Roxanne Tellier – Just A Little Respect

The last Monday of May is when America celebrates Memorial Day, a federal holiday which honours and mourns the military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Patriots observe both this holiday, and the other day of note, Remembrance Day, to signify their appreciation and respect for past and present members of the military. These are America’s heroes.

This year, however, that holiday coincides with something that only a tiny percent of a percent of Americans, if any, have ever seen before – the sudden death of nearly 100,000 citizens in just two months, by the novel coronavirus known as COVID 19.

North Americans have been spoiled for the last hundred years. Sure, there were two World Wars, and a Great Depression, but few under the age of 50 even remember those days, let alone recognize the impact these events had on people. As peacekeepers, Canada felt even less of the sting of loss.

JAIMIE VERNON – I’D LIKE TO TEACH THE WORLD TO SING

I’ve got a shitload of CDs to review sitting on my desk – Bob Menzies’ “One More Highway”, Goddo’s “The Pretty Bad Boys Return” (which is also a DVD), Half Past Four’s “Good Thing” and Klaatu’s “Sir Army Suit” re-issue (also with DVD). I have had no time to sit and listen to any of these with the attention and intent I always reserve for my reviews because of a million personal things going on right now – not the least of which is a day gig. To give the music a cursory listen would be an insult to the artists who put blood, sweat and cashola into seeing these things to fruition. Sometimes it takes years to get a disc off the ground. I owe the creators more than 5 minutes of listening to them.