Home…of sorts…

Time in station 30+ Days

Prospects…many.

Plans…lots and none.

I sat down to write today in between internet binges of Reddit and Facebook. I’ll lose hours sitting there. Write for a bit, get a verse out then its gone. Two great ideas today though.

I’m not sure whats next. I really don’t know how to move forward right now. But I got some ideas and need to pick one.

I’m really excited to annoucnce the initial dates for my “Home For Festivus Tour” this coming December and January.

I will be criss-crossing Canada again, coming to play songs for you. Want to see me, let me know!  I’ll do my best to come out to your town. Let me know here.

Home For Festivus is shaping up to be a great adventure and I’ll be playing with some great friends including Saskatchewan’s own Tyler Gilbert as well as my buddy Ryan McAllister plus many others.

More dates are coming so join the Facebook Event to stay tuned and I’ll see you on the road.

Tour dates below.

- Kirby

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“Its A Festivus Miracle!”  Home For Festivus Tour Dates Announced

Its more than poles and airing of grievances. Its about who you get to do it with. That’s the Festivus Miracle.

And Hamilton, Ontario’s Kirby knows that. Thats why this December he’s taking his stories and songs across Canada on a feat of strength. With just an acoustic guitar a Ford Focus Station Wagon and songs to share, you to can celebrate this wonderful Festivus and share in all the stories he encounters along the way.

Come home with Kirby, Home For Festivus.

Kirby: Home For Festivus Tour

Fri Dec 07 – Legal, AB – House Show

Sat Dec 08 – Red Deer – Velvet Olive

Tue Dec 11 – Medicine Hat, AB – The Silver Buckle

Wed Dec 12 – Regina, SK – Creative City Center
w. Tyler Gilbert

Thu Dec 13 – Brandon, MB – Lady Of The Lake

Sun Dec 16 – Wabigoon, ON – Pappy’s Cafe

Sat Dec 22 – Hamilton, ON – TBA

Thu Dec 27 – Toronto, ON – Cameron House
w. Ryan McAllister & Kate Todd

Sun Dec 30 – Brantford, ON – Station Coffee House

Tue Jan 08 – Saskatoon, SK – House Show

Wed Jan 09 – Twinbutte, AB – TBA

Fri Jan 11 – Pincher Creek, AB – Castle Mountain Resort

Sat Jan 12 – Edmonton, AB – Black Dog Matinee

More Dates Coming!

Want to see Kirby? Let him know here.

Kirby is a singer/songwriter, touring artist and lover of nouns from Hamilton, ON. Canada. His latest release, Into The Dark, a full sonic departure from barren sound of voice and guitar, offers a unique glimpse into the soul of a man who’s spent time alone on the road.

Listen To It Here

More About Kirby

Well…I had pulled it. I just thought it wasn’t that good and it didn’t have that many hits anyway…so who’d miss it right?

Well to my surprise, someone did. Wendy did.

Opening my facebook one day, I saw this message and was more than happy to redo it:

Hope you guys like it.

Cheers
Kirby

I had all these great ideas to write about. Then they left me.

Sleeping in your car isn’t all that uncomfortable. Minus the fact you have to sleep in a ball. Even for someone of my stature, its still rather an odd sleeping position.

I was thinking this as I woke up in yet another WalMart parking lot. Rolling into Brandon, MB last night in the wee hours of the morning. I wonder if people think I’m a dead body. Who knows?

Its been a long few days of driving. A wonderful night of partying in Thunder Bay at Black Pirates and catching up with some friends. Finally hitting the prairies yesterday. Even in the blackness you can see the flat. And I love it.

Something so beautiful about being able to see all around you for miles. Seeing Winnipeg’s lights rolling in on you from so far out. Its like flying on the ground. Not to mention prairie girls, could very well be some of the most attractive in the entire world. If not, at least in Canada.

I love the prairies.

I don’t think I’m ever ready for anything.

I ended up leaving for Ft St John a day late. Packing, always took longer, but not for the reasons that one would think, I just threw away so much crap…I always do when I move, just got rid of the waste, rid of the burden of crap. Such a good overlay for how I feel about moving.

Its not to say the people, but just the ridding myself of myself at this place in my life, changing something, anything about my surroundings.

Its also the first time I’ve driven out west without being on tour. “Are you touring out there?” people would ask. “Nope, just driving.” I’d reply. It was different, if nothing else. In hindsight it would have been nice to play but I’m playing it by ear as it were.

Making all the stops I want to make…though to be honest, I’m always one for the destination, not the journey. The journey comes regardless, you just keep you’re eyes open for it.

I like making time. Or at least having a set goal to make time. And its so arbitrary, I have no urgent need to be any place. My work up in FSJ is awaiting my arrival. Just winging it out there for now and feeling fine about it.

I want to say its this crazy adventure, I want it to feel that way too. But the simple fact, for me at least, is though its a beautiful country, this is the same drive I’ve done a bunch of times. It IS a good drive, a fun experience. But even as a child, the ball pit at Chuck E Cheese became mundane after a while. And so too, this grand adventure of travelling across Canada, has just become another thing I do.

It does make for a good time think. To get myself back to a place where I can be me in my own space. After a few hours it sets in, the road wobbles as the highway daze sets in, not distracted but so focused it becomes alive. I think about whats has led me here, where I think I should be or at least someone given my upbringing should be.

“I should have a house and family” I think… “At the very least some kind of career.” Completely disregarding this music thing I’ve been doing for the last five years, 10 tours and hundreds of shows.

But the thing about that…the thing about this music. I realized this morning as I woke up from the ball like caccoon across my passenger and driver seat in a WalMart parking lot, is that I resent my music. My art, my career. I let things get so stale, so mundane that by my own hand, I created this resentment for something I love. And I do love it.

Whenever I’m in the studio, I love it, when I’m performing and its good I love it. But when you have friends, producers or players working on stuff with you and you begin to wonder why the fuck they like your shitty music, or that  maybe they’re just being empathetic to your feeble attempt to create, somethings amiss in your brain.

I have an idea of what got me to this odd place….a lack of setting goals, a lack of dreams beyond that of just touring. I lack of foresight for not just my career but myself. My life.

Tour, Music, Life has been a motto of mine for the last five years. I creed that represents the things I love and live for. Traveling, playing/writing music, sharing that with people to help define purpose in my own life and possibly, just maybe, help people with theirs.

Can being a musician change the world? Maybe not, but maybe it helps people on some tiny level, some empathetic level to know that you and me arent the only ones that feel this, or think that or want this. We relish empathy as humans. We crave it.

I want my life to mean something through the things I do. Not just a paycheque. I need purpose and these three words worked to help define. However, over the past year, I’ve forgotten what that meant. Forgot what I want out of this life and the opportunities I have available within it. Forgot or lost the purpose of why I love music and what it does for me.

I am so goddamned lucky to have the life I have, the friends and family I have, the safety I have. I need to be do something more with it, something bigger and more meaningful than the nothing I feel like I have been doing.

I can do better is all I’m saying.

Live Performance Of ‘Let Me Up’

Interview w. Steel City Scene

As many of you have heard, I have accepted a job up in Ft. St. John, British Columbia at Northern Groove Magazine, a wonderful arts and culture publication that covers the North Peace Region and I head out on August 26th.

Yowza…so soon!

There have been many questions as to why I am doing this. But the conversation typically goes like this:

Friend: Why do you hate Hamilton?

Kirby: WHAT?! Oh, Jesus..no. No I don’t hate the city. How could I? I got my start here. I just, I got this job offer and…

Friend: And so you’re leaving? JUST LIKE THAT?

Kirby: Well, yeah but its not like I hate Hamilt…

Friend: So why are you leaving then? Hamilton is awesome….

Kirby: It is awesome, I love being a part of this city, I just got this chance to do something different and…

Friend: Well, we’ll miss you, want a beer?

Kirby: Um…yeah, sure. Thanks.

No, it doesn’t mean I won’t be making music or touring anymore, hopefully quite the opposite and a great opportunity to be part of the wonderful artistic community of Ft. St. John.

A huge thank you to the Hamilton music scene and all of the friends and musicians I’ve met over the last 4 – 5 years. I’m very excited to start something new but I will miss all the good times in the Hammer. The city and the people have truly made me what I am as an artist now, providing a place to develop, learn and proudly call home when out on the road.

I will miss all of my friends, far too many to name, but I will be back through Steeltown on tour in the near future.

If you feel like catching me live one last time or just saying farewell. I will be playing at Gallaghers on Aug 23rd from 10:30pm – 2am.

Thank you all again and thanks to Hamilton, Ontario for being an amazing place to be an artist.

Cheers
Kirby

Bobby McFerrin hacks your brain with music:

***
Originally posted on Ted.com

FINDASPRING.com provides links to frresh water springs all across the globe. 

“When I was 6 or 7, my grandfather and I used to go to a fresh water spring to fill up two massive jugs of water. Fresh, drinkable water, available all year. Available for all who made the trek. No tax, no utility, no fee.

I liked the idea of finding fresh water springs like those when I was young and filling up a reuseable jug of water to have while on the road last year sounded great. Even with all the bottling companies buying up sources, there still should be, has to be free public ones across the country. But where would I find these springs?

Not until recently my friend Dan told me about www.FINDASPRING.com. A fantastic resource that provides links to fresh water spring sources…ALL…ACROSS..THE GLOBE!

Even better,  you get detailed reports on the condition of the springs, (bacteria level, any possible contaminants, etc) and user comments and reviews.

Sadly there are no listings at the moment for springs in Saskatchewan or Manitoba, but I’m sure you kind prairie folk could toss in the location of a few springs in your wonderfuil provinces.
You can submit springs here http://www.findaspring.com/submit-a-spring/

I’m not saying, “I’m never buying a bottled water again.” But its nice to know that given the option, we are still able to go fill up our own jugs of fresh water. So if you want to save your self some money and the planet some plastic waste this summer, go Find A Spring!

Web | http://www.findaspring.com

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/findaspring