Frank Gutch Jr: Byron Isaacs: The Disappearing Man; Dumpster Diving (The Album Chronicles); and Notes of a Lugubrious Nature (Or Maybe It’s Luxurious… Damn it! Where’s My Dictionary?)

 Byron Isaacs is the kind of guy that makes you want to shout, Hey!  I know that guy!  I do, you know.  Well, not know know him, but know him.  Know his music.  Know his professionalism and his makeup.  Know his importance to the world of music.  Sure, I only met him once, but that once was enough to tell me who he was and is.  I mean, I know him.  Get it?

I would have to explain the whole degrees of separation thing for you to understand how we met.  What the hell.  I’ll give you the Cliff’s Notes version.

Frank Gutch Jr: 2017? Bring It On!

Jesus Christ, but 2016 was a tough year!  The musicians (and people) we lost!  The impending doom of a Trump-inspired government!  The division of what was in some ways a country, a world even.  Ideals crushed beneath the boot heels of hate, news warped beyond any rational thought, a world based upon a semblance of logic now an anarchy of thought and emotion.

Frank Gutch Jr: Amy van Keeken & Timeloop Touring Western Canada; Spotify: The Boil On the Ass of the Music Industry; Plus Notes

Lots of good stuff happening out there and it’s time we plugged in to some of it if only to counter the “real” musical happenings being covered by all of the sites who think that Kanye West canceling (or postponing) a show is news.  I get it.  No fun finding out your wife is being held at gunpoint.  Just not headline news in my part of the world.

Frank Gutch Jr: The Name Is Holmes— Nick Holmes… Plus Notes

That is how I picture Holmes— tuxedoed, debonair, suave, in control.  He started out a folkie— sang with The Serendipity Singers, in fact, though I can hardly hear his voice in any kind of ensemble.  It is slightly rough and textured but with a real edge definitely unique.  One single by The Singers (“What Will We Do With the Child”) was released with that voice but it did not chart. It did warrant a solo artist contract, though, and Holmes recorded one.  It unfortunately never made it to press,

Frank Gutch Jr: Music To Stuff Stockings By… And With; Plus No Notes… Consider It a Lump of Coal

It’s that time of year again, sports fans.  Santa has been on the radio for the past two months, robot disc jockeys and purveyors of everything muzak beating us senseless with varying renditions of Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree and Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, hoping to lighten our mood enough to loosen the old purse strings.  Hallmark Channel have kicked into full Christmas mode, plastering their channels with their cookie-cutter movies which vary mostly by the changing of leading ladies (this year’s favorite, by far, is Hilarie Burton, whom I saw in an old Castle episode and was floored by not only her beauty but the fact that the casting could not have been more right).  I wish they had more creativity over at Hallmark, their overuse of the five plots and rotating stars coming very close to consumer abuse.  But, hey, I’m a sap.

Frank Gutch Jr: My Music Bubbleth Under

It should be no secret by now that when it comes to music I am drawn to the non-hits, the non-charters, and the obscure.  Some of the most beloved music of my past have consisted of  artists and songs only the most avant of the garde have treasured— the Little John & The Monks and the Cargoes and, until their fairly recent deification, the Big Stars.  It started innocently enough— the placement of Jimmy Bowen‘s By the Light of the Silv’ry Moon on radio station KEX‘s Barney Keep‘s playlist, but it was enough.

Frank Gutch Jr: Alcoholic Faith Mission: Sons & Daughter of Denmark… Plus Notes

Denmark.  Home of danish pastry.  Kind of.  The Danish, one of the States’ most treasured pastries, might easily have been labeled the Austrian but for the Great Danish Pastry Strike of 1850.  Seems like the strikers told the bakeries to take a flying suck at a rolling donut (or Danish, if you prefer), so the bakeries imported artisans from Austria.  Now that, sports fans, is interesting.  If you like Danishes, anyway.  Or Denmark.

Frank Gutch Jr: It’s Almost Spring! Let Us Celebrate With a New Alcoholic Faith Mission Album and Baseball!!! Plus Notes…..

Yep.  Denmark’s Alcoholic Faith Mission is releasing a new album, their first in three years, and it’s a beaut.  This column, in fact, originally started as a tribute to the band and its run but, as usual, life got in the way (my brain stopped functioning) and I promise a future column will go into the band’s history as well as numerous videos they have produced over the years.

Frank Gutch Jr: Vinyl: It’s What’s For Christmas…..

Christmas.  It’s the time for joy and camaraderie and faith.  It’s the time of giving and sharing and, for most, receiving.  Debts are forgiven at Christmas, and people too.  Indeed, the power of Christmas could almost save the world and would, according to Hollywood, if given half a chance.

Roxanne Tellier – The Sound Of Music

I grew up in the days when musicals were as or more popular than any other form of cinema, and the stars of musicals on stage and screen were huge draws on Sunday night’s Ed Sullivan.