| Raising a glass to saxophone ace Dick Morrissey – that's him at the Flamingo above – with a couple of overlooked swingers. |
Saturday, May 9, 2026
Remembering British jazz saxophone great Dick Morrissey on his birthday
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. |
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 |
“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 WitchFriday, May 8, 2026
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. |
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" |
Remembering pianist/composer Mary Lou Williams on her birthday
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| Remembering jazz pianist/composer and mentor Mary Lou Williams with a 1976 interview, a 1978 performance in Nice and more. |
R.I.P. Jesse Hector of Crushed Butler & The Gorillas, 1947-2026
| Sadly, Jesse Hector of proto-punk trio Crushed Butler and pub rockers Hammersmith Gorillas has passed away. He'll be greatly missed. |
Thursday, May 7, 2026
Happy Birthday Terry Allen!
| Cheers to singer/songwriter and visual artist Terry Allen on his birthday! We're celebrating with a few performances. |
R.I.P. Michael Yonkers, 1947-2026
| Sadly, legendary Minneapolis-born outsider artist Michael Yonkers has passed away at the age of 78. He'll be greatly missed. |
From Drag City....
Songwriter, guitar innovator, private press legend and man Michael Yonkers has passed away at the age of 78. We join his fans to send our condolences to his other friends and family. He will be missed, but more importantly, Michael’s music, his DIY musical experimentation and his singular approach to conveying his songs over several dozen independently released recordings throughout his life, will be remembered.
Inspired as a teenager by the hair-raising freedom rock of The Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird” and the degraded electric sounds he heard in old blues recordings, Michael played and recorded mostly in his native Minneapolis in the late sixties and seventies, not being widely heard until 2002, when those geniuses at de Stjil issued The Michael Yonkers Band’s previously unreleased 1968 album, Microminiature Love. This provoked Micheal back into activity, and he reissued his catalog with several labels (including Drag City, fuckin’ A!), while collaborating with The Blind Shake, Plastic Crimewave Syndicate playing shows and making new solo recordings over the next couple decades.
Michael’s remembered for the blunt, bewildering post-garage/pre-power-trio attack of Microminature Love, highlighted by idiosyncratic vocal phrasing, a raw guitar presence in the style of The Kinks’ Dave Davies/Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett and an interest in electronics. There’s much to be said as well for his subsequent 60s-70s releases, which continue down a quirky path in an entirely transformed, one-man-band setting, exploring his brooding and playful sides in an entirely transformed one-man-band setting, their psychedelia expressed more sensually, on an almost spiritual level.
Drag City’s corner of the lore, with the releases Lovely Gold, Micheal Lee Yonkers and Borders of My Mind (with Jim Woehrle), is an enduring source of pleasure around our good ol’ ivory bunker. Michael Yonkers was just the kind of artist our label was formed for. May he rest in peace.
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
Rolling Stones share two new songs from new Foreign Tongues album
| Here are two better-than-expected Rolling Stones songs "In The Stars" and "Rough and Twisted" off Foreign Tongues out July 10th. |
Visit the Rolling Stones site for some live-in-studio footage.
And watch the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon for appearances by Mick Jagger tonight (Wednesday, May 6) doing a lame Real People With Fake Arrms sketch for some reason instead of discussing the new album and Ronnie Wood (Thursday, May 7) replacing Keith Richards originally scheduled to appear. Perhaps he saw how horribly Mick's attempt at comedy went and decided to stay at the hotel and watch the 'Canes take apart the Flyers in Philly instead.
Happy Birthday Jimmie Dale Gilmore!
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| Raising a glass to Jimmie Dale Gilmore on his birthday with a few songs performed with his Flatlanders pal Butch Hancock. |
Kentucky's All Seeing Eyes, Equator, Lunchmeat @ The Monarch Tavern, June 13
| Soledad Brothers fans should check out that Johnny Walker's All Seeing Eyes are putting down at the Monarch Tavern on June 13. |
All Seeing Eyes, Equator, Lunchmeat
at The Monarch Tavern (12 Clinton St)
Saturday, June 13 at 7:30 pm
Tickets: $20 advance
The All Seeing Eyes
Born of a parade, the All Seeing Eyes are the pride of Dayton, Kentucky. The three-piece of multi-instrumentalists developed into the house band at Masonic Sounds Studios in that Kentucky river town. Housed in a Free Mason Blue Lodge, they created the new LP “In Us We Trust”, now available on Mauvias Foi Records (available via Bandcamp right here). The trio was recently defined as “the MC5 of the country blues” by Tav Falco, in the truest of descriptors.
Trone des Fleur, their second LP, is a brilliant follow-up to their debut and is set to explode.
Johnny Walker fronts the band, playing harmonica and guitar. He is the progenitor of the Soledad Brothers, Pearlene, and Cut in the Hill Gang who has toured singing for MC5/DKT. It should be noted that Walker has done session work with the White Stripes, the Detroit Cobras, the Greenhornes, Low Cut Connie and James Leg, and dozens more. Walker has also been championed by noted DJs John Peel and John Sinclair. Kane Kitchen (bass) has been keeping time for Barrance Whitfield and Savages and alt-country singer Jeremy Pinnell. Lance “Lucky” Kaufman is a multi-instrumentalist playing drums and singing for the All-Seeing Eyes. Lucky has toured the world with his trad-rockabilly band, the Star Devils, his collaboration with Cut in the Hill Gang as well as lending his talents to many session recordings and many other bands.
The All-Seeing Eyes was formed to play a party on a parade route for the largest annual celebration in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was quickly realized that the trio could fill the role as house musicians for Walker’s newly established recording studio, Masonic Sounds Studios, across the Ohio river. The All Seeing Eyes began writing and recording their LP in earnest while working in and recording for various artists in the Masonic Sounds Studios. They have played extensively in the Midwest and South of the United States, the UK, and France.
The bands live set has been showcased warming up for Jon Spencer, the Cobras, the Demolition Doll Rods, Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds,Dead Weather, Cedrick Burnside, Tav Falco, CATL, the Melvins, and so on. They have managed to play over 60 shows a year, in spite of Walkers professional obligations as a psychiatrist and MD. The All-Seeing Eyes will be performing at Blues, Psych Rock and Garage Festivals all over the US and Europe in 2026 with a stop in Toronto for a show at the Monarch Tavern with Equator and Lunchmeat on Saturday, June 13. Advance tickets are $20 online @ Leap (Showclix) here.
Check out the All Seeing Eyes below...
Ethio-jazz saxophonist Girma Woldemichael launches new album @ Redwood Theatre, May 9
| Saxophonist Girma Woldmichael will be performing songs from his new Nafqoté album at the Redwood Theatre May 9th. |
Girma Woldemichael
NAFQOTÉ album release concert
Saturday, May 9th at 8 pm
Redwood Theatre (1600 Gerrard St. East)
Tickets: $20 advance, $25 door
Legendary Ethio-Jazz Saxophonist Girma Woldemichael CD Release Concert-Nafqoté Saturday, May 9th at The Redwood Theatre - immersed in the vibrant Ethio-Jazz scene—a genre that fuses Ethiopia’s distinctive pentatonic scales with jazz, funk, soul, and Latin rhythms—Woldemichael performed alongside some of Ethiopia’s most iconic artists, including Aster Aweke, Mahmoud Ahmed, Alemayehu Eshete, and Tilahun Gessesse, and was a member of the renowned Ethio Stars band along with Mulatu Astatke.
Tickets are $20 advance (includes fees) and are available here. Watch Girma's performance of "Yezemede Bada" and more below.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Velour Underground launches May residency @ The Baby G, Tuesday
| Flowers Of Hell members transform into Velour Underground to play your Velvets faves at The Baby G on Tuesdays in May. |
Here's the scoop...
Remembering composer/pianist Stanley Cowell on his birthday
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| Raising a glass to Strata-East co-founder Stanley Cowell with two interviews, performances with Charles Tolliver and two gems. |
Don Byron with NOJO @ The Rex, May 6th thru 9th
| Clarinetist/saxophonist Don Byron will join Toronto's own Neufeld-Occhipinti Jazz Orchestra for four nights at The Rex starting Wednesday (May 6). |
The Rex Jazz & Blues Bar
May 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th at 8 pm
Don Byron and NOJO, the Neufeld-Occhipinti Jazz Orchestra, have played together for almost thirty years, and Don appears on NOJO's JUNO nominated albums You Are Here and Highwire. Don is no stranger to the Rex, having played a number of truly jaw-dropping shows over the years, while NOJO is the brainchild of guitarist Michael Occhipinti and pianist Paul Neufeld, a large ensemble dedicated to performing their bold and memorable original compositions the Globe and Mail called "the sound of surprise." NOJO was the first big band to set up long running residence at the Rex starting in 1995, so it is only fitting that Don and the band are reuniting at the Rex once again. This show is not to be missed!
Get tickets right here: https://www.therex.ca/events/don-byron-and-nojo
Monday, May 4, 2026
Melissa Auf der Maur chats with Nardwuar, Drew and others
| Former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur has resurfaced to plug her new 90s rock memoir Even The Good Girls Will Cry out now. |
Remembering the amazing Sharon Jones on her birthday
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| Remembering soul great Sharon Jones with a few electrifying performances with the Dap-Kings you may have missed. |
Toronto's Patrician Grill is closing after 70 years
| Sadly, Terry Papas will serve up his last club sandwich at the venerable Patrician Grill (219 King St. E) on May 9th at 2 pm. |
Nashville's Sunny Sweeney takes over The Horseshoe, May 10
| Outlaw Country radio host and rising honky tonk star Sunny Sweeney hits Toronto with her Rhinestone Requiem album May 10th. |
| Get your tickets quick for Sunny Sweeney's Toronto show at the Horseshoe Tavern on May 10th right here. |
Sunday, May 3, 2026
Sugar Brown Trio @ The Bell & Beacon, Sunday
| It's blues night at the Bell & Beacon in Parkdale Sunday with Sugar Brown, Nichol Robertson & Galen Pelley at 8pm to 10pm. |
Remembering Conny Plank on his birthday
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| Remembering iconic producer Conny Plank – who passed away in 1987 at the age of 47 – with a documentary and more. |
Saturday, May 2, 2026
Remembering Link Wray on his birthday
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| Raising a glass to the amazing Link Wray on his birthday with a couple of vintage rippers you may have missed. |
Whaddya mean you don't know The Fancy Five
| Check out Theo Kruijt's creepy instrumental "Timbuktu" from lesser-known Nederbeat crew The Fancy Five outta Hilversum. |
Friday, May 1, 2026
Scott B, Alun Piggins, Darryl Gould @ Lola, Friday
| You can catch ace song craftsmen Scott Bradshaw, Alun Piggins & Darryl Gould tonight at Lola in Kensington Market at 8 pm. |
That time Mick & Keef appeared on Rootsman's Rockers TV
| Yep, that's a bearded Mick Jagger (right) with Keith Richards being interviewed by Rootsman Earl Chin for Rockers TV. |
UK's Far Out label reissuing Azymuth's Brazilian fusion LP Outubro on vinyl
| Azymuth's 1980 jazz-fusion classic Outubro is being reissued again on black vinyl by the UK Far Out label on June 5th. |
Here's the scoop...
A landmark recording from Azymuth's prime era, Outubro (named for the Milton Nascimento-composed meditation on "October") is to be reissued on classic black vinyl. First released on Milestone in 1980, the album could stake a claim to be the group's most danceable, home to the insatiable grooves of 'Dear Limmertz' led by the bass bump of Alex Malheiros, Jose Roberto Bertrami's vocoder-enhanced samba jazz gem 'Un Amigo' and UK club classic 'Maracanã' featuring drummer Ivan "Mamao" Conti.
Re-mastered from the original two-inch tapes, this issue provides the optimum means to enjoy Azymuth's expressionist fusion of samba rhythm, jazz progression, funk attitude and ethereal electronics.
Today is Bandcamp Friday so what better time to pre-order the LP ahead of its June 5th shipping date right here: https://azymuth.bandcamp.com/album/outubro. Check out a couple of tracks from Outubro below followed by Azymuth's performance at Lee's Palace in Toronto on June 26, 2025.
One For The Weekend: Oliver James
| Check out the swingin' new Oliver James northern soul-style floorfiller "1-2-3" coming soon on a Colemine 45. |
out via Colemine Records on June 12th
Tennessee's Oliver James, a time-capsule of classic R&B sound.
Raised in a family of musicians and a man who has been performing live since he was a child, Oliver comes to his love of soul music in a most honest and authentic way. Growing up listening to gospel, blues, and R&B from the classic early Stax era, his influences as a musician, songwriter, and producer are clear. After a stint working as a songwriter for Rick Hall, Mr. James is now set to start his own career.
The A-side of Oliver's new single features his first new recording since "One and Only" b/w "But For The Love" was released by Colemine back in 2022. '1-2-3' is an upbeat northern soul swinger which originally appeared on Colemine's limited-run Soul Slabs Volume 4 for Record Store Day 2025. Nick DeVan and guitarist Vincent John (Eraserhood Sound) co-wrote the track; they finalized the instrumentals but were stumped on the lyrics. That's when James was called in, and he used his time working at a church to shape the lyrics that eventually became this number.
The B-side was a collaborative effort with Nashville's gritty-funk ensemble The Gripsweats. It's an earnest song with lyrics inspired by James & DeVan's commiseration. "I'm no stranger to love that I used to know'," laments James; his favourite line of the song. Cushioned by lush string arrangements written by Oliver and Andrew Muller, 'Nothing Is Forever' is a melancholy and heartfelt foil to the A.
Oliver Jones' new single "1-2-3" b/w "Nothing Is Forever" with The Gripsweats (out June 12) is now available for pre-order via Bandcamp right here or right here: https://colemine.lnk.to/clmn239. Check out "1-2-3" below.
| Grab some Gripsweats' 45s directly from Colemine Records right here. Look out for Andrew Muller's DJ nights in Nashville! |
Thursday, April 30, 2026
And You Don't Stop w/ DJ Fase, DJ Chetty @ Churchill, April 30
| Don't miss DJ Fase spinning classic hip hop bangers on vinyl at 1212 Dundas St. West at 10 pm after DJ Chetty's set at 8 pm. |
Happy Birthday Barrington Levy!
| Celebrating the birthday of dancehall reggae ruler Barrington Levy with a couple of performances, interviews and some timeless gems. |
Dollar Bin Delights: Sid Bass' From Another World & Sound and Fury
| Sid Bass adds some "spacey" effects to the typical easy listening fare for his 1956 album From Another World. Sound and Fury from 1957 is slightly better. |
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
R.I.P. Hamilton news anchor Dan McLean
| Sadly, popular Hamilton broadcaster Dan McLean – who delivered the news at CHCH-TV for more than 30 years – has passed away at 78. He'll be greatly missed. |
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CHCH-TV Longtime CHCH news anchor Dan McLean dies at 78





