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Well it’s not quite 40 below

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Ok, I fully realize what season we’re in but, holy shit it’s cold out there! Especially past my warmth of our living room door. Even the dog is not interested in staying outside any longer then she has to, and she’s a Labrador Retriever.

During these early days of February one can expect long, cold and cloudy days. You completely understand what the temperature actually feels like, even though your a bit fuzzy on how they actually achieve it, that little confusing thing they call the Wind Chill Factor.

Just a days ago I was taking the dog outside in front of the house for one of her many bathroom breaks and I came across one of our neighbours walking by the house. The conversation was very quick BTW consisting of Wow, it’s not all that bad out now is it and his response was Not all that bad really. When I came back in I looked at the temp on the weather network and it said that it was -14 (C) and -24 with the wind chill!

I wouldn’t even think about taking any of my guitars outside. Not even if I wrapped the guitar up BEFORE I put it in it’s case, wrap a towel around that and have the car all toasty warm inside eagerly waiting our arrival!

So all we have to do is sit back and look at the calender, it’s almost summer now isn’t it? If that fails to warm up your hearts, you can always go out and get yourself some ruby slippers, out them and start clicking your heels together saying “There’s now place like summer … ”

Keep on Jammin’





Catching Neil Young in Toronto

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I went to see Neil Young the other day at the ACC (Air Canada Centre) in Toronto and I was not disappointed! Neither was anyone else that attended.

My brother in-law Steve won the tickets when he was in Toronto a week ago visiting a dear friend having open heart surgery. He was there as moral support for her husband who just hates being in Hospitals.

The night he was down, Steve and the patients husband went to a bar across the street from the hotel that he was staying at for a beer, a laugh and a bit of a distraction.

There was a draw for some Neil Young 2 tickets (way up in the nose bleeds) and he won them! He needed someone to go with, so he choose me!

The tickets are not as bad, as one would think. They to the right of the stage and we were around 20-30 seats away from the roof of ACC. With vantage point that we had, we could see the side of the stage, the ramp that Neil and boys came in on and we could see his equipment and his foot pedals. The position of our seats were also more in front of the stage then behind. There was some big screens to show the more intimate close ups of him and his band which was a nice touch.

The set that night was a nice collection of his classics and some from his latest album! Of coarse his early stuff was fabulous that goes without saying, but to tell you the truth, his new tunes were just about as good! The best song of the night was his encore. He played, with his wife on stage the whole night, A Day in the Life by the Beatles and the place went BANANAS!!! I never in a zillion years would think that he would do this classic tune, but only great ones always keep you thinking … and he didn’t disappoint us this night!

So overall I give the show two big thumbs up!

The 1980s band called Toronto

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Toronto is one of the many favorite 1980’s bands that I enjoyed listening to and playing during that same time period.

Toronto had a sound that was a nice mixture of both Rock and Pop. I guess the best way to sum up their timbre, is to call it Melodic Rock. The band’s tunes stayed playing in the back of my mind, long after the music was turned off. Even today, every time I hear anything from them, it just brings back some great memories and really, isn’t that what music is all about?!

The band that I played many Toronto songs with, didn’t have a name back then. They were (the drummer) Domenic Nardone, a female bass player (who for the life of me I cannot remember her name right now), Eddie S. (guitar) and myself. We practiced this material over and over again until Eddie, who was the youngest in the band, started to flip out once in a while and go all heavy metal on us! This was just his way of getting back at us, I think?! In his mind, he thought that practicing was just to get together and JAM like wild men! The bass player sang like Holly Woods perfectly and she also had some decent bad bass chops, not as intricate as Chris Noto! This women had a some good ear training.

Even the score, Girls Night Out and Start telling the truth (which I really wanted a keyboardist for the band to play this one but couldn’t find one in our area) were just some of the fabulous dishes that this band served us up during in their hey day.

At the time there were so many other great bands out there, flying through the airways, that took away some of Toronto’s thunder. The music wasn’t all that technical, the structure of the songs did not challenge the imagination that much, but they had that certain harmonic gift, that made me always want to hit the repeat button over and over again!

So here I hope to jog some of your musical memories, out of the old brain box, for some of you fellow Toronto fans. And I know your out there!

Toronto the band maybe gone, but their certainly not forgotten!
Keep on Jammin’

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