September…..the beginning of my favourite time of year. There’s something so crisp and refreshing…..a newness spring doesn’t possess. New jobs, new schools, new grades, new homes, new lives…..September to me has always meant “beginning”. Maybe because it’s the month of my birth, or maybe it’s all the fall colours and brightness of the air, but I always feel inspired and invigorated in the comfortable cool months of fall. Of course, all things pumpkin spice doesn’t hurt either!
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The goal for today (Tuesday); get up early and dedicate a couple of hours to what I laughingly refer to as the back garden. So here I am having a war of weeds with Mother Nature. She’s insistent they need to have a place to grow and I vehemently disagree. Unfortunately, I think she’s winning this one.
This column is usually about the clubs, the music, the bands, the nightlife and the denizens of Toronto who haunt those places. The clubs are shuttered, the live music has stopped, bands are silent and the nightlife…..well there isn’t any. Yes musicians (solo or otherwise) are busy streaming on any platform possible. Artists from the around the world record themselves in isolation and then join together via video to perform, Brady Bunch style. All around the world people are trying to keep everyone’s spirits up as we sit, isolated in our homes, many alone, having had no physical human contact in almost three months.
All my neatly laid out plans for today’s column……changed on the note of a Christmas song. Although Fall may be my favourite time of year, Christmas is by far my favourite holiday. It is an incredibly happy, sad, bittersweet and joyous time of year that brings out every possible emotion in me. I run through them from top to bottom repeatedly.
Music festival season is upon us. CMW (Canadian Music Week) is usually first out of the starting gate. This year FCLMA was ahead of the game so for me, one segues right into the other. I’ll also be heading to Mariposa in July and Summerfolk in August. With a myriad of music shows and festival in between it’s going to be a busy summer for many and one that will pass by far too rapidly.
It’s my fourth anniversary writing for DBAWIS!!!! Time has wings. A wild and crazy ride full of music, festivals, clubs, a theatre show, a little G&T, dancing, my drums, more music and incredible people. There is soooooooo much going on it’s challenging to keep up. Have you ever suddenly blinked and wondered, “Holy shit, what just happened? WHAT the HELL has just happened?” My life, as I knew it, has inexorably changed….transformed….and it happened when I blinked. I’m in my happy place with photography, writing and music…..it can’t get much better than this……
But first……
Excitement, elation, anticipation (with a dash of skepticism) followed by heartbreak, letdown, expectations and hope dashed….all in the span of 24 hours. Sound dramatic? It was actually. (It’s that emotional 5-year-old inside me) Cause? For the first time in my career as a photographer a selection of my photographs were about to be published in a national newspaper…the Toronto Star! Skepticism? The photo credit. It began with vagaries followed by a number of confirmations (not without some prodding at my end) letting me know everything was well in hand. Well…..you can guess the rest. I opened the paper and my name was nowhere to be found, but someone else’s was…..
Well…..it’s confirmed. Mother Nature has definitely got the time of the year completely messed but who’s complaining. It was an absolutely perfect day for an outdoor wedding last Friday. Sunny, gorgeous, colourful….we could not have been blessed with a better day. Sam Taylor sang his heart out, entertaining the guests as they were seated, serenading the bride as she cruised down the aisle and again during cocktails. The guests were raving about him and his voice well into the evening. A very well documented wedding it was with two official photographers (not including me….I wasn’t ‘official’) and three videographers. They all made sure every teeny tiny moment was captured, including a few late-night wipeouts on the dance floor. The younger set were thoroughly enjoying themselves. My niece Annie and her new husband Jesse are chilling out in Montego Bay as I type this. This spectacular weather remains with us until September 25 (how fortuitous!) and then apparently Fall is due to arrive, albeit a few days late….temperature wise anyway.
I will start by paying tribute to two remarkable artists. First a true Canadian icon and our poet laureate (in our hearts) Leonard Cohen on Monday, November 7 although the notice of death was not released until the day he was buried. Today (Sunday, Nov. 13), the news informs us of the passing of the unforgettable Leon Russell. Two legends (if I may use that term) in our lifetime that have shared a piece of themselves with all of us. Their minds and their hearts live on in the music and lyrics of our lives.
I was introduced to a young lady several month ago at Cherry Cola’s. Her name is Sally Shaar. We chatted for a while….I can’t even remember if I gave her a business card…..shared a bit of information about each other (she found out I wrote for DBAWIS and I found out she was a singer in a band) and eventually we parted company.
Bullseye Records of Canada
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 