I have been dreading the possibility of having to make this post since discovering early in the week that my longtime friend, supporter and all-round enabler of the Toronto live music scene, Pete Otis, had collapsed following his set during his SongTown New Year’s Eve show at Black Swan Tavern. Last night, on Sat. January…
\ TO EAST \ According to R&B singer George Olliver and others, songwriter and SongTown impresario Pete Otis was still unconscious in hospital early this afternoon after collapsing and being taken to hospital following his performance set on New Year’s Eve at Black Swan Tavern. Otis, who will turn 70 this year, has had previous…
Shock waves are spreading through the GTA music community as news is shared of the unexpected passing of Jon Long overnight the evening of Thursday April 19 or early Friday April 20. A close friend of Jon’s told me this afternoon that he had seen Jon twice for coffees earlier this week and that the…
—But advance ticket holders not likely to be refunded for cancelled shows \ 170109/16:30 | Monday January 09, 2017, 16:30 \ Although it remains closed and sold-out concerts scheduled for this week have been cancelled without likely prospect of refunds, the owner of iconic TO venue Hugh’s Room has told CBC News that the room…
Veteran publicist and talent booker Richard Flohill, who has worked closely with west-end music venue Hugh’s Room since its opening in April of 2001, tweeted this morning that the owners have “apparently declared bankruptcy.” The club’s website calendar indicates that two shows scheduled for last week and another that was planned for Tuesday have been…
\ TORONTO \ Add another musical genius to the list of talents claimed by cancer in 2016. Brian Cober, who had been ailing off and on for the past couple of years, passed away peacefully in his sleep overnight according to a post on his Facebook timeline by his wife, Dianna shortly after noon today.…
After a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer, multiple award-winning Blues singer John Mays of Fathead has succumbed to the disease at 76 years of age. A short statement on the band’s website on December 10 said: “It is with sadness that we announce the passing of John Mays, 76, who succumbed to cancer after a…
Double-slide Blues guitarist and songwriter Brian Cober, who has struggled with medical issues for the past two years, now reports that he has been diagnosed with “incurable” cancer after radiation and chemotherapy failed to stem a growth that has spread to his windpipe. In a post on Facebook yesterday Cober, who had just returned to…
\ TO CENTRAL \ Veteran Rock ‘n’ Roll guitarist extraordinaire and songwriter Johnnie Lovesin is spending Thanksgiving in hospital in Toronto according to posts on his Facebook timeline and is expected to be there for a while. According to a friend of his, Bill Belson, Lovesin was taken to hospital by his wife, Michele Morgan,…
\ ETOBICOKE \ Toronto Police are investigating the “suspicious” death early Sunday, October 2 of a cyclist whose body was found on Evans Avenue shortly after 4 a.m. and whom friends have identified as bass player and front man for the former Scavenger band, Donn Woods. According to a police news release a bicycle was…
\ 150426 / Sunday, April 26, 14:08 \ In the wake of a powerful earthquake that destroyed temples and towers and killed at least 2,500 people in Nepal yesterday, Folk songwriter Nicole Coward is staging an impromptu live online fundraiser today at 5:30 p.m. A special edition of her weekly show on streetjelly.com, the event…
STOLEN GUITAR ALERT - EAST TORONTO \ A Moon subscriber reports that on July 31st, 2014 a 1978 Les Paul Custom, Burgundy with Beige trim was stolen from the back porch of a house in the Broadview / Wolfrey area of Riverdale in TO. It was in a hard shell case. The neck is worn…
/TORONTO/ A petition organized on the Change.org website a few days ago following reports, including one in this publication on Thursday, about the North By North East festival (NXNE) forbidding its artists to play downtown venues for a 45-day period prior to the start of the festival, has led the clause to be dropped…
BULLETIN: Robbie “The Blues Butcher” Bellmore has died -report /// I have just received word that Rob Bellmore, popularly known as The Blues Butcher, has passed away while in Cuba. I talked to the Blues singer and ace harp player on Sat. April 12 when he was in town and having a brew at his…
/// I just got word that Howard Gladstone had to cancel his show at Relish tonight referred to in the article about Folk artists with today’s show listings, due to illness. Relish owner Joanne Clayton advises that Brad Alexander will be filling in. For more details see the event page.
We’re unlocking the archives vault -for subscribers only! Another new feature for our loyal subscribers: access to memories via scanned copies of pages of Toronto Moon when it was in hard-copy as well as pages from the Moon’s precursor publications by Gary 17, to-nite and The Open Season. Plus access to never-before-published photos shot by…
St. Peter might have some new competition for his job deciding who is and who isn’t worthy of entrance through the Pearly Gates. Reggie “The Bouncer Poet” Bovaird, has just passed away, his close friends on Facebook have posted early in the morning on Sunday, September 29. The throat cancer that, with such cruel irony,…
Toronto guitarist and songwriter Joe Mavety has died in hospital in Toronto, where he as having an assessment done of his medical condition, two of his friends have reported on Facebook. According to the post he developed a lung hemorrhage while at Princess Margaret Hospital and died at approximately noon yesterday, Wednesday, September 25. Best…
The equipment described below and pictured in the accompanying photo, was stolen from David Love, of the David Love Band, within the past 24 hours. Please be on the lookout for it and contact me via the magazine or David through the link to his website immediately if you think you’ve spotted some or all…
Al Reilly’s Catalyst won’t be performing tonight at Karla’s Roadhouse in Scarborough after all, as the eponymous singer is in North York General Hospital today recovering after suffering an apparent stroke last night. According to a posting on Facebook by Catalyst guitarist Earl Johnson earlier today, Reilly had performed a couple of tunes with a band Johnson was part of at a…
Songwriter Mena Hardy earlier today announced that she was cancelling her Saturday afternoon open mic series at the new du Cafe venue on O’Connor Drive in TO’s East York area. Although she did not specify why she was doing so, a source close to her said it was because she had discovered that the club…
