How Alex Henry Foster Celebrates the New Year Plus an Amazing News! 🚨

Hey,

Happy New Year to you and your loved ones from Alex, myself, all the Long Shadows, as well as the entire team at Hopeful Tragedy Records! Let’s make it way better than the last and this in every possible aspect of our lives!

2023 will be a very unique year for Alex, as it robustly starts with an open-heart surgery wobbling us all in the team and the band, as he shared on January 1st. This year will be filled with so many great projects such as a new album, tours, festivals and so much more, if Alex is back on his feet later this Spring! No matter what happens, I’ll be connected with you on a weekly basis until the end of 2023!

I’m still at Alex’s house in Virginia as I’m putting those words down on what is my very first Club Missive of the year, so I thought I’d start it properly! It’s right now 11 am on Friday the 6th, and I’m listening to Mogwai’s Black Bird soundtrack album. It’s just so great to start the year with a personal classic musically, especially when it comes to connecting with you..! :)

We just said goodbye, about an hour ago, to the last remaining HTR friends who decided to drive down from Montreal to celebrate the new year with Alex! It has been a tradition ever since we started the label back in 2009 to invite those who are available to join and create what usually is the craziest party of the entire year! This year was no different, it was rather above and beyond, paramount in every aspect where new unforgettable memories have been added to the HTR New Year’s book of fame and shame! (Don’t ask..! This book will never be shown or released anywhere!) 

Just imagine 15 people, all friends for more than a decade, huge music lovers, art consumers, dedicating their lives to inspire people throughout stories, concerts, albums, embracing a truly DIY ethos working on weekends and countless hours year in year out, simply gathered to celebrate this passion and dedication for a few nights in a row! To me, this is the art of celebrating the art of living! We’re so blessed and fortunate to have the chance to redefine the boundaries of friendship and what it means to share and build a common dream year after year! This truly is my favorite time of the year!!!

This year was obviously particular, to say the least, with Alex’s heart condition, but it was also wonderful, heartfelt, and memorable nonetheless. Alex’s heart and soul’s fabric are very deeply rooted into living things with such passion, whether it’s love, joy, laughter, sadness, frustration, dream and hope. There is no half measure, the glass is always full or empty, especially, when it comes to celebrating life and having a great time! 

I wanted to share a few glorious moments with you all to start the year! 

Another tradition that we’ve been embracing for so many years is to gather at sunrise on January 1st, after a long night of trashing the previous year on soundtracks built around The Cramps, The Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, The Ramones, and so on… It’s at around 6:30 am that we gather outside, waiting for new promises to unveil themselves throughout the wonderful spectacle of the first rising sun of the year...! Bruised from the past few hours crowd surfing, falling down, carpet burns, still a little dizzy but thoughtful, silent, reflecting on what’s ahead, what’s to come, what we can do best, and how can we evolve as individuals facing one of the most inspiring shows there is to see… Well at least for this year to come! 

Once the sun is completely out, shining brightly to a point where you can’t look at it, we open a bottle of champagne and make a toast for the new year! I had the opportunity to do it this year, and here’s what I said:

“Just as we witnessed for the past hour, not only our eyes will see magic and wonders throughout the year, starting with Alex’s complete recovery, but we will also and especially discover a lot more of what it means to fully embrace and become magical and wonderful to a degree we can’t believe while we are raising our glasses at this very moment! To 2023!” 

I know how hard it is to find good news these days, as we’re all surrounded by economic challenges, war in Ukraine, environmental changes, political extremism on both sides of the aisle, solitude, depression, anxiety, mental health, cynicism, and the list goes on and on. Which is why, I not only believe, but want to keep encouraging as many people as possible to shine as bright as they possibly can, that when it’s really dark around, just a little match can light up an entire room…! Darkness can’t win over darkness, only light can, even if very fragile and very dimmed… 

FESTIVAL ANNOUNCEMENT 2023

Let’s start this year in grand style! Here’s one of many announcements as a starter! We’ll be in Europe all summer long! 

IMPORTANT - ALEX'S MANDOLIN DRAW

As Alex kept on saying since December 31st turned into January 1st, we don’t say those words enough throughout the year… So, “Happy New Year” again and I can’t wait to see you all on January 14th! 

Thank you for your friendship! 

Let’s be great to one another! 

Your Friend and Host, 
Jeff