Pat Blythe – Indie Week, Jack The Lads, Loving Vincent…and Music!

 Indie Week in Toronto officially started last night with the big launch party at The Hideout starting at 7pm. Ran into (quite literally) Bruce Bradley of Slammin’ Media, Roxanne Tellier, Peter Montreuil, the man himself, Bob Segarini, photographer Micheal Macisaac, Hartley Pickens, owner of See Rock Live Magazine (whose huge RV was parked out front of the venue), producer/singer/songwriter Chris Birkett, Nadia Elkharadly of Addicted Magazine….and the list goes on.

Nadia Elkharadly: Reinvention is a Way of Life

I spent most of my night tonight taking out my hair extensions.  You see, I’ve always hated my hair.  Too thin, too short, not what I wanted.  So, I found a way to change it.  It may just be hair, it may just be superficial, but it’s a change; and one I control, even if it’s just temporary.

Nadia Elkharadly: Great New Music

I recently received some flack, and a lot of attention for a very ranty column I wrote.  One thing that struck me as funny is one particular piece of criticism that I received:  one commentor asked why I would choose to focus on music I didn’t like, rather than seek out cool new music that I could grow to love?  It’s always fun when people make assumptions about you without knowing you, since finding and talking about new music is my raison d’etre!  So I figured for this column, I would share some new and amazing music that I’ve recently come across, or have loved for a while, with all of you!

 

Nadia Elkharadly: The Junos

Happy February DBAWIS!  It’s been a great start to 2014 so far, aside from a few blips here and there.  More than anything it’s shaping up to be an exciting year for music, but new and familiar, and you know how excited music gets me.

For those of you not in Canada, not into music or just not on twitter, the 2014 Juno Award nominations were announced this week.  That’s Grammy in Canadian for all of you unfamiliar with the national canuck music awards.  And like with any award show, with nominations come controversy, and this year’s Juno picks were not without their fair share.  Take a gander at the nominee list here, while I will mosey on down the page to ruminate on a particularly contentious nomination.

Nadia Elkharadly: My 2013 Musical Highlights

2013 has been a long and tumultuous year, filled with many challenges, some failures, many successes, tons of new discoveries and an innumerable amount of wonderful memories made with the family and friends I love so very much.  For my first DBAWIS article of 2014, I thought I’d highlight a few of the musical and otherwise amazing things that have come to be my “favourites” of this past year.

Nadia Elkharadly: Social Media Tips for Musicians – Shit you NEED to know

Multiple writers on this site have written, raved and ranted about social media, and how pervasive it’s become in our world today.  Whether you like it or not, you can’t swing a cat without hitting some new, old, or random social media network that everyone has just become addicted to.  Between Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, Imgr and the plethora of other nonsensical names that creators come up with for these things, it’s enough to make your head spin.  But as annoying and confusing as social media can sometimes be, no one can deny that these networks are an amazing way to connect with people and information.  Want to track down a long lost classmate from elementary school?  What about a distant cousin you remember meeting as a child?  Or someone you used to have a crush on at a previous job?  Facebook is the tool to help you.  Want to get your news before the networks get it?  How about the top secret location of an exclusive show with your favourite band?  Twitter’s the place to go.