Scottish-born guitar whiz and singer-songwriter, Bert Jansch. A pioneering force in the English folk movement starting in the mid-60s, he was often described as the "Hendrix of the acoustic guitar" and made highly alluring albums to back up that hype- ones that put him a cut above most on that folk scene indeed. This is the 4th official podcast epi…

Lightnin' Hopkins in one of his familiarly cool, guitar-playing, cigar-toking poses. This is the 3rd official podcast episode of 2019 here on the Sound & Groove Podcast. This is the 1st in a 2-part theme on songs about technology. It's all part of another series of tremendous tunes you'll hopefully enjoy. And if you haven't been keeping up with…

The royal couple of country music throughout (and even after) their marriage, George Jones and Tammy Wynette had a tumultuous relationship marked by an intense love that was marred by Jones's frequent serious bouts of alcoholism. They had their union play out on the stage and on record as well, where several of their duet album and single releases …

The criminally little-known but influential Los Angeles-based outfit X, which put out several tremendous albums in the first half of the 80s with a sound that may have been dubbed punk at the outset but showed a unique sense of melody, vocal harmony and cohesion missing from most music in the genre or the L.A. punk territory in general. Though they…

Allan asked himself, "What could be a more important topic for a first episode than Star Wars?" So he took it to task. The Gonger gives his thoughts on the first trailer for the third film in the new (er) Star Wars trilogy: The Rise of Skywalker.By Allan Stringer

The Horseshoe Tavern in downtown Toronto has stood for decades, punching out great music. Author Dave McPherson joins The Full Count to talk about the lore and legend of the Queen and Spadina-locale and its place in Canadian music history.By Bruce Dowbiggin

The off & on leading force behind the influential UK prog rock outfit Van Der Graaf Generator as well as a prolific solo artist with over 30 solo albums in a 5 decade record industry career, Peter Hamill has been an odd, idiosyncratic beacon of creativity in his own unique right. From throaty, vocally extravagant pieces of long-form art rock to qui…

A troubled, yet gifted and highly envied songwriter, Townes Van Zandt's career was often interrupted by long bouts of inactivity after the early 70s- mainly due to his battles with manic depression, drug and alcohol abuse that ultimately cut short his life at age 52 in 1997. But in his late 60s and early 70s prime, he formed into one of the preemin…

Back in the days before TSN and Sportsnet wiped out local sports programming, fans would get their fix from the faces and voices of guys— and some gals— on the conventional TV channels. In its heyday in the 80s, I was the guy on Toronto CBC TV, Joe Tilley worked late night CTV and over at Global Mark Hebscher partnered with Jim Tatti on Sportsline.…

A new book tries to shed a little light on the dynamic between governments and the press. Power, Prime Ministers, and The Press charts the sometimes fractious, sometimes symbiotic history of the prime ministers and the Parliamentary press corps. The author is my old friend and colleague Bob Lewis and he joins me on The Full Count.…

As we look to those crisp autumn days of leaf rules and beautiful scenery, we’ve been through a long season already. What’s left to work on? Horty says there’s plenty. This episode, Paul will address what kind of club should we should use for that gap between our wedges and driver. Irons or hybrids? Later, he’ll discuss the the Ryder Cup.…

Welcome to Jody and BD, a podcast by veteran broadcasters Jody Vance and Bruce Dowbiggin. She’s a cat from the coast. His head is in the mountains. She’s a liberal. He’s a conservative. She likes baseball. He’s into golf. What can they possibly agree on? On this episode, they discuss Justin Trudeau, Jian Gomeshi, and the Emmy’s.…

One of the more forgotten, overlooked, yet brilliant musical acts Australia has ever produced, the Go-Betweens never found substantial commercial success but brought indie credibility. Along with Nick Cave, represented a sudden musical boom in the 1980s out of the Queensland capital city Brisbane. Slowly emerging from their art-punk roots upon thei…

In their mid-70s prime, Dr. Feelgood stood as arguably the most vital of the so-called "pub rock" acts to emerge. They were a grungy, cutting, sneering antidote to the polished, formulaic glam rock or treacly bubblegum pop dominating the charts at the time in the UK. Though bands like them harkened back to the devotedly pure R&B, blues, rockabilly …

If anyone was expecting the Trump presidency to settle down they’ve been disabused of that notion. The non-stop attempts of his pursuers to trap Trump have only gotten more fevered as the second yea of Trump’s term has unfolded. Trump supporters point to the vibrant economy, his two Supreme Court nominees, his progress in North Korea, his rollbacks…

Andrew Prossin is the CEO of One Ocean and he grew up dreaming of the sea in Cape Breton. Later on he was winning races across the Atlantic in a 30-foot sailboat and sailing around Cape Horn in a 70-knot Southern Ocean gale. Prossin and One Ocean have added a unique golf and cruising line called Fiddles & Sticks, a marriage of great courses in the …

Louisiana native Tony Joe White brought a sound straight from the bayou to the thriving late 60s soul scene, penning several signature cuts not only for himself but other artists- namely "Rainy Night in Georgia" for Brook Benton. One of those other big cuts, his immortal backwoods tale "Polk Salad Annie," is featured on this 2nd podcast themed epis…

American author and consultant Wesley J. Smith has written, “Once a society embraces euthanasia consciousness, the ways one can qualify to be killed legally by a doctor continually expands.” Smith is among the world's foremost critics of assisted suicide and utilitarian bioethics. His blog on National Review advances his theory of "human exceptiona…

Warren Farrell was such an enlightening guest on his first visit to the Full Count, we had to bring him back. Farrell is an American educator, activist and author Warren Farrell. His latest book, The Boy Crisis, cowritten with John Gray, is an eye-opening examination of what has happened to males in the era of ascendant feminism.…

The Ontario provincial election is coming down to its final days with voters set to go to the polls on June 7. No one knows Ontario politics better than Steve Paikin, the longtime host of The Agenda, on TV Ontario. He joins us on the Full Count to talk about how we got here and where it’s going in the most populous and powerful province in the coun…

The never-ending saga of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline has reached a crucial point. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government and the Alberta legislature have both made significant moves in the effort to push the project through against the B.C. NDP/Green coalition government. To gain some perspective on all this, The Full Count welcom…

It may be the most remarkable season ever in North American pro team sports. The Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL are into the Western Conference Finals. One of the people responsible for helping draft the NHL’s expansion-draft philosophy is Laurence Gilman. Laurence has been in the management of the Winnipeg Jets, the Phoenix Coyotes and the Vancou…

Activist and author Warren Farrell says, “Whenever only one sex wins, both sexes lose.” Farrell has been stressing the challenges to men and boys for decades. His latest book, The Boy Crisis, cowritten with John Gray, is an eye-opening examination of what has happened to males in the era of ascendant feminism. Farrell joins Bruce this week on The F…

With rough-hewn vocals that could belt out soul and blues, but also provide a soft crooner warmth to handle the ballads, Bobby "Blue" Bland emerged from the thriving Memphis Beale Street blues scene of the early 50s to carve out a career as one of the more influential R&B singers over the next 2 decade. A carer lull as tastes changed toward Philly …

In an earlier episode of The Full Count author and social critic Heather MacDonald told us about the falsehoods behind the Black Lives Matter propaganda. Heather described how cops were being blamed in the media for targeting blacks-- even as they ignore murder rates among black teenagers that are ten times the combined rate of whites and latino te…

Researchers recently announced they may have come up with way to map the damage done by concussions. They’ve developed a portable brain imaging system that uses light to detect and monitor damage in the brain from concussion. It’s called a Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. Dr. Jeff Dunn is the director of the Experimental Imaging Centre at the Cumming Sc…

As we speak Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is watching his net value sink by billions of dollars. That’s because the political world has decided what was fine for Barack Obama is nigh on criminal for Donald Trump. And what is the problem? It appears that Facebook has allowed the personal data it obtains when subscribers join to be mined by a numb…

In the wake of the Parkland tragedy, there has been much discussion about the role of young men and rage. This week on The Full Count, author Daemon Fairless examines the role of masculine violence in his new book Mad Blood Stirring, The Inner Lives of Violent Men. He begins a journey with an incident from his own life to study the topic. He starts…

What could wrong with government paying for the coverage they get? This week on The Full Count, should the Canadian government fund the failing heritage media in this country? They've pledged $50 M to do just that. Bruce is joined by Peter Menzies, one of his old bosses at the Calgary Herald, to talk about how to save local coverage and prevent the…

Rhys and Allan recap their Oscar picks and talk their highlights from the show as well as the biggest snubs and winners.By Rhys Dowbiggin and Allan Stringer

The Academy Awards are this weekend. Naturally, Rhys and The Gonger couldn't make it five minutes into a conversation about the nominees without mentioning all the movies and or nominees who had never won before. So they decided a pod about their favorite winners and losers in Oscar history was more fun. Rhys and Allan discuss four of their favorit…

Stress is an everyday fact of modern life. The pace of life today leaves everyone a little frazzled. We are told that stress is also a contributor to a number of illnesses— which helps raise our stress levels even more. For some time we’ve also known that stress can spread from one individual to another, even though the second individual did not ex…

The Pogues brought a punk energy and sensibility into the traditional Celtic music world after their arrival on the London music scene in the early 80s, unfortunately becoming almost as famous for the drunken exploits of rotten-toothed lead singer Shane MacGowan than for their music. Though this led to his sacking in 1990, the Pogues had a tremendo…

Whatever you think of its methods, the #metoo campaign has had an enormous impact. The issue of sexual assault, sexual harassment and public disgrace has made headlines in the past months. From Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein to senator Al Franken to Ontario conservative leader Patrick Brown, the high and mighty have fallen like ten pins. While ne…

By Bruce Dowbiggin

The Winstons were a Washington, DC outfit that didn't have a long time in the spotlight as although they had two top 10 hits, they were only separated by a year. The A side of their biggest single, "Color Him Father," is featured here on this first of 2 themed episodes to round out the 2017 compliment (here in early 2018!) on the S&G Podcast. T…

UFC 219 was supposed to end the year on a bang after a difficult 2017 for the UFC. It was supposed to put Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos on the map as the best female fighter ever. It was supposed to add Khabib "the Eagle" Nurmagomedov in the love triangle for the Lightweight belt with Tony "El Cucuy" Ferguson and Conor McGregor. It did all those things…

There's never enough MMA news to talk about! The week in MMA was loaded, from news about Conor McGregor and GSP to title fight announcements at UFC Middleweight and Heavyweight. Bellator had a title fight (that no one saw) while the UFC had a nice little Fight Night card (with some excellent highlights). The cherry on top was a boxing fight for the…

UFC 218 had not one, but two Fight of the Year candidates with Alex Oliveira and Yancy Medeiros putting on a show alongside Justin Gaethje and Eddie Alvarez. Even if the rest of the card had been a dumpster fire, that's enough to put it up there among the best of the year. But guess what? The rest of the card wasn't a dumpster fire! It was on fire!…

This here is the 4th official episode of 2017 for the Sound & Groove Podcast but of course it's way overdue. Don't fret though. Another 2 will still follow here in the rest of 2017. This particular edition is the 2nd of a 2-episode theme dealing with songs I enjoy from artists I typically don't or ones who were often the target of the music cri…

This past weekend, UFC: Norfook, er, Norfaulk, uhhh, Northfolk? Whatever. The UFC had another card, one of nine straight weekends of fight cards until December 16. This one had Clay Guida and Diego Sanchez. But also, Dustin Poirier contonues his improvements and Anthony Pettis continues his slide. This week's Q-Rating, Conor McGregor. But The Notor…

This here is the 3rd official episode of 2017 for the Sound & Groove Podcast but of course it's way overdue. Don't fret though. Another 3 will still follow here in the rest of 2017. This particular edition is the first of a 2-episode theme dealing with songs I enjoy from artists I typically don't or ones who were often the target of the music criti…

A night that could have gone so very, very differently turned out to be one of the best fight cards you will ever see. The return of GSP was mired by chaos - but St. Pierre certainly put all those bad feelings to rest by capturing the Middleweight title. Rose Namajunas beat out the best female fighter on the planet and just wants people to hug each…

De greatist championne dat de UFC has evr known is coming back to de Octogon, Georges St. Pierre, will take on Michael Bisping at UFC 217! But will his fans return with him or are we in a whole new world? The best female fighter on the planet (and arguably the best, regardless of gender) Joanna J?drzejczyk defends her title looking for a sixth titl…

Rhys wasn't too thrilled to preview UFC: Gdansk, but he sure is happy to recap UFC: Gdansk. Because UFC: Gdansk is just much damn fun to say - and Darren Till just put himself on the map! With a big win over Donald Cerrone (and a bit of horsing around with Mike Perry), Till is injecting some much needed youthful exuberance to the Welterweight divis…