GWNtertainment #43 by JAIMIE VERNON

Aside from many, many tour announcements for most of Canada’s working musicians, it’s been a quiet week for new Canadian music releases. Many artists were ensconced in the revived annual music showcase SXSW in Austin, Texas, while others were already on the road putting music back on stage nationally. This is good news. We encourage people to support our working musicians and live venues with care and caution as mandates continue to be lifted. If everyone does their part the live music industry will continue to grow and prosper back to its pre-2020 levels.

GWNtertainment #34 by Jaimie Vernon

Well, it’s been a hell of a year, folks. Between the continued restrictions from COVID and the uncertainty of our times, many like myself have sought solace in music. GWNtertainment would like to thank the many music publicists who supply us with the news we share, and to the musicians battling both employment and the continued devaluation of their art, we salute you. Your music does matter. It does make  a difference and it makes writing this column worth every minute.

GWNtertainment #28 by Jaimie Vernon

Lots of new music this week as post-summer tuneage is in full swing. Just ask Drake who now occupies half of the Top10 on the Billboard magazine charts. It’s also drawn battle lines between old pop music fans and new because Drake’s positioning on the charts breaks a handful of records previously set by The Beatles. Vitriol has been flying around social media dismissing Drake and his accomplishments. GWN celebrates any Canadian artist who has managed to raise the ire of a generation of music lovers who refuse to acknowledge that time has passed, and that a new generation also makes music that people love. We are here three times a month extolling the virtues of those new artists and that new music. Other music exists in the same universe as The Beatles…resistance is fertile.

Roxanne Tellier – Hot Town – Mean Streets – Jazz Hands!

What ..are we back? Now?Like this now?

Sheesh, I am no good without routine ..give me time off and I collapse into inertia. Or maybe it was the heat this summer or maybe I’m just lazy. Whatevs. I feel like a kid coming back to school after summer vacation, with an essay so banal that even the dog won’t eat it.

JAIMIE VERNON – OH! CANADA? THE OTHER SONGS OF MY PEOPLE

Tuesday marks the 147th birthday of this great Dominion known as Canada.  Though we’re not quite as old as our brother to the south, our European lineage dates back to May 2, 1670 when the Dread Pirate Ernie Hudson got his ship stranded in the northern waters of the arctic looking for a direct passage to Santa’s Workshop. He and the crew survived on nothing but Her Queen’s Own Biscuits, Tea Candles and striped blankets knitted from the wool of extinct mammoths. The native population had already been here 11,000 years longer and resented the idea that you now had to trade 10 beaver pelts to get a birch bark canoe. We’ve come a long way since then but still pride ourselves on our cultural diversity, beavers, hockey and fornicating while watching hockey. Oh, and we seem to be able to write a mean ditty (not “diddy” you internet meme idiots).