It’s been very quiet on here for a while. Some of you may recall that this humble blog was the beginning of a much longer journey which would eventually involve PhD research at Memorial University and a project with the community organization Vision Gaspé-Percé Now to create a permanent home for the digital collections myself and others helped build through our research and projects together. I’ve spent the last five years working full-time in Quebec’s non-profit heritage sector while trying to finish the formal academic part my PhD. But the story all began here in late 2009 when Brian sent me that first email with two tracks of him and his dad playing at the 1984 Morris family reunion at Phyllis and Manny's place. Tommy Rooney's Jig and the Cultivator's Reel. Never forget those tunes started it all.
Tomorrow, I will be wrapping up the PhD portion of this journey with the final oral defence before my examination committee. If you would like to virtually attend my final presentation as part of my PhD defence tomorrow (Tuesday, January 20, 2026 at 11:30 am), send me an email to gdp682@mun.ca and I will do my best to send you a link where you can watch from the comfort of home.
This PhD has taken me longer than typical for graduate students. Life got very real many times and there were months and years spent in the service of ailing parents, recovering from caregiver burnout, and just being too busy with paid work. I've said goodbye to a lot of my Gaspé musician friends since the last time I posted here and I often felt like maybe I should leave a note here or do a tribute post as I had done in the past for people like MaryEllen Drody, Hermas Réhel, Anthony Drody, and Cyril DeVouge. But I feared that in the absence of other posts, this blog would become a peculiar kind of obit page and I'm not sure that was what this project called for.
But I've always missed this blog and the kind of DIY work that Brian and I did here. I truly miss the hobby feel this had when Brian and I would go on weekend adventures meeting Gaspesians around Montreal, or spending a few weeks each summer jamming with, recording, interviewing, and collecting tapes from people in Gaspé. I’m looking forward to returning to this work as a hobby in the years ahead. There’s still lots of great music to share. Thanks for sharing it with me.
In loving memory of the following friends who brought so much kindness and inspiration to this blog:
Brian Morris (1950 - 2024)
Brigid Drody (1937 - 2022)
Joseph Drody (1933 - 2022)
Anthony Drody (1932 - 2019)
Ernest Drody (1930 - 2023)
