{"id":1247,"date":"2026-06-24T16:17:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paulainslie.com\/blog\/?p=1247"},"modified":"2026-06-24T18:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T23:26:14","slug":"speaking-notes-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-directors-visit-at-massey-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulainslie.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/24\/speaking-notes-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-directors-visit-at-massey-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaking Notes: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Directors Visit at Massey Hall!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Massey Hall \u2013 May 29, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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THANK YOU AND HELLO EVERYONE. I\u2019M COUNCILLOR PAUL AINSLIE. I REPRESENT CITY OF TORONTO WARD 24, SCARBOROUGH-GUILDWOOD, AND I AM THE DEPUTY MAYOR FOR SCARBOROUGH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IN 2022, I WAS APPOINTED AS THE CITY\u2019S NIGHT ECONOMY CHAMPION. SINCE THEN, I\u2019VE BEEN SUPPORTING THE WORK TO BUILD AND SUSTAIN TORONTO\u2019S NIGHT ECONOMY \u2013 WHICH OF COURSE INCLUDES LIVE MUSIC, AND ICONIC MUSIC VENUES LIKE THE ONE AND ONLY MASSEY HALL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MOST IMPORTANTLY FOR TONIGHT, THOUGH \u2013 AS A LIFELONG MUSIC FAN, I\u2019M THRILLED TO WELCOME GREG HARRIS<\/strong> AND THE ENTIRE CLEVELAND DELEGATION FROM THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME TO TORONTO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WE\u2019RE SO GLAD THAT YOU CHOSE TO VISIT TORONTO THIS YEAR. PERSONALLY, I SEE SO MANY SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE WONDERFUL WORK THAT YOU DO AT THE HALL AND OUR OWN CITY\u2019S RICH MUSIC SCENE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SINCE ITS OPENING IN 1995, THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME HAS BECOME KNOWN AS THE WORLD\u2019S NUMBER-ONE MUSIC SHRINE CELEBRATING THE GREAT VOICES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE HALL\u2019S THOUGHTFUL HONOURING OF FOUNDATIONAL GENRES LIKE GOSPEL AND BLUES, ITS EXHIBITS SHOWCASING EXCITING OTHER SCENES ACROSS AMERICA AND THE WORLD, AND ITS INCLUSION OF DIVERSE CULTURES AND STYLES ALL ECHO WHAT WE CHERISH ABOUT TORONTO\u2019S OWN VITAL MUSIC ECOSYSTEM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TORONTO\u2019S MUSIC HISTORY GOES BACK WELL OVER A CENTURY \u2013 JUST LIKE MASSEY HALL. BACK THEN, GROUNDBREAKING BLUES AND JAZZ PERFORMERS PLAYED UP AND DOWN YONGE STREET, JUST OUTSIDE THOSE RED DOORS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IN THE 1960s, ROCK AND ROLL AND FOLK WERE HEARD ALL OVER YORKVILLE AND THE YONGE STREET STRIP. LATER, MUSIC MIGRATED TO QUEEN STREET AND SPADINA AVENUE, WITH PUNK, COUNTRY, AND INDIE ROCK HEARD AT DOZENS OF SMALL VENUES.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TODAY, TORONTO HAS LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF GRASSROOTS LIVE MUSIC VENUES ALL ACROSS THE CITY \u2013 PLACES YOU CAN CATCH YOUR NEW FAVOURITE BAND OR TOMORROW\u2019S BIGGEST STAR ON THE RISE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TORONTO\u2019S SCENE IS STILL GROWING AND STILL THRIVING. IT HAS EVOLVED TO INCLUDE ARTISTS ACROSS ALL CULTURES AND GENRES. THESE DAYS, YOU\u2019LL HEAR HIP HOP, R&B, AND WORLD MUSIC STYLES ALONGSIDE GOOD OL\u2019 ROCK AND ROLL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE MUSICIANS ARE AT THE HEART OF IT ALL AND HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THE EXPORTS WE\u2019RE MOST PROUD OF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LOCAL ARTISTS LIKE GORDON LIGHTFOOT, JACKIE SHANE, THE BAND, NEIL YOUNG, RUSH, BLUE RODEO, BARENAKED LADIES, AND MICHIE MEE LAID THE GROUNDWORK FOR TODAY\u2019S WORLD-FAMOUS TORONTO-AREA VOICES LIKE THE WEEKND, THE BEACHES, JUSTIN BIEBER, AND \u2013 OF COURSE \u2013 DRAKE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

I\u2019D LIKE TO CLOSE BY THANKING JESSE KUMAGAI<\/strong> (KOO-ma-guy) AND THE MASSEY HALL TEAM FOR HOSTING THIS EVENING\u2019S GATHERING \u2013 AND TO ONCE AGAIN THANK THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME DELEGATION FOR SPENDING A FEW DAYS AND NIGHTS WITH US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I KNOW YOU\u2019VE BEEN BUSY CHECKING OUT LOCAL VENUES, MEETING SOME ARTISTS AND MUSIC INDUSTRY LEADERS, AND HEARING SOME LOCAL MUSIC \u2013 WITH MORE IN STORE TOMORROW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WE HOPE THIS IS THE START OF AN ONGOING RELATIONSHIP WITH TORONTO. ROCK ON!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Massey Hall \u2013 May 29, 2026 THANK YOU AND HELLO EVERYONE. I\u2019M COUNCILLOR PAUL AINSLIE. I REPRESENT CITY OF TORONTO WARD 24, SCARBOROUGH-GUILDWOOD, AND I AM THE DEPUTY MAYOR FOR SCARBOROUGH. IN 2022, I WAS APPOINTED AS THE CITY\u2019S NIGHT ECONOMY CHAMPION. SINCE THEN, I\u2019VE BEEN SUPPORTING THE WORK TO BUILD AND SUSTAIN TORONTO\u2019S NIGHT … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Speaking Notes: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Directors Visit at Massey Hall!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulainslie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulainslie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulainslie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulainslie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulainslie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1247"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/paulainslie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1272,"href":"https:\/\/paulainslie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247\/revisions\/1272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulainslie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulainslie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulainslie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}