The Music Mecca

By: Ray Sare

Last Issue I vented my spleen about the vacuous phenomenon that is house music and how it is clogging up this city's best venues. This time around, I want to talk about the upside of the cities club scene, namely the fact that Toronto is the best city in the world for an up-and-coming musician to live in. Period. Not just the best in Canada, or North America, but the world.

Yes, Los Angeles is a lot of fun if you like to party, or if you are already someone famous, but stars aren't raised or discovered there -- they're just packaged and crowned. Ditto New York City. Unlike Toronto's abundant and versatile club and concert scene, which pays decent bucks, most clubs in those American cities actually make the bands pay ($$$) for the "privilege" of performing in them. Believe it or not.

In contrast, the Toronto Music scene offers quality, quantity, and most importantly, variety. Unlike most cities where one type of music dominates the scene (Nashville, Detroit or Boston for instance), Toronto has a cosmopolitan blend of virtually every musical style -- influencing new artists to produce a hybrid, original sound that is truly unique. Adding to this phenomenon is the fact that Toronto is well respected by international artists, who consider it's streets to be safe, and it's audiences to be excellent (the night life and groupies don't hurt either), which helps raise the profile of the whole scene.

Alas, once up-and-coming musicians have worked their aspiring asses off, and got their final product together, it is time to move on to another city and hopefully become rich and famous. Alvin Tofler, in his book, "Future Shock," says that the stimulation provided by geographical relocation was a vital factor in the success of the vast majority of superstars in most walks of life. Hey, they say Jesus Christ couldn't perform miracles in his own hometown ... but that's another story.

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