.

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Gumboots as Goalposts: Pond Hockey on Saltspring >> More Pictures

 My two CD set "Viva Valdy: Live at Last", has twenty-five tracks, nine older tunes redone, and sixteen new ones, with a lyric book.

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Above photo is at a Festival Workshop, one of the few times I play sitting down, and look Ma, No Capo!

below, my wife Kathleen's Sculpture, "Simone"

 

 

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Here's a 2006 shot of Graham Wardrop and I at the Mussel Inn, Golden Bay, New Zealand

Here I enjoy the company of my daughter Chelah Horsdal, a Vancouver actor. She beat me in this Scrabble game. !!

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Gary Fjellgaard and I; we now have two CDs out on Stony Plain Records.

 

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Are you Union? 

I am; I have been for 42 years, and I'm pained to see so many union families shopping at Wal-Mart, actively undermining the union movement, on behalf of all the major retailers, who've been union bashing for over 100 years; now all you sisters and brothers who shop there are doing their work for them!.

Unfortunately, shopping alternatively means paying more, and even at union wages that's a major bite.

But wait a minute! Without collective agreements, wages are being rolled back. Without collective agreements, benefits are disappearing. Unions work.

Community is worth investing in, as culture. Support your local merchants, eat at the local restaurants, and just plain boycott any franchises that you know are keeping the unions out. Organize, support local commerce, and prosper. I'm union, eh?

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Done and available: a Guitar Instruction DVD for Learn Roots Music, a few of my guitar chops using four songs, including "Play Me a Rock'n'Roll Song," arguably my biggest radio hit. I'm selling a lot of these on the road.- www.learnrootsmusic.com.

 this DVD is moving really well at concerts; there's a wave of inspiring grayer players: got the chops, play for the joy.

*****

- A Wild Christmas CD: Caliban Does Christmas. I got to sing on three tracks of this exceptional CD. Caliban are a bassoon quartet, among the finest players on the planet, and their skill is combined with a sense of fun within this wide swath of musical genres.

*****

- a PA that'll fit in a Subaru Forester has been corralled. I'm using a Yamaha 8 channel analog desk with two effests strips, a ten-band graphic equalizer, AND (here's the space saver!) two 500 watt power amps. Express Kit!!

 

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Body Fat and Booze:

 Rub a little, Dub a little, System Flaw.

Making culture cross, Leveling hierarchy,

conVergence has occurred withOut a manual.

New pump, old pressure Tank, golf umbRElla.

FJ 45, shOrt block three fifty, Zed twenty eight steering Box.

Starchoice and Earthlink and X-Drive

Hybridized all our Work and tools,

and Now let's discuss our Bodies.

Dinner in a rented tent, Kitchen help Schmooze,

Chit chat, yoga mat. Body fat and booze

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 Viva Valdy: Live at Last - 2 CDs, 25 songs; 13 live, 12 tracked.

 portrait by David Goatley, Victoria, BC,

The 12 songs on the Studio CD ( No Effects: well, Not Many ) is as ambitious as anything that Claire and I did; Claire Lawrence is a fine player, a composer, and for me, and he was and is a music producer of great taste, earning us four Gold Record certifications.

 This CD is as even more diverse than what Elliot Mazer and I did in San Francisco in 1978.

I've been learning as I go; it's all mileage, really, and paying attention. Norman MacPherson co-produced this CD with me; as a guitarist, a bassoonist, and owner/engineer of a fine studio, Norm is a human of vast musical potential, and his touch is evident throughout these recordings.

 So, that's half of the story, the big half by my measure.

 The other is a live CD, recorded between November, 2002 to April, 2003. I've been asked for years to release another live recording, the last being in 1974 from Massey Hall in Toronto. Fortunately some of these performances feature other musicians, and three songs feature Western Roots artist Gary Fjellgaard and Valdy in duo performance.

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Viva Valdy: Live at Last,

 2 CDs, 25 songs; 13 live, 12 tracked.

"The 12 tunes on the Studio disc are multi-track productions, with great players, sweet BGs, a few parts flown in on the net, hard disks lugged up and down the 401 to various studios; Logic audio on a dual processor G4 through a Motu 2408, it's all good stuff, great software," asserts Valdy, "and it has helped Norm and I make a really decent recording."

Now, doesn't that sound Canadian?

This is the best recording work Valdy has ever done with keen songwriting, assertive vocals, marvelous textures; this disc should be this good, after the years Valdy's been recording. Maturing as an artist, it would appear, does not include backing away from the edge.

 Viva Valdy: Live at Last,

the Live CD: "No Overdubs, No Second Takes!" joined by

Gary Fjellgaard on 3 songs.

 the Studio CD: "No Effects; well, Not Many!" 10 new songs,

2 songs reprised, including "Play Me a Rock 'n' Roll Song."

 

"The original intent was to do the same tunes both live and in studio, yet with so many songs to document, the content shifted to who I am today, and I want to give these tunes some shelf life, let them be heard, et voila! Viva Valdy: Live at Last. Hope you enjoy these tunes."

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<<<<< Now and Then >>>>>>>>

 

What a Session!!

I sang a harmony vocal on "River Stay Away From My Door" with the amazing Belvedere Broadcasters, recording at the Belfry Theatre in Victoria.

That's Joey Smith on bass, Don Clark on trumpet, all eleven players are great. I'll link the CD here when it's ready.

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Valdy - ( vawl-dee ) I am a Canadian folksinger, who, when not with my wife Kathleen at home on Saltspring Island, can be found chasing audiences across the continent, and may be playing in a theatre near you, soon . Check the tour schedule at

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The Mussel Inn Totem, Golden Bay, South Island, NZ

If you don't turn your cell phone off for the concert

 

I em-ceed a Seniors' Choir gathering here on Saltspring Island, entitled ChorFest. This gathering of choirs from across the province, many award winning and all a pride of their communities, had a concert at the Gulf Islands Secondary School (GISS). They've asked me to perform a few tunes; imagine if you can, being asked to sing for, and thankfully with, such a chorus of voices!! I've worked with Symphonies and Philharmonics, and the lush, full pillow of music is amazing to be part of. Now, imagine that texture replaced by major vocal sections, in all 4 voice registers? The mind reels.

The average age, we determined, was 78. See what singing does for a heart?

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Kathleen in her wedding veil. Looks good, eh?

 

This is an old Stihl 090, on the future cedar steps to Kathleen's studio deck.

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There is not enough music in the world. I played recently for some elementary schools, and what a wonderful reception! They drink it up.

Here's a glimpse of Lakefield College School's band, at the school's 125th birthday party. Play for the kids, you adults. Play for the adults, you kids.

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