Friday, June 17, 2016

Unison Jam 2

at The Phoenix Concert Theatre
June 16th, 2016

"Unison Benevolent Fund is a non-profit, registered charity that provides counselling and emergency relief services to the Canadian music community."

"The Unison Benevolent Fund is an assistance program – created and administered for the music community, by the music community – designed to provide discreet relief to music industry professionals in times of crisis. There are two distinct types of support available through the fund, Financial Assistance and Counselling & Health Solutions."

This was the second year for the Unison Jam. Canadian musicians helping Canadian musicians and an opportunity for the public to experience an amazing concert and contribute to this amazing cause. Not only is the price of a ticket ridiculously low for such an awesome line-up but there's also a silent auction for fantastic music related merchandise.

Personally I have been to both the 1st and the 2nd Unison Jam and will definitely continue to attend every year. If musicians can't work, they have no income and no health care. It is particularly tough for Canadian musicians to make a decent living. I will continue to support them any way I can, even if it's just by attending the Unison Jam and spreading the word.

[Video] Ascot Royals

[Video] James Black of Finger 11

[Video] Tomi Swick

[Video] Tim Hicks

[Video] Tom Wilson of Junkhouse & his son

[Video] Tom Wilson & son doing Junkhouse's "Shine"

[Video] John Cody's last show ever

[Video] The Trews

[Video] The Trews

[Video] Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace & Chantal Kreviazuk

[Video] Raine Maida & Chantal Kreviazuk

[Video] I Mother Earth w/ Edwin

[Video] Raine Maida & I Mother Earth doing Tragically Hip

Sunday, June 05, 2016

James Sayer - Taking Back My Love (Live @ Wax Recording Studio, London)

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Blue October

"Home" Album Review

First, an analogy:

Imagine yourself as a piece of coal...in a cold, dark pit of despair, encrusted and trapped inside a hard, black shell. Yet there's this tiny glimmer deep inside of you saying there has got to be more to life than this. So you start slowly chipping away while deep inside that shell. Self- pity, self-loathing and self-harm make you realize you don't want to live your entire life this way. Each step, each piece you chip away brings you closer to the surface, closer to the air until finally smashing all the way through and you can finally breathe and feel the sunlight on your face. It took that darkness, that feeling of being trapped in a dark place to make something almost equally indestructible yet brilliant in its beauty, something that can be polished and multifaceted...to look at it takes your breath away and still has a fire deep inside it saying it will never go back to being coal.

There's always that memory in the back of your mind of the dark places you've been. As you get older and evolve you never really forget and you carry a fragment of that coal and learn from it. It's that little reminder that drives you forward. You know you can't stay there in that dark place but it's what precipitated your ability to evolve and makes you grateful for it.

Music is emotion. It stirs something deep within us. It reaches us in a way that mere words can't. It's akin to actions speaking louder than words yet the lyrics speak to us as well. There's only so many letters in the alphabet, only so many words in language. As well there are only so many musical notes, only so many chords you can play but there's magic in taking sounds and words and putting them together in such a way to evoke emotion and reach into our minds and drives us to take action, whatever that may be...to break down, to build up, to get out of a bad situation into something better.

Blue October's music is as complex as we are as human beings. You can have a softer side but still have that dirty, gritty, moody side as well. Their new album “Home” has a mixture of all these things. There is a flavour for whatever your taste. Some flavours may not appeal to you at first...it's a bit different from how it tasted before...it may be a taste you acquire over time. It may take one listen or maybe several to reach you but each time you really listen, you find something you didn't hear before.

“Home” just like all Blue October's albums has variety, depth and substance...something you can truly sink your teeth into. Most pop music is all fluff and superficial, repetitive nothingness. I gave up on radio, music award shows and “popular” music because of that. Blue October will never be pop music in that sense.

Music is subjective and I fight the urge to pick apart each song because that's just what I do with lyrics. It's not up to me to interpret each song's meaning. It's up to you how it affects you. Personally, this album is just as brilliant if not more so as all of Blue October's previous albums, it's just speaking from a different, evolved perspective. My analogy at the beginning kind of encapsulates what this album evoked within my mind. I went from smiling to crying to making that stank face that musicians make to dancing around like a free spirit. After over 20 years, shine bright with the brilliance of a diamond, Blue October!

[Video] Blue October title track "Home"

Sunday, October 04, 2015

Matt Nathanson

The Great Hall

Toronto, ON

October 3rd, 2015

If you've ever been to a Matt Nathanson show you know what to expect, that is expect the unexpected. Whether it be a large venue, full band show or in this case a two-man acoustic show, his endless humour shoots from the hip (that sounds painful) and you'll never know what he'll say next.

Each show is an event yet still feels like a house party and Matt's the host, doing his damnedest to make sure all his guests are having fun! It's not contrived, it's not rehearsed, it just seems to flow out of him naturally. Same can be said when he does interviews or live chats. It's incredibly difficult to not have an incredibly fun time listening to Matt talk...about anything!

That being said (have I mentioned how fun his shows are?) he's also an amazing singer and songwriter. His lyrics and melodies are just as ingenious and witty and heartfelt and genuine as the man himself. You can never go wrong with a Matt Nathanson show.

[Photo Gallery] At The Great Hall, Toronto, ON

It becomes even more apparent when you listen to his body of work. It almost sounds trite to call it that because it has so much more substance than the snooty connotation associated with that terminology. Let's just say you can never go wrong with buying any of his music either.

With this acoustic tour, we got to experience the wheel-o-songs voted on by fans prior to the tour and spun at random at these shows. We were lucky this tour came to Toronto as it was the only Canadian date! Below are videos of two of his older songs:

[Video] "Kill The Lights"

[Video] "Modern Love"

Now he has just released a new album called "Show Me Your Fangs". Dare I say, from the tracks I've heard thus far, that this may be his best album yet....even pre-ordered it, thank you very much. Personally I am very picky about the music I like. For me to pre-order anything is a really big deal! Check it out at the link below. You will not regret it!

[Link] Get his new album here!

Sunday, June 21, 2015

From the #UnisonJam "Helping music makers in Crisis" May 6/15 at The Phoenix Concert Theatre

[Photo Gallery] Unison Jam at The Phoenix in Toronto

[Video] Tom Wilson from Junkhouse & his son Harlan Pepper

[Video] Tomi Swick

[Video] Matthew Good

[Video] Finger Eleven

[Video] The Trews and I Mother Earth doing Neil Young's "Ohio"

[Video] I Mother Earth and Kim Mitchell "Ramblin' Man"

[Video] The Trews

[Video] The Trews and Kim Mitchell "Easy To Tame"

[Video] Finger Eleven

Friday, March 06, 2015

If you would like to contribute to the #BlueOctober #20thAnniversaryGift a donation is being made to #TWLOHA in their name and a plaque being sent to commemorate their anniversary in October. Please contribute what you can and/or share the link to help out. All proceeds will go to the charity and the gift. Thank you so much for your help!

Blue October 20th Anniversary gift

Monday, February 16, 2015

2014 Concert Year In Review

(The better-late-than-never edition)

So the plan was to see one concert per month or 12 concerts in a year. The monthly thing didn't work out and I ended up going to 14 must-see concerts. To me this was like 14 mini vacations instead of spending money on one trip.

If you go through my blog to see all the reviews, you may find there are some missing. Either I live tweeted the concert or I didn't have enough info/knowledge of the band to write a whole review. There were many things I missed out on due to either media access problems, security or venue staff, meet and greets taking place during the concert, I just wasn't sitting in a good spot to really see what was going on, or time spent waiting by the buses etc. If I don't SEE the whole thing I can't really WRITE about the whole thing. I never claimed to be a photographer (I always had someone else to do that before) but at least I tried. I definitely need to invest in a better camera!

Anyway, here's a snapshot of my concert experiences:

Feb. - Kings of Leon/Gary Clark Jr.