I Got Mine: The Story Of Jackie Shane - A CBC Radio Documentary

It's been a long time coming for this. I'm proud to have helped Elaine Banks put together this story of a lost chapter of Toronto music history.

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CBC Radio's Inside The Music presents I Got Mine, the story of the soul and R&B singer named Jackie Shane.

Shane was one of the most popular singers in Toronto's thriving R & B scene of the mid-sixties. He was a remarkable figure for his day: he was openly gay and a cross dresser with a flair for fashion. Shane's magnetic charisma and passionate performances made him a favourite of a generation of Toronto club goers.

This first-ever biography sheds some light on an important figure and time in Toronto's music history. Interviews with Jackie's friends and band mates detail his influence on a generation of musicians and performers, and speak of a legacy which extends beyond the realm of music.

I Got Mine: The Story Of Jackie Shane airs Sunday February 28 at 3PM Eastern Time on Radio 2 and 9PM on Radio 1. Please spread the word! It is not scheduled to be podcast at this time.

Written, produced and narrated by Elaine Banks.
Editing and sound design by David Dacks.

How to listen:

In Canada:

On FM radio: find your frequency here: http://www.cbc.ca/frequency/
On Sirius satellite Channel 137: http://www.cbc.ca/sirius/index.html

Everywhere else:

Online: http://www.cbc.ca/listen/index.html

Or: http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/programs.html?INSIDE_THE_MUSIC - go to "listen now" in the right-hand column

http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/programs/insidethemusic/

Freedom Of Community - In Pictures

Blogger's giving me a hard time with layout... sorry


Alaniaris 6:20PM

Scott Thomson - 7:10PM

Kyle Brenders & Susanna Hood - 7:05

Odradek - 7:40PM

Blanche Exposures

Our Nuit Blanche Saturday night special - Radio Blanche - was a tremendous success, Thanks to all who participated.

The Irie Band started the evening with rock solid roots and dub on CIUT's outdoor stage. A crowd materialized quickly from the steady stream of pedestrians on St. George St. Back inside the building, the mixing board and 'dub table' were set up. At midnight Ravi Naimpally and John Kameel Farah duetted on tabla and Rhodes/Nord Lead with discreet dub moments. Steve rocked the decks, while I took the dub table for a spin. At around 1:30 the Music Gallery phoned in with (I think) Nick Storring on cello. It was a bad yet interesting connection (as I'd hoped) to which I added effects, clarinet, dumbek and Bryon Gysin talking about mucus. This lead to the guitar duets between Colin Fisher and Nilan Perera. Each was stationed in a different studio and couldn't see the other, but the music they made was remarkably fluid and simpatico. The second of their duets grew from them vamping over an Orchestre Baobab track to almost thirty minutes of free form, soulful electronics.

Glissandro 70 stopped by at 3:45 AM and Craig Dunsmuir played a "cough syrup" set as he described it, going heavy on the spring reverb of my battered Audio Technica mixer. Sandro Perri laid down the next, then Craig took us all higher with a funky throwdown until well after 5. Steve played once again, then it was over to Nadja via phone from 1116 King West. This phone connection was better quality, and the heavily compressed doomy drones amplified by a cavernous space (Sandro remarked that there was a second and a half natural delay in there) sounded sublime in the studio. The transition into Timbre Timbre was amazing, as Taylor opened with slowly modulating white noise. His quiet, folky and resolutely electronic set was the perfect ending to the night.

One more thing - thanks to the University of Toronto police for responding to the noise complaint (wtf?) about CIUT's outdoor speaker, and for not informing us that you went to the trouble to disconnect the speaker yourselves. Perhaps our noise was too weird to be art, unlike the other installation 100 metres up the street.

Members of the Irie Band and friends in front of the outdoor stage

Steve Birek aka Guy Stevos (image courtesy of Steve)

Dubwise Dacks (image courtesy of Steve)

Colin Fisher in session

Nilan "Gene Simmons" Perera

Sandro Perri close to the edit

Timbre Timber near the end

Radio Blanche - An All Night Contemporary Radio Thing!

Feelin' lazy so here's the press release:



On Nuit Blanche, Saturday September 29, it’s going to be carte blanche on CIUT-FM.

CIUT-FM, Toronto’s leading campus community radio station, has brought 20 years of boundary-pushing programming to the airwaves of the Greater Toronto Area. On Saturday September 29, join CIUT from 10PM until 7AM the following day for a very special, experimental broadcast to coincide with the second edition of Toronto’s all-night art happening, Nuit Blanche.

CIUT will present a fluid, ever-changing exploration of rhythm and sound. Utilizing all three studios in CIUT headquarters and an outdoor stage, live musicians will combine with DJing and dub mixing to create a sonic maelstrom. Wherever you are on Nuit Blanche, tune in to CIUT – it’s the largest-scale event of the night!

Confirmed so far are:

The Irie Band (powerhouse contemporary roots dub)
Glissandro 70 (Afridelic Arthur Russell disciples)
Timber Timbre (roots-infused call and response sound looping system)
John Kameel Farah - keyboards
Colin Fisher – saxophone, electric guitar
Nilan Perera- electric guitar, mixology
Ravi Naimpally – tabla, percussion
Steve Birek (of CIUT’s “Electric Sound Basement”) – mixology

…and more to come!

And your ringmaster, the host of “Abstract Index” Wednesdays 6-8 PM, David Dacks, DJing and mixology.

Canadian Reggae Summit

Tomorrow marks the 5th Canadian Reggae Summit. JuLion of Canadian Reggae World stopped by this past Wednesday and promised "the greatest night in Canadian Reggae history". What a salesman...

It will be a very worthwhile event, though. Farley Flex will be the keynote speaker, although he is not generally associated with reggae, it will be interesting to hear his take on the challenges that face "Urban" artists in Canada. DB Hawkes will be receiving a lifetime achievement award for his countless hours of recording and promoting reggae artists. I will, alongside Patrick Roots, DJ Chocolate of CKLN and Natty B of CHRY, be participating in a demo derby - I've never even seen one of those, so I'm keen.

Also this weekend, if you're out in the northwest part of Toronto, be sure to check out urbanNOISE festival. It's at the North Kipling Community Centre.

Wavelength Panel-versary

Wavelength, Toronto's long-running indie rock and beyond series, will be celebrating its seventh anniversary next week. How far beyond indie rock does it get? Come to a special panel examining the topic "Diversity: Our Strength?" next Thursday (February 8) and we'll see.

I'm very grateful to Jonny Dovercourt for inviting me to participate in this discussion. My fellow panelists - Sara Saljoughi, More Or Les, Rosina Kazi and Mr. Dovercourt himself - are just as excited. The moderator for the affair is Misha Glouberman.

Here are the details:

Panel Discussion - Diversity: Our Strength?

At the panel discussion for the launch of Coach House Books' The State of the Arts: Living with Culture in Toronto (uTOpia vol. II), moderator Misha Glouberman made a provocative suggestion regarding Toronto's cultural identity. He suggested that the two things that people are most excited about when they talk about Toronto – our multiculturalism and our vibrant arts scene -- rarely cross over, at least in public perception. Indeed, the independent arts community of which Wavelength is a part, is primarily composed of white downtowners. There are other arts and cultural scenes in the city we're barely aware of. Why are we "indie kids" unwilling or unable to engage in a dialogue with the rest of the city? Rather than debate this question or point fingers, at this panel we seek proactive solutions, and posit that an intercultural exchange between communities may not only strengthen Toronto's social fabric, but may also result in some exciting and uniquely Torontonian art. How can we work to make this happen?

Solutions... well, we'll see about that.... We all got together last Tuesday though, and I guarantee an interesting discussion.

Here's the Stillepost thread about the panel and, oh yeah, the MUSIC involved in the festival.

Hope to see you there!