Shot in various locales between Ontario's "Homegrown Hamilton" and rural Nova Scotia, and with help from our friend Paul Copoc, the Ryan Stanley directed new film "Not The End" depicts the transition from earth to sky.
I edited together footage of myself performing one of my earliest attempts at songwriting in contrasting settings. This was, in part, to help show the path from idea to realization in pure documentary style - similar to the song's lyrics.
The bridge depicted at the end of the film has personal significance, but can also serve as a symbol of the lack of compassion for human existence that occurred in the village of Africville, Nova Scotia.
Lyrics:
Curse the town where I grew up
And fell back down
Force too many bastard smiles
I should leave here for awhile
So I talk to the dead
And I talk with my hands
You live inside your head
But this is not the end
Guns blaze and the leaders smoke cigars
You wouldn't take one
Standing in the schoolyard
Saw my neighbour try to choke his wife
With a telephone wire
She wore a neck brace after that night
And no one said goodbye
Over-analyse the stares of the people uptown
Never let your actions
Precede their reactions
You think you're tough
But it's rarely enough
If you keep digging up
You will only find dust
Where your bones used to be
And your recollections of me
Unshackled by grief
For a life you can't lead
So you try to forget
Leave your keys in the door again
Spout wisdom from a can
But this is not the end
This is not the end
