Pat Blythe – Openings, Bands and Music…Playing Catch-Up….

Openers…….

Today is a bright but chilly October day. (great opening line huh?) Then there’s Snoopy’s book opening….“It was a dark and stormy night.” Okay, how about “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” (Tales of Two Cities – Charles Dickens) Or, “It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” (Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen) THAT was a different time….most definitely. Then there’s, “It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me.” (Earthly Powers – Anthony Burgess). I can’t even begin to imagine explaining that one. How about, “I write this sitting at the kitchen sink”. (Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith). That’s sure to grab attention…..and apparently it did. “It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs and I don’t know what I was doing in New York.” (The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath). Confused, frustrated, a chronic depressive, Plath committed suicide by sticking her head in a gas oven at the very young age of 30, leaving behind two young children. “You’ve no choice, look back.” (The Story of Hansel and Gretel – Louise Murphy) We must learn from the past. “It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.” (1984 – George Orwell) Canada’s pants would do well to pay attention. Apparently they’re not paying attention to Hansel or Gretel.

Pat Blythe – Wednesday, June 29….

Well, this weekly “journal” style of writing has been thoroughly enjoyable and I love bringing everyone along to the clubs and festivals with me and my trusty camera. It’s 6am on a Wednesday morning and I’m back to the beginning of this column. The original beginning sucked. Seal has just finished playing Kiss From A Rose and Journey has just begun. I pick up my new vehicle this morning and then enjoy a repast with my son Aarron this afternoon. A new day has begun all bright and shiny with the sun beginning its daily trip across the amazing shade of blue we call the sky. I sit here and wonder what the next 24 hours will bring. It’s always full of lovely surprises. ….and here’s another….Barry White is next and then Steppenwolf blasting through my speaker soooo….on with the week. I wonder what will be playing when I finish this column?

Roxanne Tellier: Home Grown

Sometimes it seems like you can’t throw a rock in this city without hitting a musician. (And if you’re throwing a beer, the musician in the crowd will be the one to catch it.)