BALLADS OF A YOUNG TROUBADOUR: MISSION APOLLO, VOL. 1

FROM OCTOBER 2021 ISSUE OF WEST END PHOENIX

ILLUSTRATED BY ANTHONY RUTTGAIZER

Ballads of a Young Troubadour: Mission Apollo, Vol. 1

Vortex Records was a little shop near the high school I went to, on Yonge Street above the Second Cup. It was the mid-'90s. Jerry Garcia had just died. I was going into grade 9 at North Toronto Collegiate and having a tough time trying to find my way

Like most teenagers, I was mostly hiding out in my room, listening to tapes and learning to play the guitar.

When I wasn't in my room, I was at the record shop, nearly every day, searching for new music to listen to. Back then my friends and I were little punks and we would shoplift from the used tapes section.

I snuck out a lot of tapes in my old burgundy K-way jacket, everything from Miles Davis to CCR, Aretha Franklin, Nirvana and Big Joe Turner. But it would be rap music that changed my view on everything. Some of my favourite records came out during th

Not since the sixties had a sound transformed a generation overnight. At least that's how it seemed. In my first year of high school a lot of kids were wearing Birkenstocks and tie-dyed shirts. The next year that all changed. Heading into grade 10...

So it was time to take me to the source. The source of Black music, or at least one of them, and that source was New York City.

March break that year, my mom, my sister and I went to stay with my Great Aunt Mae in Brooklyn. I slept in a little room with a single bed on the third floor of her brownstone. On the first night I heard gun shots form the park just down the way from

I spent the rest of the night rummaging through my cousin's old tape collection. That's when I discovered "In a Silent Way" by Miles Davis and Gang Starr. Two of my favourites to this day.

During that trip, my mother was hellbent on connecting with me. I was drifting and becoming more distant from my family and friends, and she was worried. She knew where my interests were, so one afternoon she took me to see Tommy on Broadway. I don't

Perhaps it was her way of sticking it to her know-it-all brat of a son? I said, "Fine. I'll do it. Let's go."

It was still light out when we parked the car in Harlem and my sister, my mom and I got out to walk the rest of the way. I was completely floored when we walked through the doors. The bright lights, the beautiful architecture...

...and all the promo photos on the wall from every performer to ever set foot through her doors: James Brown, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald.

We grabbed our seats on the mezzanine and waited for the show to begin. The first act was a female singer, who crushed a song by Mariah Carey. The crowd went wild, then a comedian went on. As soon as he told his first joke, the audience stood up and

Someone dressed in a clown suit dragged him off the stage with a giant hook. That was Talent Night at the Apollo.

My mom kept pushing me to go up, but after seeing that display, I was horrified and froze in my seat until the show was over.

Another reason I didn't take the stage was because I was nervous that I wasn't Black enough. I know that it sounds strange, but I guess it's that deep-seated feeling that I wouldn't be accepted because I might not have sounded like anyone else that n

I don't think my mom realized just how far we had parked the car from the theatre. When we left it was dark and there she was with her two children as we briskly walked back to the car... ...trying not to draw too much attention to ourselves and our

On the drive home I sat there frozen in my seat. Going over the words to "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" wondering if I had them right and if I could muster the courage to sing them in front of anyone.

When we got back to Toronto, I asked my dad to take me to an open mic and I said I would get up this time. I sang "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" by Otis at Broadway Bob's with Wild T and the Spirit.

Coming next issue: Ballads of a Young Troubadour Volume 2

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paperJulian TaylorJune 6, 2022toronto, music, comic, ballads