Book excerpt two

Vancouver got its shot of rhythm and blues from Calgary.“The Calgary Shades — Tommy Melton, Tommy Chong, Bernie Sneed, Wes Henderson and Floyd Sneed,” Bill Reiter,  instantly rattles off their names. Reiter, who ran a record shop in Chinatown and...

Book excerpt: chapter one, the beginning

A wop ba-ba lu-mop a wap bam BOOM The explosion that was rock “n” roll felt around the world caused only minor tremors in Vancouver.It was an adult life then. Grown ups waltzed to big bands led by Lance Harrison or Mart Kenney at The Cave Supper Club. The...

Mea Culpa

I’m still upset about it. I reviewed Coldplay, April 21, and in the process slagged the opening act. That’s ok; if I didn’t like ’em, I didn’t like ’em. The trouble is, I got the wrong act. The band I thought was The Pierces was...

Reviewing records

If, as predicted, the Compact Disc, dies soon, this essay might be rendered meaningless. Until then, though, here is a belated response to an article I read in the January/February 2011 edition of B.C. Musician. B.C. Musician is based in the Okanagan and has been...