family history

Unique heritage trip to China

Len, Jeffrey, Sharon and Valerie on their family trip to China in 2009. (photo from Valerie [Chan] Hum)

Little did we realize when our son, Jeffrey, married Sharon Szmuilowicz in August 2008 that we would find ourselves visiting China nine months later as a family and visiting all our ancestral homes.

My family comes from the village of Sui Nam, Toi San district, Guangdong province. My grandfather was sponsored by a tailor and moved to Victoria in 1893 as a 16-year-old from a very poor family. He eventually married, started a restaurant business (the Panama Café) and fathered 12 children. Today, more than 140 Chan family members have been born in Canada over five generations and 131 years.

My husband Len’s family was from a small village of 30 houses in Chongkou, Kaiping district, Guangdong province. Len’s father traveled back and forth between China and New Westminster to earn money to support his family. In 1950, Len and his grandmother left China for Vancouver and then met up with Len’s father, who had moved to Ottawa. Two years later, the rest of Len’s family arrived in Canada. The family owned a number of restaurants over the years.

When our son married a Jewish woman from Toronto, we never thought we would learn that her family has ties to China as well.

The idea for the trip to China was initiated by Sharon. She felt it was important to learn about Jeffrey’s culture and family history. However, since the Szmuilowicz clan also had a direct link to China via Shanghai, it was an opportunity to explore both their histories.

On May 13, 2009, 62 years after Sharon’s family left China, our tour guide Hao brought us to the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, the former Ohel Moishe Synagogue, at Sharon’s request, where we were able to access a computer database listing all the refugees who had lived in Shanghai. We were so pleased to see Sharon’s grandfather and great-grandfather listed in the database, including their former address. Jacob and Samuel Szmuilowicz, age 59 and 21, were listed as Polish refugees living at 30-50 Zangyang Rd. What a tremendous discovery! And, to top it off, 30-50 was next door to the synagogue and was still standing.

photo - Valerie and Sharon outside the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, the former Ohel Moishe Synagogue — Valerie and Sharon outside the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum, the former Ohel Moishe Synagogue. *(photo from Valerie [Chan] Hum)*

We decided to knock on their door and see if anyone remembered Sharon’s family. The present residents moved into the building in 1950 and had no recollection of the previous Jewish residents who had crammed into these small apartments more than 70 years ago. Although we could not find anyone who knew Sharon’s family, it was still a remarkable discovery to find the records and the home they had lived in.

For the purposes of our trip, Sharon’s story begins with her grandfather, Samuel. To escape conscription into the Russian army, Samuel and his father, Jacob, left their homes, by foot, in 1939, making their way to Japan via Manchuria. At the time, Samuel was at university in Vilna (now Lithuania; then under Polish occupation), studying mathematics, and Jacob was running a general store in Lida, then in Lithuania (now in Belarus).

Their transit visas were issued by Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara. He was giving out these visas without the knowledge of his government. It was dangerous for him to do so, but he knew that he needed to do something to save as many Jews as possible. In 1985, Sugihara was the first and only Japanese citizen to be listed by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations.

With visas in hand, the journey took nearly two years to complete. They traveled by day and hid at night, finally arriving in 1941. In January 1942, they were transferred to Shanghai, where they joined the approximately 20,000 Jews who had migrated there in three waves beginning in the 1800s.

During their five years in Shanghai, Jacob sold rice while Samuel, who was attending the American School and learning English, ended up driving jeeps for the American army. They made enough money to leave for Mexico City in 1947, where they ran a textile factory that manufactured cotton goods, and started the Spanish-speaking arm of the Szmuilowicz clan. Sharon’s parents met in Mexico and moved to Canada, so her dad could pursue a career in medicine.

We learned that there were many Jews who fled Eastern Europe and ended up in Hong Kong or China.

The next part of our discovery trip found us traveling by ferry from Hong Kong over to the mainland city of Zha Hai, where we were then met by distant Hum clan relatives, who drove us to my paternal grandfather Chan’s hometown of Sui Nam. I suspect I am the only descendant who has made the trek back to the town of Sui Nam, which appears very old and somewhat decayed, but still standing.

photo - In the village of Lohk Hing Leih, 90-year-old Mrs. Tam remembered Len, who used to play with her eldest son — In the village of Lohk Hing Leih, 90-year-old Mrs. Tam remembered Len, who used to play with her eldest son. *(photo from Valerie [Chan] Hum)*

Half an hour later, we arrived in the small village of Lohk Hing Leih, a cluster of 27 buildings housing the remaining Hum clan. Len’s family left the village in 1949, spending a year-and-a-half in Hong Kong awaiting their papers for entry into Canada. The village remains very poor, comprised of mostly vacant buildings surrounded by rice paddies and vegetable gardens.

Ninety-year-old Mrs. Tam, looking remarkably spry and pleasant, incredibly, remembered Len, who used to play with her eldest son. The other village residents were too young to remember him, but they swiftly brought out some food offerings, the incense, paper money to burn before the family altar, and lit some Chinese firecrackers. These are age-old traditions, in honour of the Hum ancestors. There were no young people living in the village. They had all left to find jobs in the cities. We wonder if the village will even exist in 20 years’ time.

Call it fate or bashert that, from the 1940s, three different families who started off in China, one a Jewish refugee family in Shanghai and two native Chinese families living in small villages near Canton, would be reunited in Canada through marriage 70 years later. The biggest blessing is that, on May 11, 2024, a Szmuilowicz-Hum great-great-granddaughter celebrated her bat mitzvah in Toronto. We were all be thrilled to be there.

Valerie (Chan) Hum lives in Ottawa. She was born in Victoria, where her family have lived since 1893. Her grandparents ran the Panama Café at 1407 Government St. for many decades. This article was originally published by the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin.

Creating a family heirloom

Book designer Barbi Braude and filmmaker Cory Bretz, both experienced in family history preservation, have launched FamilyMovieStoryBooks.com, to help “do-it-yourself family historians in crafting and publishing compelling family storybooks and producing cherished family movies.” (photo from Barbi Braude)

Irene Jacobson put the months of isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic to good use, researching and publishing the history of her Jewish family’s long settlement in South Africa.

With that ambitious project completed, the retired schoolteacher thought it was time she put together her own story, which began in South Africa and carried on in the United States, where she raised three children and continued her career, after immigrating in 1977.

But, like many people, Jacobson did not feel she could write an autobiography on her own – all that ordering of memories, distinguishing between fact and anecdote, and selecting from photos and documents amassed over the years seemed overwhelming. The technological tools now available to make that task easier and the finished product more professional-looking are not widely known or may seem intimidating to the amateur.

So, Jacobson, who lives in the Chicago area, turned to a new online platform created for people like her by book designer Barbi Braude and filmmaker Cory Bretz of Vancouver, both experienced in family history preservation.

The website FamilyMovieStoryBooks.com, which they launched after a year’s development, is intended to enable anyone to craft an heirloom that they can feel proud to hand down to future generations, say Braude and Bretz.

They believe that telling stories in an appealing and lasting format, whether book, film or both, provides a sense of fulfillment to the author and can inspire their descendants.

photo - A few examples of books about Vancouverites – Ben Dayson, the Nemetz family and Lou Segal – with which FamilyMovieStoryBooks has helped — A few examples of books about Vancouverites – Ben Dayson, the Nemetz family and Lou Segal – with which FamilyMovieStoryBooks has helped. *(photo from Barbi Braude)*

The platform can serve as a step-by-step guide for those who want to work independently, or Braude and Bretz can arrange to have clients accompanied as much or as little as they want throughout the process.

If someone already has written a draft or taken home videos, they can be polished into a finished product, or the pair will take on the project from the very beginning, doing interviews online and going through possible imagery, shaping the material for the client.

“This innovative website aids do-it-yourself family historians in crafting and publishing compelling family storybooks and producing cherished family movies,” said Bretz. “The platform offers an array of valuable resources, including unwavering support, educational courses, interactive workshops led by experts, and professional design services.” Prospective users can take a free trial, and initial consultation is available without charge.

Jacobson had worked with Braude on her first book. “It’s fabulous. It is about my great-grandparents who went to South Africa with their four adult children, of whom one was my grandmother. We could not go further back than the great-grandparents, so we went forward and did a history book of the four siblings, their lives and descendants.”

The book about the Mierowsky family on her mother’s side, who were from Lithuania, is more than 400 pages long, with numerous photos. A copy was deposited with the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia.

“The book I’m doing now through FamilyMovieStoryBooks is much less complicated and much smaller,” said Jacobson. “It is basically my biography, which I had written over a few years. As I’m older I felt I needed to get it done soon and in a simpler fashion. It’s my memories in chronological order.”

Jacobson (née Albert) was born in Port Elizabeth, a fifth-generation South African on her paternal side. She was a high school teacher there.

She and her husband came to the United States in 1977, where her children were born. Jacobson taught middle-school math and science at Jewish day schools.

“As my mother’s family is in my first book, I am going to have a small chapter, as an addendum, on my father’s family in my biography,” Jacobson said. After her autobiography is finished, she hopes to do a more comprehensive story of her Albert ancestors.

“I’m doing this book for me and my children and grandchildren. I will give copies to two friends I grew up with, as their children might find it interesting,” Jacobson said. “My first book is about how my parents’ generation grew up in South Africa. Mine is about how I grew up in South Africa and then my life in the US. I think everyone should do something for their family, especially if they have an interesting story to tell. Stories should be told, not lost.”

Jacobson chose FamilyMovieStoryBooks because it’s easy and affordable. “Barbi brainstormed a theme, so that helped me organize my thoughts. She also told me how to organize my photos to help me make choosing them easier,” said Jacobson.

“I am not particularly computer literate, but getting everything online has been easy to do. I could not find another place that did the same quality work. I wanted photos and more design. My brother-in-law worked on his memoirs with a ghost writer and it’s very dull with no design or photos. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product, which is still a few months away, as I do what I can between traveling.

Braude said all communications with Jacobson are done remotely using Zoom for conversations and Google Drive for sharing chapters and images.

“At first I had to tutor Irene on how to use Google Drive. We are always happy to meet clients where their skill sets are computer-wise. We have the patience to empower our clients to use the internet.”

Working on the design remotely is fairly straightforward, said Braude, who employs the user-friendly Adobe Cloud for proofing feedback. FamilyMovieStoryBooks aims to serve people worldwide.

photo - A peek inside the book about Ben Dayson shows what FamilyMovieStoryBooks can do — A peek inside the book about Ben Dayson shows what FamilyMovieStoryBooks can do. *(photo from Barbi Braude)*

Clients receive a high-quality hardcover book with glossy pages that reproduce photos and documents like birth certificates, immigration papers and letters in the best definition.

The movies directed by Bretz have the advantage of preserving the living presence and voice of the storyteller, he said. “It’s surprising how little people at shivas know about their deceased relative.”

Distance has not precluded close collaboration, both Jacobson and Braude attest. “A wonderful relationship does form between FamilyMovieStoryBooks and our clients,” said Braude, who is also currently designing a book for a Vancouver family. “The story is a collaboration between a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor and her daughter. The daughter said to me the other day, ‘What am I going to do when we complete this project? I have so enjoyed working with you as much as seeing my mom’s story come to life.’”

Asked if the platform can be especially valuable to Jewish families in general, Braude replied, “Absolutely! I’m reminded of a quote by Sue Monk Kidd from her book The Secret Life of Bees. It goes like this: ‘Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here.’

“Jews have lived in challenging times. We are the sum of our family legacy and life’s experiences. What better gift to give to future generations than the stories that made their families who they are,” said Braude.

Bretz commented that such a meaningful experience is “a testament to the power of bridging generations through the art of storytelling.” The FamilyMovieStoryBooks platform shares publishing and cinematic know-how with the general public that can transform what might be soon-forgotten family lore into a cherished artifact, he said. Along the way, family members wherever they are can bond and share a laugh or tear while exploring their common heritage, made possible through an innovative digital environment.

Janice Arnold is a freelance writer living in Summerland, BC.

Genealogy a great motivator

On Nov. 5, Dr. Joshua Grayson, a genealogist specializing in Jewish families from Central and Eastern Europe, was the lead-off speaker for the 2023-24 L’dor V’dor (Generation to Generation) lecture series on Zoom, organized by Victoria’s Kolot Mayim Reform Temple.

Grayson is the founder of Lost Roots Family History, a website, virtual museum and research service devoted to helping Jewish families reconnect with their roots, discover their past, engage with the present and preserve their heritage for the future.

Titled In Search of Lost Roots, Grayson’s talk elaborated on how he was able to trace his family history across three-and-a-half centuries, or 10 generations, to approximately 1650. Proficient in many historical scripts, he has conducted genealogical research in German, Russian, Polish, Hebrew, Yiddish, French and Spanish.

“There’s truly an astonishing amount of information out there,” Grayson said. “With a combination of computer research, language skills, a lot of perseverance and just the right amount of luck, the depth of information you can find about your family history can be simply astounding.”

photo - Dr. Joshua Grayson, founder of Lost Roots Family History, launched this season’s L’dor V’dor lecture series, organized by Victoria’s Kolot Mayim Reform Temple — Dr. Joshua Grayson, founder of Lost Roots Family History, launched this season’s L’dor V’dor lecture series, organized by Victoria’s Kolot Mayim Reform Temple. *(photo from Kolot Mayim)*

Grayson’s interest in family history started at a young age, when visiting his grandparents’ home and being captivated by a photo at the bottom of their staircase. Taken in 1904, it depicted his grandfather’s grandparents and the first five of their 10 children, including his great-grandmother at the age of 11.

“To my childish imagination, I was sure I could almost feel their presence looking over me and their other descendants. At times like these, I would muse at how my close connection with my grandfather was similar to his connection with the people in this photograph. And so on down the unbroken chain of time,” he said.

As a child, Grayson remembers, he was fascinated by the notion of all the people to whom a person could be related.

He recounted later honing his research skills at the University of Southern California, where he earned a PhD in historical musicology – skills, he said, that are particularly well suited to genealogy. They include gathering historical evidence, evaluating sources and communicating ideas.

When he typed in the name of one of section of his ancestry, Penzias, into a database on the Gesher Galicia website, Grayson said, “I quickly discovered records from as early as 1805 because our family name happens to be unique. I felt fairly sure that these were long forgotten family members.”

He said, “These databases allowed me to accomplish in just a few minutes what would otherwise have taken months or years of digging through archives, scanning old record books or microfilms one record at a time.”

As a side note, Grayson stressed that creativity with spelling can be helpful, as names were not written in a standardized way until much later into the 19th century and even into the early 20th century. Although most databases use technology to automatically include names that are spelled in similar ways, the technology is not perfect.

The Zoom lecture brought to light the remarkable and inventive methods of deduction Grayson employed to ascertain his own ancestry – from an egg merchant to a Cubist painter – and the sorts of investigations he performs to uncover the family histories of those who request his services, all while conveying an infectious enthusiasm for Jewish genealogy.

As an example of his research, Grayson spoke about a client who knew nothing of her family history other than her father was from Lublin and lost his entire family in the Holocaust. Grayson was able to trace the client’s father’s family back to 1750 and followed her family members as they moved around rural Poland and to Lublin in the 1880s. He discovered relatives who fought against the Nazis with the underground resistance and, ultimately, connected her with previously unknown family members on five continents.

Grayson is currently in the final stages of constructing a text database of the names of people buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague. The database is based on two 19th-century efforts to preserve names on the tombstones, one of which was published in a book in 1880 and the other of which appears on the website of the Jewish Museum in Prague.

Commissioned by E. Randol Schoenberg, the former president of Holocaust Museum LA, formerly the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, Grayson’s database will cover the names, death dates and, in some cases, biographical details of approximately 15,000 Jews who died in Prague between 1437 and 1787.

“In my experience,” said Grayson, “I’ve found that finding out about family history can be a great way to get people more involved in Judaism. Understanding where we came from and the historical forces that shaped our own families can be a powerful motivator to exploring our Jewish identity.”

For more information about Grayson and his work, visit lostrootsfamilyhistory.com.

Kolot Mayim’s next Zoom speaker will be Dr. Jennifer Caplan, associate professor and chair of Judaic studies at the University of Cincinnati and author of Funny, You Don’t Look Funny. Her talk – titled Jewish Humour from the Silent Generation to Millennials – will take place on Dec. 3, at 11 a.m. To register, and for the full lineup of speakers, visit kolotmayimreformtemple.com.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Finding my “why”

As a former World Jewish Congress Ronald S. Lauder Fellow, I attended the first Ronald S. Lauder Fellowship Diplomacy Summit. The fellowship is an international cohort of top Jewish students with an interest in global Jewish advocacy who are invited to Europe to participate in high-level meetings with government institutions. From the moment I arrived at the summit in Brussels, the excitement felt by the other fellows and staff was infectious.

We began the trip in the European Union offices, hearing from EU members about the state of Europe and advocating for the European Jewish community. This was followed by a visit to NATO. The number of brilliant minds in these rooms was astounding, and it was such a privilege to watch as my small cohort of young Jewish students and professionals posed challenging questions to EU and NATO leaders regarding the state of European Jewry, global antisemitism and recent world tensions.

The same can be said about our visit to UNESCO in Paris the following day. As a media and information studies student with a niche interest in big tech policies, I was intrigued to learn about the organization’s recent report, History Under Attack: Holocaust Distortion and Denial Within Social Media, directly from its writers. I am hopeful that, combined with efforts to address online harms in countries such as Canada, the UNESCO report will spur positive change in hate speech regulation worldwide.

Once the summit concluded, with my Jewish pride at an all-time high, I hopped on a plane to Israel for a much-needed reunion with family and friends, celebrating Shabbat with my great-aunt and others at her beautiful Jerusalem apartment.

After we studied the week’s parashah (Torah portion), a neighbour began to translate a book written in Hebrew by our relative about our family’s history in Israel. Although I had heard these names growing up, I had not fully understood their weight or meaning. It was there, sitting with family and friends, and with the WJC experience fresh in my mind, that I began to appreciate their significance and what my Jewish heritage really means to me.

My great-great-grandfather was Zvi Pesach Frank, chief rabbi of Jerusalem during the end of the Ottoman Empire and the British Mandate of Palestine. He was instrumental in the creation of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and in the appointment of Rav Kook (Abraham Isaac Kook) as the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi. I learned more of his historic contributions and my family’s legacy of working to build and protect Israel.

My experience as a World Jewish Congress Lauder Fellow and attending the summit took on a new layer of meaning. Not only am I inspired and committed to continuing my work in global Jewish advocacy, but I have also developed a determination to follow this path, grounded in my profound pride in my family and their accomplishments over the generations. For that, I am grateful to World Jewish Congress, to my great-aunt and to the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. I look forward to what’s ahead, fully appreciating the rationale supporting my aspirations, and I will hold the summer of 2022 near and dear to my heart.

Following the conference and my visit to Israel, it became clear to me that, in high school – when I found my footing in Jewish leadership and learned more about my intersecting Muslim and Jewish background – I had found the “what” of my life’s passion. It was this summer that I found the “why.”

Tia Sacks is a Vancouver native going into her fourth year at Western University in the faculty of media and information studies. She participated in the World Jewish Congress Lauder Fellowship and is currently the vice-president of the Israel committee at Hillel Western and an intern at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

Orcas inspire creative music

The creation of Songs for a Lost Pod helped singer/songwriter Leah Abramson explore her family’s Holocaust history. (photo by Angela Fama)

The world première of Leah Abramson’s Songs for a Lost Pod was supposed to be part of this year’s PuSh Festival three months ago. Delayed because of COVID restrictions at the time, it now will debut May 28-29, 7:30 p.m., at Studio T, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts.

Songs for a Lost Pod is a “nine-song cycle [that] makes spectacular use of orca vocalizations, transforming them into rhythmic beats in a musical exploration of historical trauma, environmental crisis and communication between species.” The theatrical production is the most recent development in a process that includes an album by the same name, released in 2017.

“It was just an outward spiral, really. The project started with dreams I had about whales, which turned into researching whales for fun, which then turned into a master of fine arts thesis, an album, a comic book, and now a stage show!” said Abramson when the Independent interviewed her in anticipation of the PuSh festival. “When I made the album, I knew there was so much research and information behind the lyrics and music of each song, and I felt like I wanted people to understand that context, so I made the comic book to highlight some of the research and stories. Then, as I was arranging the music to be performed live, I realized that I wanted people to have that context, too, so I’ve turned the research and background into a script. Then we decided that adding visuals would really help immerse the audience in the material. The project has just been expanding from the beginning.”

Abramson, who grew up in Burnaby, said she has been interested in music from a young age. “My grandma sang in her synagogue’s choir and my dad played the piano, so they tell me it runs in the family,” she said. “But I was also told that music was only for fun, and not a real career, unless you were a concert pianist or something like that. So, I tried to do other things, but I was miserable unless I was making music.

“Over the years, I’ve done lots of touring and playing in bands and teaching, but writing and composing has always been what I love the most. I have pretty varied interests – I’m fascinated by marine biology and I love learning about the environment, as well as human history. The great thing about writing songs is that you can research anything and put it into your work. Right now, I’m really excited about writing music for the stage, as well as choral music.”

Along with her MFA in creative writing (with a focus on lyrics) from the University of British Columbia, Abramson studied classical music at Capilano University, and also has studied traditional Appalachian balladry.

In addition to the song-cycle, Songs for a Lost Pod features the narrative script that Abramson mentioned, which “juxtaposes the whale histories with Leah’s own family and their experience surviving the Holocaust and its aftermath,” according to the program description. “Mind of a Snail’s handmade projections create an impressionistic and largely non-representational visual world to support the songs and narration, guiding the audience into a space of contemplation.”

“When I first started looking into whale histories, the parallels presented themselves pretty quickly,” Abramson told the Independent. “It was not my intention to delve into my family’s past, but, while learning about captures and commercial whaling practices, it was hard not to look at the bigger picture of human behaviour throughout history – aspects of cruelty and destruction that manifest in heartbreaking ways. But also, whales are similar to humans – whale intelligence is extremely high, and whale families are extremely tight knit.”

It was difficult for Abramson to explore her family’s Holocaust history – “the loss and pain are pretty overwhelming,” she said, “and it’s not always easy to find a way forward when that intensity is present. Whale families became a mirror for me, a way to understand and experience intergenerational trauma at a greater distance. The project allowed me to deal with my feelings in a more manageable way, through empathy for another species. And it provided a space for my grief, but also helped me find a way through it. Trauma is so common in families of all different backgrounds. Our ancestors may have lived through wars or other calamities and there are so many people living through these things right now. I think learning others’ stories can help people start to process their own family’s pain, even if the details are different. I felt like whale stories did that for me.”

Credit for Songs of a Lost Pod’s music and lyrics go to Abramson in collaboration with Antoine Bédard, J.J. Ipsen, Andrew Lee (Holy Hum), Aidan O’Rourke (Lau), Sandro Perri, Arliss Renwick and Marten Timan. The program notes that credit also could be given to the A5 whale pod, as the musicians “were given selected A5 pod orca vocalizations, along with Abramson’s other field recordings, to turn into beats and tracks, which formed the backbone of Abramson’s songwriting process, and the rhythms behind much of the music.”

Fellow Jewish community member Barbara Adler also has contributed to the project, and is the show’s narrator.

“Barbara and I have known each other for so long that we can’t remember when or how we officially met,” said Abramson. “It’s like that with people in creative community sometimes – you grow up making art alongside each other. We have shared some special experiences and projects over the years, and continue to work together and in parallel. We have some shared Czech-Jewish roots, which makes Barbara a really good fit for this project in particular. She’s working on a lot of interesting projects of her own, and I’m also happy to be one of her composer-collaborators for Mermaid Spring, which is a musical she’s making with Kyla Gardiner (who also happens to be our lighting designer).

“Barbara has been sending me song lyrics over the last few years, which I have been setting to music. I love working with the characters she has created, and it has truly been a joy to work on those songs. I also really admire Barbara’s artistic process. When she writes, she really digs into all the nuances of a situation or character. She welcomes complexity and the messy underside of creation. I think Barbara balances my impulsivity, and helps me step out from the shadows in my shyest moments. She’s also a great performer!”

Co-presented by Music on Main and SFU School for the Contemporary Arts, tickets for Songs for a Lost Pod ($15) can be purchased from musiconmain.ca/event/songs-for-a-lost-pod.