It’s Tuesday night, November 17. My renovations are nearing completion, the house is dead quiet as I sit here, stretched out on the couch, looking around at this home we lived in together for 18 years. Remembering all the wonderful celebrations, dinners, Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners, TV watching, companionable “book reading”, and just quietly being, soaking up each other’s presence.
Cam Carpenter’s recent DBAWIS column on Toronto venues reminded me of how impressive the city’s music scene was back in the day. In the late 1970’s and early ‘80’s, the city was awash not only in great clubs, but in terrific musicians working six or even seven days a week, entertaining delighted, enthusiastic crowds.
You couldn’t toss a rock without hitting a working musician back then. We were everywhere, making a decent living, doing what we loved to do. Demand for live music was high, and most of us tried our damndest to rise to the listener’s expectations.
“I Want My MTV – The Uncensored Story Of The Music Video Revolution” – Craig Marks And Rob Tannenbaum
It’s an interesting read. I used to think that oral history books (where one person recalls an incident and another immediately comments on it) where an easy way to author a book. The more I read them the more I appreciate them. It takes a lot of work to ask the right people the right questions and then formulate them in to a book. It also always helps when you know the people involved. In “Treat Me Like Dirt – An Oral History Of Punk In Toronto And Beyond” by Liz Worth it was interesting to read what my friends had to say about the local scene that I very much witnessed.
When I first moved to Canada I was drawn to the music coming out of Montreal. We (The Wackers) had gone there in the first place to record the follow up to our first album, Wackering Heights as a kind of reward for making such a good debut LP. Our producer, the legendary Gary Usher, had promised to take us somewhere exotic to do the next record if the first either sold a pant-load, or the record was really good. The record was really good. Although I had played Vancouver at various times in different bands, Montreal was a mystery to me. Usher told me, “You’ll love it! They all speak French!” Wow, I thought, we’re going to Europe. Then I looked Montreal up in our huge Rand McNally World Atlas. Oh. We’re going to Canada. Fuck!
Bullseye Records of Canada
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 