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The preview concert of fellow Socan member and international flute player Ron Korb’s Asia Beauty CD took place Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at Musideum located at Richmond
and Spadina, Toronto, Ontario. The room was at capacity and it was webcasted live internationally. Ron’s PR rep Glenda Fordham was the MC and had set the tone for the event with an entry in her blog . I arrived (one song in) to find Ron accompanied by co-performers Linlin Wang on the erhu (the Chinese two string violin) and legendary keyboardist Lou Pomanti on the Bechstein concert grand piano. Ron explained to me during an interview after the event that the date for the CD preview was chosen for good luck. It coincided with the Japanese Tanabata or Star Festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival occurring on the seventh day of the seventh month. The following songs all written by Ron, were performed: Mozart’s Wedding – a song about the circumstances around Mozart’s marriage was performed with Ron playing the gold flute; Little Jade with Ron playing the Chinese flute; St. Johann from the album Europa with Ron playing gold flute; Cuchulainn from the album Celtic Heartland with Ron playing the penny whistle; Forbidden Love from the album Asia Beauty with Ron playing the gold flute; and finally, Beckett’s Whisper – a song about Samuel Beckett from the album Europa with Ron playing the Irish flute. Prior to the publication of this blog, the Asia Beauty CD went on to be nominated for best new age album at the 58th Grammys! It also won five Global Music Awards including: Best in Show, Best World Album at the Zone Music Reporter Awards (New Orleans, U.S.), Best World/Global Fusion Award One World Music Awards (UK), Best Instrumental album from the Akademia Awards in (Los Angeles, U.S.), and Best Instrumental (Two Mountains from Asia Beauty) International Acoustic Music Awards. Ron was also named along with Adele and Keanu Reeves as Brand Laureate 2016 !

Following up on an invite from friend Jennie Laws attended a joint fundraiser held at Lou Dawgs on the evening of December 14, 2014 in Toronto. Before Jennie’s set Anna Cyzon took to the performance area. She sang alongside a guitarist who I later learned was soulful rock guitarist Geoff Willingham. The music could be best described as slow rock. Anna later described the names of some of the songs performed. They included Break which Anna described as a song about `Breaking up with someone who you once kept coming back to and allowing to hurt you.’ She described the opening lyric of this song: `No more second chances, you chose your battles wisely.’ She also described another notable song from the evening entitled Whiskey Stained Nights which Anna called ‘A piano ballad about desperately needing that one, losing them and yearning for that burning flame that was once their love to come back.’ Connected with Anna after Jennie’s performance that night at Lou Dawg’s at which time I arranged to interview her in order to better understand the workings of her career. We met several weeks later in her stomping ground of Roncesville, Toronto. During the subsequent interview I learned that she came with her family from Poland to Canada at the age of six. She spoke fondly of her Polish heritage. Her parents were a big influence. Her father performed Goralskie (Polish folk) music . Her aunt was a pianist. Jumping forward several years I learned that, prior to getting more deeply involved with music, Anna worked as an E Talk presenter which was a job she obtained after an audition on Canadian Idol. She recalled that the audition took place in 2004 – the second season with Kalan Porter. She describes herself as self-managed however her sister, who works at Universal Music Canada she explained, is closest to being her manager. She describes her music as pop rock adding that she has been doing the music thing ‘since diapers.’ We also discussed some of her video production shoots. Her first was Reputation, then Young Boy, the third was Love Me, fourth Electric Dir by Miz Monday, and her fifth made in 2013 is called Into the Sun. She describes herself as live-performance – focused. In 2010 Anna performed Love Me for Eurovision which earned her a following in Poland. The video of Young Boy apparently caught the attention of Kiss co-founder Gene Simmons who Anna said offered her a deal through his pop rock label Simmons Records. A deal she eventually declined. Anna also described an offer she received from EMI Eastern Europe in 2010 to record a new album after her song Love Me received second place in Eurovision. In terms of more recent developments: in 2014 and last month, Anna performed at the Roncesville Polish festival in Toronto. In addition, in a break from her independence, Anna released her most recent single Wannabe through FMLY on Universal. Very recently, Anna wrote and sang on Eminence’s Knock Me Out which is out on Monstercat and, also has a sexy video (Anna’s sixth) shot in Toronto!

The performance by Jenna Glatt at the Smiling Buddha on December 6th, 2014 in Toronto, Ontario was exceptional. Originally from Ottawa, Ontario Jenna brings personable small town appeal from the nation’s capital to the big city of Toronto! She has also been writing and recording music in Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, and New York City, with live performances in Houston and NYC as well. By the performance start the venue was close to capacity. Jenna’s manager Richard Lawrence was in attendance and coordinating the event. I only caught part of the performance Dwayne Morgan and the DNA project which had preceded Jenna’s performance but the soliloquy poem he performed was fairly risqué if that’s the right word. The DNA project also provided musical support for Jenna and they were soulful and classy. As a unit they displayed both diversity and musical acumen. Jenna’s set once it started included: We are the Champions, Bring it Back, Let Me Be, Good Time, Deep In Love, Butterfly, How Do We Know, Cry, It’s the Little Things, High Beams, My Man, No Drama, Pending Love, Tonight and Numb. The crowd was engaged and electrified ! Music was R n B / pop !

Cruised by the Supermarket in Toronto, Ontario on the evening of August 10th, 2014. Every table of the back room performance area was filled. The crowd was composed. My friend and I had arrived part way into the first song. Jennie Laws was center stage and her supporting band was in full effect. Unusually for an indie / pop act she had violin and viola players in tow along side a percussionist, keyboardist and a guitarist. Jennie’s cover of Counting Stars by One Republic was the only cover for the evening. Following that Jennie broke into a string of original love songs which included Your Love, More Than I Can Stand, Heavenly, Right Here and finally When You Love Someone. Jennie made this last song highly interactive by getting the audience to sing a variation on the chorus which was complimentary to her emotion charged efforts. Jennie punctuated some songs during the performances with artistic poses and this added another unique feature to the show. She introduced the acoustic band members towards the end of the show and they included: Michael Shand on keys, Geoff Willingham on guitar, Derek Thorne on percussion, Andrea DeBoer on violin and Irina Koroleva on viola. They worked well as a team and Jennie’s voice was on point at all times. Sound was clear to the credit of Supermarket’s sound system and technical support. There was an organic ambiance to this show leaving the listener with fond memories.

Checked out a food bank fundraiser event organized by part-time musician Derek Christie at Archibalds in Richmond Hill, Ontario on December 7th, 2013. Derek’s colleague Laurelle Augustyn performed solo with Derek Christie providing back up guitar that afternoon. Her music was folk and rock influenced but had a touch of soul to it. Her playlist included all originals namely: I’m Here, Unsaid, Lullaby and I Am Your’s. I asked Laurelle what each of the songs was about after the set and she replied ‘To get into what each one is about would take a bit of time and filtering probably. Suffice it to say that each song is highly personal and reflective of both circumstance and emotions. The last song, “I Am Your’s” is more of a resolve to settle into my identity of belonging to God Himself.’