A Song a Day

putting up a song from the new album every day.

This is the lovely 'Lover Come Back to Me'



This slow interpretation was a reaction against the many versions of this song which are upbeat and bouncy, even though the words are totally desperately tragic. We took the first words of the song, 'The Sky Was Blue', as the title of the album - enigmatic, and kind of bittersweet.

you can always hear more from the album, and buy digital downloads of individual tracks at itunes.com, or pick up a physical version of the CD by emailing me or dropping by www.cdbaby.com

Back at the Ranch,

Just back from the London Fringe Festival - a really great time there. The show did most of what I hoped for it: that is, I was hoping that I was writing an exploration of Cabaret and Performance, and a lot of folks came back to me with the enthusiastic feedback that's what they got out of it. I'll drop the whole review from the Free Press into this blog - since, I think she caught a lot of the show.

"Bremner Duthie promises that miracles will happen as he opens his new show The Barker's Spiel at the London Fringe. He also offers a "side order of belief" and a "tiny sliver of hope."From carnival barker to Las Vegas performer to Berlin Cabaret singer, Duthie gives us the scoop on life as an entertainer. Everyone's looking to be entertained -- and Duthie serves up wares such as white-fingered monkeys and red velvet hats, juggling, singing and dancing….. but his best offering is his astute insight. After the shows are over and the crowds go home, Duthie tells us what it's really like, such as being sick in a hotel room, saying goodbye to an uptight loved one, never really being appreciated and then dying alone. Or what about this ending? You reach stardom, such as Louis Armstrong, and then are mourned by thousands. At Armstrong's funeral, we find out that Ella Fitzgerald, Governor Rockefeller, and Guy Lombardo were among the honourary pallbearers. He calls us neurotics, post-traumatics, introverts, extroverts, . . . ." And then slides into a little Cheap Trick with "Didn't I See You Crying." He sings in a whisper and then belts out a bar tune. He chastises; then caresses. He's sarcastic; then honest. A dreamer and a schemer….. He gets his laughs. He entertains."

She captures a lot of the show, but I feel like a whole chunk of what I was trying to do didn't make it over the footlights, so I'm heading back into the rehearsal hall with the piece to tighten it up and to see if I can make some the links and stories clearer.

London Festival

Fourth day now at the London Fringe Festival. A total delight to be doing new work for new audiences and being in this lovely town. Lisa and I were lucky enough to be billeted in a historic neighbourhood of the town filled with amazing mansions built of gleaming yellow brick. An absolute delight to be walking to and from the theatre past all these amazing buildings covered in ivy and surrounded by extravagant gardens.

We ended up in a wonderful theatre and the tech there fulfilled our every wish in terms of technical lighting and sound for the show. I can definitely say that the show looks amazing! I'll post some pics soon.

the audiences are great, the folk who run the Fringe are super folk, welcoming and interested in community and the well being of the performers. I've done other theatre fringes where you really felt like one more problem rolling into town that had to be dealt with (Hello Saskatoon Fringe!), but here it's like rolling into a friendly family. And I'm delighted to be doing a new piece. Its a thrill ride for me since I wrote it to include a bunch of stuff that challenges me constantly.

no press yet, but a few notes from the fringe patrons. I'll post one that describes the show a bit -

"During one segment of The Barker's Spiel, performer Bremner Duthie's character states 'I wish I had ten lives, but I only have one.' Yet over the course of this highly entertaining cabaret, Duthie manages not only to show us three of his lives but to expose many of our own. From Fairground barker, to Las Vegas Performer, to Berlin Cabaret singer, this show, though full of wonderfully performed musical numbers, is not a skip through the psychological park, so-to-speak. This is a cabaret full of 'sarcasm and criticism.' This is a cabaret about beginnings and endings. This is a cabaret about things that we would rather sometimes ignore.

The Barker's Spiel is a wonderful play. Bremner Duthie is a wonderful performer. Some of London has had the opportunity to see him perform before (at the Oh Solo Mo Festival a few seasons ago); there is no excuse for the rest of London to miss this high a calibre of theatre this time around!"
Thomas Keith

One show at the Ottawa Fringe Festival on the night of the 28th at the Saw Club at the Saw Gallery in the Arts Building downtown. 8:30pm

I'm Big in Japan

Well, last night I googled to see if the album's digital distribution had been set up yet by my distributor - the wonderful indie group cdbaby - and instead found this eye popping page.

bremner duthie

[ 前の作品 | 次の作品 ]
The Sky Was Blue
発売元：
曲リスト
トラック 試聴 購入 / 価格
01： Lover Come Back to Me
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
02： Again
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
03： Court and Spark
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
04： Chelsea Hotel No. 2
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
05： Secret Heart
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
06： Pale Blue Eyes
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
07： Some of These Days
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
08： Whisper Not
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
09： Angel Eyes
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
10： Love Me or Leave Me
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
11： Sweethearts On Parade
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
12： Heaven
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円
13： Court and Spark (Slight Return)
試聴 試聴
曲を購入
150円



I can't really describe how much ridiculous pleasure it gives me to see the first commercial appearance of the album be in Yen and Japanese (see the actual page here http://download.music.yahoo.co.jp/shop/ic/11/281856353-316831191 )

I know the price because on tour in Japan I only ever figured out a couple of letters, but the sign for Yen ( 円 ) was the obvious one to need to understand. To memorize it I thought of him as a shy little character with one foot turned in awkwardly. I still find him a cute, endearing little guy. The price for one track is about the price for the pair of Japanese socks I'm currently wearing (don't know if that has any existential meaning)

So, I'm now expecting the big phone call from Tokyo. Hopefully the album will go to #1 with the harajuku crowd so I can tour smokey bars filled with folk who look like this:




or this



or even this!




meanwhile the album is now up for sale in a more comprehensible format at itunes and directly from cdbaby (just click on the links to get there), and you can listen directly to all the tracks at Myspace. No physical discs yet... just the ethereal digital realm...