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More Than This: Kidnapped in Toronto 2002

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 This video is not exactly Apocalypse Now Redux, shot on my iPhone and an angle, I’m yet to invest in a tripod. It’s 25 minutes long and I describe play by play the occurrence on Yorkville Avenue July 2 2002 Toronto Canada. I ask the question: What was the rationale behind my kidnapping and attempted murder? Consider that my mother had just died and I was the sole heir to the family fortune. Was it a random act of violent crime? Was it a thwarted hit? Was it to scare and intimidate me? Was my father behind it? Were the police behind it? How does this occurrence fit into the larger conspiracy I was unwittingly in the middle of? Spoiler alert: If you have read salient points within this blog, I may have in a roundabout fashion disclosed that I was defrauded out of everything including my inheritance that I earned after working for and with my mother and father Dr. Robert Goddard Young and Margaret Isobel Young (Peace). I didn’t get a nickel out of my late mother’s estate. I would hav...

Club David’s New Years Eve 1977

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  Our first real gig was at gay disco-tech Club David’s on Halloween night 1977. This gig was at Club David’s on New Years Eve 1977, supporting The Ugly and The Viletones. The line up was Paul O’Connell on bass, Vince Carlucci on guitar, Richard Miller on Drums and yours truly John Paul Young on vocals. That night David’s burned to the ground including our P.A. I wonder why Liz Worth excluded us from her otherwise great book on the Toronto punk scene 1977-1983. (Treat Me Like Dirt). Maybe because I was in jail or in seclusion. Hee hee.

THE BOULEVARDS OF HOPE (1980)

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  THIS is a great track from The Life of Ermie Scub (1980).  I wrote it with the apocalypse in mind, as is most of the album. You should listen with headphones. Maybe SCUB is semi-autobiographical but the coming apocalypse is the main theme. On “Surrender To the Void” you hear a sound bite stating “The horses are on the track…”.  That’s a not so subtle reference to the four horseman of the apocalypse. If you don’t have a copy of my 1980 LP, you can get one on Discogs currently for about $CDN30.00 plus shipping. I don’t make any money off of it, but I like to spread the word. Here is the entire album on YouTube: Someday I would like to release new material and a sequel to this Life of Ermie Scub. If I win the lottery I will do just that.

CARDBOARD BRAINS (1978)

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  Live at The Horseshoe Tavern in 1978.  I think this is “Can Stress Kill” from the 1977 Cardboard Brains White EP.

OFF THE GRID

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  It’s been awhile Dear Friends.There hasn’t been a lot to report.  Went to the cabin near Bridgewater which is completely off the grid.  It’s about a KM into the secluded woods and you really need a Toyota Land Cruiser to get in there. It’s entirely built piece by piece by hand by an old German gentleman named Horst. No power, with the exception of solar power for charging batteries. No running water but a hand pump. No internet so doomscrolling is out.  The ideal place for contemplation. I’ll be turning 68 this July 16 and it sort of scares me. If I’m going to start a revolution or write a manifesto I had better do it now. I wonder if I will ever get around to doing music again. I’ve wanted to for years but life got in the way. For now I’m concentrating on my YouTube channel. I enjoy the feedback I get and I find it a joy. Please visit and subscribe. Here is the link: www.YouTube.com/@johnpaulyoung1956 Thanks!

April 2024

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Haven’t posted in a long time. Stayed for a while at an Air BnB in Chester, Nova Scotia.  Basically living the life and chilling. I’ll post again soon.  Thanks everyone.

THE LAST POGO JUMPS AGAIN (2013)

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 Clip on (the) Cardboard Brains from Colin Brunton and Kire Papputs’ The Last Pogo Jumps Again. (2013). I’m glad they got Nardwaur the Human Serviette to substitute for a noticeably absent John Paul Young.

I WANT TO BE A YANK WITH LYRICS

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  I Want To Be A Yank This of course is the 1977 iconic CARDBOARD BRAINS White EP with I Want To Be A Yank, Living Inside My Head, Can Stress Kill, and of course our pre-pistols cover of the Monkees (I’m not your) Stepping Stone. The Canadian punk outfit FUCKED UP did a successful cover of I Want To Be A Yank, however the lyrics aren’t correct. So I would like to take this opportunity to present them in their full glory. “WHO REALLY CARES ABOUT MAGGIE T.? I’M REALLY SICK OF THE CBC. THE KIDS ARE ROTTING AT U. Of T. JUST TO WORK FOR THE U.I.C. RENE LEVESQUE’S THE MISSING LINK CBC TV PROGRAMS REALLY STINK YOUR MONEYS ALL DOWN THE DRINK I WISH I DIDN’T HAVE TO THINK. U.S. THEY GOT TAINTED HAM U.S. THEY GOT SON OF SAM U.S. THEY GOT SIRHAN SIRHAN U.S. THEY GOT VIETNAM I WANT TO BE A YANK! WHO REALLY CARES ABOUT MAGGIE T.? I’M REALLY SICK OF THE CBC THE KIDS ARE ROTTING AT U.of T. JUST TO WORK FOR THE U.I.C. U.S. THEY GOT JIMMY CARTER U.S. YOU CAN BE A MARTYR U.S. THEY GOT WORLD SERIES U...

BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE: BUSTED AND SHACKLED

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  I will get into this in much more detail at a later time, but for now I want to expose some initial truth. My brother passed away July 1996. I reformed CARDBOARD BRAINS in April 2000. I did the movie KILLER RATS in March/April in Bulgaria with Ron Perlman.  After an abysmal and unproductive 1990’s I was approaching 45 and hitting my stride by the time I was back in Toronto. I had money in the bank (MEG Entertainment in my mother’s name), I was buff and at my physical peak of health. I had a martial arts trainer, I did one hour of cardio each day plus weight training. Bruce Lee had become my new role model and I was adopting the philosophy of Jeet Kune-Do. I was at John Gundy’s house, formerly owned by producer Bob Ezrin. John Gundy was a patron who was Executive Producer of the White and Black EP’s of CARDBOARD BRAINS. His being knowledgeable in legal and financial matters, I told John I was slated to inherit a great deal of money and I thought I should put my affairs in ord...

MEMOIR

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  This blog is of course a work in progress. Just know I increased the font size in order to make the copy more readable. When I consider what to do with what is left of my life, the next and most logical conclusion is to write and publish my memoirs. I have to figure out how to divide my time between this blog and writing drafts for the memoirs. The way I see it, I can use this blog as a precursor to the book. In a recent post on Facebook, I lamented the absurd censoring of myself and CARDBOARD BRAINS out of Liz Worth’s book TREAT ME LIKE DIRT. In response to the post I received support from various Facebook friends, many of them entertainment professionals like published  author Peter Vronsky. They admonished me to write my memoirs in a tell all fashion. Which I have been working on for a couple of years, initially with Scott Edward Patterson of UNCOMMON FRANK in Melbourne, Australia. Today I have begun my writing as soon as I awake as I and Julia Cameron and so many others ...