B ehindthe S cene S

Closing iris • Bryan adams • Chris Brown • Coldplay • shamBhala musiC Festival • ‘09 olympiCs - luge to nowhere
MUSICFILMCULTURE
Juno AwArds
•Behind the SceneS•
+PLUS
WAtCHMen
SupeRHeRoS fRoM HollyWood
Gil MooRe
MASteR MuSiCiAn to MetAlWoRkS
tHe tHouSAnd yeARS WAR
MAkinG SenSe of tHe Middle eASt
gonzomagazine.ca
MARCH 2009
CaN
Mar 2009 / Issue 4 Vol 1
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05
INPUT
CD and DVD Reviews
By John Kereiff
8
2010 oylmpics
luge to nowhere
By John S. Hatch
13
Full Moon Serenade,
Intimate and Interactive
with Bryan Adams
By Kristine Sloan
14
war
Making Sense of
Middle East Politics
By Kayla Joffe
16
closing iris
18
Junos
26
30
closing iris binge
By Derek Ennison
The Science behind the
Celebration
By Dean Unger
22
Triumph’s Gil Moore
on Style Mavens, Concept
Albums & Metalworks
By Dean Unger
26
meet the watchmen
Q&A with the cast of
the movie watchmen
18
By Fred Topel
30
That’s Gonzo
Coldplay and more
By Jennifer Conklin
22
Editor’s letter
er’s
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s
i
l
b
Pu
March 2009 brings
us the hottest
Canadian Event
of the year for
Canadian Musicians,
the Juno Awards.
As the founder of the Okanagan Music
Awards, I have an understanding of the
work that is involved in putting on such
an event, and the importance of awards
and what it does for the artists and their
careers. Of course the scale of the Junos
is far greater than that of the Okanagan
Music Awards, and so the organization of
the event must be enormous. With that
in mind, I think it is important for all of
us involved in the music communities to
show our gratitude to the people involved
in making this event happen. We should
all do what we can to support the Juno
Awards and CARAS (The Canadian
OurFamily
Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences)
in doing so, we aren’t just supporting the
event but the future of Canadian Music,
the Musician, and the Music Industry and
all it’s components.
If you want to have a hand in the voting
process, or wish to support the cause,
I urge you to become a member of
CARAS. CARAS members are eligible
to vote in 15 Juno Award categories.
Voting is an important part of the whole
awards process, every person involved
in the Canadian Music Industry should
participate. You can find more information
on CARAS at www.carasonline.ca
The Gonzo team will be at the Juno
Awards this year – we hope to see you
there!
On another note – The G-Team is
growing in size… we would like to
welcome 3 new sales reps to the team.
Give the rep in your region a call to show
your support. We have great new rates!
And Gonzo deals happening monthly!
A music geek from early on, Nathan Stafford
started collecting and trading dubbed tapes
with fellow scenesters around age 13. Bands
like The Ramones, Crass, SNFU, and Minor
Threat inspired this young man to form several
short-lived punk bands in his hometown
of Saint John NB, hoping that one of them
would take off. They never did. After seeing
Gob perform in the late ‘90s, Nathan heard
of this wondrous place called ‘Vancouver’ and
later shipped out with his brother to start a
new life on the West Coast.
Today, Nathan works as a freelance journalist. His stories, interviews and photos have
appeared in several regional publications.
Nathan’s industry blog Musical Interpretations, is a popular source for Live Reviews,
Concert Video, News and Musings. Nathan
occasionally writes under a pseudonym just to
keep things interesting. He also enjoys picnics.
Check out his website at www.MusicIn.ca.
4
r
e
t
t
Le
Jodi Stewart will be working in the
following territories: Maple Ridge, Port
Moody, Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows,
Burnaby, and Whistler. You can reach her
at 604-831-4977 or jodi@gonzomagazine.
ca
Megan Halstead can be found in:
Downtown Vancouver, and Kitsilano.
You can reach her at 604-612-9820 or
[email protected]
Shela Jayson will be in Kelowna, Vernon,
and Kamloops. You can reach her at 250718-1528 or [email protected]
We are also looking for sales reps in the
following regions: Victoria, Naniamo, and
North Vancouver. If you think you have
what it takes to join our team send me
your resume.
Have a fantastic month, and see you at the
Junos!
Teena Clipston
Publisher / Editor-in-Chief
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
Teena Clipston
604-701-6560
[email protected]
Senior Editor
Dean Unger
[email protected]
Creative Director
Jenn Compeau
[email protected]
Cover photo provided by CTV
Advertising
Brad Krauza
250-870-0576
[email protected]
Teena Clipston
604-701-6560
[email protected]
Sales Representatives
Sheila Jayson, Megan Halstead,
Jodi Stewart, Shona Conroy
Contributors
Jennifer Conklin, John Kereiff,
Nathan Stafford, John S. Hatch, Fred Topel,
Kristine Sloan, Kayla Joffe, Derek Ennison,
Linda Schaab
Subscriptions to Gonzo Magazine
are available for $30 per year + GST
www.gonzomagazine.ca
Copyright © 2008. No portion of this publication may
be reproduced in whole or in part, without the written
permission of the publisher.
All rights reserved.
INput
By John Kereiff
SLICE O LIFE: LIVE SOLO
Bruce Cockburn
(True North) *****
FROM THE WATER
Colin Linden
(True North) **** ½
Blues and roots fans know Linden’s music. His new solo album is a rustic, soulful
squeeze that envelopes you like a bear hug from an old friend. I know Colin more
from his work as a producer (Colin James, Bruce Cockburn) and as a third of Blackie
& The Rodeo Kings.
After attending the CD release party for Water in late January, where he played
many of these songs live, I came away with a whole new appreciation for his music and
the soul that inhabits his songs. If you like acoustic slide you’ll dig his deft, masterful
playing here and if you fancy yourself a bluesologist, you’ll love it.
Co-writing credits from various folks appear on 8 of these 14 cuts including the
late Richard Bell, a talented writer and musician to whom the album is affectionately
dedicated. Linden writes about the human condition- of hope and longing, of loss, pain
and redemption. These are the kinds of tunes that are useful in helping you peek a little
further into your own dark corners.
While something like “Between Darkness and The Light of Day” can be interpreted
as a downer its effect, like that of the album itself, is uplifting. “From The Water” is, as
with everything Linden does, well-crafted and straight from the heart. From The Water
is a beautiful piece of work.
KEY CUTS: “Smoke Em All”, “God Will Always Remember Your Prayers”,
“Trouble Only Comes In 3’s”
www.colinlinden.com
This is Cockburn’s fourth live album but unlike
the first three, “Slice O Life” is just Bruce and
his guitar. Recorded last spring, this 2-disc set is
a suitable cross-section of Cockburn’s catalogue
with a new song, “City Is Hungry”.
Slice is an intimate experience - close your eyes
and you’re in the audience. Cockburn is a serious
artist who addresses serious issues on songs like
“If I Had A Rocket Launcher” and “The Mercenary” (all included here) so his warmth and
humor throughout are a revelation. Whether
bantering with the audience, or setting up a
song (while attending Berkley in Boston he was
offered a summer job by a Vietnam vet as a gun
runner, detailed in “The Mercenary”) he lets his
humanity show, which will surprise some. And
if you think Bruce is a decent guitarist “Slice O
Life” reveals the extent of his talent. Without a
band in tow, we come to realize how breathtakingly skilled he is on the instrument.
“My job is to try and trap the spirit of things
in the scratches of pen on paper, in the pulling of
notes out of metal” Cockburn said during his induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame
in 2001. After listening to “Slice O Life” you’ll
realize there are precious few who do it better.
KEY CUTS: “Pacing The Cage”, “Wondering
Where The Lions Are”, “Last Night of The World”,
“If I Had A Rocket Launcher”
www.brucecockburn.com
5
INput
JAZZ IN IT
Dee Daniels
(Origin) ****
Daniels is a jazz vocalist from Vancouver, a
transplant via Oakland. Jazz In It is her fourth
album, and while it is a couple of years old by
now, it is a recent discovery for me, and I just had
to bring it to your attention.
In late January my wife & I celebrated our
first anniversary by taking in Ms. Daniels’ tribute
show to the music of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday. The lady at the CD table told me
this was her latest album and, after what I had
just heard from the stage, I gladly shoe-horned a
twenty from my wallet.
As the title implies these are jazz tunes, but
more in a smoky cabaret style as opposed to
smooth jazz. What makes Jazz In It particularly
intriguing is her treatment of well-known pop
songs like The Doobie Brothers’ “What A Fool
Believes” and James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain”. They
even turn Aretha Franklin’s “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.”
into a torch ballad. If you’re a fan of older pop
music and curious about jazz, but not the real
egghead stuff, this could be your spot to cross
the divide. Dee is backed up by Tony Foster on
piano, Russ Botten on stand-up bass, plus Greg
Williamson on drums, and together they make
subtle and sublime magic. Jazz In It is also a
pretty good album to make love to, if you’re into
that sort of thing.
KEY CUTS: “Respect”, “Deed I Do”,
“The Thought of You”
www.deedaniels.com
6
DARK HORSE
Nickelback
(EMI) ****
Admitting you like Nickelback is something you don’t say out loud. I even joked with the
clerk at HMV about ‘hating myself in the morning’ and we both laughed, but I knew I
was just covering a dirty little secret.
Nickelback and front man/ producer Chad Kroeger are attacked with unimaginative
regularity for misogynistic lyrics and for making records that sound the same. Dark Horse
won’t win over their critics, but so the hell what? Did that hurt AC/DC’s or Kiss’s career?
Dark Horse has already achieved platinum success in the states and shows remarkable
staying power while their last set, 2007’s All The Right Reasons, has sold a ridiculous
amount. The fans like what Nickelback is doing.
Dark Horse is a mix of Kroeger’s usual tits ‘n’ ass rock & roll with socially conscious
efforts and a token power ballad.
They aren’t out to save the world, they’re just rockin’ out with politically incorrect glee.
The band’s sound is, once again, uber-compressed and dense, and detuned riffs that touch
the bottom end of human hearing. Yes, “D-H” is sonically similar to previous albums, but
I’m sure as he watches the charts and sales figures Kroeger is thinking “if it ain’t broke
don’t fix it” and he’s right. Nickelback will never be a critic’s darling but living well is the
best revenge, and this band is laughing all the way to the bank.
KEY CUTS: “Shakin’ Hands”, “Just To Get High”, “Something In Your Mouth”
www.nickelback.com
Kelowna’s Center of
Gravity Soars Through
Canada’s
RollingStone!
mUsiCfilmCulture
DeCemBer 2008
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scouring the on-line
personals for the
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IN Bed WIth
Up Close with
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DAvE “ThE RAvE”
OgilviE BRing iT On!
The global recession has put a serious
dent in marketing and advertising
budgets across North America. So
what does this mean for all those great
summer events and festivals that were
driven by sponsorship dollars? It means
that budgets are tighter than ever and
the need for creativity is at an all time
high.
A number of major Canadian events have been cancelled or
scaled back this year (Live Nation pulled the plug on their Pemberton Festival and Vancouver’s Celebration of Light is in danger
of following suite shortly).
The events that will thrive in the current economic environment
are the ones that can produce a professional product on a grassroots budget. The Center of Gravity (www.centerofgravity.ca) has
answered the reduction in big budget events with its own aggressive expansion.
The Center of Gravity, or COG, is a multi-sport festival that
takes place July 31st - Aug 2nd in Kelowna, BC. In 2008 the
festival featured professional beach volleyball, freestyle mountain
biking, concerts, fashion shows, and beverage gardens. In 2009 the
festival has already added a concert on the beach, a professional
wakeboarding show, extreme skydiving demonstrations, a Lake
Jump for the pro mountain bikers, and a 3 on 3 street basketball
tournament.
Scott Emslie the Owner/Operator explains the decision to ‘Go
Big’ in 2009: “We saw a great opportunity to grow fast. We have
amazing support from the local community and can produce for a
fraction of the cost of the big corporate events. We’ve made a number of great partnerships since 2008 and hope to make the COG
one of BC’s most entertaining sporting events.”
One of the major strengths of the COG is that, although it features some of the world’s best athletes, it also provides recreational
divisions for both outdoor volleyball and street basketball, so the
general public can join in the action and participate too. The COG
has combined the large participant base with DJs, concerts, beverage gardens and professional sports shows to create an interactive
festival geared to a wide range of sports enthusiasts.
8
9
Luge to
Nowhere
By John Hatch
...Already we have
Project Civil City,
in which police are
targeting residents of
Vancouver’s messy and
chaotic Downtown
Eastside with tickets
and intimidation.
The plan may be to jail as many
homeless and mentally ill and
addicted people as necessary to avoid
the embarrassment of their pitiful
existence during the Olympics.
Expensive tickets are being issued for,
among other things, loitering. When
you’re homeless, it’s hard not to loiter.
It sort of goes with the territory. It’s
also difficult to pay a $100 or $200
dollar ticket when you don’t have
a job or maybe much of a hold on
reality.
Having been involved with Vancouver street-youth for twenty or so
years, I have seen a thing or two about
VPD police tactics. Beatings. Theft.
Death threats (‘We’ll shoot you up
with a heroin overdose, and no one will
ever know’.) The Pivot Legal Society
collected fifty sworn affidavits from
Downtown Eastside residents who
credibly claimed abuse amounting
to torture in some cases. The RCMP
investigated when the VPD wouldn’t,
but members of the VPD violated their
oath in not cooperating, a disgraceful
breach of trust which was supported by
then police Chief Jamie Graham (now,
unaccountably, Victoria’s police chief ).
Is the human cost to residents of that
impoverished neighborhood included
in VANOC’s (Vancouver Organizing
Committee) ever bloating budget?
Speaking of which, it was not so
long ago that we were informed, if not
lectured by a prickly Premier, that the
games would ‘pay for themselves’. Then
that they would cost a mere six hundred million. There is something about
Olympic budget estimates that would
make an Enron accountant look like
Scrooge. In 1976 Mayor Drapeau of
Montreal, famously claimed that the
Montreal Olympics could no more
have a deficit than a man could have
a baby, inspiring the cartoonist Aislin
to portray a very pregnant and worried
mayor on the phone shouting ‘Ello,
Morgantaler?!!’ Montreal just recently
retired the debt ‘baby’ at thirty.
Olympic magic first turns politicians
into Pinnochios. Vancouver’s fun and
games are now estimated at a total of
between three and six billion dollars,
with one billion of that amount going to security, so that the whole place
can be bristling with cops and soldiers
and machine guns and roadblocks and
helicopters and no-go areas and rude
interference in everyone’s everyday life.
Fun. It was even suggested that businesses have employee holiday time coincide with the games so that there will
be less traffic downtown to impede imperial VANOC executives and imperious athletes. Why not just lay everyone
off for two weeks—the economy is
screwed anyway. Excuse us. We’ll just
go drown ourselves. Quietly.
And that estimate does not include
such things as the Federaly funded
‘Own the Podium’ program ($55 million), or the cost of paying Provincial
government employees to ‘volunteer’ to
help in the Olympics. No doubt there
are other hidden expenses, plus the
costs of ever increasing over-runs on
infrastructure, including the financial
fiasco of the athletes’ village. The
latest word is that the ‘affordable
housing’component (ninety units)
of the project will be scrapped because of rising costs. Surprise!
And all for what? For the privilege of witnessing on television
some person on a sled sliding on
his/her back down an icy track
1/100th of a second faster than
someone else. Or some other person on cross country skis shooting at a target with a rifle. Yippee! (If the biathlon person were
to take shots at the Luge person
or Jacques Rogge then maybe
I’d watch—just kidding!) Some
competitor in grotesque attire can
skate a little faster than someone else on a multi-million dollar skating rink. Whoopee! I can
hold my breath until I turn blue.
Do I get the gold? We are assured
that these athletes represent the
highest specimens of awesome
humanity and that we should be
in thrall to their unyielding and
selfless dedication to their sports.
Never mind brain surgery or
rocket science or a cure for cancer
or an end to world hunger. We
offer you the Luge. It’s Huge.
Never mind also that these
vaunted athletes take government
money to train in their sports,
then win valuable endorsements
if they do well, or that in anonymous surveys most admit that
they would cheat if they thought
they had a reasonable chance of
getting away with it. Aside from
paying for infrastructure, venues,
training, security and other expenses ad infinitum, we are then
invited, should all the tickets not
already have gone to Olympic
bigwigs and insiders, to pay again
to be present to witness in person…almost nothing.
Since the present provincial
government came to power,
177 schools have been closed
province-wide. Class sizes have
increased, children are having to
travel farther to get to school,
and in some cases students are
being forced to share outdated
textbooks and to go without adequate school supplies. Hot lunch
programs have been eliminated.
Some of the closures can be attributed to falling enrollment,
but overall, the government’s
‘Functional Capacity’ program is
designed to save money. Special
needs children are being badly
shortchanged.
In BC, 747 elementary and
secondary schools were long ago
identified as being at risk of collapse in the event of a moderate
to severe earthquake. Southwestern BC is similar to the coasts of
Japan, Alaska and Central and
South America in terms of risk.
We know that a large earthquake
will occur. Fifty percent of BC
schools were built before 1950,
and would collapse in even a
moderate earthquake. On the
lower mainland unsafe schools include Strathcona, Laura Secord,
Jules Quesnel, Carleton, General Gordon, Kitsilano, Kitchener, Moberly, Fleming, Nelson,
Trafalgar, Douglas, Cook, Queen
Mary, L’Ecole Bilingue, Begbie.
As of this writing no work has
been undertaken on the above
schools. In 2005 the then Minister of Education and the Premier promised that school upgrades would be completed in a
timely fashion. It now looks like
it might not happen until 2045
or later.
In BC there are long waits for
‘elective’ surgery such as hip replacement, but it’s also a fact that
people with newly diagnosed
brain tumors or other forms of
cancer have had initial treatment
postponed for months due to inadequate funding. Elderly married couples requiring extended
residential care have been split
up, sometimes even to different
towns, often with rapid fatal results for one or both.
What does it say about our priorities that we would plan a twoweek, five-ring circus for 2010
while harassing the homeless and
placing schoolchildren at serious
risk of death?
As long as among us there is
one homeless person, one hungry child, one person waiting
for vital medical treatment, then
the Olympics will remain an exorbitant and obscene spectacle;
meaningless amusement for the
willfully indifferent.
Citius, Altius, Fortius my ass.
11
Full Moon Serenade, Intimate and
Interactive with Bryan Adams
By Kristine Sloan
“It’s a full moon tonight,”
Bryan said as he walked
back on stage for his third
encore. “I guess that’s why
I’m feeling a little crazy.”
The crowd was on its feet
again.
The stage at the Kelowna Community
Theatre was sparse and understated, giving
full highlight to Bryan and, periodically, his
pianist, Gary Bright who trilled on a glossy
Baby Grand. The stage lighting added to the
impression of intimate approachability, with
Bryan and Gary bathed in a white glow and
backlit by alternating soft red and blue mood
lighting. The intimacy of the performance
definitely lived up to its billing.
When the lights finally dimmed, Bryan
graced the stage, immediately transcending
all expectation. He sliced into “Run to You”,
his voice and his music falling on the crowd
like a blanket. His raspy, yet soothing voice
seemed to take us back and propel us forward
all at the same time.
Though he may have seemed small in stature, his amazing big-stage performance was
anything but. Bryan took us on a journey
through time and song touching on three decades of his own musical evolution.
It was apparent early on that he loved being
there doing the acoustic gig - just himself and
his guitar on stage growing roots. His passion
seemed to come from the depths of his soul
like a blues singer on his daddy’s porch in the
Deep South.
A few songs in, Bright, who could have been
Bryan’s twin, walked on stage and took his
place behind the Baby Grand. During “Coming Back To You”, they had the crowd singing along, pitch perfect and infectious, Bryan
pointing to the crowd in appreciation.
Pouring a drink, Adams seemed to settle
in, making himself at home. His penchants
for storytelling was quickly apparent as
he seemed to revel in engaging the crowd,
speaking of inspiration and where his music
comes from. He related a story of how a fan
once approached him backstage at a show
and asked if he would sign his guitar. Bryan
said he’d oblige and as he was busy signing,
the man told him he’d always loved Willie
Nelson and was very pleased to have finally
met him. The whole place busted up. He was
genuinely funny, heartfelt and witty.
The story was a perfect segue into a beautiful rendition of Willie Nelson’s “Spanish
Angels”.
It was obvious it wasn’t all for the money.
There were no shirts, hoodies or lady’s undies.
In fact there was no merch booth at all. Only
a few copies of the new cd at a table out front
in the lobby.
Another story or two and Bryan lights into
“Cuts Like A Knife”. Memories of my first
high-school dance flood in. I was in grade 8. I
was standing in the middle of the gymnasium.
It was a spot dance. When the song ended
everyone would wait for the inevitable tap on
the shoulder signaling you’d won a prize. I
was chosen that day and won my first 45rpm
of “Cuts Like A Knife” on one side and “Run
To You” on the
other. I played
those two songs
and flipped that
record so many
times I had me
mum
shouting
at me to turn the
damn thing off or
else. It mattered
little, the die was
cast. I was now
hooked on Adams’
music. I would
follow his career
from the early
years, right up till
the recent release of
Eleven.
Just before he
launched into three
encores, Bryan took
a moment to rib a
pretty blonde trying
unnoticed. He pracplease walk up down
so he could watch.
bundle of roses from
pulled out the card
“Hi Bryan, can you
me to Gary after the
place busted up
Overall, Bryan was
ing, and charismatic.
will not be easily
a divine experience
nadian artist. Twentybreak and Bryan is
to slip into her seat
tically begged her to
the aisle again just
Then he accepted a
another lady and
that came with it.
please introduce
show?” The whole
again.
wildly entertainThis performance
forgotten. Truly
with a classic Cafive songs with no
still kicking ass.
13
Kayla Joffe on
Making Sense of
Middle East Politics
After a millennia of
war and political strife,
Westerners are often
left with a fractured,
somewhat cautious
view of life in the
Middle East.
The conflict is not one that is easily
explained or understood. Some say it’s
simply a religious war, but the issues are
complex and deeply rooted.
Over the course of history, the land has
seen empires come and go, territories and
borders change and hundreds, if not thousands, of wars. Today, people who have connections to any part of the land often feel
extremely passionate about who deserves
the land and how to deal with the various conflicts. The state of Israel, formerly
known as Palestine - Occupied Palestine to some - is no stranger to war and
tumultuous times. Even before its creation in 1948, different people with different cultural backgrounds had long been
fighting territorial conflicts. Whether you
believe in the bible or not, it is the birthplace of the three western religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. As such,
history and scripture dictates that
many peoples have been promised
what is affectionately called
the Holy Land.
During World War I,
on November 2, 1917, a letter from Arthur James Lord
Balfour, British Foreign
Secretary at the time, was
sent to a member of the
Jewish community in
Britain acknowledging
the need to create a Jewish
state. The letter stated that, “His Majesty’s
Government views, with favour, the establishment in Palestine of a national home for
the Jewish people. He also states that they
will use their best endeavours to facilitate
the achievement of this object, it being
clearly understood that nothing shall
be done which may prejudice the civil
and religious rights of existing non-Jewish
communities in Palestine, or the rights and
political status enjoyed by Jews in any other
country.” Many Jewish people and the state
of Israel still celebrate November 2 as Balfour
Day.
Zionism, a term originally used to describe
the Jewish movement of creating a homeland
in Israel, is no longer used solely to describe
this movement but now has many negative
connotations. The terms Zionist and Zionism
were created in 1890 by an Austrian university student named Nathan Birnbaum. He
published many brochures and periodicals
explaining the need for people to immigrate
to Palestine and create a land for the Jewish
people to call home. During the same period
of time, Theodor Herzl, a Hungarian Jew,
who attended the University of Vienna tens
years prior to Birnbaum, thought that the
Jewish people should not have to assimilate
but have the opportunity to have a land to
call their own. Through the dialogue started
by Herzl, the First Zionist Congress was created in 1897, which was the first meeting
of its kind, bringing together national and
secular Jews, and was attended by Birnbaum.
This first meeting saw the creation of the
World Zionist Organization, where Herzl
was elected its first president. Over the next
few decades, the foundations were laid for the
creation of the state of Israel as a homeland
for the Jewish people. Since the initial meeting, the World Zionist Organization created
many branches and companies to help them
carry out their goal.
The goals of the World Zionist Organization remained the same, first and foremost
to create a Jewish state, until 1948 when the
state of Israel was created. After that, they focused heavily on immigration and settlement.
Since this change, many people view Zionism as a racist ideology. With the expansion
of settlements into Palestinian territory, with
the creation of the Jewish homeland which
ousted Palestinians from their homes and
with the support of the United States, many
people see Zionism as an extreme threat.
On November 29, 1947, while Britain was
still in control of Palestine, the United Nations issued a recommendation that Palestine
be broken up into an Arab and a Jewish state,
which both the Arabs and Britain rejected.
After the UN report, the Palestinians waged
war against the Jewish people. The British
supported them by opening up borders from
other countries to allow Arab soldiers to enter Palestine, supplying them with arms and
blocking Jewish soldiers on the ground. On
May 14, 1948, Israel declared independence,
but the fighting continued into 1949. Israel
was eventually victorious, winning more land
than was recommended by the UN.
In 1967 and 1973, the state of Israel had to
defend itself against neighbouring countries
who were trying to win land back and wipe
Israel off the map. Israel was once again victorious in these wars, establishing the country
as a force to be reckoned with in the Middle
East.
Today, Israel has a peace treaty with Jordan
and with Egypt. There are still many countries
and people that call for the elimination of the
state of Israel, and each of them has their
own reasons. The recent conflict between the
Israelis and the Palestinians has created yet
another divide between people varying beliefs over whose land it is. And the passion
people feel over the dispute is not isolated to
the citizens of the country, but to citizens of
the world. Through the various wars, protests
and rallies in support of the Israelis and Palestinians were held all over the world. There
were even protests of the protests. Children,
seniors and religious leaders gathered to explain their side of the story and rally in support of their specific cause.
In Vancouver, the first of two pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli rallies was held on December
29, 2008, outside the U.S. consulate. Reem
Alnuweiri, a coordinator for the Palestinian
Refugee Support Network, attended this rally, along with 250 other protestors, bringing
their message about the atrocities being done
to the Palestinian people, to the public.
“In Gaza, the starvation of people, the cutting off of water, the cutting off of electricity,
the food crisis, the medicine crisis is a slow
death sentence on the Gaza Strip,” Alnuweiri
said. “Two thirds of (the people living in)
Gaza are refugees. These refugees have been
ethnically cleansed from their towns and now
there is a genocide being performed on the
Palestinian people.”
Alnuweiri is a 35-year-old Palestinian refugee, born in Saudi Arabia; she has been living in North America for the past 17 years
and currently lives in Vancouver. Having experienced being a refugee herself, Alnuweiri
spends her time educating the public about
Palestinian refugees and life in Israel.
“Within the ( Jewish) settlements, Palestinians are only allowed to use certain roads.
It is a horrific situation. People can only find
jobs in their area which means there is more
than a 60 per cent unemployment rate in the
West Bank because they don’t have access to
the metropolitan areas.”
Alnuweiri blames the Israeli government
for the conditions in which the Palestinian
people are living. “For the past 60 years, for
the West Bank and Gaza, there has not been
a single Israeli government who has tried
to end the occupation of the West Bank or
Gaza. Palestinians with Israeli citizenship
are treated worse than any Jewish Israeli.”
Alnuweiri adds that any Palestinian living
in the Gaza Strip carries Jordanian papers
and Palestinians living in the West Bank
carry Egyptian refugee documents. But not
everyone blames the Israeli government for
the current conflict. Igal Raich, an 18-yearold Jewish high school student, believes the
Israeli government is working in the best interest of its citizens.
“Israel is out there to defend its citizens
and not there to attack. Hamas uses their
citizens as human shields and to make Israel
look bad,” said Raich when talking about the
most recent struggle between Israeli soldiers
and Hamas. Hamas was created in 1987 by
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi and Mohammad Taha as the Palestinian
wing to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Their
main goal is to establish an Islamic Palestinian state within the state of Israel. On December 27, 2008, Israel invaded the
Gaza Strip to attempt to stop rockets being
fired into Israeli land by Hamas. A ceasefire
was declared on January 18, 2009, but neither
side is happy with the outcome. Israel is still
upset about the rocket fire and attack on their
citizens, while the Palestinians are upset with
the Israeli government and the treatment of
their people.
Since 2006, Hamas has been governing
the Gaza Strip. The word Hamas means Islamic Resistance Movement, and although
they won a majority government in the 2006
election, the Canadian government considers them a terrorist organization. People that
support the state of Israel are completely opposed to the way that Hamas does business.
And Raich is one of those people that does
not support Hamas. “Israel’s main obligation
as a sovereign nation is to provide its citizens
with safety and security from the threat of
Hamas rockets that have a distance of 40 km,
which puts one million people at risk.”
Raich attended the pro-Israel rally on January 8, and spoke about his support for Israel,
its government and the decisions it made
during the latest conflict.
“As this is my graduating year from high
school, I have many important decisions to
make that will impact me for the rest of my
life,” Raich said in front of approximately 900
people that attended the rally. “I have made
the decision to devote myself for the next two
years of my life, serving as a combat soldier
for the Israeli Defense Forces. I believe it is
the responsibility of each of us, as Jews, to
stand up and to defend Eretz Israel in every
possible way, be it joining the IDF, learning
about Israel, advocating for Israel, volunteering in Israel or in any other way that you can
make a difference.”
Raich was born in Mexico and moved to
Canada when he was three years old. He said
that although he did not always advocate for
Israel, he was always a believer in the state of
Israel being the Jewish homeland. It wasn’t
until he went on the March of the Living, a
Holocaust education trip where Jewish teenagers visit Poland for one week and then visit
Israel for a week, that he decided he needed
to take a more active role in educating youth
about Israel.
“The growing ideology and propaganda to
destroy the state of Israel by Iran and other
Islamic countries, is getting bigger every single day,” Raich said. “The only difference between me and a Jew in Israel is the distance.
As a Jew I have a responsibility to help Israel
and to fight for its survival.”
But not all Jewish people support the state
of Israel for the way the state defends itself
and for their treatment of the Palestinian
people.
“As a Jewish person who spent a lot of my
youth in occupied Palestine, or Israel, I am
against the occupation of Palestine,” said
Noah Fine, a 23-year-old executive committee member of the Capilano College
Students’ Union. Fine was born in Guelph,
Ontario, but spent the majority of his youth
living in Haifa, a city in northern Israel.
“I refer to it as occupied Palestine because
I don’t acknowledge Israel as a legitimate
state,” Fine said. “When I talk about occupied Palestine, I don’t mean the Gaza or the
West Bank.”
Fine has been a member of MAWO, Mobilization Against War and Occupation, for the
past four years and said that he protests with
MAWO as a way to release his anger about
the situation.
“I think we need to build a strong anti-war
and anti-occupation sentiment in order to
unite oppressed people, and for people who
want justice for the Palestinian people,” Fine
said. Although each of these three people has
different backgrounds, were all born in different countries and all have different reasons
for supporting the side they do, they all understand and agree that something needs to
be done to end the fighting. Each of them
has been extremely active in voicing their
concern over the most recent conflict, and
will continue to do so until the conflict is
resolved. g
15
Closing
Iris
By Derek Ennison
Somebody’s
been following
me for at least 3
blocks now. Heavy
breathing. I’m looking
over my shoulder.
Blood pressure rising.
It could be mall security,
the cops or worse.
Sweaty palms.
I duck into some dive club and head for
the bathroom. I think I’m in the clear now.
Those fuckers! I slink into the corner booth
as the band takes the stage. If anyone asks,
I’ve been here the whole time.
The stage banner reads Closing Iris. I guess
that’s the name of the group. I have no idea
who they are or what they sound like. Suddenly, the air fills with an eerie groaning, like
a tube amp warming up, or a growling Obsidian Dragon. Yeah, it’s an amp.
“Is this seat taken?” Before I could answer, a
rather stout gentleman sits down next to me.
Shit, I’ve been made.
“You here to see the band?”
I shrug. The man proceeds to tell me everything I need to know about this band, plus
a good portion of his life story. Normally I
hate conversation, but his chatter drowns out
the jackhammer in my chest, and, there’s a
16
good chance I could use this guy as an alibi if
anything goes down later. Keep talkin’ buddy.
Turns out the band is in fact called Closing
Iris, and they’re out on a tour of Western
Canada promoting their newly-released EP
Another Reason (to lie to yourself ). They
have 2 types of shows: BINGE & PURGE.
That translates to loud & quiet, or so I’m told.
Tonight it’s a full-on BINGE, with amplified guitars & plenty of distortion. Front man
Shaun Funk greets the crowd rather deadpan,
launching right into the raw, gritty straightahead rock. It’s all business from the top.
The crowd seems a bit apprehensive at first.
On a Monday night, its likely most people
are either burned out from the weekend or
like me, have other shit on the mind. The
songs are full of slick, animalistic energy, begging comparisons to STP or early Tea Party.
Not exactly a fresh sound, but it makes me
think of the good ol’ days when grit still mattered. This is a heaver-rock trio, with plenty
of twists, hungry harmonies, and grungy guitar riffs in tow. Intelligent, angsty lyrics lure
listeners, like: “Pointing the finger, but it’s
pointing back at me.” Tasty.
I look around the room, seeing several sets
of pupils glaring back at me. Could they be
watching me? Maybe it’s just a coincidence:
a simultaneous scan. Ms. Passive-Aggressive
Waitress hands me a double, and the band
shoots into their best song yet. “Hey” starts
off with some hearty picking from Mr. Funk,
before launching into a full-force - yet listenable - rocker akin to Lifehouse’s “Hanging
By A Moment”.
As much as I hate it, I’m guilty of peoplewatching. The guys in this band are pretty interesting to watch. They seem to feed off each
other. It’s a single unit, like The Borg; this
strange organism called a Rock Band toiling
away, whether you like it or not. They’re tight,
on-point, on display, but rather mysterious.
Out back on the kit, Don Mutter throws
heat, but still floats a surprisingly melodic
harmony. Bassist Aaron Archibald looks like
he belongs on a Triumph Motorcycle, his
5-string bass slung over his shoulder like a
shotgun. When someone yelled “Freebird!” I
think he actually considered it for a minute.
In a final jolt of energy, Shawn invites a little
lady named Chrystal Leigh onstage to sing a
song with the band. Little frame maybe, but
this girl is a presence. I recognize her right
away as the voice of local industrial-rockers
Jakalope. My brother Mike owns their albums. The band launches into “Vertebrae”,
which goes down like a Red Bull & Vodka.
The crowd comes alive, and the band sounds
its best all night. It feels like someone just
threw a cluster bomb into the place, shaking
everybody outta their skin.
The back and forth between front man and
front woman brings the temperature up to
300 degrees. Another double rye and I’m
starting to get lost in the music. Chrystal
Leigh’s breathy, hot vocals take over and suddenly I forget why I’m hiding and who it is
I’m running from. Closing Iris clearly saves
the best for last.
As the final dragon’s growl fades into the
wood paneling, my paranoia re-emerges. I
pound back another drink and evaluate the
situation. I want to buy a CD for Mike, but
it’s so dark in here, I can’t find the merch
booth. With no other recourse, I avoid the
pleasantries and head for the door.
Down the alley, a left, then a right, now
I’m standing on the corner of a busy Granville intersection. As I step into the street, a
van whizzes by, mere inches from my face.
“Watch It Buddy!” I point at the driver,
catching my blurred reflection in his tinted
window. “Pointing the finger, but it’s pointing back at me.” There. One line from a song
just defined my night. Nobody’s chasing me;
it’s all in my head!
As I struggle to remember the name of the
band, out of habit I look over my shoulder.
What if I’m wrong? What if they’re following me again? Heart Pounding. In a panic,
I start to run. Pulse Rising. Back to where
I started.
17
Junos The
Science
behind the
Celebration
by dean unger
photo provided by CTV
Ever wonder who decides
who the winners will
be? How are the ballots
tallied? And where do the
celebs hang out before
and after the show? We
did. So we decided to
ask CARAS President,
Melanie Berry to give us
a peek behind the Juno
curtain.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the
Juno’s – industry chops to Canadian-made
singers, players, songsters and song writers.
Often overlooked is the work that goes into
pulling together an event of this magnitude.
Like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences, the brains behind the brawn in
the Academy Awards, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts (CARAS), plans, organizes and produces the Junos. According to
CARAS President, Melanie Berry, things are
only getting better.
“CARAS was conceived in 1975 as the
Canadian Music Awards Association,” says
Berry. “It adopted its present name after
1977 when it assumed control of the Juno
Awards. It was created to enhance the music and recording industries in Canada, and
to strive toward higher artistic and industry
standards. We try to focus on providing opportunities to showcase and promote Canadian artists and their music through events
like the JUNO Awards.”
Berry says the award itself dates back to
1970. In that year, Stan Klees and Walt Grealis, publishers of weekly trade publication
RPM, organized the Gold Leaf Awards, held
at the St. Lawrence Hall in Toronto. A year
later, the name was changed to the JUNO
Awards in honour of Pierre Juneau, then
head of the CRTC and responsible for the
implementation of the Canadian Content
Regulations in 1971. When it was discovered
that Juno had been the chief Goddess of the
Roman Pantheon, the spelling was changed
and the awards permanently named.
“We’re always looking for ways to extend
the reach and impact of the Awards. That
was the original idea behind taking the
Awards on the road - to allow as many Canadians fans as possible to experience our national music celebration.”
With the show moving from city to city
every year the CARAS team opts to view
geographic and cultural challenges more as
unique opportunities to add a new flavour to
the entire event. In a sense, the character and
flavor of the event grows out of the character
of the city itself.
“Each city is inspired by the Awards to create special events and programs that add to
the excitement and positive impact that the
Awards bring. This year, with the Olympics
coming close on the heels of the Junos, strategic planning for the Awards actually began
in 2007. We’ve been working closely with
all levels of government to ensure that there
aren’t any conflicts. We see it as complimen-
Juno Nominees
JUNO FAN CHOICE AWARD
(PRESENTED BY PEPSI)
Celine Dion Sony
Feist Arts & Crafts*EMI
Hedley Universal
Nickelback EMI
The Lost Fingers Tandem*Select/Sony
INTERNATIONAL ALBUM
OF THE YEAR
Black Ice AC/DC Columbia*Sony
Viva La Vida Coldplay Capitol*EMI
Chinese Democracy Guns N’ Roses
Geffen*Universal
Sleep Through The Static Jack Johnson
Brushfire*Universal
Death Magnetic Metallica Warner
Bros.*Warner
ALBUM OF THE YEAR (SPONSORED
BY CANADIAN RECORDING
INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION)
Famous Last Words Hedley Universal
Dark Horse Nickelback EMI
Simple Plan Simple Plan Atlantic*Warner
70’s Volume 2 Sylvain Cossette Vega*DEP/
Universal
Lost In The 80’sThe Lost Fingers
Tandem*Select/Sony
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Bryan Adams Polydor*Universal
City and Colour Dine Alone*Universal
k.d. lang Nonesuch*Warner
Sam Roberts Universal
Serena Ryder EMI
GROUP OF THE YEAR
Great Big Sea WEA*Warner
Nickelback EMI
Simple Plan Atlantic*Warner
The Trews Bumstead*Universal
Tokyo Police Club Mean Beard*Universal
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
(SPONSORED BY FACTOR AND
CANADA’S PRIVATE RADIO
BROADCASTERS)
Crystal Shawanda Sony
Jessie Farrell 604*Universal
Kreesha Turner EMI
Lights Underground Operations*Universal
Nikki Yanofsky A440*Universal
tary since we really are kicking off the year of
Arts and Culture.”
This year’s Awards boasts the most-ever
first-time nominees, and the greatest overall
cross section of nominees—from first timers
and sophomores, to veterans, a combination
Berry says is a real snapshot of where the
country stands musically.
For the second year running, Russell Peters will again join the ranks of Brent Butt
(2005), Alanis Morissette (2004), Shania
Twain (2003) and Barenaked Ladies (2002),
as the host of the 2009 show.
“This is also the first time in over 20 years
NEW GROUP OF THE YEAR
(SPONSORED BY FACTOR AND
CANADA’S PRIVATE RADIO
BROADCASTERS)
Beast Pheromone/Vega*Universal
Cancer Bats Distort*Universal
Crystal Castles Last Gang*Universal
Plants and Animals Secret City*Fusion III
The Stills Arts & Crafts*EMI
COUNTRY RECORDING OF THE YEAR
Thankful Aaron Pritchett 604*Universal
Dawn Of A New Day Crystal Shawanda
Sony
Beautiful Life Doc Walker Open
Road*Universal
What I Do George Canyon Reiny
Dawg*Universal
Chasing The Sun Tara Oram Open
Road*Universal
ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR
In The Future Black Mountain
Jagjaguwar*Scratch
Soft Airplane Chad VanGaalen Flemish
Eye*Outside
The Chemistry Of Common Life Fucked Up
Matador/Beggars Group*Select
Parc Avenue Plants and Animals Secret
City*EMI
Oceans Will Rise The Stills Arts &
Crafts*EMI
ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Terminal Romance Matt Mays & El Torpedo
Sonic*Warner
Fortress Protest The Hero Underground
Operations*Universal
Love At The End Of The World Sam Roberts
Universal
Parallel Play Sloan murderecords*Sony
No Time For Later The Trews
Bumstead*Universal
CONTEMPORARY JAZZ ALBUM
OF THE YEAR
Existential Detective Barry Romberg’s
Random Access Large Ensemble
Romhog*Outside
Rasstones François Bourassa Quartet
Effendi*Fusion III
Embracing Voices Jane Bunnett EMI
The Sicilian Jazz Project Michael Occhipinti
True North*Universal
A Bend In The River Roberto Occhipinti
Alma*Universal
19
August 14, 15, & 16
Salmon Arm Fairgrounds
Featuring Johnny Winter,
Sam Roberts Band,
Bedouin Soundclash,
Serena Ryder,
& Oysterband ...
Over 50 Acts on
6 Outdoor Stages!
Blues, World, Folk, Zydeco,
Alternative, Reggae and a
Whole Lot More.
Tickets and Information:
(250) 833-4096 or
www.rootsandblues.ca
Dave’s
Roadhouse
Music
Guitars & Accessories
• Sales
• Service
• Repairs
• Lessons
• Rentals
• Buy
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• Vintage New
and Used
• Custom instrument
repair done on site
45841 Yale Road, Chilliwack
604-792-4425
20
that we have had a host return for a second
year,” Berry says. “Russell Peters did such a
spectacular job last year - in fact, his performance was one of three Gemini Awards won
by our 2008 broadcast - that we had to have
him host again.”
Like the industry in general, the Junos are
wise to the concept of intimate and interactive. Some of the events leading up to the
show have a grassroots feel, in effect bringing
the awards to the people.
“Events like Juno Cup, Juno Fan Fare and
of course, JunoFest, are absolutely about grass
roots. The fans are the life- blood of the music
industry so we felt it was important to allow
them to join the celebration. As well, these
events provide the opportunity to showcase
more artists and genres. If we see that there’s
The 38th
Annual JUNO
Awards will
take place
at General
Motors Place
in Vancouver,
BC on Sunday,
March 29th and
broadcast on
CTV.
an opportunity to expand that access, we’ll
definitely consider it in the future.”
One of the pre-show events garnering a
lot of buzz is the Juno Cup. Berry says the
NHL alumni players - among them: Bob
Probert, Cliff Ronning, Dave Babych, Paul
Coffey, Russ Courtnall - who’ll be taking
on the Rockers are just as excited to play in
the game as the Rockers because they get
to meet some of their favourite singers and
bands. The Rockers team itself is made up
exclusively of 2009 JUNO Award nominees
including Ian Thornley (Coaching)
Aaron Pritchett, Alan Doyle (Great Big
Sea), Barney Bentall, Cam Melnyk (State
of Shock), Dustin Bentall, Jesse Wainwright (State of Shock), Tyler Stewart, Sarah
McLachlan, and team captain, Jim Cuddy of
Blue Rodeo fame.
“It’s a very mutual camaraderie and we’re
lucky for all of the support. It’s such a fun
game because they’re all so thrilled to be
there to support such a worthy cause—MusiCounts.”
With the show in its tenth year, pre-show
culture has become somewhat of a curiosity,
with the lucky host city transforming almost
overnight into entertainment Mecca. With
nominees, presenters and performers arriving at different times and days, there’s no
one central meeting place, but Berry says the
JUNO Awards do act as a kind of a oncea-year reunion for musicians and people
from the music industry so there are a lot of
planned and impromptu meetings. “With so
many artists and so many events scheduled at
multiple locations, they essentially take over
the city.”
Perhaps most intriguing in the awards
process on such a grand scale, is the mystery
of just who decides who the winners will
be: what’s the process behind deciding the
nominees and ultimately, who will win each
category?
Berry says there are 39 categories in total,
only seven of which have anything to do with
sales. Depending on the category it could be
sales-and-member vote, jury-and-member
vote or jury both rounds. The process for each
category depends on what the judging panel
feels best serves that category and they are reviewed annually. “This is highly confidential
information,” says Berry. It’s known only to
a very small group of people. We work with
PricewaterhouseCoopers to ensure the security of all winner information. We don’t use
our efforts to influence any part of the music
industry, rather, we act as a mirror to reflect
the excellence of music in Canada. Through
our efforts, we can shine a spotlight on every
facet of the industry from coast to coast.
I’m very encouraged by this year’s roster of
nominees. In spite of the challenges faced by
the music industry, 2009 will be another good
year for Canadian musicians. “All in all,” Berry says, “On the street level we’re seeing many
new bands and much new songwriting talent
emerge. This year’s nominees have clearly illustrated that we have an amazing diversity
and a robust depth of talent that will carry us
for many years to come.” g
Juno Events
• Juno Cup - Presented by
The Keg Steakhouse & Bar
Date: Friday, March 27
Location: UBC Thunderbird
Arena
Time: 7:30 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Tickets: $14.99
• Songwriters’ Circle - Sponsored by CMPA and SOCAN
Date: Sunday, March 29
Location: The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts
Time: Noon – 2 p.m.
Tickets: $34.75/$39.75
• Juno Fan Fare - Presented
by Sirius Satellite Radio
Date: Saturday, March 28
Location: Granville Street
Party (at Robson)
Time: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Tickets: FREE public event
Music fans rejoice at this live
and interactive event that
brings them up-close to their
favourite
2009 JUNO Award nominees. The all-day extravaganza is packed with autograph
sessions,
interviews and prize giveaways – and is FREE to
attend!
• 2009 JUNO Award Nominees participating in Juno
Fan Fare:
Aaron Pritchett
City and Colour
Crystal Shawanda
Divine Brown
Doc Walker
Elise Estrada
George Canyon
Kreesha Turner
Saint Alvia
Sam Roberts Band
Tara Oram
The Trews
More to be announced…
21
Gil Moore from
on Style
Mavens,
Concept
Albums &
Metalworks
By Dean
Unger
Genesis
Like
many aspiring
musicians who find
themselves soulfully
driven, compelled toward
some creative Shangri-la,
finding the path is often not as
simple as attending career day in
grade ten.
Short of being an affliction, it’s a condition more than a state of mind
in that it begins in the soul and is not something that is simply a matter of
choice. For Gil Moore, the need to create music was finally and unavoidably
evident at thirteen.
As much as watching any live rock show he was fortunate to attend, Gil admits to being equally seduced by the equipment stacked behind the band and on the sidelines.
“I got a big charge out of the equipment. “I was interested in speakers and amplifiers and
sound gear in general when I was a kid, and that led eventually to my interest in playing and
creating music. When I was thirteen I saw the Comets play live. I was at a friend’s cottage at the
Cedar Crescent Casino in Port Elgin. The rest is history.
“When I first started out pretty much everything I did was naive and ill-conceived and terrible. That’s, I
think, how everyone starts. Mind you, I’ve always said to myself over the years ‘What the hell am I doing this
for’, (laughing). You have specialists who are great at song-writing, like Tom Cochrane, who’s my dearest friend,
he’s one of Canada’s best writers, and when I listen to stuff he’s written, I think to myself, ‘Wow that’s a songwriter’. Actually I love song writing. If I had the time I’d do nothing but song writing and like it every single day.
Songwriting
Finding the magic in
songwriting is ninety
percent blood, sweat and
tears.
Other times a song comes completely
naturally, seemingly as though it were a gift
from the gods – or goddesses – whomever
one finds themselves in the favour of.
Referring to his friend Tom Cochrane, Gil
comments on the clarity in which a song
can come to life.
“When Tom wrote “Life is a Highway”,
he really didn’t think it was a big deal. He
needed his audience to tell him that. But it
wasn’t something he was overly focused on.
‘It’s another song, I wrote it; away we go, on
to the next thing’. After the fact of course, it
became this huge anthem and he realized it
really touched a lot of people.
“For us, an odd songwriting experience
came when Rick wrote “Lay it on the Line”.
He wrote the entire song from beginning to
end and did it very quickly, played it for us
once in rehearsal, and sang it. Mike said, ‘OK
what are the chords’, we played it and it was
done! It was that quick: here’s the idea, we
played it and the song was finished. Ready
for studio.
“Many songwriters and musicians interpret
vocals as more a melodic element, some as
percussive. I tend to think about lyrics and
vocals as definitely a percussive element.
Especially in rock music. If you think about
singers - like Steve Tyler of Aerosmith for
instance - who have a lot staccato and counter-point rhythms going on there’s unquestionably a percussive element to their vocal
dynamics. It gives the experience of songwriting new dimensions when you try to
shine the light on it from different angles.”
Changing it Up
Of all the albums
Triumph recorded, Gil
still holds Allied Forces
close to his chest.
It was recorded during a pivotal time in
Canadian recording history. Studios were
making transitions to new technology,
sound was bigger and better, and The Guess
Who and Rush had blown the door wide
open into the U.S market.
“It was the first album we recorded
48-track. It was an entirely different dynamic. The question actually came up in a recent
interview and it got me thinking about the
evolution of early recording, from mono
to four-track to
eight-track. Some
of the early Beatles stuff was done
in four-track. We
had one of the first
48-track recordings in Canada and
it was a huge experience. It all seems
laughable now because of course you
can have up to a
hundred tracks.”
After Progressions of Power
there seemed to
be a changing of
the guard in the
Triumph production team. Mike
Jones took over as
engineer, and John
Golden handled
mastering. Moore
explains that it’s
not simply about
availability when
comes to selecting
someone to produce an album, it’s
really a desire to move in a different direction from what’s already been done.
“Mike Levine really functioned as the
bands in-house producer. He normally coproduced with someone and that someone
changed from album to album. Mike was
always the production anchor.
“A lot of bands try to keep using different
producers - it kind of changes the spice a little. I wouldn’t say the result is a huge departure, it does make a difference though. We
were pretty… I wouldn’t say strong-willed
as much as we just knew what we wanted.
The producer in some cases is very much an
interventionist and a songwriter and so on.
We didn’t work well in those circumstances.
Unlike in some bands, we were writing our
own stuff without the help of a producer.
It’s only been in the last twenty-five years
or so, guys like Bob Ezrin have changed the
face of production. Ezrin is a very famous
producer who has written a lot of famous
music. If you look at Kiss’s records, or Alice
Cooper, or Pink Floyd, he was involved with
writing a lot of the music with the band. We
never had that experience. Had we worked
with Bob Ezrin though, probably we would
have.”
Concept Albums
and Style Mavens
Concept albums were big
in the seventies, especially
in the early eighties with
bands like Rush, Queen,
Prism, and Supertramp.
Gil points out that it was
parallel to the on-going
argument of the comeback
of the single.
Musicians simply wanted to be great
musicians and so longer compositions and
concept albums themselves appealed to that
mind-set.
“I think a lot of that was lost in the nineties when a lot of bands became more about
style and less about substance. And I think
that’s one of the reasons why less of them
have had lasting careers. When I grew up, I
followed two or three of my favourite bands
around Toronto and it wasn’t because they
had fancy haircuts or wore fancy suits, it was
because they were good musicians. It had everything to do with the way they played and
nothing to do with the way they looked. You
could really see things going that way when
23
the nineties hit and suddenly it was this onslaught of style before talent.
“Frankly I’m glad we (Triumph) shut down
when that started happening because for me
what started to end the fun of being in Triumph was during the last bit of our career as
a band when the record company was putting pressure on us to be more stylized. For
our last press eight-by-ten they brought in
stylists, they had guys putting make-up on
and puffing up our hair, and two or three
girls running around dressing us and it was
really artificial. A lot of the bands got sucked
in – Deep Purple, I suppose even Robert
Plant was a bit of a style maven but at least it
was his own style. People lost sight of what
it was really about: with Deep Purple it was
about what Ritchie Blackmore did with his
guitar that mattered.”
Metalworks: A
Great Canadian
Studio is
Born
Metalworks saw
its genesis in
the early days –
prior to Triumph
success and
started as a
fledgling light and sound
company located in
Mississauga, on Dunwin,
and was run by Moore
himself.
After Triumph took off the band used the
space as an informal proving ground for
songwriting. It’s when they moved to Mavis
they built the first practical recording studio
which was in operation until Triumph
stopped performing in 1988.
“After the band break up Mike and Rick said
‘Hey, you built it you take it’. And so I did.
And that’s when I turned it into a public facility and built more studios.
“When Prince did the Musicology project a
few years back, that was a pivotal record for
the Metalworks, because Prince then talked
about the studio in the press, which is unusual because normally artists don’t make a
habit of mentioning the studios they work
with.”
“I love to see young Canadian bands come
through the studio and do well when they
hit the streets. Nowadays there’s a lot more
support for young songwriters and musicians in Canada. Look at SOCAN, and The
Songwriters Association of Canada... Even
with the advent of the internet artists have
a vast resource and a huge support network
at their finger tips. There’s a huge amount
of support out there now that didn’t exist
even ten years ago. Joni Mitchell just had to
sit in a coffee house and figure it out – no
ones gonna help her.”
If there was ever a sense of working toward
something, Gil says it has to be the evolution
of Metalworks, how the thing has taken on
its life, its character.
“Over time we’ve evolved into three distinct
divisions – live event company, our music and
production school and the recording studios,
and they all have great management teams
that are successful. And underneath those
management teams we’ve got over seventy
employees. What makes me proud are the
people. We have a group of wonderful men
and women and boys and girls on our team.
“I play golf with Alice Cooper. When he
came through this year we hit the links.
While we were playing, he put his hand on
my shoulder and said: “Hey Gil your Company man, you guys did an awesome job on
my sound and lights. You guys are tight’. So
I get the slap on the back and I’m not the
guy that deserves it.
“As well as our staff, we’ve got over 200
full-time students at our school. There are
groups that graduate every year and I’m
extremely proud too because these are the
people that are going to populate the radio
stations and the recording studios and the
industry itself… It really doesn’t feel like
work to me. I get up every day and feel like
I get to go to work at Disneyland.”
Perhaps the most apt triumph in one
man’s career.
Photo credit Mississauga News
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meet
the
Watchmen
By Fred Topel
The Watchmen are not
your usual superheroes
and Watchmen is not
your usual superhero
movie. They’re not so
much fighting crime
as they are arguing
amongst themselves about
metaphysical and political
duties to humanity.
Their costumes are wild, and one of them
is just a big blue light. So to help explain
this complex story, here are Malin Akerman
(Silk Spectre), Patrick Wilson (Night Owl),
Billy Crudup (Dr. Manhattan), Jeffrey
Dean Morgan (The Comedian) and Jackie
Earle Haley (Rorschach).
Q: These aren’t the typical Batman/SpiderMan costumes we’ve seen before. What did it
feel like to wear them?
Malin Akerman: Well, the costumes were
definitely a big challenge in their own sense.
I don’t know if anyone in here has a latex
fetish. I certainly do not. It is definitely not
the most comfortable thing to wear for 18
hours straight. It’s very constricting and then
you add heels to that and a corset and this
long wig and then they go, “Get out there
and fight” and you go, “Really? In this outfit?” And the hair is going all over the place
and it takes on the temperature of whatever
room you’re in so if it’s really hot, you’re boil26
ing up. If it’s really cold, you’re freezing. The
guy sort of had the opposite where it was all
foam costumes and it was heavy and it was
hot.
Patrick Wilson: Well, it’s hard to lift your
arms. I will say in defense of that, I can go
back and watch Batman, Michael Keaton
Batman and sort of understand now, like
wow, he can’t turn his head. I know the leaps
and bounds that they have come in design of
the material. Our designers were so great. I
remember watching a couple scenes where
I wanted to take the cowl off and have it
down. The problem is how to make the right
material that you could wear it like that. I
put the kibosh on the corset. They wanted a
corset. I said if anything, we can corset when
Dan’s younger but the whole point of Dan,
it’s a pretty wide thing. I did not rock that.
I worked too hard for the gut. I didn’t want
to lose it.
Billy Crudup: I had kind of elaborate pajamas. There were two things they were trying
to accomplish. One was motion capture and
the other was to try to light the other characters with the blue light that Dr. Manhattan is supposed to emanate. So I had a suit
that had a bunch of blue lights on it and a
battery pack. It was pretty hot, and dots on
my face. They were attempting to capture all
of the nuance of a performance too. The way
that they did that was with a bunch of dots
on my face and then they shot it with high
definition cameras. There was about 140
dots on my face and each of those dots corresponded to the exact replica of me that was
made in the computer that was Dr. Manhattan. The way that they made that replica was
with high definition photographs and a laser
scan of my face. So it’s a computer version of
my face that’s built into that Dr. Manhattan.
So basically, I was just moving the puppet
version of me with those dots. It’s, for better
or worse, my performance.
Jackie Earle Haley: We had some fixed Rorschach masks for stunt work and stuff that
was further away from the camera, so obviously we could see an exact still representation. It was kind of a challenge or concern,
like wow, how am I going to go about this,
kind of acting with the sock on my head?
First you’re kind of nervous, because you’re
taking away your main tool, which is your
face as an actor. But at the same time, you’re
playing this character Rorschach, so there
was something incredibly motivating by
putting this thing on. So I think I struggled
with it for a little while, just internally, and
then I think as time went on all of that was
just kind of reconciled in here and it would
just becoming Rorschach was a much easier
process as time went on.
Q: You guys have some wild superhero sex
scenes too. How did you film those?
Matthew Goode: You were great in those.
Billy: Thank you. All three of me?
Malin: There were two guys in bed with me
for the Billy scene and there ended up being three of them I believe, but the thing is
that they are in these white sort of pajamas
with the blue LED lights so really I was
more concerned with like, “Guys, are you
sure he can put his finger in my mouth and
it won’t electrocute me?” It was really rough
and I was like, “Billy just try not to touch my
face” because you get scratches. So it was just
trying to piece it together and make it look
right. It was almost like Raki massage where
you aren’t really touching, you are just going through the motions. So
the difference was that there was no touching in that scene where [the
one with Dan] was more human and natural.
Patrick: And touching.
Malin: We had to get a bit closer. There is definitely a difference between trying to act with yourself and acting opposite someone.
Patrick: On an owl ship on the dashboard.
Malin: I had huge bruises on my legs actually because it was a tight
chair and it was nice black and blues. Try explaining that to your husband.
Q: Then the fight scenes are so intense too. How much training did that
take?
Jeffrey Dean Morgan: Well, the big fight with me was a series of
taking punches. I didn’t get to land one. I’m still mad about it. I was
like just let me hit him one time, for crying out loud. I put up a good
fight but not one punch lands. God, let me connect. We did so much,
there was so much training. I was in Vancouver two months prior to
shooting, just because of that opening fight. Every day was working
on the how to take a punch and how to not hit somebody apparently.
I had to miss.
Matthew: Well, I don’t want to suspend the
disbelief, or rather I do, but some of it was
me and some of it wasn’t. For the opening
sequence, that was pretty much all somebody
else because that was shot like the first and
second week as far as memory recalls, so
a lot of that was somebody else. There
was a lot of training. I mean, I am
having an operation on my knee
so it was obviously slightly physically challenging. I think that’s
because I’m not really the right
casting. It’s certainly a different
way to go. He is a perfect specimen, so that’s why I was thin. If you are
that bulky, you wouldn’t have that kind of
speed. I don’t know what to say. We did a lot
of training and some of it just looks better with
somebody who’s been doing it all their life.
27
Gonzo Mondegreens
By Linda Schaab
Ever been heckled for getting the
words wrong? When it happens,
reactions can vary from mild embarrassment: you’re in the car dos a
dos singing with best friend – best
friend laughing at your flub, to:
hot face, wide-eyed horror when,
in a moment of sonic repose, you
sing unabashedly for the benefit
of a car-load on the way to the bar
and belt out a hilarious misinterpretation.
You’re not alone. Amazingly, some songs seem to beg misinterpretation, be it the fault of poor enunciation by the recording artist, or a
simple trick of the ear resulting from a particular string of words
coupled with a certain tone.
It’s so common in fact that there’s even a word for it: mondegreen
– a characteristic mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a
song.
These are unintentional mistakes, not parodies, and of course the
more gonzo or bizarre the lyrics the better. To hear two singers unwittingly vocalize the same mondegreen puts the experience over
the top.
This happened to my co-worker Janice not once, but repeatedly during an evening in which her two brothers sang and played guitars.
Janice’s favourite, and mine, occurred in Gilbert O’Sullivan’s song,
“Get Down.” As written the lines are: “You’re a bad dog baby/But…
I still want you around.” Instead the brothers sang: “You’re a bag of
babies/And…I don’t want you around.” (Remembering this I can’t
help but think of California’s recent “Octo-Mom.”)
The term Mondegreen was coined by Sylvia Wright, who wrote an
essay on the subject in Harper’s Magazine back in the November
1954 issue. She explained how she’d misheard and mispronounced
the final line from “The Bonnie Earl O’ Murray”, as ‘They have slain
the Early of Murray and Lady Mondegreen.’ The actual pronunciation: ‘They have slain the Earl of Murray, and laid him on the
green.’
The blame for these mistakes can often be put on obscure references,
unusual phrasing, and those annoying recording artists who for some
reason don’t enunciate clearly. But not always. Not long ago, a friend
sang these lines from a well-known ZZ Top song: ‘I know a girl who
lives on the hill/She won’t do it but her grandma will.”
Of course it’s the girl’s sister who’ll do it, not her grandmother. And
while the ZZ top boys’ bushy beards may muffle their lyrics on occasion, I’d say this mondegreen was caused by my friend’s faulty
memory, not to mention faulty logic. Then again, anything is possible when it comes to sex.
As for the song’s title, “Tube Snake Boogie”, ZZ Top is reported to
have opted for this over the original title, “Tube Steak Boogie,” for
the sake of the propriety of radio disc jockeys. But I sense something
bogus here. Although the revised title is more obscure, the song is
clear in meaning – and rare must be the rock jock who is a prude.
I’d say this next one results from the unusual phrasing in Billy Joel’s
“It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me.”Apparently the lines “Everybody’s
talking ’bout the new sound, funny / But it’s still rock and roll to
me” sound to most people like “Everybody’s talking ’bout the new
Zamboni / But it’s still rock and roll to me.” I strongly suspect this
mistake is purely Canadian.
Substituting the familiar for the unfamiliar is common practice
when deciphering lyrics. For example, the line “Rock the Casbah” in
the Clash’s song of the same name, refers to an Arab building known
as a Casbah. The list of mondegreens for this line include: “Rock
your pants off,” “Rock the cashbox,” and even “Drop the catbox.”
(Try singing the song with that last mondegreen.)
We have Credence Clearwater Revival to thank for the 1969 song,
“Bad Moon Rising,” and John Fogerty for taking this next mondegreen around the world. Instead of “There’s a bad moon on the
rise,” someone sang “There’s a bathroom on the right.” When Fogerty heard of this mondegreen he apparently liked the line so much
he began using it himself in concert, reportedly recording it on the
1998 live album “Premonition.”
Frequently misheard songs include Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow
Brick Road,” the Beatles’ “Blackbird,” Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and Manfred Mann’s “Blinded by the Light.” It seems that
British accents have spawned many mondegreens outside of the UK.
An exhaustive list can be found on the ’net at www.amiright.com.
29
Travelat’s
th
Grammy Gong Show
Is it just me or were the Grammy’s especially bad this year? There wasn’t an official
host that I could detect; maybe that’s why it
all seemed so willy-nilly. I’ve been watching
the Grammy Awards since the early 80’s so
I feel like I can dissect the crap out of the
whole thing even though I eventually lost
interest and did a crossword puzzle for the
last hour.
I did enjoy Coldplay’s performance until some rapper popped in and polluted it. I
don’t get rap/hip hop. I think I am too old
to get it at this point; which makes the fact
that it’s such a major part of our current entertainment culture completely annoying to
me. All that ‘bitch and ho’ talk must be as
ridiculous to me as Motley Crue’s make-up
and big hair were to grown-ups in the 80’s.
Also enjoyed seeing Paul McCartney and
Dave Grohl kick some ass but aside from
that I was not overly impressed. The most
tragic of it all, I think, was watching The
Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) try to be funny and witty, while the cameras panned over
O
Z
N
GO
by Jennifer Conklin
the celebrities he was joking around about
and they rolled their eyes at his lame attempts at humor. Painful.
Canada did not fair too well at the Grammy’s but we did win one (prior to airing);
Montreal-born film director Jason Reitman
won a Grammy for the soundtrack to his
teenage pregnancy movie, Juno. The soundtrack was up against co-nominees Mamma
Mia! and American Gangster.
I did get a chuckle out of a recent headline I read: Coldplay wins Grammy for Joe
Satriani - that killed me! This, of course,
was poking fun at Joe Satriani who is suing Coldplay because he thinks they ripped
off his song “If I Could Fly” for their song
“Viva La Vida”.
I have heard both, I can see a similarity but
I think it is just a chance thing, I don’t think
Coldplay needs to steal other artist’s riffs,
they have been doing fine pedaling their
own original material since at least 2000.
Oh and can Miley Cyrus get struck with a
severe and permanent case of Shutthefuckup-itis please?
GF Beater
Have you read Chris Brown’s lame “apology” about...about…well I don’t know because in the apology he never actually says
what it is he is apologizing for so I’m not
sure what the point was. Here is the apology as it appeared on Celebglitz.com:
Words cannot begin to express how sorry
and saddened I am over what transpired.
I am seeking the counseling of my pastor,
my mother and other loved ones and I am
committed, with God’s help, to emerging a
better person. Much of what has been speculated or reported on blogs and/or reported
in the media is wrong. While I would like
to be able to talk about this more, until the
legal issues are resolved, this is all I can say
except that I have not written any messages
or made any posts to Facebook, on blogs or
any place else. Those posts or writings under
my name are frauds. (Celebglitz.com)
Either way, it’s so retarded I decided to
rewrite it for him. (And so I don’t get sued:
my version is as much a joke as the real one
is): Words cannot begin to express how
incredibly fucking lame and stereotypical
I am due to all that has transpired. I am
seeking the counseling of my drug dealer
and my favorite Hollywood hooker, oh and
my mother, and I am committed to getting
away with it in stylish OJ Simpson fashion.
With OJ’s help I will emerge a better person. Much of what has been speculated or
reported on blogs/in the media is wrong. I
only punched her 9 times, not 14. While I
would like to be able to talk about this more,
until the legal issues are resolved, I can’t or
that skank will sue me for all my bling and
I will be left working at KFC.
Shambhala Music Fest
It is that time again. Tickets are on sale
for 2009’s Shambhala Music Festival. Never
heard of it? I hadn’t either until all these wild
pictures of my friends teenagers were turning up on Facebook last summer. I looked
into it a little and it is a pretty cool event.
Taken from the website http://www.
shambhalamusicfestival.com/
For the past 3 years, Shambhala has welcomed an audience of 10,000. Despite the
numbers, Shambhala remains at heart an
Trent Reznor
30
intimate occasion. Artistic and musical talent, imaginative costumes and remarkable individuals fuel the vibe of Shambhala, sowing the seeds of inspiration in a safe haven where nature and artistic
expression entwine.
Shambhala is a revolution in its own right with a complex simplicity that draws back thousands of devoted fans each year and
reaches out to new ones. Shambhala is a journey, an adventure, a
life altering experience, and not least, a place to just let loose and
dance, dance, dance.
And after four ecstatic nights and five dreamy days, the show
winds down. The time comes to put aside the enchantment and
depart the magical realm for the hustle and bustle of that other life.
Despite sad faces and reluctant partings, there is a sense of purpose,
of peacefulness and accomplishment...of satisfaction...and of plans
to return. These five days of Shambhala are the days you wait for
the other 360!
The Salmo River Ranch, deep in the Kootenay Mountain range,
hosts this extravaganza. It is a non-alcohol festival gathering for
ages 16+ and the organizers are very green in their endeavors. It all
sounds kind of refreshing. Check out the website for ticket sales
and all the info about camping and the other fabulous things about
the venue.
Album Releases
In March, look at all the goodies you have to look forward to/not
look forward to (from canoe.com & subject to change of course):
• U2 - No Line on the Horizon
After bumping it from last fall, the Irish arena-rockers will release
their 12th album in five different versions -- everything from a
single-disc edition to a box set. (March 3)
• Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
Alt-country’s favorite siren welcomes members of The Band, Los
Lobos, Calexico, The Sadies, and The New Pornos to her first album
in three years. (March 3)
• Kelly Clarkson - Title TBA
Clarkson’s 2007 CD My December was dogged by
low sales and a feud with Clive Davis. Can the slightly faded AmIdol bounce back with this fourth release?
(March 17)
• Pearl Jam - Ten
The Seattle grunge icons’ 1991 debut gets the deluxe reissue treatment, complete with demos, bonus tracks and a new mix from
longtime producer Brendan O’Brien. (March 24)
• The Decemberists - Hazards of Love
Colin Meloy describes his literate indie-pop troupe’s fifth CD as
“mossy and evil.” We don’t have a clue what that means -- but we
sure are intrigued. (March 24)
• Diana Krall - Quiet Nights
The Canadian jazz icon -- and wife of Elvis Costello -- finally returns from maternity leave. Judging by that title, we expect a soothing set of lullabies. (March 31)
• Keith Urban - Title TBA
Those who can’t get enough of the country-pop hunk -- ie, every
female above the age of puberty -- will have something to look
forward to this spring. (March 31)
• Black Eyed Peas - The END
According to will.i.am, it stands for The Energy Never Dies -- and
it will be more of a “music diary” than an album. Whatever -- that
still doesn’t make up for My Humps. (March)
I gotta say, I am quite EAGER for the Pearl Jam re-issue, more
eager than I am to ingest green beer this month…stay out of bat
country kids!
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www.lookingatyou.ca • [email protected]
33
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thousands
of stories
The Six String Nation
guitar is made from 63
pieces of history and
heritage from every part
of Canada representing
many different cultures,
communities and
characters from across
the country.
One additional piece is found on the guitar
strap and 3 others are found in the lining of
the guitar case.
To hold the Six String Nation guitar is to
hold history in your hands. To play the Six
String Nation guitar is to bring that history to life. To encounter it as a player or
a listener is to add your own story to its
growing legend.
On February 14th, 2008 - at a press
conference at Fort Gibraltar in St.
Boniface at the launch of the Festival
du Voyageur, the official nickname of
the guitar was announced. The announcement was the culmination of
an 18-month-long contest to nickname the guitar. The winning entry was chosen from among more
than a thousand entries from the
public. The winner, Lt. Col. Susan
Beharriell, was flown to Winnipeg courtesy of Air Canada and
stayed as a guest of the Festival du
Voyageur. She was on hand at the
press conference to help announce
the official nickname: VOYAGEUR.
32
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33
Editor’s letter
s
t
r
s
e
t
c
n
e
n
v
e
co
&
> March 10 - Victoria
Alix Goolden Hall
Victoria Jazz Society
Presents: THE BAD PLUS
www.jazzvictoria.ca
> March 11 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom
K’NAAN w/ Esthero
www.Livenation.com
> March 11 – Vancouver
The Bourbon
Lownote w/ Guests
www.myspace.com/
gordberry
> March 12 –
Saltspring Island
Artspring
Patricia O’Callaghan
www.artspring.ca
> March 12 – Sidney
Mary Winspear Centre
Joe Trio
marywinspearcentre.ca
> March 12 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom Simian Mobile
Disco livenation.com
> March 12 – Vancouver
Richard’s on Richards
Brett Dennen w/ Angus
and Julia Stone
www.Livenation.com
> March 12 – Duncan
Duncan Garage
Showroom
Ndidi Onukwulu
www.myspace.com/
ndidionukwulu
> March 13 - Vancouver
Richard’s on Richards
…And You Will Know Us
By The Trail of Dead
sealedwithakisspresents.
com
> March 13 - Vancouver
Café Deux Soleils
Maria in the Shower
cafedeuxsoleils.com
> March 13 - Duncan
Duncan Garage
Showroom
Ryan McMahon
www.ryanmcmahon.com
> March 13 - Kamloops
Heroes Pub Closing Iris
www.myspace.com/
closingiris
> March 13 - Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom
DJ Mark Farina w/ Luke
McKeehan, DJ Ricco
34
www.livenation.com
> Mar 14 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom St Patty’s Night
Explosion The Town
Pants w/ Whiskeydicks
www.livenation.com
> Mar 14 – Victoria
The Cambie at Esquimalt
Inn, RKO, Seven Year Old
Poets, www.thecambie.
com
> Mar 14 – Victoria
Hush Nightclub
Mark Farina w/ Matt
What hushnightclub.ca
> Mar 14 – Vernon
Vernon & District
Performing Arts Centre
The Legendary Platters
www.ticketseller.ca
> March 15 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom
Black Label Society
www.Livenation.com
> March 15 – Kelowna
Kelowna Community
Theatre The Platters
www.onlineseats.com
> March 15 – Courtenay
Sid Williams Theatre
The Canadian Tenors
www.canadiantenors.
com
> March 17 – Nanaimo
Red Martini Grill
The Grey Notes
www.redmartinigrill.ca
> March 18 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom
Lady Gaga
www.livenation.com
> March 19 – Vancouver
Richards on Richards
Big Head Todd & The
Monsters
www.livenation.com
> March 19 – Courtenay
Joe’s Garage
Mel Watson (Fruit)
www.melwatson.com
> March 19 – Victoria
Sugar Nightclub
Destruction
www.ticketweb.ca
> March 19 – Kelowna
The Habitat
Plants & Animals
www.thehabitat.ca
> March 24 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom
Gza (The Genius)
www.livenation.com
> March 25 – Duncan
Duncan Garage
Showroom
Ian Tamblyn
www.tamblyn.com
> March 26 – Vancouver
The Media Club
Emiliana Torrini
www.livenation.com
> March 27 – Victoria
McPherson Playhouse
Big Brother and the
Holding Company
www.bbhc.com
> March 27-29 –
Vancouver
Various Venues
2009 JUNO Awards
Weekend
Feat. some of Canada’s
hottest acts
www.junoawards.ca
> March 28 – Courtenay
Joe’s Garage
Corbin Keep ‘The
Wildcellist’
www.wildcellist.com
> March 28 – Victoria
Hush Nightclub
DEKO-ZE with DJ R.E.D.
Info: 250.725.3373
> March 28 – Tofino
Clayoquot Sound
Community Theatre
Rena Sharon
www.hushnightclub.ca
March 29 – Vancouver
Vogue Theatre
Mindless Self Indulgence
www.livenation.com
> March 29 – Victoria
Venue TBA CFUV 25th
Anniv. Party cfuv.uvic.ca
> March 30 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom
Taste of Chaos Tour
Thursday, Four Year
Strong, Bring Me the
Horizon
www.livenation.com
> March 30 – Victoria
Sugar Night Club
Atomique Productions
Presents: Elliott Brood
www.ticketweb.ca
> March 30 – Vancouver
The Stanley Industrial
Alliance Stage Serena
Ryder w/ Florence K
www.livenation.com
April 1 – Vancouver
Richards on Richards
The Bronx w/ Trash Talk
www.livenation.com
> April 2 – Duncan
Duncan Garage
Showroom
The Human Statues
duncangarageshowroom.
ca
> April 3 –
Denman Island
Denman Island
Community Hall
The Euphorics
www.euphorics.com
> April 4 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom
Travis w/ The Republic
Tigers livenation.com
> April 4 – Victoria
Sugar Night Club
CHAD VANGAALEN
www.ticketweb.ca
> April 5 – Nanaimo
Port Theatre
Oliver Jones
www.porttheatre.com
> April 6 – Prince
George
Prince George CN Centre
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
www.ticketmaster.ca
> April 7 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom
The Haunted
www.livenation.com
> April 8 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom
Armin Van Buuren
www.livenation.com
> April 8 – Vancouver
UBC Thunderbird Arena
No Fear Energy Music
Tour Lamb of God
www.livenation.com
> April 8 – Nanaimo
Port Theatre
Gordon Lightfoot
www.porttheatre.com
> April 10 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom
The Gaslight Anthem
(early show)
www.livenation.com
> April 10 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom
Kaskade w/ Luke
McKeehan (late show)
www.livenation.com
> April 10 – Vancouver
Croatian Cultural Center
Cannibal Corpse
www.livenation.com
> April 10 – Victoria
McPherson Playhouse
54-40 rmts.bc.ca
> April 10&11 –
Vancouver
The Centre in Vancouver
for Performing Arts
Gordon Lightfoot
centreinvancouver.com
> April 10 –
Hornby Island
Hornby Island
Community Hall Ian
Parker
Info: (250) 335-2734
> April 11 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom
The Ting Tings w/ guests
www.livenation.com
> April 11 – Vernon
Vernon & District
Performing Arts Centre
Double Diamond
www.ticketseller.ca
> April 11 – Nanaimo
Port Theatre 54-40
www.porttheatre.com
> April 11 – Duncan
Duncan Garage
Showroom Emma Lee
www.emma-lee.com
> April 12 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom
Glasvegas w/ Ida Maria
www.livenation.com
> April 13 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom The Presets
www.livenation.com
> April 13 to 14 Kelowna
Prospera Place
New Kids on the Block
www.livenation.com
> April 14 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom Turbonegro
livenation.com
> April 18 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom Black Kids w/
Mates of State
livenation.com
> April 20 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom Yonder
Mountain String Band
livenation.com
> April 21 – Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom Cold War Kids
www.livenation.com
> April 22 – Vancouver
The Orpheum Theatre
Thievery Corporation
www.livenation.com
> April 22 - 26 –
Kelowna
Okanagan International
Film Festival
Kelowna Film Society
okanaganfilmfestival.com
> April 23 – Victoria
Save On Foods Memorial
Centre The Killers
selectyourtickets.com
> April 24 – Vancouver
UBC Thunderbird Arena
The Killers livenation.com
> April 25 – Port Hardy
Port Hardy Civic Centre
The Arrogant Worms
www.niconcert.net
> April 25 – Vancouver
The Red Room
Incura, Like a Storm
www.myspace.com/
magnetizedproductions
> April 26-27 –
Vancouver
The Commodore
Ballroom Bloc Party
www.livenation.com
> April 27 – Kelowna
Kelowna Community
Theatre The Weakerthans
w/ Constantines
www.ticketmaster.ca
> April 28 – Richmond
The Gateway Theatre
William Joseph w/ Emma
Lee livenation.com
> April 30 – Victoria
Element Nightclub
The Weakerthans w/ The
Constantines
www.ticketweb.ca
> April 30 – Kelowna
Mary Irwin Theatre
William Joseph
www.ticketmaster.ca
> April 30 – Vernon
Vernon & District
Performing Arts Centre
Jesse Cook
www.ticketseller.ca