Tom tells a tale of the United Empire Loyalists (7:30 p.m., April 4th, NAC 4th Stage, Ottawa)

On the storytelling front, I am (once again) trying something completely different: On Thursday April 14th, along with fellow Ottawa Storytellers Shabana Aziz, Ellis Lynn Duschenes, and Kathie Kompass, I will be recounting the experiences of the United Empire Loyalists who, driven out by the American Revolution, came to Nova Scotia to rebuild their lives. My story concerns the fate of the Tarleton Legion, which was granted land on the rocky, frigid shore at Port Gambier and faced the struggle of a lifetime just to survive the first winter. It's a much-neglected patch of Canadian history, brought to life vividly by author Thomas Raddall. Join us at the 4th Stage of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

For details check out the National Arts Centre's web site at
http://www.nac-cna.ca/en/whatson/results.cfm?EventID=4260

Welcome! Glad you dropped in

Having a website ( (www.tomlips.ca ) has many advantages, and once I learned to accept a new level of shameless self-promotion, I got to enjoy it. However, despite technical progress, updating the site is still a rather laborious process, and errors easily creep in.

By contrast, maintaining a "blog" (web log) is easy (so far!). Accordingly, I decided to set up this blog instead of maintaining a "What's New" page on the web site. The web site and the blog are meant to complement each other and will link to each other as appropriate. If all goes as planned, you will find here the latest available information about my upcoming or recent performances, as well as (if I get ambitious) the occasional journal-like entry related to my music or storytelling activities. Unlike most bloggers, I don't plan to use this log to air my angst, so don't worry!

Cheers,

Tom