The Pursuit of Happiness: What Concert-Going Is All About (Graphic by VA)
It’s now been 15 years this month since I first hit that “Publish” button on the late, great Open Salon. The date was June 3, 2010.
OS was a Salon.com project for amateur writers that began in 2008. I had been reading so many terrific writers over there that I decided to join the fray with my look back on my life in concert-going.
I also set up this mirror mylifeinconcert.com blog in the early ‘10s, cross-posted, and then moved over here permanently with OS’ closure in 2015.
There was a lot of change going on in my life at that time, so I put the blog on hold, resurrecting it in 2020, now as a podcast/blog version.
It’s still a thrill when I hit that “Publish” button on the blog or with a podcast these many years later. My passion remains undimmed even if I wish I could have more time for it.
On that note, those who have been following will have noticed that I haven’t posted a new EP in a year. What can I say: there’s been an avalanche of significant, time-consuming stuff going down in my life the past year and before—some bad, some great—all requiring my attention and time.
Trust me, it has been incredibly frustrating not to have had time to devote to this but be assured, more is on the way, with the next two episodes + a video interview all to come.
And the also-delayed live events are going to happen.
And T-shirts. Some are already printed and look bitchin’.
A heartfelt Thank You to everyone who has been tuning into the podcast series or following me on Facebook and taking the time to read the blog entries. Merci beaucoup for joining me on this ride of vintage concert-going and hope you’re enjoying it as much as I have been.
And of course an extra big Thank You to guests who have appeared on the podcast or in the My Life in Conversation (yes, more of that too is in the works): Phil Robinson, my late Mother, Cublet, Noelle, Skye Sylvain, Colin, Marc Hodgkinson, and Rob as well as producer Robert Margouleff, writer Bob Klanac, and filmmaker Kinga Syrek.
My audience is global and I appreciate all my listeners, and am sometimes really blown away by having people tune in from places I would never have expected. However, an special hugs go out to the many from London, Ontario and Toronto areas who are particularly tuning in as well as a devoted clutch of listeners in Frankfurt, Germany! There’s a pile of you there: thanks peeps!
Strangely, in the first few years I was doing this, I hardly had any USA listeners and loads from South America. Now it’s the reverse (please come back, Brazil!).
I’m continuing my tradition of marking each anniversary by “personalizing” some of my favourite album/covers. For 2025, and especially with all the 51st state crap going down, I wanted to honour a Canadian band and album and decided on The Pursuit of Happiness’ catchy, crunchy power-pop classic from 1988: Love Junk, produced by Todd Rundgren (I love Todd too + TPOH are coming up down the road in the podcast/blog series!).
While it produced 3 hits up here—“I’m an Adult Now,” “She’s So Young,” and “Hard to Laugh”—the album as a whole is pretty superb, with Side 1 being one of “those” sides where every track is perfect.
I’m selecting “Consciousness Raising as a Social Tool”: kudos to them for coming up with a title like that and being able to pull it off as a compulsive-riff rocker.
Let’s meet up at the next concert. See you then and see you there.
Here are all of my previous anniversary covers and their original inspiration:
One Year Anniversary … Crivens!
Original Album: Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)
I went with the North American version of the cover as that is the one I own and played a 1,000 times. I had yet to start up the stand-alone blog so it was a strictly OpenSalon.com-based anniversary. Never Mind the Bollocks also appears on my Top 15 LPs list.
It Takes Two: My Second Anniversary
Original Album: The Beatles’ A Hard Days Night (1964)
I added my pen name to this one. Nice to see the back of the head of our much-missed cat, Thurston.
Three Is A Magic Number: My Third Anniversary
Original Album: Talking Heads’ Fear of Music (1979)
I also wrote about the Heads playing possibly the best set I have ever seen at Heatwave in 1980, and reflected back on the whole day/weekend in a 40th Anniversary podcast..
Four & (Hopefully) More: My Fourth Blogiversary
Original Album: Judy Garland’s Judy at Carnegie Hall (1961)
I was trying to remain upbeat about OpenSalon’s then-perilous future at the time of this post. Sadly, hope wasn’t enough and this turned out to be the last anniversary cover ever posted on the site as it went belly-up in late winter, 2015.
As for Judy, she is among the list of 20 (ok, 21) artists I wish I’d seen and never will.
Take Five: My 5th Anniversary
Original Album: Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation (1988)
OS is gone and no longer mentioned. I posted this one entry and then it was largely siesta time for this project until this year (2020). As for Sonic Youth, this album is another one in my Top 15. They are also coming up many times in this series, down the road.
Blackstar: MLIC’s 6th Anniversary (Belated from 2016)
Original Album: David Bowie’s Blackstar (2016)
This graphic was created at the time but it never got published as I had too many fires to put out. And just like my life at the time, the graphic is fittingly upside down. I have also written and/or podcasted about seeing Bowie in 1983 and 2004. I’ll also be podcasting/writing about seeing him in 1987, 1990, and 2003.
Getting Better: MLIC’s 7th Anniversary
Original Album: The Beatles’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
I admit, it’s getting better. While the larger world was in its early dumpster-fire stages, my personal life took a massive swing in the opposite direction, something long overdue. I did manage to work on and publish this anniversary image at the time, also marking Pepper’s 50th.
In The Light: mylifeinconcert.com’s 8th Anniversary (Belated from 2018)
Original Album: Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti (1975)
While this was the time of a very sad event, the passing of my father, the rest of my life continued to throb sunshine, basking me in the positive light. Ah, balance! I thought I’d pick this cover as I went through a period during this year of replaying Physical Graffiti repeatedly. For months. I kind of haven’t stopped.
And with this title for the entry, I now celebrate the actual series rather than my anniversary as an blogger/podcaster, as that was OS-based to begin with.
The Things We Did & Didn’t Do: mylifeinconcert.com’s 9th Anniversary (Belated from 2019)
Original Album: The Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs (1999)
I did try to restart the podcast in early 2019 but didn’t go ahead with it as I wasn’t satisfied with my initial results, and then got super-busy with school. It would take a second kick at the can a year later to get it right. And here we are.
Ceremony: mylifeinconcert.com’s 10th Anniversary (2020)
Original Album: New Order’s Substance (1987)
For my 10th, I thought the elegant austerity of New Order’s classic 1987 compilation would make a perfect ceremonial visual.
Rolling Right Along: mylifeinconcert.com’s 11th Anniversary (2021)
Original Album: The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers (1971)
I stuck with the Stones’ most iconic cover for my 11th anniversary. For the podcast’s first anniversary, I podcasted/wrote about seeing—and standing directly across from—Keith Richards in Detroit in 1988 in Episode 23/Concert no. 51, Connection: Keith Richards & the X-Pensive Winos, Fox Theatre, Detroit, Michigan, USA, Thursday, December 8, 1988.
The Stones themselves will be coming up with Concert no. 61, Start Me Up: The Rolling Stones with Living Color, CNE Stadium, Toronto, Ontario, Sunday September 3, 1989.
Miles Ahead: mylifeinconcert.com’s 12th Anniversary (2022)
Original Album: Miles Davis Sketches of Spain (1960)
Sadly, I never got to see Miles live, and he is one of the artists featured in Episode 11, You Won’t See Me: 20 Acts I Wish I’d Seen.
Songs Are Like Tattoos: mylifeinconcert.com’s 13th Anniversary (2023)
Original Album: Joni Mitchell Blue (1971)
There was nothing to feel blue about on my 13th anniversary. Joni will be coming up way down the line re: an incredible show I saw her play in Ottawa in 1998.
I’ll Be Your Mirror: mylifeinconcert.com’s 14th Anniversary (2024)
Original Album: The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
My all-time favourite album. I truly wish I could have seen them live.
As I continue my series, I’ll be your mirror from the past, reflecting what we all were. And are.
NEXT ON STAGE: I’ll be selecting and looking back on my favourite London, Ontario shows that I’ve seen through the years, as well as those I missed that I would most like to have seen.
Following that will be an episode looking at two concerts by The Smiths. Stay tuned for EP 36 I Know It’s Over: The Smiths with Billy Bragg, Kingswood Music Theatre, Canada’s Wonderland, Vaughan, Ontario, June 9, 1985; and with Phranc, Centennial Hall, London, Ontario, July 30, 1986.
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