From: owner-canadian-music-digest@smoe.org (canadian-music-digest) To: canadian-music-digest@smoe.org Subject: canadian-music-digest V4 #24 Reply-To: canadian-music@smoe.org Sender: owner-canadian-music-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-canadian-music-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk canadian-music-digest Monday, November 5 2001 Volume 04 : Number 024 Today's Subjects: ----------------- (BST) R.I.P. Ted's Wrecking Yard ["Tabassum Siddiqui" Subject: (BST) R.I.P. Ted's Wrecking Yard [From the Emm Gryner/Sarah Slean lists - some of you might have heard about the demise of much-loved Toronto club Ted's Wrecking Yard, where many local favourites either got their start or used to play, so this is a bit of an update/follow-up on that.] Julian wrote: >http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2001-11-01/music_feature3.html > >I'm beside myself with anger. But I guess this is the way the > >entertainment industry does its dirty work here in Toronto; it's a >dog->eat-dog world. And ultimately the patrons suffer. > >Coupled with the bankruptcy of the venerable Sam The Record Man, it's >not >been a good week for Toronto music. You know, I would've probably taken several paragraphs just to say the exact same thing, so thanks, Julian. ;) Well said. I'm also incredibly outraged, especially as I was one of many who were ready to stand up for the ElMo when it faced closing, despite hardly ever frequenting the joint and not even being into the type of sounds it championed at all. I was more concerned with the potential loss of an indie live music venue, which ultimately hurts the entire communiy, not just those bands and parons it serves. But now ElMo booker Dan Burke thinks that his particular club is just so important that it justifies stealing (and really, that's what it was) someone else's club? In the end, we're still down an indie live music venue. Wasn't that was it was supposed to be about, Dan? Oh, no, wait - apparently it was just about saving *his* piece of the pie, anyone else be damned. But what goes around comes around, and I was actually quite perversely glad to read in the Star today that the new owner of he ElMo is putting up a fight to deny Burke the rights to he ElMo name and signage. If it's true that Burke and co. indeed bought the rights a few years ago, I suppose he won't succeed in keeping them from having it, but it's some small smug consolation at the immediate moment, anyway. Just the very idea of that garish neon palm over the threshold of Ted's makes my skin crawl. (The article doesn't seem to be up on the Star's website for some reason, sorry, or I would've posted the entire link. Essential reading for anyone following this issue, though, so I recommend picking up or hunting down today's Star.) Not only was a vital venue and musical touchstone taken from us, but it's the very *way* it was done that's the real blow here. There's nothing Ted's booker Yvonne Matsell, the fans, or the musicians could have done to stop his from happening. *We* didn't have a chance to hold meetings, appeal to politicians, sign petitions like the ElMo crew did in their hour of crisis. And so the memories of the last few years are buried along with the potential to create new ones at grungy, cozy ol' Ted's. I hate the feeling of simply sitting on the sidelines and doing nothing about this, so I've done the only thing we *can* do at this point - I've written a letter to the editor which I plan to send to the Star and the 2 weeklies, so if anyone wants to simply join in and sign their name to that one letter, please e-mail me with your name and number. Might be nice to have some sort of small united final show of support. Plus ca change, - - Tab NP: Chris Brown & Kate Fenner, "Geronimo" (soul music for the mind *and* heart) _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ End of canadian-music-digest V4 #24 ***********************************