Jeff Tuesday July 22/08

Wow, what a weekend. Thursday morning, up at 6:30am, get on a plane, fly to Calgary, get in a rental van, drive to Red Deer, play a fabulous show to wonderful fans, talk to a whole bunch of people, sleep for a few minutes, get up again at 6:30 am , drive to Calgary, drop off van, get on a plane, fly to Castlegar, rent two more Suv's, drive through the mountains to Nakusp, play another killer show to another great crowd on Friday night, see my cousins for a minute (love you all so much!!!), have a drink and a chin wag with our friends Willi Jahnke, Michele Williams and Susan Mackie from the Nakusp Music Fest (what a first class event they put on!), go back to the hotel, sleep for a few more seconds, get up at 7:00am (yee-haw, sleeping in!) drive back to Castlegar, drop off Suv's, fly back to Calgary, pick up van again, check into hotel, make all the arrangements for a very special surprise show for our friends Russ and Delaine Fisher (bless you both for the most wonderful and touching evening. Your family and friends are very special people and thank you for sharing your celebration of life with us!). Rock Russ and Delaine's place and hang out with everybody till late, drive back to the hotel, run into our friends the Headpins at the hotel and talk trash for a bit and finally crash out early in the morning, get up, have some breakfast at the local truckstop, pack up the van, drive back to the airport and fly home in time to meet the Sunday rush hour traffic in Vancouver and almost get crushed by a Smithrite truck, and finally, stumble in to my house around 6:00pm Sunday night a battered but a better man for all that I experienced over the weekend. Thanks to everybody and to all the techs and crews (Geoff, Jeff, Two Dogs, Brandon and the rest of you hard working bro's) for making this past weekend so wonderfully crazy!!!!! It was so cool to see you all again, the band had a fantastic time, we played great and were inspired every night as usual. God, we are a lucky bunch...J. 

Jeff Friday July 11/08

Hey Electroman...the Greatest Hits/Anthology CD will be out by the end of the month. We are nearly done and are now into the actual production of the the discs as well as finalizing all the artwork. Kenny is also releasing a Witness Inc. compilation which I believe is basically ready and we'll finish his solo CD off right after our busy summer schedule slows down a bit. We are off to Lethbridge tomorrow to do a show with Honeymoon Suite and I just finished negotiations for the 31st of July in St. John's NFLD at the George Street Festival which will be huge fun. Glad I'm not walking (that was supposed to be funny. You see, I live in Vancouver and, uh...never mind). I just finished a radio interview for Lethbridge which explains why I am up this early so I'd better go make some coffee now and get to work before I fly out tomorrow. Hope you all have a great weekend ... J.

Jeff Wednesday July 09/08

Hey, what's up...just a few ticks of the keyboard between business calls to say hi and get you up to date. We played in Peterborough two weeks ago and had a fantastic show. It was so well run and the people made us feel very welcome and it didn't even thunderstorm as predicted. I don't remember Peterborough being so nice but hats off to the city coucil for re-invigorating the city. Very nice...oh yeah, Saskatoon at the Dakota Dunes was also fab and the staff was again terrific and hats off to Bob and all the boys doing the production there. Job well done. Of course the band was smokin' as per usual and Kenny is really starting to get good at this singing thing. I think he could make a career out of this if he wanted...lol. The weather is beautiful here on the West Coast finally and the ridiculously high cost of living out here even makes some sense when it is this nice. So yeah, just looking at a few more shows for the end of the month on the East coast that are close to being a done deal. I'll keep you posted on that. We don't get back East enough so we are looking forward to that coming together. Wonderfully generous and kind people back there. We are off to LA this week...(that's Lethbridge, Alberta) to do a show with our friends Honeymoon Suite who we haven't seen for a while and that should be a real good show for you kids in the neighbourhood. OK, that's it for now, I gotta do some biz but I'll be back, I promise...fire up your barbeques!!!!!!!!! L8r, J.

Jeff Thursday June 26/08

Just a quick note and check in as I am getting ready to fly to Ontario to do some shows back east this weekend. I've been working on liner notes/credits and practicing this week. You know, I am apparently in the business of being really good so, I have to work at that all the time... lol. It does not come as naturally to me as it does to some other players that I know so practice, practice for Jeff! Other than getting ready for the weekend, all is good and basically normal today, slightly stressful but all in all manageable. Have a great weekend y'all and I'll talk to you when I get back...J.

Jeff Monday June 23/08

OK, Let me tell you out there that life has been very busy lately as in the last few months with the new Greatest Hits/Anthology CD, which is pretty much done and just needs to be pushed over the finish line now. It is a long and patient procedure which I won't bore you with details but between that and setting up our summer touring schedule there has been little time for extra things like keeping up on the blog because to be honest with you after working the phones all day and doing the business I sometimes look for an end to the day and sometimes things get let go. I have a lot on my plate everyday as so many of you do, so I know you appreciate the burn factor. Alright... enough of that. I am just making a quick entry to let you know I am out here as I have been getting grief from some of you...lol...about not blogging. You know I am a golf fanatic and I haven't even picked up my clubs for over a month...so you KNOW that I'm busy. I'll try to keep up a bit better now that some of my bigger projects are getting completed and the summer schedule and all that related biz is getting finalized. I always enjoy your comments and interest plus I consider you all important friends so keep at me! It is good that you are out there and I'm grateful for that. Anyways, hope you are enjoying the summer so far and again, sorry for the big gap in time but know that the band is in good spirits, we are very busy and playing killer so get out to a show and see us and if you have a moment please say HELLO!!!!!! L8r...J.

Jeff Good Friday Mar.21/08

Isn't today the first day of spring?I'm looking at my calendar and it says that was yesterday but, I did pay half price for it so, who knows...lol.I know it's Good Friday and Easter is on Sunday so Happy Easter to you. I don't want to get into a religious thang here but when we were growing up the religious aspect of Easter was always something that we impatiently respected while most of our focus was on chocolate rabbits or chickens...do they still make chocolate chickens? That was always kinda freaky to me. How did the chicken become an Easter icon? What role did the chicken play? As a matter of fact how in the heck did we get to eating chocolate animals as a way to celebrate a story of death and resurrection? I think I missed something along the way. Perhaps I shoulda listened a bit more in Sunday school. Again, I'm trying to be funny here and not trying to offend anyone although some of those who represent our spiritual freedoms and beliefs have done some pretty offensive stuff for people who call themselves men/women of faith and goodness. Talk about having faith, try playing and making a living in a rock band! That requires a leap of faith that would make Evel Knievel check his tire pressure. lol. Truthfully, I can't complain and anybody who knows me knows that I am good and grateful for everything in my life. 

Speaking of gratitude, a couple of shouts...We played in Winnipeg last Friday as part of the Brier National Tournament at the Convention Centre and I gotta say it was great and of course a complete sell-out at 5,500 people with another 2,000 or so turned away. Thanks to Roger Powell and his staff for a great job and making everything run smoothly for us and to the guys at All Star Productions, thank you all. Nice job boys. We (Streetheart) look forward to working together with all of you again soon. I thought that Kenny was great on the night. He sang particularly well and I thought the whole band was tight and strong. Gotta thank Daryl for the pre-gig huddle and getting our game focus clear. We do have the best fans. It makes things so easy when everyone is so supportive and willing to have a good time with us. It makes each gig special and when it's all said and done I'll have these great memories to look back on. Thanks for letting this slab of meat have such an amazing life experience... 

Thanks to Kevin Ferris for finding a typo on our website. It was small but he found it buried deep in the discography. Hey Kev, don't you sleep? haha. Thanks for the heads up. Gotta be right with the facts ya know. I think I just got some numbers mixed up along the way because I talked to Daryl and he gave me the correct info so... it's all fixed now!!!!

I want to thank you all (SXFD42, Miss Barb, Electroman and the rest of you) for the the input so far on our Greatest hits CD and things are moving along steadily but without the record label machine it is tougher pushing this thing forward although less stressful in some aspects. I appreciate your candor and wishes in regards to songs and most of you are spot on and thinking the same as we are already. HEY GINA!!! it was so nice to hear from you again. I never had a chance to thank you for the wonderful photos you sent to me 2 springs ago. I was moving at that time and had your return address (yeah,yeah) but have looked high and low for it without success. Please send me a return address to our web address so I can thank you personally for your great photos. I hope all is well with you and your family and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Loudmouth, good song choices and yes, I want to see a bit of everything on this Cd as well. We'll do our best bro'. Looking forward to going down east this summer and I am hoping to put some more shows together and touch base with more of our longtime fans out there. Ok Keith, do you remember Virginia Ovals? tic, tic,tic...To the rest of you out there Virginia Ovals was not the girl of our dreams (for me that was Lenora Kroeker), it is what we used to refer to the flattened out, hidden in your back pocket, cigarettes as...you know, the cigarettes and girls thing (reference my bio here).I think they were probably MacDonald's Menthol or Rothman's...this is making me laugh out loud again. What a time we had as kids!

Well, it's after 9:00am now and I have to tackle some business if everybody isn't too busy eating them chocolate farm animals...ok, where are those bunny ears...lol.  J.

Jeff Tuesday Mar.04/08

Hey out there,

Thought that I would get up a little early before the rush of the business day starts and write a bit.I have finally knocked down the licensing rights for our old material for our Greatest Hits CD so now we are truly in business.Now it's just about graphics,artwork and content.If you have any ideas about what you'd like to see or read about let me know.Your input is important to me and is part of my creative process so if are so inclined I am currently accepting all ideas but hurry kids,this is a limited time offer and will not be repeated...

I'd like to address some of the comments from the last post.Thanks to you who took some time.It is always great to know you are there.It doesn't have to be much,a hello is good but anyways... Rob,hey it's been a long time!Thanks for the inspiring words and I hope all is good in your life.You never know sometimes if your thoughts and /or ideas are connecting with anyone or even making any sense so to have you say the things you did makes me realize once again, how important our actions and words are.You can't just say things with impunity.All things matter and I try to(as I am reminded constantly that what we do has cause and effect)conduct myself as though everything has consequences...within reason here of course.I don't mull over whether having chicken salad for lunch will affect the universal balance.Common sense is always the guide... but Rob,I appreciate what you have said and yes it is great to still be making music with Kenny and doing great shows that still pack considerable punch.Not bad for a band that has been together for 30 years...wow, thats a long time.I hope we get to hook up again in the near future Rob.All the best.

Yeah,E...why doesn't Streetheart want to record a new album.Just so we are clear.I want to record another Streetheart album and I'd start tomorrow if we could.You have to understand here that it isn't that easy getting all sides together and then managing successfully everyone's agenda's.You have 5 grown up(within reason)men who have pretty much formed their own perspective and outlook on life and that needs to be respected.I didn't say agree with, I said respected. I think that is the key factor here.We've all grown up differently so in order for this to work we would need to find a connecting thread.In the early days that thread was easier to find.Passion for music,the desire to be great,money,girls,cars,sex...younger men's overt dreams. OK,so I've never really grown up but that's besides the point...lol.The point here is that the only way we'll be able to record another Streetheart album/CD or whatever you want to call it,is when everybody wants to be in the same room with each other because the music matters enough to appreciate what each guy does and even what he represents to our own personal history and that the sum total, upside and downside, is accepted and respected.I truly hope we get there soon.By asking you are doing your part here E. It is something I want as much as you do.

Speaking of personal history,I want to talk about and directly to an old friend.You have probably read my bio,if you're reading this,and many of you ask me about that girls and cigarettes thang...When I was very young,around 11 years old, I met another kid named Keith Murch.He was 2 years older than me which made him extremely cool and worldly to start with but most importantly Keith played guitar.I'm not talking about some kid chopping out bad versions of Gloria here I am talking about a real player at 13.I was so impressed because he was better than me by a long shot.You see, Keith came from a family of great guitarists.His Dad, Doug was a highly respected jazz guitarist and was even a close friends with Chet Atkins!(I remember the photos) and his older brother Glen(was that Glen or Glenn?Sorry Keith,time you know. lol) was playing in a rock band(The Four of Us) that was actually doing gigs and from my impressionable, adolescent perspective were already famous! This story is long as is my memory and too much to tell all of today but very briefly Keith was that friend/that rock buddy who influenced the foundations of my musical life.We were John and Paul.Because of his skill I learned early to expect the best of myself and everyone(sometimes to their untimely musical demise) I played with.That friendship,as it turns out, is one of the most important cornerstones that I have built my career on.When I went to Keith's website and saw him again and photos of his family,playing music and living life well,I hope you all have people in your memories that make you feel like I feel about my friend.Keith,I could still pick you out of a crowd and when I saw that old photo of you and Glen...Wow that is like yesterday for me... and wasn't that a Harmony Rocket you were playing?As I said, there is too much to tell about this part of my life in one sitting, so more stories to unfold for you at a later time if you'd like and besides, I hear my train a comin' and it sounds like my agent...Peace out there. J.