What an EPIC weekend!! The weather, except for a couple of 15-minute downpours on Friday, was gorgeous nicely covering all three H’s…..hot, hazy and humid. So humid I felt like a piece of flypaper…..everything was sticking to me. A dive into the lake was sorely tempting. On the flip side, with no more rain in the forecast, people, little ones and big ones, were out in droves. In fact, it was another record-breaking year for the Mariposa Folk Foundation.
It’s the final weekend of summer….the official/unofficial end of walks along the beach, barbeques, wearing white, lounging with a martini…yes it’s Labour Day weekend. Many of us are all off cottaging or tenting or beaching. Escaping the city for one last breath of summer air and that sense of liberating freedom that comes with it.
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.
One of the easiest ways for a band or artist to reach out to or appeal to new fans is with covers. It’s a no brainer really; you take a song that people who may have never heard you play a note, play it, and watch the reaction. The response is pretty much the same every time; a slow glimmer of recognition, a lightbulb moment (hey! I know that song), and pretty soon you have the crowd singing right along with you. It’s the ultimate inclusive force, and it’s a powerful tool for musicians. I firmly believe up and coming bands should keep a cover or two in their set list, just to draw fans into them. I, like everyone else on this planet who gives a shit about music, love a good cover tune.
The annual Canadian Music Week rollercoaster ride has finally looped its last de loop, the cars have all been packed away, and the lights turned out and the tent folded until the carnival sets up again next year. As of this writing, there have been no reports of serious casualties, no reported marriages or pregnancies, and so far, no signings of fresh faced bands from hither, thither, and yon to a gung-ho label/management/agent ready to unleash them on an unsuspecting world. There was, however, enough music, parties, and open bars to kill Keith Richards, most soccer hooligans, and myriad hockey dads.
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UPDATE!
The link to Episode 1 of The Bobcast is now working. Scroll down….
Sorry for the inconvenience…
The Bobcast
The first episode. With Tom Wilson (Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Lee Harvey Osmond), CMW showrunner, Greg Simpson, Director/writer/producer (The Last Pogo, The Last Pogo Jumps Again), Colin Brunton, and the Don’t Believe a Word I Say house band, Xprime.
The Bobcast Episode 1 March 18th 2013
Join us live every Monday night at Cherry Cola’s, 200 Bathurst Street just north of Queen Street West. 8 – 12. We record the Bobcast from 9:00 until 10:00.
Episode 2, with musical guest Stacey Kaniuk, eOne guru Eric Alper, and legendary radio and television producer/writer/director,Doug Thompson, takes place tomorrow,March 25th, 2013.
Please join us.
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my journey of becoming a…something in this crazy music/entertainment/out of the box industry, it’s that sometimes you can’t do everything by yourself. There are many times when you just need a little help from your friends. One of the most recent, frankly one of the nicest examples of that exact thing happened just last night – it was the Bobcast.
Well, this is an unusual column for a bunch of reasons.
1. It’s not really a column.
2. It took me forever to do this because I might be an idiot.
3. We’re hoping all our Toronto friends can join us for this.
4. If you’re in town for CMW and arrive on the 18th, please join us.
5. I wonder if anybody else works at home in their underwear….
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I mentioned last week, there are some days, even weeks that simply by way of existing, make it hard to stay positive. A hard few days at work, where thanklessness and bitterness overwhelm the desire to work hard and stay motivated will bring anyone down. Lately, technical difficulties with my Examiner page have made it even hard to get excited to sit and write a music review, which really sucks. When even the job you’re passionate about starts to get tiresome, you know something has to give. Last week, when I was beyond frustrated, tired, cranky and really just “over IT” (IT being everything), the musical gods must have been looking down on me with pity and generosity in their hearts. I was given not one, not two but THREE amazing music related opportunities, all of which turned into some of the greatest moments of my fledging music journalist career. They also served as much needed reminders of why I am doing what I do in the first place.
Bullseye Records of Canada
