Finally, a Dominique Fricot Original

Hey,

So, i fell off the getting stuff done carriage and set up shop at procrastination station. My apologies. Sometimes i get depressed and don't want to do anything. And sometimes i feel like there is just too many things to do, and i can't do any of them.

i guess the last 3 or 4 months was a combination of both of those. i have been playing some shows though, and i figured i'd post some footage for y'all.

here's a relatively new song that i played at Trees Organic Coffee House last week. Famous for the best cheese cake in all of Vancouver. I had some. it was in fact delicious. this track is called, This could be.

Hope you fancy it

Dom

Steal Your Heart and Break Your Crown

My sister received Tom Petty's "Into the Great Wide Open" with her Columbia House 8 Free CD's package. When I was 9 years old my older sisters music was MY music. If I had brother's I probably would have listened to more Poison and Metallica. But i'm glad that Tom Petty and Wilson Phillips were among my first major influences.

Cover #3 Girl

Like most kids from my generation, or at least i assume this to be so, I got to know the Beatles through my parents playing their records, usually while my mother had us doing chores around the house. Born in 1948 my mother was just the right age to be a teenager while Beatlemania was hitting it's climax. The Beatles for her was a rebellion and a darn great method of learning english.

I don't think i ever heard this beatles song until much later though. Shortly after Shawn and I became good friends in high school, we decided to make a short road trip to Kelowna for Christmas shopping. The trip marks a funny point in the history of our friendship because there was an event that blew both of our minds that day. As was common in those days, we, Shawn especially, were discussing very intensely the girls we had been pining for at the time. At a certain point I voiced that i had the strangest feeling that we would be seeing the girl that Shawn had been talking about for the last hour or so. I couldn't give him a reason except that i'd just noticed quite often that the "speak of the devil" phenomenon seemed to have a consistency.

As history would have it as we opened the door to the mall in kelowna there walking towards us was Shawn's crush. Shawn was a bit frightened to say the least. It was like she had listened in to our whole conversation.

On that very same trip we played the Beatles' "Rubber Soul" and i became totally taken by the song 'Girl'. I've played it as a cover ever since.

Happy Father's Day-Harvest Moon

Here's Cover #2 of the Series.

Each performer in the 2009 Peak Performance Project had to jump through the hoop of performing a cover of a Canadian song at their showcase. The task as far as the competition was concerned was most likely meaningless, but the process of learning and reworking the song was for us quite invigorating and educational. We of course took our sweet time deciding what we were going to play. The problem was nobody could agree on a song that we all liked and that we could put our own spin on.

About a week and a half before the competition Josh and I were meeting up with an old friend of ours who now performs under the name Brigs at an open mic at Darby's on 4th and MacDonald. At some point a gentleman got up and played Harvest Moon by Neil Young. To be honest, I'd never really liked the song that much (even when Mr. Young himself had performed it), but at that moment I heard so much potential in the song. In the coming days as I listened to live versions of Neil Young performing the song on Youtube I slowly started to understand why the song is so timeless. Simply, the song is a masterpiece. I hope I can do it justice for you.

The Fine Print- Treasure Hunt

So I was putting up posters yesterday and I came up with a scheme. I'm not going to advertise this in any way but if you've read this then you know the deal. If you notice in the photo above there is a poster for my upcoming show at the Backstage Lounge on June 30th. Below the poster I've attached a handbill of the poster image. If you somehow acquire your own handbill, (i will have them on me for the next week and a half, and i've also posted several around the city) the hanbill will get you 2 for 1 entry. So without the handbill 6 bucks per person. With the handbill 6 bucks for every 2 people.

This has been the 1st edition of The FINE PRINT

D

SHOW! SHOW! SHOW!

For all you Vancouverites,

I'm excited to be playing a show on June 30th at the Backstage Lounge as part of their Westcoast Wednesdays. Tickets are $6, but I'm offering special deals for those of you coming in groups of 4 or more. Comment under this feed if you'd like to get a group rate.

I'll be printing off posters in the next couple of days, let me know if you know any good places to post this lovely specimen or would simply like one for your collection.

Thanks!

Dom

My Favourite Things

And now for something completely different....

So i've decided to post some covers. For those of you who are a tad bafoozled by what a 'cover' is, it's typically a song that the performer didn't write. I used to lift my nose up to the idea of playing these so called 'covers'. When you're a dude who plays the guitar and sings, people tend to make requests for songs that they are familiar with. When i only knew how to play Silverchair and Nirvana my sister's best friend incessantly requested 'Stairway to Heaven', which was something I'd never heard of nor had any interest in at the age of 13.

Years later in Brazil I'd hear an endless list of requests for songs by Pinky Floydge (=Pink Floyd), Hedgie Hotchie Shily Peppers (=Red Hot Chili Peppers) and You Choo (U2) etc etc. I think most songwriters, like myself, grow a wee bit resentful of these incessant requests. we'd definitely prefer to play the songs that we'd written. Every once in a while, though, someone truly wins over our hearts asking if we can play one of your own songs.

I guess I'm not as resentful anymore and have taken a new approach to playing covers. There are some songs that I've developed so far that I sometimes forget that I haven't written them.

My first cover is of the song "my favourite things" from the Sound of Music. I came upon this little ditty last winter when Music BC or Heavy D's pop corn was sending out requests for christmas songs. I believe the idea was to do a compilation of christmas songs done by BC artists and the Painted Birds were looking to submit a song. I was kind of stumped for what we should do until one day I noticed all the winter imagery in 'my favourite things'. I also really liked the possibility of swinging the tune a bit, perhaps subconciously inspired by the late great Mr. John Coltrane. I quickly rewrote some of the lyrics to make the song officially christmasy and found a nifty little guitar part to go under it, but alas, the Birds didn't have the motivation or funding to get into the studio quickly enough.

I hung on to it as i'd always liked it and have posted a video of it hear for you. Enjoy



Lyrics (slightly altered)

My favourite things

raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
wrap all my presents with ribbon and or string
these are a few of my favourite things

girls in red dresses with mistletoe sashes
snowflakes that stay in my nose and eye lashes
silver white winters that melt into spring
these are a few of my favourite things

When the dog bites when the bee stings
When you're feeling sad
When tomorrow
Seems to borrow
All of yesterday's fads

I simply remember my favourite things
And then i don't feel so bad
So bad