Pat Blythe – Chris …and Music

Boy, am I late!!! Soooo late starting this column. Tuesday is my “writing” day, but far too much seemed to get in the way and now it’s 6:15pm and I’m on my third sentence! Good news is I received congratulations from our friends in Ottawa for attaining “senior citizen” status. Not only that, how absolutely thrilled they are to be sending me a monthly stipend of what nobody could live on. I should be grateful I receive anything (and I am), but if that’s what today’s 65-and-up population have to survive on, it’s no wonder we’ve got so many elderly living far below the poverty line. What I am extremely grateful for is that I can still work (when we’re not in the middle of a shitstorm) and continue earning a reasonable living. For how long is anyone’s guess, but this body and brain just keep chugging along.

Pat Blythe – This is not about COVID……and music

This column is usually about the clubs, the music, the bands, the nightlife and the denizens of Toronto who haunt those places. The clubs are shuttered, the live music has stopped, bands are silent and the nightlife…..well there isn’t any. Yes musicians (solo or otherwise) are busy streaming on any platform possible. Artists from the around the world record themselves in isolation and then join together via video to perform, Brady Bunch style. All around the world people are trying to keep everyone’s spirits up as we sit, isolated in our homes, many alone, having had no physical human contact in almost three months.

SUNNY DAYS: THE SKIP PROKOP STORY (PART 3) by Jaimie Vernon

Skip Prokop (drums), Bill Misener (guitar vocals), Chuck Beal (guitar), and Denny Gerrard (bass)  formed The Paupers on December 10, 1964. Skip picks up the story from here.

Bill moved to our house in Alderwood (south of the QEW near Browns Line) to stay with us, and he went home on the weekends. We would drive from Alderwood, New Toronto, over to Scarborough and we would practice in Chuck Beal’s basement because we could set up our equipment there. That’s where we really began to put the band together.

Pat Blythe – A little BoRap, More Indie Week …and Music!

Well this is going to take a while. A full six days of Indie Week including a fabulous launch party  and a very private event at a very secret location, three days on the road with ONES, Horseshoe and Hideout gigs, an MCN Open Mic farewell and move, Pretzel Logic at the Orbit Room….and I’m sure I’m forgetting something in there….. I know I won’t get this all in one fell swoop but needless to say it’s been a non-stop roller coaster ride. Going back to front, let’s start with…. Oh but first…….

The Segarini Band vs The World

Originally posted April 3rd, 2011….

Being in a rock band can be fun, rewarding, stimulating and an adventure. It can also be tedious, frightening, life threatening, and rife with danger. No matter how well you plan, no matter how prepared you are, there are forces at work which will occasionally just fuck you up. Sometimes, it can be someone who is a stranger, or worse, someone in the support system of the band who causes the problems. Sometimes…it can be you…and when I say you, I mean me.

Roxanne Tellier: My Toronto – Part Two

Toronto was a different place in the late 1970’s and early eighties. Although it’s easy to look back with rose coloured glasses, it was, in fact, a watershed time for Toronto musicians. Everywhere you turned, you were surrounded by outstanding music, made by dedicated and very talented players, who enjoyed the freedom to create their art, and make a living at the same time.

 

 

The Segarini Band vs The World

Being in a rock band can be fun, rewarding, stimulating and an adventure. It can also be tedious, frightening, life threatening, and rife with danger. No matter how well you plan, no matter how prepared you are, there are forces at work which will occasionally just fuck you up. Sometimes, it can be someone who is a stranger, or worse, someone in the support system of the band who causes the problems. Sometimes…it can be you…and when I say you, I mean me.

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