It’s a fairly common scenario: young folks reproduce, and then they start to wonder how having a little one crawling around at their feet will affect their carbon footprint. My wife and I went through this when our youngest popped out seven and a half years ago. At that time, it took a boatload of research for us to figure out where we could track down things that mattered to our newfound sense of environmentalism, like cloth diapers, green cleaning products and organic foods. If only there had been an online website with a local focus that told us everything we needed to know.

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First up - happy birthday, Meg!

Next, I’ll make a half-hearted apology for keeping a relatively low profile lately. I’ve been too busy to blog. Oh well, I’m sure you’ve been getting by.

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I had a great chat today with Ron Hawkins, perhaps best known for his work with the band Lowest of the Low. We got to talk about lots of things like his new solo LP Chemical Sounds, the recent amicable split of LOTL, his upcoming tour of Australia, and how becoming a father totally changes your perception of cheesiness.

Look for a complete article next week as part of my column at blogTO: http://www.blogto.com/author/steve

Word of caution: I got so much good stuff, it just might take two articles to fit it all in.

Thank you very for your time, Ron. I really appreciate it.

I just did a profile of Hamilton-based electronic musician cisc over at blogTO: http://www.blogto.com/music/2008/01/cisc_set_to_play_enpeg_showcase/

Definitely worth checking out if you’re into the blips & bleeps & clicks & clacks.

www.myspace.com/timhalperin

Well, I got a nice surprise on MySpace the other day. I thought I recognized the name Tim Halperin in my friend requests, so I clicked through only to realize 1) I must’ve been thinking of somebody else, and 2) this kid makes some pretty decent tunes!

He’s a piano playing songwriter dude, sort of like Ben Folds, who’s a personal god to me, so I’m curious to see where this guy’s going to go from here. He’s presently unsigned, but I think it’s just a matter of time.

I only wish I could work in a Toronto angle to the story so I could feature him on blogTO & spread the word further, but alas, he is a Texan, so that’d be a bit of a stretch. Someone give this boy some money and send him on tour.

i just posted an article about T.O. band the Deborahs at bolgTO …

http://blogto.com/music/2008/01/groovin_with_the_deborahs/

 Check it out.

The new year is upon us, and with it comes a whole whack of ill-advised promises to do better this time around. I just wanted to take a few minutes to mention what I’d like achieve in the next twelve months as far as this blog and others are concerned. So, without further ado …
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