About

Welcome to the mylifeinconcert.com Podcast and Blog!

Join me, your host Various Artists, on my musical time travel as I look back on every live gig I have seen from 1975 to the present.

This blog started life on Salon.com’s late, great OpenSalon.com in 2010. It gained a regular readership there until OS closed in 2015, and was resurrected as a podcast in February 2020.  All of the original blog entries from OS are here, augmented by the podcasts and whole new entries.

I’ve been a lifelong tunehead and fan of many genres with a particular passion for live shows, big and small. And while I’ll be discussing the music played, the podcast won’t simply be a critique of the performance.

People recall a gig’s small moments that can end up defining the event in one’s mental hard drive sometimes more than the tunes: what happened before and after, things seen and heard, technical malfunctions, musicians passing out on stage, etc.  Therefore, the podcast is about the “concert-going experience” rather than simply being a description of the performance: a mixture of concert review, music history, memoir, and philosophical musing.

While my main musical bases in the 70s were glam in the earlier part of the decade and punk in the latter half, my tastes have exploded through the years. The podcast will go on to encompass live concerts in many genres: r&b, jazz, folk, electronic, hip-hop, country & Americana, pop, blues, reggae, and more.

I grew up in and have returned to London, Ontario, Canada (with a 20-year stop in Ottawa). While I will be remembering shows from a variety of locations including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Detroit, NYC, and more, many of the early episodes will focus on concerts that took place in the Forest City from the 70s through the 90s … and now again in recent years (it will be Ottawa-heavy in-between.) There will be notable local visits by Elvis Costello, The Smiths, Iggy Pop, Marianne Faithfull, Radiohead, Joe Jackson, Steve Earle, k.d. lang, Gang of Four, and more.

I’ll also have special episodes devoted to the local and regional live bands I saw regularly from the late 70s through early 90s.

Along the way I’ll be dropping back into dearly departed local live venues including Fryfogle’s, The Cedar Lounge, The London Arena, The London Gardens, Bullwinkle’s, Wonderland Gardens, and The Embassy along with ongoing stalwarts like Centennial Hall and Call the Office (which is now sadly RIP).  Outside of London, I’ll also be remembering great nights at long-gone venues such as NYC’s Danceteria, Toronto’s CNE Stadium, and Ottawa’s Barrymore’s.

While London was my starting base, I’ll also be looking back on shows in Canadian and U.S. cities where I saw David Bowie, Neil Young, The Clash, Lou Reed, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Janelle Monae, Sonic Youth, The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, Ornette Coleman, Laura Nyro, Bootsy Collins (who head-butted me and you can view that at this link), The Jam, Paul McCartney, Buzzcocks, Al Green, and plenty more.

You can also check out the rest of the mylifeinconcert.com blog for written entries, original ticket scans, and related visual and audio; our YouTube channel (youtube.com/mylifeinconcert) for live clips; my Various Artists Spotify account for playlists corresponding to podcasts and blog entries; and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Come out and join me at the show!

 

Various Artists

Contact: info@mylifeinconcertcom

8 Comments on About

Comments

  1. Since you haven’t blogged over at that other place, I thought I’d drop over and say “Hi” to see if you had anything new here. I see you blogged Jan. 22nd yesterday … 2 years ago, that is.
    🙂

  2. No, that was actually published yesterday — it was the gig that was two years ago. I’m trying to migrate all my back entries from OS to here, hoping to achieve synchronization later this year between the two blogs.

    1. Thanks — a nice rotation of new adjectives is always a challenge when working on an ongoing subject. I notice that you’ve done some show reviews on your blog, so will check out. Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

  3. What a great place VA. And we’ve been to some of the same concerts. I just read your entry on Joe Jackson in London (Alumni Hall) and remembered it the same way, though not in as much detail. I’ll have to come back to remember some other concerts.
    cheers

  4. I have spent just more than a few hours of my life trawling thru your site, firstly as I was re-visiting Heatwave for a new bud on a forum I occasionally visit and then went scrolling.
    Your writing is good, as is your memory.
    Sadly, I have also mislaid my poster and ticket but still have the NME review. The one thing thing that struck about your Heatwave article is that I felt exactly the same thing about the Talking Heads’ set. It was truly something very, very special indeed.
    A couple of years ago I stumbled across Angelique Kidjo. If you have not come across her, check this out – http://www.kidjo.com/remain-in-light‘ It brought back so many good vibe memories and is excellent in its own right. What a singer.

    1. Thanks for the trawl and I’m hoping it was fun. That is AMAZING that you have the NME review. Is there any way I could persuade you to digitize it for the blog?

      I was just talking about Heatwave the other week with an old friend I’ve reconnected with. We especially were remembering not only how great the Talking Heads were, but also what a shock it was as Nobody saw it coming. Heatwave was, for this reason alone, the most historically significant show I ever attended.

      And I checked her out. Nice interpretations of the material.

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