GWNtertainment #43 by JAIMIE VERNON

Aside from many, many tour announcements for most of Canada’s working musicians, it’s been a quiet week for new Canadian music releases. Many artists were ensconced in the revived annual music showcase SXSW in Austin, Texas, while others were already on the road putting music back on stage nationally. This is good news. We encourage people to support our working musicians and live venues with care and caution as mandates continue to be lifted. If everyone does their part the live music industry will continue to grow and prosper back to its pre-2020 levels.

On another note, GWN attempted to incorporate Spotify links into the body of issue #42 last week with mixed results. It gave bigger coverage to the artists as intended, but the WordPress platform had a flying fit where page formatting was concerned. This week, we’ve decided to take another approach. This issue sees the return of Youtube, Bandcamp, and other web links to inform our artist blurbs as always. But to give the extra Spotify coverage that many acts rely on, we’ve created a GWNtertainment playlist for a radio-styled variety of styles and sounds. Starting with this issue, we will add the newest lists to accompany each new issue of the blog…AND we’ll be back-filling playlists for previous GWN issues going back to Issue #1 back in 2020. Here for your dining and dancing pleasure is the GWNtertainment #43 playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/11rmO3WYLMa7g8peWGawM5

* The official Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia website hit 50,000 views this week. Thank you to all the Canadian music fans for supporting the initiative to keep Canadian music history alive and accessible. The original CPME website launched July 1, 1998 on the long-gone Jam! Music/CANOE site. The entire project was revamped and went live on WordPress July 1, 2019. Check it out and be sure to follow for regular updates and additions for older and newer artists. https://canpopencyclopedia.home.blog/

* We all have a list of artists and songs that were major influences on us from youth to adulthood. They were the posters on our bedroom walls. They made up the playlists on our cassette cases or now, in our apps. They’re the audio bookmark in all the chapters of our lives. In reverence to the power of music and [its] indelible influence in his own life, Canadian entertainment executive, music historian, and author Tom Locke brings us his new book, ‘Moments In Time – Stories About Artists and Songs of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. For Fans of Music…From a Music Fan.’ https://www.amazon.com/Moments-Time-Stories-About-Artists-ebook/dp/B09KZLQ6FK

* Canada continues to lose its founding fathers with this week’s passing of singer Eric Mercury. As per music historian Rob Bowman’s Facebook post: “Canadian R & B great Eric Mercury passed away a couple of hours ago [March 14]. He first came to international fame with the ‘Electric Black Man’ album, later recorded two albums for Stax Records in Memphis, and wrote songs for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway. He had been a friend of mine for three decades. He was warm, generous, smart, funny, endlessly creative and I loved him dearly. Just spoke with him six weeks ago. He should have been in the Juno Hall of Fame years ago.” RIP Mr. Mercury. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhBmjA-m7L8

* Rush fans will want to tune into Canadian TV show ‘Murdoch Mysteries’ tonight for bassist Geddy Lee‘s appearance as a carriage man who is a budding musician named…Thomas Sawyer.

* February 23 was the 3rd anniversary of the passing of blues singer/guitarist Johnnie Lovesin. A new video for his song “Prisoner To Your Love” pays loving tribute to the artist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX_Tivu3Ogk

* David Essig announce the April 9th release date for his new project: ‘Fair Days’ – a book of short stories based on the lyrics of 13 of his songs accompanied by new studio recordings of each song.

* Neil Young has a new boxed set coming April 29 entitled ‘Official Release Series Volume 4’. This set focuses on ‘Hawks & Doves’ (1980), the Crazy Horse  album  ‘Re•ac•tor’ (1981), The Bluenotes album ‘This Note’s For You’ (1988), the EP ‘Eldorado’ (1989) previously unavailable in North America.

* To celebrate the 40th anniversary boxed set for Rush’s ‘Moving Pictures’ LP, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee have released a brand new animated video for the song “YYZ.” Keep an eye out for Rush and Toronto-centric easter eggs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftVTWDrtrlc&t=1s

* Actor, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and pianist Ian Lake has released yet another powerful single from his upcoming debut album entitled ‘What It Is’. “Fishing for Promises” is the third release from the album. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NUnXmRGgL4

* Jesse Cook has released his new single/video for “Solace” as he prepares to lunch his 2022 Cross-Canada tour. The new song comes from Cook’s 11th studio album ‘Libre.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG01p9OnOok

* 44-time Saskatchewan Country Music Awards nominee Amy Nelson is celebrating the joyful clumsiness of falling in love with the song “Trippin’.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afJ8Kde56wg

* Caribbean-Dutch-Toronto Rapper Big Lou delivers a message of self-love with his new track “I Got You.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndjVEpa_xGo

* Canadian Folk & Roots artist James Culleton is dedicated to the creativity & fun of being a kid. The children’s music performer has a new album and single of the same name entitled “Superfun.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDzGYYp-684

* Performed by Bobby Cameron and written by Jamie Oppenheimer, “White Car” is an auditory road trip and you’re invited along for the ride. The song was inspired by the first car Oppenheimer ever drove. He says this track represents the freedom and escape of getting behind the wheel of his mother’s 1968 Buick Skylark convertible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG7lqr1gkx8

* Toronto-based drummer Marito Marques marries Portugal’s music traditions with two of its newest singing stars – MARO and Salvador Sobral – on the song “Amor Ao Longe” from the album ‘A Ponte.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZVEu2xYM3A

* Canadian Christian artist Ileen Laura sings an upbeat, uplifting prayer of, and for, confidence in her soaring, harmony-filled new single “I Am Yours.” “I am someone who has struggled with anxiety ever since I was a little girl,” Laura shares of her inspiration behind the song. The tune is from her forthcoming album of the same name, set for release early Summer 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiW8oApOdDw

* Ottawa-born, Toronto-based Métis Alt-Rocker Steve Neville has released the Lo-Fi love letter “Going Home” ahead of his forthcoming album ‘Off Track.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znMqAP7fIV0

* Arcade Fire has come out of a 5-year respite with a new single entitled “Lightning I, II” from the May 6 album release entitled ‘WE.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJiALpiqpk8

* Bryan Adams‘ 15th album, ‘So Happy It Hurts,’ is out, and the title track informs the first single/video – which features his 94-year old mother Elizabeth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0caIWs0O9c

* Colin Amey brings us a new track called “Man I Love That Place.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNgj_Jikunk

* We mentioned Fist‘s new album ‘Alive’ in Issue #42. The album features a modern update of the Edwin Starr 1960s anti-war protest song “War”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL8tMf9jS-o

* Multi-million selling Canadian singer/songwriters Marc Jordan and Amy Sky are set to release their first-ever duet collaboration album, ‘He Sang She Sang,’ on May 6, 2022. The first sneak peek comes in the form of a video of their Tom Petty homage for “Free Fallin’.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUZxkeo_eK0

* Steve Goldberger gives us a revisit of the classic Thunderclap Newman tune “Something In The Air’” from his new album ‘All Roads Lead To You.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV8wcYZYdcQ

GWNtertainment has a long, long history dating back to December 1989. The idea originally started as a  fanzine called ‘Great White Noise’ which eventually turned into a proper retail magazine. We thought we’d dig up some artifacts from the archives, and showcase them every now and then. Below are two photos from the Toronto Music Awards from December 5, 1990 at the long-gone Superstars nightclub in Mississauga of Blue Rodeo and Gowan who made musical appearances and won awards that night. We covered the event in ‘Great White Noise’ Issue #5 – January 1991.

In future issues of GWN we’ll transcribe some old articles and reviews from our archives that will give  readers a perspective of the Canadian music scene in the 1990s and early 2000s.

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This issue was brought to you by: The Led Hot Chili Zeppers’ new single “Under The Bridge, Over The Hills, And Faraway.”Send us your news, views, and all manner of CANADIAN musical releases to promote and wave a flag for. Join the GWN Facebook page and drop us a message: https://www.facebook.com/gwntertainment

Keep up the fight!
Jaimie Vernon, 2022

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Jaimie “Captain CanCon” Vernon has been president of the on again/off-again Bullseye Records of Canada since 1985. He wrote and published Great White Noise magazine in the ‘90s, has been a musician for 41 years, and recently discovered he’s been happily married for 24 years. He is also the author of The Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia and editor of “Sunny Days: The Skip Prokop Story.” Available through Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Jaimie+Vernon