Ladies and gents, CPME author Jaimie Vernon has been moonlighting as a blogger for many years on another WordPress site called “Don’t Believe A Word I Say” with a condensed version of his long-running music magazine GWNtertainment. Changes are afoot on that site – run by famed Canadian rocker Bob Segarini – and so we’ve moved the content portion of GWNtertainment to the Encyclopedia site as a way of tying the two all-Canadian resources together for the first time ever.

GWNtertainment Magazine is a weekly blog that showcases Canadian music news and new releases by veteran Canadian entertainers and new performers looking to catch their big break.

Without further ado we present GWNtertainment – Issue #45.
The TOP 20 PICKS TO CLICK for the week starting October 17.
[click on the highlighted links to listen]

1) BASSETT is a duo from Toronto featuring acoustic songwriters Sam Clark and Yasmine Shelton. Their new album is called ‘In The Clay‘ and the current single is “At My Feet.”
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

2) PETER FOLDY continues cranking out hook-laden pop fodder (remember that?). It’s light and fluffy ear-candy that’ll stick to the roof of your ears. His latest offering is called “Fun, Fun, Fun” (an original track that isn’t related to the Beach Boys classic).
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

3) JAIMIE VERNON – author of this very blog – is also an accomplished, veteran Canadian musician and has released a cover version of Teenage Head’s “Somethin’ On My Mind” as a tribute to the band’s late guitarist, Gordie Lewis.
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY


4) You are never too old to pursue your dreams of getting into the music business. To whit, Ottawa’s RICHARD LEESON – an octogenarian (!!) and father of singer/songwriters Jef Leeson and Maureen Leeson – has released his first EP of standards entitled ‘And I Love Her So‘ featuring covers of songs by Neil Diamond, Don Ho, Bobby Darin, The Bee Gees, and Perry Como. Jef produces and Maureen adds her harmonies to the release. Here’s the title track.
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

5) Toronto-based JULIE NEFF has emerged with a new single called “A Lot Left To Learn” from her 2021 EP ‘Over It.’ Touching on the vulnerability of sharing yourself with someone, “A Lot Left To Learn” traverses the terrain of love not meant to be – how sweet a partner can be, yet they still may not be for you. Love comes in many shapes and sizes, and while some love is forever, it often is merely a stepping stone – a point of learning in a lifelong journey.
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

6) THE DISCARDED have returned with a killer new track about the gun culture in the US entitled “Thoughts And Prayers”. It comes via an animated video featuring the band’s alter-egos known as The Getgoes – which in itself is only part of a longer animated feature.
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

7) The first taste of the Hamilton-based, internationally touring artist ANDRE BISSON‘s 9th album, ‘The Ballad of Lucy Stone,’ is the single “Missin’ You” which emphatically checks all the boxes of a killer, scathing blues track with a funkified soul.
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

8) Caribbean-Dutch Canadian Rapper BIG LOU empowers listeners with messages of self-acceptance in the hard-hitting single, “Tayrona.”
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

9) CHRIS CAULFIELD And Stella Grey make the “Walls Come Down” in their new Trap Beat-Meets-Emo Rock single about relationship turmoil.
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

10) International award-winning performance artist HARRIET CHUNG unveils a musically fiery, ill-fated romance with the single “Place For Dreams.”
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY


11) Canadian Pop artist LADY CHARLES has imagined a healing, gender-fluid deity on the synthy, ’80s-heavy new single “Godx.”
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

12) Indie folk-rocker TAYLOR SIMPSON is proud to announce the upcoming release of his sophomore album, “New Sights In A Familiar Place” on November 18, 2022. Ahead of the album, Simpson has released the album’s first single, “Long Time Coming.”
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

13) Toronto’s TIM “TIMBER” MASTERSON has played piano at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, guitar at The Viper Room in Los Angeles, and organized warehouse jams in Toronto and New York. Now he has released his debut album, ‘Heaven’s So Hard,‘ featuring the first single “Every Time (Jenni’s Song).”
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

14) Your past doesn’t determine your future, you do. That’s the message of Moncton, New Brunswick artist UPKVST’s newly-released single, “Midnight Club.”
SPOTIFY

15) Toronto-based Ukrainian singer-songwriter VALENTYNA finds her strength calling out doubters in new “Motivators” single.
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

16) JUNO Award nominees GIRL POW-R stand up to a fake friend on their new empowering, head-bopping anthem called “Slam.”
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY


17) The second advanced single from Canadian band UNIVERSAL HONEY‘s forthcoming album, following the success of the first single, “Is This The Real Thing?” is “Hush A Word.”
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

18) REID JAMIESON continues an endless streak of single releases this past year with his take on Buffy Sainte-Marie’s song “Summer Boy.”
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

19) ROBINSON KIRBY has released a fresh Folk ode to blossoming relationships in their new single “Secret Lover.”
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

20) W3APONS, from Saskatchewan, has re-issued the “Hope On The Radio” single (previously “No Hope On The Radio”) in the form of a shorter remix from ‘Adios Radio.’
YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY

SEND US YOUR STUFF!
This issue was brought to you by: “Is It Tofu?” from the dietary conscious makers of “Is It Cake?”
Send us your news, views, and all manner of CANADIAN musical releases to promote and wave a flag for. Join the GWN Facebook page and drop us a message: https://www.facebook.com/gwntertainment

Keep up the fight!
Jaimie Vernon, 2022

Jaimie “Captain CanCon” Vernon has been president of the on again/off-again Bullseye Records of Canada since 1985. He wrote and published Great White Noise magazine in the ‘90s, has been a musician for 44 years, and recently discovered he’s been happily married for 26 of those. He is also the author of The Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia and editor of “Sunny Days: The Skip Prokop Story.” Available through Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Jaimie+Vernon