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Ron Sexsmith Love Shines Movie Shown in the UK

Rob Jones — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 02:17:06 +0000

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (March 4-6) the Douglas Arrowsmith film about singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith Love Shines was broadcast on BBC4. The broadcast reached the big audience that Sexsmith has built up over years of releasing records and touring there. But, it also reached a new audience in those quarters, too, in part because of word-of-mouth efforts by many of the fans who already know and love his music.

Ron Sexsmith image courtesy of the2scoops

Reaching new eyes and new ears where Sexsmith’s music is concerned is perhaps the main aim of Love Shines director Douglas Arrowsmith. The documentary was shot during the time Sexsmith was working up material for the Long Player Late Bloomer album, Sexsmith’s latest record, produced by Bob Rock.

The core of the drama in the film is that of unique songwriting and performing talent Ron Sexsmith, celebrated by a cult audience, striving to get his music heard by more people. During the course of the film, he confronts his own identity as an artist, and is challenged to determine his own definition of what success actually looks like. All the while, the idea of fans championing his cause is pretty central to the soul of the movie.

Some high profile artists count themselves as Sexsmith admirers. Rod Stewart, Michael Buble, k.d lang, and Coldplay’s Chris Martin have all recorded Sexsmith’s material. Feist is another, and she also appears in the film. Elvis Costello, an early Ron Sexsmith champion, continues to sing his praises in an interview section in Love Shines. Steve Earle, who appears in the film as well, was the producer of the excellent 2001 Blue Boy album, and remarks on Sexsmith’s deep musical well. The list goes on.

Where many are familiar with those famous names mentioned, Sexsmith is not exactly a household name himself. Regardless, he’s something of a veteran anyway, with a twenty-year, twelve album recording career behind him, and with dues paid before that time as a struggling musician by night, holding down a courier job by day. Long player, late bloomer, indeed. But, partially thanks to Twitter, Facebook, the Ron Sexsmith online forum community, and a new album and documentary for them all to talk about, the perception that Sexsmith is an untested newcomer is changing.

For instance, the broadcast of Love Shines on BBC4 trended on Twitter in the UK during each airing, and internationally too, indicating great viewer numbers and a significant achievement for fans, who were instrumental in spreading the word. Significantly, this helped to sell records, too. The Amazon charts went from 6-2 in the rankings immediately after Friday’s broadcast and the parallel chat on social platforms, with a number of Sexsmith’s albums showing in the top twenty.

Not bad for a”cult” artist.

Ron Sexsmith image courtesy of spaceameoba

It is a compelling idea that Sexsmith is something of a throwback singer-songwriter that would have been very welcome on ’70s AM radio, had he been born twenty years earlier. His work certainly would have fit in with that of artists like Harry Nilsson, Carole King, Elton John (yet another documented Sexsmith fan), Jackson Browne, Bill Withers, Joni Mitchell, and Todd Rundgren.

Yet, in other ways, Sexsmith being championed by so many voices all at once online can’t be easily dismissed. It has been these online communities championing Arrowsmith’s film, and Sexsmith’s music by association, that has really pushed Sexsmith’s exposure to that wider audience so far. It’s important to note that Love Shines director Douglas Arrowsmith is a fan himself, with the same goal shared with the very active community of fans on social platforms: to get Ron Sexsmith’s story told, and to get his material heard, bought, and celebrated. This concerted effort between artist, filmmaker, and fans is a very 21st Century phenomenon.

This is another layer to be found at the heart of the film; that the artist’s struggle to be heard by more people is actually also the very welcome and joyous struggle of those who already appreciate his work. This core of the drama goes beyond the interest of TV broadcast numbers, licensing, and international boundaries. It becomes something that great art was always intended to be; a shared and transformative experience.

Read more about the upcoming premier of Love Shines at SXSW in Austin on March 15, 2011 at 6:15 PM, where an even larger potential audience will be reached.

Also, be sure to become a fan of the Love Shines Facebook page for frequent news and updates that pertain to the film.

And thanks to Emme for allowing me to publish this piece on her site!

Caroling My Way to a New Years Resolution

Emme — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:30:42 +0000

Clearly Jon Jennings intent in sending me this is to help solidify the New Years Resolution of keeping my dating in 2011 in an offline world:

#CruzeCity – A Silly Fun Break from Reality this Week (still spots if you wish to join in)

Emme — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 02:19:11 +0000

Kicking back with a glass of pumpkin ale, after a silly fun morning booting around town in a race car red 2011 Chevrolet Cruze, partaking in the awesomely silly #CruzeCity car rally as a part of #TeamSTYLE. Took me back to the days of my first car, a Chevette Hatchback, only this was 10x fancier and more stylish, yet we behaved just as ridiculously in it as we did in our early 20s. My gal pal, Wendy Dallian, was the somewhat responsible driver and I the highly irresponsible tweet or twit in the car (just the way I like it).

We had a blast and won this mornings VanCity competition for #TeamSTYLE. Met a couple of great competitors from #TeamGlobal, who kindly didn’t bite, pinch or pull hair and are new to twitter, @afindlayashton. Show them some tweet love and follow them. They had a valiant Day 1 in the space.

A few VanCity tweeters expressed an interest in partaking themselves and as luck would have it you still can. They have room for more teams to compete between now and Friday October 22, 2010. More details here: http://chevroletcitychallenge.ca/ or you can tweet Betsy the VanCity Coordinator directly. Hope you have as much fun as we did! And don’t forget to be asked to be put on our team, #TeamSTYLE.

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

PS Simply because it is Pantie Week, a peek at what I was wearing today under my new Chevrolet Jacket:

Photo by Lola May

This Explains A Lot …

Emme — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:53:40 +0000

Okay, this explains a lot.

And here I just thought that twitter was the new dating marketing, albeit one with rather crass and not all that eloquent men. Kept wondering why they could never quite follow through. Computer impotency or just clumsy digits?

*kisses to @Veronica_Roth for enlightening me*

Back to the Dating Pool Tech Advice

Emme — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:51:22 +0000

This back to school advice for parents from The Onion, also rings true for observing the behaviors of potential suitors and scaring off the competition. We are after all mammals and this is simply the new form of survival of the fittest.

Thanks for the heads up on these great tech dating tips Monica and memelabs!

Yorkton Film Festival Social Media Stalker

Emme — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:59:22 +0000

Well, it looks like Tris and Erica did their job as a whole tonne of people from the Yorkton Film Festival are cropping up on various social media platforms. So, if like me, you care to stalk any of them (or as Erica put it in her PC terms, ‘connect with them’), here’s a list of those I’ve found so far. Oh and if you know of others, drop a comment with them and I’ll add them to the list.

On Twitter:

@JoanneMcDonald - She's A Real Deer

@stephenhuszar (courtesy of Tris Hussey)

Past Delegates / Honourary Tweeters:

On flickr:

Richard in Regina (courtesy of Tris Hussey)

Yorkton Film Festival Group (upload your festival photos to & tag with #yff09)
dknason
Richard in Regina
tris
erica.hargreave
emmerogers (i.e. moi)

On blip.fm:

On Friend Feed (a social media aggregator i.e. one stop shop stalking):

rockin' blip.fm (courtesy of Lola May)

Richard Gustin
Tris Hussey
Erica Hargreave
Emme Rogers (you guessed it, me again!)

Erica will also be posting tips on using the above social media devices on Bridging Media soon.

Post Election Smiles

Emme — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:05:28 +0000

Couldn’t help myself – got pulled back in by some great post election tweets. Here they are:

@sherrett echoed my concerns from last night with a link to The Onions Election Coverage

From the photo galleries:

Thanks to @karllong, some impressive photos of President Obama in The Boston Globe
@eMom was actually at the Obama Rally last night!!! Lucky gal! Her flickr stream from the night.

Love this next one:

Seattle celebrates joyfully. Thanks @ashiva!

Finally, a tune for you:

‘I Got A Crush On Obama‘ – Really what intelligent gal wouldn’t!?!

Tweeting My Love Life

Emme — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 23:04:45 +0000

Photo by Nerea Marta

Been enjoying a rather entertaining week on twitter. Having fun with this form of Social Media and meeting many new faces in and outside the Van City scene. A few twitterlious moments for me have been:

Getting to know @hummingbird604 better through his tweets
Meeting the dastardly @seeper76, who keeps me laughing.
Discovering that we have a following in Europe – thanks to @saabir – whom like a chivalrous European knight has been providing me with tunes to start my day off right.
An introduction to the musical stylings of @chrisblake

Photo by Nerea Marta

But what I’ve been finding funniest has been the number of tweeters, as of late, that have been taking a vested interest in my love life. Apparently, I appear to be in of help. Hell, I am 34 and single, after all.

@JuiceBoxRadio is giving me weekly advice on how to meet men in Van City.
One unnamed tweeter has told me I’m pretty and that he’d like to meet-up sometime soon. That was his first tweet me and no I haven’t met him.
@OnlineBootyCall has told me that it is okay to be single and just enjoy lots and lots of commitment free sex.
@DatingCoach is promising to teach me the secrets of dating men – from a man.
And as of this morning, @MyTweetheart is promising to broadcast my singledom to the tweetisphere and, of course, find me a Tweetheart.

So what’s a girl to do!?! Well this girl, was in a bit of a whacky mood this morning and thought @MyTweetheart was far too funny. So she tweeted, “Sure add me to the site.” And they actually did. Check it out – Females Seeking Males. Can just picture my Mom now not being sure whether to laugh or shake her head and say, “Where did I go wrong?”

So the moral of this story? If you’re not on Twitter now, join me there and you too can delve more into my personal life. I know – exciting, right? You don’t have to be embarrassed, most people can barely contain their excitement at the prospect of befriending me and delving into my oh so exciting personal life.

Kisses to all you sexy things,

Emme

Why It’s Dangerous to Mix Wine, Cameras, and Great Clothes!

Emme — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 02:29:44 +0000

Word to the wise – this is why it is dangerous to mix wine and a trip down memory lane to the days of dressing up with your gal pals – at least it is when you associate with dangerous camera stalkers like Lola May!!!! Oh and Jenni – don’t think you are getting away scott free – your wardrobe is partially to blame!

It start off innocently, just with a few profanities …

… not quite sure what happened to my pants?

What girl wouldn’t try on a pair of boots like these!?!

Only I had no idea, that Lola was lurking with the camera…..

Obviously, too much wine was being consumed…..

Why else would a grown woman, like Lola, be parading around in a tutu?

Or Kittyn garb up in full on Princess attire?

Despite now having full on blackmail materials posted all over flickr by Lola May and the scandulous suggestions of orgasms and orgies on twitter by Miss Kittyn for all the world to see (clearly I am the innocent one in the group), I must say I can’t say I have spent a more hilarious evening of shananigans and debauchery in ages. Well at least not since Tim left town or the olden days when the original Breakfast Included was alive and well. Have a nagging feeling that those weren’t the only photos Lola took though. Guess I’ll have to stay tuned to her flickr, so that at the very least I know what I should be embarrassed about or guilty of.

Emme’s Twitter Tweets

Emme — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:59:59 +0000

Spent the day twittering and getting to know that sexy little bird intimately – if you know what I mean!?!

A few little tweets of discovery:

Finally getting to @hummingbird604 suggestion to use Twhirl, but Adobe Air isn’t available to Linux users. Anybody know of a linux alternative? #
Answered my own question. TwitterFox works with Linux. And must say, am quite liking this new way of twittering. Thanks @hummingbird604 #
Just updated SexyInVanCity with WordTwit. Thanks @duanestorey ! #
Uploading tweets to blog with Twitter Tools. Thanks Alex!

You should try playing with the little bird. She’ll have you singing for more in no time!