Daniel Burke

Daniel Burke (born 1957) is a Canadian journalist and music promoter.

Journalist Burke was born into a working-class Irish Catholic family in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce district of Montreal, where he grew up. As a teenager, he began working as a copyboy for the Montreal Gazette, the city's main English-language newspaper, where his father, Timothy, worked as a sports writer.

Unhappy with life in Toronto, Burke returned to his native Montreal later in the 1980s. From a West End Gang drug dealer, Burke learned that Claude Savoie, a senior officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, was working for Allan "the Weasel" Ross of the West End Gang.

In an interview with Burke, Savoie came close to admitting his guilt, stating, "I know with Allan Ross, there's no doubt that was word always, you know, that he had access to somebody, and you know, maybe he did... And I gather from you wanting to talk to me that you feel maybe I was one of those people on the list, and that's fair game I guess... Sometimes people make mistakes. What can I tell you?"

The revelation of his corruption prompted Savoie to commit suicide in his office at the RCMP's national headquarters in Ottawa on 21 December 1992.

Savoie's suicide caused some controversy, with many charging that The Fifth Estate bore some responsibility for his death by publicly exposing him as corrupt. Both Sher and Gartner have expressed feelings of guilt, with Sher saying in 2010, "All I could think was that his kids would never have another Christmas with their father. But I have to remind myself that I’m not the one who accepted the bribes."

Burke, by contrast, has expressed no guilt over Savoie's suicide, saying in 2008, "For all I know, it may have been a choice his colleagues forced him to make because they didn't want him to reveal further corruption. I don't know. All I know is that I didn't feel fucking bad about it."

Journalist Andrew Scott wrote in 2003, "...Burke was the visionary for, and gatekeeper of, the El Mocambo," though he also noted, "Burke's disdain of commercialism was good for street credibility, but bad for business."

In September 2001, Jahangiri decided to shut down El Mocambo, leading to a final show on 4 November 2001, which ended with Burke being arrested for alleged assault after he threw his sunglasses at Jahangiri. Burke regards this on-stage brawl with The Hospitals as one of the highlights of his music career. He told journalist Cathal Kelly, "It was so rude, what they did," charging that The Hospitals had been late to the show and were treating the Toronto audience poorly, which led him to confront them on stage.

Burke is considered by many to be one of Toronto's best music bookers, albeit an unstable figure with serious substance abuse issues. In 2008, journalist Jordan Bimm wrote:

"Booking and promoting live shows for The Silver Dollar at College and Spadina, Burke has become something of a living legend. Still struggling with addiction, Burke lives an unpredictable day-to-day existence—his name having become synonymous with crack-cocaine, erratic behaviour and street-level hustling, but also with indie celebrity, and some of the most memorable rock shows Toronto has ever seen. In a word, Dan Burke is an anomaly. Blessed with moxie, wit, and intellect, Burke has the skills and musical taste to be a big-time booker. At the same time, his absolutely heroic intake of drugs, transient life-style, and subsequent inability to control his finances virtually guarantees him a life of marginalized vagrancy. Somehow, every day, Burke manages to navigate this near-impossible tightrope between success and total self-destruction. He’s become an unlikely yet fascinating cultural icon".

Bimm described Burke as one of the most important music bookers in Toronto, noting his significant contributions to revitalizing the music scene on College Street since 1997.

Despite suffering a major heroin overdose during a visit to Manchester, Burke told Bimm that he had no interest in pursuing rehab for his substance abuse. For many years, Burke's "office" was an internet café on College Street, where he used the internet to research rising music acts. He ran up a $600 tab in unpaid internet usage, which he paid off gradually over time.

A colourful character, Burke was described by Kelly in 2009 as follows: "He is feckless and untrustworthy and an admitted thief. But he is a purist who lives harder than any of the acts he has helped thrust toward stardom. And that makes him untouchable."

Burke admitted to Kelly that he continued to struggle with substance abuse and was homeless. Kelly described Burke as an unnaturally fit man for his age, with the build of a boxer, who was deeply passionate about music and maintained an intense work ethic.

Despite having lived in Toronto for decades, Burke still regards his hometown of Montreal as his favorite city. He sees himself in a "Joycean" exile, comparing himself to Irish writer James Joyce. Burke explained that, just as Joyce lived away from his beloved Dublin to preserve perfect memories of the city, he remains away from Montreal to keep his memories of his hometown unsullied by current realities.

The journalist Jay Somerset, who met Burke in December 2010, described him as an oddity: one of Toronto's most successful music bookers with an annual income of about $40,000, yet homeless. Burke lived either in his office at the Velvet Underground bar or at the Oak Leaf men’s bathhouse. Burke told Somerset: "I’m a drug addict and an alcoholic with about twelve years left—twelve years of work—and I’m about to reinvent myself."

Burke's unconventional lifestyle inspired the 2011 documentary The Last Music Man as well as the song "Show Promoter Dan" by The Barmitzvah Brothers.

In 2017, journalist Sarah Greene reported that Burke appeared to have overcome many of his drug addiction issues, with his principal vice at the time being cigarettes.

In 2022, Burke played a prominent role as an expert in the documentary Kings of Coke, which focused on the West End Gang and the Savoie scandal. A significant portion of the documentary dealt with the still-unsolved 1991 murder of Sidney Leithman.

Books

.