Dig A Hole, Fill It Up

Me and Jeff Beck

2010-12-16T13:16:00.003-05:00

Earlier this year I had the honor of working with Jeff Beck. As you know from a previous post, I think that Jeff Beck is the greatest guitarist of all-time. We released his latest album, Emotion & Commotion, in April but back in February he came to Toronto for a tour date with Eric Clapton. Hours before the concert, following some interviews about the new record, I got to have a few minutes with Jeff, just shooting the shit. After the concert was over, in a room filled with gawkers, we finished out "talk." It went something like this:

Pre-concert

Me: "I don't want to embarrass you by gushing (Jeff smiles), but you're the reason I started playing guitar."

Jeff: "Really?"

Me: "Yeah. back when I was growing up they used to play Blow-Up on TV all of the time and, even though the movie scared the crap out of me, I would always watch it for that scene in the club where the Yardbirds played "Train Kept A Rollin'."

Jeff: "But all I do is break my guitar."

Me: "Yeah, but it's the way you break that guitar." (we both laugh)

Post-concert

Me: "That was really great."

Jeff: "Yeah. Thanks."

Me: "You know, I just wanted to mention that even though you were who inspired me to start playing guitar, I didn't dare try to learn how to play like you."

Jeff: (smiling broadly) "Yeah, well, what would have been the point, really."

Fuck yeah!! Jeff beck was exactly as I would have hoped he would be - charming, funny, willing to accept the compliment he's heard a million time before and, most importantly, slightly self-effacing. Good times.

Me and Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T09:30:00.002-05:00

I never met Michael Jackson but I did have a number of Michael Jackson experiences.

Michael Jackson is only 18 months older than me. When I was in grade school and the Jackson 5 had their first hit, "I Want You Back," guys like me were labelled jealous by all of the girls that swooned over pictures of him and his brothers. I was already a Stevie Wonder fan so it wasn't a stretch to like the Jackson 5 though I would never admit it to my classmates. And who could resist the Saturday morning cartoons? Not me. I even liked the ballads though I thought that "Ben" was just plain weird.

In college, Michael Jackson's Off the Wall was the record that broke the monotony of Pink Floyd's The Wall (hmm, coincidence?). Any party that was in the least bit subdued was sparked to life by "You Better Be Startin' Something."

I was already working in the music industry when Thriller came out. I was one the the millions watching the Motown 25 Special that night he busted out the moon walk. Everyone, and I mean everyone, was talking about it the next day. When he slid across the stage that night you knew that you were watching one of the most important TV moments in history. I remember sitting in the offices at Chrysalis Records reading the story of how he planned on spending a million dollars to make the video for "Thriller" and thinking that he was insane.

Back in Toronto, I saw the Victory tour at the CNE. Ask anyone who saw that show and they will tell you that it was one of the most incredible things you could imagine. Parliament/Funkadelic built the mothership but Michael and his brothers flew it that night! But no amount of pyrotechnics could over shadow the dancing. The evening was otherworldly.

The videos for "Bad" and "Dirty Diana" made Michael look cool.

I remember that ABC premiered the video for "Black or White" and Michael started looking freaky. It took a while to appreciate the song but it did eventually sink in. Most of what Michael recorded after "Black or White" was too sappy for me. I hated his duet with Janet on "Scream."

I always thought that Michael was a good looking guy and never understood why he started with the cosmetic surgery. His troubles with child molestation accusations and random bizarre acts always threatened to take the shine off of his star. feel sorry for him. Maybe because we're of the same generation. If only he had a chance to have a normal life, perhaps he'd be alive today. Perhaps he would have made many more interesting records.

I have nothing else to say.

Jeff Beck is the greatest rock guitarist of all-time

2009-04-07T15:31:00.003-05:00

Do not argue. Just let this blow your mind!

My First Rocket Launch

2009-03-23T09:10:00.003-05:00

When I was three, I remember my brother keeping a scrapbook of John Glenn's first orbits in space. For years afterwards I would crack open the yellowed pages of his black covered composition book into which newspaper clippings were heavily glued (he was only eleven at the time after all).

When I was seven I built a large model replica of the Saturn Five rocket all by myself. The model, when finished, was about three feet high and all of the stages separated and there was even a lunar module that folded up and tucked inside the final stage.

As a family we watched the space flights of Apollo 7, 8, 9, 10 and on that fateful day in July 1969, we sat transfixed in front of our black and white TV at the cottage, transfixed to the ghostly images coming from the moon as Neil Armstrong floated down the LEM's ladder.

As I got older, my fascination with space flight never abated. I read Mitchner's Space and Wolf's The Right Stuff. I joined NASA's junior space program that came with a library of books you could fill with stickers that were regularly sent to you. My favourite toy was astronaut Major Matt Mason. I wanted to be the first man on Mars.

I've been to he Kennedy Space Centre 3 times. 10 or 15 years ago I had the good fortune of meeting Buzz Aldrin (the second man on the moon) in the green room at the Dini Petty Show and ended up with an autographed photo.

The one thing I was missing though was watching a live rocket launch. That finally happened last week.

The family and I drove to Florida for a March break vacation. Because we couldn't get in to our rented condo until Monday, the plan was to drive to Titusville (outside the Kennedy Space Center) to arrive Sunday afternoon, tour the Kennedy Space Center on Monday and then drive in to Orlando to set up shop for the week. I knew that there was supposed to be a shuttle launch a few days earlier but I didn't know that it had been delayed because of a hydrogen leak. At dinner on Saturday night, Mason said that his grandfather told him that there was going to be a launch on Sunday. I was stunned. I grabbed the blackberry and googled Nasa and sure enough there it was...7:43pm on Sunday night - the launch of Discovery. The boys had never seen me so excited and I began to obsess for the next 20 some odd hours.

We checked into the Super 8 in Titusville around 4pm (we paid $55 for a room that was now going for $135) and the boys had a quick swim before we headed out to pick up a pizza and head down to the Indian River to get a prime spot from which to watch the launch.

Though we had to wait over two hours, it was well worth it. I don't know that pictures or video can do it justice but it was great to be able to scratch this off the bucket list. Now Mason says he wants to be the first man on Mars - could happen!

My first band

2009-03-05T15:07:00.004-05:00

I always considered myself musical. I took piano lessons when I was 8 (from the daughter of my mother's best friend who then sent me home with keys drawn on a piece of paper to practise on since we didn't actually own a piano). My mom likes to tell stories about how I banged on pots and pans in lieu of having toys. The first time I actually asked for anything extravagant it was for a banjo after having seen Flats and Scruggs on the Beverly Hillbillies. One day after school, on a whim, I bought a mandolin at a bookstore just because I figured I could figure it out. Now, I didn't say that I was any good at playing any of these but at least I showed some enthusiasm.

In the Spring of 1976 I was in the living room of my parents house listening to my favourite album, Cat Steven's Tea For The Tillerman. My brother played guitar and it just so happened that he had the songbook for the album and it just so happened that the songbook was in the living room. I opened it up and followed along with the songs. When I saw the illustrations of the chords printed above the staffs of music I had an epiphany - "I can do this." With a great deal of that previously mentioned enthusiasm, I leaped to my feet and rushed in to the den to get my brother's Ovation guitar. It is with some embarrassment I tell you that he was in the room with his girlfriend and I saw things that I probably should not have seen. But as a boy on a mission, I ignored the obvious and took the guitar without asking and headed back to the living room. Over the next few hours I was able to learn a couple of songs from Tea For The Tillerman as well as Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence." I was so excited about my new found prowess that within a week I had bought a knockoff Les Paul imitation electric guitar made by Mann.

Two weeks later I found myself in a friend's basement auditioning for his band, Phlox. Phlox means flame in Greek. This was the seventies so finding a name with a second meaning was very important. For instance, Rush could mean "hurry" or "unexpected thrill" while Rhinegold could mean...something or other. I don't really know what Rhinegold means it's just that's the ma,e of Larry Gowan's band from the seventies and they used to play the Piccadilly Tube all of the time. But I digress. Back to Phlox...

I wish I could remember the names of the guys in Phlox. But I do remember that Ansley Dunbar was the lead guitarist because Ansley was black and played an upside down white Stratocaster just like Jimi Hendrix. No, Ansley did not play like Hendrix. When I showed up at the audition I could play exactly five open chords (A, G, C, D and E). That got me through the first few songs but then when we got to "Pinball Wizard," I suddenly had to learn how to cope with barre chords. I didn't want to get kicked out of the band for being inept so I studied Ansley's hands intently and suffered cramps trying to keep up.

I went home and spent the next week practising those chords every waking moment and when I came back to the basement seven days later I was ready to move on. Sadly, though, the other guys were ready to move on as well and the band disbanded right there and then before the second rehearsal even began. That's rock and roll, I guess.

My Worst Day Ever - Motorhead

2009-03-02T15:07:00.002-05:00

Today I name names. i said that I wouldn't but enough people have heard this story that if I tried to fudge it most would figure it out. So, for those of you who haven't heard it, hear it goes...

In 1986 (was it really that long ago) I was working for Attic Records and we were about to put out the new Motorhead album, Orgasmatron. I was pretty stoked at the time because Motorhead had released one of rock's must-have albums, Ace Of Spades, as well as one of the great live albums of all-time, No Sleep Till Hammersmith. Getting to work with a rock legend like Lemmy was sure to be a career highlight. Oh, how right I was.

The band pulled in to Toronto as the opening act on the Alice Cooper tour. Though their availability was limited, I managed to arrange a pre-taped interview at Q107 and a live interview on MuchMusic's Power Hour. I drove up to Maple Leaf Gardens and parked in front of the band's tour bus. The tour manager was right on the ball and within fifteen minutes Lemmy and his mole were in my front seat of my Mazda 626 while Philty Phil lounged in the back.

As we drove up to the Q107 offices, Lemmy announced that he wanted liquor. I told him I'd get them some once the interview was done. They insisted that I get the Jack Daniels right there and then. I told them that we were running late and I was pretty sure they didn't allow liquor in the studio at Q. Lemmy didn't care. He swore that he wouldn't do the interview unless I got him his drink. I made a deal with them - "Let's go to Q and while you do the interview I'll get the Jack Daniels. as soon as you come out of the studio, it's yours." Either Lemmy or his mole galumphed which I took as "okay."

I returned to the studio only to discover that Lemmy and Phil sat in the studio the entire time I was gone, refusing to say a word until I got back with the bottle. Joey Vendetta was doing the interview and reluctantly gave each of the guys a taste. When we were done at Q we headed back to my car for the drive to the MuchMusic studios.

The whole way done University Avenue, Lemmy and Phil exchanged the bottle taking long swigs. When we got to Much we were told that they couldn't bring bottle in to the studio. I explained to the producer that they wouldn't talk without the drink and since they were scheduled to go out live as co-hosts it could cause a bit of a problem. The solution was pouring the booze in to two nondescript cups from which the guys would chug throughout the show.

If you saw the tape of their interview you'd be able to watch these two rock giants get blitzed over the course of the next hour. The highlight came at the end of the interview. We had a giant Orgasmatron poster that the band was to sign for a contest winner. The plan was to hold up the poster and have the guys encourage viewers to write in for the contest. They held up the poster alright but then they started to eat it. No, seriously. Both Lemmy and Phil started to rip chunks off the poster and stuff them down their mouths. The Power Hour ended, mercifully at 5:00pm and we drove back to Maple Leaf Gardens.

But, dear reader, the story has not yet ended...

After Motorhead's set I was to go back to the dressing room and have them sign the poster. I stood at the door and knocked and knocked and knocked. After 15 minutes, the road manager came out and said he'd take the poster in, get the guys to sign it and come right back out. 15 minutes later and nothing. 30 minutes later and still no poster. No one had come in or left the dressing room. Alice Cooper finished his 90 minute set and still nothing. Alice Cooper had taken off the make-up and still no poster.

Around 11:30pm the door finally opened and the road manager apologized that the poster still hadn't been signed. He invited me in to try and get it signed myself. When I entered the room I saw the poster on the ground covered in foot prints. I picked it up and in defiance I walked up to each bandmember asking them to sign. I went to Lemmy last and he refused. I was pissed off and couldn't leave the room without Lemmy's signature. That would have been like leaving the Beatles dressing room without Lennon's John Hancock. He tried to walk away but I followed him and reminded him that I got him his liquor when he neither allowed it or deserved it. He took my Sharpie without a word and grudgingly scratch his name in to the poster.

A year later I ran in to the road manager at Rock n Roll Heaven. he wasn't with Motorhead anymore. he apologized to me for the band's behaviour that day. It turns out that as they arrived in the bus Lemmy announced to the band that they would be treating the local promo rep (in this case me) like shit, just for the fun of it. Oh joy! Lucky me!

Even Worse (pt. 3) - Mouse or Rat, Steve Jones, the end

2009-02-17T14:31:00.003-05:00

When I joined Even Worse, Jack already had a few songs from the previous incarnations of the band and he played them on the piano to show me the chord changes. He played the classics like "Last Night's Blimpie" and "Mouse or Rat." I then turned around and taught Tim how to play them on bass and then showed Thurston the chords on guitar.

I don't remember the exact date that Even Worse went in to the studio to record the aforementioned "Mouse or Rat" but I do remember that we literally went underground that summer day to lay down the tracks and the studio was both claustrophobic and hot. Oh, yeah, I don't think that Thurston was actually there for the recording so I played both guitar parts. Jack was friends with a great graphics artist (Sumishta Braun) who designed the record sleeve.

The last gig I ever played with Even Worse was at Irving Plaza. We played with Adolescent Youth (with members of the Beastie Boys), Heart Attack and Kraut. Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols was doing some recording with Kraut at the time and he planned on joining them on stage that night. Early in the day, while we waited to soundcheck I had a little chat with Steve about his days in the Pistols. I was curious as to how a band that claimed to be poor could afford such grand equipment (top of the line guitars and amps) and clothes (leathers from head to toe). He quite matter-of -factly told me that they stole everything and then went in to some detail about breaking in to Keith Richards' house and coming out with his guitars (at least that's the way I remember the story - though it could have been a lie). Later that night Jones broke a string on his guitar and leaned in to the mic "Can Steve from Even Worse come to the stage, I need to borrow your guitar." I don't think so!

Earlier that night Jack and I got in to an argument about getting paid for the gig. He said that he needed to use the money from the show to pay for the pressings of the "Mouse or Rat" single. I told him that I needed the money to buy food. He gave me an ultimatum. Either I contributed my portion of the gig money or this was the last show I'd play with Even Worse.

My last show with Even Worse was a doozie. I remember Adolescent Youth playing a punk rock version of the "Can Can" for about 15 minutes with all of the young girls from the hardcore scene up on stage with them. I wore army pants tucked into Wellingtons that were turned over at the top. At one inglorious moment, one of the kids in the audience raised his Heineken to salute to me and then turned it upside down and jammed the bottle into my boot. It turns out he hadn't drunk a drop from the bottle. That was the most expensive soaker of my life.

Even Worse went on without me. This was Jack's band after all. I went to see them play a couple of times and it was fun to watch my friends rile up the crowd. Thurston and Kim were an amazing couple and I wished I had stayed friends with them over the years. I think that their success has been incredible. I stayed in touch with Kenny for a few years while he began his career and started his family. Tim and I caught up with one another about 13 years ago when, as an A&R exec at Atlantic Records, he signed Hootie & The Blowfish. And finally, there's Jack Rabid. I hadn't spoken to Jack in 25 years and then last year, on the off chance that the Big Takeover still existed I looked him up online. He was good enough to send me a copy of "Mouse or Rat" (which you can try to find online for $150, ha!) and he took the time to correct some details of my story (that remain clear as fuzz to this day).

What’s My Muthafuckin Name?…Santigold

2009-02-12T10:42:00.001-05:00

I thought that the music intelligencia would enjoy this press release we issued today:

Change the graffiti on the bathroom wall, get your tattoo fixed, get your t-shirt airbrushed and change the name on your year end list- Santogold is now Santigold. She’s not telling you why, that’s just how it is. No unpronounceable symbol, no numbers where they shouldn’t be, no random capitalization, just plain ass Santigold so remember that.

Downtown/Lizard King released Santigold’s self-titled breakthrough CD in April and it instantly became one of 2008’s most acclaimed albums garnering international raves. Critics and radio have championed the record’s standout tracks “L.E.S. Artistes”, “Creator” and her latest single “Shove It”.

http://www.myspace.com/santigold

Chris Brown vs Rhianna

2009-02-10T09:37:00.003-05:00

I watched the Grammy Awards for the first time in years a couple of nights ago and I planned on writing a post on all of the reasons I thought they were horrible. Yesterday morning, as I drove in to work I heard that Chris Brown may have gotten in to a fight with his girlfriend Rhianna prior to the show and their planned performance slot was filled in last minute by Justin Timberlake with Al Green. Late in the day yesterday I got a a phone call from a reporter from Macleans asking me to comment on the Chris Brown incident.

The call from Macleans was the second that I had received in as many work days. Someone called on Friday to ask me to contribute to an article suggesting to BNL's Steven Page how to repair his image. I refused that request outright but somehow felt that commenting on Chris Brown was either not my place or totally necessary. After some hemming and hawing I commented.

I start with the fact that I don't really know the facts. I don't read celebrity magazines or gossip columns in newspapers so I don't really find these kinds of stories terribly interesting. But, of course, presuming for a moment that they did get in to a physical fight, what bothers me is how this type of coverage titillates the public and leads to further coverage of downtrodden celebs.

My eldest step-son is a devotee to the show Celebrity Rehab. When we asked him why he watched the show he said because it was educational and shows you the effects of drugs and alcohol. That's a reasonable explanation for watching the first episode but not the rest of the season.

The problems that celebrities have are the same the rest of the world has but they have to live these problems out in public. What people forget is that celebs are people too. Or, maybe they don't forget that. Maybe they like to hold these people up and then revel in the fall from grace. Maybe seeing celeb's mugshots makes the general public feel better about themselves. They laugh, take about them at the water cooler and Google to their hearts content waiting for the next police report in the entertainment section.

The Macleans reporter asked me if I thought that Chris Brown could resuscitate his career after an incident like this. I qualified my answer by saying that, as far as I know, he hasn't yet been charged with anything. Then I told her that I honestly believe that at the end of the day musical artists are judged on the quality of their music not on how they live their lives, good or bad. If Chris Brown makes a great record it will sell and he will be popular. If he makes a bad record no one will care but they'll say Sunday night's incident had a negative impact on his career. If Michael Jackson makes a great album, you can't tell me that it wouldn't sell shit loads.

The reporter asked me for an example to illustrate my point. Though I knew it to be true I couldn't really think past Puff daddy and the gun charges. Maybe that wasn't the best example. And then it hit me. Though it's not music related it is an entertainment story that dominated the front pages and cooler talk for ages. basketball star Kobe Bryant is still the most popular player in the game despite the fact that he cheated on his wife and was accused of assault. But he continues to play the game at the highest levels and people admire him for that.

Celebrities are not looking to be held up as role models but they are. Yes, they have a certain responsibility to make sure that hey don't tarnish their reputations with ridiculous actions. But we all have the same responsibility. We just don't covered in the press.

Read Macleans article here: http://blog.macleans.ca/2009/02/10/how-do-you-spin-this/

Even Worse (pt. 2) - Rick Rubin, hardcore life and getting it straight

2009-02-05T14:56:00.003-05:00

There were only a few places to play in NYC during the hardcore punk era, but Even Worse played most of them. And when we went on "tour" it was to New Jersey. The first gig off of Manhattan that I remember playing was at Maxwell's in Hoboken.

The thing I remember most about that night was that it was the show in which we debuted the song "1984". I have no idea how I came up with the riff for the song but it remains one of the best (and certainly one of the most complete) songs I ever wrote. The lyrics were a take on the book which I had just finished reading (in 1982) for the second time. Lots of Big Brother talk and there was a break down in the middle that Kenny, our singer, could improvise. This was always my favourite part because Kenny would come up with some crazy stuff, usually from whatever the headlines in the Post were that day.

The song was kind of slow and plodding and the "crowd" (maybe a hundred people) started skanking around in a giant circle in the middle of the dance floor. After watching so many shows with mosh pits filled with flailing arms and legs, it was pretty cool to see the chaos become somewhat organized with a song they had never heard before.

Another "memorable" (more on why I have quotes there later) gig was also one of the most infamous. We had a show booked at a giant hall in Garden City, New Jersey. We were the first of three bands on the bill. The headliners were Millions of Dead Cops (MDC) and Hose, Rick Rubin's (yes, that Rick Rubin) band - sort of a kind of Flipper tribute band.

Rick lived in the same NYU dorm as Tim, Kenny and I. All of this stuff was before he started Def Jam with Russell Simmons. We all sort of moved in the same circles at the time (Rick Moreno, the front desk clerk at the dorm went on to direct a number of Beastie Boys videos including "Fight For Your Right To Party" - he plays the landlord in the bathrobe) and Rick asked me to join Hose. Now, it wasn't that I was so loyal to Even Worse but I really thought that Hose sucked and I couldn't see myself playing that kind of music. Rick was cool and totally understood. We stayed on friendly terms for years and would catch up every once and a while at a Warner sales convention or when I'd fly to LA for business.

Back to Garden City. We were running late and our car got stopped for speeding. We should have turned around right there, but we didn't. When we got to the hall, we set up the gear and took the stage to a sparse crowd of about 50. A couple of songs in to our set a girl hopped up and sat on the edge of the stage. Moments later she lit up a cigarette. There was a faction in the punk scene at the time called 'straight-edge" that didn't condone drinking, smoking or drugs. We didn't call ourselves "straight-edge" but we also didn't condone any of the aforementioned vices. We happen to be playing our yet to be released single "Mouse or Rat" and at the end of the song, Kenny went to kick the cigarette out of the girl's mouth. He missed the cigarette and clocked her right in the face.

Though he apologized immediately (by telling her she shouldn't smoke:) the damage was already done. It turns out that she was the Queen of the Jersey City punks and the crowd reaped its revenge by pulling Kenny off stage during the middle section of "1984" and kicking the crap out of him. It should be noted that neither Tim, Jack or myself came to Kenny's rescue (Thurston didn't play this gig with us) but we did play on. Kenny rolled himself back on to the stage and sang the rest of the set sitting on a milk crate behind Jack's drumkit.

Now, you'd think that that was enough but it wasn't. After our set (which we recorded) we were in the parking lot outside during Hole's set when the hall doors burst open and the crowd came running out. Somehow the sprinkler system had gone off soaking everyone inside.

Now about those quotes around the word "memorable". This story is how I remeber it but last year I got in tuoch with Jack Rabid and in an exchange of e-mails he corrected a few details:

"...that other show you mention was at a place called "city gardens" in trenton, whereas the traffic ticket we got was for speeding in connecticut on the way to a show in bridgeport's pogo's or some club in east haven, i can't remember which (we only played the latter once, with vatican commandos, now known as moby's former band if i have that right, and lost generation--or was it reflex from pain? they all started to sound alike apart from c.i.a. who were fantastic).

there's a paragraph about even worse in the book "american hardcore," but it's got about 12 factual errors including many missing members, misspelling the names of the members actually noted, and for some reason also includes my real first name which they got wrong as well! (it's paul; they had me as pete). a new edition is coming out and i sent a slew of corrections. i am not confident they will get it right or much care. but we will see."

Cheap Trick

2009-02-03T15:38:00.003-05:00

I just accepted an invitation to join the Cheap Trick group. I'll never forget the first time I ever heard Cheap Trick. I went home that night feeling like I was a member of a secret society.

In the summer of 1976 I answered an ad in the Toronto Star in which a exotic Japanese electric guitar was up for sale. It turned out that the seller lived a few blocks from our apartment so I went over to take a look. After ringing the bell, the door opened to the world of Jim Parrott and Dee Dack. Jim and Dee were a husband and wife who's lives were dedicated to rock 'n' roll. For years they had published an underground fanzine called Denim Delinquent and had first hand stories of Iggy Pop and Ray Davies.

The guitar was red, ugly and a horror to play but I quickly became friends with Jim and Dee who used their extensive record collection to give me my earliest music education. They introduced me to the Stooges, MC5, Amboy Dukes, Dictators, Blue Oyster Cult and a million other garage bands from the late sixties. In addition to Denim Delinquent they also wrote for Backstage Pass, a magazine published by CPI for its preferred Cheap Thrills ticket holders and handed out at concerts.

On a particular evening that summer they asked me to babysit their son Eric while they went to an album launch. It was an uneventful night with Eric who watched TV with me until he fell asleep. Jim and Dee came home around 11 o'clock and he had a white 12" album cover under his arm. I had never seen an album advance before and I was curious as to what this new band sounded like.

I remember that the advance folded open and the four band members popped up from the gatefold. From the moment the needle hit the record and the first chords of "ELO Kiddies" came out of the speaker I was hooked. At school the next day I told anyone who's listen about this band Cheap Trick. Once pictures started to show up in magazines I put together homemade buttons that marked me as Toronto's first Cheap Trick uber-fan.

A couple of months later, Cheap Trick was on tour with KISS and playing in Southern Ontario. I went to the concert in Kitchener with Jim and Dee who were scheduled to interview Cheap Trick (they already knew Gene Simmons who was a fan of Denim Delinquent). It was the first interview I ever saw with a band. At the end I asked Rick Neilsen if he had any tips for a new guitarist. His suggestion was that I pay attention to how sloppy he was - and play very loud. When I watched him that night, I saw exactly what he meant.

Right before In Color came out, Cheap Trick played two nights at the El Mocambo. CHUM FM broadcast one of their six sets. I went to both nights and I don't think they repeated more than two or three songs at those shows. Rick Neilsen ended the first night by jamming his Explorer shaped Hamer guitar in to the ceiling.

When their Budokon album became a huge hit I was, of course, repulsed by the screaming little girls. For my money, Cheap Trick was a hard rock band with witty songs and great melodies - not a pop band! But I am nothing if not loyal and I kept going to see Cheap Trick concerts and buying their albums (even though I realized that Dream police was only half good). I didn't really turn my back on them until "The Flame" but then I turned my back on Aerosmith too when they started playing girl ballads.

Years later, Cheap Trick put out the album Monsters Under the Bed on Warner and I got to work with the band and I related the above story to them. Rick claims to remember Jim and Dee though he didn't remember my question about playing guitar.

Anyway, that's why I joined the Cheap Trick group on Facebook.

Even Worse (pt. 1) - Thurston Moore

2009-01-29T12:43:00.002-05:00

Once upon a time in a band far, far away I played guitar in a little punk rock combo called Even Worse. The singer's name was Kenny Tantrum. The bassist was my college roomate Tim Sommers who went on to work on MTV News, play in Hugo Largo and sign Hootie & The Blowfish to Atlantic Records. The drummer was Jack Rabid, who remains true to his punk roots to this day publishing his long running punkzine The Big Takeover. The other guitarist was a fairly tall fellow named Thurston Moore. You might recognize Thurston as the guitarist songwriter for the extremely popular and influential band Sonic Youth. Our version of Even Worse made one single, "Mouse Or Rat," that you can occasionally find on eBay for about $100US. I'm pretty sure that copies cost that much because it is a limited edition single of a band that Thurston once played in. Truth be told, he's not actually on the record.

If you're paying attention you might have noticed that I refereed to "our version of Even Worse." You see this was actually Mach 3 of a band started by Jack Rabid. They got their name the night of their first gig. They opened for a band called The Worse. You figure it out from there. In the summer of 1982 Even Worse Mach 2 had fallen apart and Jack asked Tim to help him keep the band together. Tim had a popular hard core punk radio show on WNYU at the time called "Oi! The Show". What Tim didn't have though was any musical expertise so I offered to teach him how to play bass. From there it only made sense to sign up as the band's new guitarist. Kenny lived in the same dorm as us so he was asked to come try out as the singer.

When we all arrived for our first rehearsal, Thurston was there too - invited by Jack to round out the line-up (this was before he was Thurston of Sonic Youth - though he had already started Sonic Youth (more on that in a bit) - this was when he was Thurston, formally of the Glenn Branca Guitar Orchestra). Jack got us started by teaching us some Even Worse songs and then we played a few covers (including Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" which was a big song at the time). What was most curious to me at the time was that Thurston's guitar need to be re-tuned after every song and I had to walk over and do the tuning. The reason for his faulty tuning became clear to me a couple of weeks later when he invited us down to the Mud Club to see Sonic Youth play one of their earliest gigs. I was aghast to discover that his guitar playing consisted of jamming a screwdriver in to the strings and banging them with a drum stick. I figured that his tuning problems were the cost of originality.

A few weeks later Even Worse returned to the Mud Club to play our own gig. Halfway through our show Thurston and I were having some fun imitating some of KISS' choreographed moves, swinging our guitars up and down when the stock of his guitar came down "CRACK" on the skull of a skinhead whose smile grew bigger the more blood he sensed falling from the wound. After the show Thurston tried to apologize to the guy who waved him off. If he remembers that night he's got a great story to share with his grand kids. "See this scar? Thurston Moore did this to me before he was ever famous!"

The Musical Brain

2009-01-09T14:50:00.000-05:00

“The Musical Brain” airs on January 31st at 7pm ET on CTV.The documentary is based on the studies of Professor Daniel Levitin, who wrote the best seller This is Your Brain on Music.The show features three artists in different genres, Michael Buble, Wyclef Jean, and Feist. The context focuses on what is happening within the brain when an artist works out different ways of making music. Sting is the “guinea pig” for this show, working one on one with the scientist, having an MRI etc.

Totally Not Cool

2008-10-15T15:40:00.002-05:00

After I published my last post about meeting Walt Frazier, I got to thinking about how uncool I have acted when I've met some of my "heros" over the years.

My friends and I waited over an hour at the rear entrance to Maple Leaf Gardens for jeff beck to emerge after his Wired concert in '77. We then chased his limo for 15 minutes while it circled the neighbourhood traying to loose us (finally stopping only a block away from the Gardens at the original Four seasons Hotel). Once he stepped out of the car he autographed my ticket stub. As I sat on the subway going home, I stared at the ticket and realized I had nothing to say to him.

I met Muhammad Ali at the corner of 53rd and madison, my last week of living in New York. I crossed the street, and stuck out my hand and said "Champ, you're the greatest." He thanked me and shook my hand with his giant maw. When he walked away I had a story to tell people who only smiled kindly and acted like they cared.

A few years ago I met Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page in short succession. I figured that as a guitarist I'd have something profound to say or ask. Wrong.

Same thing with Stevei Ray Vaughan. I met him in the elevator at the Mayflower Hotel in New York shortly before he became a superstar. Everyone was already talking about him though because of his guitar playing on Bowie Let's Dance album. I'll spare you the boring details one our one way conversation. Needless to say, I'm sure I didn't make an impact.

Nor did I make an impact on Zenon Andrusyshyn. The Argo kicker mocked me and my chubbiness as I chawed on an ice cream bar and vowed to be a better football player then he ever was.

Glamour, glamour, glamour. That's all my life has been.

I Met Walt Frazier

2008-10-10T10:14:00.002-05:00

Forget all the rock stars! This is Walt-Freakin-Frazier! I was at the Park Hyatt to pick up Miss Thang and there he was - resplendant in a bight blue suit with a pink cotton shirt festooned with pink satin flames. Clyde still dresses super fly!

You see, Walt's the reason I'm a basketball nut. When I was a kid I watched him lead the Knicks to a waold championship. The games were on tape delay in Toronto and my folks let me stay up late to watch the post-11:30pm broadcasts. I drove my mom crazy, anxiously bouncing my basketball against the wall making little black marks that I spent most of the next morning cleaning. When I played hoops, I was always Walt Frazier dishing off a hot pass or driving (my version of driving) down the lane.

I took this once in a lifetime opportunity to tell Walt the story. He thanked me with a big smile on his face and then folded himself into a cab to head of to the ACC for his gig as a color analyst with the Knicks. Walt Freaking Frazier. Sweet!

More AC/DC

2008-10-03T12:20:00.002-05:00

There's a new album coming out in a couple of weeks, Black Ice. There has been a lot of anticipation among those of us who have longed for their return to form. Advance word was overwhelming that this new record was going to be a nugget.

Well, with the arrival of the first single, Rock N Roll train, came disappointment. This is B level AC/DC at best. XM radio channel 53 is programming all AC/DC all of the time and it not only revs up the engines for one of the world's greatest rock bands but it also shines the klieg lights on some of their duller moments. Certainly RNR Train cannot stand up to anything previous to For Those about To Rock. And then yesterday I heard, for the first time, War Machine and it was aweful. A second listen a few hours later confirmed the worst. And yet, as a diehard fan I STILL hold out hope against hope that the new album will rock.

My favourite AC/DC album remains Powerage. maybe it's because it was the first AC/DC album I ever bought (certainly not the first I ever heard) or maybe it's because of all of the records the band ever recorded, it sounds to me like their most diverse without sacrificing the quality of the material.

Bob Lefsetz pointed out that the band hasn't had a consistent album since the death of Bon Scott - with rumours of Scott's involvement with Back In Black before his death. Sadly, that seems to be the case. Half of For Those about to Rock is great and after that every album has had one, maybe two, shining lights.

AC/DC's coming back on tour and I'll be there. I hope that Black Ice is better than the first two songs suggest.

I Ain't Like It Used To Be

2008-01-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

There are two phenomenon that cause me great consternation. On the surface they seem to be polar opposites to one another but is reality they are intertwined.

On the one hand we have those music fans that are constantly bemoaning that music just isn't as good as it used to be and that records definitely sounded better in the analog days long before digital.

On the other hand we have those grizzled veterans who swear up and down that music is still a vital and exciting part of their life and they discover at least 2 or 3 records a year that come close to changing their lives every bit as much as the first time they heard the Beatles' Revolver.

Are either of these people telling the truth? I don't think they are and i think both are.

You see, when you're growing up and you're starting your life as a music fan, everything is fresh and new and exciting. Every new record is a profound discovery that seeps in to your soul and enters your bloodstream. In retrospect, how can anything you hear in subsequent eras of your life compare to those first few years of discovery?

On the other hand, there are kids today discovering new music for themselves and they are having the same experience as we had oh so many years ago. In a couple of years, they will discover the music that we loved and they will embrace it but it still won't be the same as the records that were recorded for them today by their generation of musicians.

No point...just saying.

What ever happened to...

2008-01-23T15:42:00.000-05:00

The title could apply to any number of artists but in the case of this post I am talking about Wide Mouth Mason and The Soundtrack of Our Lives. before you begin typing away about how both bands still exist and have released new music (I know, I know), please hear me out...

In the mid-90's Wide Mouth Mason literally burst out of nowhere - if you consider Saskatoon nowhere. Freshly signed to a major label they toured across Canada as an unknown opening act for Big Sugar. Each night, by the end of their set - after a rousing version of Stevie Wonder's "Satisfaction" and guitarist Shaun Verrault's orthodontic pyrotechnics - the crowd was converted. When their debut came out it was no surprise that it was certified gold in Canada and their touring base was solid. Three guys, one stage, incredible show, awe inspiring sound. I watched them do the same throughout the mid-west of the U.S. In Kentucky, while opening for Kenny Wayne Shepard, I watched as the guys got a standing ovation just for walking through the club after their blistering set.

Wide Mouth Mason were a blues-based band. As a classic three piece it made sense. After the first flush of success they settled in for their second album and decided they wanted to reach a pop audience. Their album sales declined. And on the third album as they continued down that path their sales continued to dwindle. You can blame it on many things and there's no definite answer but if a band does something well, why not stick to it, perfect it and let your audience celebrate it. Wide Mouth mason never lost their live edge but their performances suffered from weaker material.

As for The Soundtrack of our Lives...their performance 5 years ago at the Opera House in Toronto was a rock and roll epiphany for me. Their command of the stage and dynamic performance revived my faith in rock and roll and kicked my ass into the new millennium. The album Behind The Music was classic mixing The Who, Stones and Pink Floyd into a beautiful stew. the single "Sister Surround" got a ton of airplay and the video was in regular rotation everywhere. Their lead singer wasn't your everyday pretty boy but audiences couldn't take their eyes off of him. The band was poised to be the next big thing. And then they recorded their new album and the music wasn't as vital. Critics panned the record and music fans voted with their wallets. The Soundtrack of Our Lives disappeared off the North American landscape as quickly as they had appeared.

It's a shame that Wide Mouth Mason and Soundtrack of Our Lives aren't forces anymore. Their live shows were what put "incendiary" in to rock and roll.

Bob Egan

2007-12-19T13:59:00.000-05:00

One of my favourite Canadian musicians isn't Canadian at all. I met Bob Egan when he was a member of Wilco during the Being There years. He lives in Kitchener now and plays with Blue Rodeo. Here is the beginning of Bob's bio:

It officially started backstage at the Irving Plaza in New York City when Johnny Cash shook my hand and asked if I was the new steel guitar player in Wilco. "Well, I'm not sure Mr. Cash. I've never played full-time in a band and I have this business back in Chicago. I mean they asked me to join but that's a pretty big step, it is a tough business."

He nodded and looked me in the eye, "It can be a hard road but if your heart's in it, it can be a good life."

An hour later as I watched Johnny from side stage I had tears in my eyes from the power of his music. Jeff Tweedy turned to me and said "Are you gonna join this fuckin' band now?"

A month later I sold my business and got on a tour bus for a 2-year ride. That was a decade ago.

Led Zeppelin Kasmir London 02 Arena

2007-12-13T10:16:00.000-05:00

Led Zeppelin at London's O2 Arena

2007-12-13T10:04:00.000-05:00

The hoi paloi were out that night. For the record, I am not a part of the hoi paloi. A colleague of mine watched the concert from the Ertegun box and had this story to tell me.

Mick jagger and his girlfriend were also in the ox that night. Like most of the crown, jagger spent a majority of the concert on his feet dancing the night away. Near the end of the concert, Jagger's assistant suggested that he should leave early to miss the crowds coming out of the arena. he agreed and said his good-byes to everyone he knew in the box. he gathered his coat and headed out the door.

But before the door closed Zeppelin went into "Kashmir" and the door burst open again. Jagger ran back in, threw down his jacket and reclaimed his position in the box to dance to one more tune. I understand it was a terrific night for everyone.

From Magnificent to Maligned to Nostolgia

2007-11-27T15:56:00.000-05:00

My buddy got the recently released Brit Box set from Rhino which, all at once, aged him. "How did the music of my youth suddenly become nostalgia," he asked. he then went on to point out that of the three discs one was jammed full of hits, one had some hits and the third was all filler. Of course filler is only one opinion. When Rhino works on these boxes they are trying to piece together a quintessential snapshot of an era. one man's filler is another man's goldmine.

One could argue (and win the argument) that any three set box intended to encapsulate an era would do the same. My era would be mid-seventies hard rock. But after some Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Kiss, Queen and Thin Lizzy, what's next? I love Judas Priest but someone else might want to hear Black Oak Arkansas. As a fan of seventies rock I had to endure the years that everyone laughed in my face and called it the lost decade of rock and roll. I stayed true to my record collection and a few years ago the seventies finally started to get the recognition it truly deserved.

The same can be said of the new wave which seemed so saccharine and plastic not too many years ago has suddenly come back into vogue and sacchariney and plastically.

The nineties are due for a comeback too. For as popular as Nirvana remains, the countless soundalikes are sure to be recognized as the collective saviours of rock and roll and herald the decade as a sort of renaissance.

Norman Mailer

2007-11-20T12:45:00.000-05:00

I lived in Brooklyn Heights years ago. Norman Mailer lived there too and I would often see him out for a walk on Clark St., shopping at Barnes and Noble or leaning over the railing on the Promandae looking at Manhatten (pre 9/11).

I didn't read much mailer, but what I did (Executioner's Song, The Fight) blew my mind. I loved listening to him talk in interviews and always appreciated that he had built a tough guy persona for himself.

One of the romantic notions I always talked about while living in new york City was the fact that I was walking the same streets, past the same brownstones as some of the most important writers in history. Norman mailer could be the last literary hero of our times with no one really waiting in the wings.

All those time I saw him I never spoke to Norman Mailer.

www.slacker.com

2007-11-13T12:51:00.000-05:00

This is not a commercial, just an unsolicited recommendation. I was reading Rolling stone the other day and came across an add for http://www.slacker.com/, a website that allows you to build your own customized radio station. I've been listening to it for close to a week now and am thrilled with the service.

You can choose from a number of pre-programmed "stations" or you can choose your favourite band and the site will create a playlist featuring your favourite band and other bands either similar to in genre, influenced by or who were influences. I know that there have been other similar services but my experience is that you have to sign up and then the service times out it's free play. This seems to be unlimited. There are other options including record reviews, t-shirts and a portable player.

I spent the the first few days listening to my Yardbirds channel and am now listening to my Aerosmith channel. Ted Nugent's "Free For All" came on and sent me on an Internet search for that wholly excellent, long lost and under appreciated album.

Enjoy.

Chris Stills - when good artists go missing

2007-11-08T14:02:00.000-05:00

A long long time ago when I started working in the music business, a friend of mine said that her distrust of major labels came from the fact that she felt that we only made hits out of the records we liked. I assured her that that wasn't true. If it was that easy, it would be in our best interest to make EVERY record a hit!

I'm sitting at my desk listening to 100 Year Thing, the debut album from Chris Stills, the son of Stephen Stills. This record is completely awesome. There is so much of it that reminds you of classic CSNY in the vocals and melodies but, although the songs are mainly based on acoustic guitar, this record totally rocks! I am loathe to choose highlights since every single song is worthy of the highest praise. I wish I was hyping you on a record that was coming out in January 2008 but, unfortunately, this is a record that was released in January 1998 and disappeared almost as quickly as it hit the record shelves.

It's ten years later and I still can't tell you what happened. The music truly is spectacular but there was no radio that would play it at the time. His story was great (son of Stills and French singer Veronique Sanson) but no media was really interested in covering it. We saw him play once and he was terrific but there was no tour.

There are so many factors that contribute to the current state of the music business and no one is counting the mystery of the disappearance of artists like Chris as one of those factors. By the way his second album came out in 2005. I never heard it but I will say this, if you go to his myspace site, the music you hear there can't touch what I'm listening to on 100 Year Thing.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

2007-11-05T10:36:00.000-05:00

I went to Best Buy last week and bought the new DVD Runnin Down The Drain. The package starts with a most excellent 4 hour documentary on the band by director Peter Bogdonovich. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to the film. It seems that Tom Petty had a camera on him from the time he was three. There's great 8mm footage of Mudcrutch playing early versions of future hits like "Breakdown." earlier this summer I put the first Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in my car's CD player. It's incredible how many of those songs have become staples and even more incredible how contemporary the album still sounds. It's a testament to the timelessness of Petty's songwriting.

I remember that day (though I don't remember exactly) when me and my friends were hanging out over at our friend Misty's house. Each of us always prided ourselves on introducing each other to new music. That day, Misty pulled out the first Tom Petty album. It was in the midst of the whole punk revolution and the picture of Tom in a leather jacket led one to believe that this was going to be a Johnny Thunders type record. The song Misty played us as an introduction was "American Girl." To steal a phrase, I was gob-smacked! I could believe how cool he sounded and I loved the speed of the track. I must have made her play the song four times before letting her play us anything else off the record. Afterwards I headed over to Sam The Record Man to buy the album for myself.

From that moment on I was a Tom Petty devotee. I would buy all of his records the day they hit the stores. The first time I say them play was at the Palladium in New York City where I was going to university. It must have been around the time of Damn the Torpedoes. The Joe Perry Project opened the show. To the best of my recollection, it was one of the finest live rock shows I had seen in my life up until that point. Petty was in great voice and the band was as tight as any I had ever seen.

What I didn't know that night (and couldn't have possibly known at the time) was that this would be one of the few times I'd get to see Tom Petty live. I don't remember if he played NYC again during my time there (1979 - 1984). He probably did but I didn't get to go to many shows after 1982. After I moved back to Toronto Petty concerts were fewer and farther between. The next time I saw him was 2000 or 2001 around the time of "Last Dance For Mary Jane" when he played the Molson Amphitheatre. Again he delivered one of the great performances. Earlier this year I took Melanie to see the band play at the Molson Amphitheatre. Going in to the show she thought she didn't know that many Tom Petty songs. Coming out she was a fan, realizing that she knew many more of his songs than she thought.

When people talk about the great rock and roll bands of the U.S., Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers are almost an after thought which is weird considering they're still making music and selling out stadiums thirty years later. If you sit down with Runnin Down The Drain though, the argument is over. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers belong right beside The Doors, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, the Band and any other great "The" band that you could possibly think of.

Steve Stevens

2007-10-23T14:38:00.000-05:00

As I drove into work this morning I heard Billy Idol's "Eyes Without A Face" and I thought of Steve Stevens.

I had the unique opportunity to work for Billy Idol's manager during the time he recorded Rebel Yell. During that time I was privy to the creative process enjoying the creation of most of the album's songs as they came to life. As a matter of course I had regular conversations with his guitarist Steve Stevens.

At the time, Steve was gaining a reputation as one of the finest guitarist working in rock music. I can attest to the fact that he took his craft extremely seriously. he was living at his parents house at the time and whenever I would call him to dish out the latest information I would invariably catch him in the middle of practising or fiddling with his effects rack to make sure that he could create sounds that no one else could copy (see machine gun sound in the solo on "Rebel Yell").

I spent allot of time in the studio while the album was being recorded. One of the most memorable days came during the recording of Steve's solo for "Crank Call." Steve was alone in the studio with his guitar and the rest of us were sitting in the control room. Producer Keith Forsey cued up the song to where the solo was to begin and, when Steve said he was ready, pushed record. Steve Stevens then laid down, in one take, what is, to this day, the greatest guitar solo I have ever heard in person! I wish I could describe what was going through my mind at the time. In one burst he through out an improvised assault that was stunning, melodic, virtuosic, fast and precise. As a guitarist all I could think was that this was something I would never even have imagined aspiring to.

When Steve was finished, Keith pressed stop and the room fell silent. I couldn't wait to hear what everyone had to say. At that moment Billy got up from his seat and leaned into the control room microphone and pressed the talk back button.

"Hey Steve," he said. "That was great. Now, could you play the same thing but with allot fewer notes?"

I was stunned. Could what I had just heard be true. He wanted that solo trashed? After a few minutes to pull himself together, Steve gave Billy exactly what he wanted and then said he wanted to go out for some fresh air. He asked me to join him for some pizza. When we got out onto 8th Street the sun hit us like a flood light. We headed over to Ray's for a couple of extra cheesy slices. Neither of us could believe that his original take wasn't going to be the solo heard on the album. At least, I assured him, he could play the solo live whenever he wanted to. He was too low though. he said that the solo had been divine inspiration and he didn't know if he could remember what he had played. Indeed, in the ensuing months, when the Rebel yell tour began to roll out across America, Steve played the solo for "Crank Call" note for note with what had been committed to the final version of the album.

Eric Clapton

2007-10-22T11:05:00.000-05:00

I've been reading Eric Clapton's newly released autobiography. When everyone talks about bands from the sixties they take sides - Beatles or Stone. I take neither. My favourite was always the Yardbirds. What's really cool about the book for me is reading the relatively humble beginnings of the band and the English music scene on a whole.

When we started bands (in the mid-seventies) we had to plug all of the guitars and the vocal mic into one amp. Clapton and his cronies started out the same way. he learned to play guitar by painstakingly listening to his favourite records and copying them note for note, practising until he got it a close to perfect as possible. That's the way we learned to play guitar too. I would play along to KISS, Aerosmith and Ted Nugent until I could hit every note and then would practise throughout the night with headphones on so that my parents wouldn't know that I was still awake.

The Yardbirds gave birth to Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Why did they make it and not us? TALENT!

Radiohead

2007-10-02T14:56:00.001-05:00

(It's been forever since I updated this post and I've probably lost most if not both of its regular readers. With this I hope to return to writing a regular post and regain my loyal readership)

Out of the blue, it was announced this week that Radiohead will be letting fans choose the price they want to pay for their new album. If you want the album for free, it's free. If you think it's worth 20 bucks then pay 20 bucks. The industry has been talking about this like it's the start of a revolution.

Former Warner recording artist Jane Siberry has been using this model for years. Her music has been sold exclusively on her website for years. She has a suggested price for people to pay but welcomes whatever they are willing to pony up. Peculiarly, she says that most people are willing to pay more than the suggest price.

A revolution has begun. Just a lot sooner than you think.

Born Ready

2007-05-24T11:57:00.000-05:00

I took my guitar with me to New York.

I moved there in September of '79 to go to NYU. I lived in the dorm in Greenwich Village. We were surrounded by art. I played my guitar on the front steps of the dorm. When I was brave enough, I took my electric out to Washington Square Park and plugged it into a Mouse amp and played Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Kiss and Adam & The Ant songs.

One afternoon in the Spring of '80 I was walking through the lobby of the dorm when I was approached by a guy who asked if I had been playing in the park the previous day.

"Yes," I answered with caution.

"We've got a band that's looking for a rhythm guitarist," he said and then invited me to an audition the next day. Intrigued by the suggestion, I accepted and took down the address to their rehearsal space.

When I showed up they were auditioning some guy that looked like a Deadhead. He played a hollow body electric and didn't fit in with the other guys at all. The song they played was sort of lame. Kind of a half-assed attempt to meld pop and rock. My enthusiasm began to wane.

When they bid the first guitarist a fond adieu, they asked me to hold on while they warm up. It seems the other guy showed up a little early and they hadn't had a chance to stretch out first. I sat back and watched while the REAL band showed themselves. I was stunned. The song they started playing was remarkable. It had a great riff and a memorably chorus. By the time they hit the bridge, I had my guitar out and began mimicking the chord changes. On top of that, Nat, the singer had tons of charisma and Jagger lips to boot.

They played one more smoking rocker and then called me up to plug in. Joe, the lead guitarist was about to teach me the chord changes for the song the original auditioner had played. I stopped him and said that i didn't like that song very much but would love to play the first song they had played on their own. The guys all looked at each other and shrugged and said "Okay." before Joe could show me the changes I shooed him off saying that I had it down already.

The band started playing the tune and I joined in immediately. I watched the bass player to make sure that I had the chord changes right. I got through the song the first time kind of tentatively and we all agreed to play it again. The second time through we flew. It was great. We were all so excited. At the end we looked at each other and laughed. Nat took off his hoody and had an Ace Frehley t-shirt on underneath. I knew I was in the right place.

We jammed for several more hours Joe teaching me some of their songs and then playing Kiss, Aerosmith and Rolling Stone songs. We were a band. They told me that the band was called Born Ready and they already had a record deal waiting in the wings. They were being courted by Carriere Records, a French subsidiary of Atlantic Records. Now that the line-up was complete, the band needed to head into the studio to record an honest to goodness demo.

More on Born Ready to come....

The Rolling Stone Interview

2007-05-03T13:11:00.000-05:00

Rolling Stone magazine is 40 years old and is celebrating this week with interviews with a number of luminaries. I would like to take the liberty here to publish my own interview here.

RS: What do you remember about 1967?

ME: My clearest memory is of Expo '67 in Montreal. We didn't go but it was Canada's Centennial Year and I remember the commemorative money. I still have a couple of 1967 dollar bills and dimes.

RS: Did the music of the 60's have a effect on you?

ME: Oh sure. I can still picture my older brother and sister dancing around the living room the first time The Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan Show. A few years later, I became a big fan of The Monkees. I didn't listen to a lot of rock and roll back then but I was aware of it and my brother brought Rolling Stone into the house.

RS: Are there any early covers that stick in your head?

ME: You know it's hard to separate reality from historical perspective. So many of the famous covers like Lennon in the army helmet, Joplin, Hendrix and that Meryl Streep shot have become so familiar but I can't remember if they were actually in the house. But I do remember the newsprint and folded format of the magazine. I was one of those people that thought the magazine was named after the band.

RS: When did Rolling Stone start to matter to you?

ME: In got into rock and roll in the mid-seventies and started reading all of the popular magazines of the time including Hit Parader, Creem, Circus and Rock Scene. I always felt that Rolling Stone had the most insightful articles and I poured over every word in every article about music. I learned so much more about the history of music that way.

By the late seventies I had started reading more of the political commentary and formed my opinions from the views of Hunter S Thompson and P.J. O'Rourke. It doesn't mean I always agreed with them but they did get me thinking.

My Best KISS Story

2007-04-25T14:41:00.000-05:00

When I worked for Aucoin Management, one of my regular responsibilities was to file or pick up financials in the company's warehouse in a non-descript building on the West side of Manhattan. The warehouse was also used for storage for the equipment of all of Aucoin's bands. Among the boxes of documents and cases of guitars were back lit logos that hung above the drummer of any one of a number of bands that Bill Aucoin had managed over the years (including my very fave - Starz). The way it worked was I'd show up, sign in and get handed a box of keys that opened the various locks to each of Aucoin's rented rooms. When I was done, I handed back the box and signed out.

Although Aucoin no longer worked with KISS, the band still used the very same warehouse to store there instruments and costumes from over the years. As it happens, the keys to the KISS room were still in the Aucoin box. I avoided going in there for months but one day, curiosity got the better of me. I pulled the one key I had never touched before out of the box. I slipped it into the lock and turned it over. The locked snapped open and I opened the door.

This was a dream come true. Do you remember the seventies? back then we all had giant posters on our walls of our favourite bands. Spread out in front of me were all of the bits of stage gear and guitars that were featured in the KISS posters adorning my walls. There were boots and capes and boas and guitars and a mirror. A mirror! In a warehouse! This was a sign.

I first moved to my left to slip on those famous Demon boots from the cover of Destroyer. I zipped them up and found myself floating a good six inches off the floor. Next, I grabbed Ace's cape used on the Dynasty tour and flung that over my back. Do you remember those pictures inside of KISS Alive of Paul Stanley with feather armbands? Well I slipped one on each arm and then reached for a shattered mirrored Gibson marauder guitar which I slung over my neck. I lurched over to the mirror and caught my first glimpse. No matter how hard you might be laughing right now, I was laughing twice as hard. I don't know if it looked ridiculous or if I was just giddy but I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I began to play "Rock N Roll All Nite" and then moved into "Black Diamond" and "Strutter."

I wore the get up for 15 minutes and then thought I should get it off before security walked in and kicked me out of the building for good. After I locked the door, I got the paper work I had originally come there for. I kept the story a secret for about 5 years which seemed like a lifetime. Now everyone know.

This is a true story.

Lynyrd Skynyrd

2007-04-18T11:34:00.000-05:00

When I was about 14, my first job was selling t-shirts at the Canadian National Exhibition during their annual late August run. Back then customers got to choose the t-shirt and the decal that goes on it along with what ever message they wanted pressed on the back. I'd slide the shirt onto a rubber pad, centre the decal and then lock the iron press in place. Voila! A brand new customized t-shirt.

Most of what we sold that summer were Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper T's. But a few times a week I'd get a request for that one weird logo with the skulls and guns for a band called Lynyrd Skynyrd. I had no idea who the band was and I certainly couldn't pronounce the name. The summer ended and I got paid which was all I cared about (though it was much less than I thought I would get).

A couple of years later I started working for CPI handing out their Cheap Thrills magazine at concerts. The big perk was getting into concerts for free! One night the Doobie Brothers headlined Maple Leaf Gardens and Lynyrd Skynyrd opened the show. By the time the final notes of the triple guitar solo at the end of "Free Bird" melded with the din of the audience, I was already out of the arena and on my way to sam the Record man to by the band's latest record, One More From The Road. I hopped on the subway and headed home. I never saw the Doobies that night.

Once I got the record home I put it on the stereo and immediately became a huge fan. I got out my guitar and started to learn "Saturday Night Special," "Gimme Three Steps," "Sweet Home Alabama" and, of course, "Free Bird." I became one of those people that tried to spread the gospel. The next summer, on the eve of the release of Street Survivors, I headed to Rich Stadium where the original line-up performed on one of those giant bills (Ted Nugent, Blue Oyster Cult, Starz, Aerosmith).

I made sure I bought Street Survivors the day it came out. When tickets went on sale for the band's first Maple Leaf Gardens headlining show, I made sure I had tickets in hand. And then came the painful news of the crash that killed Ronnie Van Zandt, Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines. Just like that, Lynyrd Skynyrd was through.

In the ensuing years I bought or paid attention to whatever music came from each of the surviving members. Some of it was good and some of it wasn't so good. None of it captured the original magic of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

In the late 80's the band reformed and started touring but I was looking for the real thing and didn't pay too much attention. That was until the early 90's when Warner became affiliated with the band through Capricorn Records. They came to Toronto to play the Kingswood Music Theatre and I finally had a chance to tell the band my story. At the end of the story they invited me to watch the show from the side of the stage which is, to this day, one of the great highlights of my rock 'n' roll life. To be standing next to Gary Rossington's amp during "Free Bird" is priceless.

The El Mocambo

2007-04-13T15:54:00.000-05:00

There was a period of time in the mid-seventies when my friends and I would go see bands at the El Mocambo on a pretty regular basis. We'd always show up early enough to get ourselves great seats right up front. Although I didn't drink, I felt an obligation to order a beer so that the wait staff wouldn't bug me. I nursed those babies all night long.

I didn't see the Stones there but my friends did. Then there was the night that Cheap Trick played Toronto for the first time and Rick Neilsen stuck his guitar through the roof and left it hanging there. CHUM FM used to tape tons of shows in those days. If you can get your hands on the bootleg, it was a pretty amazing show. The band played three sets a night for two night and the way I remember it, "Hello There" was the only song they performed more than once.

I'm remembering the night The Runaways played two sets. Cherie Curry wasn't in the band anymore. Joan Jett sang lead. In between shows they took off for the CBC to appear on the Peter Gzowski show.

There's an infamous story about Elvis Costello's first Toronto show. The line-up went down the block and yet he was able to walk by the crowds and into the club without anyone noticing.

Judas Priest played the club with a full arsenal of amps set up against the back wall. How we never lost our hearing that night is a minor miracle.

My personal favourite was Starz. Everyone has a guilty pleasure to differentiate themselves from their friends. Mine was Starz. The band was in Toronto to record their fourth album (Coliseum Rock) and ended up heading over to the El Mo for their first and only Toronto shows. The night was bliss...for me.

The El Mocambo is booking bands again and the place still has a vibe though it probably will never regain the aura it once had.

There ain't no army helicopter that can stop rock and roll!

2007-04-04T16:05:00.000-05:00

We've been busy with the Juno Awards for the past couple of weeks we has kept me from logging on. I think that this year marked my 23rd consecutive Juno Awards. Here are some memories:

Gordon Lightfoot nervously pacing around waiting to be inducted by Bob Dylan into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. A cigarette was dangling from his mouth with ashes dripping onto his red velvet jacket.

I was in the meeting where they announced that they had secured Milli Vanilli as a performer. I've always been a bit of a s--t disturber and wasn't shy to raise my voice in protest. Apparently I was the only person in the room that had heard the rumours that Milli Vanilli didn't really sing on their album. They ended up performing.

One of the proudest moments of my career was when my endless faxes of Maestro Fresh West landed him a performance slot on the show making him the first hip hop artist to be seen on the Junos.

Getting to talk with Joe Perry backstage in Vancouver. Everyone was preening all over Steven Tyler (remember when he said "A Lie Us" instead of Alias?) so I got quality time with Uncle Joe.

Standing at the side of the stage at the Hummingbird Centre and congratulating a very young Alanis on her best New Artist Juno.

Oh and there was that great one with Sebastian Bach! The show had just ended and we were leaving the theatre. Sebastian walked in front of our Prime Minister at the time, Kim Campbell, who made some comment about using army helicopters to get him out of her way. Bach turned to her and said "There ain't no army helicopter that can stop rock and roll!" Classic.

Crash & Burn

2007-03-20T21:13:00.000-05:00

Oh the mid 70's and the birth of punk. I remember it well.

It started inauspiciously. A short article in Circus Magazine heralded the impending release of the debut album by The Ramones. They said it only cost the band a few thousand dollars to make, contain a shitload of songs but clocked in at under 30 minutes and was filled with unrelenting, guitar-driven rock and roll. I bought in and bought the album the day it came out. The disappointment is still fresh in my mind. As much as I liked "Beat On The Brat" and "Judy Is A Punk Rocker," I still needed guitar solos. I thought it sucked.

Six months later I knew much more about the Punk movement and had read about The Ramones' influential shows at The Roundhouse in London. I gained an appreciation for what was going on and when my sister announced her own impending trip to England, I handed her a list of singles that I wanted her to bring back. She returned from the UK with an amended stack. The Sex Pistols singles were banned from sale and weren't available but the guy behind the counter recommended this new group, The Clash, and sold her their first single, "1977." I was not disappointed.

By the following Halloween we had heard the debut from The Damned but were particularly anxious for the release of Never Mind The Bollocks. I bought the import (with it's florescent pink cover) and ended up spinning it over and over again at my sister's Halloween party. The natives were restless and it was the perfect tonic for the evening.

The punk scene in Toronto was flourishing now. The Diodes opened their own club called Crash and Burn that was in the basement of my dad's sock factory. The Viletones tried to be this city's Sex Pistols with Steven Leckie doing his best Sid Vicious impersonation. But, try as he might, he just came across as a big poseur. The Poles were our Siouxsie and the Banshees and Teenage Head did their best Damned impersonation thanks to Frankie Venom.

Bowie played piano in the shadows while Iggy owned the stage at The Field House at Seneca College. Blondie opened the show. But the last great punk show in Toronto had to be the night The Ramones played the New Yorker on the Rocket To Russia tour. The Deadboys opened the show and Stiv Bators threw up his beer mid-set. We Gabba Gabba Hey'd the night away.

It started with The Ramones and it ended with The Ramones. Don't let anyone tell you any different.

Preview new Wilco album this weekend

2007-03-08T09:58:00.000-05:00

http://wilcoworld.net/sbs/

New Wilco music !

2007-03-05T12:48:00.001-05:00

"What Light" http://wmm.warnermusic.ca/wilco_whatlight.mov

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

2007-03-01T13:25:00.000-05:00

The advance of the new Wilco album showed up yesterday afternoon. It's FUCKING BRILLIANT! I can't wait to read how critics describe it. It is FUCKING UNBELIEVABLE! I will not taint your impressions with my own comparisons but I will say that rock and roll is alive and well and living in Jeff Tweedy's soul!

Stay tuned for more information...

The Night I Sang with Brian Wilson

2007-02-27T16:51:00.000-05:00

A number of years ago I was down in LA with MuchMusic working on a number of interviews. One day we spent a couple of hours at Madonna's house on Los Feliz tapping her MMVA acceptance speech and then we drove over to Brian Wilson's house to tape an interview about his album Imagination. This isn't a story about that trip.

This story took place a couple of years ago at Massey Hall. Brian Wilson came to Toronto to perform Smile. The atmosphere among Toronto's music intelligentsia was electric. This was the night they had waited most of their lives for. A few months earlier, I sat in Paul Quarrington's home playing him an advance copy of the album. It was slightly surreal given that he was preparing for an interview with the inspiration for Whale Music.

Back to Massey Hall. Brian had agreed to do a few interviews before soundcheck. Among them was 30 minutes spent with Peter Mansbridge taping an interview in the balcony of the hall. If you ever have the chance try to catch Mansbridge One On One with Brian Wilson. It's fascinating.

After all of the interviews were done he headed down to the stage for soundcheck. Rather than running through one of the songs on Smile though, Brian decided to teach the band a new song he had written that morning. The band members gathered around him at the keyboard at the front of the stage and watched his hands as he banged out the chords. They then went off to each of their own instruments and Brian walked from one musician to another describing exactly what he wanted them to play. Over the course of the next 30 minutes the song unfolded itself from Brian Wilson's brain right there on the Massey Hall stage. He had hoped to perform the new composition that night but as suddenly as the music started, union regulations called for a dark stage.

90 minutes later I found myself sitting in Brian's dressing room. There were a bunch of posters I needed him to sign but he was busy working on harmonies for the new song with his assistant. His assistant sang the lead and Brian played piano and worked out the complimentary vocal parts. Between run throughs we chatted about the song and its themes (love, peace, understanding) and then, suddenly, Brian asked me to sing the lead. I was a little shocked. No, change that, I was terrified. He insisted. I protested that I couldn't sing. He assured me that everyone could sing. Reason got the better of me. This would be a great story...The day I sang with Brian Wilson!

They handed me the lyric sheet and Brian counted me in. I missed the cue and we had to start over again. I gave it my best shot. I sang with as much heart as I could muster and then it was over. I waited for the verdict. Brian looked to his assistant and said "He could be a back-up singer." And that was that. I was relegated to the back of the stage by Brian Wilson.

Later that night Brina and his band put on a show that will be talked about for years. Every recognizable face in the Toronto music industry was there. When it ended the ovation was deafening. We went down to the Century Lounge for the meet & greet after the show. Brian sat behind a table, smiled for photos, signed autographs and accepted the universal praise.

I never look at the picture they took of Brian and I together. It just wouldn't do justice to that night I sang with Brian Wilson.

Rick Rubin

2007-02-19T16:50:00.001-05:00

Rick Rubin was featured in Time Magazine last week. He produced a bunch of huge records this past year. He ended up winning producer of the Year at the Grammys. Rick Rubin is the producer that is at the top of everyone’s wish list. Here is my Rick Rubin story.

I moved to New York City in 1979 to go to NYU. I lived in the Weinstein dorm on University Place. A year or two later, Rick moved in to start his scholastic career. During my years at NYU I gained a bit of notoriety as the nob who insisted on playing his guitar on the front steps of the dorm. I was mocked mercilessly, especially by Mr. Rick (Menello) the grad student who worked the front desk and lorded over us with his encyclopedic knowledge of film history.

The music scene in New York at the time was a mish mash of many things. There was No Wave and Power Pop and a burgeoning hard core punk scene. I was already recruited to play guitar in Even Worse (with Thurston Moore on rhythm guitar) when Rick came up to me and asked if I would play with his band too. Rick’s band was Hose. I always remembered them as sort of a Flipper tribute band. I didn’t join Hose but there was that memorable night in Garden City New Jersey when Even Worse and Hose opened for Millions of Dead Cops. We got a speeding ticket on the way to the gig. The sprinkler system went off during Hose’s set.

The legend of the Beastie Boys in the dorm were true too. Their first demo tapes were recorded in the dorm by David Hoffert, son of Paul Hoffert of Lighthouse fame. Rick’s dorm room was a mess with music all over the place. For the record, AC/DC was huge for us back then. I don’t know if Rick ever did go to class.

Jump ahead a few years and Rick has started Def Jam with Russell Simmons. The Beastie’s breakthrough, “Fight For Your Right To Party,” was an NYU special with a whole bunch of characters from the dorm showing up including a cameo from the aforementioned Mr. Rick (he plays the landlord towards the end of the video) who directed the video (as well as “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” and the infinitely cool “Goin Back To Cali”).

I next ran in to Rick years later after he had started American Recordings which were then distributed by Warner. We spent some time catching up at one of Warner’s national sales conventions. He was pretty proud that he had kept on some of his friends from our university days.

The last time I spoke to Rick was about eight years ago. I was in LA on a business trip and stopped up at American for a meeting with their international department. I wanted to say “hi” to Rick but he wasn’t in so I left a message with my hotel information. At three in the morning the phone rang in my room. I picked it up and heard Rick on the other end of the line. He said that he was in New York shopping for antiques. It was six am in New York! We talked about work. We talked about family. We talked about music.

Rick’s a good guy. It’s a blast to see him do well. Kind of makes you proud.

Preview Neil Young Live at Massey Hall

2007-02-16T10:15:00.000-05:00

We just got in this link to preview the DVD of Neil Young Live at Massey Hall. the CD / DVD comes out on March 13 and is a recording of Neil's Toronto show on January 19, 1971. A lot of the songs he performed on the show were to end up on harvest which was released a year later.

Take a look and enjoy.
http://streamos.wbr.com/wmedia/wbr/neilyoung/massey_hall_promo.wvx

You can't keep a good man down

2007-02-14T12:43:00.000-05:00

And there's no better man than Billy Talent's drummer, Aaron Solowoniuk. A year ago, Aaron posted an announcement on BT's website that he had been living with MS for a number of years. Anthony Reinhart of the Globe and Mail has written a great piece in today's paper highlighting a sponsorship program Aaron and the band are starting.

Please take some time to read this inspiring story here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070214.DRUMMER14/TPStory/?query=aaron+solowoniuk

Prince, as guitar God!

2007-02-13T10:54:00.000-05:00

The water cooler talk following the Super Bowl was that Prince's performance was the best thing about the show. he stuck to the hits and might even have made yourself relevant again. One thing’s for certain, if you didn’t know it before, you now know that he is one of the most under-rated guitarists of all time.

In the early 80’s, while going to NYU I tripped over prince while on a walk through Washington Square Park. One afternoon I watched while a roller skater danced to the song “Controversy” over and over again. The sound was so fresh to me. Like nothing I had ever heard before growing up in North Toronto. Coincidentally a few hours later I was in my friend Lori’s dorm room and saw that she had a Controversy poster on the wall. She played the album for me in its entirety and I was hooked.

Through most of the 80’s I was a Prince devotee. His song writing was always special and seemed spontaneous. His concerts were always part carnival (remember him coming out on top of the convertible on the LoveSexy Tour) and part revival (any time he played “Purple Rain”). The movie Purple Rain was a compelling peek at what his life might have sort of been like before hitting it big while the relative flop of Under A Cherry Moon still provided a number of comic gems (“It’s a recow stow!” “Versace or Basuchi, I just don’t know what to wear!”).

By the early 90’s though, his music seemed to become more self-conscious. I’m sure that he was still pushing himself artistically but it wasn’t connecting anymore. I came to work at Warner in 1992 and was thrilled to be working Prince records, but after Gold the whole thing seemed to flicker out.

Through it all though there was one thing you could never come away without be in total all. The guy could play a mother fu—er of a guitar. His slight demeanor and outlandish style had him pegged by macho f—ks as a f-g. But what he really was exhibiting was the strutting cock style that James Brown had delivered in the 60’s. If these morons had closed their eyes and just listened to him play, they would have rushed to the alter. Now, after his performance at the Super Bowl, they know what they’ve missed.

A couple of years ago, when George Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Prince joined Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and George’s son on stage for a beautiful rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Watch and listen to an incredible blues guitarist that you probably never know existed.

http://www.warnerreprise.com/asx/tompetty_ghigentlyweeps_300-v.asx

AC/DC in the Power Age

2007-02-08T15:02:00.000-05:00

I grew up at the north end of Toronto. When I was teen and into rock and roll I would head downtown every Saturday afternoon to check out the new records that had been releasedthat week. I climbed aboard the #53 bus to Finch station and then rode the subway down to Dundas where I'd climb up to the street and head over to Sam the Record Man, A&A's and Jean Machine before walking uptown to stop in at Record on Wheels, the Record peddler and Round Records (?).

One day I walked into the jean machine record section and heard a crunching guitar that became one of many pivotal moments for me. The beat was relentless and the guitar was manic. The voice coming thorough the speakers was the most wonderful sound of fingernails on a chalkboard. I checked the "now playing" stand behind the cashier and immediately went to the racks to retrieve my own copy of AC/DC's Powerage.

As a fledgling young guitar god oh how I worshipped at the alter of Angus Young. Oh those fingers fleet of foot and riffs hard as...well, rock! I was a KISS fan but thought this was more sophisticated. I was an Aerosmith fan and thought that this was easier. AC/DC was about fun. AC/DC was about power. Hell, they even put that in the title.

I bought TNT. I bought Dirty Deeds. I played everything he best I could spending hours repeatingthe riffs on my own Mann electric guitar. And then they came to Toronto. AC/DC headlined at Massey Hall. Bon Scott was still alive then. It was AMAZING!

I took my camera to the show and got some great shots. Someone threw a beachball up on stage with a sign attached that said "We've got the biggest balls of them all." I was pushed up against the stage and lost myself in the electricity coming out of the Marshall stacks. Angus came stomping his duck-walk across the stage and almost crushed my camera. Good times!

I saw AC/DC with Bon Scott one more time, opening for Aerosmith at Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium. Like everyone else, I've seen the band a number of times since with Brian Johnson.

What inspired this posting though was the Juno award nominations announced yesterday. It reminded me of the last time the Junos were held in Toronto. They took place at the Skydome. warner held it's afterparty in the Founder's Lounge at the Skydome. It happened that Angus, Malcolm and Phil Rudd were in town to promote the band's latest release, Stiff Upper Lip. They came to our party and were hounded for hours by industry fans who elbowed each other to have their picture taken with our rock heroes. To their credit, the guys were phenomenally patient.

We had a cover band playing our party and around 1:00am the guys were coerced into taking the stage. Angus sang and played his heart out. Malcom and Phil held down a solid rhythm along with the cover band's bassist playing an upright acoustic. Angus sounded just like Brian or was it Bon? Who cares. It was aural bliss. Everyone rocked to "Back In Black," "Highway to Hell" and "Stiff Upper Lip."

If you live for rock and roll you live for bands like AC/DC!

Billy Talent at the ACC!

2007-02-07T08:56:00.000-05:00

You can just imagine the pride that fills your heart when you've worked with a band from their can't fill a club days to headlining a sold out hometown show at the big hockey arena. Last Friday Billy Talent headlined at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. It wasn't just one date of an insanely successful Canadian tour - it was their homecoming.

Around 6:00pm that night, Ben and I were backstage walking past the stage entrance. We stopped for a moment and watched the crew make a few last minute lighting adjustments before the doors opened to the fans. Ben looked over and said in hushed awe, "This is what it's all about, isn't it?"

This picture taken by Dustin Rabin says it all. (www.dustinrabin.com)

On Gene Simmons and commerce

2007-02-01T13:30:00.000-05:00

The first time I met KISS was in the fall of 1981. I was at NYU and my roomate had a friend that worked in their management office. One day he got a call to say that the band was taping a promotional video for a new single and we were invited to come down to be a part of the audience. Remember, this is before MTV.

As a longtime member of the KISS army, I was raring' to go. As I've learned since, video shoots involve hours of waiting around with nothing to do. Didn't matter. This was KISS! We were herded into a soundstage that had the band's latest tour set up on it. The anticipation was intense. And then, there they were! In the flesh! But, oh my god!!!

I already knew that Peter Criss was gone and Eric Carr was now the drummer. That wasn't the problem. The problem was Ace had a weird page boy type haircut. Paul's hair was way shorter and he had a purple head band on. And Gene's hair was all matted down and in a pony tail. They looked like a new wave / hard rock disaster. But it was still KISS and I was finally going to meet them.

But wait, first they had to run through the song a few times. the clip was for the track "I" from what I would soon learn was the most horrible Music From The Elder. Paul spent the first 30 minutes teaching Ace the chords since, it seems, he was involved in recording the song. once the taping began you couldn't help but through the devil horns in the air. This was KISS and you want to make a good first impression.

During one of the breaks I mustered up the courage to go over and introduce myself to Gene. He was pleasant - in an arrogant kind of way. When I asked what was left for the band to conquer, he said they were putting together a tour of Russia. When I asked if they were concerned about the audience understanding them he said he didn't care just as long as they dished out the rubles. And then he pretended to flip out some bills "twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two..."

I've got even better KISS stories than that...

The Record That Changed My Life

2007-01-25T16:09:00.000-05:00

It's a huge question. It's a lot different than what's the first record you heard or what's the first record you bought. I've been thinking about it since the day I started writing this here blog. Here is my answer:

Aerosmith - Rocks.

In the Spring of 1976 everything changed. I don't how or why but that Spring I connected with rock and roll. I started reading Circus Magazine and can still see in my mind's eye that gaudy colored photo of Steven Tyler screaming off the front cover. I had never heard of Aerosmith but thoroughly enjoyed reading the piece and looking at the pictures. The band looked dangerous in the way that I'm sure the Stones looked dangerous in the 60's.

I think it was June (at least I remember it as June). I had to buy a birthday present for Ed Harris. I bought him Rocks. I don't know why. he never said he was an Aerosmith fan. I had read a good review of the record and I guess I liked the cover. I bought alot of albums back then because of the cover.

The album sat in my house for a couple of days before I pulled it out to wrap it. But then came that insane moment when I decided to slide my thumbnail down the plastic and slip the album out for a quick listen. I hadn't though through what I would say about handing him an opened package.

It didn't take long. I think that Steve Tyler screams "I'M BACK" about 20 seconds into "Back In the Saddle." That was it. For the next 43 minutes I was locked in. Every song was a revelation. The record had balls and yet, at the same time, it had a glossy sophistication. After the first time though I went back to the beginning and played it again and again. I probably listened to the whole album four times in a row - front to back - not skipping any songs.

That June day, Aerosmith became mine. I went out and bought their first three albums and immediately started trying to learn the songs on guitar. In college I would play along to the first four albums from start to finish not skipping a single song.

Aerosmith lost me on the Pump tour. they play way too many "girly" songs now. But I can still listen to anything up to and including Double Live Bootleg to give me that same kick in the ass I got in June 1976.

Guitarist at Work

2007-01-23T16:24:00.000-05:00

I got my first guitar when I was 10 but never played it. When I was 16 I resolved to learn how to play and borrowed my brothers Ovation and then got a Mann electric guitar for myself (a story related a few postings back). Once I was hooked I became a devotee to the instrument (although I am not the Steve Waxman that wrote the most excellent book Instruments of Desire about the very subject).

In my Rock and Roll life I have had some pretty amazing experiences with some noted guitarists. They are as follows:

1976
Jeff Beck played at Maple Leaf Gardens in support of his live album with Jan Hammer. After the show, my friends and I chased his limo over to the original Four Seasons Hotel (around the corner from MLG) and I got him to autograph my concert ticket.

1982
I played in a hardcore punk band called Even Worse. the other guitar player in the band was Thurston Moore. This was around the time he and Kim started Sonic Youth. I went to see Sonic Youth play at the Mudd Club one night. After seeing Thurston jam screwdrivers between the strings of his guitar it became obvious to me why I had to help him tune his guitar after every song at our rehearsals.

1983
While working with Aucoin Management during the Billy Idol Rebel yell period, I got to play bass with Billy and the band while they auditioned drummers. I learned more during that three hour period playing beside Steve Stevens than I had learned before or since.

1984
Before leaving New York I got to spend quality time with Ace Frehley who was a frequent visitor to the Aucoin offices.

1995
I took MuchMusic and MusiquePlus to Los Angeles for a series of interviews over three days. One of those interviews was with Van Halen. MuchMusic wanted to shoot an opening throw to the interview with Eddie playing guitar. He agreed but excused himself while he warmed up. Warmed up?! It was me and Eddie Van Halen alone together in the 5150 studios while he blasted "Eruption" full blast through his amp. (I haven't washed my jeans since).

1998 (part one)
Eric Clapton came to town to talk about Pilgrim. I waited for him to come down to the room for his first interview. At the appointed time he came ambling around the corner, dressed not unlike a well kept janitor. Completely unassuming. The guy was a complete gentleman.

1998 (part two)
Later that same year, Page and plant came to Toronto for a concert at the Molson Amphitheatre. After the show we went backstage to say "hi." Page still had resin on his black t-shirt from the bow he used during "dazed and Confused." Cool!

2003
We had dinner with Robert Randolph the first time he came to town. It's always a treat to meet a revolutionary guitarist. Have you ever heard Robert? If not, check out www.robertrandolph.net

The Return of Wilco

2007-01-19T12:16:00.000-05:00

At his solo concert in Nashville a couple of nights ago, Jeff Tweedy announced that the new Wilco album will be called Sky Blue Sky and will come out on May 15. Check out the full story here: http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003534789

Muhammad Ali Turns 65 Today

2007-01-17T09:16:00.000-05:00

Whenever I'm asked to name my heroes two names always immediately come to mind - Charlie Chaplin and Muhammad Ali. I never met Charlie Chaplin.

I remember as a kid there was always a big fuss about Muhammad Ali. America was in the heat of the war in Vietnam and Ali refused to fight. he had been stripped of his title and was a lightening rod of controversy. In our house he was lauded. My father had a long history of opposing war so we were completely sympathetic to his point of view.

I think that I was seven when Ali had his title taken away from him. Although I knew who he was it was because of watching Wide World of Sports. Howard Cosell was his champion and they gave Ali lots of air time.

I remember when Ali came back and fought Jerry Quarry. Not his toughest opponent but he was back and the world would never be the same again. I was ten now and sports had taken over my life. I remember staying up late the night that he fought Joe Frazier for the first time. The fight was televised so I had to get round by round updates off the radio. I listened intently to CHUM's news updates for how the fight was going. In the end they announced that Joe Frazier had won in 15 rounds. I was devastated. It's the first time I remember feeling that way about a sporting event.

Who will ever forget the Rumble in the Jungle when he regained the heavyweight championship by beating George Foreman or the Thrilla in Manila when he and Joe Frazier went toe-to-toe in one of the greatest fights in history? To my mind the only black mark on his career was losing to Leon Spinks in '78. It should never have happened but Ali was over confident and Spinks was well prepared. I think one of the Rocky movies was inspired by the fight.

In the winter of 1983 I was winding down my time in New York City. I had graduated from NYU and had worked for Aucoin Management and Chrysalis Records and I had decided to return to Toronto to see what i could make of myself back home. One day, during the last couple of weeks living i there, I was walking up Madison Avenue at 53rd on my way back to the Chrysalis offices. As I crossed the street heading north I looked up and saw Muhammad Ali standing at the corner waiting for the light to change. My heart jumped into my throat. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Surprisingly, no one was talking to him or asking for an autograph. Mustering as much confidence as I could, I walked up to Ali and extended my hand and said "Champ, you're the greatest."

Now I don't know where the word "maw" comes from but it's one of those non-sense words that just seem to make sense. In this case "maw" definitely means "giant fleshy hand."

Ali's "maw" enveloped my puny hand. Despite it's size I was struck by how soft and gentle (without being limp) his grip was. "Thank you. Thank you very much," he said in a gruff whisper (he hadn't been diagnosed with Parkinson's yet). And with that he went on his merry way and I stood there starring after the greatest boxer and one of the greatest human beings in history.

Still More Neil Young

2007-01-16T11:16:00.000-05:00

Brad Wheeler has written a great piece in today's Globe and Mail about the upcoming Neil Young - Live at Massey Hall CD. Read it here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070116.wxyoung16/BNStory/Entertainment/home

The album is tentatively scheduled for release on March 13, 2007.

Billy Idol's Hair Melts!

2007-01-15T11:18:00.000-05:00

The weather outside is crap. it's the first miserable day of the winter season. It took me two hours to get into the office this morning. It's just the kind of day I've been waiting for to tell my favourite Billy Idol story.

I worked for Aucoin Management during those heady days that Billy was recording Rebel Yell. One night, while still recording the album Billy came up to the office (we were in Olympic towers now) for a meeting. The New York weather was awful. I think we were on the 33rd floor (to the best of my recollection) and we watched the city grind to a halt as the snow dumped on the city. At the end of the day a couple of us decided to head downtown for dinner with Billy at Aye Caramba's on Broadway south of 8th St.

Since the roads were so horrible, we decided to take the subway rather than hail a cab. "Dancing With Myself" was just becoming a hit around that time so, though Billy looked different than most, he could still ride the subway without getting hassled.

When we got out of the station at 8th and Broadway we braced ourselves against the wind that was now blowing the snow sideways. Billy didn't have a proper winter coat. Instead, he draped a long black cloak around himself and leaned his shoulder into the wind. The image he struck was hilarious, not unlike Spock in some long forgotten episode of Star Trek.

When we got to Aye Caramba we were ushered to a table in the middle of crowed restaurant. Once we were all settled and had our drinks ordered we noticed that Billy's spiked hair had frozen solid during the walk. Each of us took turns patting the top with the frozen spikes leaving impressions in our palms.

We lingered for a couple of hours hoping the weather would abate (which it eventually did). During that time we watched as Billy's hair thawed and then wilted off to the left. It was hilarious. Even he had a good sense of humour about it.

At 10:30 we paid the bill and headed to the door. Billy excused himself to run downstairs to the washroom. A few minutes later he returned with a slightly mortified look on his face. Apparently a couple of people in the restaurant had recognized him and followed him into the washroom. When he turned around from the urinal he saw a young man and woman starring at him as he zipped up his pants. For what it's worth, this was the kind of attention he had hoped to gain for himself.

We walked with Billy back to his apartment in Sheridan Square. He invited us up for tea, which we accepted. We sat around talking about the songs he had written for the new album and then he told us the inspiration for the song "Crank Call." It turned out that there were a couple of girls that were always hanging around a phone booth outside his apartment and they were always starring at his window. He took us over to the window to show us the phone booth. When he pulled back the black curtain we were shocked to see that the two girls were indeed standing there starring at the window. Even in this weather.

There are allot of good Billy Idol stories from those days and I'll eventually get through most of them - but this was my favourite.

First Time (part four)

2007-01-12T16:12:00.000-05:00

Okay, I didn't mean to get stuck at 1976 but the year was a turning point for me. I was always musical. My mom likes to tell people that I didn't need toys when I was kid that I enjoyed making music with pots and pans. On one hand that was true. On the other hand i stole money from her purse to buy myself Major Matt Mason stuff :)

I may have had to steal money to buy myself toys but I was spoiled when it came to musical instruments. Before I was Bar Mitzvahed I had learned to play piano, had a guitar (that I hadn't learned to play), a mandolin that I could plunk out tunes on, a recorder and a banjo (loved Flatts and Scruggs).

In 1976 I finally became a rock music fan. One night while listening to Cat Stevens I was inspired to finally try to learn how to play guitar. I had been reading through my brother's Tea For the Tillerman music book while listening to the album and the chords seemed doable. I went into the den when my brother and his girlfriend were engaged in something they probably would have preferred I hadn't seen. I excused myself as I took his Ovation guitar and closed the door behind me. In the living room I opened up his Simon and Garfunkle songbook and began learning some chords. The first song I ever played on guitar might have been recognized as "The Sounds of Silence" by some kind bystander.

My enthusiasm grew as I became more proficient moving from C to D to A to E. Over the next few weeks I began practising more than watching TV (a miracle at the time). And then I pronounced to my parents that I was ready for an electric guitar. How could they refuse me? I was such a sweet mensch.

My first electric was a gold Mann Les Paul imitation. It was immediately apparent that playing electric guitar was going to be easier than acoustic. I could move between chords easier and bend the strings without hurting my fingers.

I had only been playing guitar for four weeks when I auditioned for and got into my first band. They were called Flox. I believe that means flame in Greek. It was a rush to play with other people and crank up the volume. Although I could play 5 chords I was clearly in over my head. Everyone else in the band had been playing way longer. I remember them teaching me the opening to "Pinball Wizard" and thinking that the whole world had opened up to me.

Flox never played a gig but we did practice with some girls from the school watching us which was WICKED!

First Time (part three)

2007-01-10T16:02:00.000-05:00

In the Spring of 1976 most of the kids at my high school were jazzed about the KISS show coming to Maple Leaf Gardens. I still wasn't into Rock yet so the band really wasn't on my radar. The gig was part of the tail end of the KISS Alive tour though the band had finished recording Destroyer.

The day after the concert it seemed like everyone at school were talking about the show. On the PA they opened the morning announcements by playing "Shout It Out Loud." The song's catchy chorus struck a chord and I soon became a fan (and once I discovered Aerosmith Rocks a few months later I was living rock and roll for good).

Over the next few months I read every article I could about KISS. Not a month went by that I didn't buy Circus, Hit Parader, Creem and Rock Scene. I began buying all of the KISS albums. I covered my walls with giant KISS posters. I joined the KISS Army.

Later that summer KISS came back to Toronto to headline an outdoor show with Artful Dodger and Blue Oyster Cult. I had my ticket in my hand and I wasn't going to let it go. I showed up early and endured the heat, the smell and the opening acts (I didn't learn to appreciate BOC until a year later).

The lights went down well after the sun and that pronouncement that had been burned into my head filled the PA. "You wanted the best and you got the best. The greatest band in the world KISS."

The cheers rose into the Toronto night sky and 10,000 bodies crushed themselves towards the stage. The opening staccato of "Detroit Rock City" blasted at us followed moments later by the first of 100 bomb blasts. The lights flashed on and there they were - Gene, Paul and Ace - perched atop a ruined cityscape moving in unison to the song that had become my anthem that summer.

What happened next surprised me. I started to laugh. I mean really laugh. Out loud. If it hadn't have been for the thousands of people standing around me, I think I would have fallen over. I think it was the shock of actually seeing the guys move that got to me. I guess with the make-up and everything I kinda got used to them being cartoon figures and never really thought of them as moving beings.

The night was terrific. The show fantastic. I remained giddy right to the end. I saw KISS another 12 - 14 times in those years and never failed to be entertained. After seeing a crappy show where they introduced Eric Carr at the Palladium in New York in 1980, I stayed away until the Psycho Circus Tour. By then, the excitement returned and a good time was had by all.

First Time (part two)

2007-01-09T13:34:00.000-05:00

In the Spring of 1972 everyone was talking about the upcoming Rolling Stones Tour. My brother, 8 years older than me, had tickets for their Toronto show at Maple Leaf Gardens. He bought me a ticket though I never said I wanted to go (I wasn't a rock music fan when I was a kid). When the day of the show came, he and I had an argument because I said I didn't want to go. He tried laying a guilt trip on me about the price of the tickets (I think they were $5 each) but I wouldn't budge. That was until my dad said that he'd go with him. Gad! How embarrassing for my brother. I had to save him from the humility he'd obviously feel walking into the arena with his father. "Okay," I said finally. "I'll go." At least Stevie Wonder was opening the show and I already loved him.

The way I remember it, Stevie almost walked off the front of the stage as he wandered from instrument to instrument during one song. I think I remember Mick riding an inflatable penis and rose pedals falling down from the rafters during "Angie." I definitely remember the hash on a pin being passed from person to person in the row in front of us and the goat skin wine flask I handed to whomever was sitting to my left. After the show, as we crossed Carleton St. on the way to the subway I noticed that my hearing was shot. I thought that I had gone deaf from attending just one concert.

That was my first concert.

First Time (part one)

2007-01-08T11:54:00.000-05:00

I took my stepson to his first raptors game yesterday. he got to play pretty much everything they had in the fan inactive concourse before heading inside where we each got Andrea Bargnarni action figures. We sat at one end of the arena, 15 rows up from the floor so we got thunder sticks to use to try and distract the Washington Wizards from hitting freethrows. At half-time I bought him a two month early birthday present - a red and white Spalding raptor basketball. After the game he got to go on the floor and shoot a basket (he missed - but just barely). All that AND the raptors won! WooHoo!!! He's 8. I still have my ticket stub from the first NBA game I ever went to - Utah playing LA in playoff game - the players looked like running trees! I was 29.

More Neil Young

2007-01-05T15:46:00.000-05:00

I found a couple of original reviews of the 1971 Neil Young concert at Massey Hall:

"Records haven't shown musical power and presence displayed by Neil Young"
"What makes the new disc Goldrush such a disappointment is the predominance of his inaccurate and watery singing." - Toronto Star

"His songwriting isn't his strongest talent. (His lovely clean voice is).";
"...his songs suggest a need for more seasoning...and more work."; and
"...he's bound to stick around for a long time..." - Globe & Mail

Exciting new Neil Young news

2007-01-03T12:16:00.000-05:00

With the New Year came the delivery of an unmastered, unsequenced advance copy of the next release from the Neil Young Archive series. Live at Massey Hall is an incredibly well-recorded document of Neil's show at the venerable Toronto venue on January 19, 1971. What makes this album an important historical document is that it features many of the songs that would end up on Harvest a year later.

The show features Neil solo (accompanying himself on guitar and piano) during the After the Goldrush tour. Neil's between song banter also give this record historical perspective as he talks about being asked to tape Johnny Cash's TV show and working with Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor (both of whom would later turn up on Harvest).

The album is scheduled for release in March. I'll post more information as it becomes available.

Day One

2007-01-02T14:21:00.000-05:00

It's the first workday of a New Year. Everything feels like a fresh start which is why, at this time of year, I always seem to reflect on how I got into this kookie business.

In 1982 I had graduated from NYU wanting to be a screenwriter. I figured that my most reasonable route would begin as an advertising copywriter, move on to TV and then to the movies. Without a real clue in my head and a bogus resume in my hand I trudged up Madison Avenue in hopes of kick-starting my career.

After dropping off a few resumes I stopped in at the offices of Aucoin Management. Aucoin's office were built off the fat of the land that was KISS in the 1970's. Their sprawling space used to encompass two floors of a Madison Avenue office tower but they were no less impressive now that they were merely one entire floor of the building! My friend Milhan Gorkey was the receptionist their so I stopped in to say "hi."

Aucoin no longer managed KISS at this point. It was the middle of the music industry's first real recession and Aucoin's other big client, Billy Idol, hadn't yet hit the charts. During the course of our conversation, Milhan mentioned that 15 employees had been let go the previous day, including the office boy and things were piling up. I offered that I'd work there for free if i could use the office for my writing. Before long I was was in the Stephanie Robertson's office. Stephanie used to be a production manager for Aucoin but was now the office manager. We talked for half an hour and agreed that I'd come in three days a week in exchange for being able to use their offices for return phone calls and general writing.

I had never considered that a backroom existed in the music industry. I always thought that a band writes some songs, records them, gets them on the radio, goes on tour, sells t-shirts, scores groupies and then break-up. Although this all turned out to be true, it seems that it took a lot more people than I thought to make all of that happen.

After my first day in the office I was hooked and ended up coming in five days a week. My pay consisted of subway reimbursements which I pocketed in lieu of running across town to pick up and deliver packages. After three months Aucoin started paying me. Actually they shared me with Chrysalis Records who had just moved to New York (into the old Aucoin offices which we moved down to his apartment in the Olympic Towers).

During my time at Aucoin I met the members of KISS, watched Billy Idol record Rebel Yell, was there when Huey Lewis delivered Sports and Toni Basil "Mickey." Before I returned to Toronto I even met Muhammad Ali. Good times!

Dogtown and Z-Boys

2007-01-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

One night, a couple of months ago, I was madly clicking the converter looking for something that wasn't a repeat of a desgin or renovation show and I ended up on OLN which was running the documentary Dogtown & Z-Boys. I was immediately mesmerized. Watching footage of these guys surfing the pavement of Southern California playgrounds was spellbinding.

In the mid-sixties my friends and I used to ride skateboards. These were wooden planks with metal roller skate wheels on them. We couldn't do too much except for flying down hills trying not to get ourselves killed. I quit riding around 1970 when we moved to a new neighbourhood. In the mid-seventies I remembered hearing about some crazy kids that had started riding their skateboards in swimming pools and saw some skateboard competitions on ABC's Wide World of Sports. I never really thought too much about it.

I the 80's I noticed a proliferation of skateparks and was aware that some skilled kids were flying through the air but it was a concept foreign to me and my metal wheeled days. Tony Hawk became a phenomenon and I started snowboarding (nothing aerial though). I have my own skateboard again but I stay strictly grounded.

Watching Dogtown & Z-Boys was an education in the re-birth of skateboarding. It was a revelation to see the footage of the surfers that these guys were emulating on the asphalt. A few weeks later the doc was on CBC Newsworld and I watched it again. I was totally hooked and spent the next couple of weeks researching the likes of Tony Alva, Jay Adams and Stacy Peralta. If you visit www.angelfire.com you can reach some of the articles originally published at the time. These articles, written under various pseudonyms by Craig Stecyk, contributed, in large part to the legend of these guys.

For Christmas, my fiance bought me the DVD for Dogtown & Z-Boys as well as a book written by Stecyk with photographs by Glenn Friedman. The fascination continues. These skaters, writers and photographers were creating a new art form in our lifetime and these are the documents of that creation.

MCR

2006-12-21T11:20:00.000-05:00

One of the things that has struck me over the past few years is the incredible relationship the new crop of rock bands have with each other and their fans. Call it the Warped Nation. bands meet on the Vans Warped Tour and then as each of their careers take off they bring their new pals out on the road with them giving them a leg up. These bands also also use the Internet to reach out to their fans and that personal connection is reciprocated with a loyalty thought to have been lost long ago.

A case in point is My Chemical Romance. The band songs have touched the very soul of their fans. Kids relate to the isolation that lead singer Gerard Way portrays in his lyrics and confirms in his interviews. The band has been labeled Kings of Emo but that comes from the establishment - writers need to pigeonhole every new group that comes along that they don't feel a personal connection with.

Earlier this fall MCR delivered a masterpiece album, The Black Parade. The record perfectly straddles the worlds of excessive glam rock and stripped down punk rock ethos. Okay, I love this record but that's not the point of the story.

As a part of the album's launch in Canada we arranged for the band to come to Toronto for an in store appearance at HMV and a live performance on MuchMusic. As we put the trip together the band's management insisted that the instore appearance was not to have a curfew. Indeed the band stuck around at the store for four hours making sure that everyone of their fans that showed up had a chance to meet them. But that's not the point of the story either, although it is closer to the point.

The next evening the band appeared on MuchMusic, performing 6 songs and taking questions from the audience and viewers across the country. Everyone agrees that the show was a big success. But that's what happened on screen. Behind the scenes, on the streets outside of MuchMusic some of the kids who came to watch the show were getting hassled.

After the show ended the band stuck around and signed autographs for as many people as they could. As they headed back up to their dressing room though, Frank Iero, one of the guitarists grabbed me by the arm and asked if I had a copy of the limited edition box of The Black Parade. Confused by why he was asking I told him that we had a limited supply in Canada and they had all been sent to retail outlets. That's when he pointed at a girl with tears in her eyes. He said that she had brought her copy of the box down to Much in hopes of getting it signed but someone had ripped it out of her hand and disappeared. He wanted to replace the box for her. When I told him that i didn't have a copy he told his guitar tech to run down the street and buy her a copy at the HMV down the street.

Unfortunately HMV had sold out of the box set but a few weeks later the band sent me an e-mail with the girl's address and asked me to find a box and send it to her which we were able to do. It's that kind of dedication to the fans that bodes well for the long term health of the career of MCR and the other bands of the Warped Nation.

The Best Of Ready Records

2006-12-20T14:54:00.000-05:00

Universal has just released this 2 cd compilation record. Ready Records was the first Canadian label I ever worked for.

In 1984 I came back to Canada from the U.S. I worked for a time as an editor of industrial films but got tired of the grind pretty quickly and wanted to try and get back into the music industry. I flew to New york and met with everyone I knew to find out if they knew anyone I should talk to in Toronto. Jeff Aldrich at Chrysalis mentioned Al Mair at Attic Records to whom he had been talking about Lee Aaron with. Jeff made an advance call and when I got back home I arranged a meeting with Al.

We talked for about half an hour after which Al said that there wasn't anything for me at Attic but Ready records was looking for someone to do radio promotion and publicity and he had told them that he was meeting with me. He told me that that he told them that he'd send me over to meet with them if he thought I was worth the time. He gave me directions and I hopped on the King St. East streetcar over to Ready's Berkeley St. offices.

Andy and Angus were waiting for me when I showed up and we had a good chat about music and the ins and outs of marketing. I assured them that my experiences in New York had prepared me for a job like this. I left the office and headed home confident that i had done the best I could. The next day they called and offered me the job. It was Thursday and I said I could start on Monday. I didn't mention that i really didn't have any idea how to do either job.

The next morning I drove to Buffalo and took a flight (People's Express) back to New York City. i went back to the Chrysalis offices and sat in Daniel Glass' office for the morning watching and listening as he work the phones with radio stations across America. In the afternoon I sat with Rhonda Levine and picked up as much as I could in four hours about how to be a publicist.

I spent the weekend in New York with my friends and flew back on Monday morning, driving from the airport directly to Ready. I was on my way and the first record I worked was The Spoons' "Tell No Lies."

I had fun at ready working with the Extras, the Spoons, Manteca and Michael Zee but I must admit that the songs sounded much better back then then they do right now. As each track goes by I can remember specific moments like Daniel Richler interviewing the extras about their "ground-breaking" animated video for "I Can't Stand Still," trying to help Rick Santers look cool at a photo shoot or watching The Spoons in concert with drummer Derrick Ross (hey, Bud) standing at his kit for the entire show.

Less than a year later Ready closed their doors. I had made some good friends and learned the basics of a couple of jobs I would become intimate with over the next two decades.

In Memory Of Ahmet Ertegun

2006-12-20T10:12:00.000-05:00

Like so many other music fans, I have long been an admirer of the accomplishments of Ahmet Ertegun. The book Music Man chronicles the start of Atlantic Records and is an incredible peek behind the scenes of the earliest days of the music industry.

I started working at Warner in 1992. In those days, Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker were still at Warner Bros. and Jac Holzman (the founder of Elektra) was running Discovery Records. Once a year a few of us would head down to the U.S. for a national sales convention and there was always an opportunity to bend the ear of one of these industry giants or sit in on some of their own war stories.

As the years moved forward though, many of the original mavericks moved on or were moved out as the industry evolved. I remember one convention when all of the people that molded music as I knew it stood on the stage at one time taking their bows. A year later, only Ahmet remained.

Whenever an artist got signed to Atlantic Records one of their biggest thrills was being brought up to Ahmet's office where he would regale them with stories of signing the Rolling Stones, hanging out with Led Zeppelin or recording Aretha Franklin. My one and only meeting with Ahmet took place in an elevator.

It was about ten years ago. We were at a Warner convention in Washington. It was 1am and we were coming back to the hotel from seeing a band I have long forgotten. We got in the elevator and before the door closed we could see Ahmet shuffling towards us with a couple of pretty young friends. Never one to be shy, I was quick to introduce myself to him after the doors closed.

"Nice to meet you kid," he said in a gruff voice that has stuck to me to this day. I asked him his thoughts on how the industry was changing and he launched into a personal diatribe. "It's the fucking bean counters that are ruining the business," he griped. "They're telling us what we can and can't sign. The fucking bean counters are screwing it up."

Our floor came up and the doors opened. As we walked out I turned to say it was nice to have met you. It was the one and only meeting with Ahmet, but it sure was memorable.

By the way, we have survived the bean counters.

Stone Temple Pilots - Tennis Anyone?

2006-12-19T09:32:00.000-05:00

The question keeps coming up in conversations. "Who's your favourite band?" My all-time favourite band is Aerosmith. Of course I could qualify that and say that I'm really only talking about everything up to Draw the Line and then Permanent Vacation. But for sheer power of material and a catalogue that has no blots on the landscape, I choose Stone Temple Pilots.

I first heard a 30 second snippet of "Sex Type Thing" on an advance cassette coming out of the label managers office in the summer of 1992. I ran in there and snatched the tape to listen to the riff over and over again. In those days there was no internet yet and finding out information about unknown bands was tough. I didn't care. Over the next couple of weeks I played that snippet to whoever would listen. By the time the advance of the first STP record came in I was a full-on devotee.

A few months later the band played their first Toronto show at the Rivoli. It was jammed and it was loud. So loud in fact that they blew the PA speakers. I remember a midget crowd surfing that night. This was six months before "Plush" came out and everything changed for the band.

When Stone Temple Pilots played at the Masonic Temple (now the MTV Canada studios) on Purple, they blew the PA again. They started wondering if they were jinxed in this town. Throughout the 90's STP kept coming back to Toronto. they opened for the Stones here and they played an unforgettable Molson "Blind date" show around the time everyone had thought they had broken up.

In 2001 the band came to Toronto for the last time. We brought them to town to do press for the album Shangri La Dee Da. They were here for four days. They played in the MuchMusic parking lot and Weiland was full-on Iggy that night. We took the band out for dinner and I toasted them as the finest live band on the planet. But let's go back a couple of days...

I met the band at the airport. It was always a special treat to spend time with the DeLeo brothers so i was really looking forward to this trip. When the band came out of the terminal they were all full of hugs and ready to work. Weiland looked great. He came off the plane with a tennis sweater draped around his neck, a hat tilted to the side and a tennis racket folded under his arm. In the car, on the way to the hotel, he said he'd be looking for a game. Well, I was game and arranged a court for the next morning. he assured me that he'd be ready.

I was psyched. A chance to play tennis with one of my favourite rock singers was a treat I would cherish for a very long time. As promised I showed up at the hotel at 8:30am to pick him up and, as I should have suspected, there was no sign of him in the lobby and no answer in the room. After 4 or 5 calls to his room I called his road manager who said that they had all gone out the night before and he probably wouldn't get up until noon. Oh well. I called to cancel the court and changed out of my tennis togs. Later that day, when Weiland showed up to begin his interviews he apologized about sleeping in.

One of the amazing things about Weiland is his ability to change into the Rock Star when the time comes. When he's not "on" he can blend into any social situation and no one would notice him there but when he walks into and interview or onto a stage he becomes ten feet tall. With Weiland as the centre of attention, Dean DeLeo is able to weave a series of delectable hard rock riffs while his brother Rob and drummer Eric hold down a monster rhythm.

They showed up out of nowhere and then they disappeared. Gone but never forgotten. Long live STP!

The John Butler Trio

2006-12-18T10:07:00.000-05:00

One of the coolest things about working at a record company is hearing music long before anyone else gets to hear it. I am currently listening to a six song sampler of tracks from the forthcoming album from The John Butler Trio.

If you don't already know JBT you should check out www.johnbutlertrio.com. Imagine a twelve string guitar plugged into a rack of effects pedals to a stack of Marshall stacks cranked to eleven and playing a hard rock meld of bluegrass and funk into a cosmic stew. If you think I'm exaggerating that can only mean that you haven't clicked on the link yet.

John Butler is already a legend in Australia. I caught JBT at a packed El Mocambo 18 months ago (filled with transplanted Australians no doubt) and his guitar wizardry was remarkable. The band is tighter than Bush's pursed lips. before the show we went out for dinner and they turned out to be a great bunch of guys with that old reliable Australian sense of humour. Their the salt of the earth too. John has started The JB Seed Fund, a program in which he helps young artists gain knowledge to help further their careers.

The new album will come out on March 20 in North America. His website player is spinning the track "Funky Tonight" which is the current single in Australia. Although that song isn't on the sampler I have, tracks like "Better tahn," "Good Excuse" and "Grooving Slowly" promise that the new record is going to be a must have for anyone digging the jam band scene and way beyond. If you haven't discovered this guy yet you should take the time to do so now and turn your friends on to him.

2006-12-15T17:05:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my hole. Check back in every once and a while to see what kind of dirt I've thrown in here.