Crowd From Up the Hill

Here's an opening full track from our latest cd Home, Boys! called Crowd From Up the Hill. It's a song about friends from Pasadena Newfoundland who like to get together every now and then and sing all the Irish songs they know....and right till the break of day (then have a hearty breakfast). Yet many of them have never been to Ireland!
So to Bill on the whistle, Colin on the mandolin, Mike on the guitar and Milton on the bodhran, a warm hello! Ed Guy and myself love this song .....and the photos accompanying the song, tell the tale of a fine group of people in Pasadena as well as our trio, The Sharecroppers, celebrating its 24th year this summer 2012. I hope there's a crowd in every community or cove in Newfoundland that loves to sing too! Hey, I know there is!
Check this you tube I did of our song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e4hrDImsLM

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Enjoy!!!! Mike of The Sharecroppers (of Newfoundland)

Some Shockin' Sad - Lloyd Candow, my friend, passes

I heard the sad news that Mr Lloyd Candow died on Friday Dec 3rd,2010. But happily he did not die alone but at the Western Memorial Hospital in Corner Brook with his son Chris by his bedside. That was always my worry, ...that this witty humorous old gentleman would die alone in his cabin in Pasadena. I thank God he didn't.

Lloyd Candow will always be remembered by many as the man who wrote the Newfoundland song "Some Shockin' Good". It's a cute song about the grandkids from "Upalong" travelling back home to stay with their grandparents and all the neat stuff they do back home in Newfoundland...which of course is all "Some shockin good!"

But to me Lloyd will be remembered as the man I used to visit often in his little recluse cabin in the woods. I enjoyed his wit, his humour, his outlook on life, and his inventions. He was truly an entrepreneur who made up games that should have been marketed. He was also a creator and collector of witty sayings and,... after telling him many times that he should write a book,... he did!

Lloyd Candow complied a 139 pages of witty sayings,... all one finger pecked on a computer his son Chris gave him as a way to pass the time. He made a special friend named June in Australia through an internet chatroom and both of them put together an entire manuscript...cover and all...and published it in Calgary since a local publishing firm in Corner Brook asked too high a price. The book was called: "A Collection of Some Shockin' Good Smiles - For Seniors!" and it was a hit. Some stuff was pretty risque, but when I mentioned that to Lloyd his response to me was, "Hey you young pup...what are you reading that for? It's for Seniors!"

I'm not sure where Lloyd got them but he said to me one day, "Mike, I'm reading a book about anti-gravity and I just can't put it down." Well Lloyd's book is like that......you just keep turning and turning the pages with the big print for Seniors and smiling.

I'm not sure when Lloyd was born, but this octogenarian was at least 84 and was born in a part of Corner Brook, Newfoundland, called Georgetown, Bay of Islands. His good friend and buddy since youth, Dr. Charlie O'Connell, said this of Lloyd: "Lloyd Candow is a true son of Newfoundland. He loves the people, the songs, the music and the culture that makes this island what it is. I am some shockin' lucky to be among his friends."

I too was happy to be his friend who got to know him, help him, and laugh with him. I'm sure if Lloyd could still be around, he'd be singing his own words from his famous song,

"A grand old place to visit, we'd stay here if we could,

It's nice to live where everything is some shockin' good."

Lloyd, may you rest in Peace.

My sincere condolences to his son Chris and all his other family members and friends!

Grand Bruit, Newfoundland, I'll miss you!

I had only been to Grand Bruit once in my life and now it is gone forever.

Yes, this little community on Newfoundland's South coast is now resettled and exists no more. What I feel bad about is that of all the communities I have visited in Newfoundland, I thought this little place was the best. It had character, beauty, history, peace, solitude, and a small population. But what made it picture perfect was how it looked from from Cindy Billard's house and cabins on the hill. You could see everything and walk from one end to the other in about 12 minutes. See the painting above next to the arial shot? No roads, no cars....yet the paths were paved. It had won the Tidy Town Award as each property was kept wonderful and clean. The old merchant's house just across a small causeway was old, slanted
and immense. There's definitely history and the Newfoundland way of life there for sure!

I hope somehow I can return to this community. If anyone knows how, please let me know as there is no ferry service there now.

Grand Bruit...a place of no roads, no pollution,... and now - no people. Sad indeed.

Ben Sands, a wonderful singer from Ireland

Whenever I look at the picture above, I smile. Here is Kathy, the love of my life, Ben Sands, and me sitting at the table, happy as can be. We were over at LLoyd Hollets house for a meal with Ben and his lovely wife. Ben promised to us that evening that he would sing a song off his cd that we love called Lady Take your Time. It's a beautiful song that means so much to us....a song about decision making....and a decision we made for ourselves and our future. And I'm glad Kathy and I did. Ben may or may not be aware, but his song drove home the fact of being happy and being together.

So Ben sang the song in Woody Point that special evening and we ended up buying a house in Woody Point that summer. It's all connected.

Ben is a wonderful man who told me that sometimes the musician is also the listener, the doctor, the therapist, the "friend" to many. I know what he means. But it's good to have poets who are good singers and "friends" to listeners like us.

If you like good music and well written lyrics, I suggest you try a cd by Ben Sands. He's at www.bensands.com
You'll love him.

A cinquain on "Wine"

Well, actually I am waiting for a cinquain on wine. This other Mike Madigan I bumped into on the blog site lives in California and writes about his love for wine. So I recently wrote him this:

Hi Mike,
I was wondering who are your readers. I was once in a class in the 70s where a prof taught us a poetry form called the Cinquain. Seemed pretty elementary, I thought. He basically said it was five lines, each line increasing by one word until you reached the last line which was one word again. The method was first line - topic....using one word. Second line was two words describing topic. Third line was three words expressing an action of the topic. Fourth line...and most crucial line, was four words expressing an emotion about the topic. Then the fifth line, back to one word, was to be a synonym of the topic. Then the prof said to us, "Okay, try a cinquain...any topic will do." So I chose to write a cinquain about my younger sister Angela. I wrote this in class:
Angela
My sister
Growing up fast
Without my being there
Miss

The prof gave me an A+...and said the last line was especially good, as it served a double purpose.
So Mike Madigan, if you were to write a cinquain about "Wine", what would it look like?

So I am hoping this other Mike will write me about wine in cinquain form.

I read about former student Ryan Cleary today

I read today that a former student of mine, Ryan Cleary, has resigned from the NDP. Good for him. I've no doubt it was an eye opener for him (as he says) but I think journalism is his passion. In fact I think he can do more for Newfoundland politics with his pen than with his mouth. However his mouth is pretty darn good too.
I remember Ryan as a student at St Francis High School in Harbour Grace. Quite the thinker and in those days of one-finger typing and black ink stencils, I moderated our newspaper called "The Spindrift". Ryan was clever, a go getter, and just a smart kid. In fact he was more than just a smart kid...he was intelligent. I liked that about him. Years later when I read The Independent I enjoyed his articles and his ability to slice and dice and bring out the full flavour on the political scene. His keen eye and Johnathan Swift style of writing made me think. Journalism was and is his passion for sure!
As a teacher you hear lots of stories of former students and what they are doing these days. Some are opening mines and some are opening minds. Ryan Cleary has opened mine for a long time. I look forward to his next illuminating article.
Now, where in the old trunk did I put a copy of a 1977 Spindrift, I wonder?

Amazed at Let Them Be Kids

I'm in Woody Point today checking on my new house there near the lighthouse and dropped into the Post Office and Library to sign up. The wonderful librarian there told me all about the Let Them Be Kids project. I will not be able to attend their 25th special day of September they have in Trout River for the playground construction, but I offered three cds of our music (One Room School cd) (and our two latest ones) to sell and keep 100% of the sale. Hope folks will buy them for at least 10 dollars each.
Good luck to all who are making this playground a success and most of all to the kids...play often, play fair, and play well!
Cheers~~~Mike Madigan (box 56 Woody Point Bonne Bay Nfld A0K 1P0) mike_madigan@yahoo.com www.thesharecroppers.net