Peter Has Band Advice, Festival News, and a Remarkable Young Film-Maker

Summer is finally here….almost. Summer in Canada means barbeques, backyards, balconies, beaches, bathing suits, baseball, beer and badminton. (Enough with the alliteration, already. Get on with it. Ed.)

Summer in Canada also means that the days are growing longer. Gone are the dreary months of only seeing that pale yellow orb in the sky on weekends and sick days. Life moves outdoors as much as possible as we frequent patios, campgrounds and parks, squeezing every possible second of fun that we can out of this fleeting season, for we know that the leaves that shade us in July will need to be raked up and disposed of properly in October. (Mother Nature always bats last.)

Peter Trump-ets Toronto’s Live Music and the Folks Who Make it Happen

Well Trumpelthinskin sure went off his script at last weekend’s well publicized 1% group grope. He went well off his message, well off on a tangent,; (well off his rocker?) His word salad of an address would probably have sounded better if his “speech writers” had taken an Oxford Dictionary, put it through a shredder, stuffed the resultant paper “scrap” into a muzzle loading cannon and promptly fired it at a wall covered with paper glue and begged him to read the result! America, I weep for you. You have “elected” a grifter, a cheat, a conman, a nepotistic thief who would gladly sell off everything that makes America great for 5 cents on the dollar, if it would fill his pockets and those of his dreadful family.

Peter’s Tips for New Bands AND Why You Should Be There for Opening Acts

This week, I’m going to look at ways that we, whether musician or fan, can promote indie music. These suggestions are based on my personal observations at shows, through my interpretation of other’s comments in various media and through my own thoughts about this topic. Although I will address the Greater TorontoArea as I am most familiar with it, most of these ideas should be applicable anywhere.

Pat Blythe – Indie Week – Act I

Crikey!!!! Where the hell did the day go?!? It was a crazy week last week….Indie Week style.  Launch on Tuesday, judging (and shooting) on Wednesday, hitting the clubs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday…..oh my aching trigger finger…… I saw so many bands around the city I’ve lost count. There were others I missed simply because I couldn’t be in two (or three) places at once….not even Zippy can do that. I take no prisoners driving from one end of the city to the other. There is no time to waste and parking to be found. But what a great week…..so much incredible talent out there, local and international, and these music makers love what they do….so I hope they all keep on “doing it”. I ran into so many people I know, reconnected and also made some new friends. I just LOVE this!

Peter and the Cherry Cola Rock N Rolla Cabaret and Lounge

I have described it as “the one place on earth where I’m happy to pay retail price for beer”! It has been a portal to a complete change in my life, introducing me to good times, great music and even greater people. It’s a venue that fosters a strong sense of community among this area’s indie musicians. I am talking about Cherry Cola’s Rock N Rolla Cabaret and Lounge.

Pat Blythe – Classics, Jazz and Blues, 1969….Mix and Match

Again I seem to running in circles while Mother Nature seems to suffer from severe indecisiveness. Dark, ominous clouds roll in, thunder and lightning key up together, sheet rain hits, cue hail and the next thing you know the sun is shining. It’s warm, it’s cool, it’s hot, it’s chilly….make up your mind. I’m not sure if I should be dressing in sandals, sneakers or boots. One thing is for sure, the plants and trees are loving it! So many rich and varied shades of green have been added to the landscape palette and the flowers just enhance it all. For all her varied moods, Mother Nature has created a most beautiful spring. Now, if the weeks would just slow down a bit….

Pat Blythe – Marsden, Mushy and Mod Night…..

I’m getting to this column a little earlier than usual. It’s a Monday night and one project has blurred into another today. The computer has captured  most of my time along with a little redecorating. My friggin’ eyes are going square! One thing has been swirling around in my cranium today and it’s this, when are we going to stop “cutifying” and beautifying little girls because someone posts a really cute pic of one? It’s really starting to seriously bug me. The comments all focus on looks….and we wonder why females are objectified, dumbed down, not taken seriously….and the list goes on. ….and it’s not just the words themselves but the verbal intonations we use when talking to them as babies and toddlers. By the time these little princesses learn to walk, they’ve also learned how to use their tiny feminine wiles (oh yes, they’ve already figured out how to wrap daddy around their finger) to get their way. Damn, it starts early, waaaaaaay to early.

The Stories Behind the Songs – Part Two

It’s snowing!!!! Not those big, fat, fluffy flakes where one can almost cover your face. But it’s snowing…. Sigh. The grey, dull days of January with just a mere hint that the sun actually exists…..which begs the question, why doesn’t Bell Canada hold their “Let’s Talk” campaign on Blue Monday? That makes infinitely more sense than say, Robbie Burns Day. Why in heaven’s name would you pick the 25th of January for mental health awareness??? According to a number of sources, the term “Blue Monday” was coined by holiday company Sky Travel in a 2005 press release. Cliff Arnall, at the time a tutor at Cardiff University, had come up with a light-hearted formula to determine the most depressing day of the year which commonly falls on the third Monday in January. It’s now a worldwide phenomena. Everyone has jumped on the bandwagon and the term is used repeatedly by companies and organizations (there’s even a BlueMonday.org) and stories in all sorts of media abound. Newspapers recommend taking the day off, there are various sites that will calculate, on a yearly basis, which Monday is going to be “blue” so you can prepare…..the power of suggestion. Although the entire idea is considered pseudoscience by the scientific community, Blue Monday is not going away anytime soon. Did you know mosquitoes are attracted to the colour blue twice as much as any other colour?

Pat Blythe – 2016….Over and finally…..OUT!

Well…..here it is already…..2017! Blink and both Christmas and New Year’s Eve are over, a fait accompli. Phffft….gone! Tout fini! Finito! Done and dusted! ….and here we are…. Has much changed? No, not really. Resolutions? Nope. Heading to the gym? Not on your life!!! The dance floor suits me just fine. Focus? I’m working on it. Oh look, a shiny thing……

Pat Blythe – Much Music, Pics and Other Stories…..

Baby’s got a new camera!!!! Chris’s camera finally bit the dust….shutter is stuck in the closed position, the “motherboard” is cooked. Ahhh….the digital age. ….and yet, his two 31-year-old “analogue” Nikons are in perfect working order. Complete with two motor drives, three lenses and a flash. Pop in a film canister and away we go. Planned obsolescence? Good question. Same goes for cars, major and minor appliances….just about everything we use today is all run by computer, and yes, computers run out of gas. That brain we call the motherboard, well….she just stops firing on all cylinders, or maybe, shoots off the wrong command. Her synapses aren’t synapsing (so to speak). I then found out today (being Tuesday) that digital cameras actually have an internal “odometer”. There are only so many pics that can (or should) be taken, then….sputter, sputter….you’re shooting on a wing and a prayer. Those aforementioned Nikons? Odometer? I think not. There is truly something to be said for analogue, vinyl, cassettes, 45s, my mom’s wash machine, stuff that was made to last a lifetime…..literally.