Posts

Caesar Drives A Fast Car

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  I wrote this song and we recorded it in 1979. The legendary John Peel played it on his BBC show amongst other things.

1992 L.A. Riots (Rodney King) I was there!

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  I was attending The University of Western Ontario in London when I received a fairly substantial legal win. And as usual I did the reckless thing and dropped out suddenly for some fun. My long time close friend Director Tibor Tackacs invited me to be a guest in Los Angeles for a bit. I couldn’t say no. I should have stayed in University. The University of Western Ontario was my THIRD university after Ryerson University and the University of Toronto. It wasn’t until 2000 that I was diagnosed and treated for ADHD (inattentive type).  The tyranny of the shoulds.  I SHOULD have stayed in the field of Systems Analysis and Electronic Data Processing after being Military Immersion trained by Honeywell Corporation in 1982. If I stayed in that field I would be worth a fortune today. C’est la vie. What happened is I won  CASBY award for most promising male recording artist. My ambitions inflated, I chose to focus on music. So Director Tibor Takacs invited me to L.A. His hous...

More Than This: Kidnapped in Toronto 2002

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 This video is not exactly Apocalypse Now Redux, shot on my iPhone and an angle, I’m yet to invest in a tripod. It’s 25 minutes long and I describe play by play the occurrence on Yorkville Avenue July 2 2002 Toronto Canada. I ask the question: What was the rationale behind my kidnapping and attempted murder? Consider that my mother had just died and I was the sole heir to the family fortune. Was it a random act of violent crime? Was it a thwarted hit? Was it to scare and intimidate me? Was my father behind it? Were the police behind it? How does this occurrence fit into the larger conspiracy I was unwittingly in the middle of? Spoiler alert: If you have read salient points within this blog, I may have in a roundabout fashion disclosed that I was defrauded out of everything including my inheritance that I earned after working for and with my mother and father Dr. Robert Goddard Young and Margaret Isobel Young (Peace). I didn’t get a nickel out of my late mother’s estate. I would hav...

Club David’s New Years Eve 1977

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  Our first real gig was at gay disco-tech Club David’s on Halloween night 1977. This gig was at Club David’s on New Years Eve 1977, supporting The Ugly and The Viletones. The line up was Paul O’Connell on bass, Vince Carlucci on guitar, Richard Miller on Drums and yours truly John Paul Young on vocals. That night David’s burned to the ground including our P.A. I wonder why Liz Worth excluded us from her otherwise great book on the Toronto punk scene 1977-1983. (Treat Me Like Dirt). Maybe because I was in jail or in seclusion. Hee hee.

THE BOULEVARDS OF HOPE (1980)

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  THIS is a great track from The Life of Ermie Scub (1980).  I wrote it with the apocalypse in mind, as is most of the album. You should listen with headphones. Maybe SCUB is semi-autobiographical but the coming apocalypse is the main theme. On “Surrender To the Void” you hear a sound bite stating “The horses are on the track…”.  That’s a not so subtle reference to the four horseman of the apocalypse. If you don’t have a copy of my 1980 LP, you can get one on Discogs currently for about $CDN30.00 plus shipping. I don’t make any money off of it, but I like to spread the word. Here is the entire album on YouTube: Someday I would like to release new material and a sequel to this Life of Ermie Scub. If I win the lottery I will do just that.

CARDBOARD BRAINS (1978)

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  Live at The Horseshoe Tavern in 1978.  I think this is “Can Stress Kill” from the 1977 Cardboard Brains White EP.

OFF THE GRID

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  It’s been awhile Dear Friends.There hasn’t been a lot to report.  Went to the cabin near Bridgewater which is completely off the grid.  It’s about a KM into the secluded woods and you really need a Toyota Land Cruiser to get in there. It’s entirely built piece by piece by hand by an old German gentleman named Horst. No power, with the exception of solar power for charging batteries. No running water but a hand pump. No internet so doomscrolling is out.  The ideal place for contemplation. I’ll be turning 68 this July 16 and it sort of scares me. If I’m going to start a revolution or write a manifesto I had better do it now. I wonder if I will ever get around to doing music again. I’ve wanted to for years but life got in the way. For now I’m concentrating on my YouTube channel. I enjoy the feedback I get and I find it a joy. Please visit and subscribe. Here is the link: www.YouTube.com/@johnpaulyoung1956 Thanks!