Roxanne Tellier – Smile Damnit. Smile!

To be honest, I haven’t much enjoyed the last five years or so. I’m not just talking about politics, though, if there was ever a time in which it became apparent how much politics affects every aspect of our every day lives, this was that time. 

Roxanne Tellier – Up With Pride!

In the 50s and 60s, most of the gendered role models for kids were caricatures, physical and psychological distortions of what a ‘real man’ or a ‘real woman’ should look like, and how they should behave.  

Roxanne Tellier – Straight Outta Facebook Jail

I’m happy to report that the rumours of my death were greatly exaggerated.  I’ve only been dead to the social media world for the last 30 days. 

Roxanne Tellier – Aging and Changing

Teenaged me wasn’t very smart.  “Hope I die before I get old.” ‘Never trust anyone over 30.” I’d not yet heard of the 27 Club, but if I had, I might have aspired to joining it, thus avoiding becoming untrustworthy.  

Segarini Presents – Celebrity Believe It or Don’t!

I have said it before, and I will say it again. The Mainstream Audience LOVES their public figures to be weird, quirky, odd, strange, possessed, mentally unstable, drug addled, alcoholic, Re-Hab invulnerable, mouthy, shallow, deep, oblivious, and/or strangely coiffed or have an artistic deformity. Why? Because everybody knows if you have green hair, dress like a Circus act, own a dolphin, go shopping driving a zamboni, or have a prehensile tail, you are a better singer, actor, or politician than all the others. If you can grow a third arm in the middle of your forehead …you will be destined to be the greatest whatever-you-are until the end of time.

Or until someone comes along whose genitals can recite the Declaration of Independence.

Pat Blythe – The music melting pot…….and music

We all seem to have a penchant for “the good old days”…..those seemingly free and easy days of the 60s and 70s. Thing is, they really were…..free and easy. Oh, they weren’t perfect. People had their personal challenges but the music, oh the music.

There was a special kind of ambience, a unique kind of camaraderie among the artists. It was an exceptional time and it was happening everywhere. The music sonic boom of 60s was taking place on both sides of the ocean. There’s been a cavalcade of books and documentaries written and produced about the artists themselves and the influences they and their music have on us all today, and will continue to for generations to come. It was the perfect storm of change culminating in Woodstock in 1969, propelling us full speed ahead into the 70s.

MUSIC IS DYING…AND IT’S YOUR FAULT by Jaimie Vernon

Now that I have your attention, let’s talk about music in the time of COVID, shall we?
In the Before Times (March 2020 or sooner) the music industry was teetering on the brink of obsolescence as concert tickets had skyrocketed to the price of, well, a moon-landing, and venues were closing down at a rate equal to Nortel distributors. The music itself had been co-opted by the tech industry through streaming platforms, leaving artists wondering how they got robbed so badly (here’s a hint: you’re the cow, the music’s the milk…insert cliché about not buying the former if you can get the latter for free). On a scale of economics, you’re either a starving creator or a billionaire exploiter. There is no middle class in music. And given that most weasels in the music industry aren’t clever enough to become billionaires, they turn to low hanging fruit and pick the pockets of performers and songwriters for pennies on the dollar.

Roxanne Tellier – Perspective

I blame social media and reality TV. I blame reality TV because the flood of singing, dancing, housewifing and endurance series that became ubiquitous during the early 2000s were the catalyst for too many narcissists to believe that their big fish in a small local pond anonymity was only an audition and a bunch of ‘likes and shares’ away from stardom. And that belief, that, in the past, would have been knocked out of them by cruel reality, has gone right to our collective heads.

Roxanne Tellier – Hang in There, Baby

Argggh!!! Woke up in a ‘mood’ this morning, and the weather – grey, cold and damp – isn’t helping at all.

It’s not that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, it’s more that I’m just tired of playing pandemic. In February, I could still see a path ahead, even though it wasn’t clear how long our preparations and quarantine would last. Still, I had hopes that the light at the end of the tunnel was a bright future. Turned out it was an oncoming train.

Roxanne Tellier – How Much for Your Soul?

On the day after 4 million students from all around the world marched to protest their respective governments’ lack of decisive action on climate change, Bob Lefsetz noted that the photos and the chatter had already been pushed off the pages of both terrestrial and online press sites.