AHAHB / James Reaney

Hey Hey all,

so last night we had our only full A HORSE AND HIS BOY rehearsal
in what will be 3 months... as I've been very busy with releasing
'Landscapes' and Jeremy has been off to China to work. It was a very
fun rehearsal and today I have new AHAHB songs stuck in my head. The new
material just keeps getting better and better, so look forward to the
new year... new songs, new album?, shows, tour, beards, etc...

Last night we talked about Animal Collective's album 'Strawberry Jam'
which Aaron and I think is better than Merriweather Post Pavilion... although
when I got home, Edward tried to convince me otherwise... regardless, if you
don't own these albums, go pick them up!

We also talked about Menomena's song 'Water'...

be sure to check that out too!

What else, oh, AHAHB left me with huge blisters on my right hand,
so much so that it hurts to type this (a bit). (due to not rehearsing
for some time...)


Today I went into the Free Press with Adam to drop off a copy
of 'Landscapes' to James Reaney... James was as awesome as always.
...he said that 'Landscapes', along with the other Oh! releases this year,
are going to be up for his '10 albums of the year'... very cool.

Other than that, Olenka & The Autumn Lovers should be AWESOME at
Call the Office tonight, and I'm VERY excited for the Sick Friend
CD release on Wednesday with The Whipping Wind! (you should remember Sick Friend from the AHAHB album release in
September...)

SEE YOU THERE!

hope all is well,
love,
-Sam.

Review of Album Release show Western's Gazette

Hey Hey all, just a link to the Gazette's
review of the Album Release show, written by Drew Whitson, with Photo by Sam Chang-Gardener.

read it here.

hope all is well,

-Sam.

Landscapes Release show

Saturday was a fantastic night, and it'll take some time I'm sure for it to fully sink in, but I feel motivated now to write a few words about the night.

First off I'd like to thank Edward, Stuart, Kelly, Mike, Alex, and Simon for playing with me. You each put a lot of time, effort, and skill into the night, and I couldn't be happier with your performances. All standout performances. Thank you for everything leading up to and including the night, and I'll hopefully see you all soon at a future band rehearsal! so much LOVE to you!

A big thank you to Dan, AJ, Sam, Jake, Blair, and Kevin in the Gally. You guys sounded so tight and professional, but at the same time were just the fellas doing what the fellas do best. The friendship beamed out of your band! Thank you.

Thanks so much to Aaron for bringing such excitement to the show from the get go. Aaron your positive energy and enthusiasm, combined with your incredible rock-a-billy performance, was such an amazing addition to the night. Thank you.

A tremendous thank you to all of my brothers and sisters in the Open House Arts Collective. Alex, thankyou for singing, organizing, and driving everything. The show would not've happened with out you. Blair thankyou for helping to organize and play in the show, and for your deep sexy stage voice. AJ, thank you so so much for helping create the entire physical album. It would not exist without your hard work. Thanks also for performing. Sara! thanks so much for the INCREDIBLE blossoms! those blew me away, I still can't get over how amazing they are. Thanks also for working the door. Stuart, thanks for putting in the time in your busy schedule to play, and for helping with press/web/organizing. Paterson thank you for MCing, the beautiful poster, and helping to organize. Thanks so much to all of you.

Simon! thanks so much for setting up the whole room for sound! and then doing sound! even with some snags along the way it sounded really great. thanks so much.

and thank you so much to everyone who came out! with a special thanks to all those who picked up an album!

anyway, it's been a long time coming, so thankyou to everyone who helped me live out a dream...
funny, at the start of the year I was joking that I'd be living out my dream twice in the summer by releasing an album with A HORSE AND HIS BOY and my own... it took a little longer than we thought, but now it's here and I couldn't be happier...

so thankyou.
hope you had fun!

some highlights off the top of my head:
-driving around with Aaron to pick up stuff before hand, having a blast listening to Johnny Burnette
-meeting with Dan and Aaron downstairs before Aaron's set... "we're the dudes, man!"
-running into Stuart and Edward before our set for an impromptu huddle of our own.
-Alanna and Amanda dancing along to 'Lost In the Leaves'
-'The Sound of Plenty' accapella
-Aaron's rock-a-billy stance
-Blair's deep, sexy voice... "here's another one for ya..."
-Dan's handsome-ness
-the cherry blossoms
-over-sized glasses of water
-Stuart's bad-ass-bass-dance
-Edwards guitar solo in 'Lost In The Leaves'
-Edward joining us for the encore.
-making eye contact with both Kelly and Alex while singing harmony with them and getting faces
-Kelly, "are you Uncle John?!"
-My family's expressions while I played, and then afterward
-everyone clapping and singing along in the audience at the end
-everyone jumping up on stage to sing Mountain Top Chorus Song with us!
-most of the women's expressions while Aaron and then the Gally played... what a handsome bunch!
-Scott: "So Handsome!"
-audience expressions while I stared out at them while I sang.
-shaking so many happy hands, and seeing new and familiar faces
-somehow finding a way home with all the gear and the van broken.
-sitting on a stoop on Richmond St eating french fries in celebration afterwards... late at night with the bars all letting out, Aaron: "We're livin' in the city!"
-talking with Simon / Edward about the show once we got home
-all of the smiles

awesome. I'm sure I've missed so much in this 'note' and I'm sure more will come to me... feel free to add and I will too...

if your curious, here is the set list we played:

1. Cowboy Song
2. Woodland Whispers
3. Lost In The Leaves
4. Would You Love Me
5. Troubles
6. Long, Long, Long (The Beatles, George Harrison)
7. Meadow Boy
8. Goodnight
9. Mountain Top Chorus Song
10. Rain On
11. Sail Away

such a great night.