You know that thing about greatness being thrust on you? And the one about great things coming out of terrible situations? What happens when the two come together in a perfect sick storm of fear and persecution?  Some will go under; some will struggle to the top. At the forefront of the strongest swimmers you’ll find Drake Jensen, survivor, country singer and homosexual.

The son of a Cape Breton hard rock coal town, the kind of which Merle Travis said was “dark as a dungeon way down in the mine”. The kind where the mind shafts are too narrow to allow for light to get in and shadows are looked upon with suspicion.

Imagine how strong and bright a light must be to beam out of a hole like that, especially when you’re thrown down the hole at age 5.

Drake Jensen is a rising star on the Canuck country scene, a good looking husky guy, passionate and genuine, committed to his art and this week making his Coming Out to the world at large.

Whoa. Cojones of steel, you say. Indeed, y’all, dude has all of that and more and he’ll likely have need of all of it sooner rather than later. Ok, how about right now?

Stuart Johnston is the President of the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), which represents more than 180 company members of the English-language independent Canadian-owned music industry. Johnston leads a small team of dedicated professionals who support the businesses and creative entrepreneurs who work to make Canada’s music production industry unique in the world. He is also a Board member of Re:Sound and the AVLA, two music-licensing agencies, as well as a member of the National Advisory Committee on Policy Priorities for the Canadian Conference of the Arts.

David Gogo is known for being one of the hardest working blues rock guitarists in the industry and the moniker suits him well. He is a man of his word, and when a recent routing booking issue took place, he fulfilled his commitment to tour Western Canada. After two shows in Holland, Gogo flew back to Canada to finish the tour he had committed to with the legendary Johnny Winter. A gruelling schedule, but he is a man of his word, and committed to his reputation as well as his music, he flew thousands of miles to keep his fans happy.
We recently had the opportunity to talk to this great Canadian treasure, and he gave some refreshing answers to what makes David Gogo who he is in this industry.

Three years ago, Bill Delingat bumped into me at a Canadian Tire Store, and handed me his cell phone to talk to Bruce Elrod of the flagship Cashbox Magazine in the U.S.A.  We made a deal between the three of us to launch the online franchise here in Toronto, standing between the check out counter and the cookware section. How Canadian is that?

As the year comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to introduce you to the staff that makes Canada’s Premier Online Magazine appear every week for you our readers, both the music fans and the folks who make up our music industry.

The indefatigable Lenny Stoute, the Editor who patiently streams through endless words every week, explaining to enthusiastic writers that 3,000 words is not industry standard, and could we please fact check, and try to learn to use our spell check and grammar aides as well? 

Anyone who has the pleasure of being interviewed by Lenny knows he has a style like none other. Personally, Lenny is my right arm in this venture and I couldn’t do it without him.

The journey of any recording artist is filled with potholes, pitfalls, dead ends, unmarked exits and dangerous turns. The secret to any successful journey is making wise choices and looking at Tonya Kennedy’s steadily rising career, you can see she’s making all the right moves. A native of Newfoundland, now living just north of Toronto in Barrie, Ontario, Tonya Kennedy is poised to take her rightful place in the fabric of the Canadian Country music scene.

He’s the reigning Prince Of Pop, a singin’, dancin’ Beatle bob wearing sixteen year old teen dream, music’s logical successor to Michael Jackson. How did a sweet kid from Stratford Ontario get like that?

Justin Drew Bieber,  born March 1 1994, is the biggest star spawned on YouTube to date, so it’s fitting that his discovery was a random thing. Happened to the kid from Stratford,Ontario when So So Def marketing exec Scooter Braun clicked on a Bieber video by accident and unknowingly unleashed the next Pop Idol of The Universe.. A blown away Braun flew to Canada and persuaded Bieber’s mom to allow the kid to fly with him to meet with r’n’b star Usher at the company’s Atlanta offices.

In short order Bieber was inked to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher, followed by a recording contract with Island Records . The high speed pace here is indicative of what is to come for an artist who will write an autobiography before his sixteenth year is out.

According to Bernard Perusse (The Montreal Gazette) it was the 2nd coming of a legend whose time has come. The first surprise came in 1978 as Garland Jeffreys played the Montreal Forum and “Ghost Writer” became a CHOM-FM and Montreal classic album. Next the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2002 and again in 2004 with 50,000 people in the streets. Now in 2011 in support of a new CD,”The King of In Between”, he burned down Rubin Fogel’s Club Soda!
 But It took Garland Jeffreys to remind us what in we all know is true:
 “Hail Hail Rock n Roll” (Garland Jeffreys)   
Pockets of hate, rockets of love
It’s never too late, the change in the color of
The color of her, the color of him
It really doesn’t matter what skin you’re in
Big yellow taxicab passed me by
Stopped on the next corner to pick up a white guy
The color of you, the color of me
You can’t judge a man by looking at the marquee
Hail hail rock ‘n’ roll comes from r ‘n’ b and soul
Don’t leave me standing in the cold

Sylvia Tyson is an accomplished songwriter, an art that requires telling a story with a beginning, middle and an end all squeezed craftily into a three minute and twenty second capsule. Most songwriters would love the opportunity to expand on that formula and Sylvia has found just that vehicle by writing a novel, “Joyner’s Dream”, (published by HarperCollins) a multigenerational family epic that starts in 18^th century England, goes to Halifax at the time of the Great Explosion and ends in present day Toronto. It spans 200 years in it’s 420 pages and as Tyson said “It didn’t have to rhyme!” In keeping with her background, Tyson’s story, of course, includes a family’s love of music and a certain violin! There is also an 11 song CD of new material, written by Tyson and inspired by “Joyner’s Dream.”

When I asked (Toronto’s Irish Person of the Year) 2010 Hugo Straney how many people he thought were of Irish descent in the GTA, his answer was ‘More claim they have Irish ancestry in Canada than any other group in the world. I believe the statistic would be around 300,000 in Toronto alone.”

With the requisite pomp and circumstance, it was announced that Broken Social Scene, Hedley, Down With Webster and Johnny Reid will all be performing on the Drake-hosted 40^th Juno Award show in the city on March 27.

Shania Twain is confirmed to be on hand for induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and Neil Young has confirmed that he will be here to accept his Humanitarian Award. CARAS president/CEO Melanie Berry described this year’s event as “pretty exciting and pretty star-studded” following the announcement of nominees at a well-attended media scrum at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel yesterday.

The term’ original' gets hurled around a lot and in most cases, it's totally undeserved. Then there's Catl, who went so far back into the roots of the blues they've come out the other side with something quite different.

How many bands can you name who mine the roots traditions of the Twenties, that point in American history when Afro-centric Delta blues was meeting up with Euro-centric Appalachian folk music to create this mutant wild child named country blues that would one day go all rock'n'roll on us? And who else is so elastic in their approach that one member showed up for some random guest shots and was asked to stay the night, every night.

Jamie 'catl' Fleming is the band's guiding light and beneath the laid-back stage persona is a man with a righteous plan. That it was sparked in a used records store sounds perfect for a band steeped in tradition.

"I was always in Rotate This, and I asked Pierre (Hallett) for a good springboard to country-blues-type stuff. He suggested Mississippi Fred McDowell, who just blew my mind. I just got right into that sound, Fred and guys like Furry Lewis, the kind of sound their recordings had, the way they played.

Here we go with The Worthy Dozen Part Two. In no particular order, except that they all deserve the attention, here’s the second  six pack of twelve hearing-worthy Canadian albums whose release may have flown under your personal radar. Happy New Year 2011.

Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Oddities
Outside Music

This collection of rarities and B-sides offers a dozen songs Kate and Anna recorded between 1973 and 1990 but never previously released or released in alternate versions. Arriving shortly after Kate passed on, this recording stands as fitting testimony to the sterling contributions the McGarrigles have made to Canadian music.

The Worthy Dozen-Twelve Albums You May Have Missed But Shouldn’t

Even with all the gloom and doom emanating from the major and minor record companies, new music continues to be released in greater number than ever. Which means as sure as God made minor keys that much worthwhile music gets buried under the torrent. Even with social networking and all, media attention and career breakthroughs come soonest to those allied with the major labels.

In no particular order except that they all deserve the attention, here’s the first six pack of twelve hearing-worthy Canadian albums whose release may have flown under your personal radar.  The other six-pack arrives next week.

Don Graham
A Willing Heart
Breakin’ Records

With all the energy building around the upcoming 40^th Anniversary of the JUNOS, Cashbox had a chance to ask legendary Rock photographer Bruce Cole a few questions on his experiences as a photographer in the Juno years, his start in the industry and few tips for the fans on their next concert shots.

C.B: You started in photography as a teenager? What drew you to it when your friends were probably into sports and girls, teen stuff etc. and what was your first camera?

Cole: My first camera was my dad’s, it was a rangefinder style model made by Iloca of Germany with a Zeiss Lens. The first time I saw a print develop in a darkroom tray, I saw the magic of how a simple sheet of white paper became an image. I was hooked!

C.B: Once you decided to make a career out of it, how did you branch off into the music scene vs. weddings, portraits and news, which would be a normal route for a young photographer?

Thirty Years Later

It is often said that special days in our lives are always remembered, from first love, to the birth of one’s children and then there are those days we wish we could forget but never will as we say “I know exactly where I was when that happened.

This past Wednesday marked the 30^th anniversary of one of those sad days when the man who taught the band to play was gunned down at around 10:50 pm on December 8^th 1980, as he and his wife Yoko returned to their New York apartment in the Dakotas.

Lennon was shot four times in the back by a cowardly, delusional young man named Mark David Chapman at the entrance to the building. Lennon staggered up the five steps to the reception area and fell to the floor, scattering cassette recordings he had been carrying as the Concierge of the Dakota, Jay Hastings ran over to attempt to stop the profuse bleeding.

The sting in the tale of early success is that from there on, the road is guaranteed to be rough and on a gradual down slope. Sorry Justin Beiber but keeping thinking of the money. Andy Kim was kind of a Justin Beiber figure in his day, a 16-year-old dreamer turned darkly handsome dude with a wicked knack for crafting nuggets of pop perfection.

On the eve of his 6^th Annual Andy Kim Christmas Show, the man some folks call ‘Canada’s Neil Diamond’ talks about its genesis and being back in the spotlight once again.

“ In 2005, I hooked up with Ron Sexsmith to write a Christmas song"What Ever Happened To Christmas’. Out of that came the idea of the show and so The Andy Kim Christmas Show was born.” It was meant to be a one time thing when some friends would come up and play. Then I thought if it was going to be an event, it should be of benefit.  When I put it out to other people, the response was gratifying. The first to come on board were Sexsmith and the late, lamented Haydain Neale. With the help and encouragement of so many people, the show went on at the Mod Club in Toronto and that’s where it has lived ever since.”

Quebec born impressionist André- Philippe Gagnon is bringing his 401 voices down the 401 to treat the province of Ontario to his extraordinary talent. His press release bills him as The Man of 400 Voices, so counting his own voice it brings the total number of voices to 401. Perfect for traveling down the 401 Highway from Quebec to Ontario.

When asked how he started doing impressions Gagnon explains, ” As babies we start speaking by imitating the sounds we hear around us and then at a certain age we outgrow that habit. I never did outgrow it!”  He goes on to say “My idol, as a kid, was Mel Blanc who did Bugs Bunny and all those great cartoon voices. I started by doing Tweety Bird and when I did it my brother praised me instead of punching me. That’s when I knew I was on to something!” A shy kid who didn’t enjoy speaking in public, Gagnon found his talent to be a great ice breaker and it put him at ease in those awkward  situations.

Timeless might be the title of the CD, but it is what truly describes Colin Hunter. His effortless way of performing, soft spoken way of telling you of his passion for singing and thoughtful way of looking at his life. Born in Bombay, India, when Cashbox asked how he ended up in Canada, Hunter explains, “I went to the UK for my parents because my Dad had a heart attack and the family needed another wage earner.

“ I immigrated to Canada firstly because my brother had preceded me and liked it, secondly because there was a absolutely stunning lady residing in the apartment building he lived in (I later married and am still married to her). Lastly, I had reached a senior level at British Airways and did not see any future advancement that would or could stimulate my dreams. My parents stayed in the UK.  It really sounds like a song title!”

“Additionally, an interesting fact is I landed in Toronto on July 26 1970 and 35 years later on July 26 2005 I recorded my first CD "Come Fly With Me" to coincide with the launch of Sunwing Airlines in Nov 2005” Hunter says in his own subtle way.  

Setting aside the U.S. Civil War and World War One, each of which had their share of songs that told the story of their generations, it wasn’t until World War Two and the popularity of the old tube radio, that the music of the war reached the masses in great numbers. By 1940 over 95% of households in the northeast section of the U.S. and about 50% of homes in the south, all had radios.

Some of the music from WW 11 was obvious in its content and some were songs that expressed the sentiment of the day in such a way that they became classic love songs decades after the war was over. The obvious ones were the likes of Spike Jones’ “In the Furher’s Face” and Johnny Mercer’s “G.I. Blues” and The Andrew Sisters “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”.

Conjure up any of those three songs and in your minds eye you will see people dressed in forties style clothing, crisply pressed army dress and a vivid impression of the Sisters Andrew in their WAC uniforms rhythmically snapping their fingers and swaying as they sing “the boogie woogie bugle boy of company B.”

Canadian Musical Artist First to Perform at the North Pole To Help Raise Awareness of the Ecological Impact of the Melting Polar Ice Caps.

Parvati, a Canadian musical artist and yoga instructor, took a courageous journey to the North Pole. Parvati’s mission was to bring awareness of the urgent ecological effect of melting polar ice caps.

Charged with purity of heart, clear intention, and the willingness to serve, Parvati has become the first artist to ever perform this far North. There, she offered her songs to help raise awareness of just how quickly the ice caps are disappearing and the powerful impact this is having on the entire planet.