August Happenings

August 30, 2009
Don Messer: The Man Behind the Music ranked #3 in Nova Scotia by the Chronicle Herald, based on sales at Sangor’s in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia.

August 25, 2009
Don Messer The Man Behind the Music is ranked number 11 in “bestselling new and future releases” in the composer category on Amazon. This searching for the book is no doubt incredibly self indulgent but at the same time it is a bit of fun!

August 22, 2009
Don Messer The Man Behind the Music makes it to number 2 of Non-fiction paperback on “New Brunswick’s reading”, in “Salon”, in The Telegraph Journal.



August 20, 2009
Reading Amazon.ca sales number rankings is a dubious pleasure. There is something discouraging about seeing your book ranked 137,792 (out of the top 1,000,000 best sellers). But when you put that into perspective, a ranking of 137,792 is quite an achievement. To see that figure jump to a ranking of 1,651 as it did on August 20, 2009, was mind boggling. So, of course, I had to do a search of the other rankings. And there I was, ranked 80 in the list of top 100 memoirs and biographies. I had apparently been in the top 100 for five days and was only sorry that I had missed the fun of seeing the book there. I cut and pasted with a vengeance and sent out the ranking to friends, co-workers and family.


August 15, 2009
Book Signing at Indigo Charlottetown. A disappointing turnout until I realized that I had been scheduled at the same time as: the opening ceremonies of the Canada Games; a big purse race at the track; a charity bar-b-cue raising funds for orphans in Africa. Wonderfully, Ann Marie Chamberlain came by with several family members in tow and rescued me.


August 13 - 16, 2009.
The 19th Annual Hank Snow Tribute, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia was honouring Don Messer this year and invited me down to do a reading. The crowd of 800 was the most attentive audience that I have ever had: not a cough or a rustle, not a chair being scraped. Ivan and Vivian Hicks and The Fiddling Landrys were both there along with Bill Guest (who performed with Don Messer on tour), and Lukus Munroe, a young fiddler from Nova Scotia. Some of the attendees at this event have come for all nineteen years; many of them admitted to being there fifteen years in a row, driving from all over the States and Canada to pay homage to Hank Snow.


August 7, 2009
Signing at Fredericton Chapters store. There I was at a lovely table in the children’s section. It was a quiet night and not a lot of people came by, but I learned a ton of jokes from a child who had just bought a joke book and wanted to practice them on me. E.g. “What did the father buffalo say to his child when he left for college?”
“Bison.”

I did meet some rather wonderful people who wanted to talk books and writing. There was also a lady who kept saying “I have never met a writer before.” I felt quite humbled to be the object of her wonder and behaved very well.


August 3, 2009
Review on Amazon.com. “Music Enthusiast” writes “To take his (Don Messer’s) journey through Johanna’s words and reflections based on countless hours of interviews with family and friends is to live a part of his legacy.”


August 1 – 6, 2009
The Don Messer Centennial Celebration was a huge success, bringing more than 3000 people to the community of Harvey Station, New Brunswick. The parking lot at the community centre told the story with cars from New Jersey, California, Maine, Connecticut, Florida, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. It was obvious that Don Messer fans are still interested in his music and his style of entertainment.
The week’s celebration had something for everybody – fiddlers and fiddle competitions, lutiers and crafters, square and round dance lessons, and an archival display showing Don Messer from the age of two until his death. The Scott Woods band was there as was Ned Landry, The Fiddling Landry’s (Ned’s great grandchildren), Ivan and Vivian Hicks, Matilda Murdock, Johnny Forrest, Marge and the Boys, La Famille Arsenault, Katherine Moller, Patrick Kelly, Kathleen Gorey- McSorley, and so many other talented musicians. The crowd loved it and have asked us to make this an annual event.
Wilfred Everett, proud present resident of the Messer Homestead had 650 people through the house during the week.

On the Monday of that week, August 3, 2009, McAdam, NB played host to NB Day. I was invited to do a reading in the tent, accompanied by the Don Messer Jubilee singers from Harvey Station. Greg McDonald, manager of the McAdam Train Station was gracious enough to let me sell books in the station dining room, just one of the rooms being redone in the revitalization of this heritage building.


August 1, 2009
Launch of Don Messer: The Man Behind the Music at the Don Messer Centennial Celebration at Harvey Station, New Brunswick. We had 500 people show up for the afternoon’s entertainment which included Ivan and Vivian Hicks, Katherine Moller, A Touch of Celt, and in the evening, The Scott Woods Band. Never have I heard a violin respond so differently to various players.

The Don Messer celebration continued all week with some gratifying comments from readers of the book: “I took it to bed with me at 11:30 and the next time I looked at my watch, it was 4:30 in the morning. I couldn’t put it down.”; “You got it right. It was exactly the way life was back then.” And my personal favourite; “You said everything that needed to be said and you didn’t waste any words doing it.”

People seem to be genuinely enjoying the book which is so gratifying. It was a huge amount of work and I tried so hard to be objective and respectful, and to tell the story the best way that I could.