Since January 2007, I (Johan) have curated and hosted a reading series/neighbourhood cabaret called FREE SPEECH in Toronto’s West End. The series proudly showcases the prose, poetry, spoken word, comedy, storytelling and songwriting of Parkdale-High Park based writers and performers. FREE SPEECH has featured some of the country’s finest writers, actors and musicians including Michael Winter, Justin Rutledge, Bob Wiseman, Mary Jo Leddy, Shyam Selvadurai, Carl Wilson, Claire Jenkins, Ray Robertson and Elizabeth Shepherd.”

FREE SPEECH celebrates its second anniversary on Monday, January 26 when the 2009 season kicks off with four exciting wordsmiths, including soulful singer-songwriter Brian MacMillan and multi-talented storyteller Eden Hertzog who helped kick off the series two years ago. Also featured is theatre artist and community organizer Lisa Marie DiLiberto and writer/scholar Terry Goldie.

Dear friends,

Happy new year to all and congratulations to our American friends on this memorable day! Let’s hope that today marks the beginning of a global society moving toward peace, equality and sustainability.

Me and my Mr. Something Something compadres will spend the next little while writing and recording our next album so we won’t be out on the roads again until the end of March. We are, however, doing a show in Toronto (pretty much around the corner from the Sum Sum Headquarters this Friday, January 23. It’s an early show at Hugh’s Room, which is one of the best sounding rooms in the city. Hugh’s has great sight lines, you can have dinner before the show, and the whole shebang will be over before midnight so you can still go out afterwards and make it to that other party you wanted to go to.

Scroll down to the heading “The Extended Family” to read about other exciting projects that various Somethings are involved in (for example, don’t miss The DoneFors’ CD Release Tour in February). And, as usual, you’ll find informative news items and, petitions and tips about worth while activist events at the bottom of this message.

Hope you are well
Peace and blessings
/Johan

1. Mr. Something Something live in Toronto this Friday
2. The Extended Family
3. Get Involved

1. MR. SOMETHING SOMETHING live in Toronto Friday Jan 23
Hugh’s Room, 2261 Dundas Street W (close to Dundas West Subway)
Please note that, as with all concerts at Hugh’s Room, this is an early show: 8:30 pm.
$12 advance / $14 at the door. For tickets and more info go to www.hughsroom.com

www.mrsomethingsomething.com

2. The Extended Family

FREE SPEECH turns two January 26
I (Johan) curate and host a Toronto cabaret/reading series called FREE SPEECH that showcases the prose, poetry, spoken word, comedy, storytelling and songwriting of Parkdale-High Park based writers and performers.* FREE SPEECH celebrates its second anniversary on January 26 when the 2009 spring season kicks off with four exciting wordsmiths, including storyteller Eden Hertzog, theatre artist Lisa Marie DiLiberto and songwriter Brian MacMillan.

3. GET INVOLVED

Barack Obama appealed to our longing for a more just and sustainable society. And I believe that his appeal is sincere – otherwise I would not be so moved by his oratory. But – no matter how good his intentions - he will need help against the powerful lobby that will do everything it can to continue hijacking the common good.

We don’t have the money but we are many. So let’s ride this momentum and get to work; let’s put the public good back in public hands. I don’t want to be remembered as being part of a cynical generation; I want to be able to look back and say that I was a part of the generation that beat climate change by learning how to live sustainably. I want to be part of a generation that put human rights and citizens’ interests before those of corporations. If you feel the same way you might want to join me in sending a message to Obama that we’re behind him but also that we are keeping close watch to make sure he doesn’t succumb to the powerful interests that will try to get in the way of progress. How do you send that message? With the help of the good folks at Avaaz. Keep reading to find out how; it will only take a moment of your time.

Peace and blessings

/Johan

PS. Forgot what Obama’s platform was? Scroll down for ten central campaign promises that concern the world.

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Message from Avaaz:

Dear friends,

After 8 long years of Bush – finally a fresh start! Obama’s victory brings a chance for the US to finally join with the world community to take on pressing challenges on climate change, human rights, and peace. After years, even decades of distrust, let’s seize this moment of unity, reconciliation and hope to send a message of warm congratulations and invitation to work together to the new President and the American people. We’ve built a huge wall near the White House in Washington DC where the number of signatures on our message and personal messages from around the world will grow over the next several hours.

We’ve also asked Obama to personally receive our petition from a group of Avaaz members. Let’s get to 1 million signers and messages to Obama! Sign on at the link below and forward this email to others: http://www.avaaz.org/en/million_messages_to_obama

This is a time for celebration of democracy, but already the sharks are starting to circle – oil companies, war contractors, conservative lobbyists, and the powerful neo-con clique that brought us the war in Iraq are looking for ways to dim the prospects for change. Obama has promised national unity, and these interests will ask a high price for that unity.

Let’s act quickly to make sure the people of the world are heard as Obama makes crucial choices in the coming days on how to live up to his campaign promises to secure a strong global treaty on climate change, ban torture and close Guantanamo prison, withdraw carefully from Iraq, and double aid to make global poverty history. Rarely has a US President been more likely to listen to us. We’ll make the point that on most of the pressing issues faced by Obama and the American people – from the financial crisis to climate change — we need to work together as one world to achieve change. Sign below and forward this message on: http://www.avaaz.org/en/million_messages_to_obama

With hope, Ricken, Brett, Alice, Iain, Paula, Paul, Graziela, Pascal, Milena, Graziela and the whole Avaaz team.

PS – Send us pictures of yourself for our wall – email it to obamawall@avaaz.org

PPS – Here’s a link to a report on Avaaz’s past campaigning – http://www.avaaz.org/en/report_back_2/

PPPS – And here’s a list of 10 of Obama’s campaign promises that concern the world – you can find his full platform here http://www.barackobama.com/issues/:

• Reduce the US’s carbon emissions 80% by 2050 and play a strong positive role in negotiating a binding global treaty to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol
• Withdraw all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months and keep no permanent bases in the country
• Establish a clear goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons across the globe
• Close the Guantanamo Bay detention center
• Double US aid to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015 and accelerate the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculoses and Malaria
• Open diplomatic talks with countries like Iran and Syria, to pursue peaceful resolution of tensions
• De-politicize military intelligence to avoid ever repeating the kind of manipulation that led the US into Iraq
• Launch a major diplomatic effort to stop the killings in Darfur
• Only negotiate new trade agreements that contain labor and environmental protections
• Invest $150 billion over ten years to support renewable energy and get 1 million plug-in electric cars on the road by 2015

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——– ABOUT AVAAZ Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means “voice” in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in Ottawa, London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Sydney and Geneva. Click here to learn more about our largest campaigns. Don’t forget to check out our Facebook and Myspace and Bebo pages!

Hope you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I have a lot to be grateful for these days – here’s one thing: Thanks to everyone who helped us make Canada’s first bicycle-powered concert a reality (scroll down to see who made it happen). Also, it’s a tough go to make a living as an independent artist so, on behalf of the band, I want to thank you for all your support. Some of you have been there for us from the very beginning and – five years later – you are still coming out to our shows! We couldn’t do what we love without you.          

Which is more than I can say for Stephen Harper. His inexplicable disdain for artists seems like something of a psychoanalyst’s dream. Perhaps he has unfulfilled creative urges. Perhaps we’d all be better off had he been encouraged to pursue his secret dream of becoming a country crooner. On second thought, perhaps not. If you haven’t already read it, check out Margaret Atwood’s eloquent and entertaining response to Harper’s attack on artists here

In this newsletter you’ll find news of upcoming shows, including our annual Halloween costume party extravaganza, along with other band-related events and a success story. Yes, a story that defies the dishonest “yes-we-would-like-to-stop-climate-change-but-we-can’t-afford-to” mantra, the familiar narrative that countless politicians and captains of industry, sorely lacking in integrity and imagination, try to frighten us with. If your inbox is overflowing and you only have a minute to spare, I suggest you scroll down and dedicate it to said success story so that you can pass it on at the dinner table.

Lastly, we hope that you will vote for someone who dares to speak the truth; someone who understands that you cannot separate the economy from the environment; that without the environment there cannot be an economy. We hope you will vote for someone who wants to support and reward those who try to live sustainably and tread lightly on this planet; someone who wants to build stronger communities by encouraging localized economies, the small-scale, the local and organic instead of subsidizing the most profitable corporations and the biggest polluters in the world. We hope you vote for someone who wants to put the public good back into public hands.

And we hope that the next time we go to the ballots Canada will have adapted proportional representation like most other democracies in the world so that all votes will be equal. Then we might see some real change. But let’s not wait for the politicians to lead us. Let’s take the lead so that we can tell our grandchildren: “we are the generation that beat climate change”.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Peace and blessings
/Johan & the Something Something crew

CONTENTS
1. Upcoming shows
2. A Success Story
3. A message brought to you by The Pedal Power Party of Canada: Thank you
4. What else do we do?
5. Get informed – get involved

1. Upcoming shows

On Saturday October 18 we’ll make our second-ever appearance at the intimate club Kent Street in Simcoe, ON. 20 Kent Street South. Call 519.426.5639 for advance tickets.

On Friday October 31, it’s time for one of our favourite shows of the year: our annual Halloween costume party at Lula Lounge (1585 Dundas W) in Toronto. In other words, as soon as you’ve put away the turkey it’s time to get creative. As usual, there will be prizes for best costume. Last year, we settled the first prize deliberations by having an onstage dance-off between Jesus and The Devil (Jesus won after busting out some unconventional moves; some claim it was because he wasn’t wearing underwear). Don’t miss this party with special guests at the best-sounding club in the city.

2. A success story

If you are anything like me, you may at times get discouraged by the onslaught of sombre reports of accelerating global warming. So I’d like to share with you a story taken from Chris Turner’s beautiful book The Geography of Hope. Because if you are anything like me, you might find this story uplifting and inspiring:

When the OPEC countries shrank their supply of oil in the early 70s it led to a worldwide recession. Some countries were hit harder than others, for example Denmark. At the time, this Scandinavian country of 5 million people relied on imported oil for 94% of its energy consumption. After the oil crisis the Danes swore to wean themselves off oil to make themselves less vulnerable to fluctuating prices. One of the solutions was to develop wind power. Today, 20 % of Denmark’s energy supply comes from wind power, more than in any other country in the world. And in the process, the Danes became world-leaders in wind power technology; today, they produce 40 % of the world’s wind turbines.

In 2003, the small Danish island of Samso became the world’s first fossil fuel free island producing a net surplus of electricity through off-shore and on-land wind farms. The Danes have one of the highest standards of living in the world and the 4400 islanders on Samso did all this without compromising their way of life or crippling their local economy. In fact, the process created new jobs on an small island where the economy had been stagnant for years. And all this took a mere 8 years!

When politicians tell you or imply that we can’t afford to do anything about climate change they’re engaging in an unimaginative, visionless and fearful behaviour that makes me think of another Danish success story. When city officials in Copenhagen decided to turn the main thoroughfare Stroget into a pedestrian zone back in the 70s the merchants were outraged (much like many of their downtown Toronto counterparts whenever the suggestion is put forth here) and claimed that they would lose their customers if cars were banned on their street. Today, Stroget is one of the finest and busiest shopping streets you’ll find anywhere in the world, winding its way for miles through the heart of the Danish capital. And one success leads to another; 40 % of all journeys undertaken in the city are on bicycle.

3. A message brought to you by The Pedal Power Party of Canada: Thank you

Canada’s first ever pedal powered concerts a few weeks ago were a great success and a lot of fun. Here are some photos from our “parking meter party” on Queen Street in Toronto on World Car-Free Day; there will be more photos posted on the website soon. The bicycle powered show was a result of a true community effort as there were a lot of people, organizations and businesses involved in the process. First and foremost: a bear-hug and eternal gratitude to Christopher Robin for figuring out how to get 10 cyclists to successfully power a sound system 7-piece band.

Photo: Miles Storey/Torontoist

And a most sincere thank you goes to:

Canada Council for the Arts, Small World, Jaimie Russel, Evergreen Brick Works (especially Lisa & Robert), Long & McQuade, Streets Are For People, Toronto Cyclists Union (especially Alison, Heather & Yvonne), Evalyn Parry & her band, Angela Bischoff, Simon Farla, Elisha MacMillan, Erin Noel, Janine Stoll, Alice Toyonaga, La Palette, Tinto, The Revue Cinema, B, Curbside Cycle, The Bike Joint, The Rectory Cafe, Madelaine Cote, Michael Schecter, Allison Greenbaum, Soundscapes, A Thousand Villages, Mad Gypsy, Westside Cycle, Perry White, Manuel Cappel, Martin Lister, Graeme Hussey, Elizabeth Shepherd, Rick Simon, Dave Chan and everyone who got on a bike to keep the music pumping.

Very special thanks to Jeff Calvert at Borealis for keeping our touring carbon neutral this year.

4. What else do we do?

Larry has been wrestling with Immigration Canada to bring a Ghanaian master drummer to Canada for a series of concerts and workshops; read more about that here. Jen is involved in a very exciting project that I’ll tell you more about next time. John has been mixing a record for Toronto band The Strip , while Paul and Liam have been hunkering down in the studio to finish the mixing of The Done Fors‘ debut album. The record sounds awesome already so make sure to get a copy when it drops. I’m curating and hosting another season of the literary salon FREE SPEECH.

The October installment of the FREE SPEECH series features The Globe & Mail’s man-about-town and novelist Russell Smith, peace activist James Loney, actor/comedian Kathleen Phillips & sultry soul sister Coco Love Alcorn.
Oct 21 at Tinto (89 Roncesvalles). 7pm. PWYC.

You can catch The Done Fors on Friday, October 25th at The Local (396 Roncesvalles Avenue) in Toronto. PWYC. And on Thursday Oct 24, Paul will be playing with Janine Stoll and Emma-Lee at The Parker House Inn in Sudbury (259 Elm Street). PWYC.

5. Get informed – get involved

Our website has been updated with a bunch of new links, books and films in the ‘Get Involved’ section. Below you’ll find news items, petitions and information about interesting reports and initiatives, most of which are related to climate change and the election. Thanks to Angela Bischoff at Greenspiration for passing on so much useful information.

Don’t forget to vote on Tues. Oct. 14. If you don’t know where to vote, go to http://www.elections.ca/

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More than 120 of Canada’s top climate scientists have signed an open letter urging Canadians to vote strategically for the environment in tomorrow’s federal election. http://www.site.climateletter.org/

To vote strategically for the environment:

VOTE FOR ENVIRONMENT

http://www.voteforenvironment.ca/

VOTE FOR CLIMATE

http://www.voteforclimate.ca

VOTERS TAKING ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

http://www.vtacc.org

ANYTHING BUT CONSERVATIVE

http://www.anythingbutconservative.com

PAIR VOTE – Strategic Voting for 2008 Canadian Federal Election

http://www.votepair.ca/

ANTI-HARPER VOTE SWAP CANADA

http://www.voteswapcanada.ca/

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Readers call for Proportional Representation

Angela’s last Greenspiration mailout out got several responses to her suggestions for strategic voting. Here is a couple of them:

“I understand the majority’s desperation to keep Harper out, but we’ve got to wake up to the painful, horrible realities of our current electoral system. By voting strategically, we keep trying to make it work, and when it almost does, we limp along until the next hold-your-nose election. It’ll never get fixed that way. The only way people will realize how bad it is is to vote positively, then let us all suffer the consequences.”

“I encourage you to look beyond this election. Personally, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life hearing debates about strategic voting. It’s a viable band-aid solution that diverts time and energy, distracts us from the real issues and should be completely unnecessary. Canada is one of the only western countries that still uses First Past the Post, an out-of-date system that was designed for a two-party environment. With three or more parties, it simply fails to operate as a democratic process. It marginalizes smaller parties, excludes new voices, forces strategic voting, and can even reward an unpopular party with a majority government. Many countries have changed their system, and we can too.”

To get hard facts about our current first-past-the-post electoral system,
see: www.fairvote.ca and www.orphanvoters.ca

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A ‘Green New Deal’ can save the world’s economy, says UN

Independent, 12 October 2008

Top economists and United Nations leaders are working on a “Green New Deal” to create millions of jobs, revive the world economy, slash poverty and avert environmental disaster, as the financial markets plunge into their deepest crisis since the Great Depression.

The Green Economy Initiative – which will be spearheaded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), headquartered here, and is already being backed by governments – draws its inspiration from Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, which ended the 1930s depression and helped set up the world economy for the unprecedented growth of the second half of the 20th century.

It, too, envisages basing recovery on providing work for the poor, as well as reform of financial practices, after a crash brought on by unregulated excesses of the free market and the banking system.

“The 20th century economy, now in such crisis, was driven by financial capital. The 21st century one is going to have to be based on developing the world’s natural capital to provide the lasting jobs and wealth that are needed, particularly for the poorest people on the planet”

He says for example, that it makes more sense to invest in preserving forests, peatlands and soils, which naturally absorb carbon dioxide, than destroying them and then developing expensive technology to do the job.

Full article

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Sign the Petition for a Climate Coalition

We, the undersigned, urge the leaders of the Liberal Party of Canada, the New Democratic Party of Canada, the Bloc Québecois and the Green Party of Canada to form a coalition on the issue of climate change only that will seek to coordinate policies and action on climate change. The objective of this political collaboration will be to ensure that the will of the majority of Canadians is honoured and a much stronger set of climate change policies is implemented in Canada.

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Ecuador: First Country in the World to Shift to Rights-Based Environmental Protection

By an overwhelming margin, the people of Ecuador today voted for a new constitution that is the first in the world to recognize legally enforceable Rights of Nature, or ecosystem rights.

Ecuador’s constitution now recognizes that ecosystems possess the inalienable and fundamental right to exist and flourish, and that people possess the legal authority to enforce those rights on behalf of ecosystems. In addition, these laws require the governments to remedy violations of those ecosystem rights.

The Legal Defense Fund has also assisted communities in the U.S. to adopt laws that change the status of ecosystems from being regarded as property under the law to being recognized as rights-bearing entities.

http://www.celdf.org/

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REDUCE CARBON BLOAT BY CUTTING BACK ON FROZEN FARE
BY ADRIA VASIL, Ecoholic, Now Magazine

Q: What’s the best way to reduce my carbon footprint through my diet?

A: As a friend, I should tell you that you’re looking a little bloated these days. We all are. When researchers measured the greenhouse gases that are swallowed up in the average Canadian household’s diet, our annual food-related GHG emissions were almost twice that of our driving habit!

Read full article

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IS MY LUNCH CAUSING GLOBAL WARMING?

Did you know, the food system is responsible for 1/3 of global greenhouse
emissions?

With every meal you eat, you have the power to reduce climate change.

The Bon Appétit Management Company Low Carbon Diet Calculator is designed to allow you to compare the relative carbon impacts of your food choices.

http://www.eatlowcarbon.org/

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“Stuck in the Tar Sands: How the Federal Government’s Proposed Climate Change Strategy Lets Oil Companies off the Hook” demonstrates how the federal government has failed to hold oil companies accountable for the emissions they generate.

Climate Action Network is calling for an immediate tax on greenhouse gas pollution, the development and implementation of a rigorous cap-and-trade system and a requirement that all existing and new oil sands operations become “carbon neutral” by 2020.

Download the report here

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Ontario’s Green Future

Ontario can obtain 100% of its grid-supplied electricity from renewable sources by 2027 if Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman adopts the recommendations in the Ontario Clean Air Alliance’s new report, Ontario’s Green Future.

The report’s three key recommendations are: build on success; take the lid off clean power; and make nuclear the last choice, not the first.

Build on success

Ontario’s Standard Offer Program for Renewable Power has been a huge success, attracting more projects in one year than the Ontario Power Authority had projected would be available in 10. It’s time to extend this simple and effective program, which pays a fixed price for each kilowatt-hour (kWh) of new supply, to energy efficiency and clean combined heat and power projects.

Take the lid off clean power

We also need to make the Standard Offer Program model more robust by removing arbitrary project size limits and raising the standard offer price to reflect the true comparative cost of obtaining power from new nuclear units and associated transmission systems.

Make nuclear the last choice, not the first

Nuclear power projects have a long history of massive cost overruns in Ontario. No other electricity generation projects, whether they be wind, water, solar or natural gas, are allowed to pass their capital cost overruns on to ratepayers and taxpayers. It is time to end this and other costly special deals for nuclear and to make nuclear projects compete fairly with other generation sources.

Ontario should pass a Nuclear Cost Responsibility Act that makes it illegal for nuclear capital cost overruns to be passed on to ratepayers or taxpayers. This will prevent any additions to the $18 billion “stranded” nuclear debt that is still being paid off by Ontario ratepayers.

The Ontario’s Green Future report can be downloaded here

www.cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca

Our drummer Larry received a $3000 grant from The Canada Council for the Arts to bring Ghanaian master drummer Francis Kofi Akotuah to Canada for a month of performances and workshops in schools and universities in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. Francis is also scheduled to be the featured guest artist at our Halloween show at Lula Lounge in Toronto. In spite of being married with two small children, Francis has been denied entry as Canadian immigration officials concluded he was at risk to stay here, claiming that he didn’t have strong enough ties to Ghana. You can read more about this frustrating situation in today’s Toronto Star.

It’s tempting to suspect that the government’s stance in this matter has something to do with Stephen Harper’s inexplicable disdain for artists, but it’s not just artists who are having a difficult time visiting our country. According to The Toronto Star, visa officers abroad working for Citizenship and Immigration Canada have in recent months refused visitors’ visas to three Asian film directors scheduled to attend the Vancouver Film Festival; the Eritrean foreign minister; the head of the national Nigerian library association; four Nigerian wrestlers; 19 Iranian scholars and artists; as well as labour leaders from the Middle East and Nigeria invited by the Canadian Labour Congress.

Larry is making another appeal to authorities on Francis’ behalf, armed with more documents and a letter from NDP immigration critic Olivia Chow. But if Immigration Canada doesn’t change its original decision, Larry will be forced to return the grant money to the Canada Council, which means that he would have to take about $2000 out of his own pocket to cover the return plane ticket he purchased for Francis when he was awarded the grant. Stephen Harper’s famous remarks the other week indicate that our prime minister thinks artists belong to some kind of privileged, cocktail-sipping class and that Canadians aren’t interested in quality music, film or theatre. Well, I do know a lot of Canadians who live for arts and culture – I see them in the audience every night on tour – but I don’t know any artists who can afford to throw away $2000. 

Thanks to all of you who help us do what we love. 

/Johan

Gladstone Hotel Ballroom
Doors at 7:30. Show at 8pm.
Cover $12.

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The band:
Brian MacMillan
Maury Lafoy
Lyle Molzan
Layah Jane
Oli Johnson
Scott Galloway

Opening set by the lovely Trish Robb
Special appearance by Joe.

Roncesvalles’ own literary neighbourhood cabaret is entering its fourth season of showcasing the prose, poetry, spoken word, comedy, storytelling and songwriting of Parkdale-High Park based writers and performers.

The fall season premiere on Tuesday, September 23 features poet Paul Vermeersch, music and culture critic Robert Everett-Green* and performance poet Erin Robinsong. Songwriter of the month is rootsy soul sister Treasa Levasseur. As usual, FREE SPEECH is hosted and curated by Johan Hultqvist.

Tuesday, September 23
7pm. Show at 7:30pm sharp. PWYC.
Tinto (89 Roncesvalles)

About the artists:

About the host: