"A Brush of Hope" Auction

“A Brush of Hope” auction is live – for the next ten days, from now ‘til midnight EST on November 8: http://bit.ly/croweboh2017

The Foundation illuminates this “Opportunity to own an ORIGINAL, one of a kind piece of art by Allison Crowe. All proceeds will go to support the valuable work of The Kidney Foundation of Canada by allowing us to continue our patient services programs, education and awareness initiatives and life saving research. These programs and services enable us to improve the lives of the 1 in 10 Canadians who are living with or affected by kidney disease.”

Allison’s contribution – on 8 x 10” canvas board, signed – is a painting of an American Avocet – a bird that Winters on the coast.

Hang out in “A Brush of Hope” gallery – https://www.ebay.ca/usr/kidneyfoundationofcanada - enjoy, and bid on, paintings by Allison, Bif Naked, Tim Fox, Bret Hart, Elizabeth May and more Canucks in support of The Kidney Foundation of Canada, Atlantic Branch.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Emily Dickinson

(What's so Funny 'bout) Peace, Love and Understanding

“This song puts into words a lot of the things I'm feeling in a way that I have a hard time verbalizing clearly. It's been covered a lot. There's the Elvis Costello version which to me has a defiant protest like quality to it (as well as a kind of unique coolness that only Elvis can do in his own way) and the original which is deeply felt and how Nick Lowe sings it today is almost pleading. It really says so much. I hope to fall somewhere in the middle.”

 
Recorded by Allison Crowe for "Cover Me" blog's 10th Anniversary! Celebrate @ http://www.covermesongs.com/2017/10/cover-me-turns-ten.html  Mixed by Larry "Turtle" Anschell.

"Cover Me" Turns 10: Allison Crowe Brings Peace Note to Celebratory Album

“Ray Padgett founded the blog Cover Me in 2007 and has run it ever since, growing it into the largest blog devoted to cover songs on the web, with 80,000 individual readers a month. His music writing has appeared in SPIN, MTV, Vice, Consequence of Sound, and more, and he’s been interviewed as an expert on cover songs by the Wall Street Journal and the BBC. He lives in New York City and also works as a senior music publicist for Shore Fire Media, where his clients have included Ben Harper, Lana Del Rey, and Maxwell.” Today, Cover Me’s 10th birthday, Ray releases a present to music-lovers that’s been six-months-in-the-making:

“We wanted to do something special to celebrate our tenth birthday. And we wanted to celebrate not just ourselves, but celebrate the cover song itself. So we put together this little album Cover Me Turns 10: A Covers Tribute to Covers as a gift to our readers. We contacted several dozen of our musician friends and asked them to cover a cover. That is, to honor the many great songs we might not even know without an iconic cover – Aretha Franklin reinventing Otis Redding’s ‘Respect,’ Quiet Riot amplifying Slade’s call to feel the noize, Prince learning that nothing compares 2 Sinéad O’Connor.

We’re honored that so many of our favorite musicians contributed, and frankly speechless at how great a job they did. So speechless, in fact, that we asked them all to introduce their own work with a few sentences...” Celebrate @ http://www.covermesongs.com/2017/10/cover-me-turns-ten.html

Allison Crowe’s cover of “(What’s so Funny ‘bout) Peace, Love and Understanding”, closes this special tribute album.

Album cover art design by Sean Balkwill

Avocet-ing for Kidney Research

“A Brush of Hope”, The Kidney Foundation of Canada’s artful fund-raising campaign, is rolling again in 2017. Allison Crowe, inspired in part by the avian enthusiasms of her bassist Dave Baird, (pre-cat-hat aka Hobbes-as-headwear season), has painted a sea bird known colloquially as “blue shanks”.

“The American avocet (Recurvirostra americana) is a large wader in the avocet and stilt family, Recurvirostridae. This avocet spends much of its time foraging in shallow water or on mud flats, often sweeping its bill from side to side in water as it seeks its crustacean and insect prey” informs Wikipedia.

All proceeds of the artworks created by Allison and a flock of well-known Canadians will benefit kidney research in Canada – so, please, fly to the auction when it hatches this October 29 and put down your bills in support of this worthy cause. Thank you :)

Word from the Foundation's facebook post: 

#BrushofHope2017 is pleased to have received a painting from the talented singer/songwriter, Allison Crowe! The eBay auction will be held from October 29th, 12 p.m. to November 8th 12 p.m. EST On ebay.ca: Search for "Brush for Hope" All proceeds from the auction are donated to The Kidney Foundation of Canada. #newfoundland #music #brushofhope #allisoncrowe #canadian #artist #art #arte

Fur Release

Travel can broaden one’s perspectives. It can also warm one’s ears.

Musician Dave Baird journeyed recently from his home-base on Canada’s Pacific coast to rehearse and tour with Allison Crowe and Band in Newfoundland. While on the east coast, bassist Dave discovered what fashionable folks of St. John’s, NL are wearing this season.

Hobbes.

To purraphrase Dr. Seuss: “The Cat IS the Hat”.

Foto: Keelan Purchase