Nadia Elkharadly: 2013 NXNE Preview

Happy June everyone!  Get the coffee, advil, milk thistle and Gatorade ready, it’s music festival time in Toronto!  This week brings North by North East back into our lives.  That means 4am last calls, copious amounts of alcohol and terrible for you meals, and glorious, glorious live music everywhere you go!  It’s become one of my favourite times of year in this city, along with CMW (despite the pitfalls I complained about back in April) and Indie Week.  The city floods with visiting musicians and delegates from across Canada, the U.S. and the rest of the world.  Ever concert, event or just bar wandering can turn into a network opportunity, a reunion or just a chance to get sh-tfaced with friends, new and old alike.  It’s a great time to be in Toronto, and it’s a great time to be a music lover.

Frank Gutch Jr: Sheldon Gomberg: One of the Good Guys, Too Slim: Hot!!!, Charlottesville: WarHen and County Wide… The Phoenix Rises, My Father’s Day, plus Notes (you really should be reading them, you know)…..

I wasted 75 minutes of Sheldon Gomberg‘s time last week.  Do I feel crappy about it?  You bet.  I suppose 75 minutes doesn’t mean that much to many of you but then you probably don’t work as much as Sheldon does.  See, Sheldon is a recording engineer and runs his own studio and after talking with many of that ilk, time is always of the essence.  You’re working when you’re not working— going over the day’s session(s), preparing for tomorrow’s, organizing, always organizing.  What?  You think those albums just appear on your shelves?

Cameron Carpenter: The ABC’s Of Rock’n’Roll – We’re Going North By North East

A couple of weeks ago my son Kyle and I headed down to The Horseshoe to see our boys Gloryhound. We were standing out front when Kyle said “that’s Jon Snow from “Game Of Thrones”. I looked over casually and thought he could be the little bastard. It was soon confirmed that it indeed was actor Kit Harington and we moved over to the pool table to say hello (like the good couple of fan boys we are). While waiting for an appropriate moment to pass to introduce ourselves (and give him a copy of the Gloryhound CD) Kyle pointed out another pool player and said “Dad, I am pretty sure that is Lane Pryce from “Mad Men”).

Cameron Carpenter: The ABC’s Of Rock’n’Roll – The Soundtrack Of Our Lives

No, not the great Swedish band but actual soundtracks. We all have our own individual soundtracks for our lives but what of those that were made for stage and screen? The world has changed since the days of Rodgers and Hammerstein and Webber and Rice and what constitutes a soundtrack for today’s generation is a long way away from “Oklahoma!” or “West Side Story”. For every horrible cash-grab “Glee” volume there is a Trent Reznor-Atticus Ross collaboration on the score for “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” or “The Social Network” to balance the equation. Of course both of those were ‘scores’ which is a somewhat different kettle of fish.

Nadia Elkharadly: Covers

One of the easiest ways for a band or artist to reach out to or appeal to new fans is with covers.  It’s a no brainer really; you take a song that people who may have never heard you play a note, play it, and watch the reaction.  The response is pretty much the same every time; a slow glimmer of recognition, a lightbulb moment (hey! I know that song), and pretty soon you have the crowd singing right along with you.  It’s the ultimate inclusive force, and it’s a powerful tool for musicians.  I firmly believe up and coming bands should keep a cover or two in their set list, just to draw fans into them.  I, like everyone else on this planet who gives a shit about music, love a good cover tune.

Frank Gutch Jr: Notary Sojac: The Band and the Legend, Plus Notes…..

These guys crack me up.  Even forty years later.  Even after having been separated four decades, these guys are still brothers under the skin, and they are brothers.  They lived as brothers and fought as brothers and even had various “heads of state” treat them as brothers whilst trying to keep them from getting screwed as a band.  You look at the films and read the books of bands back in the late sixties and early seventies, you might think that life was all getting stoned and getting laid and flowers-in-your-hair, but that’s all surface.

Darrell Vickers: As the World Turntables

The Overview

Countless magical hours of mirth, tragedy and love that have been gifted to us by the miracle of the motion picture, yet these same cinematic divertissements have also given birth to a staggering amount of griping and controversy.  People have been caviling and kvetching in equal measure about the inappropriate depictions of violence, sex and ugly people kissing since the days of Fairbanks and Keaton.  And those very same bastions of moral rectitude and fiery condemnation become more and more convinced, with each passing annum, that the already horrifyingly low standards of propriety on the silver screen continue to spiral ever downwards.  Until the other day, I was proudly Not among their number but…

Cameron Carpenter: The ABC’s Of Rock’n’Roll – R You Ready?

It is the time of year when time is at a premium. With NXNE right around the corner and the full weight of the NXNE Film Festival on my shoulders I am going to take the easy way out for the next few weeks here at DBAWIS. Fortunately I am at the letters R, S, T in the next three weeks and there aren’t too many easier letters to find bands for. Quick lists for the next little while. As always please have a look or listen at what Bob magically drops in for each band. Full disclosure, I supply the words and Bob supplies the links and photos. I am surprised every Thursday at the images and videos he comes up with.

Ready to roll with the R’s?

Frank Gutch Jr: The Best of the First Half of 2013,

Jesus, is 2013 great or what?  I’m dancing, crying, thinking, sweating, burping and bopping thanks to a handful of musicians who have me freaking out, they’re so good.  I know I said 2012 was good.  And it was!  Hell, it still is, musically.  Musicians put out some of the best music I’d heard last year, but goddamn it, 2013 is smokin’ hot!  Seriously!  And excuse me for a sec whilst I dance the happy dance.  You see, No Small Children‘s anthemic Might Get Up Slow is playing right now and will for a few times more because I need some uppers!  Shee-it, this is good!  In another time, this would be topping the charts and rocking kids out!  Even famed ex-radio disc jockey Robert W. Walker sez “Fuh-reeking great!”  Jeez, I’m sounding like Barnum & Bailey here, but sometimes you have to let loose, you know?

GARY PIG GOLD has 72 GOOD REASONS To CELEBRATE BOB DYLAN’s BIRTHDAY THIS YEAR

Usually, Darrell Vickers occupies this space on this week’s Monday, but Gary Pig Gold has asked to switch places this month to post his verrry deep Dylan column in honour of Mr. Zimmerman’s 72nd birthday on the 24th. So, with apologies to Mr. Vickers (whose column will run here next week) we turn the floor over to Mr. Pig Gold after this delightful little Dylan Primer from CNN…And for those of you who are not familiar with Mr. Zimmerman, “How does it feel…to be on your own.”