GELK and Tim's Top 9 Instagram Posts of 2021

Happy New Year! The results are in! We've got our top-9 most-liked photos of 2021 from our IG account: https://www.instagram.com/goodenoughlivekaraoke/  FOLLOW us!

Left to right, from top left: 
1. Pre-show band picture at the Phoenix Concert Theatre, Fri Oct 1st, 2021. feat Special Guest Michelle Treacy. 
2. NOW Magazine Readers Choice Awards 2021: Winner for Best Karaoke in Toronto 2021
3. Eulogy for Junction City Music Hall, our longest running residency where we played 1st Saturday of-the-month from Aug 2014 to March 2020. 
4. Promo photo of me on the porch of 159 Manning dressed as Santa Clause which was used for our 8-Year Anniversary Party Sat Dec 4th 2021` at the Phoenix Concert Theatre, and our 6th Annual Boxing Day Party at Heartwood Concert Hall in Owen Sound. 
5. Promo photo shot at 159 Manning for Fri Aug 20th 2021 at the Phoenix Concert Theatre, featuring Chris Murphy from the rock band Sloan, w/ me, Esti Friedman, Janine Hynes and her daughter Evelyn. This photo references the cover photo I shot (taken in the exact same location) for Sloan's 2014 Record Store Day release. 
6. Chris Murphy of the rock band Sloan rocking a GELK t-shirt while singing with us on stage at the Phoenix Concert Theatre Fri Aug 20th 2021. Photo by MJamesLens. 
7. GELK band photo (feat. half of Casper Skulls) at the former Silver Dollar Room at College and Spadina, Wed Dec 1st, 2021. That night, we became the very first band EVER to play the rebuilt heritage-status room. 
8. Bass player Esti Friedman and drummer Janine Hynes back-stage at the Phoenix Concert Theatre on Fri Oct 1st 2021. Photo by MJamesLens.
9. Esti Friedman playing bass at a private birthday party at Murphy's Law Fri Sept 24th 2021.

While I'm at it, I've decided to post my Top 9 photos of 2021 from my personal instagram account https://www.instagram.com/timmccready/. Why? Because 6 of these photos were from a "Greatest Hits" series I posted during the first half of 2021 while Toronto was in COVID lock-down. If you don't know anything about me, they may serve as a partial resume of sorts. Far from an exhaustive personal history (there's a LOT more), these 9 photos do provide some insight into how I got to this place in my life; running a successful karaoke band in Toronto! 

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Left to right, from top left: 
1. Me on the cover of the Canadian edition of VICE Magazine, June 2017. Released in conjunction with a VICE-produced online video called "How To Party Proof Your House". Full circle moment for me as I had been a full-time employee of VICE from January 2005 to June 2009, starting out in Ad Sales and then later moving over as the Production Manager for the US and Canadian editions of the magazine. 
2. Me putting a guy in a chokehold in the basement of Chef Matty Matheson's newly-opened restaurant Parts & Labour, Aug 2010. The guy I'm choking had attacked a guitar player of a band called the Sphinx at the end of their set. Without thinking I sprung into action and subdued him AND got a pretty cool picture out of it! The next week I was hired to be P&L's in-house sound-tech, a position I held until the venue closed in 2018. Photo by Ivy Lovell. 
3. Vassil Mester (R.I.P.) on his bike in front of 159 Manning Spring 2012. Vassil and I played together in band called Fill Spectre for about a year. I took this photo before a band practice. Vassil was a drummer, legendary around the Toronto punk and metal scenes who died in April 2015. He is still remembered and missed today. 
4. The GELK promo pic taken in the library of 159 Manning for our Aug 20th 2021 show at the Phoenix featuring Special Guest Chris Murphy of the rock band Sloan. 
5. Chris Murphy posing for a "159 Manning Porch Portrait", holding a photo of him taken at the Phoenix 2 years earlier by MJamesLens. 
6. Portrait of my dad Raymond McCready and I, taken at the 159 Manning BBQ June 2013. 
7. George Stroumboulopoulos and I at the Season 8 Wrap Party for his CBC TV talk show "George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight" where I was employed as his Audience Coordinator from Aug 2011 to June 2012. 
8. Birthday post for GELK's founding guitar-player Jesse Bellon, Feb 14th 2021. 
9. Essay by musician Rosh Roslin (who coincidentally leads Los Angeles karaoke band Casual Encounters Karaoke) about valuing each gig you play as a musician whether it's headlining Coachella, a corporate hotel gig, or an empty room at the dive bar on the corner. Work is work!