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.

NEW ROCKERS OF THE PEERLESS AGE by JAIMIE VERNON

I’m updating the Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia once again. This time it has a global purpose and will soon be available to music researchers via a data base known as Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale worldwide to Colleges, Universities, and libraries. It is literally my life’s work and is expected to remain available in perpetuity. To that end I’ve been tasked with updating annually until, well, I’m dead. I can just see me now in a senior’s home skipping Bingo and sing-a-long nights while I sit by the glow of the Google engine looking for the elusive catalog number of Whaleman’s 1991 “Sings!” album and gumming a soft-bun and apple sauce for 4.30 dinner.

Peter Presents a Review

While my main interest in music is “indie music”, I also like some mainstream music (even I had a copy of “Zeppelin II”), and have attended various concerts which apparently qualify me to say that. I do not pretend to be in the “Sharon Vernon triple figure concert attendance superfan category”, although the most recent “Trews” show she went to eerily included “Fortunate Losers” on the bill, a band which has been mentioned in my column before.

JAIMIE VERNON – THE DAVE RAVE CONSPIRACY

Excerpted from the upcoming Bullseye Records 30^th Anniversary book “Bullsography”
I was plugging away on an old Underwood electric typewriter out of a one-bedroom apartment in Pickering Village in the late 1980s putting out a fanzine called Great White Noise magazine when I received correspondence from legendary Pig Paper fanzine guru Gary Pig Gold….

Cameron Carpenter: Rock’n’Roll Rewind – Conventional Beliefs (Part 2)

We left you last week at the lobby bar of the Sheraton with Bobby Curtola, Jay Sparrow and Greg Godovitz. As with most conventions the premium site for socializing is the lobby bar (and, in more recent years, the outdoor smoking area).

Pat Blythe: CMW 2015 Over and Out – Part One

Ahhhh….CMW….ten days that will be permanently etched in my mind, my feet, my body, my bones. What a veritable whirlwind of dinners, dancing, concerts, clubs, conferences, more dancing…. Thank you Sasha Miller and Chole Stelmanis at Audio Blood (Newly christened AB) for providing the DBAWIS team our requisite passes and wristbands to the best music conference….ever.

Roxanne Tellier – Remembrance Day

My dad was a Korean vet. He met my mum through her brother, with whom he served in the famous Van Doos (the Royal 22^nd Regiment.) He was from Alberta, and she from Quebec. It’s unlikely they would have ever met if it hadn’t been for the war. They married a few weeks after attending my Uncle Leo’s wedding, and I was born nine months later.

JAIMIE VERNON – I DO THE ROCK

Jaimie Does the Rock

JAIMIE VERNON – TRUE NORTH GLUTEN FREE

In the early morning aftermath of two tragic military assassinations in Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario this week America tuned in and saw a different kind of Canada.

JAIMIE VERNON – SO MUCH MUSIC, SO LITTLE TIME

Back at the turn of the Millennium (which was 14 years ago!) I worked at Sam The Record Man’s flagship store at 347 Yonge Street on the third floor. I was the content editor of their fledgling on-line shopping store. It was my job to review the newest releases coming in from the record labels – most specifically Canadian content. I had been hired to deal with CanCon due to my online presence with the Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia. It was usually kept to a few dozen albums. It was a dream job.