Category Entertainment

Warped in Montreal – The Daycare

It was a decade ago, and I was much too old for it, but I took in a stop on the annual Vans Warped Tour when it came to Montreal. It was part of being a good dad. My teenaged son had some bands he wanted to see. My wife and daughter were away; I […]

LeRoux II – Toiling In Obscurity

“Rock and roll is not pretty, but somebody’s gotta do it.” – Bobby Campo. I only met him once, but that statement has been stuck in my head for more than 30 years. Bobby Campo was then (and for most of the past four decades) percussionist, horn player and violinist for LeRoux (or Louisiana’s LeRoux […]

Monday’s Words of Wisdom

I’m typing this on Sunday night at the end of a busy weekend. I have half a dozen posts that are ready to go, but none of them feel quite right for a Monday morning. Or maybe it is just that I don’t feel like reading them over to make sure they make sense  sometimes […]

An Ancient MP3 Player

Jerusalem Dragnet

As a radio guy I have a great appreciation for the traditions of the medium. I missed the golden age of radio drama. By the time I was born television, though still in its infancy, was beginning to take off. Pictures were replacing the aural landscape that dominated North American entertainment for three decades. Some […]

From Background Vocalist to Superstar

Shania Twain has announced the dates for her farewell tour. Seems strange to call it quits at 50, but I know touring is rarely as much fun for the musician as it is for the audience. I must confess I’ve never seen her show. It’s not that I dislike her music, but I’ve never been […]

20 Feet From Stardom

I missed that the 2014 Academy Award for best documentary film went to a movie about background vocalists in pop music titled 20 Feet From Stardom. But I made up for that recently and watched the film, attracted to it because I recognized the names of the stars. I am an voracious reader. If it’s […]

Ode To Joy

I was planning on taking the day off from posting, then came across this video. If you are receiving this by email you’ll have to go to the actual post for it to work. The bank that sponsored this has benefited from the publicity – more than 61 million views on YouTube. I don’t mind […]

Beatles III – My Beatle Encounter

I met a Beatle once. It was the late 1990s and Pete Best, the band’s drummer from 1960-62, was touring Canada fronting the Pete Best Band. He had retired after a career as a British civil servant and was just playing for fun, and really what amounted to spare change. I think the tickets were […]

Beatles II – Concert Memories

I never saw The Beatles in concert. I blame my parents for that. It was 1964 and they were playing at the Forum in Montreal. All my friends wanted to go. My parents, like most other parents of the day, said no. I think the only person I knew who actually made it to the […]