The FYI News Bulletin
– Dedicated Jim Morrison fans will welcome Canadian Bill Cosgrove’s breezy, slim 212-page memoir that recounts his 18 months with the then UCLA film student before
By David Farrell
– Dedicated Jim Morrison fans will welcome Canadian Bill Cosgrove’s breezy, slim 212-page memoir that recounts his 18 months with the then UCLA film student before the Doors formed. Several other notables and mutual friend Mary Werbelow figure in the vignette. Thumbnail reviews of Love Her Madly: Jim Morrison, Mary, and Me (Dundurn) can be found on Amazon.ca and the Dundurn website where one can purchase the book in three formats.
– Greg Godovitz has published the sequel to his earlier memoirTravels With My Amp. The new edition, Up Close and Uncomfortable,is a doorstopper-sized book that’s available for $30 on his website. Famed engineer/producer and friend Eddie Kramer writes: “After I read Greg’s 2nd attempt at trying to beat Shakespeare at his own game, I realized that his personal observations about the real world of Rock n’ Roll are just bloody brilliant! I urge anyone out there who wants to have a ‘belly laugh’ at the absurdities of life on and off the road with one of Canada’s true originals. Read this damn book and be prepared for extra underwear and a box of Kleenex!”
– Just published is the first biography of Ruth Lowe, the Canadian songwriter who wrote I’ll Never Smile Again that was spun into a hit by Frank Sinatra with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. That one song became a “standard” that would be recorded by Percy Faith, Glenn Miller, Keely Smith, Dave Brubeck, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Tony Martin, The Ink Spots, Jo Stafford, Django Reinhardt, Bill Evans, Sarah Vaughan, Oscar Peterson, The Platters, Vera Lynn, Errol Garner, Vera Lynn, George Shearing, Michael Bublé ... all told, more than 150 performers who spill their hearts into never smiling. The song is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. She will soon be installed as a member of the Great American Songbook Foundation Hall of Fame.
Her story, Until I Smile At You, is captured by non-fiction author Peter Jennings (Shark Assault), working with Ruth’s son (photographer) Tom Sandler, with a hoard of research, including his interviews with Bernie Taupin, Sir Tim Rice, and Alan Bergman. Reviews and more on Amazon.ca.
– Brian Edwards has been in almost every town and city in Canada, promoted and booked acts such as Red Green, Stompin' Tom Connors, Tommy Hunter, Frank Mills, Carroll Baker, Rita MacNeil, Charley Pride, and Kitty Wells across North America. Now the promoter is promoting himself in a new book set for release later this week. Brian Edwards, the Promoter: An Entertainment Success Story is a 420-page life-and-times retrospective authored by journalist Ed Arnold with Edwards. Sales through Edwards’ Rocklands Entertainment website.
- Chris Gibbs, chair of Ryerson University’s Creative Industries program teamed up with Ryerson FCAD professor Louis-Etienne Dubois and Shawn Newman from the Toronto Arts Council, 34 venue operators and members of TO Live, SOCAN, the City of Toronto, Canadian Stage, Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, Harbourfront Centre, Tarragon Theatre to develop #Lights-On venue guide, a comprehensive guidebook on what protocols to follow in reopening live entertainment in the city. Richard Trapunski offers details and interviews about the guide and the stakeholders in a Now feature.
– Impresario Gary Topp is seeking donations for a prostate cancer drive he has initiated. “I was saved from prostate cancer because I caught it early; my dad wasn’t because it spread to his liver,” he explains. More here.
– Destiny Media, the Vancouver-based umbrella corp for the Play MPE digital distribution platform, has announced fiscal 2020 results. Annual revenue increased marginally, to US$3.825M with increased volume and indie label revenue spends.
– What About Black Lives is the first single from Dan Hill’s upcoming On the Other Side of Here album that comes out in Feb. on the Sun and Sky imprint through Warner Music.
– Michael Raine has been named Editor in Chief at NWC, Jim Norris’s communications firm which publishes Canadian Musician, Canadian Music Trade, Professional Sound and Professional Lighting & Production.
– Gideon Waxman, a 26-year-old professional drum tutor based in the UK, writes us: “I recently filmed and recorded a drum cover of Rush's Tom Sawyer (with no edits, quantizing, or samples!) and I felt inspired to put together a helpful beginner's guide to recording drums!” Watch the video and read his ‘beginner’s guide’ here.
– Tower Records has returned as an online store, selling vinyl, CDs, cassettes, 7 and 12-inch singles and merch. You can even sign up for a newsletter to stay in the loop.
