My World of Music

Find out if your child has an interest in music and foster it. Don't risk her/his becoming a musical agnostic. Music could be his/her greatest pleasure in life.

Photos - Xuemei Daisy Geng Come to my birthday party!

I love good examples of all sorts of music from baroque to grunge, from Michael Franti to Denyce Graves, from Nick Drake and Richard Thompson to John Newlands, from Thelonius Monk to Philip Glass, from Rachmaninoff via the Cascades to Nirvana, and contemporary Christian music from Keith Green to Delirious?    And every year that passes I love them all more. I suspect that Martin Smith of Delirious? may be the the most important songwriter since Lennon and Kurt Cobain (who died 5 Apr 1994). In my view Brian Wilson is one of the greatest American composers. Feel free to browse some of my collection. My wife Laurie-Ann has kindly combined her large record collection with mine, and I'm enjoying discovering new gems. Our tastes overlap in many categories. I don't like death metal or most rap. I play guitar and mandolin (electric and acoustic) and keyboard, and enjoy making music tremendously, having learned piano accordion which taught me harmony, and transfered that knowledge to the guitar and keyboards. I accompany Laurie-Ann (who sings like an angel) for Christian activities like the Alpha Course, and we play in a band called Kenosis. In 2003 I started feeling the urge to actually write songs, which had been a log time dream. The first effort became the theme for Laurie-Ann's radio show "Window of Opportunity". Download the mp3 here of a version produced at Christmas 2003 by James Copple, featuring L-A on vocals and me on guitars. I wrote several more songs in 2003, many with words by inmates in Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, where I run an Alpha course. On 31 Oct 08 Laurie-Ann and I performed for an Arts Night in Ottawa: see Kenbits Part 1 | Part 2. This was our most ambitious performance to date. All the tunes were mine and therefore SOCAN! Music has the power to sooth, to stimulate, to change one's state, to comfort, to make you cry, to make you laugh. It is surely something vital to us! For me, it is a part of my soul, and I owe a debt to musicians that I can never repay. As Michael Franti sings: "everyone deserves music". From my large collection I have learned that some artists and composers never disappoint me. I enjoy everything they ever did. I am not a good critic of these musicians; I love them too much.

When Laurie-Ann or I need to buy music we may visit:

• Al Findlay at Legend Records tel (613)-596-5766 in Lincoln Heights Galleria, Ottawa, or
• Kanata Audio Books & Music
• My music.ca (CD Warehouse on-line)
• CD Baby - Independent artists
• CD Now
• CD Express
• FHM vinyl specialists
• cdBBQ - for CD's that haven't been issued officially
• For Christian music, a large part of our collections, we visit Salem Storehouse, 1558 Merivale Rd, Ottawa, tel 727-0203

We both like to go to concerts, and fortunately live about a mile from Scotiabank Place in Kanata where world-class artistes perform frequently.

Stereo sound has always fascinated me as an engineer and greatly increased the pleasure of listening.

Notice: Do you have any pop 78 rpm discs but your player long since died? I have started a service to transcribe them to tape.

SOCAN - the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada
SOCAN membership is free for music creators. If you start your own publishing company, then you pay a one-time fee of $50 (and perhaps more, if you have to do a Nuans name search for the company). Consequently, any Canadian who creates music, should be encouraged to join SOCAN. I registered with SOCAN in 2004, and by mid 2005 had earned royalties of $44.68 for my song "Window of Opportunity" played weekly on Window of Opportunity on CKCU 93.1 FM in Ottawa. Visit Socan Central MySpace site.

Listen to CDs on the Web Jango - my on-line radio station Music Boulevard - release your music to the world. Jukeboxes Juke Box with music from '40s to '70s. Jerry's Eclectic Jukebox (Midi) Other links Spank the Plank Productions - Paul Chenier Nick Drake - covers, books, historic interest Ottawa Bluesjazz GOFolk - Hollis Morgan's Ottawa live folk shows guide The Oz  Russian punk opera Che Lennon, etc, 2008 Song for Africa.com True North Records Constant Sound Studio - Kate and Hollis Morgan - Constance Bay, near Ottawa Spirit of Rasputins Ottawa folk venue Audio Lunchbox - Indie purchasing The Sixties on CKCU 93.1 FM every Sunday at 8 pm. (Ottawa) Ottawa school of Piano - includes musical intrument rental Writer's Bloc - Ottawa songwriters group Wickman music Bryan Anthony's music on Soundcloud McGuinn's Folk Den folk archive My Music.com BILLBOARD - all the US charts Charts EMI - A Brief History 365 Top Songs of the 20th Century Dennis Morgan - collaboration with Roy Young 2003 Voices of the Cenury - Top 10 Oldies.com - Rare & Hard-To-Find CDs, DVDs & more Blue Skies Music Festival Rock Rebel.com - Christian rock e-magazine The story of the single Sunhawk - download sheet music Eppiphane - good Ottawa band The Golden Dogs - Canadian rock band The Unattended Children - Woodlawn band led by Chris Dyke Extraordinaire_Instrument_de_Musique - YouTube Downloads Soundcloud.com - like YouTube for audio. I have posted some of my original songs Puretracks.com Serious study, and the music business Celebrating the life of A.L. Chopper McKinnon - 4 May 2013 Rock's Back Pages - gazillions of interviews with stars Music lessons in Kanata Phil Stone appreciation by Jay Stone, Ottawa Citizen, 8 May 2008 Le Hibou coffee house, Ottawa, legendary for artists who performed there The loudness war explained - the strange trend to compress pop music Class Axe Guitars - Bob, 613-258-9119, 288 Country Rd. 44, Kemptville OCFF - Ontario Council of Folk Festivals Duplium - CD replication Sonicbids EPK - Electronic Press Kit SOCAN - Society of Composers, Authors and Music publishers of Canada Songwriters Association of Canada, SAC Musicians on the spot - a new way to learn to play The Beatles Timeline - by John Whelan 1960s British rock and popular music - courses at Skidmore College, NY Mike's Music - instrument repairs, etc., Nepean Ottawa Folklaw Centre - instruments, and learning to play Lauzon Music Centre - Ottawa: Todd Snelgrove Oskar Graf Guitars. Oskar founded the Blue Skies Music Festival AcousticRoof.ca - Canadian house concerts network Guitar chords Hymn chords Band to band.com The British Invaders - Where are they now? Music origins - by Robert Fink Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop and Vestapol Videos Prof. Glenn Gass Indiana U/V School of Music - Course on the Beatles M.L. Liebler, poet, Professor, Wayne State University, Michigan Six String Nation - Connecting Canadians through music Increase your enjoyment of music! - 1971 article by me. --------------------- To Home page Kanata Entertainment

Playing variations on #89 in the Green Book, Aug 1999, GCUC