When I learned Dream Warriors, Michie Mee and Maestro Fresh-Wes were performing at Nathan Phillips Square tonight, I knew I had to be there. They called it Roots of the 6ix and it all started at the kid-friendly time of 6:30pm. I absolutely loved And Now the Legacy Begins,
I'm old enough to remember when a Canadian topping the Billboard Hot 100 was a rare occurrence. Now, with Drake and The Weeknd and Justin Bieber, it happens fairly often. And it's happening right now. Here's the complete list of 48 Canadian songs to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Bob Marley released Redemption Song in late 1980, mere months before his death. It's a powerful song that always struck a chord with me. "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery" is Marley making Marcus Garvey's words immortal. I love the song, but my go-to version isn't Marley, it's Joe Strummer. Joe
A couple of years ago, former MuchMusic VJ and current CP24 Breakfast host Steve Anthony dropped by to chat about his career on the radio and on television. He was engaging, entertaining and energetic. And, as it turns out, he wasn't full of shit. Early in that episode 123, Steve
If you caught episode 167 of my podcast, you heard Retrontario talking about the Laurie Bower Singers. We played "Season of the Yonge" by the Laurie Bower Singers, a song about our very own Yonge Street. "Season of the Yonge" is so obscure, I couldn't find it on YouTube, but
Drake finally has his first Billboard Hot 100 number one as a lead artist. One Dance by Drake and featuring WizKid and Kyla currently tops the chart. Here's the complete list of 45 Canadian songs to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It's Love-Love-Love by Guy LombardoCry by Johnnie Ray
Justin Bieber's latest album is a hits machine. He just scored his third number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the first three of his career, all from Purpose. Here's the complete list of 43 Canadian songs to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It's Love-Love-Love by Guy LombardoCry
Yet another Canadian song has topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Justin Bieber's Sorry is the current #1 single. What was once a pretty rare event now feels commonplace. Here's the complete list of 42 Canadian songs to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It's Love-Love-Love by Guy LombardoCry by
I was just watching the Raptors lose to the Bulls, and caught a Gatorade ad featuring Usain Bolt, Dwayne Wade and others called "Moving the Game Forward". As ads go, it was pretty cool, but it was the distinctive music that captured my attention. I was hearing "Curried Soul" by
Canadian songs are dominating the Billboard Hot 100 chart this summer. The Weeknd hit #1 with "Can't Feel My Face", Justin Bieber scored his first #1 with "What Do You Mean?" only to be topped again by "Can't Feel My Face", and now The Weeknd has replaced himself at the
Do you remember the first time you spun Nirvana's Nevermind? I do. I'd pop it in the CD player, and after "Something in the Way", I'd start it again. At some point I realized there was a whack of time left in the final track, after "Something in the Way"
It was only a month ago that The Weeknd hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking the 39th time a Canadian has topped that chart. This week, Justin Bieber has his first #1 hit, which gives this fine country 40 chart toppers. Here's the complete list of 40 Canadians
Last week, I disappeared down the rabbit hole of one-hit wonders, and this afternoon I dove into the world of songs you didn't realize were covers. I'm blaming this article for lighting the spark. Here are three songs I didn't realize were cover songs. I'm betting you didn't know, either.
I spent some time heading down the one-hit wonder rabbit hold this morning. It all started with this interesting article about the death of one-hit wonders. Since 1958, Billboard has released a weekly “Hot 100,” which ranks the “most popular songs across all genres.” Over the years, their ranking methodology
Can't Feel My Face by The Weeknd is #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. The Weeknd is Toronto's own Abel Tesfaye, making him the 39th Canadian to top this chart. Here's the complete list of 39 Canadians to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It's Love-Love-Love by Guy
When I was a toddler, one of my go-to albums was There's a Hippo in My Tub by Anne Murray. My favourite cuts were "Animal Crackers" and "Teddy Bears' Picnic". For the longest time I thought that last one was an Anne Murray original. I was way wrong. The music
The last time I enjoyed a French-language song was when MuchMusic played the mess out of Mitsou's Bye Bye Mon Cowboy. That probably had more to do with Mitsou and less to do with Bye Bye Mon Cowboy. I'm sure there are some great French songs I'm missing out on,
There are many great songs about Sunday. Think about it. In fact, there are many great songs entitled "Sunday Morning". Vocativ studied 57 years of Billboard charts to see which days of the week get the most love from songwriters. As you'd likely guess, Sunday, Saturday, Monday and Friday are
My buddy Erin Davis wrote an interesting blog entry about Baby, It's Cold Outside, a song you'll hear often at this time of year. Baby, It's Cold Outside isn't a Christmas song, but a "cold weather" song, and since it's so good, it gets lumped in with holiday favourites like
I just heard Treble Charger's Brand New Low on the radio. As I was singing along I thought, "I dig this tune, but it's no Red". With Treble Charger on the mind, I quickly thought of American Psycho, Friend of Mine and Even Grable, all great tracks (especially the fantastic
My daughter's first concert was Selina Gomez, but my oldest son chose a different sound. Last night, we enjoyed Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. They were amazing, as always. Damn I dig their sound. It's rock, it's hip hop, it's EDM, it's folk,
Bryan Adams celebrated his birthday earlier this week. On that same day, Ryan Adams celebrated his birthday. Isn't that mind blowing?
Many moons ago, an old Irish relative was visiting my grandmother while I was visiting her in Gilford, Ontario. This gentlemen proceeded to tell me that jazz and blues-rock vocalist and guitarist Jeff Healey was related to us somehow. I forget the details, but Jeff Healey was supposedly my second
Last night, I saw 54-40 at a free concert in Colonel Samuel Smith Park. They sounded great, playing all their hits (and there were many) and we had a blast. It was this little dude's first concert. As a kid, I saw several "free" concerts at the old Ontario Place
I will be sitting down next week with Jeremy Taggart, best known as the drummer for Our Lady Peace from 1993 - 2014. He'll be dropping by to record an episode of my podcast Toronto Mike'd, and I get an entire hour to ask him anything I want. I know
