“A Christmas Story Of Sorts…”

On the afternoon of December 24th, 1991, I was making my way home to Bonnyville from a gig somewhere in Alberta.
Probably Barrhead.

It had been a long year and I was looking forward to getting home for the Holidays.

As I was passing through Edmonton I figured I’d stop and do some last minute shopping.

Downtown Edmonton was crazy with the hustle and bustle of other last minute shoppers like me.

It was snowing.

Elvis was having a Blue Christmas.
Bing, a White Christmas.
Marilyn Monroe was singing to her Santa Baby.
Or was it Eartha Kitt’s version?
I don’t remember now…

Anyway, it was complete Norman Rockwell and after a couple of hours, I had almost everything I’d come for.


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By sarcastech | December 25, 2019 | News, Stories | No Comments |

“Back Home For Christmas”

Maybe it’s just me, but when you listen to this album, you can tell it was snowing outside when we recorded it.
You can just feel that the roads were dodgy at best…

Anyway, I wrote “Gather ‘round the Christmas Tree” back in November of 2001.
Other than playing it in December every year, I had no idea what to do with it, so I set it aside.

Then, in December of 2004, while working as a Courier in Toronto, I wrote “Merry Xmas to My ExMiss”.

***see “A Courier’s Blues (Another Christmas Story of Sorts..)***

Six years would pass before I wrote another Christmas song.

It was written on a “Snow Day” in Nashville.
Snow had been forecast the night before and so school was canceled due to “Potential Inclement Weather”.
The next morning, there might have been an inch of snow on the ground.

Ruby was so excited that she put on her snowsuit and went in the front yard and rolled around.

I was more concerned about her getting grass stains on her snowsuit than anything else…

“Hey Ruby, try to catch a snowflake on yer tongue!!!”
“I will, Daddy! Mmmm yummy!!! Do they get this much snow in Canada, Daddy?”
“Yeah, they sure do, Ruby…”

She started singing “Oh the weather outside is frightful…”

I’ll never ever forget the look on her face…
Her red snowsuit swishing as she made snow angels.

I could live in that moment forever.

“One day this Christmas Day will be one from long ago,
and I’ll remember Ruby making angels in the snow…”

Mike Plume
December 23, 2019.

 

By Mike Plume | December 24, 2019 | Uncategorised | No Comments |

“New MPB Album – Spring 2020”

These two guitars first met in September of 1994.

Over the years, they’ve probably played over 1000 shows together.

Towns like, Austin, Albany, Abilene, Atlanta, Amsterdam, Asbury Park, Boston, Baltimore, Bend, Bonnyville, Calgary, Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, Dawson City, Edmonton, Edinburg, Fargo, Galway, Grand Forks, Jasper, Kingston, Kansas City, London Ontario, London England, Minneapolis, Madison, Miami, Nashville, North Hampton, New York City, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Portland, Rochester, Seattle, Saskatoon, Santa Cruz, Toronto, Tampa, Thunder Bay, Victoria, Wakefield, Winnipeg and Yellowknife, to name a few…


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By Mike Plume | November 20, 2019 | New Album, News | No Comments |

“If God Gives You Melons…”

I’ve always been a voracious reader. 
But it can take me a year to read a book.

The fact is, I started to get left behind in Grade 5.
By the time I hit Grade 7, I couldn’t keep up.

Things just snowballed from there.

I wasn’t a bad kid.
By and large, I think the teachers liked me.

I just sat at the back of the classroom and didn’t say a word.

The truth is, I never got much better than 50% on any test in high school.
I think the highest mark I ever got in high school was a 62.

There was just no way that I could keep up with the workload.

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By Mike Plume | October 18, 2019 | Stories | 1 Comment |

“One Last Round Before The Snow…”

Late October 1998.
Edmonton.

There might’ve been 6 cars in the parking lot, as I pulled into 7 Oaks for one last round of golf.

Summer had long since wound down,
and Fall was hanging on for dear life.

It was raining.
It was cold.
The wind was roaring down from the north.

I grabbed my clubs and walked to the clubhouse.

The weather was miserable at best.

But, at least, there wasn’t any snow on the ground.

Not yet, anyway…

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By Mike Plume | October 14, 2019 | Stories | No Comments |

“9/11”

Everyone has their “September 11th” story.
Here’s mine…

“9/11”

After 3 years and 3 months, (and somewhere around 700+ shows), the “Song and Dance, Man” tour ended on November 18th, 2000 at the Blacksheep in Wakefield, Quebec.

The next day we drove to the Tragically Hip’s studio in Bath, Ontario to begin work on the follow-up album to be called “Fools For The Radio”.

By mid-January 2001, recording was completed.

To celebrate, I quit smoking.

A great idea and not one of my better ideas at the same time…

Two days later, we hopped on a plane and flew to Amsterdam for a six-week tour of Holland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, England and Ireland.

I started smoking again.

On March 10th, we flew back to Tennessee.

I quit smoking again on March 11, 2001.

Five days later, we drove to Boston for a Saint Patrick’s Day gig.

Serious.
Nicotine.
Withdrawal.

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By Mike Plume | September 12, 2019 | Stories | 2 Comments |

“The Four Hosers of The Apocalypse”

The sun was already on the rise, as we rolled into Edmonton at 5AM.

My brother, Chris, was behind the wheel.
I was riding shotgun.
Everyone else was asleep.

It was almost like the olden days.

Five hours earlier, Dave, Derek, Ernie and I finished our first full show in Alberta in almost 20 years.

It was the first time we were all in the same room since we’d recorded “8:30 Newfoundland”, back in May of 2008.

But it felt like a meal ago.

Earlier that day, as we drove to Calgary, true to form, we drove straight into a storm cell.
It was almost Biblical.
It seemed like “End Times” were upon us.

We laughed.

“The Four Hosers of the Apocalypse” ride again!

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By Mike Plume | June 19, 2019 | Live Gigs, News, Stories | 5 Comments |

By Request… “Kept on Dancing”

Yeah man, so anyway, here’s what I’d like to do.
Every week or so, I’ll take requests to record a song of mine.
Just me and my guitar.
I’ll give the back story of how, when, why and where I wrote the song.
Who knows?
It might be fun.

I’ll go first.

“Kept on Dancing”

This wasn’t the first song that I wrote.
It wasn’t even the first song that I wrote that ended up on my first album.
But it was the first song that I wrote, where I thought, “Maybe I can do this…”

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By Mike Plume | February 20, 2019 | Songs, Stories | 2 Comments |