Give Sean a chance

There are two big CD releases going on in St. John's on December 10, if I have my information right. The big one is the craziness at Mile One with the Rex Goudie CD release event. I'm about 3,000 miles away and I'm getting ripples of the madness from here. Crying teenagers, angry parents, line hopping and near rioting. I'm kind of curious as to how long the show is going to be. After you throw in the songs from the record, some of the stuff he did on Canadian Idol and maybe one or two other songs, I'll be surprised if it goes much longer than 60 minutes.

I'm not going to bash the guy. I haven't heard the record yet and the music I've heard him perform so far is harmless enough. And even though he only has a few weeks to do it, I imagine it's going to be the second biggest selling CD from a Newfoundland artist this year (The biggest being Great Big Sea's The Hard and the Easy). All the best to him, I hope he does well and manages to perform the next big trick - selling enough records so that people want to hear another one once the Canadian Idol frenzy dies down.

But there is another release happening tomorrow, and it's probably not getting a fraction of the publicity. Which is a real pity because he's one of the best musicians in the province. Plus, he's doing something really ballsy by releasing two CDs at the same time, something I don't think has ever been done by a Newfoundland artist before, although I stand to be corrected on that. I'm referring to Sean Panting.

I've been a fan of Sean's music for about 15 years. He's got a distinctive voice, can write a catchy tune and is entirely too clever a song writer for his own good. His two solo records - Pop Disaster and Lotusland- are constantly being played in this apartment years after their release. Hell, I still listen to Drive, his old band, regularly. And up until a year or so ago I still had the tape of his first band, Joyful Noise.

No, I'm not stalking him. It just seems that way.

He is one of the great, ever-lasting mysteries of the Newfoundland music scene. I have no idea how he's not bigger and more popular. The fact that I could, on almost any weekend, pay $5 to see either him, Ron Hynes or Colleen Power is tragic. It should be a rare, expensive treat to see these musicians because in a just world they would be massively popular and in demand across Canada. But it's not and I have no idea why.

Do me a favour. If you've ever read my iPod list at the end of one of my posts and thought "Hey, he's got pretty good taste in music" trust me on this and buy these two CDs. If you're buying Goudie's CD, pop over to the Newfoundland music section and grab at least one of these CDs. Receiver is all new rock material. Victorola is an acoustic record with songs from Receiver, Lotus Land and Pop Disaster.

I've heard him perform some of the new songs live already. It's good stuff. This guy deserves a break. How about giving him one.

One last thing, you can also find out more about Sean by reading this article that ran in The Express a week or so ago.

Now go and buy the damn CDs already.

Last 5 on iPod
1. Prime time deliverence - Matthew Good Band (Underdogs)
2. Day old blues - Kings of Leon (Aha Shake Heartbreak)
3. Fix me now - Garbage (Garbage)
4. Leif Erikson - Interpol (Turn on the Bright Lights)
5. Hell's half acre - Robbie Robertson (S/T)