Guitars, tips and great music discussions
Today marks the 175th year of the creation of Toronto, Ontario! To some, it is a beacon of hope, multicultural existence and tolerance. To others, Toronto is just a hole in the ground!
So to here’s to my new home town! cheers and many more to come T.O.!
Wilton Said is a band that makes you think about what is being said and played. Showing fascinating musical and lyrical form, Wilton Said is unlike any other act that I have ever seen, honestly. He calls his form of music Art Rock, and that maybe the best way to envision the true essence of this great Toronto act.
He was the 3rd act of the night and wow, I just sat back and stopped writing down notes. He is really something to watch on stage. It’s not what you can see and hear, it is everything else that he is projecting to the audience. It’s really freaky … in a VERY GOOD way that is.
Here is a bit of his bio from the Nuance nights program
Wilton Said…
Toronto indie artist Wilton Said… likes to write lyrical topics which explore the places others may find uncomfortable. This can range from the homicidal school shootings in “No Other Way” off of 1999’s release “World up my Ass”, the ode to the oversexed pearl necklace stalker in “All for You” off of 2001’s release “Broken”, through to the public washroom romp in “What I’ve Seen” off of 2004’s ” The Butterfly Plague”. His last release titled “The View” (2006) takes a look at topics that we can all relate to but don’t necessarily want to. The struggle to find an identity so we may fit in as heard in “Pretty”. The lust for control and domination to soothe our own weaknesses in “A Family Affair”.
The struggles with addictions and deceit brought to light in “Merry go Round”. “The Empty Sky” with it’s theme of coming to terms with hopeless situations.
Musically, WILTON SAID…’s style can be referenced back to his experiences of classic art rock
artists such as Kate Bush, Queen, Peter Gabriel, Supertramp, and (older) Genesis.
Other inspired contributions range from A Perfect Circle with their release “13 Steps”, David Bowies release “Heathen” and Radiohead’s “O.K. Computer”.All have added inspiration to the rich eclectic texture of his music and to his strong baritone vocals.
While Wilton’s past studio and live experiences has had an assortment of musicians backing him up, his
current and most stable line up consists of the textural stylings of Guitarist Chris Reid, the groove and grounded Bass playing of Frank Heisler, and the subtle yet intricate Drumming of Richard Rizzo.WILTON SAID…, who holds a Degree in Musical Composition from York University, has been performing in the G.T.A. promoting his various CD’s through live shows and interviews. For more information
regarding future shows and events, please visit the website listed below.http://www.wiltonsaid.com
So there you go! Now, go out and check out this intriguing Toronto artist.
Keep on Jammin’ Wilton Said
This past Sunday, the Prime Minister of Canada, dissolved the government, thus opening the door for an October 14th Federal Election. From start to finish, the process will take 37 days.
This, I promise, will be a short (just like me) general post!
My wife in I live in the Danforth area of Toronto, which happens to be in Jack Layton’s NDP ridings. The biggest musical supporters are the Barenaked Ladies, which I find outlandishly entertaining! I’ve never seen them live before, but I hope to ends this little streak soon.
So my question here is, why does it take America about 2 years to do it? To us Canadians, it seems like the US elections has been dragging on for years now. This isn’t a regular length of time, is it? Why is it taking so long?
Keep on Jammin’
This is a company that is owned and run by an old guitarist buddy that I use to play with way back in the day. His name is John Ball and what a success story his is.
John and I always played together but not in the same band. We hung around the same circle of friends and musicians and to make a long story short, we had different playing styles that never really over lapped. He gravitated to the harder speed metal sort of arrangements while I was under a more Progressive Rock, Jazz and to a lesser extent Pop genre.
My sister and John were closer in age and they both were in the same grade at St. John’s College. Boy did both of them get themselves into a little bit of trouble as kids during those years! Then again, I was no angel either.
His company is called Ball Media Productions and he had his humble beginnings in our home town of Brantford, Ontario. He at first started his empire with a recording studio in the basement of a well known Brantford music studio called Music and Sound. Over the years he has branched of into different area’s as he sees fit.
Now his company has a jaw dropping amount of specialized services that can now compete with the big guys!
Ball Media includes Printing/Bindery, Packaging, Branding/Indentity, CD / DVD Replication, Graphic Design and Web/Multimedia plus video area’s of expertise. Take a look for yourself and if you do need his services for anything no matter how small, just tell him “Stickman” sent you!
I wish him well with all of his company’s future endeavors but I know that he doesn’t need it!
Keep on Jammin’ Johnnie!
I was introduced to the Vox Tonelab SE peddle by a guy who I was playing with this past weekend at the Arlington Hotel’s Capron’s Cavern, Paris Ontario.
The event was being held for a dear family friend who was celebrating his 50th birthday. Craig Peeler was the guitarist who played a wide variety of tunes. I brought along my Larivee and he graciously let me jam with him on stag that night.
Wow, I was at Steve’s Music on Queen St. in Toronto today and I was looking at a Vox ToneLab SE. This thing looks HOT! Unfortunately they did not have this in stock but was getting them in this week.
John Boldt was the rep. that I was talking to and he was very up to date on his pedals. He was saying that 12AX7 dual triode vacuum tube is used at the end/output of the inside mother board of the floor peddle. This has quite the warming effect on the sound. The tube is not used for the power of this system! He said that most pedal companies are using the vacuum tube at the beginning of their process but Vox was using it at the tail end instead. This makes sense because you would always want a warmer tube sound coming out the speakers.
I would recommend this little piece of equipment heaven for anyone’s collection!
Keep on Jammin’
While reading the Toronto Star the other day, I found a great piece of music history that never was.
It was to be organized by John Lennon and whats her name. This event was to be part of their peace campaign, shortly after John left the Beatles. It was to have been a star studded event North of Toronto Ontario.
Unfortunately for us the US government got involved with it. I still to this day have no idea why the US Government was so concerned with John Lennon in the first place? If he was such an eyesore to them then why didn’t they just ignore him. You know like what I say about Micheal Jackson all the time, ” If you just ignore this freak, he will eventually just go away”. Just like the school or village idiot?
But even common sense has to prevail once in a while. Although the Ontario government at the time tried to put the ca bash to this one, the courts stepped in and said that it was ok to proceed.
When was it to have taken place, Aug. 7-9, 1970. I bet it would have been a blast!
John Lennon R.I.P.
Keep on Jammin’
I’ll bet my life that most non-Canadians did not know that THE BAND was made up of mostly Canadians. They hail from the same neck of the woods that I came from. The History of “The Band’s” connection with Ontario is well documented. I am originally from Brantford and it happens to be in the middle of the area from which they all originated. Must be something in the water?
Well to tell you the truth, I didn’t realize this until a couple of years ago.
I had heard stories of one of them, Robbie Robertson being from Canada, but as far as I knew, they were the biggest and best in the world in my opinion, and I figured they must have been from some other place in Canada.
Check it out:
Robbie Robertson, is from Toronto but spent a lot of his younger years in the Six Nations reserve. I use to go there a fare amount and had friends from that area. It’s not far from Brantford.
Rick Danko lived in Simcoe. My family went to the Simcoe Winter Lights Festival regularly. They put on this great Christmas light show near the downtown part. There is great park and it has a small river running through it and the best time to go is when it is snowing heavily! You will think that you are at the North Pole, really great little town.
Richard Manuel is from Stratford. This is quite the quiet town. It’s around the Kitchener-Waterloo (which had it’s name changed from Berlin, during World War II) and is now known for the Stratford Festival. This is a Shakespearean festival that every kid from the southern Ontario area went to see many times throughout their childhood. The theater is a must to see if you enjoy great acting and visual effects.
Garth Hudson, is from London Ontario. My sister lived there for a while and I went there the odd time. Nothing really special about this place, but if I went there more often I probably would have found something.
Who says us Canucks are only good at hockey!
keep on Jammin’