Feist

In a shared-border "newsyness" coincidence, Feist appeared on the Rick Mercer Report and the Stephen Colbert Christmas Special within one week of each other.



Stephen Colbert is to Rick Mercer's humble pie, what Mercer is to Colbert's raging eagle-ego. If you're worried that correlative doesn't make sense, so am I. I'm just trying to say that they are related, if even inversely. If the two were characters in a science fiction movie, one man couldn't exist without the other. Shared lifeblood? Perhaps. Except they've probably never met.



I'm not even sure if their acquaintance matters to the plot of my made-up film; all I know is that they are both funny and both like to talk to Americans. They both deliver the truth-ish. They both seem tall.



Rick Mercer first came to note in Canada with a series of short videos entitled, Talking to Americans. I have embedded a clip below. It is really insanely funny, regardless of nationhood. Do not watch at work! Unless you can stifle laughter and stare stone-faced as the screen, because the laugh-cough-cough-cough thing never works. [Actually, check out this site Vanishd.com. It helps you conceal your desktop so it looks like you're word processing, even when you're not.]



Rick also recently joined Leslie on tour to learn how to be a roadie. This just aired a few days ago. Here's the link (scroll down the right side to find RMR: Feist). Favourite answer from Leslie, after Rick Mercer asks her how many people have downloaded 1234 (Muppet version) from the Internet: "Well, since at birth, children are now able to use the Internet, the number is, well, uncountable".



As for Mr. Colbert, Feist joined his motley crew (Elvis Costello, John Legend, Toby Keith, Jon Stewart, a bear, and others) to summon the yuletide. Leslie was a nail-filing, call center angel. She was great. Unfortunately, this video may not run on screens outside of the U.S. (perhaps we need Mercer to talk to a few more Americans), but give it a try.

In T-minus 111-ish minutes, depending where you live, Feist is joining Stephen Colbert to deliver his special Christmas message.



In the photo attached (above or below, I haven't decided), you'll see SC wearing a red sweater with the crest of a green cee peaking from behind his folded arms. Feist gave Stephen this sweater, and he immediately returned the gesture with an identical red sweater (save an "F" for the "C").



The portrait is from a recent interview in USA Today, one which is not yet online: "I'm so excited that our special is not political in any way because it's completely in keeping with the spirit of the show and yet completely different than what we do at the show," Colbert says. "Everybody's going to want a break from politics. I think we've had a surfeit. That's why I'm so excited about people being able to see this...."He wanted it to be something that was kind of sweet"...



The special features many others, like Elvis Costello (in a duet with Stephen), Toby Keith, John Stewart and others. I'm going to get ready for the show now.

On November 25th—just in time for November 26th—the DELUXE EDITION of Feist's album THE REMINDER will be coming to stores (real and imagined). It won't be shelved (and by this I mean placed on shelves, not stored away) until December 2nd, but the digital version will be available in the 11th month, on the 25th day (as above).

THE REMINDER: DELUXE EDITION features remixes and duets (including Islands In The Stream with Constantines' Bry Webb), as well as a second enhanced CD with exclusive video material (think Honey, Honey). If you already own THE REMINDER, the nine tracks featured on the second disc will be available digitally as THE REMINDER: BONUS CONTENT. This will go on sale separately as a digital download at  www.galleryac.com

The riddle solved, many came to The Cameron House a few days ago to see Feist play a secret part. What none of us knew—except for she and hers—is the show was more mysterious than simple ciphers. The ghost of Winston Churchill stopped by, even, and he brusquely said, "[This show] is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."



As you can see from the photos attached, a shadow of the former Feist played her set inside a paper-stage lantern. The tiny room filled with the passing darkness of cast figures and mysterious light, until a hole was cut in the paper screen by the impish pictured scissors. Out came little hands, passing little lanterns (one after another), until the room was filled with flickering light. These same hands, with more hands, slowly tore down the paper wall and revealed all the mischief-makers huddled on the stage (including musician Afie Jurvanen, shadow-boxer Clea Minaker and tap-dancer Dianne Montgomery).



If you weren't one of the few who came to sit in the audience, Anthony Seck and George Vale each shot tonnes of footage (the second photo of scissor-hands is credited to both these men). I imagine their respective films will show up somewhere soon, in a manner less roundabout than all the stories above.

In Toronto, out came a sign

Of wood, nails, it wasn't fine



Last night, it said there's been a heist

A stage was took, stolen by Feist



A crowd arrived, a line-up made

It might be time for another raid



A Queen still true, the King a spouse

In Came Ron, a real full House



A lady watches, ten times an ant

If after eight: late, late, pant, pant

Cool and the gang just sent this amazing photo of Feist standing exactly where she stood during her live performance at the Junos in Winnipeg a few years ago, the place where wires crossed and feedback fed. You can't tell in this image—partly because it's so small, and partly because I'm making it up—but Feist is burning a bundle of sage to clear the demons.



In the continued spirit and spirits of Winnipeg, Feist inadvertently summoned an after-party by frequently referring to the club The Pyramid during her show. I think she was just feeling Egyptian, not cryptoglyphic, and she apologizes to the rumoured line-up around the block.

There's a new video in town: a gang-up of lights, puppets and images courtesy of the Old Trout Puppet Workshop in Calgary (Feist's old stampede-ing grounds). Anthony Seck is the director.



Feist followed the Old Trouts during the summer she was 18, learning to walk on stilts and mix latex, after being stunned by their play, "The Death of Benvenuto Cellini".



Anthony also produced and edited the first (and French) Mushaboom video and One Evening, and made many beautiful little films with Leslie under the title "Webisodes". A secret no longer, the video below marks their 5th year of project-ing.

I have borrowed a picture of the Feist tour from Pitchfork Media. The dates are going down like sugared figs, the reviews are sweet too(th). The food bank supplies have been arriving in piles and pounds, with donations tallying high in the meter beside.

The band has sharpened their road map skills from not just driving, nor the sun alone, but from the beating heart of survival. Feist fed them into the woods for an orienteering expedition and I have a feeling she arrived back at camp first. Those Feists are wily and good with a compass.

Are you good with directions? If so, you could head due South to unearth a review from the Edmonton Journal. You'll have to jump with a click, first, to get beneath the fold.

The results are in from the Feist Food Drive in Penticton, and we are delighted to announce that more than 600 pounds of food were collected! Incredible. More news to follow as the Drive drives east.