My mom, door-to-door salespeople, and the clarinet: tooting in the 1950s and 1960s My 1950s and 1960s Georgetown childhood was characterized by cacophony, including rumpus and din on our little subdivision street where a knife sharpener man would ring his bell; where the breadman would dart from home to home distributing succulent baked goods with..
A hair-raising elegy: Growing up in Georgetown at Wright Smith’s Barbershop, 1960-1964, and beyond I don’t remember my first haircuts as a child growing up in small town Ontario. My memories of hair- raising adventures date back to about 1960, when I was around eight years old. A new barber arrived in town, Mr. Wright..
ET C’EST L’HIVER F. Hamelin – Marie-Claire Séguin Une belle chanson poétique pour l’hiver *English translation below the French Nous marchons si près de la terre Sous le vent de minuit Sous la blancheur du givre Et comme au temps du très vieux temps Le long d’un grand pays de neige Les arbres se..
Spring 1969, London, Ontario. Grade 12, Oakridge High School A friend named Chris Turnbull had somehow inherited a car. Probably his parents handed over this dilapidated vehicle when he turned 18. His decrepit Dodge was something of a jalopy. But it was equipped with an 8-track cartridge player: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-track_cartridge You inserted a clunky music cartridge..
Deaf as a post For years I have been in denial about my hearing impairment, blaming it on wax build-up and congestion, while secretly recognizing that my experience of a typical soundscape is akin to that of a skin diver trapped in a massive reverberating fishbowl, especially in venues such as bars or restaurants where..
I can’t get no…family doctor Being new to Ontario, my wife and I assiduously followed the Ontario Health Insurance Plan instructions and put our names on a waiting list for a family doctor. We learned that there are about 250,000 supplicants without a personal physician in our city alone. By the time we’re allocated..
Sweetening the pot I’ve been an incurable insomniac since the age of five, when I became convinced by the minister of our local parish that I would burn in hell for eternity because “I took the name of the Lord God in vain.” For the next few years, I spent entire nights praying to the..
Andy McClelland: A singer/songwriter you’ll want to share In 1969, by a strange fluke, I won a scholarship to study at a small private Canadian institution located in Switzerland, Neuchâtel Junior College, receiving financial assistance for which only students from London, Ontario were eligible. I never should have been granted this award. It should..
Shiny Grey Suit is now on Soundcloud…Awarded the Golden Pineapple Award for the most original Hawaiian Blues tune of 2024 My old friend Andy McClelland is a brilliant performing artist and a highly skilled singer/ songwriter with his own studios in northern Ontario. Check out his voluminous body of original, complex, and highly creative..
Shiny Grey Suit is now on Soundcloud…Awarded the Golden Pineapple Award for the most original Hawaiian Blues tune of 2024 My old friend Andy McClelland is a brilliant performing artist and a highly skilled singer/ songwriter with his own studios in northern Ontario. Check out his voluminous body of original, complex, and highly creative..