Armed with my “media” credentials, my guidebook and my Metropass, I took on Canadian Music Week. (Note that all of the bands/artists that I mention in this column have Facebook pages, and are well worth further study, should you feel so inclined. It was a very busy week!)
I had decided to go and see “Jim Dan Dee” , who were playing last Saturday night at the Phoenix as part of the “Generation Next” concert series sponsored by radio station 94.9. To my delight, I found that “Crown Lands” would also be on the bill. ( Jim from “Jim Dan Dee” put me on the guest list and Kevin from “Crown Lands” offered to do so as well.) Now, “Return For Refund” would be playing at the Horseshoe, and Drew, ( their front man), invited me to be on that guest list as well. I declined the offer at first, as I was going to the Phoenix. Meanwhile, I learned that “Fat Mob” would be playing at Cherry Cola’s. Hmm, I thought, “Even I can’t be in three places at once!” However, when I found out that “Return For Refund” was playing at 8:30 P.M.,”Jim Dan Dee” would be hitting the stage at 11:00 P.M. and “Fat Mob” would be on at 1:00 A.M., it now looked possible to see all 3 shows. (As an aside, I was not the only person to do that Saturday night.) Shades of George Thorogood’s “50 states in 50 days” tour 😉!
I find myself immersed in the fascinating and informative Ken Burns opus The Roosevelts, an intimate study of Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt, that proves, among other things, that not much has changed in the last 100 years. The good fights we fight now, are the same ones we were fighting then. The names change, the sides switch, and the issues grow and evolve, but basically, we continue to learn nothing from the past, and are doomed to repeat our mistakes again and again. That said, we are also blessed with repeating a lot of good things too…we just forget that some things shouldn’t change. We abandon the good with the bad, the baby with the bathwater, and the positive lessons learned are as quickly and easily forgotten as the mistakes we make. Nowhere is that more evident than in music, and the entertainment business in general. The good news is, eventually, the pendulum swings back, and the ideas and mindset that have always held true are re-embraced.
=0=
Sometimes it is difficult for me to justify what I hear on the radio with what I hear on the internet or hear because my friends send me a link to something new I haven’t heard before. It’s as though we live on two different planets, the music from one all slick, and familiar, and friendly, the music from the other, unique and full of character, and, at times, even challenging.
=0=
This weeks’ BobChart consists of nothing but current artists doing what they do so well, that I find myself searching for more and more new music every week. I am particularly sensitive to sharing the latest songs that have endeared themselves to me, because of a great deal of the responses to the Rival Sons columns informing me that music is NOT better than it has ever been, and that the tired, overplayed and overestimated classic rock of the ‘60s and ‘70s is a good as it will ever get.
Believe me, contrary to your T Shirt and the Meme…You have NOT heard “All the GREAT Bands….”
=0=
It’s hot, it’s humid, June is already in the rearview mirror, and Summer is flying by like a witch on a broomstick.
Here in Toronto we have been inundated (bombarded, really) with an amount of music and art that would deafen and blind most cities, but not Toronto. We LOVE music, we CRAVE music, we DEMAND music 7 days a week and have the venues and artists to prove it. You can bitch and moan all you want about the dearth of music and clubs in your town, you can whine all you like about how bad music is today, how shitty and stupid it all is, and you can bemoan the state of radio and despise your unfortunate luck of having been born too late to see and hear “The Great Bands” of yore.
Shut up.
You may have noticed a dearth of posts this week on DBAWIS, but I want you to know that there is a reasonable explanation for those of us who are Missing in Action.
The Annual NXNE Music Overload and Liver Destruction Derby is in full swing.
If you have been wondering where Nadia, Emy, Cameron, and myself have been, we have been under various tables in numerous bars until 4:00 am every night for the past week trying to talk our livers (and our ears) into taking one more shot of tequila, one more 3-chord onslaught, one more beer ticket and one more deep-fried coconut battered prawn in the name of science, and to keep you, our beloved readers, up to date on all things Pop Culture.
=0=
This week’s BobChart is all about Summer and Respect. I didn’t plan it that way, but that’s how it turned out.
It is also made up almost entirely of older tracks and guilty pleasures along with a couple of new items that caught my interest while searching out the latest releases and hoping there was something I liked that I could pass on to you. I know a lot of you are into rock and I do what I can to find that which fits my criteria (great song, great performance, fun or thought provoking) and am thrilled when there is a new Rival Sons track, another local breakthrough, or a band that is completely new to me.
The BobChart is made up of tunes I think you would like or songs I feel are worth listening to. Most will be current, some will be lost gems, others may be older songs you may have missed, and some will just be live tracks that bring it. At any rate…It’s the BobChart. There are no fixed positions in the chart, so I am not listing the songs in any particular order. These are PERSONAL favourites and what has my ear and attention this week. Popular music may come and go, but Great music is timeless. Some songs and performances never die or fade away….
=0=
The BobChart is made up of tunes I think you would like or songs I feel are worth listening to. Most will be current, some will be lost gems, others may be older songs you may have missed, and some will just be live tracks that bring it. At any rate…It’s the BobChart. There are no fixed positions in the chart, so I am not listing the songs in any particular order. These are PERSONAL favourites and what has my ear and attention this week. Popular music may come and go, but Great music is timeless. Some songs and performances never die or fade away….
=0=
Bullseye Records of Canada
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 