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Barenaked Ladies Take Hometown Holidays On The Road

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Today, multi-platinum band Barenaked Ladies announce they are taking Hometown Holidays with Barenaked Ladies on the road across Canada. The tour kicks off in Vancouver on December 1, 2022 and wraps up at Toronto’s legendary Massey Hall on December 22, 2022. BNL will perform holiday fan favourites from the Barenaked for the Holidays album, as well as a few other chestnuts and surprises. These special performances offer fans a rare opportunity to celebrate the season with Canada’s favourite foursome amongst family and friends, many coming together for the first time in three years. For tickets and more information, visit www.bnlhometownholidays.com

“We’re bringing Barenaked Holiday Cheer to YOUR Hometown!”, says BNL’s Ed Robertson. “It’s been a couple of long, cold, lonely winters, so let’s have some fun!”

Hometown Holidays took over Toronto’s CAA Theatre last December for a multiple-date residency. The seed was planted and many BNL fans across Canada hoped the band would bring the holiday cheer to their hometowns for the holidays. Featuring holiday sing-along classics and BNL’s incredible camaraderie and musicianship, Hometown Holidays is sure to be a memorable and festive event for fans of all ages.

In 2020, BNL produced a special holiday live stream featuring performances and sketch comedy with a nod to our collective favourite variety shows from holidays past. Watch BNL perform “Green Christmas” from that 2020 A Very Virtual Christmas special here.

Barenaked Ladies recently wrapped up the 6th edition of the popular “Last Summer on Earth” tour. The 36-date North American tour featured some of BNL’s friends and favourite bands Gin Blossoms, Toad the Wet Sprocket, with Kim Mitchell joining the bill on Budweiser stage in the band’s hometown of Toronto. The encore culminated in a memorable ‘supergroup’ performance by BNL and members of all 3 supporting bands, performing the hit song “Handle With Care” from Traveling Wilburys.

Hometown Holidays with Barenaked Ladies:
12.01.22 – Vancouver, BC – The Centre for the Performing Arts
12.02.22 – Penticton, BC – South Okanagan Events Centre
12.05.22 – Edmonton, AB – Winspear Centre
12.06.22 – Red Deer, AB – Red Deer Memorial Centre
12.07.22 – Calgary, AB – Jubilee Auditorium
12.09.22 – Regina, SK – Casino Regina
12.12.22 – Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings Theatre
12.13.22 – Thunder Bay, ON – Thunder Bay Community Auditorium
12.16.22 – North Bay, ON – Capitol Centre
12.17.22 – Ottawa, ON – National Arts Centre
12.18.22 – Hamilton, ON – First Ontario Concert Hall
12.20.22 – Kitchener, ON – Centre in the Square
12.21.22 – Windsor, ON – Caesars Windsor*
12.22.22 – Toronto, ON – Massey Hall

Toronto’s TIMBER MASTERSON Explores Heartbreak on “Every Time (Jenni’s Song)”

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Tim “Timber” Masterson has been in and amongst Toronto, ON’s music scene for as long as he could remember. His earliest memories came from listening to his mother play the family’s 100-year-old Steinway piano, an instrument he now uses to compose his own songs. As a young adult, Masterson was a part of the city’s art party scene where he was inspired to make his own music. Heavens So Dark is Masterson’s first attempt at a full album. It’s the result of his artistic journey up to this point – playing piano at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, guitar at The Viper Room in Los Angeles, and organizing warehouse jams in Toronto and New York.

The album’s first single, “Every Time (Jenni’s Song)” is everything you could want from a folk pop song. An acoustic guitar passage emerges from steady percussion before piano and electric guitar enter and complement seamlessly. Then, Masterson’s gentle opening vocals – “Every time you take me far away / And every time I feel you come this way / Babe, I feel you each and every day” – tell a story of the ups and downs, uncertainties, and evolution of an intimate relationship. His lyrics are both heartfelt and personal, revealing a sense of longing that remains present throughout the album.

Masterson says, “These days I’m writing from a much different place; a place of joy and hope, huge for me and a big change which I’m thankful for. It’s great when the melodies pour out of you and connect, resonate from a pure place. It’s wonderful when one finds a new muse to be inspired by.”

And it’s not just the muse he’s looking for, but with other magical influences such as David Sylvian, Red House Painters, The Blue Nile, Aimee Mann, Shawn Colvin, and more recently Canadian Leif Vollebekk, he says, “I’ve always dug stuff that was a little left of center, have always appreciated those that take the road less travelled.”

Masterson, who did not grow up with formal music lessons, plays his piano and guitar by feeling, allowing his emotions to guide his compositions. “My first instrument is the piano, but I picked up the acoustic guitar during a play I was on tour within Newfoundland. I told myself I was going to teach myself to play, and I did. I think not having structured music lessons has helped me as an artist, I play what I feel, not often what is structured or has a predictable framework. I often experiment with different tunings on the guitar, much like Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake were infamous for.”

His work involves collaboration with producer Barry Haggarty, who Masterson says, “fills in the gaps, often quite beautifully,” to his demos. This charming quality persists through the six tracks, even when they explore different genres. The album crosses into sophisti-pop with “Say We’ll Go Away” and soft rock in “Story to be Told,” while “Waterfront Lullaby” is a dance track, incorporating synths, saxophone, and flute.

Previously, Masterson co-produced and hosted Toronto’s interactive literary series at The Drake Hotel, bringing innovative American and respected Canadian authors to read and discuss their latest work, as well as showcasing various local musicians.

JUNO Award Nominated WEDNESDAY Named Lifetime Achievement and Hall of Fame Award Recipient at Oshawa Music Awards

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Award-winning, JUNO-nominated, Oshawa-based group Wednesday is set to be named a Lifetime Achievement and Hall of Fame Award recipient at this year’s Oshawa Music Awards – The OMAs.

The 2022 Oshawa Music Awards will take place Thursday, September 29th, and are proudly presented by Durham Region Economic Development and Tourism, 360insights, Spark Centre, Trent University Durham GTA, and Durham College.

A chance meeting in Oshawa in July 1967 of Paul Andrew Smith and Randy Begg set the seed that became Wednesday. Randy and Paul spent the summer hanging out, playing impromptu concerts at local Oshawa parks and drop-in centres until meeting up with Mike O’Neil and John Dufek. The Cellophane Spoon was formed and managed by John Hall until 1971 when the task was taken over by Bill Diel, a former keyboardist with Ronnie Hawkins and Fats Domino. In 1970 the name was changed to Wednesday with the release of their first single ‘Hang On Girl’, recorded in Toronto and produced by John Driscoll and released on Ampex Records.

In 1972, the band recorded the Wayne Cochran song ‘Last Kiss’ at Toronto’s Manta Sound Studios, engineered by Lee DeCarlo (Lennon’s ‘Double Fantasy’, Aerosmith). The single was soon picked up by local radio stations. CFTR-AM played it immediately and indefinitely. Influential 1050 CHUM-AM jumped on the track and the song went to No.2, giving way to an avalanche of Canadian radio support. The song reached the number one position on Billboard’s Canadian chart and stayed there for six weeks earning them an ‘RPM Maple Leaf Award’ (the precursor of the JUNO), a Gold Record in 1973, and was nominated for several Junos.

A debut album was cut in 1974 at Manta Sound, Toronto and furnished Wednesday with a second hit, ‘Teen Angel’ (1974) reaching No.15 on Canadian charts. In 1976 Wednesday released their second album ‘Loving You Baby’ which topped at No.17. The album went on to produce four more charted hits which included ‘Doin’ The Best That I Can’.

Tickets are available at www.TheOMAs5.eventbrite.com

Toronto Pop Songstress Sam Casey Releases “New Company” Alex Exists Remix

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Drunk dialing your ex — or, worse, that person with whom you were just in a situationship — is never ever a good idea. And while Toronto pop songstress Sam Casey knows that, first she’s going to wrestle with it for a while (like we all do) in her soulful and starkly honest new single, “New Company” – already available, but now has a new remix, courtesy of Alex Exists.

Directed by Agata Waclawska, Sam Casey and Alex Exists have collaborated on a new music video for the song, a widescreen epic version of the song from Sam’s current EP, New Company.

Slow, smooth, sassy, soul ballad-y, and fresh from her forthcoming New Company EP, the song eventually comes to the foregone conclusion that the embattled narrator needs to find a new man. But just for tonight, she sits with her phone in her lap and fights with herself and an absent paramour –

Well, the clock strikes one
And I’m pissed drunk
I want to call, but I know I’ll fall
Back into your arms
Where I feel most calm
But you’ll mess it up like you’ve always done

As the predictable predicament plays out in her head, she eventually decides ‘So, I want some new company/ I want some new company/ Yeah, I want some new company.’ There’s ambiguity blurring at the edges, however, and so we’re not entirely sure – and the narrator might not be either – whether this is what she truly wants.

Because of just how realistically Casey captures this internal monologue, it’s not surprising that it’s based on one of her actual experiences. “‘New Company’ was written in my university dorm room,” she says. “I was involved with someone at the time, and we mainly saw each other after 1:00 in the morning. I was hoping for something more and, after a few months, I realized that he was never going to give me what I needed in a relationship.”

One of her diary entries became the inspiration for the lyrics, and an interesting beat she had found on the Internet served as the catalyst. “I voice-recorded myself singing the page from my diary over the beat and showed my best girlfriends that night,” Casey recalls. “That diary entry became the chorus of ‘New Company’ and prompted me to pull from my journals for almost every song I’ve written since then.”

“New Company” comes with a freshly minted official music video — an experience that felt surreal to create, the Toronto-based artist reveals. “This being my first music video for an original song, I was extremely excited to place a visual to my lyrics for new and old listeners,” she shares. “In the video, we feature the more melodramatic aspects of my character as she leaves a fight with her ‘wheel’ and drives home through the city only to see an angel-like figure — untamed and floating through the street — near the end of her trip.”

In all, going through the process of turning her feelings into both a song and video allowed her to move on from the crappy situationship — as well as the low self-esteem the one-sided fling had engendered.

“Since I wrote ‘New Company,’ I’ve been in three somewhat healthy relationships,” she reveals. “I can confidently say that, as soon as I started really loving myself and looking in the mirror like, ‘Oh girl, you are so funky and fresh today’ or ‘Damn, Sam, your personality is super unique and that’s a GOOD thing,’ I was truly able to demand what I deserved and not be afraid to lose someone if they couldn’t give that to me.”

Indigenous Rocker Joey Nowyuk Looks Back To The Past With “Inuugama” Covers Album Out Sept 30

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From the lush geographic tapestries of Pangnirtung, Nunavut comes chart-topping, award-winning rock singer/songwriter Joey Nowyuk with his interpretation of a legendary Rankin Inlet artist with the riveting new single “Tappaani.”

Performed in his native language Inuktitut, heartthrob Joey Nowyuk’s spell-binding rendition appears on his kinetic new covers album, Inuugama. The album title translates to “I am Inuk” and is a sonic celebration of Nowyuk’s Inuit culture and language.

“Tappaani” is a meditative musical experience that continues to establish the rest of the album as a homage to popular Inuit music. The single is a stylish take on Ishmael Naulalik’s classic song with rhythmic sophistication, Inuktitut lyrics, and compelling guitar work that breathes new life into the original recording.

Joey Nowyuk follows up his award-winning debut album, Tumitit (meaning “your footprints” in English), with the highly anticipated collection of culturally essential covers paying tribute to his Inuit and Indigenous musical inspirations, Inuugama.

The album was recorded at the Hitmakerz Compound in Ottawa, Ontario, under the astute guidance of producer Dale Penner (Nickelback, The Matthew Good Band) and executive producer Thor Simonsen (Kelly Fraser, Shauna Seeteenak, Angela Amarualik). All of the Inuit throat singing on the album was performed by Qattuu; emerging solo artist and member of the multi-JUNO Award nominated group, Silla and Rise.

Channelling his indie rock and alternative pop roots, Joey Nowyuk harnesses the sound Plain White T’s, Goo Goo Dolls, John Mayer, One Republic, and Snow Patrol and effortlessly interweaves them with his confident, rewarding songs. The first Canadian performance of songs on Inuugama will be at the Folk on the Rocks festival in Yellowknife this summer.

In the opening track, Joey puts a contemporary spin on Charlie Ningiuk’s 1997 classic, “Inuuqatigigakkit.” The song sets the tone for the album with its driving rhythm and twangy guitar alongside Inuktitut lyrics. Next is a playful cover of Qimujuit’s “Nunavut”; the perfect song for a summer day on the land. With plans to release the single on Nunavut Day, Joey Nowyuk will not only pay tribute to the artists that shaped him, but also Nunavut – which means “our land” – the place that was their home and inspiration. This energetic song also features Inuk throat singer, Qattuu.

Joey’s interpretation of Charlie Adam’s hit-song “Quviasupunga,” is sure to resonate with audiences around the world to a new generation of fans. Written in Inuktitut, with a translation meaning “I’m happy”, this chill, easy-listening song is sure to put a smile on faces.

In other songs, Joey sings about his hometown in “Panniqtuuq,” a song originally by Etulu and Susa, while “Quviagijara” combines rock and country sounds.

A catchy cover of Sikumiut’s song, “Utirumavunga”, will have audiences sing along to this classic track, performed by Charlie Adams’ first band, while friendship comes full circle with Joey’s version of the title album cut originally performed by Inuk music icon, Looee Arreak’s “Sapiliqtailigit”, meaning “Don’t Give Up”. Looee was one of the main inspirations when Joey began songwriting, and both are originally from the remote Northern community of Pangnirtung, Nunavut and are labelmates at the Iqaluit-based record label, Hitmakerz.

Joey Nowyuk began his songwriting career at a young age telling the stories of his Inuk upbringing and bringing attention to the harshness of living in the North and the mental health struggles that persist in those communities. His debut album, Tumitit, produced two songs, “Nalligigakku (Because I Love Her)” and “Pray (Tussiaq),” that rose to #1 on the Indigenous Music Countdown.

Notable achievements in Nowyuk’s blossoming music career include being a three-time winner of the Qilaut songwriting contest and an Indigenous Music Award winner. Nowyuk now celebrates his latest release as a love letter to the richness of Inuit culture with the intent of spreading his messages of positivity and resilience to audiences worldwide.

Montreal-Based Pianist Taurey Butler Follows Up His Justin Time Records Debut with ‘One Of The Others’ Album Out Oct 7

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Pianist Taurey Butler is a native of East Orange, New Jersey and now makes his home in Montreal. During his last year of high school, a prescient teacher, who was also a distinguished percussionist, Barry Centanni handed Butler a CD of Oscar Peterson and advised him to listen. He did, and from then on, he knew where he was going. ”I didn’t know a piano could do that!” he recalls and began to focus more on jazz studies.

With his self-titled debut, released on Justin Time Records in 2011, Butler firmly established his signature artistry in his adopted home base – he is a well-known and favorite performer in Montreal’s preeminent jazz clubs, including Dièse Onze, the Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill and the illustrious Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. He has toured internationally with stops in Asia, the Middle East, and in the USA including New York City’s Blue Note Jazz Club and The Cotton Club in New Orleans as well as the Detroit and JVC Jazz Festivals.

The pianist teams up with Montreal-based Justin Time again for One Of The Others, set for release on October 7. The trio recording is a genuine, creative deepness of effort, and is selflessly shared. The album delivers the real Butler in a musical representation of who he is, and what he feels, a suite of truly personal and personalized tracks.

One Of The Others is also one of the tracks on the album and like a title or heading it is an expression of the thoughts and musings presented throughout about being an outsider in a new and strange, but immediately, not so strange land. With Wali Muhammad on drums and Morgan Moore on bass, Butler tells us his story through eleven songs some authored and some re-imagined and authored. Listen to this music and travel the Taurey Butler migration from his then to his now.

World-Renowned DURHAM GIRLS CHOIR Named Lifetime Achievement and Hall of Fame Award Recipient at Oshawa Music Awards

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The world-renowned, all-female vocal group Durham Girls Choir is this year’s recipient of a Lifetime Achievement and Hall of Fame Award from Oshawa Music Awards – The OMAs.

The 2022 Oshawa Music Awards will take place Thursday, September 29th, and are proudly presented by Durham Region Economic Development and Tourism, 360insights, Spark Centre, Trent University Durham GTA, and Durham College. 

First convened in 1964, the organization was established when the Oshawa Folk Arts Council asked local musician Elsie Drygala to form an ensemble to perform for an annual celebration. They adopted the name Oshawa Festival Singers. In 1972 Drygala re-established the group, registering their formal charitable status as a community choir — and the rest, as they say, was history.

Approaching the choir’s 30th anniversary in 2002, the organization was rebranded as Durham Girls’ Choir.

Today, accomplished director Kristine Dandavino guides and challenges the singers, while collaborative pianist Alanna Kurt lends an artful sophistication to their sound. Throughout the many changes over the years, the choir itself remains constant — performing a variety of secular music that expands participants’ musical talents and entertains audience members.

Friendships are made, peers are found, and most importantly — beautiful music is always shared.

Tickets are available at www.TheOMAs5.eventbrite.com

My Next Read: “Photographs of Janis Joplin: On the Road & On Stage” By Elliott Landy

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Celebrated photographer Elliott Landy presents an intimate look at the legendary female singer-songwriter, Janis Joplin.

Landy’s iconic images of Janis, both on the road and in concert, capture and preserve her pure essence as well as her onstage magnificence. Photographs of Janis Joplin: On the Road & On Stage features beautifully reproduced large format images, many never before published.

Janis’s own words, taken from recorded interviews by David Dalton, are used as extended captions and paired with photographs to provide insight into the woman behind the legend.

Susan Aglukark, Kashtin, Eekwol, Shingoose, and Andy DeJarlis Added to National Music Centre’s Speak Up! Exhibition

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The National Music Centre (NMC) is adding five Indigenous trailblazers to its updated Speak Up! exhibition, opening on September 29.

The exhibition will now include Inuk artist, activist, and “O Siem” chart-topper Susan Aglukark; First Nations folk-rock duo Kashtin, known for blending Innu—an Indigenous language with as few as 13,000 speakers—into its music; néhiyaw rapper Eekwol, who uses her voice to express outrage about Canada’s residential school system and the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous woman and girls; the late Ojibway folk pioneer Curtis ‘Shingoose’ Jonnie; late Métis fiddler Andy DeJarlis; and 15 previously announced artists.

Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre, will also be open with free admission on September 30, the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, allowing the public to visit the Speak Up! exhibition, explore different Indigenous perspectives, and learn about Indigenous culture and experiences through the lens of music.

Featuring storytelling, audio, and artifacts, visitors to the updated Speak Up! will gain an understanding of each artist’s personal inspiration and the power of music to spark dialogue about difficult topics and affect social change. An updated virtual version of the exhibition will also be accessible for free at studiobell.ca/speak-up.

“Since launching in 2019, Speak Up! has grown to now include 20 Inuit, First Nations, and Métis voices, who have all greatly contributed to creating a longstanding legacy of social change through their art,” said David McLeod (member of the Pine Creek First Nation), Curator of Speak Up! “All of the artists have unique insights and lessons that ultimately connect to their community and the Indigenous experience.”

Previously announced artists in the evolving exhibit include: Fiddler, composer, and luthier John Arcand, also referred to as the ‘Master of the Métis Fiddle’; singer-songwriter and First Nations activist Willie Dunn; operatic vocalist and composer Jeremy Dutcher; genre-melding singer-songwriter and activist iskwē; eight-time Grammy-nominated powwow, round dance, drumming and singing group Northern Cree; Igloolik psych-rockers Northern Haze; legendary Abenaki filmmaker and singer Alanis Obomsawin; Igloolik psych-rockers Northern Haze; the father of Inuktitut music, country-folk artist Charlie Panigoniak; Aboriginal poet, painter, broadcaster and filmmaker Dr. Duke Redbird; world-renowned Oscar-winning composer, musician, visual artist, activist, and educator Buffy Sainte-Marie; Anishinaabe singer-songwriter and emcee Leonard Sumner; Ottawa-based rock band Seventh Fire; singer-songwriter Kinnie Starr, known for straddling the lines between folk, rap, art-pop and poetry; Inuit throat singer and experimental artist Tanya Tagaq; and ground-breaking Cree hip-hop group War Party.

The Speak Up! exhibition is supported by TD who, in 2022, increased its support of NMC’s Indigenous programming through the OHSOTO’KINO initiative, so named after a Blackfoot phrase, which means ‘to recognize a voice of.’ OHSOTO’KINO focuses on three elements: creation of new music in NMC’s recording studios, artist development through a music incubator program, and exhibitions via the annually updated Speak Up! gallery. Thanks to support from TD, the exhibition will continue to evolve and expand over the years to come.

Two Versions Of The Rolling Stones’ “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?” 1966 Music Video Get First Official Online Release

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The Rolling Stones and ABKCO Music & Records Inc./Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company, have released today the official music videos for the hit single “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?” Both versions were filmed in 1966 by director Peter Whitehead but were rejected at the time by the few outlets that would play what were then referred to as “promos” or “promotional films” of rock and roll bands. The live performance video captures the mayhem during The Rolling Stones’ September 23, 1966, performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London; while the video of the band in Drag was created using film footage of the photoshoot for the single’s back cover in Manhattan, depicting all five original members (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts).

A Top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic (UK #5; US #9), “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?” was recorded in August and September of ’66 at RCA Studios in Hollywood as well as IBC Studios in London. Released simultaneously in the US and UK 56 years ago to this day, the instrumentation on the Jagger/Richards composition includes a horn section consisting of three trumpets, put together by arranger Mike Leander (The Beatles, Marianne Faithfull, Gary Glitter, Cliff Richard, Joe Cocker and The Drifters) with piano by both Richards and Jack Nitzsche. Regarding the lyrics, Jagger told Keith Altham at the NME in 1966, “This is simply about a boy and his bird. Some songs I write are just for a laugh. Others are extensions of ideas. This is a mixture of both. You must listen to it and place your own interpretation on the lyric. There is no attempt to present a controversial ‘Mother’ theme.”

Filmmaker Peter Whitehead, who directed The Rolling Stones’ tour documentary Charlie Is My Darling – Ireland 1965 and went on to make many more music videos for the band (including “We Love You,” officially released on 4K by The Rolling Stones and ABKCO last month), captured the band at a strange moment in their tenure as a live band. The rock concert industry was still in its infancy, and security was ill-equipped at handling the throngs of screaming fans who rushed the stage at the Royal Albert Hall to grab band members mid-song, before getting pushed back into the crowd. Decades before the launch of MTV, there was no way for the general population to view this original version of the music video until it was incorporated into the documentary Heroes of Rock and Roll, narrated by Jeff Bridges and televised in early 1979.

A second version of the music video, consisting of entirely different footage shot on September 9, 1966, was also made by Whitehead. Footage of the photo shoot with photographer Jerry Schatzberg for the back cover of the single (US version only, as the UK version didn’t come in a picture sleeve) is captured in black and white. The band, entirely in drag, stands around a wheelchair-bound Bill Wyman at 124 East 24th Street, between Lexington and Park Avenues in Manhattan.

When asked about the concept behind the shoot, Keith Richards commented to the NME “The photograph was just a laugh. There’s no deeper interpretation to be placed on it than that . . . We adopted the names of ‘Molly’ and ‘Sarah’ for fun.” He went on to say, “I think Bill must get the ‘king of the queens’ award for his portrayal of the bird in the bathchair in the uniform. I mean just look at her . . . I mean that’s the one who pressed the button isn’t it?”