NATIONAL LIGHT TOUR
PRESALE
Wednesday, April 8 @ 10am local time
Password: LIGHT
Ticket links below or HERE
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Hello love,
My boys (12 and 9) are mildly obsessed with a Canada-centric parody artist called OGR-Scintilla. To accentuate the depth of this artist’s Canadianism, his songs are sung (or rapped) in a distinct hoser accent. He is the Hoser of Weird Als... or maybe, the Weird Al of Hosers.
His songs reference Canadian tropes like hockey, icy roads, maple syrup, and Tim Hortons. I’ve noticed, as my boys prattle around the house reciting OGR lyrics under their breath, their hoser accents are perfect. Like it’s in their blood.
If you’re not Canadian, you might be wondering - what exactly is a “hoser”?
I’ve been asked by Americans if hosers are like “Canadian rednecks”, but this comparison doesn’t work.
In my experience, redneck is usually intended pejoratively. It speaks to a backwoods small-mindedness. The anger of white poverty. Folks who feel they’ve been robbed of the American dream. Add a dash of intergenerational sore-loserdom from the American civil war.
Of course, “rednecks” do have a right to be angry. Their dream was stolen. Not by immigrants or gays, but by the same gilded age robber barons after whom their abandoned mining towns were named. The descendents of those robber barons now own the hedge funds that own the shell companies that own the grocery stores and shopping malls and, well… +90% of the stock market. And it’s getting worse, not better.
As Naomi Klein so eloquently put it, “They got the feelings right, but the facts wrong.” - they’re mad at the wrong people, but they’re mad nonetheless. Jobs are scarce, iPhones are expensive, and prescription opioids are offered to numb the dissonance. Their god-given middle class prosperity of yesteryear has expired.
In short, redneck is a loaded term. Hoser is less complicated.
Hosers are not born of resentment. They are the Big Lebowskis of small-town Canada. Each blessed moment is an opportunity for a BBB (Bonfires, Brewskies, Buddies). Their quest for a good time is eerily zen. In my experience, it’s rare to find a hoser whose company you do not enjoy, and their political alignments cannot be presumed in any direction.
Perhaps they never dared to dream of prosperity. The carrot was neither dangled nor promised. Ignorance is bliss.
The term hoser was popularized in the 80s by brothers Bob & Doug McKenzie, portrayed by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas in SCTV’s recurring sketch The Great White North (and, eventually, the film Strange Brew).
In the 90s, America was introduced to a suburban brand of hoser by Mike Myers (also Canadian) in Saturday Night Live’s Wayne’s World, which bears an unmistakable influence from The Great White North.
The origins of the term hoser are unclear, but the internet hypothesizes that it may refer to someone who uses a hose to siphon/steal gas from a car (preferably in the parking lot of a Zellers). It’s also a verb - if you suffer a great defeat at pond hockey, you could say you “got hosed”.
In 2002, modern hoser culture gained a head-banger flare from the Canadian indie film FUBAR. This runaway cult hit popularized the term “GIVE’R!”, which you can still hear offered coast-to-coast during any kind of “hold my beer, I’m about to ride my BMX off the roof” type moment.
I grew up mostly in cities, and to upper-middle class parents (a lawyer and a minister). To claim true hoserdom myself would be disingenuous. My kids are even more urban than I was at their ages. But I believe there to be an inner hoser in most/all Canadians. There’s a reason these cherished hoser characters resonate so deeply with us. They’re part of our national identity. Benevolent chaos.
Friggin’ rights, bud.
Still curious what a modern hoser sounds like? Take it away, OGR-Scintilla:
Stay tuned for further touring announcements, there’s more in the pipe.
All my love. Thank you for your eyes and your ears,
x
Dan
UPCOMING SHOWS
Apr 10. Hood River, OR - Private Show SOLD OUT
Apr 11. Sisters, OR - Frankie’s Upstairs
Apr 12. Bend, OR - Domino Room
Apr 15. Atlanta, GA - Eddie’s Attic %
Apr 16. Marshall, NC - Zadie’s % ADDED / FREE
Apr 17. Raleigh, NC - The Pour House %
Apr 19. Wayne, PA - 118 North % SOLD OUT
Apr 21. Boston, MA - Passim ^ SOLD OUT
Apr 22. New York, NY - Baby’s All Right ^
Apr 23. Providence, RI - The Parlour ^
Apr 24. Manchester, VT - Billsville House Concerts ^ SOLD OUT
Jun 11. Uxbridge, ON - Springtide Music Festival ! SOLD OUT
Jul 3-5. Orillia, ON - Mariposa Folk Festival &
Aug 21-23. Owen Sound, ON - Summerfolk # @
National Light Tour
Presale begins Wednesday, April 8 @ 10am local (password: LIGHT)
👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
Sep 5. Pender Island, BC - Pender Island Community Hall ANNOUNCED
Sep 12. Prince George, BC - Knox Performance Centre ANNOUNCED
Sep 17. Courtenay, BC - Native Sons Hall ANNOUNCED
Sep 18. Nanaimo, BC - The Port Theatre ANNOUNCED
Sep 19. Tofino, BC - Tofino Legion ANNOUNCED
Oct 2. Saskatoon, SK - Broadway Theatre ANNOUNCED
Nov 13. Montreal, QC - Church of the Gesu ANNOUNCED
Nov 14. Quebec City, QC - L’Anti Bar & Spectacles ANNOUNCED
Nov 16. Kingston, ON - The Spire ANNOUNCED
Nov 17. London, ON - Aeolian Hall ANNOUNCED
# full band show
! with Young Novelists, Hollowsage & The Three Mile Islanders
& with Steve Earle & more
@ with Jane Siberry & more
% with Nathan Evans Fox
^ with Matt Pond PA