Just a couple of days after we lost Eddie Money, Ric Ocasek is gone, too. His estranged wife, former supermodel, Paulina Porizkova, found him unconsciousness and unresponsive in his bed at his NYC townhouse in Gramercy Park on East 19th Street at around 4:14 pm Sunday afternoon. He was pronounced dead at the scene by [&hellip.. more
Reclining on a couch backstage before a show in Toronto, Noel Gallagher looks relaxed, happy and content. Partly it’s because he’s feeling good about his beloved Manchester City doing well in this year’s Premier League (he tours with a club flag that’s hung first in the dressing room and then onstage) but mostly because he’s [&hellip.. more
Any movie and TV fan knows how invaluable the International Movie Database can be. Looking to cross-reference anyone or anything in those industries? Chances are the information is there. It’s fantastic. I’ve often thought it would be great to have something similar for music. Allmusic.com comes close but lacks the incredible granularity of the IMDb. [&hellip.. more
Really, Rider Nation? Really? Via Tom.. more
Everyone needs a hobby, I guess. Not sure about the toilet, though.. more
*Still on a road trip, which makes for some…less than ideal writing conditions. Please pardon the brief song descriptions this week!* Artist: Neal Francis Song: “Changes” Album/EP: Changes Calming, moody, and soulful. Sizzles spectacularly, would fit perfectly with an open-top ride down neon-lit main street after an early evening summer storm. Watch/Listen: Artist: Stolen Jars .. more
Apologies in advance for what may be an erratic posting schedule for the next couple of days as I will be indisposed, a state involving propofol for a few hours today. But I will do my best to stick to the usual schedule, staring with music news for September 16, 2019. The Beatles: Back together [&hellip.. more
[This appeared in the Financial Post this weekend. If you’re wondering why the Canadian music festival scene had a rough summer, read this. – AC] Tim Potocic has had quite the eventful summer. The director of the long-running Supercrawl Festival in Hamilton has been constantly working against the clock to transform 18 downtown blocks into [&hellip.. more
After knocking Taylor Swift’s Lover out of the top spot on the album charts throughout the world, Tool continues to dominate pretty much everything with Fear Inoculum. As of this weekend, all ten songs on the album–yes, including the wordless ambient interludes–are in the Top 25 Billboard’s rock songs chart. Six songs are in the [&hellip.. more
How old is too old to rock? The answer depends on whether or not you believe that rock musicians should have a mandatory best before date on their foreheads. New music is expected to come from the young. But what about older artists who are still hoping to break through? Is there a bias against [&hellip.. more
[Mike Carr has created a catalogue/reference work featuring all kinds of Canadian rock and alternative releases from the past few decades. Check out his a massive volume on Canadian music history entitled Canadian Alternative & Indie Reference and Collector’s Guide. It’s an incredible discography of hundreds of bands. – AC] David Gogo (born March 18, [&hellip.. more
PETE is most upset at a brand of mousetrap called Tomcat because–well, mousetraps tend to either maim or kill mice. This new ad isn’t going help this relationship. However, if you’re a headbanger with a rodent problem, you may appreciate this commercial. Via Revolver.. more
I can already hear a lot of you saying, “Wait, Meridian Hall, where the heck is that?” If you’ve been to anything at Toronto’s landmark 1 Front Street East location in the last dozen years, like…oh I don’t know, Jack White’s 2-night stand there in 2012, you probably still know the venue as Sony Centre. [&hellip.. more
The writ has dropped so Canadians will be going to the polls this fall. Determined to unseat Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives decided that they needed an election theme song. But from whom? They found Jim Vallance, Bryan Adams’ longtime writing partner. He came up with “Get Ahead,” a track that isn’t really a [&hellip.. more
Amy Winehouse would have been 35 day. In other music news for September 14, 2019… Here are my weekly music picks for GlobalNews.ca. Whoa! This teen hacker from the UK has been busted for hacking into the accounts of musicians show he could steal and leak songs. Adele has filed for divorce. That should be [&hellip.. more
Whenever someone announces they have stage four of any kind of cancer, there’s plenty of reason to be concerned. Eddie Money revealed that very thing last month with his battle with esophageal cancer. It had spread to his lymph nodes and metastasized elsewhere including his liver, which comes with a grim prognosis. Eddie died early [&hellip.. more
When you reach a certain level of fame, you can expect that everything you do will be written down or recorded somewhere. Surrender to it. It’s out of your control. Fans will do it. Your management team will do it. Your social media people will make sure it gets done. Probably someone at your label. [&hellip.. more
When Wilson and Lee first opened for business in Oshawa, the Great War had only ended five years earlier. Radio was barely a thing. The most popular car in the world was Ford’s Model T. And if you wanted to listen to records, you needed a wind-up Victrola to play fragile 78 RPM records. And [&hellip.. more
I love raw demos because they offer insight into the creative process. And the bigger the band the better. Fan site U2songs.com have uncovered some U2 demos for the No Line on the Horizon sessions. I quote: “In late February 2009, No Line On The Horizon was released. This album went on to power the [&hellip.. more
[Much has been written over the years about the issues woman face in the world of rock. Now the Washington Post has this story that wonders if we’re asking the right questions. -AC] “For her 13th birthday in 2001, Sadie Dupuis received a Fender Stratocaster to take to summer camp — something she knew most [&hellip.. more
I had an interesting conversation this week with someone deeply involved with the music industry about the possibility of podcasters being able to use proper songs in their episodes. We both agree that something needs to be done–too much money is being left on the table–but the technical aspects of tracking songs in podcasts are [&hellip.. more
Amazon Music has just released a mini-doc entitled The Birth of Biggie: 25 Years of Ready to Die which looks at Biggie in the period just before he blew up into a rap superstar. Some rare interviews and photos here.. more
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