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Jenny songwriter turns attention from 867-5309 to 807’s homeless

The songwriter who gave the world Tommy Tutone’s 867-5309/Jenny has turned his attention to Kenora’s homeless.
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The songwriter who gave the world Tommy Tutone’s 867-5309/Jenny has turned his attention to Kenora’s homeless.

Alex Call’s new song There’s An Angel In There Somewhere will debut at a Monday concert to kick off Kenora’s Week of Action Against Poverty.
The song’s threads have been weaving through Call’s consciousness since he was a boy.

The title is inspired by a story about Michelangelo in which a child asks the Italian artist what he intends to sculpt from a rock of marble. The artist allegedly replied, “there’s an angel inside if I can only let it out.”

That’s a bit like what Call sees in the streets of Kenora, where he has spent the last four winters. 

“It’s kind about the suffering of people. It’s about having compassion. Obviously here, there are problems locally with alcohol and poverty,” Call said.

“This is what I do as a songwriter. I’m always looking to speak out. Even though my famous song is a girl’s number on a bathroom wall, songwriters are only responsible for a certain extent for what comes out of them. A lot of it just happens.”

Call’s partner lives within blocks of Kenora’s downtown liquor store and at times, the midnight fights spill into the back lanes nearby. He’s witnessed homeless people passed over in dangerously cold temperatures and can see the inhumanity that’s inherent to their situation.   

“Some of them have been here for years doing the same thing. They’re not young,” Call remarked.

“In my view – and it’s not an uncommon view – deep down inside of us, we’re all good. Every person starts out life as a little baby and things can get difficult after that. Some people are fortunate and some are not so fortunate and have to go through a lot.”

As for Call, he’s living humbly and writing a song or two a week that he records on his home studio and frequently posts to his Youtube page. Clover’s former frontman has backed up Elvis Costello and contributed to popular culture at the top of the charts, writing Little Too Late by Pat Benatar and giving Huey Lewis the title for Power of Love.

These days, Call finds something satisfyingly intimate about performing a new song about a poignant social issue in a small-town coffee shop.

“I feel fortunate in that I’m not as ego-bound as I may have once been,” he said.

“If I was asked to play the Hollywood Bowl tomorrow, I’d be happy with that but it would be even better if I was playing at the Hollywood Bowl for homeless people or refugees or something. That type of thing has always been more important to me.”   

Alex Call will perform at Nourish in Kenora at 7 p.m. on Feb. 15.


 





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