{"id":508,"date":"2018-02-11T22:34:07","date_gmt":"2018-02-11T22:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nette.ca\/jeannette\/?p=508"},"modified":"2026-10-09T21:30:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T21:30:03","slug":"hip-shit-i-did-as-a-jazz-kid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nette.ca\/jeannette\/2018\/02\/11\/hip-shit-i-did-as-a-jazz-kid\/","title":{"rendered":"Hip shit I did as a jazz kid"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As my oldest son JJ and his friends got ready to go hear Brockhampton<\/a> at the Corona Theatre this week, we talked about how important it is to support live music. We\u2019ve managed pretty well in the past year,  considering how wildly expensive concerts are. We went to big concerts by Kendrick Lamar<\/a> and J. Cole<\/a>. JJ and his pals can add Isaiah Rashad<\/a> and Brockhampton to that list. He also went to a few jazz clubs here and there and two Raptors games. But it\u2019s nothing like my life as a teen. I remember spending most of my time out listening to music. How did we afford it? What was the pace, really, when I look back?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always been an avid journal writer and so I pulled out a big box of heavy volumes dense with intense, angst-filled stories. Combing through them, past all the emotional upheaval of the time, here\u2019s what I discovered as I looked back at just one of them from 1985. I\u2019m not trying to present this as some kind of golden age but before all this interweb we certainly managed to find inspiration. My early musical influences were very eclectic and I am grateful to all these fantastic musicians that were touring at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Live music I saw in Toronto between March and July, 1985<\/p>\n\n\n

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I printed all the photos for Bill Smith’s book Imagine the Sound in our small basement photo lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Toots and the Maytals<\/a>
Leroy Sibbles
Archie Shepp
Einsturzende Neubauten<\/a>
Pepper Adams
K.D. Lang
Beastie Boys
Billy Bragg<\/a>
Bobby McFerrin
Miles Davis
John Scofield (with Miles)
Art Ensemble of Chicago
David Liebman
Cecil Taylor<\/a>
James Moody<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also tons of local bands and lots of artsy movies, and I also went dancing at Pariah, the Blitz and other clubs. Had regular 2 hour or more jam sessions with friends (usually good-looking sad young men). Recorded about three demos in studios, made two short films in university (see below), had surgery (!!), helped nurse a dying friend at home, narrowly evaded sexual harrassment in the film production department, wrote essays for Science class, went to a few art openings each week and more, got a grant to go to the Banff Summer Jazz program, performed sound poetry for a bp nichol Opera. And wrote it all down!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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