GWNtertainment #31 by Jaimie Vernon

I got the music in me. Yeah, it’s self promotion time. Aside from a day gig, updating The Canadian Pop  Music Encyclopedia frequently, and writing this blog, I’m also an active musician. This week my band Mr! Mouray reconvened for the first time since July of 2020 to lay out a battle plan for completing our second full-length album. We had literally finished laying down 7 songs in early March 2019 when the pandemic shut everything down. We’ve been virtually working on another 7 songs and will finally head back into the studio the weekend of December 1 (Hooray!!).

Miso Hungry

If you’ve never had anything with miso in it, it’s an amazing, beautifully umami, easy to use miracle-food that’s chock full of all kinds of healthy stuff. Japanese have been making it for millennia. If the only way you’ve experienced it is as an accompaniment to some yummy sushi, then you’d do well to know that this odd looking paste can elevate just about anything you cook.

The ingredients that give the following recipe its name, miso and maple syrup, are strong characters, but they play well with each together. Their flavors are warm and satisfying, mellow and not immediately knowable at first, hovering in that space between sweet and savory. Coarse-crumbed and sturdy, easy to slice, easy to serve at both breakfast and to pick up and nibble in the afternoon. Good with butter and jam or with a little cheese. And it keeps well: It’ll hold at room temperature for about 4 days.

Pat Blythe – Remembering a life……and music

It’s been a flurry of activity over the past couple of weeks. Thanksgiving was wonderful! I finally had my boys and their wives over dinner…..first time in a very long time. Of course, loads of leftovers which made their way to new homes. Homemade turkey soup dealt with most of the remains. Working on a new podcast project, which is finally gaining some legs (at least up to the knees anyway), and hopefully next week’s meeting will bring it to hip level. Garden work and spending time with friends make up the balance.

GWNtertainment #30 by JAIMIE VERNON

An Important Announcement from Jaimie Vernon
GWN goes international, sort of, with this issue #30. As with the original iteration of this news blog back when we printed things on tree pulp and splattered it with indelible ink, Canadian music is only as important as it is because of its relevance in the rest of the world. The Canadian artists that have found prominence on the international stage have allowed developing artists back home to bask in their wake. Tides that rise raise all boats as it were. To date GWN has been focusing almost exclusively on home turf. Artists from other countries have been asking to be represented in the blog since issue #1 back at the beginning of 2021. I’ve hesitated in including them mainly due to space restraints. Canadian artists will always be our mandate, but to caudle them and keep them in a myopic bubble – as if the real world doesn’t exist – is ultimately harmful.

Pat Blythe – Musings…..thanks…..a few shows…..and music

Is it me, or are the days and weeks running into each other? It feels like I just finished a column and here I am writing another…..albeit late as usual. Today was one of those days where you just seem to bounce from one thing to the next. A 3am bedtime call after spending hours editing today’s podcast, was not conducive to an early morning rise, simply to rush downtown and open my maw for the dentist. Two hours later and I feel like my mouth has received the white glove treatment. Mr. Clean and the Lysol Lady have thoroughly cleaned and sanitized my mouth. Everything is now shipshape and spotless…..just don’t eat. It’s kind of like after your mom cleaned, tidied and dusted the living room. You couldn’t sit anywhere!

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.

Chef Tom – Chicken with Mushrooms, High South, and Sam

I made this over the weekend. Man is it good. Rich with the cream, but hey, cream is a whole food, and the natural saturated fat is good for your brain. You need this dish to feed your head, so you can figure out what’s for dessert..

Pat Blythe – Chris …and Music

Boy, am I late!!! Soooo late starting this column. Tuesday is my “writing” day, but far too much seemed to get in the way and now it’s 6:15pm and I’m on my third sentence! Good news is I received congratulations from our friends in Ottawa for attaining “senior citizen” status. Not only that, how absolutely thrilled they are to be sending me a monthly stipend of what nobody could live on. I should be grateful I receive anything (and I am), but if that’s what today’s 65-and-up population have to survive on, it’s no wonder we’ve got so many elderly living far below the poverty line. What I am extremely grateful for is that I can still work (when we’re not in the middle of a shitstorm) and continue earning a reasonable living. For how long is anyone’s guess, but this body and brain just keep chugging along.

Gary Pig Gold is TAKIN’ CARE OF RANDY

As he turns 78 (!) this very September the 27th, may I suggest Each and Every One of you DBAWIS’ers adhere to these

Chef Tom – The Big Push

Simple, stripped down, unplugged, call it what you will. This is bachelor food, college dorm eats, too tired to cook snacks, I’m-the-only-one-eating-but-I-still-want-something-tasty kinda food.