Updates: September 2004 - February 2005

February 24, 2005 - Okay, so Neil won out in the "50 Tracks" battle (thanks to everyone who voted, though), but there's more good news online. Earlier this month, Where's the Bone became available in MP3 form at Maplemusic. Now, it's time for the last TPOH album, The Wonderful World of the Pursuit of Happiness. About 35 minutes of relationship downfall--including live MP3 faves "She's the Devil," "I Like You" and "Hate Engine"--for only $9.99 Cdn. (five bucks cheaper than the CD!). Remember if you haven't downloaded from Maple before, check their "More Digital Details" FAQ and download the test file. But since you've already gotten Where's the Bone and Summer's Over this way, go right on ahead and go nuts here!

February 20, 2005 - Our friends at the CBC continue making lists, this time with the Canadian edition of their radio series "50 Tracks," in which host Jian Ghomeshi (former student council president at the webmaster's university back in tha day) endeavours to establish the 50 most important pop songs of the last 100 years. Various guests pitch nominees, debate and settle on 4 songs each week, then leave a fifth up to listener vote (there were 5 from 1900-1959, then 5 from the '60's, 10 from the '70's, 10 from the '80's, looks like 10 from the '90's and 10 the listeners bring up). Well, it's time for the 80's: already making the list is Rough Trade's "High School Confidential," Blue Rodeo's "Try," Stan Rogers' "Northwest Passage" and "Rise Up" by the Parachute Club.

So where's "I'm An Adult Now" you ask? It's one of the songs up for that fifth and final slot on the list this week. In his initial pitch for the song, Ghomeshi noted Adult's "pivotal importance" and its position as a blueprint for the Canadian indie explosion of the early '90's (which his own group Moxy Fruvous was a big part of), praised the music as being "ahead of its time," and even went so far as to say the lyrics can stand as "a metaphor for the burgeoning Canadian music scene." Word is he even took his case to CBC Newsworld's new show "The Hour" with one of our favourite guys, George Stroumboulopoulos. Pretty cool, eh?

The competition is tough, though: Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World," April Wine's "Just Between You and Me" and the Nils' "Scratches and Needles". But the only deciding factor now as to what makes it on the big list is YOU! It's all based on public vote. So you have until just this Wednesday the 23rd at midnight eastern time to go here and vote like crazy (it looks like you can vote more than once). The results should be on Thursday. To learn more about the other songs on the big list, go here, and to find out when "50 Tracks" airs on CBC Radio One and Two on your radio and online, check here.

Why are you still reading this? VOTE! NOW! GO! Thanks.

February 8, 2005 - You may know that you can get Moe Berg's solo album Summer's Over from Maplemusic as MP3 downloads at $9.99 Cdn. for the whole album or $1 per track (you didn't? Where have you been?!? Well, go over here!). Now, you can get TPOH's album Where's the Bone the same way! Featuring fave tunes like "Young and in Love," "Gretzky Rocks" and "Kalendar" (not to mention the song that inspired this website's title); it's still available in its CD form here, but you also can avoid that pesky waiting and shipping by downloading it for 99 cents a track or $9.99 for the whole album--which is way cheaper than the CD. Note that if you're new to downloading from Maple, be sure to visit their "More Digital Details" FAQ and download the test file (downloads are not exclusive to any one OS or player, but computers with firewalls might have difficulties.) Now get going!

January 23, 2005 - Yesterday in Toronto, the snow was whipping around with -30-degree-celsius windchills in a winter storm that gripped every city from Chicago to Boston. On such a night, many a band suffers from a paltry turnout. But this night, the band was Monteforte, and The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern was as packed as always.

And why you may ask, not knowing any better. Let's review. This night, the birthday of Bobby "the Crunch" Dupont (and the ebullient Ron Koop of openers Tim Mech's PEEP-SHOW), the band costume was Reservoir Dogs, with even Roxy donning a sharp black jacket. In fact, when Vikki took off his jacket during the first set, Brad From Halifax lit into him: "Jackets not off until the second set!" he allegedly roared, stressing that no band has a chance if they do NOT follow the standards of the stylist. And with some fits and starts, excellence was again maintained...and Kevin the roadie is soooo fired after giving Vikki the wrong jacket ("What were the chances there'd be two sports jackets back there?" he was reportedly heard to say). That other jacket was for Todd Maclean (of the Rude Mechanicals), who again brought his wicked-cool saxophone stylings to "Who Can It Be Now" and "Careless Whisper," the latter of which was dedicated to a couple getting married next week. The new music added to the two power-packed sets were Glass Tiger's "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" and "We Built This City" by the band whose name they yelled out at the end: "STARSHIP!" Among the tunes pulled from the vast MF archive: Belinda Carlisle's "Mad About You" and Cher's "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves." Otherwise...where to begin? "Working For the Weekend," "Rock You Like a Hurricane," "Total Eclipse of the Heart," "Raise a Little Hell," "I Touch Myself," "Fame," "Saturday Night," and the encores "Sweet Caroline" and "Papa Don't Preach." Etc., etc.

Oh, and there were both Bon Jovi songs, "Livin' On a Prayer" ("oo-ah-oo-ah-oo-woo-woo-ah") and "You Give Love a Bad Name," after which one audience member was heard to say (and we wrote this down), "That's the first time I've ever enjoyed a Bon Jovi song." So now you can see why following the stylist's standards is so important.

January 9, 2005 - Wednesday, Moe heads back to TSN for another appearance on "Off the Record." You should be able to catch him chatting about sports (and/or the damn hockey strike) with three other guests and Michael Landsberg on the 12th at 6pm eastern and the next day at noon.

January 4, 2005 - Perhaps you remember Moe taking his DJ thang to the Mod Club for Ministry of Rock. Well, the Ministry is now at that Toronto Disneyland of the hip, the Drake Hotel, and Moe's a part of it. He spins at the Drake Underground tomorrow the 5th from 5 to 8pm for a sort of rock happy hour (yeah, sorry for the short notice but he just told us...), and he's slated to return every third Wednesday.

December 2, 2004 - We've been a little disappointed that the stupid-wicked awesome Monteforte isn't doing a festive special for the season. But fear not, true believers. They are set to blow your mind at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto January 22nd, which happens to be the birthday of your favourite drummer ever, Bobby "the Crunch" Dupont. Remember the last time they played the 'shoe on Crunch's birthday? Well, cheat by looking here. Then get prepped to catch it this time.

November 14, 2004 - The current issue of Toronto Life magazine is mainly dedicated to the music of T.O., including features on luminaries as disparate as Broken Social Scene, Jeff Healey, Jully Black and Tafelmusik. Along the bottom of these pages is a timeline of notable moments in Toronto music history. Among them: John Graves Simcoe hitting town with a band in 1793, the 1894 opening of Massey Hall, Glenn Gould's first performance at age 12 in 1945, the Crew-Cuts topping the U.S. charts with "Sh-Boom" in 1954, Keith Richards' drug arrest in 1977, the start of the video show "Toronto Rocks" in 1984, and Nirvana's beer-bottle-throwing melee in 1990. Oh, and this: "1986: On 'I'm An Adult Now,' Moe Berg of The Pursuit of Happiness sings of the angst of aging. MTV finds its lyrics too adult and bans the video." (thanks, Nick, for the head's up on this.)

October 14, 2004 - It's short notice, but if you'd like to see Kris Abbott rawk amidst dozens of crazy people in school uniforms, you'll cancel whatever else you had planned tomorrow night (the 15th). The band Kris has been helping out, Jealous Pet, will be part of "The 1st Annual St. Wayne High School Fall Talent Contest & Dance," a party thrown by the fabulous Jane Waynes, who've been described as "gender-bending banjo rockers." Admission is 12 bucks, but 10 bucks if you do the ties-and-kilts thing. It all goes down at the Tranzac Club, on Brunswick just south of Bloor in Toronto - conveniently located just around the corner from The Tap.

September 5, 2004 - Surely you know about Moe's DJ thing "Guilty Pleasures," where he throws down the best of the obscure and/or cringe-worthy every Saturday night at the finest and friendliest bar in Toronto and Pursuit Pal Central, The Tap at Bloor West and Howland (and don't forget Dave Gilby kicking the skinny-tie music on his Wave Wednesdays). Okay, if you didn't know, now you do and YOU WILL GO THERE. Well, for one night only, Moe will be taking it to another level and focusing on the rock, spinning as part of Ministry of Rock V2, hosted by Scott Penfold and Trailer Park Hussies and featuring a live performance by CJ Sleeze. It all goes down September 24th at Revival, 783 College Street at Shaw. Doors at 9, no cover before 10 and just 5 bucks after. So get into it, and remember that The Tap NEVER has a cover.

Updates: 3-11/05 / 12/03-8/04 / 5-11/03 / 9/02-4/03 / 6-8/02 / 2-5/02 / 9/01-1/02
4-8/01 / 1-3/01 / 8-12/00 / 4-7/00 / 12/99 - 03/00