Make Some Noise - Toronto Public Library | Local Music Collection

February's Recommended Books

         

Bandalism: The Rock Group Survival Guide 
(2008) Julian Ridgway

A self-help guide for bands, designed to keep your band happy, productive, and sane. Features many cautionary tales from rock superstars.

Slumberland (2008) Paul Beatty 

Travelling to recently unified Berlin in search of a little-known avant-garde jazzman whom he believes to be a musical kindred spirit, disaffected Los Angeles DJ Darky encounters the dramatic local changes that have transpired after the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.

 

February's Recommended CDs

Battles On by The Ghost is Dancing

 

High On Jackson Hill by Immaculate Machine

 

Self Explanatory by Classified

 

Years (by one thousand fingertips) by Attack in Black

 

Three by Joel Plaskett

January's Recommended Books

Pretty Vacant: A History of Punk (2007) Phil Strongman

Sure you like punk, but do you know its roots? Told by someone who was there, Strongman takes you back to U.S. punk bands and 1976 England when the underground punk movement burst out.  This is punk in its prime.

 Will You Take Me as I Am: Joni Mitchell's Blue Period (2009) Michelle Mercer

Combining interviews with Joni Mitchell, criticism and biography, Mercer offers commentary on the artist’s chiefly autobiographical albums of the mid-1970s.

January's Recommended CDs

As Seen Through Windows by Bell Orchestre

Let the Children Die by D-Sisive

Oh, Maria by Jon-Rae Fletcher

Into Your Lungs by Hey Rosetta!

Begone Dull Care by Junior Boys

December's Recommended CDs

Black Square by DD/MM/YYYY

Winter Hours by Deep Dark Woods

Lost Channels by Great Lake Swimmers

Labyrinthes by Malajube

Outside Love by Pink Mountaintops

December's Recommended Books

Don't Rhyme for the Sake of Riddlin': The Authorized Story of Public Enemy  (2008)
Russell Myrie
This is the first official biography of one of hip hop’s biggest acts. Interviews with Chuck D., Flavor Flav, Terminator X, Professor Grif, and the Shocklee brothers provide an in-depth history of the group and a behind the scenes look at the making of their hit albums.

I Like Food, Food Tastes Good: In the Kitchen with Your Favorite Bands  (2007)
Kara Zuaro
Peppered with band trivia, journalist Kara Zuaro has gathered a wealth of tasty recipes to try for yourself. From Hayden’s easy to make "Exploding Sandwich" to The Violet Femmes' gourmet "Wild Boar Ragu", each recipe is introduced and written out by band members themselves.

The Words of Every Song: A Novel  (2007)
Liz Moore
A behind-the-scenes glimpse of the modern music industry through the eyes of insiders--including a rising young singer-songwriter, a famed rock star on the brink of an early midlife crisis, an aspiring rap producer, and a female executive with a habit--in a series of fourteen interlinked episodes.

Sentences: The Life of M.F. Grimm  (2007)
Percy Carey
Percy Carey, a.k.a. M.F. Grimm went from acting on Sesame Street to hip-hop stardom to surviving a murder attempt to near life imprisonment. Edgy and personal, this graphic novel recounts it all, including Carey’s road to redemption.

Steve Jordan tells you how to be a northern star

Get the insider's view of the music world. Steve Jordan, Executive Director of Canada's Polaris Music Prize, will share practical music industry advice to help up-and-coming artists and other music industry hopefuls. For free, at Nothern District Library.

Getting into the Scene with Steve Jordan / Tues. Dec. 1, 7 p.m.

Northern District Library, 40 Orchard View Blvd. (just north of Yonge and Eglinton)

The Polaris Music Prize is Canada’s first juried award for creative artistic achievement in recorded music. This national critic’s prize honours the full-length album as an art form and awards a cash prize of $20,000 to the artist or artists who create the best album of the year. The Polaris jury is comprised of journalists, broadcasters, bloggers, programmers and other experts in the field of devouring and deciphering new Canadian music.

Colin Medley at Kennedy/Eglinton Library - Nov. 24, 7 p.m., FREE

There's a great profile of video director, music scene documentarian, Soundscapes employee and all-round music enthusiast, Colin Medley on the torontoist today. Go the library tomorrow night to hear Colin Medley talk about his work, Documenting the Music Scene, and learn how you can do it too.

Colin Medley at Kennedy Eglinton Library, Nov. 24th, 7 p.m., Free.

Kennedy Eglinton Library 2380 Eglinton Ave. East (in the Liberty Square Shopping Plaza) 

 

Katie Stelmanis in the stacks

 

Katie Stelmanis played a powerful solo show at the Bloor Gladstone Library to a crowd of 200 rapt listeners who sat on the floor and leaned on the book shelves. Her soaring voice was echoed by the tall rounded windows and arches throughout the library. The show was a wonderful end to this fall's three Make Some Noise concerts.  

 

There are two more free workshops in the next few weeks. Please join us.

Colin Medley  - Documenting the Music Scene, Tues. Nov. 24 at Kennedy Eglinton Library , 7 p.m.

Steve Jordan  - Getting into the Scene, Tues. Dec. 1 at Northern District Library ,7 p.m.

Katie Stelmanis is ready to make noise at Bloor Gladstone Library!

The best reason to go out tomorrow night and see Katie Stelmanis play at Bloor Gladstone Library is that her music will fill you, stir you, and make you feel all right.

CBC Radio 3 says: "Armed with a keyboard and backed by a wall of pre-assembled midi madness, Katie Stelmanis' music is endlessly evocative, with strong and scattered beats riding alongside dense synth melodies and vibrato-laden vocal swoops. On top of being a talented beat-maker, Stelmanis possesses one mean set of vocal chords, with a tone that falls somewhere between opera-house class and punk rock crass."

 
Katie Stelmanis

A second reason to go to the show--as if you need one!--is to see the beautifully renovated Bloor Gladstone Library . It has an elegant glass cube beside the original Carnegie building and feels airy, light and cozy all at once. 

Katie Stelmanis in Concert / Bloor Gladstone Library / 1101 Bloor St. West / Friday, Nov. 20, 8 p.m.