Grateful We're Not Dead

A Country Party Band with a wicked sense of humour and a social conscience

Down Memory Lane

By

As I get older I spend more time looking back over material I’ve posted on the ‘Net and reminiscing. Sometimes I come across things I’d totally forgotten about, some in the category of “Hmmm, why did I post that?” or “Now that’s hilarious”, etc. This week I’ve been looking back over Grateful We’re Not Dead blogs, videos, songs, pictures, etc. and I ran across a couple interviews from 2009. The band was just 6 years old then.

Here’s the memory I retrieved:

Grateful We’re Not Dead was interviewed by CBC Reporter Julie Ireton on November 9, 2008. The interview was aired on January 5, 2009 on Adrian Harewood’s All In A Day. Much to our surprise, following that broadcast, Julie contacted us to say that Alan Neil wanted to use Don’s “Over Sixty Blues” on Bandwidth, his show out of Toronto. He was preparing one with the theme Blues You Can Use.

Now we figured at most a portion of the song might be played during the show. Imagine our surprise when we heard Alan and Julie doing an introduction of the band including some of the original interview and a verse from a second Grateful We’re Not Dead song written by Don, “At Least Once Every Minute”. I guess we can claim those two appearances on CBC Radio One as our Fifteen Minutes Of Fame.

BTW, our original blog (2007-2013) was located on BlogSpot at Grateful We’re Not Dead

Warning: For anyone confused by the term Premature Kojakulation, google “Kojak” and “Telly Savalas”. 😀

Have a listen:

Seasons Greetings 2017

By

Wow! It seems like a year since I’ve been here. Well I’ll be damned… it’s almost 19 months since I written on this blog.

In my defence, it’s been a busy year for the band. Thirty-three bookings for the band, some medical issues, vacations, etc. But I’ll get onto that next week when I do a year-end wrap-up.

For the time being, on behalf of Grateful We’re Not Dead, I’d like to wish everyone Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and send you off with a little seasonal music.

Feelin’ Good

By

On April 26, Grateful We’re Not Dead entertained at the OVACC (Ottawa Valley Aid For Chernobyl Children) Annual Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser. This had to be at least the third year that we’ve been able to contribute our time and music to this worthwhile event. The dinner was held, as usual, in the Community Hall at Pierces Corners. To make the night even more special, after 11 years, Grateful We’re Not Dead finally managed to get its name up in lights.
GWND name in lights

We also enjoyed the local talent and would like to thank Gracie for her fiddle playing, Valerie for her singing, and the little girl who step danced without the benefit of music. You all were great.

As most of you are aware Grateful We’re Not Dead entertains for free for charities, fundraisers, peace events, etc. For private events we require that a significant donation be made to a charity. Sometimes, the organization or group prefers to give the money directly to the band and in those cases we simply bank the money until we have enough to make it worthwhile donating it. As a result of the funds contributed over the last year, Grateful We’re Not Dead had the pleasure of handing OVACC a cheque for $1,000. It will be used to help bring 5 children from Chernobyl to Canada for the Summer.
GWND OVACC Donation 2014

We’d like to give a big Thank You to those who provided the money to make up this donation.

This is the type of activity that keeps Grateful We’re Not Dead feelin’ good and hopefully, we’ll keep doing it as long as we can still pick up our instruments.

Hope to see you at a gig in the future.

Grateful We’re Not Dead
Don, Gord, Bruce and Al

Where Ya Been, Eh?

By

Grateful We're Not Dead

Wow!!! It’s been over a year since I added anything new to the Grateful We’re Not Dead official website. It’s not that we haven’t been out and about entertaining the masses. It’s just that it’s much easier to keep the fans informed of our comings and goings through the Grateful We’re Not Dead Facebook Fan Page.

Even if you don’t have a Facebook account, you’ll still be able to read the posts on the page. However, if you do have a Facebook account, we’d really like you to click the Like button on the Fan Page.

As of this writing (August 26, 2013) we have 239 Likes from all over the globe. Now granted, that’s not many when compared to a lot of other FB Fan Pages, but not too shabby for 3 old dogs and young Al, seeing as we tend to entertain in about an 150 Km radius of Ottawa.

We’ve also managed to get airplay on Rainbow FM 89.3 out of Warwick, Australia, thanks to Mal Kiely, one of the radio hosts. The show, Highway 15 Beyond, airs from midnight to 3 am on Monday mornings. Thanks to Mal, all the truck drivers and night workers around Queensland know Grateful We’re Not Dead’s Over Sixty Blues.

As most of you are aware, Grateful We’re Not Dead entertains for free with all funds being raised going directly to various charities. Gord was doing some quick figuring recently and it appears we’ve raised well over $100,000 for charity in the last 10 years. The largest amount (about $45,000 as of 2012) going to the Mufindi Orphans Project.

And speaking of 10 years, July 1st this year was the 10 anniversary of the band’s first official performance. On July 1, 2003 we entertained at the 40th Wedding Anniversary of Peter and Janet Van Zyl. Back then the band didn’t even have a name. On July 29, just past, we entertained for their 50th Wedding Anniversary at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa.

Well, that’s about it for now. Remember to check out our Grateful We’re Not Dead Facebook Fan Page. I don’t know if us old dogs can keep going for another 10 years but as long as Al can still load us and the equipment into the truck at the end of night I guess we’ll keep slugging away.

Y’all take care now.

Abusing The Fans

By

Last night, February 28, Grateful We’re Not Dead got together for their weekly practice/jam session even though we’re not sure it does any good – but at our ages we have to pick up the guitars frequently in order to remember which way to point the strings.

Zoom H2n

Zoom H2n Recorder

Don had purchased a Zoom H2n digital recorder earlier in the day and it was mounted on a tripod in the middle of the living room. After the recorder was turned on and the jam started, no one paid much attention to the device. After listening to the material we felt it was only appropriate to subject our tens and tens of fans to more aural abuse so we posted a few numbers on the Audio Files page. If you feel brave or are tone deaf then we suggest you hop over to the page and have a listen.

Hope your ears survive.
Grateful We’re Not Dead

P.S. from Don: The Zoom H2n digital recorder is an amazing little device and well worth consideration if you do any impromptu or field recording.

GWND On Google Plus

By

GWND - Orchard View - Boob Hats

GWND performing J.D. Wilson's "Boob Song"

Grateful We’re Not Dead, being a social networking savvy band, now has a page on Google+. If you have a Google+ account, please feel free to drop by the Grateful We’re Not Dead Google+ page for a visit and add us to one of your Circles. While you’re at it, you might as well check us out the Grateful We’re Not Dead Facebook page and click the Like button.

We’re Back In The Game

By

Grateful We're Not DeadGrateful We’re Not Dead has been maintaining a low profile so far this year. One of our own, Gord Breedyk, underwent some serious surgery and we’ve been waiting for him to recuperate. You can read about Gord’s ordeal at Prostate Cancer Personal Journey. This is certainly a worthwhile read for any man and for women concerned about what their partner may have to go through.

Gord has recuperated to the point where he can play his light weight travel guitar and of course, it didn’t effect his voice. The surgeon’s knife didn’t slip so we still don’t have anyone in the band who sounds like Emmylou Harris. As you can see by the calendar over there on the right, we’ve got a number of bookings for July. Actually, more than enough for us old guys. The gig in Seagrave entails a four hour drive and an overnight stay. We’ve been asked to play for this party for three years now and decided we better do it while we still can. It should be a lot of fun.

So that’s where we’ve been for the last few month’s. Not gone, just in-waiting.

Hope to see you somehwere soon.

Don

New Facebook Page

By

A few years ago I set up a Grateful We’re Not Dead Facebook group which managed to attract a fair number of members. This week I received a notification that Facebook would be archiving groups that used the old group format and suggested that we move to the new group format. After due consideration I decided to set up a Grateful We’re Not Dead Facebook page. That done, it took less than 3 hours to get the 25 Fans required to register gratefulwerenotdead as the username for the page.

The Boob Hats

If you feel so inclined and have a Facebook account, drop by Grateful We’re Not Dead Facebook page, click the Like button and become a Fan.

See you over there,

Don

Season’s Greetings

By

Seasons Greetings
Grateful We’re Not Dead would like to take a moment to wish everyone all the best for the festive season. We would also like to thank you for the support you have given the band’s fund raising efforts during 2010 for our favourite charitable causes. We hope to see you frequently during 2011.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
from Al, Don, Gord and Bruce
Grateful We’re Not Dead

P.S. Wouldn’t you like to find one of those boys wrapped up under your Christmas tree?

Updating The Blog… Finally!

By

The original Grateful We’re Not Dead blog was started in 2007 on Google’s Blogger platform and has been maintained there since then. Because of the number of photos and articles that have been posted concerning band over the last 3+ years, we intend to continue to use that as out main blog concerning the band’s activities. As a result, blog articles here will sometime point to the original blog for band updates.

This being said, check out Stop And Smell The Flowers, an update of Grateful We’re Not Dead activities for the past five months.

Wendy LeBlanc and Grateful We're Not Dead

Mayor Wendy LeBlanc and Grateful We're Not Dead