Summer music is in full swing everywhere, and I would love to be everywhere. I have to be choosy where I am going to be and on  this Friday I chose to be at East Lynn Park for the Danny Love Music Festival that will be going on all this weekend.

There were three bands opening up Friday night. The first being Tommy Hawk and the Outlaw Surfers. The outlaw part I got but the surfing was a little dry. I was expecting some old time surfing music, but instead I heard some pretty cool Country music.

This is not your traditional Country music. The opening notes sounded like we were entering the twilight zone and by the time we got to the second song, the opening line made me smile. “She was a train wreck and I was the Track”. What a great opening line!

The music had a real feel good sound to it and if I had to describe them, I would say they had elements of the Skydiggers, meets Tom Petty meets Midnight Oil. This is good band to kick off the weekend.

Here are a few images of Tommy Hawk and the Outlaw Surfers :

The park was filled with families and music lovers and people out just to enjoy great weather. They have about a dozen vendors selling their wares or cooking up some fabulous food. One vendor was doing BBQ and the amount of smoke coming from his tent was like watching smoke signals that told Toronto where the party was.

Second up was a local favourite in this neighbourhood. His name is Jerry Leger and his band is the Situation. Jerry looks like a throwback from the 70’s with his look. It is simple Rock and Roll but laid back and cool.

The music may seem easy enough, but when you break it down, there is so much more to his sound. Each song had its own distinct stamp to it. He definitely had some solid songs about our city and the rest of Canada. In fact his latest album is called “Donlands”. He recorded it in a building called Pie in the Sky. It is located at Donlands and O’Conner.

You can hear some of his influences in his music. I heard remnants of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Cowboy Junkies and even a little Lou Reed.

I really loved his song called “Have you ever been happy”, which almost had an anti- Partridge Family message to it. He did another killer song called “The best writer you never heard of”. It brought me back to when John Lennon wrote “Cold Turkey”, but without all that pain.

Jerry Leger has deep song writing flair, but not so deep that you drown in it.

Here are some images of Jerry Leger and the Situation:

To finish the evening, we got move around to a horn band called Trash Panda Brass. This band is out to bring joyful noise to the crowd. They play mainly cover songs that have you trying to guess what it is. You will have that “I know this one”, but what is it, moment.. Once you get it you begin to sing along with their high energy music. They play music from the 70’s all the way up until today.

They played songs, like “Jolene” and Superstitious” and even “Barbie Girl”. Their infectious bouncy behavior kept the crowd humming along and it got even more fun when they introduced a double Kazoo solo!

I was a little surprised that they took a ten minute break. This just seems to give the audience a chance to leave. It didn’t matter, when they came back on their energy brought the park back to life.

As they were coming in for a landing, they played what they consider their flagship song, “I kissed a girl, and I liked it”. It makes sense coming from an all queer band that brings the party.

Here are some images of Trash Panda Brass:

If you can squeeze out to Woodbine and Danforth, you may discover some great new music.