Ottawa Buzz: THERMOclinE Member Remembered

The Ottawa music community is mourning one of its own this week, as I regretfully announce the passing of Jason "Jay" Young, bassist for the local power-pop quartet THERMOclinE.Young died Monday, Oct. 15 at age 30.Since the band's inception in a few years ago, THERMOclinE has put out two albums. Negative ONE was released earlier this year.In addition to being a talented bassist for one of Ottawa's most popular groups, Young also produced for local artists like Spankdriven.This message from THERMOclinE is on the band's website:"We would like to express our deepest symapthies to Jason's family and friends and to thank all of you who have called and emailed us with your condolences, overall support and understanding during this difficult time."Jay had a great love of music, animals and the outdoors. As his bandmates and friends we will cherish the time we spent sharing his dedication, focus and passion for the music we made together."It's these things that make us stronger as people and as communities. There is no question that we will be there for each other and that Jay, without realizing it, has brought us together more profoundly than we may ever have been. We owe it to Jay to recover from this and do the best work of our lives, if for no other reason than to honour his very passionate dream."It's never nice to report these things. Sigh. Life goes on.Perhaps a more inspiring bit: the Ottawa community is still doing its best to help out after the devastation of last month. Singer-songwriter Tammy Raybould rushed into the studio a few weeks ago with a group of local musicians and producers. They came out with a new version of her unreleased ballad, "Forever And A Day," which Raybould now dedicates to those who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 attacks.Proceeds from sales of the single are going to relief efforts, but that wasn't the thrust behind Raybould's decision to release the song."I'm hoping that this song will bring just a little bit of peace," she says on her website (www.tammyraybould.com) That's all I want. If this song will touch only one person, then it's done its duty."In other info nuggets, local punkety rockers The Riptides are preparing to head down to New Hampshire at the end of the month to record a new album. Why is one of Ottawa's finest old-school-bondage-pants outfits going all the way down to New England to record the follow-up to Appetite For Rejection? Two words: Joe Queer. Yep, the Queers frontman is producing The Riptides. Get the cotton swabs in your ears now, or be very, very sorry.For all you local music junkies, check out Sonic Ottawa (www.sonicottawa.com), a new website about all things good and musical in the Ottawa scene. Run by local fans Christina Conlin and Rachelle Young, the site features show reviews, interviews, bios, links, show calendars and chunks more - such as the capacity of different venues in town. Ever the cool folks, Christina actually saved my ass by handing me a pen when my ballpoint ran out at the beginning of Matthew Good's reading...-Jason MarkusoffMGB fans are still undecided about Jason's "Matt Good eats baby raccoons" comment. Until that time we'll be keeping him in hiding. Ottawa Buzz will still be appearing bi-weekly.