So I just spent 2 months on the road touring with a circus! It was wonderful. and then I came home and got pneumonia and bronchitis. also wonderful. i'll put up a video and pics if i can.

This piece is for an aerial tissu routine that my lovely partner in life and crime will do in Halifax in April. It caused my hard drive to have a stroke.... poor thing.

www.jazzeastphotos.com

select view photos on the side, select the 12th, select free hugs, enjoy!

So i now have one day left to finish my Cirque Eloize audition. Wish me luck! Yo soy el aventurero. I think that's right....

So xmas was fun:) blew up some fireworks, visited friends, ate foods that hurt to think of right now. january was...snowy. all in all, it's been a great time in Montreal. My french is going great, plus I've started learning spanish and japanese (mostly on my own), and also I've been trying contact juggling. My balls were beaten quite badly.

well, it's official. as i upload this new song written and recorded rough by reno, ryan, and rrrrrrrrrrrrrjake, rgq, i realize i really am rocketing right out of this royal red pain in the rear. Good bye, halifax, see you in a year!

Free Hugs
Gallery crawl with Live Animal (Page Strange), David Mott (Argyle Fine Art), Saturday, July 12 at Studio 21, 8pm, $15

For a band that started as a weekly therapy session for three classically trained musicians to soothe their emotional souls with three-part harmony, Free Hugs seems like an appropriate name.

Borrowing from the global movement offering free hugs to strangers in busy public places, it seemed to the band like an appropriate sentiment. The male-bonding-turned-band is made up of Jeff Torbert and Jake Danson-Faraday on guitar and Ryan Gray on bass, with all of them singing.

With all three members playing the Jazz Fest in other capacities, and Torbert doing a showcase of his own compositions, Torbert says. Free Hugs is more collaborative. He talks about improvisation as spontaneous composition. "It's like training to be a musician in the same way as training to be a good person," he says. "Being open to dynamic situations."

Described as "concept-folk" at the Jazz Fest site, jazzeast.com, Free Hugs isn't so easy to label.

"With guys on guitars it's hard not to be associated with folk," says Torbert.

While the band is mostly a fun side-project, Free Hugs has found some ways to make their shows memorable. Torbert describes shows when they've played harmonies on crystal bowls filled with water, or improvised lyrics read off the pages of a daily newspaper on stage.

"Sort of like pop art," jokes Torbert.

But the answer to the most pressing question: will there be actual free hugs after the show?

"We might actually give hugs during the show if people ask," Torbert laughs.

---Sam Worthington

So Dawn got offered a job in Montreal, and I'll be going with her! But she's leaving in May, and I'm leaving in September. Hopefully as well, myself, Jake and Reno will be getting a scholarship to go to the Banff in January to do some studying and playing. Busy writing things, I'll post soon.

hey everyone, i've been preoccupied and haven't been around here much. i'm working on writing an album, we'll see how that goes.

either that, or send me a message. If you would like to have something written, feel free to contact me via message.