On the Radio

What will we tell future generations about “the radio”? My grandchildren will have a hard time understanding the extent to which radio stations influenced my childhood and teenage years. We scooped the radio waves out of the air with nothing more than a transistor receiver that ran on a nine-volt battery; or with the large…

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Blue Moon

Remember all of those things that you do “once in a blue moon?” Well get ready for a flurry of activity. Friday, July 31, marks the appearance of a blue moon. No, you will not see a change in hue; the moon will still look the same colour. A blue moon is “an additional full…

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There is Nothing to Writing

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” –  Ernest Hemingway I have not yet written a book, but I have written 600 blogs since January of 2009, and each time I sit down to write I am aware I am revealing a portion of myself. The…

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Dead Ringer

Marc Martel has just released a new album and is presently on tour with music from the album entitled, wait for it, Impersonator. Yes, the former Freddie Mercury impersonator has something to say and he says it well. Using just his surname for this new band, he has given us twelve songs about being an…

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Whiplash

You know you have seen an effective movie when you are still thinking about it three days later. Recently I watched the movie Whiplash, directed by Damien Chazelle; starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons (watch the trailer here). The movie is intense and at the end of it I commented to a friend that I…

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Sisters Brothers

I listened to the new “Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors” album, Medicine today. Drew Holcomb is an American singer song-writer who just happens to be married to Ellie Holcomb (nee Elizabeth Bannister), the daughter of singer, song-writer, producer extraordinaire, Brown Bannister. I like the recording a lot and there are some really good songs on…

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Where Can I Go?

The band Petra released an album in 1977 called Come and Join Us which contained the song, “Where Can I Go” written by Bob Hartman. It is another creative meditation on Psalm 139:7-12. Where Can I Go (Words and music by Hartman Robert M; Published by Word Music, LLC) (Listen while you read) I could…

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George Harrison and Copyright Law

There is a common misconception about copyright law. It is often said that one song-writer can sample three bars or less and not infringe the other song-writer’s copyright; but this is not the case. As Alan Korn, an expert in copyright litigation says, “in determining whether one song infringes on another, it is common for…

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April Wine

April Wine is one of those under-rated bands of 70s rock.1 The Canadian band were regularly heard on Canadian pop stations in the 70s and a few American stations caught-on to their sound. They toured with such bands as Nazareth, Rush, and the Rolling Stones. They had a following of their own and at their peak sold…

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