Concerts

Montreal’s socially conscious bands hard rock acts Society’s Ills, The Era Of, Rudebeats and Isolate Cast  came together this past Saturday, February 18th for the 4th annual Blankfest Quebec to answer the call to help those in need during Montreal’s coldest winter months and raised over 600 clothing items for the city’s largest and oldest shelter, theOld Brewery Mission. 
“I’m always impressed by the generosity and compassion from the city of Montreal, its citizens and its music scene. Their support along with media and sponsors to help raise awareness and proceeds is always astounding,” commented Blankfest Quebec organizer and music publicist Jon Asher.

Photo: Society's Ills rock out in support of Blankfest Montreal 2012

Proceeds from this year’s Blankfest Quebec came not just from the music community, but also from grandmothers across Quebec.“My heart was truly touched by the kindness of this year’s donations of knitted blankets, scarves and tuques that came from both the ladies at the Steger Residence in Montreal and the “Townships Grandmothers” who quilted blankets when they heard there was a need to help the homeless.”

Fa-la-la-la Leahy ! ‘Tis the season for Canada’s treasure, The Leahys, to hit the road to spread their Celtic Christmas cheer. On December 17, 2011 Canadian musical family Leahy returns to Toronto to deck the halls of the Sony Centre For The Performing Arts with A Leahy Family Christmas, making this unique concert experience a holiday tradition for the theatre.

A Leahy Family Christmas is an extraordinary step dancing, fiddle-playing, song-singing family celebration of magical Christmas traditions. The multi-generational family ensemble Leahy, consisting of eight brothers and sisters, will perform Christmas favourites and original seasonal pieces from classic Celtic tunes and more! Leahy will welcome young family members to share in the singing and dancing to give audiences the full Leahy Family Christmas experience.

Leahy is the Juno Award winning family powerhouse who have been playing together their entire lives. Known for their unique blend of musical styles and genres, Leahy has won the hearts of audiences around the world with traditional roots and folk while tearing up stages with French-Canadian dance. Leahy’s impressive discography, two DVDs and three television specials have made them worldwide favourites and part of the mosaic that makes up the Celtic community in Canada.

A Leahy Family Christmas will perform at the Sony Centre For The Performing Arts as part of an Ontario tour on Saturday, December 17, 2011. Other dates include:

WEEK TWO OF OUR CONTEST FOR THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY!

A Musical Box show is no mere tribute; it is a revival. The band evokes the experience of a Genesis concert from the blazing glory of their past. The lighting, the sets, even the musicians’ gestures are choreographed from painstaking study of archival footage. Though its lineup has varied through the years, the Musical Box has guarded the authenticity of the act with great care. The Musical Box through the years have always striven to make each tour, and even each show within a tour, a unique experience.
The Toronto engagement offers just such an opportunity because of its location. The Danforth Music Hall in the heart of Greektown is an Art Deco Heritage building that carries in its bones the glories of great shows past. It will bring an intimacy to the show without any diminishment of production values and the decision to stage The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway here is a smart and tasteful one.
To win two tickets to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway in Toronto !

Send in the answer to the following question:
When is The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Playing in Toronto?

Email your answer to sandy@cashboxcanada.ca to win!

By Bill Delingat

If you were a young musician struggling to make it in the heyday of the hippie movement in Toronto’s Yorkville, you probably carried around your old Strat and a Traynor amp, the then affordable Canadian competitor to the Fender twin reverb, while your drummer packed his Ludwigs into the back of the families station wagon .

The place to go was Long and McQuade, located at Yonge and Yorkville, to stare at the many unreachable instruments and dream of the day that you may own one.

Pete Traynor worked at the Long and McQuade Music Store as a repairman, mainly fixing the broken rentals that came back from the now infamous “B” circuit of Northern Ontario. Traynor started off by customizing amplifiers as a way to save costs, but also like a good home auto mechanic supercharging up his car, Traynor did the same for amps. His talent and curiosity led to his making of his own brand, the first brand formed by Yorkville Sound. It all started in 1963 through experimentation and experience, Traynor developed a Bass amplifier that he called the Traynor Dynabass. By the end of 1963, Traynor started off by offering the product out as a rental and soon was selling the Dynabass amps along with matching 15-inch speaker cabinets; then the logical transition to portable columnar P.A. systems when Traynor  found a reference book of 1930s RCA commercial loudspeaker designs. Soon a business partnership to sell these amps had formed between Pete Traynor and Jack Long, the man who owned the legendary music store.