GWNtertainment #11 by Jaimie Vernon

As Glenn Frey once said, “The Heat Is On.” We’re in fake spring right now and the dog turd landmines have begun to thaw while kiddies on bicycles and joggers are out in full force. I expect that some are listening to music while fitting their bits. Below is a whole new batch of Canadiana filling earbuds and smart speakers everywhere.

CHRISTMUSE RISING by Jaimie Vernon

One thing the nine months of The Eternal COVID Darkness has given us is a short reprieve from the rampaging assault of shopping mall music. Without the frequent stops at the McMall a few times a week to lose hours of one’s life jockeying for parking, hitting the food courts, and indulging in one’s fetish for window shopping at stores no one can afford, we have been spared music dialed in from Satan’s radio station itself.

Roxanne Tellier – Everything is Everywhere

Since I have a fear of flying, and a flight to B.C. tomorrow morning, I’ve been in a constant state of panic for the last week or so. When I finally fall into a restless sleep, I have non-stop nightmares of arriving at the wrong terminal, without a ticket or some vital bit of identification, and wearing all the wrong clothes, if I’m wearing clothes at all. Even when there’s no reason to panic – and I can always find a reason to panic – I’m in a simmering pre-panic mode.  My house looks like an exploded suitcase. Everything is everywhere.

Roxanne Tellier – Don’t Get Around Much Any More

Ach and oy vey! This house move is cramping my style, big time. Haven’t been able to get out to a lot of events, because time’s a ticking, and there’s only so many hours in a day. I’d like to say I’ve become more selective in my outing choices. But the truth is, moving and packing is a bitch. There just isn’t any time to gallivant around.

But let me tell you about two recent events I did manage to squeeze in. Both were wonders in their own ways.

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 – BOOM GO THE ‘80s

In a previous incarnation my label, Bullseye, was focusing on 1960s and 1970s Canadian re-issues but in the time that has elapsed since I folded the label (2010) and now, the pop culture zeitgeist has shifted. Classic Rock radio was put into suspended animation in 2014 by the major radio players (at least in Canada) and 1980s radio has picked up the ball. Oh, the 1970s is still getting a fair amount of airplay, but it’s mostly been ghettoized into bite-sized “The 70s at 7 !!!” type radio programming.

Pat Blythe – Women & Songs — Part Two

Radio – Same Ol’ Same Ol’

I don’t listen to the radio much these days…okay….sometimes when I’m driving but that’s mostly for road and weather reports. Music….not so much. What music I do hear is the rotation of the same songs or the same tired formula over and over and over…. I will admit I tune into Q107 but that’s more for the DJ banter and the stories than the music. ….and the commercials, on any station,  send me over the edge!