LOLA DUTRONIC "Everybody Loves You When You're Dead"

Someone's finally come up with a pop tune cousin to Jim Carroll's "People Who Died". Lola Dutronic (featuring Stephanie B.) runs us through a shopping list of questionably moral individuals that we just adore now that they're deceased. Now sing along with the likes of backing vocalist friends Chris Frantz & Tina Weymouth (Tom Tom Club), Mona Mur & En Esch, Hugo Burnham (Gang Of Four), Eric Debris (Metal Urbain), Jeremy Gluck & David Buckley (The Barracudas), Ian MacKay (The Diodes), Ray Coburn (Honeymoon Suite), Bill Wood (Eye Eye), Bucko Billie Brock (Boys Brigade), Jaymz Bee (The Look People), Teddy Fury & Project Heartbreak. From the new album "Everyone's A Star" now on iTunes.

RORY STORM / RINGO STARR recordings unearthed

After 52 years sitting in the basement of the sister of Rory Storm (Alan Caldwell) in Liverpool, previously unheard recordings of Rory Storm & The Hurricanes - Ringo Starr's band prior to joining The Beatles - will be released for the first time on a new CD collection. Full story

TIM CHAISSON - DISCovery of the week

Prince Edward Island's Tim Chaisson's new album 'The Other Side' drops September 25th. The first single has been released and can be heard Here for free.

BESSE COOPER the oldest living person turns 116

With the spate of celebrity deaths in the past few months it's nice to have a good news story for a change. On August 26th Georgia resident Besse Cooper celebrated her 116th birthday. That's right, kids, Besse was born August 26, 1896!!! She is now recognized as the oldest living human and sits in 10th place on the list of the oldest verifiable people to have EVER lived on the earth (Jeanne Calment of France holds the record at 122 Years, 164 Days).

Here's hoping Besse has another wonderfully historic year!

CRAIG ELKINS "I Love You" CD review

CRAIG ELKINS "I Love You"

For many years now I've made it a mission to not slag independent releases when I review them. A lot of REAL blood, sweat and tears and most probably a considerable amount of personal debt goes into putting together 10 or 12 songs for a CD knowing very well it could take years to do it again based on the personal circumstances of most struggling artists. Ex-Huffamoose member Craig Elkins' latest release was treated with the same reverence. But after two listens to the entire 9 song collection I ejected the CD and tossed it into the back seat of my car. For the first time ever in my 40 years as a music afficionado an artist has triggered the one emotion I've NEVER experienced while listening to music: Anger. It pushed me way outside of my cushy comfort zone. I'm not sure if this was Elkins intent or whether I'm not the person that should be tuning in to his confessionals. To preface this you should know that there are no bad songs on the album. His musical approach is Memphis Alt-country created with the help of Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello), Charlie Gillingham & Dave Immergluck (Counting Crows), Neil Larsen (Leonard Cohen) and a huge team of other contributors. His voice shifts between an emotively over-the-top Adam Duritz or Barney Bentall ("Tell 'em My Story") to the more subdued and conversational Marc Cohn (on the album's best track "I Wanted To, But I Didn't"). But the album plays out like a movie monologue in a smoke-filled seedy hotel room with blacked out windows where a heroin addict is soliloquizing shortly before overdosing. And if you think I'm being harsh just check out the opening track "Offin' Myself" where he goes on about being a prick and he might just kill himself or the directly-to-the-point "I Can't Stop Being a Dick". Every song's a bigger downer than the last - and shifts thematically back and forth between SELF-loathing and PEOPLE loathing. Just check out the closing Randy Newman-like literal lyric acoustic dirge "Human Drag" - "Being a fucking human can be a really big fucking drag".

Even when Elkins' stream of consciousness observations are accompanied by a catchy chorus like "Most of the People" he's still presenting as skid row Emo boy: [Paraphrasing here cause there's no lyric sheet] "Most of the people that you see on the street or in the crowd or at the store/Some in the place in the space that you occupy are gonna die before you see them again". How uplifting. Sounds like Elkins is having a rough life or needs therapy or maybe just a hug. But as a recent comedian once said very succinctly - you know who cares about your problems more than you? Nobody. Some people write about their personal pain in a diary (or on Facebook or have the name Tom Waits). Elkins has committed it to a well produced CD. Jury's still out on whether that's brave or foolish. Maybe I'm missing the point of the whole thing because Elkins certainly has an audience - hell, his stuff has been used on the TV show "Sons of Anarchy" and even in commercials. Or maybe he's just putting us all on. After all, the album is ironically titled 'I Love You' and his tagline is 'Music For Real (Depressed) People'. Craig Elkins Website

RIP - Astronaut Neil Armstrong, 82

Neil Armstrong, the first human to walk on the Moon as part of NASA's Apollo 11 mission in July 1969 has died at the age of 82.

KLAATU releases 35th Anniversary 'Hope' remaster CD

DAREDEVIL reboot in jeopardy

Fox Studios' new Daredevil reboot is in jeopardy of heading back to the property owners at Marvel as the film continues its run of production delays; the film lost director David Slade and 'A-Team' director Joe Carnahan was brought on board to work on the Frank Miller/David Mazzuchelli graphic novel tale 'Born Again' which finds Daredevil knee-deep in a gritty early '70s mob story featuring Kingpin. But Fox let the clock run down on the character license that is owned by Marvel Studios. The deal expires shortly and despite two extensions on the deal, Daredevil will most likely revert back to Marvel leaving Carnahan's film dead on the table. It would be a coupe for Marvel who had licensed out most of their character properties in the 1990s - currently Fox still controls the universes of The X-Men and The Fantastic Four. In recent years Marvel regained control of Iron Man and Blade from New Line Cinema and The Hulk from Universal. But with Daredevil heading back home, insiders fear that the violent 18+ 'Born Again' story line will be a turn off for Marvel's parent company Disney. Daredevil may once again become the lame ass Saturday morning kiddie fare that Ben Affleck portrayed in the 2003 Daredevil film. Here's hoping someone can save the franchise and Frank Miller's killer storyline. Fox has released a teaser trailer for Carnahan's vision of the movie you may never get to see:

MARTA PACEK "Rebel Baby" CD review

MARTA PACEK “Rebel Baby”

The title of Marta Pacek’s third record is truly deceiving. The word rebel conjures up either cinema icon James Dean or Civil War re-enactors pointing bayonets at each other on sweltering July weekends in Gettysburg. Pacek is neither of these things. In fact, her songs and her music aren’t so much against the status quo as they are a measure of her ability to alter the perception of the music listener. A rebellion would mean a single, monosyllabic drive against authority. Instead, what we have on this record is controlled anarchic diversity – it pushes AND pulls simultaneously. Hmm…maybe that’s the rebel’s job after all. Pacek flirts with all manner of country-equated styles throughout the 12 tracks: Canadiana (“These Days”, “Milk & Honey”, “A Way to Fall”, “Nobody’s Crying”), uptempo and boppy 1950s Kitty Wells-styled shuffles (“A Girl Gets By”, “Over to Your Side”), Edith Piafian Romanish/Gypsy folk (“Twisted With Love”, “Let Me Down”), Alt-Country (“Back In the Middle”, “Annie”), and even melodic Everything But the Girl post-punk Brit pop (“In the Name of Love”, “Think It Over”). Pacek’s voice recalls the more dynamic pursuits of Cowboy Junkies’ Margo Timmins and 10,000 Maniacs’ Natalie Merchant. There’s a little for everyone here and repeated listens reveal the subtle contributions of the album’s other players including the guitar presence of co-writer Neil Murchison. Pacek herself wrote, co-wrote and co-produced the majority of tracks on the album with the lone ‘cover’ tune being “Nobody’s Crying” by Patty Griffin. The album is a great collaborative listen and is recommended for those looking for something completely removed from the Country music genre but orbiting the same solar system. Marta Pacek Website

TREWS perform at New Brunswick Highway of Heroes dedication

Canadian band The Trews along with the Harvey Volunteer Fire Department were among those on hand in Fredericton, New Brunswick on August 12th for the dedication of the New Brunswick leg of the 'Highway of Heroes' honouring fallen Canadian soldiers.

GOTYE goes meta and out smarts the impersonators

In a move reminiscent of Frank Zappa's brilliant 'Beat the Boots' boxed set where he stole back bootleg recordings of his own live shows and issued them as legitimate albums, Gotye has taken all the YouTube cover versions of his "Somebody That I Used To Know" and made a 6 minute mash-up. Don't worry, you won't have to endure the droning lyrics - it's a dub version featuring the cornucopia of imaginative instrumental interpretations. The payoff comes at the 3.50 mark with a brilliant bit of comic parody.

SARAH SMITH "Stronger Now" - review

SARAH SMITH “Stronger Now”

Smith has been beating about Canada for a decade as the lead vocalist/guitarist for rock leathernecks The Joys. I was blown away by their last album with its rough-n-ready blues rock stance and Smith’s vocal versatility – covering all the angles between a smoky Sass Jordan and a controlled chanteuse like Amanda Marshall. In a complete surprise, especially to this scribe, she decided to take the plunge and go solo. More surprising was getting the new album ‘Stronger Now’ and finding out it was steeped in New Country-isms. Producer/engineer Kevin Doyle (he of Canadian rock production fame) has helped Smith carve out a slick by-the-numbers ten song debut that is perfect – that is, not a single musical hair is out of place: every guitar line, every solo, every bridge is exactly where it’s supposed to be. In other words, the rough edges and unpredictability that endeared me to Smith initially has been sanded down and lacquered. Not that it’s necessarily a bad thing.

Someone that’s been at it this long deserves a fresh start with a more mature, more accessible release that might very well get her the respect she’s deserved for too long. A lot of others believe in her talent as well. Her and award winning songwriter Tim Thorney (Cassandra Vasik, Joel Feeney) co-writes five of the album’s songs here – including the hooky and single-worthy “Shine Bright” and the Michele Wright-esque “Can’t Wait” plus a rolling, dreamy prairie ditty called ‘The Lucky One’. She also takes a shot at a song written by the co-genius behind Amanda Marshall’s early success, David Tyson, and his co-write with Matt Nolen and Ryan Tyndell called ‘Wake Me Up’. Unfortunately, the song doesn’t quite hit the mark – maybe because, lyrically, it’s not Smith’s own thoughts and she sounds removed from its immediacy. Smith shines brighter, and with more conviction, when she writes with Thorney or with the album’s parade of stunt writers from the Rock genre – Honeymoon Suite’s Derry Grehan (“Into the Light”), the power-balladish title track with Harem Scarem’s Harry Hess or the best track on the album, “More”, with Simon Wilcox (daughter of David). Tacked onto the end of the album, almost as an afterthought is the lone Sarah Smith written acoustic track called “Reload” – the most personal and best executed song on the disc. Her voice soars and her vulnerability bleeds for the entire three minutes: “I’m hiding beneath your little wing now/’Cause I’m a fragile little toy gun”. My hope for this album, and Sarah Smith, is that by standing on the shoulders of her mentors, she can parlay that into commercial success and one day reclaim more of her own personality on future releases; ‘Cos there’s a great singer and a great songwriter waiting to break out and we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg here. Sarah Smith Official Website

ERIN SAOIRSE ADAIR needs your help!

ERIN SAOIRSE ADAIR is a diverse composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist based out of Ottawa, Ontario. Recently, she has become a prominent and popular voice in the local folk scene, and has garnered accolades for her bluesy, accessible and deeply relevant messages. Inspired by poets such as Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath, by songwriters such as Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell, and by contemporary composers such as Igor Stravinsky, and Yann Tiersen, Adair’s music is a unique blend.

Erin Saoirse Adair’s songs reflect the influence of folkloric traditions in her music and though her musical arrangements are complex, Adair’s goal on stage is to tell a story. Over the past few months, she has been earnestly writing, polishing, and performing new songs and is now working towards the release of her debut album in the fall of 2012. Founder and part of feminist folk trio Three Little Birds, Adair is a strong collaborator, and the group recently released their debut CD with the help of Dean Watson of Gallery Studios. She has performed recently with Three Little Birds in many venues including features at, the Ottawa Jazz Festival, The Tulip Festival, Ottawa University’s Frosh Week, and the Ontario Conference for Folk Festivals. Solo, she has performed at various venues in Ottawa, including Ottawa Jazz Festival, Ottawa Fashion Week and Women’s World 2011, a global feminist conference.

Help Ottawa's Erin Saoirse has finished her album and needs to raise funds to get it mastered and manufactured: Indiegogo website

BACKBEAT - The Birth of the Beatles Musical

We live in a very unique time. Pop culture is such a big part of our everyday existence that we are able to watch a rare breed of genius rise and zenith in real time. It’s hard to imagine being there when Bach or Beethoven performed their most celebrated Sonatas and Symphonies for the first. It is so long ago that their stories and their music seem like stuff of myth – we don’t even have recordings…just modern interpretations from the sheet music they left behind.

The Beatles, on the other hand, are still casting long shadows in a world where so many living people saw them, heard them, and met them as that history was being made. The planet has lost entire forests for the printing of books that have told their story. And it’s the same story – over and over and over again with the occasional nuggets of new information. Every aspect of their lives has been scrutinized, analyzed and rationalized. But the majority of those stories begin with band’s drummer Pete Best getting fired in 1962, Ringo Starr being instated behind the kit and the Beatles living out fame and fortune until their implosion in 1970. Then we were handed another decade of solo pursuits, marriages and reunion rumours before the tragic death of John Lennon. Since then there’s been vault cleanings of old Beatles recordings, a Threetles reunion and the death of George Harrison. Currently we’re watching Ringo and Paul McCartney live out their, and our, Golden Years of Beatles history. We are on the cusp of moving from history-in-the-making to legend and myth. Thankfully, history has recorded more of the former and less of the latter. And one of those legendary stories, rarely told and passed off as a quaint lead-up to what became Beatlemania, is the actual birth of The Beatles.

The origin story, ‘Backbeat’, was director Ian Softley’s first movie and was released in 1994 after extensive research and collaboration with Beatle confidantes and friends Astrid Kirchherr, Klaus Voormann and the family of the late Stu Sutcliffe in 1988 and a touched up script by screenwriter Stephen Ward. For those whose Beatles knowledge begins with “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and ends with “The Long & Winding Road” these names might be alien to them. To die-hard Beatles aficionados they are the catalysts in turning a motley group of late 1950’s Teddy Boy leather-clad musical imitators into, arguably, the greatest musical group in the world.

The film received a BAFTA Award nomination (Britain’s equivalent to the Academy Award) and won Softley a London Film Critics’ Circle Award and Empire Magazine award for ‘Best Newcomer’. It was always Softley’s intention to turn the movie into a stage production. It took him 16 years to mount the first run of ‘Backbeat: The Birth of the Beatles’ at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre in Scotland which corrected some complaints about the movie (like Lennon singing “Long Tall Sally” which he never did). A second production at The Duke of York’s Theatre in London, England began its run in September 2011. The majority of the cast, crew and production staff from the London production has now taken up residence at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre for a five week run. And what a production it is!

As a monster Beatles fan and having seen Softley’s original 1994 movie I had a general idea of what to expect in terms of how the storyline might unfold. What I wasn’t prepared for was the sheer spectacle of the production and exceptional performances – musically and dramatically. The overview of the production involves the Beatles career and personal battles covering the pre-fame years 1960 through 1963. This was the period that found the five-piece band – John (Andrew Knott), Paul (Daniel Healy), George (Dan Westwick who is the only member of the ‘band’ not from the original London production), Pete Best (Oliver Bennett) and Stu Sutcliffe (Nick Blood) - being shipped to Germany by historically forgotten early manager Allan Williams to play shows in Hamburg’s famed Reeperbahn – a red light district filled with all manner of sex, drugs and Rock and Roll. A house gig rotating with other Liverpool acts at the hands of nightclub proprietor and ball-breaker Bruno Koschmider (Edward Clarke in a light-hearted role requiring parts Barber of Saville, Colonel Klink of ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ and a working vocabulary of German) at the Indra Club on three and six month rotations meant the band had to play seven days a week – sometimes six to eight hours a day. The Beatles are initially offended that they are not starting out at the famed Star Club. “It is called the Star Club, heir Peetles…and you are not stars,” responds Koschmider. The band is also daunted at the thought that they’d have to expand their repertoire beyond the 50 rock and roll classics they’d learned up to that point. But the paycheques, free beer and copious sex encounters were good – the drugs, used to enhance their stage performances, even better. And so, the story begins with a group of green teenaged blue-collar kids with little vision of their own futures having to “Mach Shau” (‘make show’) to impress the underbelly of a post-World War German proletariat.

Well, everyone but bass player Stu Sutcliffe. Sutcliffe wanted to stay in Liverpool, enroll in Liverpool Art College and become a famous painter; A fact that’s played with ample parts James Dean sunglasses-toting cool and geeky teenage hipster angst by a chiseled and suave Nick Blood. John Lennon – a cartoonish imagining featuring his most vile, comic and abrasive Scouse traits by the scene chewing Andrew Knott - had talked Sutcliffe into holding onto his rebel spirit long enough to learn three notes on a bass guitar and cajoling Sutcliffe into leaving his respectable art dream behind for the more unattainable rock star dream that was The Beatles goal of reaching the ‘uppermost of the Poppermost’. Lennon and Sutcliffe, long before Lennon and McCartney, were inseparable buddies. Sutcliffe would follow Lennon to the end of the world. Or Germany as it turned out. But when a young German artist, Klaus Voormann (played with level headed Bohemian panache by Dominic Rouse), becomes ‘the First Beatles fan’, Sutcliffe’s world begins to both crystallize and unravel after falling in love with Voormann’s photographer girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr played by Isabella Calthorpe. Calthorpe, who is unburdened by a musical instrument on stage, elevates the proceedings beyond a story about Five Lads from Liverpool. Because we don’t have any reference point to compare Sutcliffe to his actual character we must assume that Nick Blood portrays a reasonable facsimile of the real man based on anecdotes. With Kirchherr, we are watching her words and her reaction to the events on stage as if Calthorpe is wearing Astrid Kirchherr’s skin – right down to the bastardized German/English dialect and visually stunning exotic appearance.

As one would hope, the musical performances are above par (especially the incredible vocal talents of Daniel Healy as Paul McCartney) despite the fact that the real Beatles started out as barely functioning thrashers at the beginning of their German run. The equipment is authentic for the era, the sound is live and the multi-track audio is crystal clear. Meanwhile, the song choices – almost exclusively non-Beatles cover tunes from the band’s heavily documented early history (“Johnny B. Goode”, “Long Tall Sally”, “You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me”, et al) – propel the dramatic sub-plot along. But, it soon becomes clear as the production unfolds, with incredibly executed atmosphere and rapid fire set changes, that the music itself acts more and more as a backdrop to the love triangle between Sutcliffe-Kirchherr-Lennon. The love story turns tragically Shakespaerian and The Beatles as a band are relegated to playing second banana in their own story. McCartney attempts to stop it from de-railing the band altogether and manages to pull off a coupe by getting The Beatles a backing gig with crooner Tony Sheridan (Adam Sopp) through legendary German producer/conductor/bandleader Bert Kaempfert (Charles Swift) for a truly amazing and humorous recreation of their floor stomping arrangement of “My Bonnie”.

By the second act, Beatles classics like “P.S. I Love You” and “Love Me Do” –prefaced by a brilliantly comic Lennon-McCartney writing session - are only there as dramatic punctuation to the tension on stage. For those who came for a rock show the last 1/3 of the evening grinds slowly. For those who came for the acting, it’s Stratford upon Angst as Calthorpe, Blood and Knott go 100% Tennessee Williams or, rather, Marlon Brando playing Tennessee Williams. Realistically, it would have been impossible to have framed it any other way. The Beatles lost both Sutcliffe and Pete Best within a year under different circumstances which left a pall over what would become the end of an incredible beginning to one of the most celebrated groups in history. ‘Backbeat’, unfortunately, can’t effectively rebound from the dark corner that the real story has painted them into. Oh, they try really hard with a brilliant recreation of the band’s discovery by manager Brian Epstein (in an accurately terse businessman-like reading by Mark Hammersley who has to deal with the Beatles’ patented snark) at the Cavern Club and The Beatles’ first recording session with George Martin (in a brief turn by ensemble member James Wallace) at Abbey Road studios putting the finishing touches on the ‘Please Please Me’ album. But it lacks the kick and the high octane found in the first act when the band was unfettered and living off adrenaline. To their credit, Softley and co-director David Leveaux are quite self-aware of how the mood of the crowd has been manipulated. Do yourself a favour…do NOT leave after the cast take their bows which some of my friends regrettably did. There is a third act – and it fully restores the feel-good mood started at the beginning of this 2 ½ hour sonic, visual and emotional extravaganza. I guarantee you’ll be dancing out the theatre doors. Editor’s note: Those attending should be aware that atmospheric smoke and herbal cigarettes are consumed feverishly throughout the evening in an effort to accurately recreate the time period. The language is also strong and not recommended for children under 12. http://www.mirvish.com/shows/backbeat (**** ½ out of 5)

US Astronaut SALLY RIDE dies at 61

From azcentral.com - Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, has died of cancer at age 61, her organization has announced. On June 18, 1983, Ride was 32 when she launched aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. Ride, a physicist, helped develop the shuttle's robotic arm. She was one of 8,000 people who responded to a newspaper advertisement seeking NASA applicants. She joined the space agency in 1978 and left in 1987.

DISCovery of the Week: FRASER DALEY

Fraser Daley play a song written by Ken Whiteley and Mike Daley entitled "Carrying On". When Jeff Healey heard that his band mates Alec Fraser and Mike Daley were forming an acoustic blues duo, he was heard to say "Ah! My big brother and my little brother." Four years later, Fraser Daley's full-length CD has elicited rave reviews from the Maple Blues Newsletter, Penguin Eggs and the UK magazine Maverick. They have been featured on Roots Music Canada and made acclaimed live appearances at blues and folk festivals around Ontario. Their second full-length CD, set for release in January 2012, will feature more of their infectious country blues originals, including a song co-written with Canadian roots music legend Ken Whiteley.

Bassist/vocalist Alec Fraser ('big brother') was born in Glasgow and emigrated to Canada at 11 years old. He soon fell in with the blues-rock scene around Toronto, touring extensively with Morgan Davis, Danny Brooks, David Wilcox and Jeff Healey. Along the way, he has produced Juno-winning recordings for Jack DeKeyser, Morgan Davis and Julian Fauth. In the past year alone, he has produced records for Al Lerman (Fathead), John Mays (also from Fathead), Harrison Kennedy and Danny Marks.

Guitarist/vocalist Mike Daley ('little brother') fell in love with the blues as a teenager in suburban Burlington, Ontario. He voraciously learned from records and eventually made a serious study of music, studying jazz guitar and earning a Ph.D in musicology from York University. Meanwhile, Mike was keeping a busy playing schedule, working with Rita Chiarelli, Suzie Vinnick and Jeff Healey while also releasing solo work. He relocated from Hamilton to Toronto in 2003, and began working with Alec Fraser in 2007.

Fraser Daley's music combines the freshness and vitality of authentic country blues with close vocal harmony "sounding so sweet these two could be siblings"(Eric Thom, Maverick). This duo also sounds uncannily like a full group when Alec employs the "brushbass" technique, playing a small drum mounted on his standup bass simultaneously with his bass lines. Their repertoire combines old-time blues like Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Bad Luck Blues" with original songs in the country blues style like "Blues All Around Me" and "The Relentless Gambler."

With their fresh take on the country blues, Fraser Daley is winning fans across the country. Radio airplay has been strong, with cuts from their debut CD remaining in rotation on several blues shows and the CBC Galaxie network. 2012 promises to be a landmark year for this popular duo, with a second CD in the works and a growing slate of live appearances. Jeff Healey would be proud.

FRASER DALEY WEBSITE

The TREWS live-stream on Gigity.TV tonight!!

The Trews are live-streaming their Chicago performance tonight at 10:00 pm Central time (11:00 pm Eastern, 9:00 pm pacific).

Gigity.TV - The Trews | RAW Natural Born Artists Showcase

RAW:natural born artists is an independent arts organization, for artists, by artists. Our mission is to provide independent artists of all creative genres, with the tools, resources and exposure needed to inspire and cultivate creativity.

32 Years Ago Today, Toronto Punks Had to Play

I was reminded by Joseph "Joe College" Trainor that Toronto's 'Rock Against Radiation' festival at City Hall happened on this day 32 years ago. It's where I had my punk rock cherry broken. DOA, The Forgotten Rebels, The Diodes, The Demics, Stark Naked & The Fleshtones and eco-organizer Joseph Trainor with his act Joe College & The Rulers. Here's an excerpt about it from the upcoming book 'Life's a Canadian ROCK: Part 1 - Rock and Roll Swindled'.

Photographer Bob Egan revisits iconic album covers

Photographer Bob Egan has revisited the New York settings for some of pop music's most iconic album cover photos by Dylan, Neil Young, Steely Dan, Simon & Garfunkel and West Side Story. Read more

RIP Deep Purple's Jon Lord / Funk Brothers' Bob Babbitt

Legendary Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord has passed away. Read Official website

Bassist Bob Babbitt, who was part of the Motown session team The Funk Brothers, has also passed. Read more

Springsteen & McCartney booted from Hyde Park stage

Yesterday (July 14), Paul McCartney joined Bruce Springsteen onstage as The Boss brought the second night of Hard Rock Calling in London to a close. The rock legends joined forces for 'I Saw Her Standing There' and 'Twist And Shout', the final songs in Springsteen's three-hour-plus set. However, festival organizers made a controversial decision to pull the plug on the encore while the pair were still addressing the crowd. E-Street Band member Little Steven took to Twitter to complain about London's police.

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A Bad Promo Photo Could Kill Your Career

...The public visage of my image and that of my music projects was toiled over, debated and deliberately calculated. Not all of it worked, but all of it was done with the aid of like minded people who had similar goals of putting our best face foreword.

I’d like to believe every act feels the same way but either out of lack of experience, knowledge or just not giving a shit I still see bucket loads of poorly written biographies (fuck, people, invest in Microsoft WORD and get someone to do a spell check and grammar check for you) , posters that look like they were laid out by someone that just discovered Corel Draw 2.1 and the worst offending promo tool of them all – hysterically bad and embarrassing artist promo photos. Now that social media has become a microscope of poor choices and bad decisions it would behoove musicians to give more than a passing thought about photographs that will be floating around the internet – FOREVER.

Read more

World Wonders Project - A Virtual Tour of the World

Google has taken their Street View technology and applied it to some of the most important tourist destinations and historic sites in the world. It's in its infancy but you can get a 360 degree view of Pompeii and Pisa in Italy or Liverpool, UK or Shark Bay Australia plus dozens more on five continents. The site is adding more photo tours monthly. Check it out here

Music Business Supply and (Lack of) Demand

Jaimie Vernon's latest rant from this week's 'Don't Believe A Word I Say' BLOG: As the line between art and commerce continues being eroded by divested corporate interests in the form of major record labels (BMG, EMI, SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER) that control that art, word came last week that digital media manufacturing giants CINRAM have filed for bankruptcy. To the layman the immediate reaction is “Who?”. To those in the music industry this announcement is more ominous portents of an inevitable music apocalypse. Read more

Veteran actor ERNEST BORGNINE dies at 95

Ernest Borgnine, the beefy screen star known for blustery, often villainous roles, but who won the 'Best Actor Oscar' for playing against type as a lovesick butcher in "Marty" in 1955, died Sunday. He was 95. Read more here

Help MISS EMILY BROWN get a new Autoharp

Miss Emily Brown is a Canadian musician originally from the Iroqouis, ON area. She recently had a VERY expensive Autoharp stolen and is about $200 away from having the funds to purchase the new Luthiered Autoharp she is having custom built. She's not looking for charity. Just listen to her new album, "Wire Wood Wind", and if you like it order one or any of her earlier CD releases. The proceeds will go directly toward this instrument which is vital to her distinctive sound. Click here to go to Emily's discography.

DISCovery of the Week: HANNAH RUICK

Canadian producer Tim Feehan is at it again. He has just finished writing and producing this new track by Hannah Ruick called "Love In Reverse". Ruick is the next in six generations of singers in her family. She is the daughter of Toto's Joseph Williams. Something catchy and breezy for a warm summer day.

Wil Wheaton at POLARIS Richmond Hill this weekend

Sci-fi, fantasy and mixed genre fans are invited to attend Polaris — the largest fan convention of its kind in the Greater Toronto Area this weekend. Currently in its 26th year and formerly called Toronto Trek, Polaris is Friday evening through Sunday at the Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel at Leslie Street and Hwy. 7.

Wil Wheaton - star of Stephen King's 'Stand By Me', 'Star Trek: Next Generation', 'Big Bang Theory', and 'Eureka' - is among the celebrity guests who will be speaking, signing autographs and posing for photos with fans. Others include Miracle Laurie ("Dollhouse"), Neil Grayston ("Eureka", "Warehouse 13"), Tony Amendola ("Stargate SG-1", "Dexter", "Continuum") and "Star Trek" character actors J.G. Hertzler and Robert O'Reilly.

Check out full details on additional activities, times and prices at the Polaris website here.

Matlock/Mayberry's ANDY GRIFFITH dies at 86

Andy Griffith, the American actor known for the 1960s sitcom The Andy Griffith Show and legal drama Matlock has died, according to a friend. Griffith was 86. Read more.

Andy Griffith sings the theme to 'The Andy Griffith Show'. Yes, the song had lyrics!

Life's A Canadian Rock - Happy Canada Day!

GOTYE parody "Star Wars That I Used To Know"

Molson beer bottle "O Canada"

BAY CITY ROLLERS to receive lost royalties

In 2007 the collective representatives for members of 1970s Scottish teen pop band The Bay City Rollers filed suit against their former label, Arista, for 30 years of unpaid back royalties on sales in the millions of units. No one knows for sure the exact amount as Arista never issued one royalty statement during that period. Arista attempted to block the class action suit by claiming the band was barred from receiving royalties at all. The court has recently ruled in favour of the band and a forensic accounting will soon begin to determine the extent of lost revenue. The legal team responsible for filing the motion has issued a press statement with more details here.

MIKE MASSE - Acoustic cover tune King

You've heard them in every bar every day of the week for decades - cover tune crooners. But Mike Masse takes it to another level. Not only does he have an incredible voice - but sings everything SITTING DOWN! Here's "Long Time" by Boston. Also check out the jaw dropping version of Toto's "Africa".

3 1/2 Year Old drums for Spirit of the West

Marshall Mech - son of Amy Mech (Bob Segarini's daughter) and Elvis Costello guitar tech Tim Mech - joins Spirit Of The West on drums for their encore at the Dragon Boat Festival in Ottawa, Ontario June 22nd, 2012. Marshall has a big future in music...he's only three and a half years old!

New Music Monday: Dana Countryman / Focal Points

I've been getting lots of new 'singles' in my mailbox recently. Here's two that caught my attention that might be of interest to power pop fans. These are both American artists who should be on your radar:

DANA COUNTRYMAN - Here's the lead-off track from his upcoming album 'The Fantastic, Incredible, Retro Pop Music World of Dana Countryman' entitled "Here Comes Those Butterflies Again." Listen here.

FOCAL POINTS - Jeff and Don Orr have released their first single to iTunes called "Broken Hearts and Dreams" and it features additional instrumentation and mixing by Dee Long (Klaatu). The song has a "#9 Dream" Lennon vibe. Get it here

Pre-BEATLEmania photos from Croydon 1963

On April 25th, 1963 Andy Wright was sent to the opening of the new Fairfield Halls in Croydon (South London) to cover the two "Merseybeat Showcase" performances event which featured performances by John Leyton, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, The Big Three...and, of course, The Beatles - who were only a month into promoting their first LP 'Please Please Me'. The photos have now resurfaced as part of Fairfield Halls' 50th anniversary celebrations. Read more

Northern Pikes' JAY SEMKO: the new Doctor Doolittle?

You know you've got a musical gift when your song not only transcends language...but animal species. Watch as feline friend Lee Lee Moo Moo Cha Cha watches and listens attentively to Semko's acoustic rendition of his own "Undeniably Love".

DISCovery of the Week: An Ode to Emily White - LAMONT JAMES

With the fallout from NPR intern EmilyWhite's admission that she's only ever bought 15 CDs amongst her 11,000 illegal downloads, Toronto's Lamont James has written her a lovely song chronicling the crimes she's unaware she committed in the name of 'artistic support'.

PHIL HARTMAN Album Cover Artist & Comedian

The Canadian Walk of Fame announced its 2012 nominees yesterday which includes legendary guitarist Randy Bachman (The Guess Who, BTO), singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan, ballerina Sonia Rodriguez, football player Russ Jackson and the 1972 members of Team Canada. The sole posthumous award goes to late comedian Phil Hartman whose high profile career on the TV shows 'Saturday Night Live' (during the tenure of fellow Canadian Mike Meyers), 'The Simpsons' (as con-artist pitchman Troy McClure), and 'News Radio' (alongside Kids in the Hall alumnus Dave Foley) has long overshadowed Hartman's early career in graphic design - specifically creating album covers. Among the 40 album sleeves he created were 'Legend' by POCO (1978); 'Fighting Clowns' by Firesign Theatre (1980); 'Greatest Hits: History' (1975), 'Harbor' (1977), and 'Silent Letter' (1979) by America; as well as designing Crosby, Stills & Nash's logo. Read about Phil's art from his sister-in-law here

Beatles Actor Victor Spinetti dead at 82

The BBC has reported that Welsh actor Victor Spinetti - star of London's West End, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as 30 feature films - including three by The Beatles - has died at the age of 82 after a year-long struggle with cancer. Read more

You say it's your birthday - McCartney Turns 70!!

The 'cute' Beatle has become the cute 70 year-old senior citizen. In honour of the event the McCartney Production Limited website has back-filled bonus material onto the 'Memory Almost Full' album. The updated Premium Collection includes an exclusive 21 minute video interview with Paul, photos from the video shoot for 'Dance Tonight' (featuring Natalie Portman and Mackenzie Crook) as well as shots of Paul in the studio.



Members of the website can view the collection here

If you're not a registered member you can sign up here

It Came From Outer Space - TOP 20 Alien Films

This week I went to see ‘Prometheus’ one of the few films I’ve made time to deliberately go and see this year (the record defying ‘The Avengers’ is the other). As the trailers and teasers have been unfolding for months online I came to realize that I’ve been waiting 32 years for it. Ridley Scott returns to the universe where ‘Alien’ scared the hell out of the world – and space – back in 1979. I didn’t see ‘Alien’ in the theatres during its first run because it was restricted, but when I was 17 I took a job doing janitorial work at the Canadian National Exhibition during the summer of 1980 [the year of the Alice Cooper riot at CNE Stadium]. At the end of our three weeks of low wage grounds sweeping, puke washing, garbage hauling, back breaking labour our supervisor invited us all to a farewell party at his apartment. Read more

Being CATWOMAN is back breaking work

As DC Comics attempts to stay relevant in this Marvel dominated world, they've been stunting of late - most notably by burning the entire DC Universe to the ground and starting from scratch. They've also recognized that strong female characters are bringing in an entirely new audience besides the eternally lascivious drooling males by attracting proud-to-be-geek female readers. However, as these noble pursuits are bound to go, someone at DC decided that the lascivious male audience deserved the booby prize this time with the re-launch of 'Catwoman'. Needless to say, a legion of female graphic artists who have excelled at portraying strong female archetypes had this to say about Catwoman's new, ahem, gymnastic abilities here

Video Game Geeks Have Humour Too!

What folks don't realize about 30 year-old virgins living in their parents' basement and playing video games is that some of them have wicked senses of humour. Toby Turner has turned it into a YouTube sensation with his parodies and 'literal' translations of video game promotional trailers. Now he takes a stab at the overwrought music found in games like 'Assassin's Creed'. Watch as Toby takes a crack at writing lyrics to one of these dramatic musical themes. It's a song your Foreign Grandma would like....

PLATINUM BLONDE returns with new single/album

First The Spoons, then Men Without Hats and now Canadian '80s sensations Platinum Blonde return after 12 years with their new single "Beautiful" (on Fontana North/UMG) on June 18th and a performance at The Mod Club in Toronto on June 16th. Featuring original members Mark Holmes (vocals) and Sergio Galli (guitar) with Rob Laidlaw (bass) and Dan Todd (drums). The full album 'Now & Never' will be released August 21.

DISCovery of the Week: JULIAN TAYLOR BAND

Former Staggered Crossing member Julian Taylor returns with his new Julian Taylor Band single "Never Gonna Give You Up" which is being featured on at least 12 radio stations in Canada right now. A neat video was just released for the song this week. Catch the soul rocker in a city hear you:

Jun 16, 2012 - Bala, ON @ Kee to Bala - The Julian Taylor Band Live!

Jun 17, 2012 - Oakville, ON @ Cameron's Brewery - Cameron's Anniversary Party

Jun 23, 2012 - Toronto, ON @ Scruffy Murphy's Irish Pub - Julian Taylor Band Live!

Jun 24, 2012 - Toronto, ON @ The Hideout - JTB LIve

Jun 30, 2012 - Rochester, NY @ Wedding Reception - JTB LIve

Jul 01, 2012 - Muskoka, ON @ Lake Muskoka- St. Elmo Pier

Jul 07, 2012 - Haliburton, ON @ Benton Brown Residence
Jul 08, 2012 - Toronto, ON @ Gordon Residence -The Julian Taylor Band Live!

Jul 14, 2012 - Orillia, ON @ Royal Canadian Legion Branch 43
Jul 20, 2012 - Toronto, ON @ Dora Keogh's Irish Pub - The Julian Taylor Band Live!

Jul 21, 2012 - Sherkston, ON @ Sherkston Shores Resort
Jul 27, 2012 - Toronto, ON @ The Bier Market - The Julian Taylor Band Live!

Jul 28, 2012 - Toronto, ON @ The Bier Market - The Julian Taylor Band Live!

SLOAN's limited edition Bootleg vinyl #2

Sloan have been fans of seedy bootleg vinyl LPs from the 1970s/1980s since they were teenagers and released their own last fall called 'Is That All I Get? Winnipeg 1993'. The reception was so great that they've decided to do it again. On Tuesday June 12th 500 limited copies of 'Back In Blue: Ltd. Edtion Sloan Bootleg #2 will be made available from the band's website. Each purchase also comes with a digital version and four bonus tracks not on the blue vinyl LP.

Cousin Oliver vs. Starchild - It's KISS-ception!

What happens when 1970s child star Robbie Rist pays homage to 1970s douchechild Paul Stanley? I said...What happens when 1970s child star Robbie Rist pays homage to 1970s douchechild Paul Stanley??? WHAT?! I can't HEAR YOU! This pop culture meta has now created a rip in the space/time continuum. The only cure would be a recreation of Gene Simmon's "Mr. Make Believe" by Kirk Cameron.

Auto-Tuning Mr. Rogers

First there was Auto-Tune The News, then there was Auto-Tune Tom Cruise's Talent in Rock of Ages....and now...Auto-Tune Mr. Rogers. PBS, who holds the rights to the long-running children's show have commissioned Symphony of Science's John Boswell to create a song out of Fred Rogers' most prosaic monologues. "Garden of Your Mind" just might find its way onto iTunes.

41,000 historic photos re-emerge at New York Public Library

From the New York Times:
Roy Stryker, founder of the Farm Security Administration’s photography project, was determined to compile a visual encyclopedia of the United States in the 1930s and ’40s and preserve it for future generations.

So, while photographers like Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans and Russell Lee crisscrossed the country, Mr. Stryker was sending boxes of prints to Ramona Javitz, the director of the New York Public Library Picture Collection, to make sure there was a repository other than the National Archives.

But the 41,000 prints that Mr. Stryker had sent to Ms. Javitz languished and were largely forgotten. Read more

Herb Reed of The Platters dies at 83

Herb Reed, the last surviving original member of 1950s vocal group the Platters who sang on hits like "Only You" and "The Great Pretender," has died. He was 83. Reed died on Monday in a Boston area hospice after a period of declining health that included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, manager Fred Balboni said. Read more

Power Pop tribute to "The Who Sell Out"

Better late than liver we always say. Keith Klingensmith's Futureman Records scuttled a tribute album to the classic Who album 'The Who Sell Out' twelve years ago but in a world where the digital domain gives old ideas a new half-life, 'The New Sell Out' has finally seen the light of day. $7.00 gets you an unbelievable 26 tracks by the likes of power pop acts The Shazam, Chris Von Sneidern, Brendan Benson, Myracle Brah, Willie Wisely, Splitsville, The Gripweeds and Canadian acts The Flashing Lights and Zumpano. The set even includes remakes of the faux commercial breaks as well - including 'Heinz Baked Beans' by The Andersons (featuring Robbie Rist). Dig it here

Goodbye to the voice of GUMBY

Dick Beals, the voice of stop-motion animated character Gumby and Speedy Alka-Seltzer in mid-20th century television commercials for the pain remedy, has died. He was 85. Read more

CFTR 680 AM returns to All Hit Radio Format

Back in the 1970s Toronto's CHUM-AM had only one close competitor for hit radio and that was CFTR 680. In 1993 the station went All News. Today they launched a YouTube broadcast teaser that picks up exactly in the spot where they ended their final music broadcast back in 1993. Brilliant marketing...but will this return to splendor last?

Frank Gutch Jr. discovers Lisbee Stainton's "Sidekick"

The man on the beat is Frank Gutch Jr. who covers more musical ground in his Wednesday 'Don't Believe A Word I Say' columns than most of the actual music magazines in a month. You can read his take on beer company music promotions, music industry anti-trust and new releases by required listening acts like Dala and Lisbee Stainton here.

But it's the Lisbee Stainton tune "Sidekick" that grabbed my attention today. Don't know why, but this song (and adorable video) about the female superhero zeitgeist gives me the warm and fuzzies. Thanks for the heads up, Frank.

DISCovery of the Week: Travis Hatcher

Amherst, Nova Scotia's Travis Hatcher returns with another solid album of first person observations that fall somewhere between James Taylor, Ron Sexsmith, Lightfoot and Billy Bragg singer-songwriter folk tunes. Unlike his confessionaly constructed previous album 'Dark Nights', 'Pure Fire' is more accessible and ambitious. Maybe too ambitious. The disc boasts 15 songs and clocks in at 76 minutes - only two songs coming in under 4 minutes. But that's the troubadour spirit in him! "You're Not As Young As You Think", "The Bird Is Dead" (at a whopping 8 minutes plus), "You Wouldn't Know Me Now", "Things Have Changed (And They'll Change Again)" and the title track are amongst a varied play list showing Hatcher's continued growth as a songwriter and musician - he plays everything on the disc - and stretches out in his own personal growth. Someone needs to sign this guy NOW....he's prolific as hell. One disc is not enough to contain him.

Travis Hatcher website here

Men Without Hats is back!

There is a mini-Men Without Hats resurgence happening right now. First TIDE detergent scooped up "Pop Goes The World" and May 22nd was the official release date on iTunes of the brand new Men Without Hats album 'Love In the Age of War'. With the band now located in Vancouver, they tapped resident producer Dave Ogilvie (Skinny Puppy, 54.40) to toughen them up. Witness the new single "Head Above Water". Welcome back to 1982, guys.

GOWAN's 'Great Dirty World' - 25th Anniversary

Not wanting to let a little thing like the Mayan apocalypse get in the way, Gowan celebrates his third solo album, 'Great Dirty World', with a 25th anniversary re-master this year. The exact date hasn't been announced but his website now has a brand new 3 minute animated video to keep fans happy and ward off Mayan sacrifices. Check out The Beginning

Discovery of the Week: Mena Hardy

Only 17 years old (or at least that was her age when she wrote this song) and already a firebrand. Bif Naked with a guitar. Alanis Morissette with a leather jacket. It's Mena Hardy!