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Winterfolk 2010

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Winterfolk is a blues/folk festival that is held in Toronto’s east end that runs from February 12 -15, 2010. It is held in The Danforth Ave area in a couple of locations. It will be held at five or more clubs at the corner of Danforth and Broadview in Toronto, all within close walking distance of the subway.

What is Winterfolk? Well check out the link and view the video below for more details!

Last year’s festival was a big hit in the neighbourhood.

The bands were fabulous and the venues owners were quite happy with the turnout. The price for admission is very realistic for the amount of entertainment value that you will get in return. Besides, what else are you going to do in the dead of winter anyway?

If your an band looking to maybe partake in this annual Festival, there will be a few audition locations around southern Ontario in which to try out. for more info check out this link!

Keep on Jammin’




Portishead are back in the studio

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Portishead is one of those bands that just floored me when I heard them for the first time. This is one of the many bands that my wife and I, happy 20 years together baby and many more to come, love to listen to together.

Some people love it, some people are ok with it and others say “what are you high”? Some refer to their style as Trip Hop and that one sounds good enough for me! Others tag this genre as electronic, electro, acid jazz, ambient, hypnotic or chillout.

They’ve said that the name of their style, that the media critics have pigeon toed them into, is something that they find odd to say the least. They really don’t see themselves as that kind of band. They say much of their inspiration for their slightly other worldly sounding style comes from the very boring and commonplace everyday irritations that they’ve experienced in life.

The bands catalyst that nudges them into their own unique style of music starts off by the band being pissed off or grumpy at whatever is happening to them at that point in time. This is what really steers them into their musical direction.

The band’s sound is haunting, to say the least. I find my consciously drifting off when Protishead’s music comes floating out of my home stereo speakers. Their music puts you into some sort of trance that leaves you powerless to resist the new age musical orientation. It’s hard to argue that they in fact created their own distinct musical genre.

They are one of a few bands that forces me to be cognizant of their lyrical input, even though I not a great lover/follower of words (I know it shows in my lack of writing skills, I sure ain’t no literary Laureate!). My regular readers will realize this, my lack writing abilities, as a reoccurring theme that is constantly splashed all over this blog! Portishead is just a great band to listen to in my eyes! Ah the sounds of the 90’s!

The two CD’s we have in our collection are Dummy (1995) won them the Mercury Prize and their 1997 self titled album Portishead that went directly to the top 10 in Britain. Then after that … nothing. This silence has lasted up until now!

Portishead has just released a new album titled Third. Not much is known about it now but if it is anything like some of the bands earlier collaborations then we’re all in for a treat! I hope to find out later a little bit more about this album and expose you all to the bands magical spell that it holds over me!

The band consists of Beth Gibbons, Adrian Utley, Geoff Barrow and the odd time they throw in Dave McDonald into the mix, he’s a producer and engineer on their albums.

So has anyone else out there heard of these guys?

Keep on Jammin’ Portishead

Here are some interesting links to check out that is related to this post!

TV’s Glee is coming out with an album?

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Fox’s top rated show called Glee is about a group of modern day kids struggling to find their way through high school.

The school’s Glee club is in constant conflict with the other school groups but it’s the music that they perform together that helps them navigate the conflicts in those crazy years of self discovery! Now it seems that the kids are going to release solo albums in the near future! Their release will be entitled Glee: The Music volume 1 & 2. It will be followed up with a 2010 tour.

Maybe the creatures of Glee are trying to capture the magic that came from the classic TV show of the 70’s called The Partridge Family?! Remember the bus!!!

Musically, I like the way in how these kidz interpret some classic tunes. The tunes they perform are essentially the same as the original versions but with subtle variations. I watched this episode other day that featured a song one of the football players played on his guitar.It was from Neil Diamond called Sweet Caroline. I must admit that I learned a neat chord progression that he played on this one that I can use for other tunes!

Apparently songs that have already been released from the show are a hit, with a reported 1.8 million digital downloads. The “Glee” version of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin” sold 522,000 downloads and has peaked at # 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in it’s first week. Go, “Glee.”

The songs on the future 2 albums will consist of ones that they have play on the show. Someone thought that if around 1.8 million digital downloads of their songs can make a few bucks then what would a few albums pull in? Follow that up with a tour of some sort and merchandising … $$$! Well good luck to them!

I’m all for finding different versions in which to play a tune or watch someone reinvent a classic tune no matter what type of format it takes place in. What are your thoughts about this? Yay or Neigh

Keep on Jammin’

Morrissey’s health scare onstage

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Steven Patrick Morrissey, the 50 year old ex-lead singer from the Smiths, was rushed to a British hospital around 9pm last night in the middle of performing a show at the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon.

The 1000 audience members were taking in the Smith’s 1983 classic tune This Charming Man when his medical episode took place. He reportedly fell onto the stage, unconscious and was gingerly carried off by the stage crew.

Some at the show said he was looking strained and wincing while performing. Morrissey, who just happens to be doing a world tour, has already canceled a number of events this year due to an “unspecified illness”.

He was taken off to the nearby Great Western Hospital and there is still no word yet on his condition.

God speed in his recovery.

Keep on Jammin’


Will George W. Bush finally Give Peace a Chance?

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George W. Bush is going to talk about his days in the old White house. That’s nice and all but his speech will be taking place in the same Montreal hotel where John Lennon and Yoko were asking everyone who would listen to them to give peace a chance? I know, this can’t be right but it is! This story is just so weird and ironic that I can’t find the words to describe it properly.

Didn’t someone think about the mockery, not to mention the humour, that would come with using a venue like this for such a purpose? Think what happened there at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel 40 years ago and what it was all really about. Doesn’t Bush have some PR person who looks out for his image? God’s that’s funny … I think?

This article from The Canadian Press by Andy Blatchford, really caught my eye and I just wanted to share it with you all.

So what do you think about the irony of this one? Is it just me or am I just blowing this event out of proportion? Enjoy!

Keep on Jammin’

Hugh Dillon the musician

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As someone who loves the show Flashpoint and even Durham County, to a lesser degree, my favorite character in both is Hugh Dillon. He has that raw feel that he brings to us every episode which makes you want more. He is also one of those types of guys that we all knew of when we were in high school. Most critics feel that his musical past has help him develop into the actor that he is today.

He grew up in Kingston Ontario and had a classmate named Gord Downie from the band Tragically Hip. At the age of 17 they both had been bitten by the rock and roll bug. I recall in some article somewhere that he talked about a night when he and Gord were at this local Kingston watering hole called the Prince George. In the men’s bathroom they came across this 70 something blues musician smoking pot from a weird corn cob pipe. This made him think about his musical future.

Later on he was the lead singer in the popular band called The Headstones which started in 1987. It was definitely not one of those wedding type of bands. They were loud, obnoxious and were not that accommodating to their fellow members in the industry that they loved.

They first started playing at a place called Blue Moon Saloon on Bloor St. West in Toronto. What a great place to see a band. My buddies the Big Kahuna had their first start there! Then The Headstones got their big break at Sneaky Dee’s right down the street at it’s original location. Over it lifespan the band enjoyed nationwide radio-play and had a Juno Award nomination. They finally broke up in 2003.

The most popular commercial song they covered was called Tweeter and the Monkey Man(1993), from The Traveling Wilburys (1988).

Later on in his life he would be battling a part of the music world’s dark under belly. The one that no one whats to be exposed to … heavy drug use! His addiction to cocaine, followed by heroin, introduced him to the rough and tough side of life. Fortunately for him he found the right path and came back to us in one piece! He says it took him running up against that stone wall and back again that led him and the character that he portrays on TV, with the essence of actor that he came to be.

Hugh Dillon’s newest band is called The Hugh Dillon Redemption Choir. It seems a lot tamer then his earlier ventures with his old bandmates but you can notice him maturing as a singer. I really like their tune called The Gods have spoken His new sound, dare I say, sounds safer? It’s amazing how things can become quite tame when a cop walks into the room!

Keep on Jammin’

Warming up for the Next Who Tour

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Roger Daltrey is starting to limber up his stage persona and vocal act for the up coming Who Tour. The warm up gig for Roger, it is called the Use It or Lose It tour, started off in Vancouver at the Commodore on Sunday Oct. 11th, 2009. The 1920s Art Deco building is where a lot of British band like to play because of it’s look and the vibe that the venue has.

He was playing with his American band which includes his longtime collaborator Simon Townshend. Yes his brother is none other then Pete! They played 17 tunes and then performed 2 more for an encore. The show lasted around 1 hour and 40 minutes in length.

I’ve read that a couple of patrons were not all that impressed with the quality of the music but come on, it’s just a warm up! An interesting side note from some people at the show said that he has some reservations about the sound calling it weird and having a echo worst then a stadium. Hum, you’d think that he would be use to that stadium sound after all those years playing gigs in those places.

During the show he pulled something that I do when I’m playing for friends … he forgot the words to a song, Days of Light, stopped the band and then started back up again! See Sue, Roger Daltrey does that too when he plays!

Keep on Jammin’ (and try not to forget the words 1/2 way through a song and then start over again!)

AUX TV sounds good but what is it?

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A new music channel on Rogers cable in Ontario you say? Something that will just play music that is interesting and ground breaking? Sounds like Much Music ages ago … not exactly says Aux TV president Raja Khanna.

TORONTO — As of Thursday, Oct. 1 at 9 p.m. EST, the nation will once again have a “music” station when Aux TV launches via Rogers Cable channel 107.

Raja also said in another article that “We’re focusing on groundbreaking new music. If it’s great music, I don’t care who’s writing it. If the Jonas Brothers were writing groundbreaking new music, we would report on it.” Ok, fair enough.

They also claim to be playing about 60/40 Canadian-to-international programming and that would be nice because we seem to be producing so much music these days!

Aux TV’s platform, they claim, is around 70% unique and syndicated shows with approximately 30% videos in their overall scheme.

I checked out their website first and found some neat interviews. I then headed off to see them on Rogers Channel 107, and overall it seems ok but I’ll have to wait a while to view more of their programs when I can.

Has anyone else out there seen some of their programming?

Keep on Jammin’

The Carillon at Metro United Church in Toronto

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A carillon is an instrument that used bells instead of strings to produce music. It’s been around since the 15th century and you’d think that I would of heard more about this thing but nope, never really heard of it before the other day.

thecarillon While waiting for a medical appointment in downtown Toronto the other day, I had some time to kill so I walked outside of the building. Across the street I found a very old house of worship called The Metropolitan United Church of Canada. That morning the church happened to be open to the public, so I walked in. I couldn’t help but fall in love with the ancient style of architecture in this building.

I found myself strolling up to this women at a table in the front foyer, under the bell tower. We talked about the architectural and historical aspects of the building. She was quite informative and witty to boot! She told me to walk in and check out the inside of the sacristy of the church.

I was spellbound by it’s beauty! Unfortunately I had to rush through the building because I had an appointment to be at in around 20 minutes.

As I walked out I ran into this man who said that he was the church’s Carilloneur? I then realized that the instrument he was referring to was called the carillon. I had just read about it in the flyer that the women gave me as I walked in before we talked.

We started this really cool conversation and it lead to him asking me if I wanted to see it! I said “Wow, would I ever!”.Then I almost forgot again about my medical consultation and asked him nicely if I could do it at a later date and he said sure. He also told me to and bring your video camera if I wanted.

Just like everyone else out there, I find that there is never enough time in one’s day to do what they really want to do! I hope that someday I will make it up the tower and check out this unique instrument up close!

Keep on Jammin’

NUANCE Soundscape Sundays

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Hole shit it’s that time again kidz and I just about forgot! Tonight is NUANCE Soundscape Sundays!
It’s a celebration of everything progressive and art rock all in one location and at the fabulous price of $5 admission!

For more info. please go to the NUANCE Soundscape Sundays site for further info.! Hope to see ya there! Wilton, I hope to see ya …

Keep on Jammin’ Wilton and friends!!!

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