Imagine the unforgettable repertoire of the legendary Quebec group Harmonium – the eponymous debut album Harmonium, Et si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison and L'Heptade – revisited and orchestrated by talented music arranger Simon Leclerc.

And, now imagine this timeless music performed by 68 musicians of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM), conducted by Maestro Leclerc, and you get Histoires sans paroles - Harmonium symphonique co-produced by Serge Fiori and Simon Leclerc, under the artistic direction of Nicolas Lemieux, president of GSI Musique.

This week we salute the venerable Yonge Street Mission. 381 Yonge St, Toronto 416-977-7259. Open Mon-Fri. 9-5.

The Davis Centre usually feeds 6-800 people a week with its grocery services. Because of COVID-19, chief executive Angie Peters said demand has skyrocketed and the food bank is now stretching to feed nearly twice as many. Between the heightened need and a reduction in fundraising, Ms. Peters said Yonge Street Mission needs an additional $400,000 to cover a budget deficit. She hopes government funding will help with some of the costs, but has also appealed to the public for donations.

Two songs, one classic hit.  Song writing partners and members of The Kings, David Diamond and Mister Zero knew they had two pretty good tunes, but it wasn’t until the band put the songs together as a segue in rehearsal that the magic started to happen.  The 1980 release of This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ to Glide, became The Kings’ breakout rock hit that stayed on Billboard’s Hot 100 for 23 weeks, and today has more than 2 million+ streams on Spotify while the video has 4 million+ views on YouTube. 

On the 40th anniversary of This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ to Glide, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame is pleased to celebrate the song induction that will be presented to Diamond and Zero on Monday, November 2 during a virtual induction airing on Breakfast Television Canada.  The presentation will also include a live-streamed performance by The Kings on stage inside the newly renovated El Mocambo in Toronto.

If I only got a cent for each time I get that question I would have bought a nice flat in the center of London, maybe next to the Queen. No, it’s never the right time or the perfect setting for doing anything. Life would be very easy if it was that way.

I have met so many artists that just sit and wait for the right opportunity and the right place and time/ I have never seen any of these artists succeed or make a career either. I guess your worst enemy is that you think you should do everything in the right order in the right place and suddenly everything will be fine and you will be a superstar.

No, those moments don’t really exist. Hey, you say you read about them in a book about some artists the other week or in a blog post. Yes, there is a right place and time, but they never happen by chance. These moments will happen in a successful artist’s career and you will remember them later. The problem is that you never speak about all the other mistakes you did along the way, you just talk about that moment in interviews and books not what led up to that moment.

This week we spotlight Haven on the Queensway 1533 The Queensway Toronto, Ontario

Hours of Operation: Monday to Thursday 8:30 am to 4:00 pm Phone: 416-640-2005 Email: info@havenontheq.com 

Haven on the Queensway operates a food bank that provides groceries, household products, personal hygiene items and even pet food to anyone in need in the community. Its website lists ways to give including types of goods sought, monetary contributions, and corporate sponsorships. Open by appointment and pick up only due to COVID-19.

Support your local food bank. The need is dire.

Calgary’s rising prog rock entity Arcana has dropped another Single “Tailwind” from his debut Ep, the Space Rock Opera “Letters From A Lost Soul | Act I: The World One Forms”

Premiere Music Video "Tailwind" via Sonic Perspectives Debut EP out November 6^th. Arcana is all Rogan McAndrews (Composer, Co-producer, Guitar, Bass, Vocals) and even the Photo Credit!

Aporia Records has announced the release of Kinnie Starr's original motion picture soundtrack album to the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed film Edge of the Knife (SG̲aawaay Ḵ'uuna).  As the first ever feature-length film produced in the Haida language, Edge of the Knife has delighted film festival audiences worldwide and garnered several notable awards, including Best Canadian Feature Film (VIFF) and Canada's Top Ten (TIFF)

Streaming and download links here:
https://s.disco.ac/cdftnpnwbbav

A new documentary that people should check out is about how social media is disrupting even democracy. And to quote the message that the Harvard professor Shoshana Zuboff says in the movie “Social media should be forbidden”.

If there is anything right now that is killing the music, it’s social media! I have been wondering why I don’t get new songs? Okay, I’m over 35 and that means that your musical taste is set. I’m working in the industry, so I’m used to getting new music submitted to me since it’s part of my daily business. So if I can't find new music how can a normal fan have any chance of finding it?

Before I never had any challenges finding new music. Since the lockdown on COVID, I realized that all the new good music came from outside. Everything I discovered was through showcase festivals where people had curated line-up’s where I could go around like a smorgasbord and just discover new artists. In addition, I had a lot of great people that are creating new things and work really hard that could tip me off about great new artists and music they had found for me to just access.

Multi-award winning soul and blues singer/songwriter Miss Emily has released a live version of her beloved 2014 single release ”The Sellout”.

Check out the “The Sellout” – Live here:

It’s not a one-off; the song lands ahead of the Kingston-based artist Emily Fennell’s forthcoming and first-ever live album release, Live at The Isabel — available October 30th, 2020.

An enthralling compilation of songs, stories, and captivating moments, the live LP is a sonic snapshot spanning two+ years of record-setting sold-out performances at one of Ontario’s most prestigious venues, the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts.

As the first preview for what’s to come, “The Sellout” soars thanks to Miss Emily’s signature breathtaking vocals and Rob Baker and Gord Sinclair’s stellar accompaniments — guitar and bass, respectively.

This week we highlight Bloorcourt. The Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre at 789 Dovercourt Road. It’s a member of The Daily Bread Food Bank and offers drop-in programs and food access almost every day.

Please support your local food bank. The need is dire.

In a world where ‘cultural expropriation’ has folks fussing about food, clothes, hairstyles, even language, refreshing to see music continues on its merry mash up and mix up ways. Case in point, Métis blues artist Ruby Waters, who just released her highly anticipated sophomore EP If It Comes Down To It distributed by The Orchard. The seven track collection includes recent singles "Rabbit Hole", "Quantum Physics", and the focus track "Difficult".

Praised for a voice that evokes shades of Janis Joplin and Amy Winehouse, Ruby’s soulful and unrefined approach on her latest EP guides you through an emotional journey, experiencing gripping and sometimes overlapping themes of pain and pleasure.

HuDost, led by Kentucky-based musicians and activists Moksha Sommer and Jemal Wade Hines, have released a powerful video for their forthcoming single, “Our Words Will Be Louder”.

The new song is a vital message for positive, collective action to be taken in this vulnerable and polarized time. “Our Words Will Be Louder” was co-written with Dan Haseltine (GRAMMY Award-winning band Jars of Clay) and Guitar World magazine’s “Acoustic Guitarist of the Year,” Christie Lenée.

Watch and experience“Our Words Will Be Louder” here:

“What is it like to be a mass shooter? Or a person living with dementia? What plea might a person deeply addicted to opioids make?”

These are just some of the questions indie folk singer-songwriter Scott Garred asks as he approached his new and forthcoming eponymous album, Scott Songs Vol. II, and its newly released preview, “Dementia/Blue”.

Watch and experience this amazing video here:

As a board-certified music therapist working in mental health for over 15 years, Garred has served in state psychiatric facilities, private hospitals, memory care, and prisons; as the frontman for bands Super XX Man and Silver Scooter, and a musician for nearly 30 years, he’s written about thoughts or feelings on a more personal level.

(Part Four of Four)

Another topic to discuss is that people think it’s hard to place songs. After hundreds of placements, I can tell you that it’s not. Still, there is some stuff you need to consider.

Yes, it’s hard to be friends with supervisors and ad-agencies. If you want to be close to them you don’t have the time to be an artist. You need to spend your time between NYC, Los Angeles, and London and make sure you are invited to cool parties to meet all of them to find the latest leads. On top of that, you only have your songs. Okay that is maybe around 50 of them but supervisors need big catalogues of different music and they need it now, so you don’t have the time to write all the things they ask for even when you do get the leads.

This week we spotlight Churches on the Hill Food Bank 230 St Clair Ave W, Toronto. 416-967-3842 christchurchdeerpark.org Tues. & Thurs. open at 10:30 a.m.

Support your local food bank. The need is dire.

Self-styled Montreal eccentric and producer Das Mörtal has released latest single, ‘It Comes’ via Lisbon Lux Records. The single is taken from his upcoming album, Miami Beach Witches which will be released on Halloween. Das Mörtal will also be in the news in the coming months for having participated in the composition of the soundtrack for the next Street Of Rage 4 (SEGA). The planning of both the album and singles upcoming release dates is based around a pagan holiday calendar.

Award-winning Canadian author, filmmaker, and painter Peter Rowe explores stories of musicians in the crosshairs of the authorities — police, border guards, mayors, city councils, the FBI, the Kremlin — in his new book, Music vs The Man is available now.

Watch the “Music vs The Man: Trailer” (90sec) via YouTube Here

Many times, I get the feeling that artists think that I can nag a music supervisor into giving me a placement. That is impossible. Sure, of course, the more people that know about the song the better the chances are. Still, if it is the wrong song it is the wrong song.

A placement is all about supplying the right song in the right place at the right price. So even if you just released this great single, I can’t get a supervisor to take it just because it fits your release plan. They might even want the single that you released three years ago since that fits. Then you just have to go with that or say no. The only time I can be of any assistance is if I have a song that is kind of similar to the one they have chosen but are not really satisfied with it for various reasons.

“Nothing fancy, just the good old blues,” GRAMMY winning guitar master Duke Robillard says of his new album, Blues Bash — available November 20th, 2020 via Stony Plain Records.

To know Duke is to know he would say that, but there’s no downplaying this instant career highlight from one of the world’s best bluesmen.

Preview “Do You Mean It” Video & Single via Stony Plain Records Here