In a tree on a lesser travelled portion of the Scarborough Museum property was a beautiful art display.   

I love the colours, costumes, and the culture.  

On Thursday, June 16th the Phoenix Concert Theatre was the venue hosting some stellar musical performances as part of Unison Jam 2.  By far the most inspiring .performance was by John Cody (pictured above).  His experience is a prime example of why events like Unison Jam 2 are so important.  I'll. post a link to the full story here once Fresh Print Magazine has it published.  

After a successful national outreach campaign in 2015, Canada's Walk of Fame is pleased to announce the return of the Peter Soumalias Unsung Hero Honour! 

​Tell us about an everyday Canadian who is making a difference and whose work, project or volunteer efforts related to the arts, culture or sports serve as a model in their community. These individuals go above and beyond the call of duty and have touched the lives of those in their community, because of their extraordinary actions, words or gifts of kindness and compassion.  Now you can help give them the recognition they deserve.

Peter Soumalias is the Founding Director of Canada's Walk of Fame who launched the organization in 1998 along with co-founders Bill Ballard, Dusty Cohl and Gary Slaight. To pay tribute to his dedication and outstanding contributions to the recognition and celebration of Canadian excellence across this country, Canada’s Walk of Fame created an honour in his name, to annually recognize a very special Canadian whose outstanding work within the arts, culture or sports impacts their community and inspires the next generation.

Nominations are open until Sunday July 31 at 11:59PM ET!
- See more at: http://www.canadaswalkoffame.com/programs/unsung-hero#sthash.WrqWVDNQ.dpuf

Elise LeGrow sang her heart out for the audience at Indulge Your Senses in David Pecaut Square last Thursday.  The festival runs every Thursday from May 26th to October 13th.  

Here's a suggestion;  When you are an artist as good as Elise LeGrow is in the video above start your set by performing  your most popular material within the first three songs.  After that you can bounce back and forth between covers and new material.   In order for me to get invested I need the good stuff up front. (Jeez, I sound like an addict..)  

While I was there I decided to rescue one of these date squares.  If I am not mistaken the $2.50 cost will cover the expenses of the next batch.  That's okay.  I'm confident my money went to a good cause.  Anyway, everyone needs to Indulge once in a while..  Preferably, once a week, on Thursdays. .

Yesterday, MusiCounts, in partnership with Republic Live (producers of Boots and Hearts and WayHome festivals), celebrated $10,000 in new musical instruments provided to Orillia Secondary School. Made possible through the generous support of MusiCounts' Band Aid Program, the donation of the instruments was celebrated by JUNO Award nominee and CCMA Award winner Tim Hicks. Hicks celebrated the announcement by performing his hits "Got a Feeling," "Young Alive & In Love."
Yesterday's presentation highlighted the ongoing and dedicated support Republic Live has given MusiCounts, Canada's music education charity associated with The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). To date, over $230,000 has been raised through the partnership to support MusiCounts' Band Aid Program. 
 

In light of the recent event in an Orlando night club, where a gunman allegedly having pledged his allegiance to ISIS (or is it ISIL?) killed 50 people, leaving many others injured, talks have begun in relation to security at Toronto's upcoming Pride Parade.
Unfortunately, I believe that it is already too late to consider putting a security blanket over this years Pride events. In previous years, I have been to Pride concerts standing behind the barricade that holds the fans back from rushing the stage.  Then all of a sudden the media pit [that tiny piece of real estate between me and the musicians] is overflowing with scantily clad revellers holding up their cell phone cameras to try to capture the moments on stage.  There seems to be a large number of individuals and organizations affiliated with Pride that get VIP access like I have never seen at ANY other event.  Pit access seems to be one of those perks.  
As far as I am concerned, Pride can't control that one little piece of real estate (between the fans [who have waited all day in the hot sun] and the stage) generally referred to as the media pit.  It will be far beyond the capabilities of Pride to control the moving, ever changing, real estate that has become a Toronto Pride Parade.

If on Thursday, June 2nd, between 11 am and 2pm, you were looking for a reason to play hookie the TD Union Block Party at Union Station Plaza was the place to be.  Among the fabulous performances by Andee, Nefe, Shawn Hook, and Francesco Yates there was an announcement made by Kardinal Offishall (the Master of Ceremonies) that TD has donated 1 million dollars to Music Counts.   Both Shawn Hook and Francesco Yates also donated five thousand dollars each to the charity that provides community based music programs.  

Everyone is outraged that tickets for Tragically Hips upcoming concerts are not available through Ticketmaster.  The historical definition of scalping is to take the "head skin and hair as proof of death or a victory trophy". Is that how artists/musicians want their fans to be treated?  It seems unconscionable that those honest to goodness fans looking to buy tickets should be victims of legalized "extortion" as Elton John claims.  Once again, my mind shifts to preventions.
First of all, Ticketmaster should be able to isolate bots that are locked on to their site.  I can't help thinking that if Ticketmaster can't prevent bots from buying up blocks of tickets, then, they can't prevent other bots from stealing the credit card information of legitimate Ticketmaster customers, either.
Second, after Ticketmaster deals with their bot issue, set a limit on the number of tickets an individual can purchase,  
Third, the artists could do what Adele has done recently by insisting on paperless concerts. Meaning, the concert-goers have to produce the credit card that purchased the tickets and government issued photo ID.  
Fourth, has anyone checked into the possibility of licensing the scalpers?  I mean the individual ones that loiter outside the venues pre-concert.  Certainly, Ticketmaster and Stubhub both pay taxes on their profits. Whether, it's a scalpers primary source of income or secondary source, it should be taxable.  As far as I'm concerned, if you made it legal, the next logical step is to make it legitimate.  
Fifth, there seems to be a nefarious hand shake between Stubhub and Ticketmaster since the former sued the latter over unfair.business practices related to resale of tickets originally purchased at Ticketmaster.  Maybe the larger next step is another class action lawsuit against Ticketmaster.  It would be interesting if that lawsuit came from the artist/musician side.  If Ticketmaster and Stubhub are making a percentage on the resale of tickets shouldn't the artist/musician be entitled to an equal or greater percentage? The artists/musicians certainly flung their weight around when it came to the nickel and diming of the music streaming industry.   It only makes sense that they would chase down a percentage of the dollars from the concert resale ticket industry.      
It's time to seriously consider the above solutions, and any others, that would ensure tickets get into the hands of the fans and that the profits get into the pockets of the artists. Simply adding dates to your tour, as the Tragically Hip has done, is not a guarantee that fans will have direct access to purchasing tickets.