Sometimes meeting your heroes can be very disappointing. They could just be having a bad day or had a fight with their significant other or their manager, or recently received bad news about a pet project…or as is sometimes the case, they could just be an asshole.
On the other hand, some heroes exceed your expectations and then some.
Already a full half-century (!) since a certain somehow still futuristic sounding three-minutes-thirty-four hit chart tops ’round this whole world, I found myself inspired to share….
So, what project in your life has taken you the longest to complete? Has anything you’ve really wanted to do ever taken you 18 years? Most likely not, but that’s how long it took director Denny Tedesco to complete his documentary on a small group of musicians in Los Angeles who, from the late 1950’s through to the 1970’s, supplied the rhythm section (drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion, saxophone) for hundreds, if not thousands of hit records.
Hard to miss that’s it’s the Christmas season. Department, drug and clothing stores have all been playing Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”, Bobby Helm’s “Jingle Bell Rock”, Wham’s “Last Christmas” and The Beach Boys “Little Saint Nick”, along with newer Christmas ditties from the likes of Neil Diamond, Taylor Swift, Michael Buble and the omnipresent “White Christmas” from der Bingle (aka Bing Crosby) for what seems like months already.
This week Paul Revere of 1960s pop band Paul Revere & The Raiders passed away at the age of 76. He and his band were one of the second generation of pop stars who took the post-Elvis world by storm on the back of Beatlemania.
I’d been longing to see the Academy Award winning documentary film “20 Feet from Stardom” since it first came out in 2013, but it was only recently that I actually had the chance.
I love album covers! Not the shrunken down versions they use on CDs, I mean those gloriously creative (mostly) 12” vinyl record album covers. I was looking through my vinyl record collection the other day and marvelled at some of the amazing designs of some of the covers. Now, before we start delving into some classic album covers as well as a few personal favourites, a little history is in order, but don’t panic – there will not be a quiz later.
John Lennon said it best in one of my all time favourite songs of his: “So this is Christmas and what have you done. Another year over, a new one just begun.” I do so wish that Lennon was still here to continue with his amazing talent. But some self-centered asshole with a hand gun and a diseased brain (or a mind-controlled one, for all of you conspiracy buffs) silenced that legendary voice forever 33 years ago.
Fifty years on, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy still sparks painful memories in the hearts and minds of North American Baby Boomers. Where were you on November 22, 1963, when the American “Camelot” ended?
Kennedy was an impossibly exotic vision to the families of the 60’s. He was the first Irish Catholic to be elected President, something that at that time seemed as impossible as there ever being an African American in the White House. (Or a woman, for that matter, but that will happen too.) He was young, a war hero, from a large and seemingly happy family, and he seemed so very much what we all wanted our families to look like.
Canada is not exactly known for its balmy weather and towering palms, so when Canadians feel the warmth of the sun on their faces, there is a kind of joy that those who live further south below America’s Hat and and the Northern States will never experience. Sunny warm weather frees the soul, and except for hipsters and Coldplay tribute bands, the toques come off, the shorts come on, and we 
embrace the great outdoors…especially patios, our gazillion lakes, and the streets of downtown Toronto, were there is music everywhere, crowded sidewalks, and a party atmosphere like no other. Even Montreal gets a break this year. The Weather Channel says that this year in Montreal, summer falls on a Saturday….
Bullseye Records of Canada
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 