About: Leigh Bursey

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to sit down and have a no-holds-barred telephone conversation with Against Me! Front-woman Laura Jane Grace, who had been touring North America with arena-rock band Green Day, but still found time to chat while filling time before a show in Arkansas. For those unfamiliar with Laura, she is an openly transgender singer/songwriter, social activist, punk rocker, and author. She has appeared on such programs as The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and taken some very direct stands against the Trump administration (including some choice Twitter comments just last week about the Tweeter-In-Chief’s activity since the mass flooding in Puerto Rico).

Catching a World Wrestling Entertainment live event is sort of unlike any other type of live event in the world. Between dramatic entrances, sometimes scary masks, blaring music, colourful costumes, and unbelievable athleticism right in front of your eyes, professional wrestling can sort of sweep you up in it’s very unique universal of branded entertainment. And when the WWE comes to town specifically, it’s above and beyond any other form of pro wrestling in terms of production value and energy. I was lucky enough to witness this firsthand on Monday night, when the WWE Summerslam Heatwave Tour invaded Kingston’s K-Rock Centre.

SummerSlam Heatwave Tour comes to Ottawa and I had the opportunity to talk with “Big E” Langston before it happened!

So I was sitting in the media lounge at Montebello’s Rockfest. The chalet was beautiful, the staff was welcoming, and the iced coffee had the perfect amount of pep and kick. I was charging my phone battery and preparing for a second day of incredible live music, when who should walk in to charge their phones but punk rock icons Good Riddance.

The Specials have been bringing their unique brand of funk, punk, dance, Rhasta and ska music to the masses since well before I was born, and they still have plenty more to say. The group preaches love and acceptance, and stands opposed to racial divide.

So Montebello’s Amnesia Rockfest 2017 was amazing! Another great lineup of talent, reaching all corners of the globe, and encompassing a variety of styles. Again another 100,000 or so people descend on this wickedly beautiful little village, and they run amuck. Music is coming from every corner and can be heard for miles. Artists from Germany, Mexico, and all over the United States and Canada take the stage, as dust rises from the dirty boots of thousands of punk rockers and metalheads, and I got to witness it all from a very unique vantage point.

Thursday night Sam Hunt brought his talent and energy to a raucous crowd of country music lovers at Toronto’s Budweiser Stage. The audience had already been well warmed up by the songwriting hooks of Maren Morris, Chris Janson, and Ryan Follese.

The National Arts Centre is a really spectacular venue for a concert of any size and magnitude. Even more so when the musical artist on the stage is pouring their heart out and the audience is electric. That was just the case this past Friday night, as a capacity crowd of passionate Canadian music lovers arose from their seats and ignored the sitting room guidelines to celebrate the ever-evolving indie dream-rock sounds of Mother Mother.

Friday night Barrymore’s Music Hall filled up with Canadian music lovers for the Megaphono Juno Concert Series, which included a whole collection of incredible Canadian talents, we were there to catch all the action.

The times may be a’ changing, but not quite fast enough.

Before Green Day won Grammies for singing of an American idiot, and Rage Against the Machine urged us to take the power back, The Clash wrote intricate songs about isolation, poverty, utilitarianism, and cultural upheaval. Before Bob Dylan won a Nobel Prize for Literature, his songs were recited and replayed over and over at picket lines across the United States when citizens took to the streets to protest the Vietnam War. Before Dr. Dre was selling his headphones to Apple and being treated like hip hop’s elder statesman and Ice Cube was making movies about barbershops and Jump Street, the “Niggaz With Attitude” were challenging police corruption and slapping us unapologetic-ally with a lyrical portrait of their realities in South Central, Los Angeles.