021117 The Assad Brothers, Ottawa, ON
Right around the time I was starting to scramble for a Secret Santa gift for my guitar-playing friend Dave I received an email announcing Ottawa’s upcoming annual Chamber Music Festival…
Author: Todd Snelgrove
I've been having a lot of fun these past fifty-odd years. I've busked and bicycled through more places I can count, taught music and caught dengue fever, managed a band that toured all over North America and worked with Canada's National Orchestra for two decades. I've traveled countless miles to see a thousand concerts, played hundreds of gigs, won in Vegas and lost in Estonia, worked as a concert promoter, university instructor, janitor, and entertainment writer, seen the Grateful Dead and hiked the Dogon Valley, ran the stairs of the CN Tower and pedalled across Scandinavia once and Newfoundland twice. I've visited the graves of Alexander the Great and the great Robert Johnson, drunk excessively with some of the best and worst people you can imagine, and I've slept in some very, very weird places. Several years ago I started writing some of it down, and much of it is collected here for your perusal.
020919 Kevin Breit, Ottawa, ON
After a stellar show the night before (following a less-than-stellar show the night before that) on February 9th, 2019 I committed to see Kevin Breit’s third and final show at the Ottawa Jazz Festival’s brief winter fest. The last-minute decision to attend the show was augmented by my promise to Kevin the night before that I would…
020816 Senators vs Lightning, Ottawa, ON
Well, looky-here! Another Sens home game, this time against my other hometown team, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Not like I live in Tampa Bay or anything, but…
020717 Drive-By Truckers, Montreal, QC
On February 7th, 2017 m’lady and I drove to Montreal to see the Drive-By Truckers. Before the show we had a drink in our hotel lobby bar and decided to walk to the show. It was fairly mild for a February night and the walk was relatively short and quite pleasant…
020216 Bruce Springsteen, Toronto, ON
On February 2nd, 2016 I drove to Toronto to see the mighty Bruce Springsteen at the Air Canada Centre. It was a quick in-and-out mission utilizing a free hotel stay on points at a dingy EconoLodge downtown, but one thing I’ve learned is to never, ever miss a Bruce Springsteen concert…
The Rock & Roll Field Trip Through America: February, 2011
An epic three-week treasure hunt through fourteen states searching for the ghosts of rock & roll from Rochester to Mississippi, ending with a romp through the Florida Keys, the Everglades, the world’s only underwater hotel, Disney, and the Daytona 500. Whew!
What Happens When I Wear a Mask With a Picture of My Own Face on it?
When the pandemic first hit of course like everyone else I needed a mask. But what to get on it? The logo of my favourite band? My favourite team? A Superman logo? None of them really felt like “me” but I knew something that was…
Pumpkin (My Cat’s On Crack) – The Tummies
This pending hit song is a tribute to Pumpkin, a rough-and-tumble tabby who died of feline AIDS long ago, and is performed by puppets.
011820 Pigs in Z’Hills BBQ & Blues Festival, Zephyrhills, FL
On January 18th, 2020 the biggest snowstorm to ever hit Newfoundland was just finishing up and I found myself holed up at my mother’s winter home in New Port Richey, Florida for a week longer than I intended to visit as the crews busily worked to reopen the St. John’s airport…
Music Lessons by Bob Wiseman
The biased gushing of an unabashed fan under the guise of a review for the musician/producer/composer’s new book, Music Lessons.
Todd Man Out 