About: Don’t miss this show show between country-noir / folk-country artists and old friends Rodney DeCroo + The Wise Blood and Carolyn Mark!
Rodney DeCroois a songwriter, poet and playwright. He has released 6 full-length albums, an album of poetry set to music (Allegheny), a book of poetry (Allegheny, BC) and a theatre production (Stupid Boy in an Ugly Town) that received critical acclaim at several Canadian fringe and writers festivals. DeCroo wrestles with regret, loss, aging, love, memory, death, art—always with his own ongoing recovery embedded in the background. DeCroo’s album and performances draw upon his greatest natural resource—his poetry.
A lot of my work- and the work of music writers/ journalists / bloggers who’ve been kind enough to write about it- focuses on the hardships I faced as a child, teen and early adult. Why that is isn’t a mystery. Intense situations and struggles are the stuff of drama. They push us past normal and safe where we feel in control into the painful and chaotic realm of trauma, but that’s also where beauty, transformation, love, mystery, compassion and profound connections can swoop in to reveal who we really are and what we’re really capable of. As Leonard Cohen sings:
“There is a crack, a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in.”
A mentor of mine who passed away ago a few years ago used to say to me “When I need to touch God Rodney I touch you.” He wasn’t referring to me specifically, he meant that reaching out to others, sometimes for help, sometimes to help was where he truly found himself over and over again.
While I had to deal with a lot of pain as a child and an adult, I’ve also been extremely fortunate. I’ve had many generous and gifted people come into my life to guide me. It’s crazy how lucky I’ve been. It’s like in Greek myths how the hero (or in my case the anti-hero) keeps getting helped by mysterious strangers (the gods in disguise) when he or she needs it most. A folksinger I know, Rick Keating, has a lyric in a song that says “I keep on getting saved.” Yep.
Rodney DecrooRebecca Blissett Photo
GONE
by Rodney DeCroo
My first apartment was a basement suite near 41st and Oak. The owner Craig, a drug dealer turned contractor after a five year stint in Okalla, rented cheaply to young men in trouble. I found the place through an ad on the wall in the Social Assistance office. The interview was in his kitchen.
“Come on!” he says “Have something to eat!” when Diane asked if I was hungry. I hadn’t eaten for two days after spending my money getting drunk at the Cobalt, but I told him “No, I don’t want anything”. “Listen,” he said “you’re not leaving this kitchen until you’ve had one of Diane’s sandwiches. So what’s it gonna be?” “Okay, sure.” “There you go! he shouted smacking the table. “Are you looking for work?” “Yes”. I’m looking for laborers. You want to work for me?” “Okay.”
As I ate the thick bread and rich meat and drank the dark coffee offered to me, I felt the hunger in my stomach, my unwashed clothes and my shaking hands as if for the first time. After he left me in the furnished suite, I stood with my back against the door looking at the room. I wondered who’d been here before me and why they were gone.
FYI… Rodney has two gigs coming up in Vancouver.
Check it out below.
MARCH 6 / House Concert @ Cliff’s House
Catch this intimate solo set from Rodney DeCroo, with support from The Minimalist Jug Band.
Time: Doors 1pm / Show 2-4pm Where: # 2-868 Cassiar Street East Van ( near PNE ) Cost: Suggested donation of $15. Ticket reservations are recommended by the host as seating is limited. Contact: kali@tonicrecords.com for reservation details. Drink: BYOB ( please drink responsibly ) Food: Tasty finger foods provided
Rodney DeCroo will be hosting and performing in the first event of a new monthly series, “A Circle in the Fire”, a songwriters-in-the-round evening. This evening will feature an eclectic mix of local folk songwriters + performers: Doug Andrews, Elise Hall-Meyer, and Caroline Allatt.
Rodney DeCroois a songwriter, poet and playwright. He has released 6 full-length albums, an album of poetry set to music (Allegheny), a book of poetry (Allegheny, BC) and a theatre production (Stupid Boy in an Ugly Town) that received critical acclaim at several Canadian fringe and writers festivals. DeCroo wrestles with regret, loss, aging, love, memory, death, art—always with his own ongoing recovery embedded in the background. DeCroo’s album and performances draw upon his greatest natural resource—his poetry.
