GWNtertainment #27 by Jaimie Vernon

The collision of tornados, hurricanes and wild fires on both coasts tells us that summer’s now officially over. How was yours? Did you manage to see any live music with the start-stop-start live music scene? It’s back to school time and with it comes more moderate weather, and a chance to catch what we hope is the restorative powers of a healthy, re-activated live music scene. Remember to wear protection and never share beer bongs with total strangers. GWN is back from a well needed break and we present to you the remnants of August’s new releases and a peak at what’s coming up.

Frank Gutch Jr: O Canada! You’re Music To My Ears, Part Deux! Another Look at New Canadian Music Really Worth Hearing….. Steve Young and Jubal Lee Young Play Eugene….. Jon Gomm and Canada….. and NOTES!!!

A number of months ago I wrote about Canadian music here on DBAWIS.  That column included mentions of The Dementians, Laurie Biagini, Lisa O’Neill, Eric Corne, Shade, White Light Machine, Lester Quitzau, and Redgy Blackout.  There has been a lot of water under the bridge since then and Canada, like every other country in the musical world, is cranking more music out by the hour, it seems, and good music it is.  It is funny, but when I write about music in  the States, it seems like (and I know it is only in my head) I am writing about the obvious.  Canada, though, is another world and an adventure I so enjoy experiencing that I am going to take a little mental break and update you on a few of those listed the first go-round and break a little ground with a handful of artists from the Far Northlands about which/whom I have not yet written.  Much.

JAIMIE VERNON: THE WAR OF INDEPENDENTS

Not since the great Napster clap trap a decade ago has music – specifically the people making that music – been under such vociferous attack. For those that missed the multi-pronged brouhahas over the last 10 days, let us review: 1a) National Public Radio intern Emily White confessed in a blog that her personal collection of 11,000 songs have never been paid for. She excused this behaviour as a modern cultural construct – having been raised in an environment where the acquisition of music has never involved the exchange of money. She actually ripped these tracks from NPR’s library which had been given to them as promotion-only releases from record labels and independent musicians. She was unapologetic and closed her statements by saying that moving forward she, and her friends, would only ever pay for access to the music…not the music itself. Her support for musicians begins and ends with buying concert tickets and T-shirts.

JAIMIE VERNON – Music Devaluation Blues

I’ve been slowly extracting myself from the Dante’s Inferno that is the music industry to concentrate on promoting good, new music [see the reviews following this rant] cause, let’s face it, talking about the mistakes the labels made over the last decade is like discussing that guy at Decca Records that passed on The Beatles. It’s just irrelevant now. However, it’s hard to get away from the magnetic suck of this bullshit business when milk-toast country dawdler Vince Gill throws this cowpie onto the road to enlightenment: