Better Days

Welcome to the blog of Doug "Duke" Lang, songwriter and host of Better Days, a radio show spinning journeys from music and language, heard Thursdays ten-to-midnight Pacific time at www.coopradio.org Listen to songs at www.myspace.com/dukelang

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Location: Vancouver, Canada

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Hands Across The Water
A Better Days Radio Special
Monday, January 2nd, 2006
2:00 to 5:00 pm Pacific (GMT -8)
CFRO 102.7 fm
Webcast: www.coopradio.org

Been putting in some heart time here, dovetailing songs
and instrumental pieces for this radio special coming up
on the 2nd of January. It's mysterious, the creative juices
which come to you when you heart goes into a project.

I have a thing about tonal centers, shifting keys from one
song to the next. It's about one song passing the torch to
the next, not letting it fall or go out. This radio show idea,
Hands Across The Water, came to me after I received
an advance copy of the new cd of the same name from
John Cutliffe, who produced it with Andrea Zonn. The
cd features 16 collaborations between artists on both sides
of the Atlantic Ocean. John Prine, Rodney Crowell, Paul
Brady, Jackson Browne...I won't run all the names by you
here, but suffice to say it's a knockout lineup and the songs
are made to last. The purpose behind the cd is to raise funds
for the children who were made orphans a year ago by the
devstating tsunami. There's compassion in the world...

The music for this radio special is symbolic of compassion
without borders. The image I began with comes from a piece
I read on December 26th. Many survivors on the coastlines
struck by the tsunami were floating empty boats out to sea.
Gypsy boats, they're called. Often they lay flowers in them,
some candle lanterns. Given the severity of the disasters the
people of the earth have seen over the past year, the loss of
life, the millions of people who have lost not only loved ones
but homes and belongings -- in Banda Aceh, they even lost a
piece of the island, where some 20,000 people used to live --
I wanted to offer something of a requiem and remembrance
for the dead, and something of a healing song for the living.
There will be some joy in the program, too, as we owe that
to those who are gone.

One piece I'll play is a gentle hymn from Austin's Eliza Gilkyson,
called Requiem....

Mother Mary, full of grace, awaken
All our homes are gone, our loved ones taken
Taken by the sea...

In the dark night of the soul
Bring some comfort to us all...

That our sorrows may be faced.

It is a privilege to compose these kinds of radio shows. You see,
if you tune in, you may find the show tuning you in, too. Time,
date and means of listening are above. If you can listen in on
January 2nd, it would be good to have you there when I float
a gypsy boat of compassion out across the waters...

Joining hands.

DL