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| From | "Jaimie Vernon" <bullseyecanada@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Songs of Toronto |
| Date | Mon, 31 Mar 2003 02:03:31 -0500 |
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In today's Toronto Star there was a feature article on the front page of the
Metropolis section written by author Dave Bidini ("On A Cold Road") and
renowned guitarist for The Rheostatics. The premise of the piece is the '50
Songs of Toronto' by way of Dave's personal experience. No criteria. Just
personal picks of classic songs that remind him of Hogtown.
The #1 song, ironically, was London, Ontario's The Demics and their
somewhere-over-the-rainbow-inspired "New York City".
Bullseye Records has three of its artists in this Top 50:
Goddo, Bob Segarini and The Kings.
Indirectly we have another three:
Dave Rave (as a member of Teenage Head), Walter Zwol (who was the leader of
Brutus) and The Diodes (whose third album we plan to release this year).
Here are the quotes:
#40. "(SO) WALK ON" - GODDO
Goddo had a management team that handled Long John Baldry, Angela Bowie, and
Cathy MacDonald. One night we were playing at Uncle Sam's in Niagara Falls,
and they tried to get Clive Davis, head of Arista Records, to come to see
us. The place was jam-packed; Goddo was in its heyday. All night we kept
looking out into the crowd, thinking, "Where are they? Where are they?" What
had happened was, they picked up Clive in New York and flew him to Buffalo
on the night of the worst snowstorm of the year. The plane sat on the tarmac
for three hours where Clive fought with his boyfriend. What the management
should have done was take Clive and his boyfriend to the hotel and say.
"Let's do this another night." But instead they drove them to our gig. When
they got to the club, the boyfriend got out and came in and the place was
going gaga. We were in the middle of an encore, people were going nuts.
Clive David refused to get out of the car. He sat there and wouldn't sign us
on the principal that the band had ruined his evening. [excerpted from Greg
Godovitz's book 'Travels With My Amp'].
#37 "DON'T BELIEVE A WORD I SAY" - SEGARINI
On marble vinyl, from 'Gotta Have Pop'. In the '80s, Toronto had some great
radio shows: The Edge of Night, The Iceman, The Six O'Clock Rock Report, The
Eclectic Spirit. (Bob) Segarini, I believe, was on all of them!
#28 "NEW YORK (I LOVE MY CITY)" - ZWOL
One in a series of tributes to the Big Apple, back when musicians were too
frightened and wary to sing about home. Of the second Rheostatics demo,
(Walter) Zwol once advised: "It's good, but it's all wrong!!"
#9 "THIS BEAT GOES ON/SWITCHIN' TO GLIDE" - THE KINGS
Like Max Webster, The Kings walked the suspension bridge between CHUM's Hard
Rock and CFNY's New Wave. This delicious pop triptych ("This Beat Goes On"
was grafted by producer Bob Ezrin) arrived in the summer of '79 when The
Kings played HEATWAVE, the New Wave's Woodstock, taking the stage after
Costello and the Talking Heads, playing to a sea of backward denim. That
day, Nick Lowe of Rockpile told the crowd: "There's been three babies born
here today and they'll all be named 'Heatwave'!".
#5 "TIRED OF WAKING UP TIRED" - THE DIODES
The Beatles of Toronto New Wave, but what happened? Lots of bands born too
early were required to throw themselves across the highway so that Matthew
Good could make a living. Such is the nature of progress, I suppose, in
industry as in rock and roll. But, in 1979 there was no industry. Just clubs
and a few people. And music like a meat hook.
#3 "LET'S SHAKE" - TEENAGE HEAD
In 1978 they sounded like THE GREATEST BAND IN THE WORLD. And then: the
accident. This hippy shaker came post-Ontario Place riot, drawn from an
album named for a place that wasn't: 'Frantic City'. Still, the band and its
fans emerged at a time when a huddle of 300 kept the threat of rock and roll
alive in the face of Bay Street Orange Toronto. "Let's Shake" was more
apropos of its time than "Kissin' The Carpet" but both are great tunes.
Jaimie Vernon,
President,
http://www.bullseyecanada.com
#1 West Hill Dr., Toronto, ON
M1E 3T4 Canada (416) 284-7067
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