Just wanted to say thanks to all those involved in putting on Logan's BBQ. There is a videotaped versions of "lean on me/fix you" which is my attempt at playing Lean on Me- by Bill Withers- one of Logan's favourite songs. I tried to learn the song "lean on me" in its original form and realized that musically and thematically it was very similar to 'fix you' by Coldplay so it was a natural cocktail. There is also a two part video of "15 minutes" a song that I wrote for Logan and her family. The whole event was videotaped and it may be possible to have that footage posted either here or on the facebook site. The show in Hope has been postponed until possibly August. Hopefully Dustin is going to be able to record the Hope show. I am due to start my residency in internal medicine on July 1st in Vancouver. Im not sure how prohibitive this will be on my musical free time. Hopefully not too much. Also- I want to mention that my favourite dog in the world "Finley / the Fin" died on June 2nd 2008 due to natural causes. It was nice that I was able to play his song and dedicate it to him "Finley's Christmas" twice recently (at the spring gala and at Logan's BBQ). He was a dog that experienced life with unbridled happiness. He loved people. I'm sure he's having a nice time in heaven, especially if they're having any sort of banquet or dinner party up there at the moment- although they will have to watch him up there with not eating off of well-meaning elderly peoples plates like Francis Whittle.
Cheers
JR

Hi folks. I'm going to be performing live in the near future. On Saturday April 12th at O'Byrne's Irish Pub in Edmonton I will be playing at a benefit concert for for Logan. Logan is a little girl who has been battling brain cancer for several years. Her care has been hard physically and financially on her family. The benefits from this show, along with all of my CDs that sell at the show will go to Logan's family. Friends of Otis from Calgary will also be playing. Tickets are available at the door or in advance from Jesse Mclean Jesse contact: up_to_here@hotmail.com or call 780-660-0794. Please take a moment to learn about Logan through http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/loganisourangel or the facebook group "logan is our angel"- her story is remarkable.

Other upcoming performances include the UBC Spring Gala on April 26th at the UBC Chan Centre. Tickets are 15$ and available through http://www.ubcmed.com/gala/

Finally- in May I will be playing at the Blue Moose Cafe in Hope, BC, along with Justin Brown- another singer songwriter- more to come on that later.

Cheers
James

There are a couple of live performances in the works I want to mention. The UBC spring gala is on April 26th at the UBC Chan Centre- I will be performing with my new back-up band who I think I'll call the ranch hands. Like, James Reid and the Ranch Hands. I dont know if they'll like that. Either way- tickets will go on sale soon and its a show worth seeing for the enormous artistic talent amongst UBC medical students. There are a couple of other fundraiser concert events in the works that I'll say more about at a later time. I will say- you should direct your attention to a facebook group called "Logan is our angel" which is a support group for a family who is dealing with childhood cancer. I hope anyone who reads this is well.

Cheers
James

over the past 5 months- I've spent a grand total of 3.5 weeks in Vancouver (home base), and as a result, moments of music, creativity and normal life have been sparse and usually dependent on being a bit resourceful. I've spent time in Halifax, Edmonton, Toronto, Port Hardy, Terrace and a few other places. Most of these cities have music stores that sell nice guitars. In each of these places, I mislead a poor sales person to think I wanted to buy one of their guitars- and I managed to play "test drive" around on their instuments for up to 2 hours at a time. During this time I got ideas for new songs- and I'm going to try and record them over the next couple of months. I'll post them here when they're done. We live in a massive country, but despite the size, the are commonalities we can all identify with accross the provinces. I'm talking of course about the severe winter weather that owns our land.

JR

Dear friends and strangers. I wrote this album for the sake of pure joy, and I'd love to share it with anyone who feels like hearing it. The songs were recorded in my apartment, I used some electronic sounds, and the rest is from me or one of my guitars. Please feel free to download it and share it with whoever you want. I can also send you a CD if you want one, just email me jdreid86@hotmail.com and we'll sort it out. Write something on this blog if you feel inclined. Otherwise, have a nice day.

JR