A weekend (and a year) of celebrations across Canada….150 years young…..but is it really?
Oh how I love history! An item on my “to do” list before I pop my clogs is to work towards, and obtain, my BA Mediaeval History. Cambridge University is where I’d love to be (I do love England) but University of St. Michaels College here in Toronto is also an excellent choice and know for their studies in Mediaval history. The bucket list is not long, just really big projects.
The past week I have been revisiting some of my earlier DBAWIS columns and am shocked at how few people (as far as I can tell) know about them, even now. When I write about musicians, it is usually personal, both the person or people and the music, and I feel that sometimes they are more water under the bridge than anything. No one sends notes asking about someone I wrote about in 2012 unless something has happened since and there are so many truly talented people who deserve recognition. So this week, I am going to point toward artists you may have missed whom I think are above the norm in terms of talent and/or personality. And maybe I owe a few of them money, but that is neither here nor there.
In 1967, the Song of the Year was “Canada” by The Young Canada Singers. I was a geeky, gawky Montreal teen with cats eye glasses and a bad perm. My season’s pass to Expo 67 made me feel like a citizen of the world.
But in Toronto, another kind of world was coming together; one of young, talented musicians who’d flocked to Yorkville to find fame, if not fortune.
Grant Fullerton was one of them.
Sometimes stuff just falls into your lap. Some call it luck. Some call it Karma. I’ve always thought of it as a birthday present from a distant relative halfway around the world who chose to send the parcel by cargo ship rather than airmail. Better late than never.
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My brother-in-law kept telling me about New York but all I could see was the tall buildings popping out of the ground of downtown Vancouver. It wasn’t the massiveness of the city. It was the feel! And make no mistake, Vancouver is a city. A big one with a big downtown and all of the pluses and minuses which go with it. Sirens all night, a large homeless contingent, people walking with rolling suitcases everywhere. Restaurants— my God, there were so many restaurants— every kind of food you could possibly imagine.
(Editor’s Note: Pat Blythe shares a stirring speech from 1991 in Celebration of Canada Day 2015)
Here’s Pat….
We, as a country, have our issues. Canada is not immune to political woes and embarrassments. We are not impervious to the stupidity of our politicians on either the local or international stage. We are not exempt from the ludicrous and foolish follies of our leaders or, sometime the downright unthinking cruelty of their decisions. But to many around the world we are still “Canada the good”, THE place to live, to settle, to raise families. ….and although sometimes we appear to roll over and play dead, don’t piss us off too much….there’s a lot more to us than meets the eye….
There’s a great time wasting pub game on social media quite popular with my music friends whereby you assemble the ultimate supergroup featuring your favourite musicians past and present.
Bullseye Records of Canada
