I heard John Lennon's song about christmas playing while I was pushing a grocery cart around Sobey's.
This was a day or two before xmas.
A tear came to my eye and I just had to stop.
As I think about that now, just minutes into the New Year, I remember Lennon telling us to dream our own dreams.
When things get tough I do what many of us do - play some music on whatever sound system we may have. Perhaps we sing a song ourself.
Maybe we choose an old favourite. We hum or play air guitar or "play" the drums with a flourish.
In some way or other knowing that the musicians we admire go through the same pain and joy that we do makes the pain easier to bear and the joy that much more uplifting.
There's also the excitement and wonder of discovering a new record (funny how we still use the term "record" this far into the digital age).
I think in the future perhaps we will all have our own radio/television/stations.
Will we optimistically "beam" our love of music to the rest of the world?
I'm going to sign off with a couple of Jokes.
- The owner of a high end stereo store is at his doctor's office.
He says to the doctor: "No way. I can't possibly have Mono"
- A woman brings her computer to her doctor. The doctor examines the computer and says: "It's not a virus, its bacterial."
Martin January 1 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Martin's Musical Memories
The first real concert I ever went to was Santana at Maple Leaf Gardens.
They were on a tour to support the Amigos album. It was 1976.
The air smelt of dry ice and "other" stuff, too.
Flash forward a few years and I'm with some friends and relatives at the weekend long Atlantic Folk Festival.
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee performed. Valdy,too
A couple of us were walking around the site when this guy comes up to us and asks: "Hash, Fellows?"
"No thanks" we replied. After we were out of earshot, I asked; "What's a Hashfellow?" As if it were some kind of licorice.
Returning to Toronto for a visit in 1980, I saw The Who at Maple Leaf Gardens. I went with a bunch of high school buddies. I still have photos of the concert. I bought a T Shirt. Kept it for years. Can't remember what ever happened to it.
While in Toronto, I went with a friend to The Edge to see a group called "The Battered Wives." The show was being recorded.
I saw the album at Sam The Record Man years later and should of bought it. I doubt it was ever made into a CD. I have a dim memory of the group changing their name to "The Wives" after getting negative press on their original moniker.
I remember seeing Teenage Head play at a club in Halifax. This must have been in the early eighties. At one point in the show,Frankie Venom jumped up on some tables to sing/scream his lungs out.
In my subconscious an idea was forming that maybe Toronto was the centre of the universe at least in terms of music. An idea that led to my moving back to this city in September of 1984.
Happy Anniversary to me!
Some shows that stand out during the past 25 years:
Colin Linden and Mendelson Joe at the Free Times Cafe.
Anytime Morgan Davis played Grossman's .
John Hammond Jr. at the Horseshoe Tavern
The Hopping Penguins settting an attendance record at Lee's Palace.
Sheep Look Up at The Rivoli.
Bitch Diva at My Treehouse.
Phil Woods at The Bermuda Onion
Play on!
Martin
They were on a tour to support the Amigos album. It was 1976.
The air smelt of dry ice and "other" stuff, too.
Flash forward a few years and I'm with some friends and relatives at the weekend long Atlantic Folk Festival.
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee performed. Valdy,too
A couple of us were walking around the site when this guy comes up to us and asks: "Hash, Fellows?"
"No thanks" we replied. After we were out of earshot, I asked; "What's a Hashfellow?" As if it were some kind of licorice.
Returning to Toronto for a visit in 1980, I saw The Who at Maple Leaf Gardens. I went with a bunch of high school buddies. I still have photos of the concert. I bought a T Shirt. Kept it for years. Can't remember what ever happened to it.
While in Toronto, I went with a friend to The Edge to see a group called "The Battered Wives." The show was being recorded.
I saw the album at Sam The Record Man years later and should of bought it. I doubt it was ever made into a CD. I have a dim memory of the group changing their name to "The Wives" after getting negative press on their original moniker.
I remember seeing Teenage Head play at a club in Halifax. This must have been in the early eighties. At one point in the show,Frankie Venom jumped up on some tables to sing/scream his lungs out.
In my subconscious an idea was forming that maybe Toronto was the centre of the universe at least in terms of music. An idea that led to my moving back to this city in September of 1984.
Happy Anniversary to me!
Some shows that stand out during the past 25 years:
Colin Linden and Mendelson Joe at the Free Times Cafe.
Anytime Morgan Davis played Grossman's .
John Hammond Jr. at the Horseshoe Tavern
The Hopping Penguins settting an attendance record at Lee's Palace.
Sheep Look Up at The Rivoli.
Bitch Diva at My Treehouse.
Phil Woods at The Bermuda Onion
Play on!
Martin
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Grandpa's Playing "Pong" Again
I had it tough as a kid.
I flunked "Nap Time" in kindergarten.
I had an imaginary Enemy.
During indoor soccer, I was "Left Outside."
When I was 16 our family left Toronto and moved to a small town in Nova Scotia.
I suffered from lack of culture shock.
This was before The Internet, before cel phones. cd's and the like.
If you had told me then that there would be a Black man in the White House, a majority NDP government in Nova Scotia and General Motors would go bankrupt, I'd say you were crazy.
To be fair to Nova Scotia, I made some good friends there that are still my friends to this day.
For some of the guys in High School, the emphasis was on the word "high."
For others, the overriding credo was "Wham bam thank you Trans Am."
Pat Benatar, Linda Rondstat, Deborah Harry, were the "Hotties" of the day.
I hope you don't mind my reminiscening (which was the name of a song by the Little River Band that was all over the radio during my university days).
Funny how songs from that time that were played so much that you ended up hating them, (I'm willing to bet that you had at least one) from this remove are actually enjoyable.
Stay Tuned/Don't Tune Out.
Martin
I flunked "Nap Time" in kindergarten.
I had an imaginary Enemy.
During indoor soccer, I was "Left Outside."
When I was 16 our family left Toronto and moved to a small town in Nova Scotia.
I suffered from lack of culture shock.
This was before The Internet, before cel phones. cd's and the like.
If you had told me then that there would be a Black man in the White House, a majority NDP government in Nova Scotia and General Motors would go bankrupt, I'd say you were crazy.
To be fair to Nova Scotia, I made some good friends there that are still my friends to this day.
For some of the guys in High School, the emphasis was on the word "high."
For others, the overriding credo was "Wham bam thank you Trans Am."
Pat Benatar, Linda Rondstat, Deborah Harry, were the "Hotties" of the day.
I hope you don't mind my reminiscening (which was the name of a song by the Little River Band that was all over the radio during my university days).
Funny how songs from that time that were played so much that you ended up hating them, (I'm willing to bet that you had at least one) from this remove are actually enjoyable.
Stay Tuned/Don't Tune Out.
Martin
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
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