GWNtertainment #38 by JAIMIE VERNON

I’m just going to throw this truth bomb into the middle of the room as it’s something that needs to be mentioned on the heels of the entire Spotify “doesn’t pay artists” discussion. Though it’s NOT the same business model, the results are the same in terms of exploitation of music artists: broadcast terrestrial radio does not pay artists either. Not in 100 years of transmissions on the airwaves. Anywhere. Ever. You know who DOES get paid when they play a song on your radio? Songwriters. The people that write the songs get a few pennies per spin – substantially more than any of the streaming services – but still, it’s mere pennies. Stations pay an annual fee for spinning tracks to performing rights organizations (in Canada it’s SOCAN, in the US they have BMI and ASCAP). Songwriters, God bless them, closed ranks and got their foot in the door early in radio’s development as they’d already seen sheet music sales crushed once people could start buying music on vinyl. Musicians did not organize…because their record labels were supposed to advocate for them. HAHAHAHA.

Roxanne Tellier – This Week in Racism!

When I was a kid, growing up in Alberta, I encountered precisely two black families. One family, that ran a boarding house near my school, had a little girl about my age. When I went to L’Academie Assomption, which was a private girl’s school, the daughters of football player Rollie Miles were the only students of colour. 

Chef Tom – Nat’s What I Reckon

I love this guy. Punk rock (actually metal-head) goes cookin.’ This is NSFW. Like anyone is within earshot (in their lounge pants and dirty t-shirt) of anyone else, except maybe the hubby and a cat, and they don’t care. Yes, there really is an actual recipe in this, made with whole foods. He HATES processed-packaged-instant-meal-in-a-can kinda food.  He has a TON of videos that are quite informative and very entertaining.

Roxanne Tellier – Stop LYING To ME!

With apologies to Al Franken, I am utterly sick of Lies and the Lying Liars That Tell Them. Sick to death of the posturing, the gaslighting, the sneaky grins that escape their mouths when they think we can’t see them.

GWNtertainment #36 by JAIMIE VERNON

The 1980s are back, baby! What’s that, you say? Yes, you heard me correctly. Folks in the pandemic were expecting a return to the Roaring ’20s, but what actually happened was a return to the square wave. Maybe it was the desire to return to a decade that was fun and optimistic, or maybe just the fact that without being able to share a room with fellow musicians and make loud, raucous noise during the pandemic, Canadian musicians went back to their synth roots. Put on your skinny ties, Miami Vice pastels, and aviator sunglasses cause the music has gone neon again.

Roxanne Tellier – Musings On Movings and Marijuana for Multinationals

Today is the 12^th of December, and that means that Shawn and I are exactly one month away from the Big Move, from Toronto, to Windsor, Ontario.  The drive is a mere 230 in earth miles, but, in some integral ways, it’s also the equivalent of moving from the Moon to the Sun.

GWNtertainment #29 by Jaimie Vernon

Pumpkin spice is now the odour du jour and with it comes Canadian Thanksgiving. In the grand seem of things I think we can be thankful that the world has not ended and we are slowly on our way back to normal (and civility, hopefully). We here at GWN are thankful for the constant stream of great new music. We listen to everything we’re sent each week and watch all the videos. Expect new things in the blog coming soon including a weekly Spotify playlist and album reviews. For now enjoy this week’s makers and shakers.

Roxanne Tellier – Move It On Over

I’ll just put it out there .. I hate moving. I like looking at other houses that are staged to sell, and imagining what it would be like to live there. I like watching DIY experts slap $40 worth of paint onto walls, transform a wood pallet into a piece of luxurious furniture, and change a blah room into a stunning piece of art. In the past, I myself have spent major dollars and worked insanely long hours, hoping to make a sow’s ear into a silk purse. DIY porn. It’s a thing.

Pat Blythe – Will we ever learn? Kensington punks……and music

As I write this, today is the 21^st day of September in the year 2021…..twenty-one years into the 21^st century already! If we take a hard look back in the history books, has humankind really and truly changed? Are we more civilized, more intelligent, more advanced, more knowledgeable (or better at using the knowledge we have accumulated); more accepting, more just…..? I’m not so sure. Appearances can be deceiving!

GWNtertainment #28 by Jaimie Vernon

Lots of new music this week as post-summer tuneage is in full swing. Just ask Drake who now occupies half of the Top10 on the Billboard magazine charts. It’s also drawn battle lines between old pop music fans and new because Drake’s positioning on the charts breaks a handful of records previously set by The Beatles. Vitriol has been flying around social media dismissing Drake and his accomplishments. GWN celebrates any Canadian artist who has managed to raise the ire of a generation of music lovers who refuse to acknowledge that time has passed, and that a new generation also makes music that people love. We are here three times a month extolling the virtues of those new artists and that new music. Other music exists in the same universe as The Beatles…resistance is fertile.