Pat Blythe – Christmas Thoughts, J.C. Sandoval, Crown Lands, Gowan and Music….

…and the countdown has begun. Three weeks to Christmas day. Three weeks to wrapping paper, boxes and debris strewn from one end of the house to the other, stuffed turkeys and stuffed tummies, early morning stocking discoveries, late morning coffees and mid-afternoon naps (for young and old), for family gatherings, carol singing and clinking glasses of cheer. A time of year celebrated all over the world. The entire season from Christmas Day to New Year’s Eve is probably the most electric time of year.

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!!!!

Pat Blythe – It’s a Mad World

I want to start by saying THANK YOU everyone for your wonderful messages and FB responses regarding last week’s column. Yes it was both difficult and cathartic to pour it out in black and white. It seemed to have touched a lot of lives but I hope in a good way. So again, THANK YOU!

Pat Blythe – CMW 2016 Part 2 and Other Stuff

Well, another week has just blown by and we are already half way through May. Where the hell is spring? I do believe Mother Nature has taken a detour. However, the beginning of “festival” season, music in particular, has started with a bang. CMW is the lead-in with the SING! Toronto Vocal Arts Festival running parallel and beyond. A bucket load of music is on tap this summer and folks are going to be hard-pressed to know which way to turn. So much to choose from and it will be happening all over the city, clear out to Hamilton and back. I’m not even including all the long weekend jams that happen in parks hither, thither and yon. Pick a few favourites, either local or long distance and settle in for the ride.

Cameron Carpenter: The ABC’s Of Rock’n’Roll – Quality Control

Quality Records was my training ground. Back in the seventies there were no school courses teaching the music business. If you wanted to work in a studio you hung around studios and hopefully someone would ask you to pick up a broom or maybe get the engineer a coffee. If you wanted to work at a record company you needed to know who to talk to and where they might hang out. A good in was getting to know the label publicists and the easiest way to do that was by writing album and live reviews for your school newspaper. I starting doing this in high school and by the time I reached college I had a couple of good ins at the labels (as well as lots of free albums and concert tickets).

Cameron Carpenter: The ABC’s Of Rock’n’Roll – A Place To Stand

“A place to stand, a place to grow – Ontari-ari-ari-o!” Those of us who were in public school in 1967 will remember this song as the unofficial anthem of Ontario which was played at Expo 67 and on countless TV commercials. Did you know it was written by Dolores Claman who wrote the iconic “Hockey Theme” which graced the airwaves on the CBC before every “Hockey Night In Canada” from 1968 to 2008?

Cameron Carpenter: The ABC’s Of Rock’n’Roll – Christmas Playlist Part One

When did it start so damn early? This year the cards were up at the local Hallmark in early October and the shelves were being racked in Shopper’s the day after Thanksgiving. Well before the little ghosts and goblins paraded up and down the street we were inundated with the onslaught of Christmas, spending and greed. Stations have flipped to “Holiday” music and the TV spots bombard us with what we have to have. Ones that irk me this year are the “I Want It” campaign from The Source (hey I want I lot of things as well but most of them I don’t have to pay for), the whole Canadian Tire series (they are not funny and we all know the Canadian Tire guy is the Tim Horton’s guy from last year who misses his Mommy because of Timmy’s lasagna – you’re a donut place by the way) and the new Leon’s annoying couple commercials. I believe you’re a couple as much as I believe I need a blow dryer from Wal-Mart this Christmas.

Cameron Carpenter: The ABC’S Of Rock’n’Roll – Love You Live

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Toronto may be the greatest city in the world to see live music. For those of us of a certain age there is a plethora of shows coming up in the next few months that will bring back “those old emotions”.

On November 30^th The Spoons will celebrate the 30^th anniversary of their ground breaking album “Arias & Symphonies” with a live performance at Revival. Joining still-active Spoons  Gordon Deppe and Sandy Horne that evening will be keyboardist Rob Preuss who has been living in New York  for many a year. Hopefully Arias drummer Derrick Ross can be convinced to hit the stage as well.  Also on the bill that evening is Images In Vogue. As of this writing there were a few tickets left but I would move quickly if you plan to attend.