Happy Gift Giving !

SEASONS GREETINGS to all visitors to Toronto Live! Club Hub !

We hope you've had an enjoyable year at the clubs over 2008 and are looking for more of the same in 2009.

We've found the year-end extravaganza of live performances (especially November/December) just outstanding, and it's not over yet.

If you're wondering about not seeing enough evidence of this here in the Chronicles, stand by.

The more shows we see in a limited period of time, the bigger the backlog we have of notes, photos and videos. Be sure to check the archives (back issues) now and then. We tend to date the entries in this blog by the show date, not the posting date. That means that the newest material here isn't necessarily at the top.

Be sure to check our Pix and Flix collections too. Quite often, we'll add new photo collections and new video clips there, before we add notes to the Chronicles.

We're closing in fast on Christmas. Hopefully, you've used some of our recommendations in our Emporium to order books, videos, and CDs. Tickets can be a great gift too for your friends and relatives who enjoy live events as much as you do. Some of the outlets sell gift coupons, so you don't even have to pick the event that you think they'll like. Let them decide. Check a few of the links on the Tix page for those opportunities.

If you've already missed the cut-offs for online ordering for Christmas, don't forget that there will likely be some MAJOR sales from Boxing Day onward given the state of the economy and lower pre-Xmas sales at most retailers. Take advantage of that to reward yourself or anyone with an upcoming birthday or special event.

For those who prefer to shop the old fashion way... in a store ...our favourite stop for the music lover is HMV downtown. Enormous variety, and (whether they'll admit it or not) they almost always undercut the prices you'll find in the smaller HMV shops scattered in the malls around town. It's worth the trip down to Yonge & Dundas.

That's about it for this update. Watch for more coverage of recent shows soon, and get out and have some fun!

Cheers!

Charles P. Whaley, your TLCH custodian

BTW North by NorthEast (NXNE) wristbands make a great Xmas gift too, and they're available at NOW HQ down at Shuter & Church. $50 this year; but they've added two extra days of music, so it still works out to $10/day... a bargain. If you thought 3 nights was a marathon, you better start training now for 5 days. The downside of this gift is the wait until June 2009.