Tag: rock music

ET C’EST L’HIVER/ AND IT’S WINTER: Beautiful and timeless music from Quebec circa 1975

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..

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Spring 1969 Magical Mystery Tour

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..

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Deaf as a post

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..

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I can’t get no…family doctor

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..

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Sweetening the pot

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..

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Andy McClelland: A singer/songwriter you’ll want to share

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..

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Shiny Grey Suit …Awarded the Golden Pineapple Award for the most original Hawaiian Blues tune of 2024

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..

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Shiny Grey Suit is now on Soundcloud…Awarded the Golden Pineapple Award for the most original Hawaiian Blues tune of 2024

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..

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Leonard Cohen: They’ve got you covered

Leonard Cohen: They’ve got you covered   First off…a confession …until very recently, I had no idea what a “cover tune” meant. Second confession: Now that I know that “covers” refer to artists interpreting other artists’ work, I have to say that there are a great many cover versions of tunes that I prefer to..

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David Sedaris and little old me

David Sedaris and little old me Most of us have been told at one time or another that we look just like “X” (i.e. my favorite cousin’s best friend’s elder brother/sister/wife/uncle).  Well, what happens when someone tells us that we write a whole lot like “X”? Since my book My Time with You Has Been..

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