Stayin’ Alive!

These words, never more potent than with Donald Trump in office, were written by the Brothers Gibb in 1977. Peter and I went to hear that song, and many others by the Bee Gee’s, last week at Roy Thompson Hall.

We had received a gift certificate at Christmas and wondered what to spend it on. We have quite different tastes in music. I enjoy pop, rock and even classical, whereas Peter is into “Oh Sole Mio!” and other Italian favourites. He stared at me blank-eyed when I mentioned the Bee Gees. But when I started singing out loud and dancing like John Travolta, he recognized the music right away. (No photo, sorry.)

Barry, Robin and Maurice were some very talented brothers. They started singing and playing together as kids working for pocket money. They recorded such unknown albums as Life In a Tin Can and Cucumber Castle. They even appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. But it wasn’t until the early 1970’s that they came up with the disco sound which suited Robin’s vibrato voice and Barry’s trademark falsetto, with Maurice adding harmony in the middle range.

Their big break came with the movie Saturday Night Fever. They wrote and recorded most of the songs for that movie, including More than A Woman, How Deep Is Your Love, Night Fever and everyone’s favourite: Stayin’ Alive. And they won 5 Grammys. They also wrote songs which were recorded for other singers. You might remember Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers harmonizing to Islands In the Stream, or Dionne Warwick’s beseeching version of “Why did you have to be a Heartbreaker?”

Unfortunately 2 of the 3 Gibb brothers are now deceased and the third one is retired. We spent the afternoon at Roy Thompson Hall listening to a Finnish vocal ensemble called “Rajaton” (“boundless” in Finnish) composed of 3 male and 3 female singers. They were backed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and its popular conductor Steven Reineke. The TSO performed their own number, Seven Seas Symphony, also written by the Bee Gees, and the strings, brass and percussion sections added much musical depth to Rajaton’s singing.

As you might expect on a Wednesday afternoon of 1970’s music, most of the audience members were our age. Guests made it to their seats on foot, with canes and walkers, and in wheelchairs. But we were smiling. And then clapping. And, when the lead singer asked us to sing along, we did. Finally one last request during the closing number: “Stand up and dance to the music!”

We did that too, dancing near our seats and belting out Stayin’ Alive with fierce determination.

Sue

TAYLOR AND ME

With Taylor Swift in town, readers would expect me to write something about her. Wouldn’t you? After all she has pretty much taken over the city.

But I don’t really follow Taylor’s music, and this site has a limited budget which doesn’t allow for $1,000 per-person tickets to go to a concert. I was tempted to write about some other newsworthy item, like my teen-age rise to fame, but frankly I don’t remember it. My mind kept wandering back to this superstar. What is it about her that attracts so many millions of fans?

Even though she is only 35 years old, Taylor Swift (named after singer James Taylor), has a long performing history. As a child she sang at Montessori concerts and in school musicals. Then she started going to New York City for voice and acting lessons. By age 13 Swift won a deal with RCA records and began travelling to Nashville with her mother. Clearly her parents were well-off and could afford to support their daughter’s musical career, just like her namesake.

As a young teen, Swift learned the guitar and did commercials for Maybelline. She followed the music of Patsy Cline and Shania Twain. Most of my teen age friends and I followed Elvis, with never a thought of actually singing like him or even being in his back-up group. But Swift was determined to build a career in country music. So her parents did what she needed – they moved the family to Nashville. Wen I was 13, my family moved to a small town called Greece New York where there was definitely no music scene.

Along the way Swift began writing her own material: tunes and lyrics. For example she would write about what happened in school on a certain day, what boy winked at her, what girl called her names. Then she would design costumes and add dance moves too. She was, and still is, the whole package. Many of us wrote stuff like that in our diaries, and we made costumes out of old castoffs in the attic. But that’s as far as it went for our stardom.

Swift’s debut album, Taylor Swift, was released when she was just 17. Accolades poured in for this emerging star. For most of us, age 17 meant our first part-time job at a greasy spoon. and maybe singing along with the jukebox. I even had a tiny radio that ran on batteries!

At the American Music awards in 2019, Swift was named Artist of the DECADE. In 2020 she was the highest paid solo musician worldwide. Concerned about theft of her content, she began to re-release her albums in her own style. Fearless: Taylor’s Version was released in 2021. In 2023 Swift was the most streamed artist on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon.

Her fan base has grown to many millions, all across the globe, across age groups, and across genders. Her fans include musicians, as she has often advocated for them on issues of intellectual property rights and streaming policies. She has become a cult figure with her own logo – friendship bracelets. She supports women’s rights. Folks like you and I continue to watch in wonder.

Not surprising to learn that Swift is rich; in 2023 she became a billionaire. And she gives it away too. She had already donated millions to charitable causes: cities ravaged by storms and floods, schools for needy kids, food banks at every concert venue. So what else to do but create another tour? Meanwhile our thirties were spent raising kids and paying the mortgage. Sometimes we went to a bar and sang along with the band to “Sweet Caroline.”

Toronto has come alive in pink. The subway system has posters on every wall and pillar. Stores and malls have pop-up tables and kiosks full of Swift “merch.” Radio stations blast her hits. Downtown is filled with loving fans, cheering and trading bracelets, (except for one couple that has gone to court, fighting over a divorce and who gets the Swift concert tickets). Mostly it is all about adoration and happiness.

But I am wondering about one thing. Our generation all worked hard, gradually moving up the career ladder, and maybe striving for an upper rung before we retired. We left lots of goals unattained. For Taylor Swift, having reached the top of her game at age 35, what is she going to DO for the next 60 years?

Sue

Heliconian

Come on, admit it. You remember Yorkville during the 1960’s too! We were either in university or checking out the job market. On Friday nights we went to Yorkville to see Gordon Lightfoot, or Joni Mitchell, or even Neil Young at the Riverboat or one of the other clubs or coffee shops that popped up during that intoxicating decade. After that we moved on to building careers and raising children, while Yorkvillke went downhill when biker gangs and drug dealers moved in.

Soon the new Bloor-Danforth subway line enticed high-end businesss, and a new class of patrons, rich shoppers, started coming by. That area is now referred to as the “mink mile.” Stores like Versace, Louis Vutton and Cartier sell exclusive items, and restaurants serve the latest in food trends, with a negroni cocktail, and a serving of kale on the side.

Through all of this a lot of renovation and rebuilding has taken place. But there are still a few old gems hanging around. The Yorkville Library at 229 Yorkville Ave is one of the earliest branches of the city library system, designed in 1929 in the Carnegie architectural style. The first site of Mount Sinai Hospital, built in 1923 at 100 Yorkville Ave, is now a trendy store.

My favourite old building is the Heliconian Hall at 35 Hazleton Ave. Originally a Baptist Church built in 1875, it was bought by a feisty group of women who had founded an arts group in 1909 and were loking for a permanent home. The building, designed in a style referred to as Carpenter Gothic, ie Gothic in wood, is the oldest building standing in Yorkville.

Inside the building that feisty group of women, or nowadays their grand daughters, still run an active arts program open to the public. The name comes from Mount Heliconian in Greece, said to be a source of poetic inspiration for the muses. There are concerts, performances, and art shows on a regular basis. And the best known? A literary lecture series once a month. The club invites Canadian authors with recently-published books to come and speak to an audience of about 150. There are rarely any empty seats.

I have seen many reputable authors there. Marie Henein comes to mind. She was the laywer for that controversial case involving Jian Ghomeshi a few years ago. I expectd her to be another feisty woman. And she was! I also heard Ann-Marie MacDonald and Wayne Johnston, 2 Canadian authors whose fame is well-known, even in the US. Later this season we are being treated to a lecture by Dr. Vincent Lam who now spends a lot of his spare time writing. His latest novel takes place in a Toronto ravine and deals with a timely subject – drug overdosing.

I attend these presentations with an old friend who shares my love of writing. On our subway trips we discuss our latest novels, stories and yes, even blog posts! When the subway arives at our stop, we have a short walk through Yorkville, beautifully lit up at night, until we arrive at Heliconain Hall. We share tea and cookies with other members of the audience. Then we all settle in for the lecture and audience questions.

What better way to spend a winter evening? Friendship, food and our favourite Canadian writers, in an historic setting.

Sue