My musician friends and colleagues
Through the window: An insider’s look at my vinyl record collection
My musician friends and colleagues
Look for and listen to music by my friends and colleagues:
- Bill Parsons http://billparsons.ca/composer/
- Emma Lamontagne https://emmalamontagne.com
- Katherine Wheatley http://www.katherinewheatley.com/
- The Network Man https://thenetworkman.ca
- Third Wave Mansion https://www.facebook.com/ThirdWaveMansion/ and https://thirdwavemansion.bandcamp.com/album/first-hour
- Festival of the Sound https://festivalofthesound.ca/
- Berliner Philharmoniker https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/
- Digital Concert Hall of the Berliner Philharmoniker https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en
- National Arts Centre https://nac-cna.ca/en/
- NAC Orchestra https://nac-cna.ca/en/orchestra
Through the window: An insider’s look at my vinyl record collection
When the bottom fell out of the record crate in the early nineties, I couldn’t bear to part with my records or my turntable. As it turns out, I’m very happy that I kept them. I played them over the years, interspersed with the glittery new CDs that I’d accumulated. In 2011, my love for vinyl resurged and I started to grow my collection from the original (about 70 records). I focussed on vintage vinyl, but I also on occasion bought modern (i.e., post-2000, often 180+ gram) vinyl records.
I now have just over 1,800 LPs in my medium-sized record collection. I’ve been lucky enough to receive boxes of records from friends and family who no longer wanted theirs, and I’ve received quite a few as gifts. The rest I’ve purchased myself, in part using gift cards happily received on my birthdays, Father’s Day and Christmas. I’ve shopped in record stores in Ontario (including Ottawa, Perth, Toronto and Thunder Bay), Manitoba (Winnipeg), Nova Scotia (Halifax) and in Virginia (Fairfax). I also have a few dozen records that I’ve purchased around the globe, including Rush’s “Clockwork Angels” and Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown that I bought in Paris, France, and three classical albums I bought in Germany.
I’ve spent many hours browsing local record stores and talking with their great staff, especially The Record Centre (@therecordcentre) on Wellington Street, Legend Records Kanata (@legendrecordskanata), Legend Records Ottawa (https://www.legendrecords.ca) and their previous locations on Wellington Street, Winona Avenue and in the Lincoln Fields mall), Compact Music (@compact.music) on Bank Street between Second and Third Avenues, Vertigo Records (@vertigoottawa) and The Turning Point (@turningpointottawa). In September 2019, I lined up for and bought about 40 albums (mostly classical) at the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library sale, and in December 2021, once again I lined up for and purchased over 50 albums and box sets, mostly classical and mostly opera, at another Friends of the Ottawa Public Library sale. I’ve also found a few gems at Value Village (for example, “Lightfoot!”, his debut album).
For this “Through the window: An insider’s look at my vinyl record collection series”, I am posting photos and descriptive text/narrative on specific topics, groups, composers and performers on the records in my collection.
My music- and record-related posts are on Instagram with user name @underthestylus and embedded below for convenience.
My Instagram posts
My concerts
I’ve been keeping track of the concerts I’ve attended, and while not complete, this list has a majority of them.
The Boomtown Rats (1980)
Sunday, March 23rd, 1980
Seneca College Gymnasium (festival seating), Toronto
The Who (1982) Farewell Tour #1
Saturday October 9th, 1982
Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) Stadium, Toronto
The Beach Boys (1982)
September 3rd, 1982
CNE Stadium, Toronto
Roger Waters (1987) Radio K.A.O.S. tour
November 9th, 1987
Ottawa Civic Centre, Ottawa
Rush (1988) Hold Your Fire tour
March 7th, 1988
Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto
The Rolling Stones (1989) Steel Wheels tour
September 3rd or 4th, 1989
CNE Stadium, Toronto
Rush (1991) Roll The Bones tour
October 25th, 1991
Copps Coliseum, Hamilton
Alanis Morisette (1999) (the Crash Test Dummies opened the show)
May 14th, 1999
Corel Centre, Ottawa
Blue Rodeo (2003)
Sunday July 13th, 2003
BluesFest (The Festival Plaza at Ottawa City Hall), Ottawa
The Rolling Stones (2005) A Bigger Bang tour
August 28th, 2005
Lansdowne Park (Frank Clair Stadium), Ottawa
Elton John (2006)
November 10th, 2006
Scotiabank Place, Ottawa
Bachman & Turner (2008)
May 8th, 2011
NAC (Prairie Scene arts festival), Ottawa
Colin James (with Liam Titcomb opening) (2012)
October 15, 2012
NAC (Southam Hall), Ottawa
Elton John (2014)
February 13th, 2014
Scotiabank Place, Ottawa
Bryan Adams (2015) Reckless 30th Anniversary Tour
February 20th, 2015
Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa
Def Leppard (2015)
Monday May 4th, 2015
TD Place Arena, Ottawa
Colin James (2016)
April 2nd, 2016
NAC (Southam Hall), Ottawa
Meatloaf (2016) Live In Concert tour
June 6th, 2016
TD Place Arena, Ottawa
Billy Idol and Steve Stevens (2016)
July 2nd, 2016
Bluesfest (City Stage, Lebreton Flats), Ottawa
Jim Bryson (2017) Petr Cancura (as part of the NAC’s ‘Crossroads’ Jazz Series)
Friday, April 21, 2017
NAC (Azrieli Studio), Ottawa
Roger Waters (2017) Us & Them tour
October 6th, 2017
Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa
Trooper and April Wine (2017)
November 25th, 2017
TD Place Arena, Ottawa
Blue Rodeo (2018) with The Sadies
Saturday February 18th, 2018
NAC (Southam Hall), Ottawa
Sue Foley (2018) The Ice Queen
February 22nd, 2018
NAC (Azrieli Studio), Ottawa
Randy Bachman (2018)
March 3rd, 2018
NAC, Ottawa
NQ Arbuckle and The Rifle (opening act) (2018)
September 29th, 2018
Ontario Festival of Small Halls, Lyndhurst (St. Luke’s Church Hall)
Gordon Lightfoot (2018)
November 18, 2018
NAC (Southam Hall), Ottawa
James Keelaghan (2019)
January 26th, 2019
Ontario Festival of Small Halls, Almonte Town Hall
Revolution: The Beatles Symphonic Experience
March 1, 2019
NAC, Ottawa
Betty and the Bobs (with Katherine Wheatley, Wendell Ferguson, Suzie Vinnick and others) (2019)
Saturday March 23rd, 2019
Ontario Festival of Small Halls, Almonte Town Hall
Corey Hart (with Julie Masse) and Glass Tiger (2019)
June 17th, 2019
Canadian Tire Centre
Royal Wood (2019)
December 27th, 2019
Le Mouton Noir (The Blacksheep Inn), Wakefield
Kim Mitchell, The Legends Series featuring (2022)
April 21, 2022
Bronson Place, Ottawa
Joel Plaskett Emergency and with TUNS opening (2022)
Saturday May 14th, 2022
National Arts Centre, Babs Asper Theatre, Ottawa
The Eagles (2022) Hotel California Tour with Deacon Fry
September 16th, 2022
Touring lineup: Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit and Vince Gill
Canadian Tire Centre
The Offspring Let The Bad Times Roll (2022) with Simple Plan
Friday November 11, 2022
Canadian Tire Centre
My musician friends and colleagues
Through the window: An insider’s look at my vinyl record collection