The Love Was Here First Tour

Veteran singer/songwriter Carolyn Arends is taking our own Amanda Falk under her wing to tour both of their new albums in November 2010.

Check the list to see if you are near one of the cities on the tour – this is one you won’t want to miss! Click on the city name to buy tickets or visit The Love Was Here First website.

Click on album to purchase

Light Up the Sky CD Release Celebration!

Jon Buller is visiting Winnipeg on September 11th at the Walker Theatre. Tickets are only $10 each if ordered ahead of time.

For more information or to buy tickets, click on the link below:

Link to Jon’s Tour info

A limited number of CDs are available at Signpost for Light Up the Sky.

BUY NOW at a special celebration price of 12.99 plus taxes and shipping.

CD Cover

To Purchase Click Here

 

 

 

To Purchase Click Here

Amanda Falk’s new album, In Between the Now and Then was recently highlighted on The Weekend Morning Show on CBC Radio. Kinsey Posen had previously interviewed Amanda and discusses her life, award wins, and her new album on Manitoba Music Corner.

To hear the program, click on the link below:

http://www.cbc.ca/weekendmorning

Album: Devotion

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We’re so pleased to announce that Steve’s latest CD, DEVOTION has received a nomination for a 2010 JUNO Award – Canada’s top music industry honour.

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Receiving JUNO in 2000

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This is Steve’s fourth JUNO nomination, two of which resulted in wins for his Romantics and Mystics project in 1997 and Simple Songs CD in 2000. Steve’s Waiting For Aidan CD was nominated for Best Contemporary Christian Album in 2001 and today’s announcement marks the fourth time Canada’s music industry leaders have recognized Steve’s work.

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Congratulations to Steve and producer Roy Salmond! We’ll be rooting for you on April 18th!

To see the list of Nominees for the 2010 awards click HERE.

For a complete list of Steve’s awards and albums visit Wikipedia’s page on Steve HERE

- Faye Hall

By Carolyn Arends

Carolyn performing at the GMAs

The weekend of October 22^nd I had the privilege of participating in the Gospel Music Association of Canada’s Covenant Awards in Calgary, AB.  The awards themselves are preceded by several days of conferences, showcases and concerts; unfortunately I can’t give an eyewitness account of those earlier events as I did not land in Calgary until early Friday morning.  I did hear from several reliable sources that it was a stimulating and inspiring whirlwind of panels, seminars and shows.

As for my part, my cohort Spencer Capier and I caught the 6:30am flight out of Abbotsford and landed in Calgary around 8:30am.  After a quick breakfast I ran over to the conference to present an hour on songwriting (one of my favourite subjects, even though, as the quote says, “talking about music is like dancing to architecture”.)  I was expecting maybe a dozen or so folks and had more like 40; which had Spencer scurrying back to the hotel on my behalf to make more hand-outs.  I talked fast and long, but my class stayed with me, and it was encouraging to see so many artists taking their craft seriously and passionately.

The conference was held at the headquarters of Samaritan’s Purse, which was a stroke of genius firstly because of location (directly across the street from the Airport Sandman, where most participants stayed) and secondly because of emphasis – each day of the conference featured a different NGO or missional organization.  Very cool.

After my songwriting class, it was off to First Alliance in Calgary to prepare for the Awards Show itself.  I was co-hosting the evening with Arlen Salte (recording artist, worship leader, and the brilliant mind behind Breakforth Canada).  Arlen and I had received the meat and potatoes of the script from GMA President Martin Smith earlier in the week, but it was up to us to add the appropriate level of “awkward banter” that has become de rigueur at awards shows.   We had a couple of hours to get to know each other better and riff  in a few directions … we ended up with Arlen’s spirited campaign to get a “Norwegian Album of the Year” category added to the GMA slate.  (After all, Brian Doerksen always wins for “Mennonite of the Year”, right?)  I had suspected things might go in this direction; the trophy Arlen eventually received for “Norwegian Artist of the Year” looked strikingly like my son’s 2004 T-ball trophy.

Covenant Awards Finale

The show itself was a terrific celebration of the strength and diversity of Canadian Christian artists. Highlight performances included Winnipeg’s Fresh I.E. (with Signposter Jon Buller adding his trademark energy to the band), Saskatchewan’s family group The Hunters, and many more.  Pianist Mike Janzen (of Signpost fame) brought the house down with an extended instrumental number (with the help of Jacob Moon and the excellent house band, who strongly resembled the folks in Brian Doerksen’s band).

Arlen and I noted that Mike’s success was due largely to the fact that “Mennonites are known for their funkiness.”

Canadian rockers downhere cleaned up at the show (winning 9 of their 11 nominations) and really turned heads when lead signer Marc Martel stunned the crowd with an operatic performance of Nessum Dorma (accompanied by a Salvation Army brass band).  It was brilliant.

I had the opportunity to perform “I Am a Soul” from my new disc with Spencer and the aforementioned stellar house band, and then I particularly enjoyed leading all the artists in a simple refrain of “I could sing of your love forever” … a song of thanks to the God who thought up music and community and invites us to take part in both.

In conclusion, it was a grand evening and only really lacked in one thing.  Which leads me to my “MAKE STEVE BELL ATTEND THE COVENANT AWARDS IN 2010 CAMPAIGN”.  More on that later …

Oh, as far as the hardware goes, Signpost Artist picking up trophies were:

Steve Bell (Gord Johnson) for Jazz/Blues Song of the Year – Embrace the Mystery (Devotion Album)

Mike Janzen for Jazz/Blues Album of the Year – Mombacho

Love Was Here First Album Cover

Editor’s Note: Here’s hoping Carolyn Arends’ stellar “Love Was Here First” is a winner at the 2010 Awards!!! More info on album…

• To listen to winning song, Embrace the Mystery, and for links to Mike Janzen albums and videos click HERE

• For a complete list of 2009 GMA winners click  HERE
  

Congratulations to Steve Bell and Mike Janzen for winning at the Gospel Music Awards this past weekend!

Steve Bell won for Jazz/Blues Song of the Year – Embrace the Mystery. A song with only four lines of lyrics…. Congratulations also to Gord Johnson who wrote this song for Steve’s multi-nominated album Devotion. Produced in Vancouver by the legendary Roy Salmond, Devotion is a surprising collection of rich and thoughtful worship music drawn from Scriptures, the Liturgy and inspired, in part, by the tradition of Taize.  Steve was unable to attend the award ceremony, as he was on tour in British Columbia, Canada.

Embrace the Mystery

Behold what you are

Become what you receive

Take up the bread and wine

Embrace the mystery

Listen to the song here…

Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!

Mike Janzen

Mike Janzen won for Jazz/Blues Album of the Year – Mombacho.

Steve Bell says,  ”This CD firmly establishes that part of the “essence of Mike” is the tremendous jazz writer, stylist and band leader he is. Deeply embedded in this excellent collection of (mostly) original songs are Mike’s reverence, humour, compassion and joy. His is a rare and infectious gift.”

Coincidentally, the week Mike’s Mombacho wins the award, this wonderful review of the album appears in Britain’s Cross Rhythms E-Zine:

“Lighting up an organ like something else is Toronto-based composer and writer Mike Janzen backed by George Koller on bass accompanied by one from a variety of percussionists thus making a trio. The core three performers are bolstered further at times by a few other contributors in the shape of some ambient saxophone in “Beauty” and “Swankometer” to a little electric guitar in “Trail Runner”. It isn’t until five tracks in until that we get to hear the voice of Mike as predominately this is an album of pure musicianship and may I add, at its best. In fact it is only during “Masaya” and “All The Diamonds” later in the album that any vocals accompany the trio. It is somewhat of a pity as his voice has such a rich texture, complementing so well. Most of the songs here are penned by Mike himself but he also finds time to add some personal flair to “All The Diamonds” by Bruce Cockburn, Coldplay’s “God Put A Smile On My Face” which works fantastically, with the trio also putting a classy twist on Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs Robinson”. Each member gets many a moment of showcasing along the way with the drummer enjoying plenty of rolls and fills in “Trail Runner” and “Almost Tango”, over seven minutes of intensely funk filled jazz. A personal highlight is the serene “Where It Goes” when I find myself submersed, I can’t help but sit back and appreciate.”

Reviewed by Aaron Ferris

• Follow this link to listen to music from Mombacho…

• Mike’s Video on Youtube “Janzen’s Jazz”

• Here’s a link to view the winners of all the categories at the GMA’s - including  Fresh I. E.’s two wins

• Click Artist’s names to read album reviews in  Britain’s Cross Rhythms E-Zine: Steve Bell, Carolyn Arends, Kerri Woelke, Fergus Marsh, Jacob Moon, Gayle Salmond

by Signpost Staff, Faye Hall

-by Steve Bell

Album Cover | Eventide

It would be hard for me to exaggerate my enthusiasm for Jacob Moon’s disciplined talent and extraordinary gift as a singer, a songwriter, guitarist and masterful interpreter of others’ music. And it boggles my mind he is not yet celebrated in the wider music community. But that could be changing – I hope so. But for now, I’m just happy he still returns my calls.

Last spring, Jacob took a couple of friends with hand-held cameras onto the roof of a building in Hamilton where he shot a remarkably good looking and sounding video of his solo-acoustic version of Rush’s epic Subdivisions. The video was subsequently posted on YouTube and almost immediately went viral as some 70,000 Rush fans were stunned at how a single performer could so ingeniously reinterpret an arena-rock song in a solo, acoustic medium. Indeed, there was even a thumbs-up comment from Geddy Lee himself.

Now he’s done it again. Jacob has just posted another roof-top video featuring his rendition of Peter Gabriel’s Come Talk To Me. You have to see it to appreciate Jacob’s tasteful use of digital delays and guitar slapping technique. He has a way of using “toys” without becoming gimmicky – all in service of musicality. Come Talk to Me was originally recorded on Jacob’s Eventide CD. We (at Signpost Music) are proud to be on-line distributors of this fine album. Click HERE to check out the album. But first check out the video:

Jacob Moon | Maybe Sunshine -release date: early November

BTW – Just so you know… Jacob will be releasing his new CD Maybe Sunshine in the next few weeks. Next week we’ll put up some preview notes on his new disc and offer a listen to one of the songs.

• To view Jacob’s roof-top video of Subdivisions, click HERE

• To view Jacob’s bio and discography click HERE

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Signpost recently released a visually arresting, unique video pairing of artists, Steve Bell (folk acoustic) and Fresh I.E. (Hip-Hop),  performing a previously unreleased version of the song Everything We Need. The response to the experiment has been extremely enthusiastic and we thank you for the positive  comments and encouragement.

As this version of the song is not available on any audio CD, we have made it available on CD Baby for single-song download. Click HERE to go to the CD Baby site.  The page is a little confusing as under Price Category is says “not available.”  Not to worry, just locate the orange BUY NOW button and all will be well

In  a couple of weeks, the song will be available on iTunes as well. We’ll make that announcement as soon as it’s up.

Thanks for your interest in this work we do. It is much appreciated.

If you haven’t yet had a chance to watch  the video, click HERE or the above image to view.

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Related Articles:

• Director’s Commentary by Jeff Lukin

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In my first listen to Everything We Need, I was inspired to create a piece of art that would do justice to the musical and lyrical components of the song, and also satisfy my growing drive to depict the abundant joy and richness we find in this world through God without having all the “things.” This is intended to be a simple, beautiful retelling of an old story. Everything We Need redirects us to this truth: God is our joy and in Him we are found.

The Prelinger Archive was the visual stimulus for me. This archive is a rights-free, open-source video collection with an astonishing library of titles to view. When I reviewed the films, one in particular caught my eye. This ended up being the main inspiration and catalyst behind the creation of the music video.

I wanted to depict the physical decay of an inner city landscape. I wanted to build a relationship between the viewer and the apparent idiosyncratic sense of joy and abundance expressed by those who dwell within that same physical impoverishment. Culturally, it would seem that we have a tendency to focus on material gain; perhaps it could be said that we have a growing propensity to equate materialism with our overall sense of delight and success in this life. The Prelinger footage became the perfect visual backdrop for the music created by Steve and Fresh, which challenges that tendency.

It was the grittiness of the film that brought Fresh to mind. He lives in that inner city landscape, and has made it his life mission to bring a message of hope to that part of our culture. Long story short – I called him, he was excited and gave it a shot. The first idea didn’t nail it, but the second one was a ringer. When I heard the rap Fresh brought into the studio, I knew this was going to work. His voice added strength and experience to my vision for the video and sparked the passion lying in Steve’s unwrinkled vocals. Complementing the Prelinger footage, Steve and Fresh performed the song embodying two entirely different personas, together richly telling the story of God’s love and provision.

I hope you can see the beauty in this simplicity and be intrigued to live in that juxtaposition daily.

- Jeff Lukin (Owner – Jeff Lukin Design)

DOP / Camera Operator / FCP Editor - Daryl Hiebert (I Like the Ride).

Director / Producer – Jeff Lukin (jefflukindesign.com)

If you are considering attending a concert this season, we have a new addition to our ticket choices. It’s called the Premium Ticket:

You’ll notice for some concerts there is offered a new ”Premium Ticket.”  This is really for folks who would like to help with the ongoing costs of this work I do.  It is a more expensive seat that offers early access to the auditorium (to select a seat of choice), a chance to come say hi and hang with me before the concert, as well as a free CD of your choice.  Around our office this is cheekily called “meet & greet and a first choice seat.”

Like everyone else, we’re feeling the squeeze of the recession and this is one way folks can help out if they are so inclined. In the next few weeks I’ll be writing a bit about the vision and financial reality of my work. I am looking for ministry partners to help sustain and promote this gift God has entrusted me with, and I’ll outline some of the ways folks can join with me. But for now this is a simple, fun opportunity to be co-belligerents in the call to “promote Christian faith and thoughtful living through artful word and song.”

Cheers!

Steve