The glorious foothills of the Rocky Mountains, one of the best views in Canada.

Well that was one heck  of a summer; the greatest of my life so far, hands down. It was so good that I thought I had better make a Top 5 List, but couldn’t fit it into 5 so here’s 6.  Thanks to everyone I crossed paths with to make it so memorable.

Swimming in 400 feet deep warm water in the middle of Desolation Sound in July.

6. Desolation Sound, BC. It was a challenge to actually get to the ol’ family cabin this summer, but the times we did were glorious. Our boat Big Buck$ roared us around the Sound. In each place the swimming was incredible. We also had fun this year at the Lund Shellfish Festival, the Summer Muse in Powell River, and the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts in Sechelt.

The Murphy-Mendozas and the Lawrence-Barbers on a summer day in Charlottetown harbour.

5. Prince Edward Island. I had the good fortune to be on this summer paradise of an island three times this season! What an amazing city and province that knows how to do summer right. Everywhere we turned we ran into friendly musicians, and we had a fine time staying up in Stanhope in Prince Edward Island National Park. Best eating: Receiver Coffee, Terra Rouge, Richard’s Fresh Seafood. Best drinking: PEI Brewing Company. Thanks to the Kelly-Roberts family!

Swimming at North Beach in Prince Edward County, Ontario, on Canada Day.

4. Prince Edward County. Not to be confused with PEI, PEC is also on an island, but located on the shores on Lake Ontario. It’s where my in-laws have a lovely county home in Wellington (aka “Wellsies”) which is where my wife and son and I spent a beautiful, sunny Canada Day during a short break in the CBC Beetle Roadtrip. We did some perfect family swimming at North Beach, drank Beau’s beer and enjoyed the great little cafes and restaurants that dot the county, like the Tall Poppy, the PEC Food Truck, and East and Main.

Retired CBC puppeteering legend Judith Lawrence introduces us to THEE Casey and Finnegan!!!

3. Meeting Casey and Finnegan on Josh’s first birthday. Somehow, neither my wife or I had ever been to Hornby Island, BC. Thanks to the Hornby Island Festival, we made it this summer and had a fantastic time. I did readings from both of my books and Jill sang some songs. After the event, we were approached by a woman named Judith Lawrence, who told us she used to work for the CBC. When Jill enquired further, she then dropped the nostalgic bombshell that she was THEE Judith Lawrence (no relation), the legendary puppeteer who created, animated, and voiced Casey and Finnegan from Mr. Dressup! And that she still has the original puppets in her possession… there on Hornby Island! The next day just happened to be our son Joshua’s first birthday, so Judith actually brought Casey and Finnegan over to where we were staying and let us meet them. For a kid who grew up watching Mr. Dressup religiously every morning, Monday to Friday, it was a WAY bigger deal for me than Josh. Thanks to Judith, Deb and Drew McVittie, and the Pratts for a GREAT time. What an island!

Johnnie Lawrence Drive, named after my grandfather, in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba.

2. Johnnie Lawrence Drive. For over 40 years, my grandfather Johnnie Lawrence was an exceptional pro-golfer at the Clear Lake Golf Course in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba. Over the course of those many decades, he created an incredible legacy, teaching thousands of people from multiple generations how to golf. He left a lasting impression on his students, as I still run into them all over the world who want to tell me all about my grandfather and his perfect swing. This summer, Parks Canada and the Clear Lake Golf Course honoured the memory of my grandfather and the Lawrence family by officially naming the road that leads up to the golf course “Johnnie Lawrence Drive” with a ceremony and parade in August. My family is deeply humbled to have a road named for our grandfather in a Canadian national park.

I drove this little car through all ten provinces this summer. It was the trip of a lifetime.

1. The CBC Beetle Roadtrip. I consider myself fortunate to have visited all ten Canadian provinces, but I’ve done it slowly, ticking off the visits to each one over the course of my life. Never have I had the opportunity to drive straight through all of them, coast to coast, until this past summer. We started in Cape Spear, Newfoundland, and drove the CBC Beetle all the way to Mile Zero in Victoria. Along the way we met up with some of the finest musicians in Canada to film them performing their songs in iconic Canadian locations. It was truly an epic voyage through the most stunning country in the world and one of the greatest experiences of my life, which I implore you to do as well. Thanks to Bryan Ward, Chris Kelly, Josh Huculiak, Emma Godmere, CBC Music, and VW Canada for making it happen. You can see all the videos and photos here, or watch this finale recap of the entire trip in a couple of minutes:

{Honourable Mention… Baby Joshua meets Bryan Adams!}

Summer of '69 meets Summer of '14: Baby Joshua and Bryan Adams!

I wasn’t even present for this so I can’t really include it in my favourite moments, but the story is pretty surreal. My wife Jill Barber was on her way to play a festival in Quebec City and ended up sitting next to Bryan Adams on the flight, who actually requested to sit next to her! He was a great guy, shared some new songs with Jill, held Joshua, and came to Jill’s show in Quebec City that night. And to think he used to wash the dishes at the Tomahawk in North Vancouver!

Upcoming Events this Fall:

Sun Sep 21, Word on the Street, Halifax (2:30PM)
Sun Sep 28, Word on the Street, Vancouver (1PM)
Sun Oct 5, Western Canadian Music Awards, Winnipeg MB
Fri Oct 17 – Sun Oct 19, Whistler Readers and Writers Festival, Whistler BC
Mon Oct 20 – Sun Oct 26, BC Book Tour (details tba)

What was YOUR favourite moment of your summer? Comment below!

I'm wearing LOTS of make up, ok???

In case you haven’t heard of PUP, let me prepare you: they are a high voltage, high impact, highly spirited punk rock band from Toronto. They put out one of the most electrifying albums of last year, and one of the best debuts in many years. So, consider me a fan who plays this band regularly on CBC Radio 3.

Pup rocking out. Note: '94 era Canucks shirt!

This past January, my wife and son and I were headed to brunch on a gloomy, wintery  Sunday morning to a restaurant I NEVER want to go to but my wife loves. I was desperately hung over. We were trudging along an industrial stretch of dullness in East Vancouver. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a printed sign taped to a glass doorway. “AUDITIONS FOR PUP Music Video”.

Calling all pups... and one old guy.

I squinted and belched. “There’s no way it could be the same band…” but I snapped a photo and Instagrammed / tweeted it anyway. PUP confirmed seconds later it was indeed an audition for their next video, to which I jokingly replied “do you have a role for a semi-drunk, semi-hungover, hairy, smelly, new dad in his really early 40s?”

The band replied “can you play a convincing police officer?”

At the very moment we arrived at the restaurant that I didn’t want to go to, a burly cop was dragging in a woman who had just dined and dashed. I took it as a sign. I said YES.

Instagramly, PUP put me in touch with the director and producer (who coincidentally were also having brunch at the very same restaurant, also witnessing the police incident) and BOOM. I was cast as a not-so-burly but very evil cop in a video that fictitiously traces PUP’s origins back to their childhood in a dark and wet music video cross between Stand By Me and The River’s Edge.

On the set in the sleet between takes with actor Finn Wolfhard. Photo by John Lee.

The video was filmed mostly in a lumberyard in Brackendale BC just outside of Squamish on an shivering and soggy, classic West Coast winter weekend. For many of my “shots” I was thrown into puddles of mud and slush.

The spritely actors who play the youthful version of PUP are all excellent. I was the most “hands on” (literally) with the amazing Finn Wolfhard who plays the badass bully and (SPOILER ALERT) eventual lead singer.

The four actors who played young PUP keeping warm in the dressing room: the back of a truck with a wood burning pot bellied stove.

The video is co-directed by Chandler Levack and Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux and produced by Dan Code. Thanks to everyone in the production crew for involving me and treating me so well, and to PUP for actually responding to that instagram photo. And thanks also to my wife, who dragged my sorry, hungover butt past that audition sign in the first place. Funny how things work out sometimes.

The aftermath: whose blood IS that?!?

NOW WATCH, EH?

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Upcoming Events:

Sat June 14, CBC Music Festival, Deer Lake Park, Burnaby BC
Mon Jun 16 – Fri Jul 25, CBC Beetle Cross-Canada Roadtrip
Sat Aug 2, Hornby Island Arts Festival, Hornby Island BC
Sun Aug 17, Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, Sechelt BC
Sun Sep 21, Word on the Street, Halifax NS
Fri Oct 17 – Sun Oct 19, Whistler Readers and Writers Festival, Whistler BC

Well, it’s been an amazing and humbling 2014 so far, to say the least.

This past Saturday my second book The Lonely End of the Rink: Confessions of a Reluctant Goalie won the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award at the BC Book Prize Gala for Book of the Year. I wish to send out a huge THANK YOU to the independent bookstores for choosing my book for this honour. Thank you for existing and for doing what you do!

Thanks also to my amazing team at Douglas and McIntyre and Harbour Publishing (pictured above), as well as Naomi MacDougall (cover design), Christy Nyiri (sketches and website), Ken Beattie (publicity), Sam Haywood (agency), Christine McAvoy and Geoff “The Dandy” Kehrig (cover photos), my wife Jill and son Josh, my family, and my hockey team, the Vancouver Flying Vees.

Here’s the official word from the press peeps:

“GRANT LAWRENCE WINS BC BOOK PRIZE FOR “THE LONELY END OF THE RINK”

CBC personality and author Grant Lawrence was awarded the top honour at the 30th annual BC Book Prizes Gala for his latest book “The Lonely End of the Rink: Confessions of a Reluctant Goalie”. Lawrence’s hilarious and touching hockey memoir won the Bill Duthie Bookseller’s Choice Award for “the most outstanding work published in British Columbia this year”.

Lawrence was in attendance at the Gala on Saturday night in Vancouver with his parents, and accepted the award along side his publisher, Howard White of Douglas and McIntyre.

“Howard warned me that the hockey book arena was extremely competitive, but I didn’t believe him”, said Lawrence. “Sure enough, my book was repeatedly bodychecked off the the shelf by other big time hockey books by Bobby Orr and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, so I consider this award a real surprise. Thank you to the independent booksellers and stores of BC for this great honour”.

“The Lonely End of the Rink” is Grant Lawrence’s second book, a national bestseller that chronicles his love/hate relationship with hockey and his role as a beer league goalie, backdropped by the story of his beloved Vancouver Canucks and their three failed attempts at the Stanley Cup. This is the second time Lawrence has won the BC Book Prize for Booksellers’ Choice. Lawrence also won it in 2011 for his debut book “Adventures in Solitude”.

Lawrence made history this year, becoming  the only sole author in the thirty year history of the BC Book Prize to win Booksellers’ Choice twice. The Booksellers’ Choice Award is voted upon by the bookstores of BC, for the best book of the year in terms of public appeal, initiative, design, production, and content.

Grant Lawrence is currently working on his third book, a sordid, action-packed rock ‘n’ roll memoir of his many years in the internationally touring band The Smugglers.”

Upcoming Events:

Sat June 14, CBC Music Festival, Deer Lake Park, Burnaby BC
Mon Jun 16 – Fri Jul 25, CBC Beetle Cross-Canada Roadtrip
Sat Aug 2, Hornby Island Arts Festival, Hornby Island BC
Sun Aug 17, Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, Sechelt BC
Sun Sep 21, Word on the Street, Halifax NS
Fri Oct 17 – Sun Oct 19, Whistler Readers and Writers Festival, Whistler BC