Features

Submitted by Don Graham

Ontario singer/songwriter Jon Patterson is carving out a  niche for himself by attaching his talent to another great cause. Perhaps best known for his moving tribute to the armed forces with the song “Hero”, Patterson is reaching out to help troubled kids with his latest offering, “Hear the Children Cry.”

Jon explains his latest project with great enthusiasm and a sense of purpose.“It’s always great when a song can bring attention to a subject or a cause and bring about a positive change in someone’s life. The reaction I get from the people in the forces, wives, mothers, brothers, daughters and such is so inspiring to me. When you hear someone say your song touched them deeply, it’s an amazing feeling.  It’s why we as writers do what we do!”

As the holiday season approaches, we at Cashbox Canada want to thank all the wonderful artists, press and publicity reps and industry folks who have supported us this year. As we all know, it is not an easy task to provide a weekly update of music and news, and we want to take the time to thank our wonderful gang here, Don, Gillian, Lenny, Ian, Michael and Chris, who make it happen every week despite all odds of deadlines looming.

While we are all stressed at the onset of presents to buy and people to see, it would be remiss to not acknowledge the terrible tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. Those families will have no Merry Christmas, but only heartache with no answers to why this happened in the first place.

The amazing and beautiful thing I saw during this was how music always does play a part in life. Saturday Night Live opened with ‘Silent Night’ instead of a comedic ‘Live From New York’ intro. John McDermott asked an audience to sing for those children and a full house of strangers bonded together to make the rafters ring with their voices. People sang ‘Sleep in Heavenly Peace’ with a whole new meaning at this time. Artists always find a way to make music the healing answer.

So we ask, whether you are a believer or not, to take a moment to be grateful for what we have, and to pray for those who need our prayers during what can be a sad time for many people at Christmas time.

Submitted to Cashbox Canada

With the highly scrutinized end of the Mayan calendar (December 21st, 2012) fast approaching and referred to humorously as the upcoming “zombie apocalypse” by young adults and teenagers worldwide, UK born and Vancouver based pop-rock artist, Kieran Strange has released “Merry Undead Christmas” a single and music video combo that is sure to deliver a few laughs this holiday season.

“I read a story where a gentleman actually spent his life savings building a huge ark to escape the Mayan end of the world,” said Strange. “There's so much serious face when it comes to this subject, I couldn't help doing something satirical."

Submitted by Sandy Graham

John McDermott is such an established name, there is no need to describe the talent of this amazing Canadian tenor. But there is so much more to this man, both in song and spirit. The thing that strikes you the most when you speak to him is his passion for life, music, family and tradition.

John Charles McDermott was born in Glasgow, Scotland, but immigrated to Canada with his family in 1965, becoming part of the major diaspora that came from across ‘the pond’ to settle here for a better life. Like most Scottish/Irish families, he learned his love of music with the Saturday night sing-a-longs at home, where neighbours and friends all gathered to sing Harry Lauder, Andy Stewart and all the other songs 'from back home' that kept their heritage alive in this new country.