December 22/01
Hello HO HO
Here's a few words to all the naughty and the nice. It is great to be alive and at home for this December 25. I hope the same for you who read this. All is buzzing around here and also in Styxworld. We spent a week together in Los Angeles from Dec.10 and got a few things down including some new music. This me like mucho bella...whatever that means. We're even thinking that perhaps we'll write some more, then record it and release it to the world like a professional band! (my sarcasm classes are really starting to pay off )

We also played a Christmas show for KLOS at which I met Mrs. Partridge herself (in a pear-tree of course ) I told her she was a huge influence on my keyboard playing style and I was inspired by those great Partridge Family lyrics:" C'MON GET HAPPY"... (if you just sang that to yourself I'll bet you're happy now ). At the same show were Brian Setzer, Pat Benatar, Eric Burden and even Jack Palance who took time to insult my shirt... I' ve since had it burned. Great audience as well. In addition we attended a dinner for those who contributed to the House of Ruth, and bashed out a few Christmas carols around the piano. This I enjoyed even more because of the surroundings; Sunset Boulevard, Eddie Van Halen, Styx, and a singing restaurant of "beautiful-people"... even Roger Ebert was sighted and it is rumoured that he gave it a thumb-up ! ( I hope that was his thumb) , all very different from this Canadian's perspective.

Earlier in the month, here in Toronto, I had a great time playing with Jeff Healy at his club and I was touched to see so many familiar faces by the stage... it was breathing space only! Since returning home I' ve been blowing my cash, making my own cappucino's, trying to play along to the Charlie Brown Christmas cd, and waiting for three spirits to visit me on Christmas-eve. I have even bought my tofurkey ! (non-vegetarians reading that last line are scratching their heads) ...gobble gobble. I anticipate the swallow of a million cranberries by my own mouth. Boy! Santa, will my nose be red ! Are they good for you? Is chocolate good for you ? Who cares.

Now let me come to the point in my own words; "Though it's been said many times, many ways...Merry"... okay, maybe those are not my own words. But at least I rip-off the good stuff... Have a joyous and fun-filled Christmas all of you. Don't forget to ring the bells. Cheers and good health. Joyeux Noel a tous ! Yours in jingle-bell rock, Lawrence Gowan
p.s. Hope to see you New-Years-Eve in Lake Tahoe, or somewhere in 2002. Till then, may kilt-y pleasures be yours.

November 13, 2001
Hello,
We visited "Ground Zero" today to present a cheque for $500,000 to the NY Port Authority Police. Words cannot convey the experience. Perhaps in a few days I'll try to express my thoughts.
L. Gowan

October 22, 2001
Hello Hello,
The idea and the spirit was pure Tommy Shaw. The atmosphere was charged.The fans were true-breed-marathon-rockers who gave it all and for the last two nights of benefit concerts in Atlanta and Dallas I'll always be grateful. What a tremendous effort by all the bands; Styx, Bad Company, REO, Journey, Grand Funk-Mark Farner, John Waite, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Survivor, Peter Frampton, Eddie Money, Edgar Winter, Kansas, and a great hosting job by Drew Carey! I was so entertained by all. My thanks to those who contributed by their attendance...(one couple paid $10,000 for a pair of front row seats)!...I hope they caught a polaroid...

These are exceptional days. Also, we sang "God Bless America" at the Alanta Braves baseball game on Friday night and I seized the opportunity to shake the hand of past President Jimmy Carter as we left the field. ...I wonder what he paid for front row?...I hope he caught a puck...Thanks
again, if you're reading this Mr. President. You made my day. Back to the concerts; I'm still reeling. Exceptional days; Cheers, Lawrence Gowan

October 9, 2001
Greetings to all, I've been meaning to send a note for some time... but with my CNN addiction life has me glued by the eye-balls and unsure of what to say. The shows we have done since Sept. 11 have been most meaningful and I am grateful to the audiences for their life-affirming gusto, their emotional patriotism, and their presence! Freedom lives! I'm also glad to be preparing for our two benefit shows upcoming in Dallas and Atlanta. I know they are going to be of help to many, and I'm honoured to take part. And then Styx comes back to Canada! Well...Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. T'will be great I'm sure. But I, like millions on earth, see more than ever that life has taken on a deeper sense of purpose and everything is magnified in significance. Words mean more. Songs resonate stronger. Jokes are funnier...(I wish I had one to share)...Did you see Saturday Night Live? I thought it was great. Everything has changed and will ultimately get better, I must believe. All the best to all who read this and my recommendation that we all keep doing the things we love to do. Now can I get an Amen?... p.s. John Lennon is 61 today; great music lives forever.
Cheers, Lawrence Gowan

July 17, 2001
Hail to all,
Styx have just completed our tour with Bad Company, Billy Squier and Joe Stark and what a tour that was! Just a joy to be a part of from the start. We were given the best response to date from all of you who ventured into "STYXWORLD" and The Rock n Roll hall of fame (where the tour officially began) were given a nice tidy sum from us at the second last show (presented giant-cheque style on stage in Chicago). Too many highlights are flooding back to me as I write this and I'll have to contain my selections to these few for now. Toronto of course would be high on my list simply because of my experiences with so many Gowan shows there at Ontario Place...past. I made reference to a bit of that past prior to our Styx rendition of A Criminal Mind. (or: "the song that would not die"). The production for Criminal made it feel fresh and vibrant from my perspective and I would suspect that many in the crowd felt it lifted the piece beyond it's known refrain. Or maybe Styx just play the hell out of it. I was also happy to hear it on the radio in so many of the U.S. cities we played and, for me, playing it in all the shows made me feel as though my solo days and my current status as one piece of the Styx magic, have taken a very fluent course. As James Brown testified "I Feel Good...I knew that I would now.."

Los Angeles, Detroit, New Jersey, Dallas and of course Chicago all provided particularly endearing nights, but I'm hard pressed to really think of any city that did not. It just went beautifully all across the nation and my thanks to all of you who made it so. Also, apart from the shows I enjoyed my "Lawrence Gowan Does America" tourist extravaganzas. Walking the Freedom Trail of Paul Revere through the streets of Boston (and re-enacting Bobby Orr's overtime goal in the parking lot where the Boston Garden once stood) were fun. As was my visit alone to the Bates Motel and the house where Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" were filmed. I went to JFK's grave (five minutes later Ted Kennedy passed me on the street) in Washington. I was allowed to play Franz Lizst's piano in the Metropolitan Art Museum in Manhattan...It was all so great.
To Be Continued ...Many Thanks;
Lawrence Gowan

April 1, 2001 (this is not an April fool joke)
Hear Ye, Hear Ye all who care to know...
We just got back from our official Summer Tour Announcement at the Rock n Roll Hall o' Fame. We have now made it known that STYX will tour throughout the summer of 2001 with Bad Company and Billy Squier. Also a young blues guitarist Joe Stark will join us. The press conference was lively and cheerful in that Hallowed Hall of Cleveland and we enjoyed the presence of the Styx followers who were in attendance as well. Tommy and myself did a similar press day in Pittsburgh the day before. We also let it be heard that our new live album which we recorded in Japan, Canada and Germany will be coming out during the tour with the title STYXWORLD to coincide with the nature of the record. It will feature songs that were hits for the band outside of the USA and will include a song by some Scottish-Irish-Canadian guy... a Styxified version (and a fine one at that) of A Criminal Mind. Oooooo me so extra exxxcited ! I can't wait for this new record and our new show to get happening. One other thing of note I'd like to share. While at the RnR Hall of Fame I saw the special John Lennon exhibit which included his original lyric manuscripts for such songs as "In My Life" and "Imagine". What a wonderous experience to get so close while listening to them being played over the sound system. It once again re-affirmed my faith in music's overwhelming power to hold you in an awestruck trance. Pure magic. Lawrence Gowan

Name-droppers-Anonymous arrested me and I told them that my new pal Sting would be paying my bail. Kelowna B.C. was also a welcome sight for mine eyes to see from Rocky Mountain to screaming mob. But I think the experience of playing at the Superbowl will be a stand-out for some time to come. I wish I could describe the rush of adrenaline that surged in us when we were on that field in Tampa-Bay. It was "Top o' the world Ma!" kinda vibe. Superbowl, January 28, 2001, the two-hundred and nineteenth time I'd walked onstage with Styx was one amazing moment. I was touched-down deep. Get it? Touchdown deep? Y'know like football...when a guy scores a goal and it's called a TOUCHD...well maybe it's not that funny but it was one of the best gigs ever. If anyone reading this were among the 72 thousand in attendance, I'll bet you enjoyed it ! Maybe you too were touchdown deee...Okay, I'll stop it... At the conclusion of this run of shows we travelled to Palm Springs for a couple of days to do a photo shoot for this summers upcoming tour. If you visit Styxworld.com , you'll see some of Tommy's video clips of that day. We're now back at our homes preparing musically for the changes that will define those shows and allowing the gods to perhaps enlighten us with a few new tunes as well.

Keep yer torches lit, and I'll sieze you somewhere up the road...til then, Lawrence Gowan.