Pat Blythe – Tom Longboat and New Releases…Jeff Jones, Monowhales, OITC & Secret Broadcast…and Music!

Yesterday was Tom Longboat’s 131st birthday. How do I know. Google Doodle. Longboat’s Iroquois name….Cogwagee…..part of the Onondaga which means Keepers of The Fire. Longboat was born in 1887 and raised on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford. Enrolled (a legal obligation under the Indian Act) at the Mohawk Institutional Residential School at the age of 12 he eventually escaped to an uncle’s home who agreed to hide him from the authorities.  A long-distance runner, Longboat is considered by many to be the greatest marathoner of all time.

Segarini: Canadian, Eh? Happy 150th Canada Day!

Have a safe and happy Canada Day…I love you all. And yes…this IS the Greatest Country in the World…even if some of us don’t know it.

Portions of this column originally appeared in FYIMusic, Cashbox Canada, and DBAWIS.

Segarini: Canadian, Eh? Happy Canada Day!

This is a slightly revised column from November of 2011. Thought I would share it with you gain because, well…even though I am supposed to be taking the week off, I’m not, so there will be a couple of new posts here later this week while the rest of the crew takes some much needed (and deserved) time off. Have a safe and happy Canada Day…I love you all. And yes…this IS the Greatest Country in the World…even if some of us don’t know it.

Segarini: Canadian, Eh?

Having lived in Canada for the past 39 years (my 40^th anniversary here is next November) I proudly call myself a Canarican even though, truth be told, I am more Canadian in a lot of ways than most. A transplant from the lower 48 who moved here with the band I was in (The Wackers) solely on the basis of how much great music you could hear regardless of where you went or what kind of music you liked, how many places there were to play, Montreal radio and media’s acceptance of our music, and how wonderfully audiences reacted to our shows. It didn’t occur to me at the time that part of that acceptance was because we were from the U.S, specifically California, and that (in some mysterious, and completely goofball way) we were believed to be ‘better’ than our local counterparts. Say hello to The Great Canadian Insecurity Complex, boys and girls.