Pat Blythe – Drums, Food, the Happy Hormone …and Music!

I am surrounded, lady-rounded and all the little roundeds by music and rhythm…..whether it’s listening to the 600+ songs my phone shuffles through, pounding a beat on my steering wheel, hearing the thumpa thumpa of somebody’s sound system as they cruise past, wending my way through a nightclub, wearing headphones and walking to the beat, banging on my drums or simply humming the tunes that run through my head. Music….always a part of my life, always with me, I have become increasingly aware of how much it affects our lives. I’m not going to get into the science of it, suffice to say music has a very large impact on our well-being, especially our brain and our heart’s well-being.

Frank Gutch Jr: Lady Gaga? Really? How About the Real Women in Music?

My yardstick for music is a simple one.  If everyone likes it, it can’t be worth a shit.  Think Hitler as a rock star.  He, too, had a following, though few would own up to being part of it after the finale.  What is it that makes everyone so enamored with this musician as opposed to this other musician who is playing practically the same thing?  Hell if I know.  How does one become a hit overnight?  Hell if I know.  Why are people attracted to certain artists, en masse?  You guessed it.  Hell if I know.  But I can goddamn guarantee you that while you are talking about the Lady Gaga halftime show, and my guess is that most of you talking about music are, you’re missing a few thousand musicians worth hearing, some of them playing music way outside the formulaic box the Gaga has built for herself.  Taylor Swift?  I love some of her songs but there are songs as good as that out there if you take the time to listen.

Segarini – The Difference Between Women Artists and “Women” Artists

Today the Intertoobz are all a-flutter with praise and pronouncements concerning the performance of a Lady named Ga Ga, seen and heard during the pee break in America’s biggest Sportsball Event of the Year.

Back before decorum was even a word, this Event would not be the attraction it has become, but because of civilization’s sloooowly advancing maturity, there came a modicum of sense and reason that resulted in the feeding of the less fortunate (called “Christians” by those in the know), to lions, tigers, and bears (oh my) and the odd angry horde of hostile gibbons, becoming unacceptable, much to the chagrin of the elite classes and Ruling Kings, Emperors, and Early Republicans….

JAIMIE VERNON – ALL THINGS MUST PASS

I was hoping to go a full week without reporting another celebrity death. But we’ve had half-a-dozen since the passing of The Eagles’ Glenn Frey including actor Abe Vigoda (‘Barney Miller’, ‘The Godfather’) whose website has finally been changed to no longer read the whimsical “still alive” message.

JAIMIE VERNON: UN-MERRILY DOWN THE STREAM

This week came the revelation that digital music streaming services are both ripping off artists AND generating no revenue. Rarely has there been a non-story generating so much sucking and blowing simultaneously.

Pat Blythe: The Women of Rock – Part Four

Hello everyone. Let’s give a warm welcome to Debbie and Cyndi. Two unique women who dance to their own drummers and whose talents encompass a variety of musical fields in two decidedly different decades. These ladies can pop and rock, disco down or jazz it up, sing the blues, or pour their soul into a ballad. Their many talents run the full gamut and they have led the way for a new kind of woman in music, adding their own twist and turns to rock and roll. Quirky, outrageous, individualistic, sexy, ballsy, entertaining, exuberant, clever, brilliant, artistic and really, really smart.

Frank Gutch Jr: Thank You Music (and other reasons I love the indies); Digital Streaming Heats Up; New Albums of Note; and a Note…

But before I begin passing out (No, wait!  There is more!) awards and kudos to those who made a huge difference in my attitude and my life, let me point you all to a problem we in America (including the hat— that be Canada) should embrace— the media.  Not that the media itself is the problem, but (as pointed out by Roxanne Tellier‘s DBAWIS column of just two days ago) how we have allowed politics to destroy it.

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.

Roxanne Tellier: A Victim of Fashion

After writing about fall’s wonders two weeks ago, it was odd to wake up that Monday to the beginning of a week of Indian summer. Sunny and mild, the weather was perfect for the celebrities and guests swarming Toronto’s streets for TIFF. The beautiful people and their entourages swanned in and out of event venues in their little black dresses, smart cocktail gowns, and Manolo Blahnik shoes.

JAIMIE VERNON: DO THE FAN DANGLE-O

On Wednesday March 6th Canadian music legend Stompin’ Tom Connors passed away peacefully at the age of 77 from natural causes. Tom was a folk & country fixture around Canada for nearly six decades. He might very well be the last of the Canadian troubadours following in the footsteps of Wilf Carter (aka Montana Slim), Hank Snow, and the Canadian Sweethearts: Bob Regan and Lucille Starr. Connors walked amongst the rarified air of Canadian country Gods. He was a fixture at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern during its inception where his rousing songs and foot stomping put a hole in the stage – which the venue wanted him to pay for. On subsequent visits he resorted to stomping on a piece of wood to save the stage further injury – and Tom Connors became Stompin’ Tom Connors.