It's really been a year so far - harsh Winter in this part of Canada, and,
before we're out of the woods weather-wise, Allison formed a band - and I'm
still a long ways from being up-to-date. Maybe it's just that way.

The quartet - Allison, accompanied by Billie Woods (guitar), Dave Baird (bass)
and Laurent Boucher (percussion) has just performed a series of concerts on
Canada's Pacific Coast. They're wonderful - and it's bringing out a lot of
different songs in Alley's repertoire.

Next, they're off to Newfoundland for a pair of concerts, then, it's the first
European band tour ever for Allison ( :

Also new, should you not have seen this -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlB-NfVuaCA - Allison was invited to contribute a
recording of John Lennon's "Imagine" to make a video for the release of a new
book of photos - here's the fuller scoop:

"Give Peace a Chance: John & Yoko's Bed-In for Peace" celebrated by new Allison
Crowe video

“Once upon a time, there were two balloons called Jock and Yono,” begins
John Lennon’s ’airy tale on The Beatles’ 1968 Christmas record.

It was a time when the actions of popular musicians and artists could be aimed
to make us think - not just buy.

"We're going to sell peace the way other people sell soap", Lennon told a young
photo-journalist Gerry Deiter. In the Spring of 1969, Deiter was assigned by
LIFE Magazine to document the “Bed-In for Peace” staged by John Lennon and
Yoko Ono at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel. As performance art it spanned
eight days a week - from May 25 to June 1 '69 - and was designed to bring
attention to social issues of the day and, particularly, the US war in Vietnam.

Born in 1934 in Brooklyn, New York, Dieter emigrated to Canada during the war in
Vietnam. He was the only photographer present for the entire 8 days of the
Montreal “Bed-In for Peace”. There he captured hundreds of images of John
and Yoko singing, composing, visiting with friends and talking to the media.
Lennon and Ono spoke to some 150 journalists during the press conferences they
held daily from their bed. June 1, 1969 was the culmination - the recording of
“Give Peace A Chance”, now an international peace anthem.

With war fever again poisoning mainstream culture, a few years ago Gerry Deiter
retrieved his archival photos. Partnered with Joan Athey, a long-time CBC
publicist, and based out of Victoria, Canada, their team mounted exhibitions to
renew the message of peace and understanding.

On December 10, 2005, just days after launching an exhibition at the Royal
British Columbia Museum, and marking the 25th anniversary of John Lennon’s
assassination, photographer, newsman, and life-long activist Gerry Dieter passed
away following an heart attack.

Dieter’s son Nathaniel inherited the iconic prints, and, keeping her promise
to spread the word, Joan Athey acquired a collection of these rarely-seen
images.

Now... these images come together in the book "Give Peace a Chance: John &
Yoko's Bed-In for Peace". Photography by Gerry Deiter. Compiled by Joan Athey.
Edited by Paul McGrath. Published by John Wiley and Sons.

The book launch happens this Sunday, April 19, at 2 p.m. in the Collard Room,
Swans Pub, 506 Pandora Ave., Victoria, BC, Canada. International book events are
scheduled for: May 12, Gershwin Hotel at 8 pm time in New York City (generously
sponsored by the Gershwin); and May 26, at Toronto’s Stephen Bulger Gallery.
Photo exhibitions open May 26 in Liverpool, England at “The Beatles Story”
and June 12 at the Bethel Woods Arts Centre, (Woodstock Festival) in New York.
http://www.peaceworksnow.com

Canadian musician Allison Crowe, one of her generation’s most independent and
acclaimed singer-songwriters, is honoured to do her part in celebrating the book
and the 40th anniversary of the Bed-In. In 2007, Crowe proved a sensation at the
John Lennon Northern Lights Festival - named the UK's best new music festival.
In 2008 she headlined a concert for the John Lennon Memorial Garden in Durness,
Scotland. This week, she’s created a new video -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlB-NfVuaCA - uniting dozens of Gerry Deiter’s
images of the 1969 Bed-In with a recording of “Imagine” - captured “Live
at Wood Hall”, in concert in 2005 at the Victoria Conservatory of Music.

Allison Crowe's videos have been enjoyed by over five million people globally.
Her audience online grows by over 200,000 people each month. The bicoastal
singer-songwriter, (whose home territory covers Nanaimo, BC to Corner Brook,
NL), has just completed a concert tour of coastal BC with her new band. The
quartet next perform dates in Newfoundland before an European tour that takes
them to Edinburgh, London, Aachen, Frankfurt, Berlin, Prague, Vienna and more
cities. Details tba.

Imagine peace. May we all live “hopefully ever after”.