Musings On Juno

What, this one?


Well, no. Although a post dedicated to ancient Roman deities would be fun. But I'm more familiar with Greek mythology (Orpheus = first rock star?) and in any case I'm not going to do that right now.

If you're into that kind of thing, Canada held its national music awards show, also known as the Juno Awards. I hope you watched it. If you didn't, I did a nice little irritating play-by-play on Twitter, which is pretty much like watching it, right? If you're wondering specifically what you missed, here are some thoughts and extrapolations of mine.

---

The show was two hours long (including commercials) but there were only 7 awards handed out. The non-televised gala event the night before saw 32 awards given, including Rock Album of the Year, Single of the Year, and Pop Album of the Year. While it was a bit of an odd balance for an awards show, I actually liked it. There was more emphasis on live performances, and that's more of a celebration of the year's music than some pats on the back.

That being said, the triple set of Serena Ryder, Crystal Shawanda, and Divine Brown doing a song each didn't do much for me. It all sort of washed over me as some well-formulated pop, so I guess I either need to investigate these people more (I'll forget) or be ok with not liking that style of music (I'm ok with that).

Whatever lighting trick they used for Sam Roberts' performance of "Them Kids" completely blew my mind. I also love that song, but I am convinced the stage lighting was the work of a mighty sorcerer. I didn't know we had any in Canada.

You know what else I didn't know we had in Canada? Loverboy. I honestly did not know they were Canadian, and I'm sorry for that. Giving them a lifetime achievement brought up the cheese factor for the show, but that's true of any such award.

On a personal note, it seems like every rock band that performed had a guitar in the same style as mine. Or mine is like theirs, more accurately. The semi-hollow guitar just looks beautiful and I'm glad I jumped on the right bandwagon.

No matter how many times I hear people tell me they absolutely hate Nickelback and have for years, they end up winning one award after another. I know I'm not buying their shallow pool of song-writing ability, but someone is. Enough people to net them Album of the Year among others. The real problem is that they also won the Fan's Choice award. So either the Nickelback-haters are lying, or not being vocal enough.

---

When all is said and done, though, the Juno Awards remain just that - an awards show. The accolades go to the artists who sell well, who play the pop-music game right and rake in the dollars. The Polaris Prize is a different animal altogether. They call themselves a "not-for-profit organization that annually honours, celebrates and rewards" Canadian bands, "without regard to musical genre, professional affiliation, or sales history". In other words, they just like good music, as chosen by an expert panel. So if the Junos and Grammies left a bad taste in your mouth - Nickelback? Seriously?! - then check out the Polaris. Also, Dallas Green agrees with you.

Oh yeah! I'm going to write about the CBC later. So stay tuned or whatever it is you do with blogs.

Listen. You can almost hear the leather pants.

Of The CBCC - The Extra 'C' Stands For 'Cuts'

So I just woke up and got out from that rock I was under, but apparently there's a recession going on? Thanks for telling me, people. Not only that, but it's causing job losses and budget cuts all over the world or something. Even in our most venerable institution, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Yes, it was announced on Wednesday that the CBC would be making significant cuts across its television and radio platforms. Prime-time T.V. shows like Being Erica and Little Mosque on the Prairie are being told to produce fewer episodes, while a number of shows, including radio spots The Point and Out Front, are being cancelled altogether.

Overall, there are 171 million dollars being trimmed and slashed from the CBC's programming roster. Over 800 jobs lost, with a number of small-town radio stations being shut down and staff being downsized nationwide. Amateur sports simply won't be broadcast anymore.

There's a lot to address here; some of it's economical, some of it's political, some of it's cultural. So I'm going to go ahead and break my thoughts up into three separate posts. And if I'm smart, I'll use those three topics. Otherwise I'm not planning this well.

SO! Coming up next week! Probably Monday but don't hold me to that because I am so so SO bad at updating regularly! Look for some musings on the economic side of this issue. There's no denying that we're all strapped for cash - does that make these cuts forgivable? And were they made in a responsible fashion?

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK! Goodness, I feel like I'm doing a T.V. promo. What an astute observation I've made.

Oh, right. Here's something to listen to, since spring is finally awaking and smiling.

Oh yes. Oh, yes.

It's A Computer! It's An Instrument!

First of all, never mind how long it's been since my last post. I'm not even gonna go there. School and plays and natural forgetfulness have all played their parts in getting us to here and now.

What's more important is that I just found out about the first annual Guthman Musical Instrument Competition, held at Georgia Tech on February 28th. Basically, tech-savvy - and maybe music-savvy, but not necessarily - people competed for lotsa money with the creation of unique electronic musical instruments.

I'm not huge on tech lingo, but I will let you have a look here and ogle. There are videos for most, audio samples, pictures, etc. Of particular interest to me are the following:

- The first-prize-winning Silent Drum, by Jaime Oliver;
- Hye Ki Min's lovely-sounding Sorisu. It combines music with electronics... and Sudoku;
- The vocal and versatile Toob from Arvid Tomayko-Peters. I think I'd have lotsa fun with that one;
- The Disc.o from Andrea Haider, which gives CDs new life in the music world;
- The showmanship of Thomas Gerhardt (aka DJ Porcelain and the Plates), in spinning plates and activating samples. It's like DJing on crack;
- The paper-and-ink wonder of Greg Kellum's Touch Plane. Frankly, I am more sympathetic to this one than to any of the others; and
- The future of the Blue Man Group, if they know what's good for them - D. Andrew Stewart and Joseph Malloch's T-Stick. A great blend of music and performance.

I should say, however, that none of these instruments are in any position to replace those that I know and cherish. The GuitarBot is a nice experiment, but there's no emotion whatsoever. And I really don't have anything good to say about MIDI approximations of guitar and piano sounds.

Regardless, some of these instruments are simply beautiful. It's nice to see technology going in a human direction sometimes. When people find a nice symbiosis between emotion and technology, the results can be remarkable.

What do YOU think?

Thanks, That Was Fun

Important music news, especially if you're Canadian and understand the history of pop music in this country. If you haven't heard already - which you should have by now, if you are of the aforementioned demographic (but I understand if you're busy; I know I damn well am) - the Barenaked Ladies have received a little shake-up in their membership. Or Steven Page left.

After 20 years as a songwriting duo, Page and Ed Robertson will no longer be dually writing songs anymore. The break comes with no (announced) hard feelings, and everyone is (officially) happily going their separate ways. More importantly, the Barenaked Ladies are not disbanding (I made a punny). Ed, Kevin Hearn, Jim Creeggan, and Tyler Stewart will still be going into the studio in April, touring later this year, all that.

But this is a big deal. And you can see that this band is a big part of my listening life here. They're one of the first bands I was made aware of when hanging out with my friends, around 12, when I think people start defining and internalizing their tastes in music. Listening to "Grade 9" when I was in Grade 7 didn't seem unusual to me - these were fun songs, played by fun guys. BNL are an institution in the history of Canadian pop music, and it's a shame to see one of the frontmen signing off.

This is where I want to make something clear. Page is not(or was not) the lead singer of the Barenaked Ladies. There were two lead singers - now there will be one, even though I'm predicting now that Kevin's role as a singer and songwriter will become even more pronounced in this new environment. But I've heard a lot of mention of BNL losing their leader, and I just don't think that's true. A major contributor? Absolutely. But I look forward.

Page has a new solo project out, called The Vanity Project. It's been largely co-written with British songwriter Stephen Duffy. This is good news, because here are some of the Page-Duffy contributions to BNL in the 90's:

I'll Be That Girl
Alcohol
Call and Answer
I Live With It Every Day
Jane
Alternative Girlfriend

3 of these were included in 2001's Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits. And a good friend of mine has highly recommended the album. On the other side, Robertson and Hearn have contributed their fair share to the catalogue, both individually and in partnerships with Page and each other. So I'm not worried about output from either side.

But this is huge, a point I've pretty much beaten into the ground. Jian Ghomeshi, host of CBC Radio's Q, took time out of his show on February 25th to underscore the gravity of the band's announcement. I think a lot of us, whether we love BNL or simply accept them, took them for granted as the band that would never die. And I'm not going to get hypocrtical now and decide to lament the loss of the band as a whole. But this is a fundamental shift in their make-up.

Anyway, don't mourn for too long. They're on amicable terms still, Steven left to pursue other things rather than as the result of a violent falling-out, and we can all keep our fingers crossed that there will be a reunion, however fleeting it may be.

For listening... well. Listen to all your favourite BNL tunes, from the wacky to the political. But I will take this opportunity to be poignant.

Don't let them see you cry.