The Songwriters Association of Canada is proud to announce the Celebration Series Songbird North Women of S.A.C. live stream concert on April 21st for an evening of songs and stories. The virtual event will feature key Canadian music creators across multiple genres including Alysha Brilla, Barbra Lica, Helen Austin, Kayla Diamond, and Liz Rodrigues. 

Hosted by JUNO Award winner Shari Ulrich, the Celebration Series Songbird North Women of S.A.C. unites women in music and invites the inspiring songwriters to share the inspiration behind their songs and the stories for an incredible night of performances, storytelling and music. 

S.A.C. developed the concert series program in 1993, originally named Bluebird North (BBN), bringing together Canada's most inspiring songwriters to perform original work at an industry event in front of an educated audience.  

“S.A.C. Celebration Series Songbird North concerts are a showcase of all of Canada's talented music creators and the beautiful country we live in. ... The S.A.C. Celebration Series Songbird North concerts achieve a balance of high quality, creative and relevant content exploring themes of diversity through musicianship,” says Executive Director Zoë Cunningham.

The virtual concert will be from 7-9pm EDT and general admission tickets are $20. Tickets are free for all members of S.A.C., SOCAN, and any Canadian Music Industry Associations. Tickets are available to be purchased here.

Additional information about the Celebration Series Songbird North Women of S.A.C. may be found here. This celebration was made possible in part of funding partners FACTOR and the SOCAN Foundation.

A written deputation I submitted for today's Governance Communications and Human Resources Committee meeting

"Item 2H – Annual Review of Board and Committee Charters

After numerous attempts to advocate for the increase in the representation of Tenant Board Members to equal regular Board Members with no appreciable feedback I believe that TCHC (and its primary stakeholder 'the City') may be more comfortable with increasing its official tenant participation within the Tenant Services Committee.

Under the Composition heading for the Tenant Services Committee Charter “The Committee shall be composed of a minimum of four Directors.” Even if two of those seats are occupied by Tenant Board Members they are still more strategically aligned with the “Corporation” than with the tenants.

Seeing as the Tenant Services Committee is designed to have a positive impact on the tenant experience TCHC should open up this arrangement to include more tenants at the committee level.  If TCHC wishes to maintain a four “board” member minimum then we should have an equal four “tenant” member minimum.

This would thereby open up the level of communication between both the tenants and this committee. Going from a “tenant deputes and if we feel like it we'll respond” approach to an actual live[ly] back and forth discussion.  It may take decades, if ever, to increase the number of tenants allowed to be seated at the “Board” level of Toronto Community Housing Corporation. But, the very nature of the work that the Tenant Services Committee is responsible for indicates there should be more tenants admitted in an official capacity to give feedback on items that impact our day to day lived experience."

Toronto, ON - Carnage is a new album by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, recorded over a period of weeks during lockdown. Although the pair have composed & recorded many soundtracks together, and Ellis is a long-term member of The Bad Seeds, this is the first time they have released an entire album of songs as a duo.

Cave describes the album as “a brutal but very beautiful record nested in a communal catastrophe.”

“Making Carnage was an accelerated process of intense creativity,” says Ellis, “the eight songs were there in one form or another within the first two and a half days.”

Cave & Ellis’ sonicly lyrical adventurism continues apace on Carnage, an album that emerged almost by accident out of the downtime created by the long, anxious, global pandemic. Carnage is a record for these uncertain times - one shot through with moments of distilled beauty and that resonates with an almost defiant sense of hope.

Toronto, ON – Canadian singer-songwriter Jordan Hart will release his debut EP ‘’Only Pieces of the Truth’’ on March 12th via Believe. On the self-produced EP, Hart exposes the desire we all share to feel connected to ourselves and each other. Through each song, he explores the highs and the lows of finding that connection in spite of our own selfish motives and pride.

The Gold-certified, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist worked with countless producers and arrangers over the years. Despite those incredible opportunities, no pieces of music truly felt like his sound. Hart was still looking for what would be his musical identity when he met the AllPoints team. Through his multiple conversations with his new creative team, he was advised to begin with a self-produced body of work. After 6 months of blood sweat and tears, Hart pieced together all the parts of himself and finally his sound. The experience birthed his new EP ‘’Only Pieces of the Truth’’. 

The title track is an emotive, mid paced and gentle song with gloriously sweeping arrangements. ‘’The central character realizes that all he wants to do is be vulnerable and that he is “holding all the cards, wishing you could see inside his walls,’’ said Hart. ‘’But even still, and especially because the stakes are so high, he can’t bring himself to take the first steps forward toward repairing the relationship (“staring at your door, I’ll never knock”).’’

Toronto, ON - Today, three-time GRAMMY award-winning artist Gramps Morgan announces the release of the music video for ‘’Runaway Bay’’ and an acoustic rendition of the song. This version, produced by Johnny Reid and available exclusively for streaming is released by Halo Entertainment Group/The Orchard.

The acoustic version of ‘’Runaway Bay’’ has a laid back piano vocal with an approach that offers a calm melody that allows the listener to lose themselves in the lyrics. Morgan stated that “Runaway Bay is my love letter to Jamaica. It’s about a yearning for home that everyone can relate to... Turn it up, close your eyes and you’ll almost feel the sun on your face and sand beneath your feet.’’

The Youtube video Premiere of ‘’Runaway Bay’’ will take place today at 12:00pm EST. Fans will have the opportunity to chat with Morgan on YouTube during the event. The video was directed by Gareth Cobran and shot in Runaway Bay, Jamaica. The visuals for the video highlight the beautiful people and refreshing scenery of the region.

Toronto, ON - Buzzed-about newcomer and “one of Country music’s most promising young stars,” (Whiskey Riff), Lainey Wilson announced her hotly-anticipated studio album, Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’ is set to release February 19 via BBR Music Group/Broken Bow Records. Those who pre-order the album will immediately have access to the brand-new track and album opener, “Neon Diamonds” (a song which a prominent tv booker said he hadn’t “heard a more perfect ‘grab-you-in’ start to an album since Thriller”). LISTEN HERE.

Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’ includes her current radio single, “Things A Man Oughta Know,” which has garnered more than 35 million streams, earning a place on Spotify’s Nashville’s Worldwide Hot 50 and has been in the Top 5 consumption per spin and streams per spin for the past 17 consecutive weeks. A fan and critic favorite, the song was featured in NPR’s Best Music of 2019 saying it, “proves [Wilson] capable of blending a thoroughly countrified vocal approach with digitally sharpened contemporary production, thanks to the suppleness and body of her honeyed, crystalline twang.”

A deputation I submitted in writing to TCHC's Tenant Services Committee on January 25th, 2021.  They wouldn't allow me to verbally depute on the agenda.  Despite the glaring omission described below:

"One thing that appears to be missing from this agenda is a COVID19 update. After the mayor posted on Twitter {this past Friday} that 1386 TCHC tenants had been tested since June I believe that it is increasingly more important for an update to Tenant Services Committee on COVID19 updates for the tenants.
The mayor posted and TCHC reposted.
I did the math.
(Total number of tenants tested) 1386 divided by (Total number of tenants) 110 000 equals 0.0126 Now, to find the percentage of tenants vaccinated we move the decimal two spaces to the right and that brings us to 1.26% of the total population of TCHC tenants that have been tested.
For the sake of expediency lets round the time frame off to six months. So 1.26% over six months that would translate to 2.52% over one year. Now we divide 100% (full TCHC population) by 2.52% (estimated annual testing rate among TCHC tenants) we arrive at 39.682539692539 for the number of years at the current rate that it would take to test all TCHC tenants. That's approximately 40 years! That is so far from acceptable in my view that I find it reprehensible that a mayor be boasting and Toronto Community Housing be reposting!
(Anyone that knows numbers knows that my calculations are on the generous side of the COVID/TCHC equation.)
In an additional video posted to Facebook the mayor clearly states that these tests were given in Seniors buildings. This justifies my previous concerns about the fact that TCHC and the city have created a two-tiered system that grants the seniors that live in seniors designated buildings with services not even offered to seniors living throughout the rest of the portfolio.
This is clearly a case of city sanctioned discrimination based on address/place of residence. Certainly other TCHC communities would take COVID more seriously if we were all offered onsite, mobile, and/or door to door testing.
TCHC should be looking to further partner with Toronto Public Health for the entire portfolio not just the seniors designated buildings. Especially, given the fact the COVID isn't killing just seniors but vulnerable people as well. And TCHC is full of vulnerable tenants. Another partnership that the City of Toronto should have supported from the beginning was between TTC and TCHC. The TTC has had these fabulous stickers that remind people to wear masks on their vehicle. Ask them for their template for these stickers. After all, mask wearing in TCHC is going to be around for a long time given the calculation based on current testing rates that it could take approximately 40 years before all TCHC tenants to be vaccinated (if vaccination rates proceed at the same rate as the testing). That's just the current COVID variant vaccine not necessarily what it will take to vaccinate those that have already had COVID nor the vaccine for whatever COVID variants that follow...

...If TCHC posted these stickers on the inside of every apartment door (beside above or below the current In Case Of Fire sticker) it would reinforce that concept before they reach the elevator where signage is up but TCHC knows tenants don't pay much attention to. There are also some tenants that don't pay attention to COVID elevator capacity limits.
I'd also like to know at what COVID19 infection percentage does TCHC notify tenants of cases in their own buildings/communities? (A simple notice in a building stating that someone has tested positive may encourage mask wearing among the unaffected uninfected.) Is public health tracking tenants that have tested positive?
Can our Special Constables ticket those persons who are non-compliant with respect to masks? If not should someone not be advocating for the city to give them the authority to do so. (I co-ordinate the food bank in my building and I would very much appreciate the heads up should a known case be in my building. That way I could reinforce the mask wearing message. I don't need to know what floor or what unit. Unless of course they are one of the food bank users and at that point I'd need to deliver their orders to their door.)
If there is no bylaw regarding mask wearing as a ticketable offence should TCHC not be advocating for such a device to decrease the potential spread of COVID19 in our communities? How often are front line staff tested? Could the Confronting Anti-Black Racism team not somehow take the lead on advocating for COVID testing among all TCHC communities? Especially given the fact that people of colour and the poor are the most impacted by this virus.
On November 9th, 2020 the COVID-19 Immunization Task Force released a statement regarding the preparations for the vaccine roll out. Shouldn't TCHC have a member on this Task Force to advocate for the vaccinations to be made available more directly to our tenants in their own communities? There are too many vulnerable tenants and seniors that have been told to stay home from the very beginning of COVID. I don't think they are going to risk a trip to the Air Canada Center downtown to be vaccinated. Just sayin'
Overall, there are a lot of partnerships that the City should have facilitated for TCHC before I made the suggestions. Now that I have I would hope for the health and safety of all TCHC tenants during this pandemic that someone will begin to make the appropriate overtures." At this rate COVID will win by a landslide.