Pat Blythe – Indie Week…..Julian Taylor….podcasting……and music

I’m missing the live music, the clubs…..but most of all the people. It’s been two years now since I’ve trolled Toronto’s club scene, traveled with the ONES show and visited the many stages of the various festivals in Ontario. I loved it all….every second of it! I met some of the most incredible people, heard some fantastic music, and was honoured to a part of a scene I had been away from for so long. I made new friends (and lost a few), learned new skills, and was gifted with the opportunity to write this column…..it was a whirlwind six years. Then Covid decided to rain on our parade. The Pandemic Interviews allowed me to stay connected to many of the musicians I met during those five years.

Pat Blythe – Indie Week — Act II

…..and I’m not completely done yet….. It’s 5:19pm on Tuesday, November 21 and I’m just now starting tomorrow’s posting. It’s going to be a long night……and now we have network/modem problems……SIGH!!!!

JAIMIE VERNON – THE STRANGE ANIMAL RETURNETH

Through a generous offering by not one, but two friends (thanks Stacey and Danielle!), my wife and I got to see the solo return of Canadian singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Lawrence “But You Can Call Me Larry” Gowan this past week at the Empire Theatre in Belleville to a sold out crowd.

Pat Blythe: Ruminations

It’s Tuesday night, November 17. My renovations are nearing completion, the house is dead quiet as I sit here, stretched out on the couch, looking around at this home we lived in together for 18 years. Remembering all the wonderful celebrations, dinners, Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners, TV watching, companionable “book reading”, and just quietly being, soaking up each other’s presence.

Jaimie Vernon: Life’s A Canadian Rock – Part 4

ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL

With our induction into first year of high school at West Hill Collegiate in Scarborough, my teen friends and I were determined to keep music first and foremost in our cross-hairs. When we weren’t copping feels of female students during the requisite Leo Sayer slow dance at the school mixers, we were taking in several touring Canadian acts that passed through the school’s auditorium: Nightwinds (featuring future brilliant songwriting brothers Gerald and Terry O’Brien), Zon, Max Webster, Goddo and Triumph to name but a few. As well, we’d occasionally wander off to Records on Wheels music retailer at Morningside Plaza to scour the racks for new 7” single and LP discoveries.