In the summer of 1977, I wrote the Cardboard Brains song Can Stress Kill? in a moment of chance and inspiration. It all happened in the practice room I’d built in my parents’ basement at 34 Clissold Road, Etobicoke—a sleepy suburban area just outside Toronto. If you’re in a place like Romania, imagine Etobicoke as the suburb of Toronto: reliable, practical, but not exactly glamorous. I was waiting for the band to show up, and Vince Carlucci’s Les Paul was sitting there, calling my name. Vince, our guitarist, had left it behind, and I couldn’t resist picking it up and strumming a few chords. As I noodled around, my eyes fell on a copy of the Toronto Star lying nearby. In the letters to the editor section, there was a headline that stopped me cold: Can Stress Kill? Intrigued, I read the letter. It was written by a guy working in a factory who hated his job. His words were raw, honest, and dripping with the discontent that punk music was all about. Lines like: "Sometimes I feel li...

  The Roller Coaster of a Day: Reflections on Justice, Therapy, and Hope Yesterday was a lousy day. Not the worst I’ve had, but bad enough to knock me down for a bit. Looking back, I think I overdid it on Vyvanse—too much fuel for my brain, and anxiety came crashing in to remind me of my limits. The week before had been different. Inspired, focused, and riding a wave of hyper-productivity, I dove headfirst into legal and medical research. GPT-4 was my companion, helping me map out a plan to file Freedom of Information (FOI) requests with over a hundred sources to gather documentation for my legal battles. I was full of energy, teetering on the edge of brilliance—or obsession. But as usual, the crash came. That’s the problem with being an all-or-nothing kind of guy: I burn brightly, but the flame flickers out just as fast. I talked to my therapist recently—a Halifax-based professional I was connected with through Victim Services. When I shared my plans for a legal campaign, my un...

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp2pIvPX6PE Title: A Hidden Gem of Punk Rock History: CINOFRENIC (1979) Here’s a blast from the archives for true aficionados of punk rock! Back in 1978, I had the opportunity to be part of a unique film originally titled CINOFRENIC . It was an experimental project that captured the raw, unfiltered energy of the punk scene at the time. I was billed as Paul Young in the film, and although it never reached a wide audience, it has lived on in the memories of those lucky enough to experience it. Recently, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the film has resurfaced online under a new title: Shock Rock (1979) . Thanks to an "Unknown" commenter in a YouTube thread, I discovered that this rare piece of punk rock history is now accessible for fans to rediscover and appreciate. The film itself may drag a bit in its dramatic parts, but the footage of the bands is absolutely incredible—and rare! I and Cardboard Brains perform a few songs, incl...

Fighting for Justice: My Journey Through Systemic Injustice  For over a decade, my life was consumed by an extraordinary and harrowing series of events that tested my resilience and nearly broke me. What began as a promising career in the arts and entertainment industry was derailed by systemic abuse, judicial misconduct, and malicious prosecution. From 2002 to 2012, I endured repeated false arrests, imprisonments, and harassment, which left me physically and emotionally shattered. These events robbed me of more than my career—they destroyed my health, left me homeless, and plunged me into a state of fear and survival. I lived each day under the threat of further retaliation, unable to take legal action against those responsible. The system that should have protected me instead conspired to silence me. Since fleeing to Nova Scotia in 2012, I’ve slowly begun to rebuild my life. While I’ve found some peace in anonymity, the weight of unresolved injustices remains. I’ve battled the ef...

What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Mark 8:36.

John Paul Young, the Canadian musician, is the lead singer and a founding member of the punk rock band Cardboard Brains. Here's a brief summary of his career: - Born: July 16, 1956, in Toronto, Canada - Active in the music scene: Late 1970s to early 1980s - Band: Cardboard Brains (formed in 1977) - Genre: Punk rock, new wave - Notable release: "Metal Messiah" (1978) - Style: Known for his raw, energetic vocals and rebellious stage presence Please note that information about John Paul Young and Cardboard Brains might be limited due to their underground and local nature during the punk rock era. If you have any specific questions or need further clarification, feel free to ask! Well that is as AI (Meta) when I asked it about myself. ChatGPT seems to be better. The above is rather incomplete. Here’s another snippet: Nardwuar, the legendary Canadian music journalist and interviewer, has indeed met and interviewed John Paul Young from Cardboard Brains! Nardwuar is known for ...

Cardboard Brains White EP 1977 When looking at the Blogger stats I see people around the world tuning into this blog and I would bet that some don’t know what a Cardboard Brain is so let me Illustrate.  (The) Cardboard Brains was…is, because I say Never Say Die… a punk band I started forming in Toronto, Ontario Canada in 1976 but really came to fruition in th summer of 1977. That’s when we put out our first record, The White EP. Before it as pirated a few years ago, it was selling for $US400 a copy. I’m posting this so you can listen for free. Rat d 9 out of ten by New Yorks Killed By Death, here it is first generation original gangster punk

  I wrote this song and we recorded it in 1979. The legendary John Peel played it on his BBC show amongst other things.

  I was attending The University of Western Ontario in London when I received a fairly substantial legal win. And as usual I did the reckless thing and dropped out suddenly for some fun. My long time close friend Director Tibor Tackacs invited me to be a guest in Los Angeles for a bit. I couldn’t say no. I should have stayed in University. The University of Western Ontario was my THIRD university after Ryerson University and the University of Toronto. It wasn’t until 2000 that I was diagnosed and treated for ADHD (inattentive type).  The tyranny of the shoulds.  I SHOULD have stayed in the field of Systems Analysis and Electronic Data Processing after being Military Immersion trained by Honeywell Corporation in 1982. If I stayed in that field I would be worth a fortune today. C’est la vie. What happened is I won  CASBY award for most promising male recording artist. My ambitions inflated, I chose to focus on music. So Director Tibor Takacs invited me to L.A. His hous...

 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...