Category: Innovation

Old Fellas New Music Episode 35 Thursday, November 17

On By paulmcguire2013In InnovationLeave a comment

Episode 35, Thursday, November 17

This is episode 35 of Old Fellas new Music. Nine great songs all newer than 2015 along with fun conversation. We hope you give this a listen!

This week – Nine new songs!

Cedric Burnside – Get Down

Khruangbin with Vieux Farka Touré – Tamalla  (2020) – Austin City Limits & KEXP 

(2022) (CBC The Block)

Valerie June – Shakedown

Trinidad Cardona, Davido, Aisha – Hayya Hayya (Better Together)

Gwenifer Raymond – Sweep It Up

Beatrice Deer – The Storm

Buffalo Nichols – How to Love

Julian Taylor – Wide Awake

Joachim  Cooder –  Heartaching Blues

Cedric Burnside

Get Down  First up is a nice party track from Cedric Burnside. 

Burnside is an American electric blues artist. He is the grandson of late blues great R. L. Burnside. He even toured with the elder Burnside at the age of 13 as a drummer.  From the 2021 lp “I Be Trying”  

The National Endowments for the Arts has a nice feature on him  https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/cedric-burnside 

Hayya Hayya (Better Together)

26,827,786 views  Apr 1, 2022

This is the first single of the multi-song FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Official Soundtrack. 

Artists: Trinidad Cardona, Davido and Aisha. Such a great song. I am sure you will be hearing this a lot over the next few weeks. Oh and make sure you watch the video!

Valerie June

is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Memphis, Tennessee.  The track, Shakedown come from 2017’s “The Order of Time “ album.  Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album at No. 24 on their “50 Best Albums of 2017”  Shakedown is a nice southern blues and gospel-based groove.  https://www.popmatters.com/valerie-june-shakedown-singles-going-steady-2495403955.html

Beatrice Deer’s ‘SHIFTING’ Is a Multilingual Merger of Darkness and Light (Exclaim)

By Jordan Currie

Published Dec 08, 2021

Montreal-based singer-songwriter Beatrice Deer understands how to merge opposite worlds to birth a fresh, inventive new one. A blend of modern folk tales with traditional Inuit ones serves as a landscape for her music, where the sounds of classic indie pop and rock are interwoven with Inuit throat singing. On top of this, the half-Inuk, half-Mohawk artist also sings in three languages: English, French and Inuktitut, at times switching between multiple within one song. Her approach to bringing these elements together is skillful and graceful on her sixth studio album SHIFTING, where she explores the emotions surrounding getting older and moving on to another phase of life.

On paper, SHIFTING may sound daunting and overly complicated for those who only speak one language, but Deer’s ability to craft a seamless flow between her songs and highlight universal themes of transformation and growth can lead any listener to enjoy the journey. “Emotionally, spiritually, and physically, the transition towards our authentic selves continues,” she shared of the album. “As I shift into the position where I’m meant to be, I want to keep using what I’ve learned to help others.”

CBC Q

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-50-q/clip/15883464-beatrice-deers-album-combines-inuk-musical-traditions-modern

Canadian singer-songwriter Beatrice Deer joined Tom Power to talk about merging her Inuk-Mohawk heritage with indie rock sounds on her latest album, Shifting.

Aired: Dec. 9, 2021

Gwenifer Raymond – Sweep It Up  

https://guitar.com/features/interviews/gwenifer-raymond-welsh-acoustic-virtuoso-and-game-designer/

Gwenifer Raymond is a Welsh guitarist originally from Cardiff Wales but now living in Brighton, England.  Critics are categorizing her style as following in the  American Primitive genre like forbearers John Fahey.  In addition to being an accomplished musician,  she has earned an MA and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics. She also is a computer programmer, first in artificial intelligence, and later as an audio programmer for video games. She continued to study and play gigs in coffee houses and pubs.

From 2018’s You Never Were Much of a Dancer,  “Sweep it Up”   

Here’s more! Gwenifer Raymond at the Brighton Toy Museum. 

Khruangbin with Vieux Farka Touré – Tamalla  (2020) –

I saw this band first on Austin City Limits & KEXP 

Khruangbin and Vieux Farka Touré have announced a new collaborative album. Ali is in honor of Vieux’s late father Ali Farka Touré; the artists recreate and pay homage to his work across the new album. It’s out September 23 via Dead Oceans

Khruangbin is an American musical trio from Houston, Texas. The band comprises Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson Jr. on drums.[2]The band is known for blending global music influences, such as classic soul, dub, rock and psychedelia.[3][4] Their debut studio album, The Universe Smiles Upon You (2015), draws from the history of Thai music in the 1960s, specifically from Luk thung, while their second album, Con Todo el Mundo (2018), has influences from Spain and the Middle East, specifically Iran.[2] Speer, Lee, and DJ also host “AirKhruang” radio shows on NTS Radio and Facebook Live.[5] In September 2022, the band released the album, Ali in collaboration with Vieux Farka Touré, featuring songs by Vieux’s father, Ali Farka Touré.

Buffalo Nichols – How to Love 

Blues performer Carl ‘Buffalo’ Nichols was born in Houston, Texas, but was raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Per Wikipedia,  Growing up in Milwaukee, Nichols found his place behind the guitar. In poring over records from other artists, he would sometimes listen to a song as many as 200 times to understand the chord or riff and play it. Nichols traveled across West Africa and Europe, discovering how tradition could be updated for contemporary listeners. That’s his mission in releasing Buffalo Nichols. “Part of my intent, making myself more comfortable with this release, is putting more Black stories into the genres of folk and blues”, he said. “Listening to this record, I want more Black people to hear themselves in this music that is truly theirs”.  From 2021’s self titled lp   

Here’s a nice comprehensive article on Nichols from Rolling Stone Magazine.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/blues-buffalo-nichols-1296676/

Julian Taylor – Wide Awake

Seeds by Julian Taylor

an excerpt that gives you some idea of the work Julian Taylor has done over the years.

It’s rare in this era to see an artist build slowly and reach a new level of widespread acclaim two decades into their career. But Julian’s ethos, work ethic, and artistry has always had a timeless quality to it. And so, he’s built things slowly in a DIY fashion, withstanding highs and lows along the way, ultimately reaching the peak of his powers with his latest solo work. Fans and critics have noticed, granting Julian the Solo Artist of the Year honour at the Canadian Folk Music Awards (and nomination in the English Songwriter category), plus two Juno Award nominations in 2021, as well as a Polaris Music Prize nomination. 

https://juliantaylormusic.ca/about

Joachim  Cooder –  Heartaching Blues  from 2020’s On That Road I’m Bound

Joachim Herbert Cooder is a  percussionist and keyboardist best known for his collaborations with his father, Ry Cooder. His primary instrument is the electric mbira, a variation on the traditional African thumb piano. This gives you an idea of what he plays.  

 Here, Cooder covers an old Uncle Dave Macon song  Heartaching Blues. 

For comparison  here’s Uncle Dave Macon version   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msk98ITgJG8

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Old Fellas New Music Episode 34

On By paulmcguire2013In Innovation1 Comment

This week

Week 34

Aysanabee – War Cry 

Allison Russell /Brandi Carlile  – You Are Not Alone

Born Ruffians  – I Fall in Love Every Night 

The Heavy Heavy –  Miles and Miles

Rosa Linn  –  SNAP 

Darling Congress  –   Lazarus

Breeze:  – Come Around ft. Cadence Weapon

Yot Club –   U Dont Kno Me

Bells Larsen –  Double Aquarius

Aysanabee: War Cry Exclaim!

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Evan Pang made sure to check in with his grandfather in Thunder Bay.

“It was important for me to record some of this, because not only were there outbreaks happening, but his health wasn’t so good at the time,” he said.

But soon, those conversations became deeper, uncovering family stories and setting Pang on a new journey of personal reclamation. So, with his grandfather’s blessing, he started recording their chats.

“We spent the first year kind of getting to know each other in a way that we never had before,” the Toronto-based musician told Unreserved host Rosanna Deerchild. “I basically spent the first year of the pandemic interviewing my grandfather.”

A lot has changed since then. Pang now goes by Aysanabee, after reclaiming his family’s name. He left his career in journalism to become a musician. He’s so far performed at nearly 100 shows and festivals, and signed with Ishkōdé Records, an Indigenous, women-led record label.

CBC

Allison Russell /Brandi Carlile – You Are Not Alone

Montreal native makes a second appearance on the Old Fellas podcast. At this point, “You are Not Alone” is a standalone 2022 release.  After having a fairly traumatic childhood, Russell sings songs of strength and positivity. She is joined on this song by American multi award winner Brandi Carlile.    

https://www.killbeatmusic.com/media-releases/2022/8/18/allison-russell-sharesnbspyoure-not-alone-featuring-brandi-carlile

Born Ruffians: I Fall in Love Every Night (2020) Verge – Juice

“I Fall In love Every Single Night” is the opening track from Born Ruffians’ new LP, and is their first single since their 2018 album Uncle, Duke & The Chief.

Guitarist and vocalist Luke Lalonde says of the new single, “When the darkness isn’t fully engrossing me, I feel very fortunate for the world we live in and the people I have in my life. It’s easy for me (and I think for a lot of people) to take things for granted. There’s a constant narrative I’ve noticed being pushed that the world is a big, mean, scary place. We’re constantly being drilled by bad news, perpetual fear. You can forget how beautiful the world is and you can forget to even notice the person right next to you… I’m feeling a renewed sense of love not only in my relationships but with the world in general. There is an overwhelming amount of love in the world, you just have to focus on it every once in a while.”

The Heavy Heavy – Miles and Miles       

The Heavy Heavy:have described their sound as the “The Rolling Stones meets The Mamas & The Papas”. The band reminds one of Bob Welch era Fleetwood Mac as well.  The track “Miles and Miles” is taken from the Brighton UK based group’s sole ep.  The tune sounds as if it could be blasting from an AM radio station circa 1973. Here they perform on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show Me  website. 

The Heavy Heavy are creating a stir in the music press as well.  https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jul/16/one-to-watch-the-heavy-heavy-life-and-life-only

Rosa Linn:SNAP (2022) Verge

“Snap” is a song by Armenian singer Rosa Linn, released on 19 March 2022.[2] The song was written and composed by Linn, with Larzz Principato, Courtney Harrell, Allie Crystal and Tamar Kaprelian.[3] The song represented Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy. (Wikipedia)

It’s not those numbers that count towards the chart, though – but users are going on to streaming platforms – which do contribute to the figures.

“Everything is going crazy and it’s a dream come true,” the 22-year-old told BBC News.

It’s the second-highest charting song from this year’s competition, behind the United Kingdom’s Sam Ryder, who got to

At the grand final in Turin, in May, Snap finished in 20th position out of 25 – receiving no points from the UK in either the public or jury votes.

“That was my first time on a big stage but it felt so right. It felt like home,” Linn explained.

(BBC)

Darling Congress – Lazarus from album Jubilant Blue 2022

Taken from the 2022 album Jubilant Blue, Lazarus, was a long time in the making as COVID interrupted the album’s production.  Darling Congress is Peter van Helvoort bassist for The Glorious Sons and one time a member of Teenage Kicks.  “Lazarus” apparently deals with that bands break up seven years earlier when the song was actually written.

Breeze: Come Around ft. Cadence Weapon (2021) Verge


Toronto-based producer and artist, Josh Korody (Nailbiter, Beliefs) who works under the moniker, Breeze is sharing his new single, “Come Around” which features a guest appearance from the tipped Canadian rapper/artist, Cadence Weapon who found acclaim from Stereogum, FLOOD, Brooklyn Vegan, Bandcamp Daily, Exclaim and more for his recent album, Parallel World – listen below. The new single arrives in line with the news of Korody’s second album under Breeze titled Only Up, set for release via Hand Drawn Dracula on August 26, 2021.

Yot Club -U Dont Kno Me 

Yot Club is a lo-fi bedroom pop project from Mississippi. The band is solely old Ryan Kaiser, writing and recording everything.  Kaiser came to the public’s attention withe Tik Tok viral sensation, YKWIM?,” (You Know What I Mean). Apparently it’s had over  two million streams on Spotify. “u dont kno me” is the first single off his forthcoming debut album Off the Grid. To quote, “The song is about outgrowing one’s environment—a feeling that Kaiser knows well, having relocated from Mississippi to Nashville last year.

The video is good deadpan fun.   https://floodmagazine.com/104526/yot-club-u-dont-kno-me-first-listen/

Bells Larsen Double Aquarius (2022)

Bells Larsen (they/he/il) is a Montreal-based singer/songwriter. Larsen’s songs weave together deeply cathartic lyrics and memorable melodies, distilling the personal within the universal. In the fall, Larsen will release their debut record, which was made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. This music explores the theme of queer loss in its many guises.

Teaching new teachers in 2022

On By paulmcguire2013In Innovation, school reform, Urban Communities Cohort1 Comment

Next week we start the interesting process of looking at our teacher education program. This is the unique time in the year when staff have a chance to suggest changes for the next academic year. This year, after three years of working with new teachers, I have a few ideas on how we might be able to make things more meaningful for people starting out in the profession.

First, Canadian universities need to make a strong commitment to doing their very best to develop innovative teacher education programs. This is such an important role for the academy. We have a collective responsibility to present a program that challenges, trains and inspires people who may be involved in the education of young Canadians for the next 30 years. It should go without saying, but there are powerful competing interests in the academy that work against this notion.

Universities value scholarship and research. In many faculties across the country, teaching excellence is not a requirement they are looking for. For faculty of education programs, there has to be a shift in emphasis. While educational research is an important component, we must also model teaching excellence in all the courses we teach. We only have two years to work with new teachers and there needs to be a new consideration of the balance between the academic and the practical.

I can’t offer a systematic review of what is needed to develop innovative programming, but I would love to see examples of how this is being done well in Canada. Has this been studied? Do we know what the components of an excellent program are? Is this knowledge shared and discussed throughout the academic community?

If this information exists, why are we not reading this material before we meet to discuss changes to the program? I think we are going in unprepared for the task.

Teacher education is grounded in the academic and the practical. There are other areas that have this mix where the academy is developing professionals. Medicine and law come to mind. In all cases where professional training is involved, there is a constant need to assess how effective these programs are at preparing new professionals for the working world. While the Ontario College of Teachers regularly certifies teacher training programs in the province, what role does the OTC play in the years between reviews?

How can we best strike a balance between teaching theory and practice? At the university, the teaching staff is made up of full-time professors – experts in their fields of study, seconded teachers who teach up to three semesters in their subject areas, part-time professors and graduate students and faculty advisors. Faculty advisors act as a liaison between the university and the practicum schools. In non-Covid years, these faculty advisors visit the schools on a regular basis to connect with the associate teacher and the teacher candidate.

The key staff position is the associate teacher. This is the person who volunteers (there is a small stipend) to take on one or more student teachers for the year. They are responsible for overseeing the practice of the student teacher and they assess the success and areas of growth of their students throughout the year.

This is the essential component of training that takes place over the two years of teacher education. Associate teachers are given no time off to do this important work; it is one of the many add-ons that society depends on teachers to assume to keep education moving in the province. Associate teachers have no say in what is taught at the university and do not play any role in the program review process we are going through right now.

There is another group of volunteers that receive even less attention. A small collection of university professors coordinate the in-university practicum programs over the two-year period. They play crucial roles in developing connections and partnerships with schools, associate teachers and administrators and they play an important role in fashioning the student teacher reflective component of the practicum experience.

Because the coordinating role does not count as part of their academic load, these educators take this on as part of their extra duties apart from the research they are expected to do and their academic teaching load.

The two most important roles in teacher education are being conducted by volunteers. I don’t think many people think or write about this, but volunteer associate teachers and university coordinators give their own precious professional time to nurture the next generation of teachers in this province. Both groups have little say in the structure and content of the teacher education program.

Universities, like other large institutions, move very slowly. There is little incentive to make changes that would give volunteers a voice in the development of new teachers. Like many institutions, the paid permanent staff hold almost all the reins of control and power and see little need to change a situation that in their minds, works very well.

Some people – academic advisors, professional staff, full-time professors are doing very well in this current system. They are protected by seniority and tenure, structural program components that guarantee complacency. Academic advisors are kept in their jobs well beyond their best before date. Some advisors have not seen the inside of a classroom in 20 years. Student teachers, associate teachers and volunteer academic staff have no voice in program design even though they represent the essential stakeholders in teacher education.

I don’t know if this has been studied in Canada. There is a problem although it is not in the interest of the academy to do anything about this. Earlier this year we read The Equity Myth: Racialization and Indigeneity at Canadian Universities (Henry et. al., 2017). This is an excellent study of the inequities around race and indigeneity that exist in Canadian universities. While the problems in teacher education are different many of the same elements that block reform are similar. It is a stunning rebuke to the academic system here in Canada.

These are discouraging situations, all the more important to write about them. Solutions do exist, this is not hopeless, but we have to start asking the right people the important questions.

Old Fellas New Music Episode 23 Notes

On By paulmcguire2013In InnovationLeave a comment

This week’s tracks

Valley – Oh shit … are we in Love?

Status/Non Status – Find a Home

Elwins – For Love to Come and Find You(Don’t Wait)

Anika – Change

Wapums – Sunray

Angelique Kidjo – Africa One of a Kind

Milky Chance – Colorado

El Michels Affair – Zaharila

Dan Mangan – Troubled Mind

Valley – Oh shit … are we in Love?

After 21- 22 weeks of the podcast, the time has come to repeat some fine artists.  Here is Valley with their brand spanking new release, “ Oh shit … are we in Love?” 

Status/Non Status – Find a Home 

snippets from a CBC article (Holly Gordon · CBC Music · Posted: Jun 08, 2021 9:00 AM ET)

How a new EP and name are helping Status/Non-Status interrogate the effects of colonization

The band formerly known as Whoop-Szo questions who holds status — and who doesn’t

‘It’s been my whole life in many ways, but the reconnection process to culture, it’s been 10 or 15 years as well…. And I’ve learned a lot about my family and our history and the true stories around that, why maybe we were disconnected.’ — Adam Sturgeon (Savanah Sewell)

“The first song I wrote was called ‘Boozhoo,’ and I was just learning how to say the word hello [in Anishinaabemowin],” says Adam Sturgeon, lead singer of Status/Non-Status.

“‘Find a Home’ is a song about loving yourself, I think. It’s a traveling song, sort of — I think you can feel that. And so that was bringing me some sort of solace in that experience where you’re in that doldrum of wonderment. But it was comfortable and it’s kind of an older song that I was writing and reworking and yeah, just about accepting and loving yourself wherever you are on your journey.

Elwins – For Love to Come and Find You(Don’t Wait)

We have played The Elwins before as well and we are including this track as  The Elwins finally returned to the stage a couple of weeks ago to do 2 shows at the Phoenix Theatre in Toronto.

This song is taken from the 2021 ep  release  IV More  

Anika – Change

From Album of the Year website – how can you do this, it is only September!

On Change, Anika delivers a call to action that she takes to heart. Though her first solo album in over a decade is indebted to the spooky, surreal sounds of her early solo releases and her work with Exploded View, it also sheds a decidedly different light on her music. Since much of her 2010 debut album and 2013 EP consisted of frosty covers of ’60s pop songs that ranged from ironic to heartbroken, listeners actually got to know more of Anika as a songwriter on Exploded View‘s albums, where she expounded on timely and timeless subjects in elliptical but gripping fashion. Even though she recorded Change with her bandmate Martin Thulin, it’s apparent that this is a solo album: Its songs are leaner and more flexible than her work with Exploded View

Wapums – Sunray

Bob heard Wapums – Sunray on the always dependable CBC radio 3.  There isn’t a lot of info available on the internet about this artist but here is the link to the artist’s Bandcamp page.

https://wampums.bandcamp.com/album/sunray-3 

This is First Nations music at its finest.  

Angelique Kidjo – Africa One of a Kind

Album – Mother Nature

Africa, One Of A Kind

Kicking off our Back To School special with a song featuring @angeliquekidjo and @YoYo_Ma

Angelique wanted to drop out of school but her dad wasn’t having it. 

The singer and activist went on to found Batonga, an organization that supports higher education for girls in Africa.

Mother Nature finds 4-time GRAMMY-winner Angelique Kidjo joining forces with some of the most captivating young creators of West African music, Afrobeats, Afro-pop, hip hop and r&b, and represents a newly heightened awareness of her own musical legacy and remarkable influence she’s had on younger generations

She has a great website where there is lots to explore.

Angelique Sings for the Opening Ceremony of the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo

Angelique Kidjo – UNICEF – no Pata Pata Official Video

Covid 19 video – what to do to stay safe from Covid – no touch time

This is a great song that I added to the extended version of the show. From her website:

UNICEF is excited to announce the official release of Angelique Kidjo’s music video for “Pata Pata”, a fresh take on Miriam Makeba’s 1967 hit song. Once called the “world’s most defiantly joyful song”, Makeba’s ‘Pata Pata’ has been re-recorded by UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Angélique Kidjo, to spread information about COVID-19, with a focus on hundreds of millions of people in remote communities around the world. 

Milky Chance – Colorado

Milky Chance is a German rock band who seemed to combine the vocals of Fontaines DC  with the instrumentation of The Cars.

This track was heard on an Alt Nation  live concert set from the Bottle Rocket Festival in Napa Valley.  The crowd there seemed to know this 2021 song thoroughly as they lustily sang along…

Here’s the studio version  

El Michels Affair – Zaharila

Album – Yeti Season 2021

this song is described as ‘languid, psyched-out’

El Michels Affair – Zaharila

I had to keep in this paragraph about the inspiration for Yeti Season – this is from Rolling Stone:

Covid upended that rhythm last spring. Suddenly, the kids were home 24/7, and Michels was looking for ways to fill the time while still finding ways to clock hours in the studio. He was also cut off from the close friends and collaborators who had been an integral part of El Michels Affair’s music and his own personal support system. So, one day last year as the snow was falling in Rhinebeck, he got out an old Yeti costume and decided to chase his kids around the yard. 

Rolling Stone Magazine

Dan Mangan – Troubled Mind

Dan Magnan  is a Juno award winning Canadian musician. He has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Australia, having released 5 studio LPs

The song “Troubled Mind”  is taken from his 2018 lp “More or Less” The video is kinda fun  

In 2017, Magnan started Side Door  concert company where artists could put on shows online.  Little did he know that three years later due to COVID, these types of shows would take off on platforms like Zoom.

How Dan Mangan’s Side Door Is Paving the Way for the Brave New World of Live Music

“I do believe that this new world is going to stick around,” he says of the company’s highly profitable livestreams

How Dan Mangan's Side Door Is Paving the Way for the Brave New World of Live Music

When Vancouver songwriter Dan Mangan co-founded the concert company Side Door in 2017, he thought he was creating an “Airbnb for gigs” — an online platform to allow artists and unconventional venues to connect and put on DIY shows. Once coronavirus lockdowns began, however, he quickly realized that he had accidentally stumbled onto the perfect platform for interactive online shows.

By Alex Hudson Published May 21, 2020 Exclaim! Magazine

Old Fellas make it to week 20! Our notes

On By paulmcguire2013In InnovationLeave a comment
This is our updated playlist – I think you should put this on and chill
This was a fun show – hope you take a listen

OK, we know these are notes written by other people, but we go out and research this stuff

Now for our music for this week

Katherine Priddy – Wolf

album – The Eternal Rocks Beneath

Katherine Priddy – great song

from The Guardian, really one of the best sources I know of for new music

The folk prodigy delivers an elegant debut, infused with soaring vocals and nimble guitar-picking

Feted as a folk prodigy as a teenager, Katherine Priddy has wisely taken several years to reach this debut, an accomplished set of original songs delivered in a breathtaking voice and launched on a reputation as a great live act. Her nimble guitar-picking helps. Not that this is a strictly solo album; producer Simon Weaver has supplied a rhythm section and a parade of accordion, fiddle and string quartet, but in judicious measure. The star turn remains Priddy’s voice and its soaring, lark-like turns, meaning a song such as Wolf, the title track of her 2018 EP, can suddenly take unexpected flight.

That several numbers were written when she was young perhaps accounts for their unevenness; the banjo-backed Letters from a Travelling Man doesn’t pass muster with a poetic piece such as Icarus – a fond farewell to a lover seen as “a radiant stain falling like rain” – or with her funny homage to a boozy night on the Hebridean isle of Eigg. The rocks of the title is a verb, not a noun, testament to a belief that life’s fundamentals don’t change, a notion resolved elegantly in opener Indigo and closer The Summer Has Flown. A classy arrival.

Guardian- Neil Spencer

and one more – she really is wonderful

Binki – Clay Pigeon

American indie artist Binki is back with his first single since 2019 from the EP Motor Function. Apparently, it is inspired by “ the wisdom of Confucius and the failings of David Bowie” Here’s the video which is directed by his brother.

Griff – One Foot in Front of the Other

another great pick from The Guardian’s July picks for albums. Really like this artist

The Brits’ show-stealing 20-year-old has earworms and wise words to burn on this tantalising mini-album

Griff – One Foot In Front Of The Other (Official Video)

The rise of Griff feels like a silver lining around the thundercloud that was 2020. While all around the 20-year-old pop powerhouse careers stalled, tours evaporated and sound engineers peed in bottles while driving delivery vans, this singer went from buzzy obscurity in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, locked down with her family and foster siblings, to a Top 20 hit and a Brits rising star award.

One Foot in Front of the Other is, though, an odd release. A debut album in all but name, this mixtape comes with the caveat that it was written and recorded during lockdown. Griff and her label feel that her debut album proper is still ahead of her.

Pom Pom Squad – Head Cheerleader

Pom Pom squad is a band Inspired by Billie Holiday, riot grrrl bands, and  films Death of a Cheerleader/ But I’m a Cheerleader

Here’s the trailer for the 1999 cult classic  

Pom Pom squad was originally just Mia Berrin but now it it is a full fledged band.  For a better idea of what Pop Pom squad are all about, here is Pitchfork magazines review of the album.

Equally indebted to pioneering girl groups and her punk heroes, the New York singer-songwriter’s debut is a fiery exploration of love, anger, and coming-of-age.

In 1999, a satirical comedy film called But I’m a Cheerleader proposed an astonishing lead character: a cheerleader who isn’t quite like the other girls on her team. She gets whisked away to a hilariously straight-laced conversion-therapy camp on the suspicion that she might be—gasp—gay. “I’m a cheerleader!” she whines in hesitation, as if this makes it impossible to fall outside societal norms. The movie marked a memorable early instance of the divergent cheerleader, an increasingly popular trope that drives the creative mind of 23-year-old singer-songwriter Mia Berrin, who makes bratty grunge-punk as Pom Pom Squad. On her debut, Death of a Cheerleader, the New York musician stakes her claim to pleated miniskirt canon, joining the ranks of those who’ve weaponized cheer imagery to disrupt convention.

Pitchfork June 30 2021

The video  

I concur with one commenter … “this is my new favourite song”

Melissa Laveaux – Angeli-ko

Album  – Radyo Siwèl

Really need to watch this series of videos on Youtube – Mélissa Laveaux – Radyo Siwèl Series

One in the series

In 2018, Laveaux’s album Radyo Siwel was long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize.[6]

In April 2016, Mélissa Laveaux headed to Haiti in search of her roots and on a mission to honour her ancestors. Born in Canada to Haitian parents, she did not know what would emerge musically from her pilgrimage although she had a particular interest in the period of American occupation of the island between 1915-1934. Two decades had gone by since she had last set foot in Haiti when she was 12 years old. She felt like a stranger and yet, at the same time, she experienced the thrill of an exile returning home, for Haiti is an intrinsic part of her identity.

From these she built Radyo Siwèl, a unique album steeped in Haitian history and culture and yet which is also highly personal and intimate. 

Youtube

Blinker the Star – It’s Alright (Baby’s Coming Back)

Bob’s selection of a new Blinker the star track was a result of this article in the Montreal Gazette. 

Excitingly, his burbling, pitch-perfect cover of Eurythmics’ It’s Alright (Baby’s Coming Back) was chosen last month as one of the 20 “best songs of 2021 (so far)” by Esquire — ranking alongside such luminaries as Lorde (Solar Power), Doja Cat and SZA (Kiss Me More), BTS (Butter), Justin Bieber (Peaches) and FKA Twigs (Don’t Judge Me). Heady — and moneyed — company.

Montreal Gazette

Welcome back Blinker the Star!This is a cover version of an old Eurythmics song that was unfamiliar to both of us. Compare the 2 versions here 

If you would like more Blinker the Star, you can listen to a full show dedicated to his music put together by David Widmann on Mixcloud.

Rare Americans – Baggage 

I heard this one on CBC Radio 3 – a great find I think!

Rare Americans – Baggage (Official Music Video)

They also have a great website

Rare Americans – Crooked & Catchy. The band started on a whim two years ago when brothers James and Jared Priestner took an impromptu trip to the Caribbean. James joked they should try and write a song together, Jared said “A song? Fuck that, lets write an album!” Sure enough 10 days later the first Rare Americans record was born. Spring forward to 2020, the band has gained a reputation for story telling and genre bending fresh music, amassing over 50M YouTube views in the process. The bands roster includes two Slovak guitar virtuoso’s in Lubo Ivan & Jan Cajka, and Duran Ritz on drums.

(from website)

“Lubo and I were in another band before called the Lunas that toured Canada a few times and was going along really well and had recorded an EP,” said James Priester. “Then I took a trip to the Caribbean with my brother Jared and joked I would bring along my guitar so we could drink a few beers and write a song or two together. He’d never written a song before and we’d never written together, but we sat down and wrote an entire album.”

Rare Americans also put its main emphasis on producing videos. James runs a production company in Vancouver so he was up on how to concept a video. The band steadily built its online profile with high-quality clips for songs such as Balmoral Hotel and the Barry Tielman (Run the Jewels, others) animated piece for Cats, Dogs & Rats.

Vancouver Sun

Rare Americans – Cats, Dogs, & Rats (Official Video)

Angel Olsen – Eyes Without a Face

Bob’s final choice is also a cover of an 80’s chestnut.  Angel Olsen has the distinction of being the first three-peat artist on our venerable podcast. She has just released an Ep covering Laura Branigan, Men Without Hats, OMD, Madonna  and Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without a Face” 

The NME has an excellent evaluation of Olson’s latest offering. 

Angel Olsen – ‘Aisles’ EP review: ’80s classics through a warped lens

The North Carolina musician cuts right to the core of each song, before rebuilding her own mirror images with this five-track EP

“I’m really into doing shit that’s unexpected,” Angel Olsen told NME as she prepared to release the album ‘Whole New Mess’ last year. Taking the staggering orchestral ambition of her fourth album ‘All Mirrors’ and stripping it back to its rawest foundations, it marked something of a reset from an artist whose sound had grown grander and more intricate with each release. Though it was actually recorded first (and these demos later grew into ‘All Mirrors) the two records feel like subtly distorted reflections of each other when they’re placed side by side – almost as if Olsen is covering her own work.

New Music Review

Treephones – Matches

Also a CBC Radio 3 catch

Album Pink Objects

The ten song titles on Treephones’ — the musical moniker of Stephen Trothen — new album Pink Objects read like an inventory of things found stashed away in a closet or neglected drawer. With every song named after an object, the concept album takes the approach of a short story collection and focuses on the interactions and relationships of characters centred around these items. The album was written and recorded at home by Trothen who also handled all but a few of the performing duties. The result is a set of songs that weave beautifully evolving textures into a carefully arranged sound that matches the directness and understated complexity of its lyrics.

Killbeat Music

I love this video of Treephones playing in Waterloo, Ontario. A terrific song with the addition of the saxophone. How many videos have we shown that shows the band playing in their bedroom?

Live version of “Matches” from the album “Pink Objects” (out now on digital, vinyl, streaming).

Recorded July 2021 in Waterloo, Ontario.

Stephen Trothen – Vocals, Guitar

Michael Borkovic – Saxophones, Sampler

Ahmad Hachem – Drums

Chris Hull – Vibraphone, Synths

Episode Notes – Old Fellas New Music Episode 17

On By paulmcguire2013In InnovationLeave a comment

Here is our playlist for last week

Durand Jones and the Indications – Morning in America

Dominique Fils-Aime – We Are Light

Stone Foundation – The Light in Us

Alejandra Ribera – Courage

Blow Monkeys – Time Storm

Horsey – Lagoon

Gabriels – Love and Hate in a Different Time

The OBGMs – All My Friends

Paul Weller – In Another Room

All of Bob’s selections are from the sampler cd which accompanies the June 2021 issue of Mojo magazine.  Paul Weller is the guest editor who picked all the tracks.

Durand Jones and the Indications – Morning in America

Durand Jones and the Indications are a multi-racial neo-soul band from Bloomington  Indiana.  Blake Rhein and Aaron Frazer, two students at Indiana University  got together with singer Durand Jones

This is a 2019 song but sounds like a early 70’s soul classic reminscent of The Isley Brothers or  Curtis Mayfield.  It’s called, “Morning in America” Neo soul at it’s finest.

Dominique Fils-Aime – Three Little Words

Fils-Aime’s “Three Little Words UPDATED MAR 8, 2021 9:39PM EST – With touring off the table, Canadian musicians with anticipated new records are finding new ways to approach the traditional release cycle – PUBLISHED MAR 6, 2021 9:30AM EST” completes a trilogy of albums celebrating the history of Black-American music, while Tobi’s “Elements Vol. 1” fuses hip-hop, jazz, pop and R&B.

Montreal jazz singer Dominique Fils-Aimé has been promoting her new album, Three Little Words, the final part of a trilogy exploring the history of African-American music.
ANDREANNE GAUTHIER/HANDOUT

From the Globe and Mail

Stone Foundation – The Light in Us

Stone Foundation (featuring Laville) – The Light in Us.  From Warwickshire, and Inspired by Stax Records, the Spencer Davis Group, and the Style Council, this Warwickshire, England-based modern soul band released material at a steady rate for over a decade before Paul Weller offered to produce their 2017 album, Street Rituals. That record, and its 2018 follow-up, Everybody, Anyone, were their first albums to grace the U.K. Top 30, and paved the way for the late 2020 LP Is Love Enough?

Alejandra Ribera Courage (Single)

COURAGE – Collective Lockdown Music VideoAlejandra makes her most audacious move yet – bringing us an electronic pop creation to spread courage and strength in  uncertain times.  COURAGE May 22, 2020

Alejandra Ribera is a Canadian pop and jazz singer-songwriter, who performs material in English, French and Spanish.

Of mixed Argentine and Scottish descent,[1] Ribera was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, and has been professionally based in Montreal, Quebec.[2] She released her debut album, Navigator/Navigateher, in 2009,[3] and followed up with La Boca in 2014.[3] NPR’s Alt.Latino referred to La Boca and her voice as Alt.Latino’s favorite of 2014.[4]

Some of the proceeds from Courage will go to support Doctors Without Borders

Alejandra Ribera has written a song called ‘Courage’ to lift our spirits during these uncertain times. With the help of friends from Singapore to Switzerland – a collectively crafted “home lockdown music video” accompanies its release. 

Co-produced by Rob Wilks and Brett Shaw (Florence + the Machine, Foals), this is Alejandra’s first foray into the world of electronic pop. “I normally write quite introspective mellow stuff. When I realised I’d written a whole song about the catharsis of facing what most frightens you I thought it should sound fairly epic. I knew it would take a lot more than me and an acoustic guitar.” 

Blow Monkeys – Time Storm

The Blow Monkeys were an eighties band primarily know on this side of the pond for 1984’s “Digging Your Scene”  

The Blow Monkeys – Digging Your Scene • TopPop

The band has been close to Paul Weller since then as both groups performed in the 80’s on the anti- Margaret Thatcher Red Wedge Tour  

Horsey – Lagoon (single)

From DIY

Londoners Horsey – centred around the core duo of Jacob Read (aka DIY fave Jerkcurb) and Theo McCabe – are almost certainly one of the most baffling yet brilliant new bands we’ve come across in a while.

Despite keeping a fairly low profile in terms of press and releasing only a handful of tracks online, the group have built up a firm live following, recently touring with King Krule and selling out none-too-small venues in their hometown.

Why? Because, from the glitzy gold sequinned jackets they sport onstage to the funny, noodling, dark-hearted jazz they tout, Horsey are intoxicatingly odd. Their tracks meander through chintzy piano, to shouty call and response heckles to – on occasion – something resembling a rock opera. They are basically uncategorisable and on new offering ‘Bread & Butter’ they’re doing nothing to make themselves more palatable.

This “Time Storm”from forthcoming album  

Gabriels – Love and Hate in a Different Time

Gabriels – Love and Hate in a Different Time

Gabriels is a LA based group made up of singer Jacob Lusk and producers Ari Balouzian and Ryan Hope. ‘Love and Hate in a Different Time’ is their new single.  This is anohter example fo how vintage soul music can be done in the 21st century. Gabriels explains, “Love and Hate in a Different Time is about how we appear to be losing the ability to peacefully be together in a space and express ourselves. Together. We have always endured agendas of hate, hardship and war but we have in someway always found a way to be together and put aside our differences. However in recent times with the development of the technology/disinformation it appears this is tested.”  Here is an amazing video or as they call it, “a short film”

The OBGMs – All My Friends Album – The Ends

From Exclaim Magazine!

After returning with new single “Not Again” last month, the OBGMs have lifted the curtain on a new full-length record. The Toronto punk trio will release The Ends on October 30 through Black Box Music.

“This album is about death, wanting to die, and fighting for something to live for — it’s the end of all things. I feel this is the one of the most important cross-genre albums this century,” explained vocalist/guitarist Densil McFarlane in a statement. “We are Nirvana, we are the Beatles, and the Stones. We are really changing the dimensions of which the game is played like the Steph Curry of this rock shit. We all have feelings of doubt, uncertainty, and I used to live there. I’m trying not to die there. If I’m going out, I’m going out shooting.”

Produced by Dave Schiffman and recorded at Toronto’s Dreamhouse Studios, The Ends follows the OBGMs 2017 self-titled debut. McFarlane recalled that after touring that record, “I thought me and music was over… My life wasn’t very good at the time, people around me were dying, and everything I was making sucked. I thought it was a sign that I needed to do something else.”

another great song – to Death by the OBGMs

Both Dominique Fils-Aimé and The OBGMs are on this year’s Polaris Short list.

Paul Weller – In Another Room

Paul Weller – In Another Room was is a 2019 rarity released as a 7 inch on the experimental label Ghost Box.  “Ghost Box is a record label for a group of artists exploring the misremembered musical history of a parallel world.”

 Paul Weller, a  British institution has been releasing music for almost 45 years. Whether as the leader of The Jam, Style Council or solo, Weller has had dozens of hits single and lps. In North America though,  he is mainly remembered for 1982’s “A Town Called Malice”  

Here is the Style Council Performing at Live Aid 1985.  

The Daily Telegraph said of Weller: “Apart from David Bowie, it’s hard to think of any British solo artist who’s had as varied, long-lasting and determinedly forward-looking a career. The BBC described Weller in 2007 as “one of the most revered music writers and performers of the past 30 years”

Here he is still plugging away in 2020 

Walking through a Building on Fire

On By paulmcguire2013In InnovationLeave a comment
NDP MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq Globe and Mail, Thursday June 17th

On June 17th, two articles were published that really struck me. A third piece, written in the winter of 2019/20 by Dr. Timothy Stanley about the removal of Sir John A. Macdonald’s statue in Victoria in 2018 acts as an important piece that links these two events. They all have to do with belonging – who belongs here and who is honoured and respected. Who feels like the ‘other’ and whose history do we understand.

It seems to me that we are going through a radical transformation right now in Canada. The first article about Mumilaaq Qaqqaq’s decision not to run again in the next election doesn’t seem to have received too much attention, but I think it is really important. She talks about the House of Parliament as being an ‘uneasy place’

It’s a place where they make laws that result in Indigenous death and result in turmoil for a lot of our communities. I feel that.

Globe and Mail June 17, 2021

There is a connection to this very brave declaration by this Inuit lawmaker and the movement to roll back the symbols of racism and genocide from our places of honour and prominence. To me, it is intolerable that a young woman who represents all of Nunavut should be stopped by security guards while in the Parliament Buildings and questioned whether she really belonged.

The statues of John A. MacDonald really do not belong – if there is a lingering spirit of the man circling around the statues and buildings with his name on it, it is this spirit who should feel like it does not belong.

The CBC article – Kingston to move Sir John A. Macdonald statue from City Park is significant because Kingston is seen as the home of Macdonald and many people feel that the removal of the statue offends their sense of community. Plans seem to be in play to move the statue to his gravesite also in Kingston. I have a better idea (not my own), but more about that later.

The article by Dr. Stanley is really important here. This statue removal he writes about took place in 2018 so we have gained a bit of perspective on what the removal means in Victoria, the community where it stood. His article Commemorating John A. Macdonald: Collective Remembering and the Structure of Settler Colonialism in British Columbia ( BC studies, no. 204, Winter 2019/20), available here, it an important read especially now.

There are so many issues circulating around Macdonald and the central role he has played developing the institution of Residential Schools in Canada. You would think that we could all get behind a rethinking of his place in our history, but we are a nation in conflict. We seem unwilling to understand the implications of colonial politicians like Macdonald.

It is not as simple as the removal of the statues of Confederate Generals from sites in the United States – even though this is not all that simple. MacDonald never made war on Canada, but you could easily say he did make war on the different Indigenous and Metis populations his government encountered.

One idea that Dr. Stanley explores is the whole notion that by removing statues of Macdonald we are somehow erasing history. This is usually said by people who really have a really poor notion of what history really is.

What we emphasize and retell changes over time. The history we look to tells us much more about the messages governments want put out there at a particular time. It has little to do with faithfully rendering a clear narrative.

The statue of former Canadian prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald is covered by a red sheet in Kingston, Ont. on June 11, 2021. On Wednesday, Kingston’s city council voted to move the monument to Cataraqui Cemetery. The city will also spend $80,000 for the transportation and installation of the statue. (Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press)

There are so many interesting ideas in Dr. Stanley’s article I encourage you to take some time to go through this. He does sum up early in the article the idea of ‘settler colonialism’ a label used to describe the opposition to challenging the traditional narrative that Macdonald, Ryerson, Cornwallis or Langevin were simply good public stewards doing the best they could with the resources at hand.

This form of colonialism exists today in Canada and is manifest in all those who are currently opposing the removal of Macdonald’s statues.

While the structure of settler colonialism is all too real for Indigenous peoples, for most settlers it is largely invisible until such time as monuments get taken away or dominant systems of representation get challenged. 

Stanley p. 2

The council debate in Kingston illustrates how far apart Indigenous voices are from those espousing a colonial settler mindset. Delegates against the removal used arguments including ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’ and that the removal of the statue was a harsh judgment of a historical figure, and that such a move would constitute “cancel culture.” (Kingston Whig Standard, June 16).

For sure there will be more of this type of talk as the statue is scheduled to come down this Friday ( June 25). It was the same in Victoria as Dr. Stanley quotes from a CBC report:

Matthew Breeden, reported as having travelled from Vancouver to protest, told CBC: “It’s part of our history I feel is being ripped right out and gutted down. I think that’s just terrible.” He continued: “They just pushed it right through – the public wasn’t allowed to have a say.”

John A. Macdonald Statue Removed from Victoria City Hall,” CBC News, 11 August 2018, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/john-a-macdonald-statue-victoria-city-hall-lisa-helps-1.4782065.  

An interesting side note, Doug Ford, then the newly elected Premier of Ontario called on Vistoria to send the statue to Ontario. In their official request they noted:

As a Father of Confederation and our first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald holds a significant place in the hearts of many Canadians and should be honoured accordingly

Globe and Mail August 14, 2018

These reactions, especially about not having ‘our say’, really shows the state we are still in as a country. When we talk about ‘our’ we are still talking about colonial settler mentality. When we think again about Mumilaaq Qaqqaq , it becomes clearer how alienated she must feel being at the center of colonial power in Canada. The lack of any noticeable reaction to this story is telling. Our House of Parliament is not inclusive, it does not speak for all; it still speaks, as it did in the days of Macdonald for the colonial settler.

Sir John A. Macdonald’s grave, located in Cataraqui Cemetery in Kingston, seen here on Thursday. PHOTO BY JULIA MCKAY /The Whig-Standard

The new resting spot for the Kingston statue is supposed to be at his grave site at the Cataraqui Cemetery just outside of Kingston. There was no consultation with Indigenous groups about this, just a last-minute vote of council to move it to another place of honour.

This is not the right decision on what to do with the Macdonald statue. If we want to develop a holistic historical narrative, one where a young Inuit MP feels like she belongs, we need to do some radical retelling of the story of this land. First, when it comes to honouring people responsible for genocide, Dr. Stanley has a suggestion to pass along:

In this respect, the controversy over Macdonald shows that there is much work to be done in encouraging Canadians to come to terms with their own complicity in settler colonialisms and racisms. Here are two suggestions regarding what to do with Macdonald monuments. One comes from a man from the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan who has the unfortunate name of John A. McDonald. He suggests melting the statues down and making medals to give to residential school survivors: “He stole a piece of you, here’s a piece of him … you survived, and he didn’t, and let’s give it to every survivor of residential schools, everybody that survived the cultural genocide that he attempted.”

Stanley p.25

We are a building on fire, but many of the occupants are not smelling the smoke. We need to start with a new idea about what ‘our history’ is and at the same time stop honouring the men of power who have so much to answer for.

Old Fellas new Music – Episode 5 Notes

On By paulmcguire2013In InnovationLeave a comment

Bob’s Songs

Tuns – We Stand United

Amy Rigby – Tom Petty Karaoke

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – Bike Lane

Parquet Courts – Human Dimension

This is a great interview with Parquet Courts that Bob has shared, pretty interesting! Nardwuar is new to me. This is really fun – Parquet Courts get lots of albums here and Nardwuar asks some great questions including where the band would go to get beer on Friday nights.

Little Barrie – Better Call Saul

Paul’s Songs

Barr Brothers – Kompromat – suggested by Donna Clark – thanks Donna!!

Terry Presume – Did Me Wrong

Arkells + K.Flay – “You Can Get It”Anyway Gang – Big Night
Half Moon Run – Grow into Love,

Here is the link to our show on VoicEd radio – we store all the shows here on Spreaker.

The great thing for me this week is that we actually got a song suggestion from a good friend Donna Clark. I asked her to let me know why she chose the first song and this is what she wrote:

First heard The Barr Brothers music on CBC a couple of years and especially loved the driving and insistent beat of Kompromat as a great road trip song.   Could see myself driving across the prairies in a convertible, ahem, trying to adhere to the speed limit and blasting this tune.  Lyrics are pretty deep and angry and when I saw them on paper gave me food for thought.   Maybe not the best song to listen to as travel is curtailed, but you can always crank it up as your heading out to do essential shopping in your SUV!

Here are some of the lyrics Joan was talking about. Yes, dark, but a great song!

Look at the sun go behind the hill

Look at the country through a dollar bill

I can’t see the bottom of the hole that we’re trying to fill

I think we’re in love with your abuse

You got one hand on the driver’s wheel, in the other a noose

You can call it whatever you want, I say we call it a truce

My next choice was Terry Presume, Done Me Wrong.

From the Guardian This Week’s New Tracks James McMahon – this guy writes great columns every week. Many of his picks he really doesn’t like all that much, but this makes for very entertaining reading.

From Nashville via Florida comes a rap cut so gentle it’s unfeasible its creator recorded it standing up. Less a song than a daydream, here Presume (pronounced like “résumé” – remember that, his inevitable ubiquity will require it) has delivered a tune at odds with the chaos of the modern world. Lyrically he’s just wanging on about being dumped. Philosophically, he’s eating an ice-cream while the world burns.

From The Music Mermaid

Terry Presume is the voice we didn’t know we needed. Unpolished for good reason — Terry’s style is more stream-of-consciousness, not perfection — and backed by emotion, the Florida rapper’s work is a welcome addition to fellow talk-music artists, especially on his new EP, I Got Nothing To Lose, produced by Willie Breeding.

The Arkells + K.Flay

Quitting You from Campfire Chords was going to be my choice, but then I read this in their blog. You have to love a band that has their own blog. Pretty interesting reading, especially in the middle of Covid.

From their blog – 

While we were setting up the track, K.Flay shared a pointed quote about the tune: “This song is about finding your momentum, the potential energy that’s inside of you. The future doesn’t just feel unknowable – it feels impossible. We wanted this song to feel like possibility. Like the world is opening up. Like you are powerful.”

We hope this song gives you that jolt that you’re longing for these days.

March 21, 2021 – Arkells + K.Flay = “You Can Get It”

The Anyway Gang was our second Canadian super band of the show. Interesting, both TUNS and The Anyway Gang have Chris Murphy from Sloan in them.

I chose – Big Night, you can see them play here in what I think is the CBC Q studio.

CBC Radio Q did an interview with the band last January. It is a great way to get a sense of how the band formed and also how much fun these guys have playing together.

CBC Radio interview with Tom Power  Posted: Jan 21

Here are some notes about the band. I love the idea that they get together to tell dad jokes!

Dave Monks – Tokyo Police Club, Sam Roberts, Menno Versteeg – Hollerando, Chris Murphy – Sloan

Last summer a few friends from some of Canada’s most notable bands – Dave Monks (Tokyo Police Club), Sam Roberts (Sam Roberts Band), Menno Versteeg (Hollerado), and Chris Murphy (Sloan) – got together to write some songs.  They mostly made dad jokes but also jammed on a bunch of 3 chord songs they all had lying around. They recorded a bunch of stuff in a few days and over the year added some ideas here and there and all of a sudden a year had past and they realized they kinda had an album so they said let’s name ourselves the first thing they thought of and release it. Anyway, they’re called Anyway Gang

Talking about the Tokyo Police Club, Bob mentions a tour video with a bunch of band members, including Brendan, Bob’s son. He sent me the video footage of a night on the road. I wonder how they were all doing the next day 😃

One last note for this week. Bob has mentioned Zunior several times, so it seemed like a good idea to add some information about them here. Here is their website.

They are also on Twitter here

That’s all for this week – our show now starts at 7:45 so that we can get all the music in. You can hear us LIVE next week on the VoicEd Radio Stream.

Climbing for Kids Again!

On By paulmcguire2013In InnovationLeave a comment

Hi everyone!
It has been a year since I have been in contact with you. COVID has put a break on our trips and our fundraising, but Christie Lake Kids continues to offer to program for kids.

CLK on Zoom over the past year

Last summer their wonderful camp was closed down, but they offered kids a virtual camp and delivered materials and activities directly to the doors of the virtual camp.

this incredible program was funded in part by your donations – kids received a box of activities for a week of activities last summer

All of you who have taken the time to donate have helped fund these programs. The programs keep running so we need to keep climbing!!


From CLK staffer Kim Banks:
​

In 2020 – you kept us stable and operational – you ensured that we could develop a hybrid of programming both virtual and eventually back in person in small groups in the Fall of 2020.  Thanks to Climb for Kids- Mt. Kilimanjaro, even though the trek didn’t happen, your funding ensured that we could source, box and deliver packages directly to families for virtual programming as well as purchase new equipment for a skills – and – drills program in person.

Since 2018, so many of you have been loyal supporters of our fundraising initiatives for Christie Lake Kids – Climb for Kids. You have turned up at our community fundraisers, contributed and bought from the silent auctions, donated to Canada Helps and, last year, sponsored our climbing hundreds of stairs through Step up for Kids – when the pandemic stopped our travelling and required some innovative and creative endeavours to continue to support Christie Lake Kids. Right now – we still are not congregating, nor climbing mountains, but we are still committed to Christie Lake Kids.


Although grounded again in 2021, we are not still. The growing needs of Ottawa families and kids are never still, and the pandemic has even further deepened the divide between children who can access recreation and supportive programs and those who cannot.  Next week, on Saturday, April 24th, CLK is supporting another STEP up for KIDS event. Funds raised through participation and/or sponsoring others/donations will help CLK to keep connecting with, and supporting kids as we head into the spring and summer.
Please consider participating in STEP up for KIDS – walking, climbing, playing – and/or sponsoring me or Heather Swail through our STEP up for KIDS donor page. Heather and I are committing to climbing stairs for one hour, maybe with some small breaks!

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/christie-lake-climb-for-kids-kilimanjaro-2020-c-12/

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/christie-lake-climb-for-kids-kilimanjaro-2020-ch-4/


And we will be climbing together somewhere in 2022 – our destination is not yet set, but we are committed to putting on another adventure that you are all welcome to join!


Thanks very much for your past support and we hope you can participate in some way next Saturday!


Paul McGuire

Covid Journal # 7 – Returning to school is risky

On By paulmcguire2013In Innovation, Life in the Times of COVID - 19, school reform1 Comment

These graphs put out by science teacher and biostatistician, Ryan Imgrund are something I am going to watch closely over the next month.

‘On August 2, in Ottawa there is a 4.8% chance you’ll encounter an individual who can transmit COVID-19 in a group of 27.’

This is actually a statement put out on Ryan Imgrund’s Twitter feed. You can fill in the blanks for your region if you would like. How’s it going for you?

What this means should startle everyone. There is a significant risk of COVID-19 spreading in classrooms this fall. There is no hard cap for kindergarten classes or grades 4-8. Kindergarten classes can still be as high as 29 students, classes in grades 1-3 are capped at 23 (90% of classes must have 20 or fewer students).

From Ontario Families for Public Education

The only meaningful caps that exist right now are in grades 9 – 12 where students will attend in groups of 15.

Not to sound overly critical, but I am not sure how this is going to work.

Today, Sunday, August 2 – Australia declares a state of disaster in Victoria and imposes curfew in Melbourne  

Great Britain and Spain are beginning lockdowns again in various regions.

In the New York Times – After a brief reprieve, coronavirus charges back in US

Again the New York Times – A school reopened. It had to quarantine students within hours.

I am going to stop at four, but I could add many more stories. My point here is to state the obvious, this virus is not under control. Reopening is fraught with danger and in many cases leads to more outbreaks.

The great thing about daily statistics is that we can track the daily spread of the virus against significant changes in behaviour.

While we all should be concerned as Minister Lecce is for the emotional well-being of students, is sending them back into a very risky environment the best way to do this?

Should we not be trying to reimagine what school could look like if we were not so tied to an industrial era school model? We could be asking – what was so good about how we did things in the past? What could we do better? Why are we so tied to tradition at the risk of our student’s and teacher’s health?

Schools support the economy, there is no question about that. When kids are in school people can go back to work. If we truly were concerned about the well-being of staff and students we would be looking closely at the statistics and we would be using this time to reimagine school.

Are the people in charge of our school systems motivated to do this? People in senior positions traditionally want to protect the status quo. It is in their self-interest to do this. There is nothing amazing in this – all large corporations act in the same manner.

But what should we be doing?

  • Should any grouping of students be above 15?

  • Could we be using facilities like community and health centers to spread out our teachers and students?

  • Could we develop more robust video conferencing tools to make the online experience more meaningful (is there life after Zoom??)

  • Is five days a week, 6 hours a day really meaningful? Can we develop a community-based model for education that makes parents active partners?

 

We do ask these questions in countless blog posts and podcasts, but are these questions ever taken seriously? If not now, when? How tied are we really to an old model that really doesn’t work well for many kids?

I really want to see what happens in the next 30 days. Will there be meaningful debate about what education in Ontario will look like this year? Do we realize that we are in this for the long haul? There is no returning to school until there is a vaccine.

I will be working with teacher candidates in first and second year so I will certainly have lots of opportunities to see how we protect our students and staff. I will continue to look at the stats – we are very fortunate to have this daily reminder about what we are heading into.

Will we invest in real change or will we just hope for the best?