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Born
and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, TOM LIPS is a gifted
singer and songwriter as well as a creative and dynamic
teller of traditional and original stories and a poet
whose work has appeared in The Fiddlehead
and Descant. He has written hundreds of songs in an eclectic mix of styles, rooted
primarily in the folk genre. Performance credits as
a singer-songwriter include opening for Hart Rouge
and Christine Lavin, special guest performer for Kingston's Open Voices Choir, appearances at the National
Arts Centre Fourth Stage, the Blue Skies Festival (as guest of the Blue Skies Choir), the Alnwick International
Folk Music and Dance Festival (U.K.), the Folk
Upstairs Acoustic Series (Perth), The Ottawa
Folk Festival, The Strawberry Moon Festival,
The Great Canadian Theatre Company, Rasputin's,
and numerous contributions to theatrical productions.
He has performed and recorded with the band Pilgrim
Fire. Tom has been featured on CBC Radio's
national comedy program, "Madly Off in All Directions."
Tom's
first solo recording , a CD entitled "Made of Sky,"
(Mylodon Music, January 1999) has won many
friends. (It features, among other gems, the unofficial national anthem of Saskatchewan expatriates.)
"There's
a terrific new album by Canadian singer/songwriter
Tom Lips called Made of Sky. Tom possesses a deep,
beautiful voice (think James Keelaghan crossed with
Lyle Lovett) and is a masterful singing storyteller.
The production is first-rate, the ballads are soulful
and the funny stuff, is, well what can you say about
lyrics like "if you've got a yen for tall and scrawny
men/all I have to ask of you is, honey, where've you
been?/I'm a skinny white male out here looking for
love." I recommend this album highly and already know
it will be on my top ten list for the year 1999."
-Christine
Lavin
Tom's
songs have been featured on recordings by Joan
MacIsaac, Karen
Lahaise, and Writers
Bloc. His most recent CD, "Practical Man,"
released in 2004, once again shows his emotional
and stylistic range, with tender ballads of love lost
and found, rousing gospel and rock tunes, a post-modern
lullaby, a polka about the afterlife, and more.
A
public servant by day, Tom spent five years (up to summer 2008) living on a biodynamic farm
in Ottawa's Green Belt with his wife (the farmer)
and two stepdaughters, a Border Collie, a barn cat, three Highland
cattle, eight Shetland sheep, and some Leghorn and
Chanticleer chickens, not to mention countless groundhogs,
deer, rabbits, Canada Geese, and other creatures. They have now moved into town (the humans and the Border collie, that is) and are enjoying the new lifestyle, though sometimes missing the elbow room.
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Tom
is also an experienced storyteller with a flair for
original or traditional tales of humour and the fantastic.
(For more information about storytelling, visit the web sites of
the Ottawa
Storytellers and Storytellers
of Canada).
Storytelling
performance credits include:
The Ottawa Folk Festival, the Quebec Intercultural Storytelling Festival, and the Storytelling Festivals
of Ottawa, Toronto, Westport, and North Bay
The Governor General's Residence (Open House featured
storyteller)
The Kingston Art Gallery
Major's Hill Park (July 1st
festivities)
Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton Headquarters
Host of Ottawa Storytellers' monthly Thursday Night
story swap, 1995-1998
The "Stories from the Ages" series at Rasputin's,
1996-present (selections from the Odyssey, the Chinese
folk epic "Monkey," the Mabinogion of Wales, the Iliad,
the Kalevala of Finland, the Mahabharata of India, and others)
The Children's
Museum, Canadian Museum of Civilization (Klondike
program, Medieval program, Robert W. Service program)
Storytellers of Canada Annual Conference
Hugh's Room, Toronto
National Arts Centre Fourth Stage Storytelling Series
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