Artist Gary Panter sits in with Randy Randall on the Hyphenate podcast

Gary Panter talks about his artwork and music and the people he encountered along the way. 

Here's the scoop from Randy...

The mighty Gary Panter (Jimbo, Pee Wee's Playhouse, Slash magazine, RAW magazine, album sleeve art for Snakefinger, Zappa, RHCP, etc) is my very special guest on this week’s Hyphenate podcast! You do not want to mis this one! We talk about LA underground comics, The Screamers, Pee Wee, growing up in Texas town and a whole lot more. This is a great episode!

Remembering British jazz saxophone great Dick Morrissey on his birthday

Raising a glass to saxophone ace Dick Morrissey – that's him at the Flamingo above – with a couple of overlooked swingers.

Catl, Kewpie Dolls, Terrible Threes @ Dina's Tavern, Saturday

Catch Catl at Dina's Tavern on a stacked triple bill Saturday (May 9) before they go on their summer European tour. 

CATL + KEWPIE DOLLS + TERRIBLE THREES

at Dina's Tavern (486 Spadina)

Saturday, May 9th at 9 pm (doors at 8 pm)

Tickets $15 advance (plus fees) available here. 

HOLY HOT POTATOES! HAVE WE GOT A LINE UP FOR YOU! Toronto's sexiest rock 'n rollers unite for a night of sweaty fun at Dina's Tavern on the site of the old Silver Dollar Room!

TORONTO ROCK N' ROLLER RATS - THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!

CATL are heading to Europe again this summer, and it just wouldn't feel right if we didn't have a hometown send-off that'll knock all of our socks off!

so we gathered the coolest bands in town...

Kewpie Dolls - Toronto's fierce all-girl foursome

Thee Terrible Threes - super group? or this cities worst garage punk unknowns??

THIS IS A SHOW NOT TO BE MISSED!

Check out a few clips of Catl in action (including some ancient footage shot at the old Silver Dollar) along with a performance by the Kewpie Dolls. 

 

Catl on tour in Belgium, Germany and France 2026

June 26 - BIELEFELD, DE - @extrabluesbar

June 27 - OOSTKAMP, BE - @cowboyup_steakhouse Cowboy Up Music Revival #2 *FESTIVAL*

July 2 - BINIC, FR - @lechalandbinic

July 4 - OSMOY SAINT VALERY, FR - @temple.festival *FESTIVAL*

July 5 - GRAVIGNY, FR- @spore.festival *FESTIVAL*

July 9 - KARLSRUHE, DE - @kohi

July 11 - SURPRISE GUEST APPEARANCE *FESTIVAL*

Goth divas & gothmothers recordings collected for Dressed In Black comp

Cathi Unsworth – author of Season of The Witch – made some unusual track choices for her new goth comp Dressed In Black.  

Dressed In Black: Goth Divas From The Darkside

The 19-track “Dressed In Black” compilation (out June 26 via Ace Records UK) was curated and annotated by Cathi Unsworth, author of the book Season Of The Witch: The Book of Goth – a woman who considers herself fortunate to have had Siouxsie Sioux, Lydia Lunch and Diamanda Galàs for role models while she was growing up. For further illumination in Cathi’s own words, read on.

Cathi Unsworth

“The music gathered here is an aural manifestation of turbulent times, made by women possessed of supernatural abilities. The music I fell in love with emerged from the dark end of the 1970s: The Winter of Discontent of 1978-79, when intractable industrial action left the dead unburied and mountains of rubbish in the streets. All the promise of punk came to a brutal end with the deaths of Sid and Nancy in New York; IRA bombs exploded in central London and a seemingly uncatchable ripper roamed West Yorkshire with 13 murders under his belt. Ill omens that augured badly for the events of 3 May 1979, when Margaret Thatcher became our first woman prime minister. Dressed in blue and ready to whip the country to her heel.

“But at night, malcontent youth were united by forces of opposition, whose dissenting voices were aired across the land on John Peel’s Radio 1 show, set to the sound of slasher guitars, swirling fairground keyboards, loping basslines and percussion that recalled the echo of jackhammers or the march of insect feet. Here, punk’s unruly offspring distilled the dissonance of the times into a new kind of music. Flirting with the fetishist and taboo, drawing upon horror and science fiction imagery, they were the outlaw leaders of the greatest style tribe of the decade: the goths. Dressed in black, these kohl-eyed women voiced the alienation of their generation during the decade of the Cold War, the Miners’ Strike, privatisation and AIDS.

“Reflecting on all this while writing Season Of The Witch, I also began to realize how this music linked to previous generations of gothmothers, going back as least as far as the Industrial Revolution, probably much further. The oldest song you will hear here is Shirley Collins’ setting of ‘Death And The Lady’, which was collected just after World War II but has its roots in the global pandemic of 1348-49: the Black Death. Shirley has spent her long life researching and breathing fresh breath into songs that span time and cross oceans to form an alternative history of events recorded not by the victors of wars but the peasants counting the cost.

“Poison Ivy Rorschach of the Cramps performed a similar service, when she and Lux Interior disinterred a crypt-full of long-forgotten hillbillies and bordello blues singers and re-recorded their songs at Sun Studios, where Elvis cut his first disc. Greek-American Diamanda Galàs, that greatest and most fearless defender of AIDS victims, drew upon the demotiki tradition of her forebears in the hills of Sparta. A teenage Lydia Lunch channelled Billie Holiday’s 1941 version of the notorious ‘Gloomy Sunday’ into big band jazz for the no wave New York of 1980. Perhaps the most distinctive female face of the 80s, Siouxsie Sioux was herself inspired by the enigmatic psychedelic seeress Julie Driscoll.

“To make sense of the absurd is genius enough. But to then cast the glamour of sublime music around those insights – I come back to my point about supernatural abilities. I hope you will find illumination within. You know the dress code.” 

Check out the track listing for the Dressed In Black comp (which you can pre-order directly from Ace Records UK right here) followed by some interviews with Cathi Unsworth for her book Season Of The Witch: The Book of Goth. 

Dressed In Black: Goth Divas From The Dark Side, 1941-2025

1. DO YOU TAKE THIS MAN? - DIAMANDA GALÁS WITH JOHN PAUL JONES

2. NIGHT SHIFT - SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES

3. CAT-HOUSE - DANIELLE DAX

4. SUBTERRANEAN WORLD (HOW LONG...?) - ANITA LANE WITH DIE HAUT

5. CISCO SUNSET - LYDIA LUNCH WITH ROWLAND S HOWARD

6. GARBAGEMAN - THE CRAMPS

7. ROAD TO NOWHERE - JUDY HENSKE

8. ODE TO BILLIE JOE - BOBBIE GENTRY

9. SEASON OF THE WITCH - JULIE DRISCOLL, BRIAN AUGER & THE TRINITY

10. AIN'T NO GRAVE - ANNA CALVI

11. DEATH AND THE LADY - SHIRLEY COLLINS

12. IDIOT MILK - M U M M Y

13. ICEBLINK LUCK - COCTEAU TWINS

14. ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES - THE VELVET UNDERGROUND & NICO

15. DRESSED IN BLACK - THE SHANGRI-LAS

16. GLOOMY SUNDAY - BILLIE HOLIDAY

17. KATIE CRUEL - KAREN DALTON

18. I PUT A SPELL ON YOU - NINA SIMONE

19. ÇA VA "LE DIABLE" - JULIETTE GRECO

Here are a couple of interviews with Cathi Unsworth discussing her book Season Of The Witch 

Celebrate 25 years of Sonic Boom with The Sadies, Badge Époque and more!

The Sadies and The Badge Époque Ensemble top the bill for Sonic Boom's 25th Anniversary Bash at St. Anne's on Saturday at 6 pm.

SONIC BOOM'S 25th ANNIVERSARY PARTY

Wavelength @ St. Anne's Parish (651 Dufferin)

Saturday, May 9th from 6 pm

$40 (plus fees) advance, $55 cash at the door

Ticket link: bit.ly/SBoom25

Don’t miss this mini-fest in honour of Sonic Boom, one of Toronto’s favourite record stores! 

Two floors of fun, specially curated visuals, delicious food + drink, and line-up of local legends

7PM Sun Parker (South Frontenac // archival ambience)

7:35PM Paste (Toronto // anthemic power-pop)

8:10PM The Get Alongs (Toronto // high-energy garage rockers)

8:45PM RroachH (Toronto // indie reverb devotees)

9:30PM Badge Époque Ensemble (Toronto // expert cosmic-jazz collaborators)

10:30PM Kiwi Jr. (Toronto // hazy melancholy rock storytellers)

11:30PM The Sadies (Toronto // Dine Alone Records // country-surf-garage rock legends)

🎉💥🎉💥🎉💥

One For The Weekend: GA-20 featuring Charlie Musselwhite

Blues harp hero Charlie Musselwhite joins GA-20 for their"Blues Now" LP on New West Records. Check out "Crazy Love"

GA-20 with Charlie Musselwhite

Blues Now

Released via New West Records July 31, 2026

BLUES NOW! The title says it all. Blues in all caps – honest, emphatic, and raw. This collaborative album unites GA-20, one of today’s most celebrated young Blues trios, and Charlie Musselwhite, a legendary statesman of the genre. Musselwhite’s name is synonymous with the blues, a harmonica virtuoso and esteemed vocalist with a 60-plus year career forged in authenticity and excellence. Charlie remembers seeing Buddy Guy playing in Chicago back in the early 60s right here. 

GA-20 burst onto the scene in 2018, garnering a quick reputation for dynamic live performance, built on a deep respect for the originators and an enduring commitment to carrying the torch forward. Together with BLUES NOW (New West Records), the Grammy award winning Musselwhite and Billboard chart-topping GA-20 shine with a chemistry that blends the spirit of the Blues pioneers with an electrifying modern energy.

With BLUES NOW, the collaboration between GA-20 and Charlie Musselwhite embodies a living musical conversation that spans generations. It is an ongoing dialogue and testament to the enduring spirit of Blues music. It reaffirms its timeless appeal and reminds us that the Blues is a living, breathing art form. It’s also a hell of a good time. 

You can pre-order GA-20's forthcoming Blues Now LP via Bandcamp right here.  Check out "Crazy Love" off the album below. 

Here's Charlie Musselwhite (far right) sharing a laugh backstage with S.P. Leary (left) and Billy Boy Arnold back in the day. 

Remembering pianist/composer Mary Lou Williams on her birthday

Remembering jazz pianist/composer and mentor Mary Lou Williams with a 1976 interview, a 1978 performance in Nice and more.