We sang songs around the ping-pong table this weekend at Mount Washington.

Today Jenny and I played and sang some lullabies for Heather and John’s baby boy Rowan.

I SPAMmed a the Tim Hortons coffee shop on the way to my studio after work today. Brought in the bass and asked if the employees would like a little music while they did their business. After I played for about 20 minutes, they said that this was the weirdest and coolest thing that had happened on one of their shifts yet. That works for me!

Just to explain the SPAM numbering system here; you’ll notice that the number of Spontaneous Acts of Music does not correspond to the number of acts that I have committed. That is because, thankfully, other people have taken this project on as well. My daily act that I am blogging about here is only part of what is going on, you could check in with the actual Spontaneous Acts of Music event page on Facebook. if you want to see what other people have been up to.

(Feb 9th) Spontaneous Act of Music #14: Later that day I also created some music on the ferry again. In the Sitka Cafe at the back of the 10:45 ferry to Nanaimo from Tsawwassen I played for late night commuters and some of my friends from the Landmark SELP class. I got to meet Chris, another bass player from Kelowna, who came over and chatted for the rest of the ride.

Spontaneous Act of Music #13: Was really looking forward to some public jamming with Katie Muldoon, who I first played music with when I was just 8 years old (blew my mind when I remembered that), but things fell through… so i took my bass and set up in the park at Hastings and Thurlow, right in the middle of this great big copper circle. Played for some confused but smiling downtowns-folk within sight of some Olympic security madness.

View Larger Map

Spontaneous Act of Music #12: I played for a class at UVic called “Creative Being” which explores the creative process and encourages students to unlock their own creativity. I played some walking lines, while the students came in to the lecture hall, then Jenny and I played a song before the class began. We also put a Spontaneous Acts of Music paper invitation on the overhead and invited them to join us. These students are being challenged to do a “creative act” each week and we hope they’ll join us. JOIN US!!!

I went and played for the visitors centre here on Gabriola this morning. That parking lot had never seen so much action.

Feb 6th, Today my partners in spontaneity Jenny Kingsley and Matt Bowes and I played Bluegrass on our neighbors front deck, then proceeded down to the beach just down from Matt’s place on Gabriola to play for the ocean, and any passers by.

#6 This one’s a bit of a stretch. I created a Spontaneous Act of Music (SPAM) on the little ferry to Gabriola Island. It didn’t really go so well. Keep in mind that this ferry is only 30 mins long.The idea was to start playing for the passengers in the ferry cabin, but when we got there it was quite like a tomb and the people looked VERY intent on their books and newspapers. I decided to move outside, but the bass was still warm from the car ride and the cold ocean wind hitting it outside made me think of my broken double bass at home and the horrible sound of cracking wood. I played a little tune which I’m pretty confident no-one heard but lots of people saw. Then I chickened out and got the bass packed up just in time to make the ferry landing.