I visited Toronto one time when I was a teenager, two of my brothers were living there. An awesome part of the trip was checking out what was front racked at Sam the Record Man and I bought The Specials album knowing anything but the artwork. Has been worth returning to all my life, super excellent choice. Nice job Terry Hall! Beautiful singing and being. I always wanted to record piano versions of these songs and did a little bit last winter, put it on instagram if you care to search. Hopefully, I’ll make a slower effort and realize them more fully another day. One time in the 90s, Ron Sexsmith invited me to play with him in New York, it was a live taping for a PBS thing. Elvis Costello dropped by and made a cameo background vocal. It was fun to meet him but hours later I realized I missed telling Elvis what I liked the most about him. I was a fan of This Year’s Model, Armed Forces and My Aim is True, but for me there could be no bigger feather in his cap than he produced the Specials, that same album I bought at Sam’s which afterward, often was the soundtrack to my life. Maybe he would have been insulted or maybe flattered, I don’t know, but I wish I had remembered to congratulate him for having been part of a masterpiece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"