Join award-winning local author, broadcaster, and raconteur Grant Lawrence for a special holiday event at the historic Hollywood Theatre In Vancouver. On Wed Dec 17, in a one-night-only, all-ages show, Lawrence brings together an all-star cast of Vancouver’s finest entertainers, musicians, comedians, and authors in a not-to-be-missed holiday spectacular of stories and songs.
Featuring special guest musicians Torquil Campbell (Stars), Jill Barber, Dan Moxon (Bend Sinister), Ayla Tesler-Mabe, & comedian Charlie Demers, author / historian Aaron Chapman and other surprise guests. Tickets.
This summer, both my kids are busy building forts in the woods around our cabin in Desolation Sound, and usually ask for my help. The problem is, I’m often busy working on what I’ve realized is “the big kid fort:” our cabin. I’m ever trying to keep it functional for both family and guests. And when we have guests, I turn into a kind of cross between Basil Fawlty and Armond from The White Lotus: a burnt out lunatic host trying to please, whose body language, according to my wife, reads as “please leave now.” Not my intention!*
My daughter’s fort, not our actual cabin.
Whale Tale Podcast
Speaking of guests… orca expert Graeme Ellis recently dropped by the cabin with his family, and I definitely did not want him to leave. If you’ve had a chance to listen to my latest podcast WHALE TALE: the true story of the capture, escape and legacy of some of the West Coast’s most remarkable orcas, you’ll know that Graeme figures very largely in the story – possibly the most important character next to Emma Shuparski – who first told me about this incredible saga – or the mystery figure who released the whales from captivity. It was a true honour to host this legend in orca understanding, lore, and adventure. And a huge thanks to ALL of the incredible coastal figures who took part in the telling of this story (yes, you’ll find out what really happened to the famed white orca.)
Graeme Ellis visits the actual cabin.
If you haven’t had a chance to listen to Whale Tale, you can hear all ten high-stakes chapters here.
CETUS Straitwatch coordinator Emma Shuparski in Refuge Cove. The Whale Tale series exists because of her.
Desolation 2025 Stories and Songs tour
Speaking of Desolation, we’re about to start our annual tour, this time reaching into the Discovery Islands… There are a few tickets left for Cortes – hope to see you there!
Mon July 21, Heriot Bay Inn, Quadra Island SOLD OUT
Tue July 22, Dockside Kitchen, Refuge Cove SOLD OUT
Wed July 23, La Hacienda, Savary Island SOLD OUT
Thu July 24, Community Hall, Whaletown, Cortes Island SOLD OUT
No more scheduled shows until 2026!
Summer reading: The Harder I Fight The More I Love You by Neko Case
I’ve been escaping back to the wild days of the 1990s Northwest rock n roll scene courtesy of my ol pal Neko Case’s memoir, a stripped down, honest and well-written debut book. For those who don’t know, Neko Case is a Grammy-nominated American country singer. She also dated one of the members of my band, subsequently moving to Vancouver and joining a bunch of Canadian indie rock bands, releasing her first country album backed by Canadian musicians, and launching her music career which continues to this day.
I had to hold myself back from skipping ahead to the pages when I first came into contact with Neko, fascinated to read through the rough and tumble American’s eyes what it was like to descend into our vibrant Canadian music scene.
Smuggler Dave and Neko on the legendary Smugglers / cub tour of 1993.
Unfortunately, Neko’s relationship with Dave didn’t end well, so he gets a pretty funny / fitting pseudonym, but it’s a hell of a good book by a fiery old friend.
Japan: Osaka Expo
When was the last time you attended an Expo? For me it was Expo 86 in Vancouver, but in late June I made the return trip to Japan for the first time in 25 years – my third trip to this fabulously organized country.
This time, the kids and I accompanied my lovely musician wife Jill Barber as she performed a string of shows under the sweltering summer skies of Osaka, representing Canada for the 2025 World Expo – including a big show on Canada Day – which was a toasty 35 degrees.
Grant and our dear Japanese-Canadian friend Shiho celebrating Canada Day at the Canadian Pavilion at Osaka Expo 2025.
It was an incredible opportunity for Jill to charm Japanese audiences (her third trip as well) and a great honour for our family for Jill to be representing Canada overseas.
My second highlight of the trip was returning to Tokyo to visit my rock n roll pals who have remained so all these years later.
Our family hopped the famed and air conditioned Bullet Train from Osaka, through Kyoto and Nagoya, past Mount Fuji and into Tokyo, staying at the cool Mustard Hotel in the endlessly interesting Shimokitazawa neighbourhood.
Spinnin records at Poor Cow, Tokyo, Japan. Tomoko Onobu photo.
Tomoko, the bassist from the legendary Tokyo rock n roll band Supersnazz (and the Tweezers, and her most recent awesome band Rock Juice), very kindly hosted a ‘welcome back’ party at Poor Cow, one of the coolest rock n roll bars in the world, for a fun night of music and laughs and memories and a bar full of Japanese rock n roll royalty. It was the coolest and the hottest all at once! KANPAI!
Kids book prize nomination: Adventures in Desolation Sound is up for a Chocolate Lily Award
Whoa! The kids version of ‘Adventures in Solitude’ with illustrator Ginger Ngo has made the shortlist for a BC literary honour called the Chocolate Lily Award. Beginning in September and continuing through the school year, kids in BC will read the eight nominated books and then vote for their favourite in the spring. Hope those young readers enjoy the wilderness and barf!
Happy summer, happy life, and I hope to see you around somewhere soon.
All the best from the watery west,
Grant Lawrence
Toba Inlet, summer 2025. Photo by Guy Normandeau of our boat Cliffhanger. *A co-worker at CBC told me that human communication is broken down to 56% body language, 37% tone, 7% words. Do you agree?
Emma Shuparski lit the spark when she told me, “the family of orcas that you see in Desolation Sound has a really interesting history.” That was all it took. Ever since, I have taken a deep-dive into a salty story that is seeped in adventure, tragedy, and triumph, and shrouded in a mystery that has endured for over 55 years… which I now have the honour of sharing with you, this spring, on CBC Radio 1 in BC.
Backstory: For the last dozen years or so, my family, our Desolation Sound neighbours, and countless kayakers, have been lucky enough to spy a pod of orcas swimming through our inlets on a fairly regular basis (this simply did not happen when I was a kid in Desolation Sound, but for my kids, the orcas have become a common sight.)
I didn’t know much of anything about these four or five orcas, except that they always filled us with a sense of awe and delight. One of them was absolutely huge, and another, a smaller one, had a crooked dorsal fin that lagged behind a bit. That intel was enough for my new friend Emma Shuparski, Straitwatch Quadra Coordinator for the CETUS Conservation Society (dedicated to educating boaters on safe practices and distances around whales) to identify them, and send me down the blow hole of their fascinating family history.
The episodes of “Whale Tale” will air each Saturday morning just after the 8am news on CBC Radio 1 in BC throughout the spring, and can be heard anywhere, any time, on demand at CBC Listen starting next week.
Thank you to Garry Henkel of Aboriginal Journeys – Whale & WIldlife Tours for the incredible photo of ‘Tasu’ and to my longtime designer Naomi MacDougall for the graphic. And feel free to get in touch if you can add anything to this story.
Unrelated to the series above, I am also thrilled to announce that I will be taking my Stories and Songs show back on the road / water this spring with my dear and incredibly talented musical friends Joel Plaskett, Ashleigh Ball, Lindi Ortega, and my lovely wife Jill Barber.
I’m sharing a few new stories and a few requested favourites from my books at three unique venues in the communities of Brackendale (SOLD OUT), Errington (on central Vancouver Island, near Coombs, the “Goats on the Roof” place), and Port McNeill (on northern Vancouver Island, gateway to the Broughton Archipelago).
Tickets for all three shows are limited and on sale now! (Please note that while Joel and Lindi are on all three shows, Jill is playing Brackedale and Ashleigh Errington and Port McNeill.)
Speaking of touring, we are once again launching our Discovery Islands-Desolation Sound Stories and Songs tour this July. This is mostly a “boat access only” tour by which we get to each show in our boat, Cliffhanger, with the musicians, instruments, kids, and family dog all thrown in. Last year was a whole lotta fun (see pic above from the Dockside Kitchen in Refuge Cove w/ Ashleigh Ball, Jill Barber, and Sarah Jane Scouten) so Jill and I are doing it again this July with a new musical line up and a few extra dates.
The tickets are not on sale yet, nor are the other musicians announced, but just in case you’d like to plan on being at one of these special shows where a lot of my stories actually take place, you can put these dates in the book!
Mon July 21, Heriot Bay Inn, Quadra Island (accessible by boat or car)
Tue July 22, Dockside Kitchen, Refuge Cove (boat access only)
Wed July 23, La Hacienda, Savary Island (boat access only)
Thu July 24, Community Hall, Whaletown, Cortes Island (car or boat)
Sticking with the spring newsletter theme of ‘shows’, we had an absolutely incredible time at my semi-regular “hometown” Stories and Songs event at the Kay Meek Theatre in West Vancouver on Sat April 12. I went DEEP into West Van legend and lore on this show (including a loving tribute to Harry’s, my childhood corner store.) I was truly honoured to feature a stellar, all-star line up of musicians that included (left to right) my ol’ high school pal Jeanne Tolmie, Neil Osborne (54-40), folk legend Shari Ulrich, Jill Barber, Dave Osborne (54-40), Dawn Pemberton, and Hilary Grist (Jeanne, Hilary, and Shari all play in the Luckies.) Thank you to all who attended this special show!
And one more thing: I’ll be reading a story in the afternoon of the first-ever Chilliwack Book Festival on Saturday May 10! Free!
Happy spring, happy life, and I hope to see you around somewhere soon.
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