Concerts

Once, maybe fifteen years ago, I made a list of all the artists I had seen in concert, expecting I would eventually forget.  Now I've lost, misplaced, or thrown out my list and I probably have forgotten many of the concerts I've seen.  Especially in the late 70's and early 80's, when I would attend just about every concert in the city.

Prices were so cheap in those days.  I've got lots and lots of ticket stubs, and I rarely paid more than twenty bucks for a concert.  Two years ago I paid over $500 for my daughter and I to see Paul McCartney.  Times have changed.  If a concert is fifty or sixty bucks these days it seems like a steal!

So let's see, the first concert I can remember seeing was the Three Stooges.  In the early sixties the Stooges were big again from the TV reruns and, while they were still young enough, went on the road.  I saw them, with my cousin and our families, at the Canadian National Exhibition Grandstand.  I was, I guess seven or eight-years-old, and I still remember bits of it.  Technically, it was a concert--they sang and did routines for the audience, mostly kids and their parents, just like me.  My Dad took a picture but, without a zoom lens, you don't see much, believe me.

My Dad took my brother and me to see Johnny Cash at the CNE Bandshell a few years later.  It was probably 1965 or 66, as his Orange Blossom Special album was fairly new.  At the time I wasn't much of a fan so I don't remember too much about this concert.  My Dad took a picture of this show too and, even though he still didn't have a zoom lens, we were pretty close and you can tell who it is.  Twenty-seven or so years later I saw Johnny Cash again, this time with my wife at Massey Hall.

In the summer of 1969 I was fourteen years old, and got to two concerts on my own.  I saw the Guess Who in the Automotive Building at the CNE.  To me they were big stars (I watched them every Thursday afternoon on CBC) and was shocked when I saw them setting up their own instruments on the stage and nobody in the audience seemed to care, or even recognize them.

That same summer I saw the Monkees at the Grandstand.  By then their TV show was over, and Peter Tork had left the group.  I was still pretty excited to see Micky, Mike and Davy doing their hits with a backup band.  I saw the Monkees twice more, once in 1986 and again in the early 90's, but by now Peter had rejoined, and Mike had left.  I've seen all the Monkees, just not all at once.  All three times they had a backup band, but they all played instruments throughout.

I took my sister to see the Osmonds, David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman at different shows at the CNE Grandstand over the years.  Lots of screaming teenage girls, as you would expect.

I could just give you a long list of all the concerts I've seen, but that would sound a bit too much like bragging.  I'm sure many of you could write a similar list too.  So here are the main ones, and some thoughts.

My wife and I saw Frank Sinatra.  He played in Niagara Falls NY in 1990.  He was 74, so a little past his prime, but it was magic being in his presence nevertheless.  He was using a teleprompter for the lyrics, which is a great idea, if you ask me.  And of course, a kick ass band led by Frank Sinatra Jr.

We saw Cab Calloway twice, once at Massey Hall and once at Roy Thompson Hall.  He was in his eighties but man, he could still blow the doors open with the force of his voice.

I saw Queen three times (I think), with Freddie Mercury of course.  The Who a couple of times.  Michael Jackson, with his brothers.  Bruce Springsteen.  Madonna, three times.  David Bowie. etc.

There were lots of great concerts, for free, at Ontario Place, before they tore down the Forum.  I saw Chuck Berry there.  I thought he was so old.  It was 1977.  I was twenty-two, Chuck was fifty-one.  Six years younger than I am now.  Heck, he was just a kid!

I saw the Mamas and the Papas there.  Well, the Papas were there, John Phillips and Denny Doherty.  The Mamas were Mackenzie Phillips and Spanky McFarlane so, not the originals unfortunately.  I saw the Turtles there, the Cowboy Junkies, Lighthouse, the Smothers Brothers and lots of others.

After my third Madonna concert, at the SkyDome, I swore off big concerts for a while.  The place was packed (25 000?) and the streets were insane after.  It took hours to get home.  It was a lot easier at Maple Leaf Gardens, where her previous two shows had been.  Maple Leaf Gardens was a pretty good place for a concert, as long as you had good seats.  If you were up in the grey seats, well, you may as well have stayed home.  Especially in the days before video screens.

I'll go see big shows again, now that I have a teenage daughter.  I remember how I enjoyed concerts at her age, and I still do.  In 2010 my wife and I took her to Ontario Place (no longer free) to see Rihanna and Ke$ha.  Great concert, lots of fun, but again, forever to get out of the parking lot after the show.  I don't care so much any more, I expect it now.  I guess I've gotten mellower, and more patient with age.

As I mentioned earlier, my daughter and I saw Paul McCartney a few years ago.  I like to tell people that we went all the way to Montreal to see him, but the truth is that we were visiting Montreal, just for fun, absolutely no idea that Paul McCartney was playing,  I heard the news on TV, on the local segments of Canada A.M. on CTV.  I checked on my computer, and discovered the concert was tonight, and a whole bunch of possibly obstructed view tickets had just gone on sale.  The seats were great, close, and not obstructed in the least (although directly on the side of the stage).  We almost got sunburned from the fireworks during Live and Let Die.  Amazing concert, we enjoyed every second of it.  It was a nightmare getting away from the Bell Centre and back to the hotel but, we were on holidays, who cares?

Now that I live just outside Toronto I see lots of concerts at the General Motors Centre in Oshawa.  I saw John Fogerty and John Mellencamp last year there, and it's never a problem to get home.  I took my daughter and her friend to see Marianas Trench, Down With Webster, and Crystalyne there.  A few years back my wife, daughter and I went to see Bob Dylan.  That might have been a mistake, but Bob is a legend, and playing right near my home, so I had to go.  My wife and daughter could have stayed home though...

The Grandstand is gone too, but the CNE still has plenty of free concerts every summer at the Bandshell.  My daughter and I saw 3OH3! last summer, and my wife, daughter and I saw Glen Campbell the summer before.

I like female jazz singers these days,  I saw Emilie-Claire Barlow a couple of times last year.  I hope she plays somewhere close to me again this year.  I saw my current favourite singer, Nikki Yanofsky three times in the last few years, and I have great tickets to see her again this June in downtown Toronto at the TD Jazz Festival.  I also listen to Sophie Milman, Alex Pangman and Susie Arioli, and I hope they play somewhere I can get to soon.

I also have a long list of bands and singers I somehow missed over the years.  As many times as the Rolling Stones have played Toronto, I somehow never managed to see them.  Paul McCartney remains the only Beatle I've ever seen.  Never saw Elvis (Presley, saw Costello a few times), the Beach Boys, Paul Revere and the Raiders.

Anyway, as I said before, you need good seats.  The Internet is a great help there.  As long as you keep up on the news, and your favourite artists' websites and Twitter, you'll know when a concert is coming up in your area.  Make sure you know when tickets go on sale, and if there might happen to be a presale.  Just about every concert sells ticket online as well--go on the ticket or venue's website right away when tickets go on sale.  It's worth it!

And don't despair, last minute is not always too late.  Obstructed view tickets don't always mean you won't be able to see, it just means you won't get the best view.  My sister and I went to see Queen once with obstructed view tickets, and sat behind the stage.  We could see just fine, we were really close, and Freddie occasionally turned around and acknowledged, and sang to us.  And, like at the Paul McCartney concert in Montreal, tickets are not sold until the stage is set up because they may be obstructed by equipment.  Once the stage is set up, they are usually released, a day or two before the concert.  And they could be the best seats in the house, if you don't mind a side view.

A camera with a zoom lens is a good thing to have.  Some halls and arenas won't allow cameras with detachable lenses but a point-and-shoot is usually allowed.  My camera has a 10x zoom lens, and that's pretty good for taking pictures at a concert.  More zoom would be better, but you have to hold the camera a lot steadier.  It also helps to learn how to manually set your exposure speed too.  I find setting it to 1/30th of a second is pretty good for most photos, but sometimes 1/25th or 1/40th is better.  Play around with it and learn.  I took the two photos above with my little point-and-shoot.

If you love music, you've gotta love concerts.  Excellent sound (usually--depends on the venue), no compression, your favourite artists in living colour and 3D.

Let me know great concerts you may have seen, or your thoughts.  As always, you can reply here, or email me directly at macblanc@gmail.com.  See you next time!

Illegal Downloads

Yeah, illegal downloads.  It seems like everyone is doing it these days.  I showed my teenage daughter how a few years ago, now I'm sure she's way ahead of me in knowledge--how and where.

But I'm against it.  Musicians need to make a living too.  They spend a lot of money on recording studios, expensive instruments and equipment, lessons (sometimes) and spend years getting their sound the way they want it.

After all, you wouldn't shoplift, would you?  Well, most of us wouldn't anyway...  So why is it okay to steal music?

I try really, really hard not to.  I have an iTunes account for when I need one song, usually for a show I'm doing the music for.  And I still buy CDs.  I've always spent a lot of money on music, and that hasn't changed.

But I still do the odd *illegal* download.  And, in my mind it doesn't qualify as illegal.  Here's why.

I've been buying records since the 60s.  And I still have every record I've ever purchased.  I have, literally, tens of thousands of records in my basement.  Everything from 78s, 45s, 33s to CDs.  I still have a garage full of cassettes, from when my wife and I had cassette decks in our cars.  The cassettes are still there, even though we've both had CD players for the last eight years.  Heck, I even have a few 8 Track tapes in there, I'm pretty sure.

I still have a turntable, and I can connect it to my computer.  Is that illegal?  Hmm, I don't think so, at least not in Canada it isn't.  So, let's say I need "Norwegian Wood" by the Beatles for a show.  The only Beatles CDs I have are: Love, 1, Yellow Submarine Songtrack, the Anthology series and Live at the BBC.  Norwegian Wood isn't on any of those.  So I guess I'll have to get my old LP out and record it onto my computer.

But wait.  Back in 2009, someone posted all the Beatles albums on the Internet.  And, while they were there, I downloaded them.  After all, I already bought them, and paid for them.  The songs are exactly the same.  Some would argue that my vinyl sounds better than the 320kbps MP3 files, some would argue the MP3 files are better.  I'm not getting into this argument--what I'm saying is, whether I play the song from my vinyl record, or play the MP3, is the audience at the theatre going to know the difference?  Or care?

Some people WOULD notice the snap, crackle and pops from the vinyl record.  And I could use a programme that would eliminate many of them, and I could go through the WAV file slowly and delete a whole bunch more.  But why should I, when the MP3 is already as good as it gets?

Anyway, I'm not saying I never illegally download, but I try not to.  Especially with new or young artists.  Mick Jagger probably doesn't need any more of my money.  But young artists, just starting out, trying to make a living, I think they deserve the support.  I mean, don't steal Mick Jagger's music either, but I think you know what I mean.  Mick won't starve or have to work at McDonald's if you don't buy his next album.

Anyway, I still like having a physical CD.  Yes, it's a lot smaller than the old 12" square LPs but there is still a cover photo, and a back cover photo with a list of the songs and most of the time a booklet with lyrics, more photos, credits, sometimes a bio...  And you'll always have the music--if you buy a new computer you just rip the CD onto it.

And iTunes is great too.  For 99 cents, or $1.29 you get a song.  That's cheaper than  a 45 would be if it still existed.  And it's legal, and everyone gets paid.  Win win.

Back in the 50s artists would do concert tours because it was the only way some of them would make any money.  I guess there were a lot of crooked managers, producers and record companies then, and very little money seemed to trickle down to the musicians.  Perhaps it will get like that again, where artists really don't make very much money from their recordings, and have to play concerts to make a living.  We get to see our favourite artists in the flesh, there's usually a lot of excitement and merchandise for sale (often at ridiculous prices, I'll admit).  Is that what the future holds, again, for our pop stars of the future?


What do you think?  Can you justify stealing music?  Is it really stealing when it's so easy?

Speaking of concerts, next time let's talk about them.  If you have any great memories or opinions let me know and I'll include them.  Email me at macblanc@gmail.com.  Until next time I'm

Michael,  20 February 2013

Introduction, and what's to come...

Hey everyone!  My name is Michael, and I am a sound designer for live theatre.  This means that I make the sound effects, and choose the music for the theatre's productions.  I've been doing this for over twenty years, and I'm always a little upset about how little there is on the Internet to help me.

It has gotten better.  There are lots of sites now that have sound effects posted.  Sometimes one is perfect.  Usually I have to mix a couple, slow them down, or speed them up, or play with the pitch until the director is happy.

As well, it has gotten easier to find lists of songs.  I have a pretty encyclopaedic knowledge of music, but I always forget a song or two.  And, I really only know pop music (from the last 80ish years) and quite often I have never heard a perfect, say, country song, because I only know the most popular/crossover country hits.  So if I have to do a show about job loss, for example, there can be a lot of songs in the country field that are just right that I've never heard of.

If you are a sound designer, maybe we can help each other.  I keep CDs of all the shows I've done.  You never know when you're going to need a helicopter, a gunshot, a needle scratching along a record, etc. again.  And some things are next to impossible to find.  I needed the sound of footsteps on a metal staircase for a show.  There was, according to the script, a metal staircase just offstage, and lots of traffic up and down during the show.  Well, could I find this anywhere?  NO!  Wooden stairs were no problem, but not metal stairs.  Just when I thought I would have to find a metal staircase somewhere and bring my recording equipment, and get my daughter to go up and down a few times, another sound designer I am acquainted with told me he thought he had the sound on a CD somewhere.  He found it, and emailed it to me.  It wasn't exactly what I needed but it was close enough.  I was able to speed it up, slow it down, make it sound heavier, and lighter, and make it into groups of two, three and more, as the script called for.

And let's talk about music.  Let's talk about our favourite performers, present and past, concerts we've seen, new albums (CDs--okay, I'm old), music in general.  What do you listen to today?  Oldies are easy--I listen to lots of oldies due to my job.  The theatre I work in is a dinner theatre, and you probably know what that means--lots of comedies, lots of farces, and generally the audience is over 60.  Lots of bus tours from the local old folks' homes.  So really, not a lot of appreciation for Lady Gaga in our audiences.  But what NEW music do you listen to for enjoyment?

I had a friend recently (on Facebook) saying how much she used to love music, but there was NOTHING for her today.  Everything was autotuned, and therefore annoying.  I disagreed with her.  Sure, lots of stuff IS autotuned.  But that's not all that's out there.  Maybe on some radio stations.  And I guess that's another problem--radio today.  You are either a "hit" station, playing nothing but today's teen and young adult hits, or you are an oldies station playing music of the 60s and 70s (or whatever).  But it's pretty hard to find a station that plays today's music, that isn't aimed at my daughter and her friends.

Anyway, let's talk!  I'll post again in less than a week, I promise!  And let's not do gossip, and insults and stuff.  There are a lot of websites out there for that.  And, to avoid legal problems, let's not post music.  You can find just about anything you want on YouTube so if we are talking about, let's say, Chuck Berry and you're not sure who he is, check out YouTube.  You can probably find a hundred videos there by him.  Pictures are probably okay, although I suppose there can be problems with those too.  If anyone owns any photo that I publish and wants me to remove it, I will, as soon as I can.

You can respond to this below or, if you want to do it privately, email me at macblanc@gmail.com.  Talk to you again soon!

--Michael, 19 February 2013