Sadie's Abuse Awareness Event

So Sadie's Second Annual Abuse Awareness Event was on the weekend, in Hamilton. As with last year, I performed folk/acoustic rock songs with Sadie (Lindsay Miller) and her friends/family, while many others close to her raised awareness to people about the prevalence of child abuse, and what to do about it.

This time, we had an additional benefit in that (another) one of Lindsay's friends is a YouTube podcaster, and she did a live show from her laptop as we were busking. Her YouTube channel, for those who are interested, is www.youtube.com/ravenwolfgang1969.

As for my part in it, I was the second musician to play, after Lindz's brother Robert. I played every song of my set, as well as a few extras that I'd pulled out of my hat when it got quiet, and I joined in -- or tried to -- on some of the Sadie songs. While I carried most of my songs alone this time -- due to many of them being either originals or simply a bit obscure -- a definite highlight was being joined on harmonies by Lindz, Rob Barnes, and Haley Arnott on "What I'm Looking For" and "Behind Blue Eyes" (especially since they just heard what I was playing and jumped in! ).

So if anyone's wondering, here's what else I played (and recordings of most of these, can be found on my "band" page, www.reverbnation.com/sonicsnafu).

1. "All Along The Watchtower" (Bob Dylan cover, made most famous by Hendrix, and thought by Rob to be a Nirvana song, haha)
2. "Hammer To Fall" (Queen cover)
3. "Do You Know?" (original, written in part for last year's event, because of some friends of mine having been beaten by friends/loved ones recently)
4. "Friends Without Benefits" (original, written about a complicated friendship that was emotionally abusive)
5. "(I Still Haven't Found) What I'm Looking For" (U2 cover)
6. "Behind Blue Eyes" (Who cover, which was very well received when I played it last year)
7. "The House of the Rising Sun" (traditional folk song, again a popular part of my set)
8. "Lost In Time" (instrumental original -- filler as Sadie readied for her set)
9. "Woe, Canada" (original -- played instrumentally, given the context of the event)
10. "Nights in White Satin" (Moody Blues cover -- just as ignored this year, as last, lol).

Anyway, even though it was quiet for some stretches, and it wasn't the best weather we had, by all accounts we did get some word out. I truly cannot say enough about Lindsay's courage and dedication, as well as that of her friends, family and other volunteers -- many of whom have been assaulted at one point or another. Frankly, I can get traumatized enough just going through a bad break-up, so how these people manage to get themselves back together -- AND make something positive out of such horrible events -- is incredibly inspiring. Hopefully that planted a good seed.