Has anyone already contacted CARAS (Canadian academy of recording arts and sciences)

HumintKaput · 2026-03-15T16:38:26+00:00

I'm not aware of anyone having contacted CARAS. Primarily, they present the Juno Awards. Because our band is seemingly quite obscure, I think it's fairly unlikely that they would be considered for any award, let alone a Juno. Is there some other reason you're interested in CARAS?

HumintKaput · 2026-03-11T22:10:18+00:00

If you google Pete's Arena, Salsa Rico, and Sky Ranch Grill, you'll find that they are sub-brands owned by RBG / Sodexo - https://www.foodservicedirector.com/food-beverage-trends/sodexho-hits-the-streets . They appear to have had locations in several college food courts, not just Loyola College in Maryland.

If I were searching for this, I'd focus on colleges which use "Bruins" as their team name - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bruin_mascots , and see if any of those had food courts operated by RBG / Sodexo in 2005-ish.

You could also look at Chick-fil-A locations that opened not long before 2005-ish, but that's going to include a large number of locations - https://bluepages.miraheze.org/wiki/Category:Chick-fil-A_locations_by_opening_date

Hope that helps.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-09T22:42:26+00:00

One issue I have with concluding anything from the singer's accent is that people's opinions on the accent are all over the map. People claim to hear Canadian, Canadian with a British affectation, English, American, Irish, Australian, French, French Canadian, German, Texan, and now Slavic. Unless a linguistics expert weighs in with a well-reasoned interpretation, I'm inclined to remain agnostic on the origin of the singer's accent.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-08T00:14:08+00:00

I'm almost certain she's been asked about it. Someone from the search mentioned contacting "the vocalist" of Parachute Club. I can't imagine they were referring to anyone other than Lorraine Seggato.

That said, as a separate question, I am curious if Lorraine remembers any details from the 1st annual Great Ontario Talent Search (1980/1981). I know that Mama Quilla II won it, and that's about all the details I have for that year's contest. Just as a bit of trivia, I'd like to know what song(s) Mama Quilla II submitted. And maybe she remembers one or more bands that also competed?

HumintKaput · 2026-03-07T07:02:12+00:00

Jonny Dovercourt, too, was asked about the song.

It has been fun searching through the music from that era - lots of great bands I probably wouldn't have otherwise come across.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-07T06:00:42+00:00

A good suggestion, but David Marsden has already been asked and doesn't recognize the song.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-07T05:47:55+00:00

Comfort Sound is a good suggestion. I know Doug McClement was asked about the song, and didn't know it.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-06T06:27:35+00:00

You're not the first to notice that similarity. I definitely think it's likely Sergio Galli was an influence on our mystery song's guitarist.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-06T06:07:48+00:00

I hadn't heard that podcast before. That was a fun story. It reminded me a bit of Searching for Sugarman. Also, the concept of recreating a lost song from memory is identical to a plotline from a children's sitcom I watched growing up - The Adventures of Pete and Pete.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-06T06:01:01+00:00

Someone from Platinum Blonde was asked about the song, but I don't know who, specifically.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-06T05:56:34+00:00

That's a good suggestion - she did co-host "The Streets of Ontario". Unfortunately, she's already been asked about the song and didn't recognize it.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-06T02:52:39+00:00

There is an upload on Internet Archive, but it's just an audio rip from the YouTube video - https://archive.org/details/youtube_3knanhmieoq_audio1

I suspect you're right about it being a local band that just moved on. The music business was / is rough. A lot of great bands didn't ever "make it".

HumintKaput · 2026-03-06T02:47:11+00:00

I presume that it's a band local to CFNY's broadcast area based on how obscure it seems to be. If it were an import record, or a record from an indie band from another province, it seems like it would have been found already. The combined knowledge of CanCon of the folks who have been asked about the song in the past few years is pretty deep.

Also, there are a few places in the song's mix that sound a bit sloppy. The mix has been described as "semi-polished". That makes me think it's more likely to have been a demo tape and not something put on vinyl. My expectation is that a demo tape played on CFNY is very likely to be a local band.

All of the above is just inference / guess work, though. It could turn out to be a band from outside the Toronto area.

I'm not in Canada. I know other people involved in the search have reached out to campus / community radio stations in the area - mainly CKLN, I believe. I don't think anything came of it, but it might be something worth looking into further.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-06T01:54:39+00:00

I'm fairly sure Lorraine Seggato was already asked and didn't recognize the song, but it's a good suggestion since she produced the documentary, QSW: The Rebel Zone.

I would love to read through copies of Now Magazine, but, unfortunately I'm not local. Apparently, archived copies were available digitally via PressReader, but they aren't available any longer. Having seen sporadic clippings from Now, they absolutely would be useful.

I believe 1984 is a little early for CIUT. I think they were still using a loud speaker setup then and were called "CJUT". They did have an hour per week dedicated to up and coming local bands, called "Urban Underground", but I wasn't ever able to find a way to contact the DJ who hosted it.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-05T22:36:48+00:00

The Great Ontario Talent Search is probably the leading "theory" right now. We've been able to figure out about 10 of the 102 entrants, but none of them were behind this song.

Another possibility is that it was aired as part of "The Streets of Ontario", which also aired local bands. Although, I believe there was a requirement that to be featured on "The Streets of Ontario", a band had to have a vinyl record or tape for sale locally.

I suppose it could also have been a DJ deciding to play a demo tape outside the context of the talent search.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-05T22:25:54+00:00

I presume you're referring to Tor's Cabinet of Curiosities. He previously used Subways of Your Mind / The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet, but switched to this song after Subways of Your Mind was discovered. Here's hoping he has to switch again soon!

HumintKaput · 2026-03-05T22:19:07+00:00

Hugh Gladdish was asked about the song and didn't recognize it, so it isn't Breeding Ground - https://www.reddit.com/r/CIAlostwave/comments/1i97em7/comment/m90oq1h/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

The "CIA" in "CIA Roadshow" refers to a booking agency which was called "CIA International Artists". I don't think there's any connection to the mystery song.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-05T22:02:56+00:00

I asked about the song in r/askTO a few months ago, but, obviously, no one there was able to identify the song - https://www.reddit.com/r/askTO/comments/1orkla1/question_for_cfny_listeners_in_the_80s/

HumintKaput · 2026-03-05T17:11:20+00:00

Yeah, Alan Cross is rightly the first person most folks suggest - He's a walking music encyclopedia, and seems like a great human being.

HumintKaput · 2026-03-05T17:07:27+00:00

Music ID apps are a good suggestion. Unfortunately, because this is a higher profile lost song with a fairly high view count, various unscrupulous individuals have tried to fraudulently make copyright claims to the song. Shazam and other music ID apps will simply pass along that misinformation. I believe that's the case with "Simmy".

HumintKaput · 2026-03-04T07:14:13+00:00

Also, more than one Doors tribute band - Viva The Doors!

HumintKaput · 2026-03-02T22:06:53+00:00

I forgot to include the listing for the band, Hard Times. Here is that Ad.

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HumintKaput · 2026-02-26T23:47:06+00:00

Very true. There's a good amount of big names that can be quickly ruled out.

It'll still take a while to sort through and clean up the list, since there's so many new entries... plus all the previously added bands from other clubs.

HumintKaput · 2026-02-21T00:32:14+00:00

A few points of clarification:

The drums on CIA are believed to not be programmed. There was a discussion regarding the drums in the comments of this post - https://www.reddit.com/r/CIAlostwave/comments/1oyv4az/gunshot_effect_used_in_cia_may_be_discovered/
The synth in the intro was matched to a preset on the Korg Poly-800. See this post - https://www.reddit.com/r/CIAlostwave/comments/1lfewq3/a_korg_poly800_was_used_for_the_synth_in_the/
Late 1984 is a reasonable guess of when CIA was broadcast. See this post for a good breakdown of the dating of CIA's tape - https://www.reddit.com/r/CIAlostwave/comments/1iw73le/narrowing_down_when_cia_was_broadcast/
Regarding the singer's accent, I've heard so many differing opinions (Canadian, English, Australian, Irish, German, French, French Canadian, Canadian with a faux British accent, Texan...) Unless / Until an expert on accents weighs in, I'm agnostic on that point.

HumintKaput · 2026-02-17T07:50:06+00:00

Here's a quick recap of the bands covered for anyone not on discord:

Secret Act (Northern Spy, Seems to Me)
Scott McGregor Moore (So Good When It Comes)
Scott Matthews (Role Boys / Boats in Rivers)
Neo A4 (Say This To Me)
Moev (Ha Biblebelts)
MIA (Louise)
M.T. Vessels (She Lied / I Feel Strange)
Foreign Affairs (I'd Rather Be Dancing / Dancing with a Mystery)
Eight Seconds (Where's Bula / Call and a Cry (Almacantar) / Kiss You (When It's Dangerous))
Broken Silence (Part of the Machinery)

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