“Pawn Stars” follows three generations of the Harrison family as they assess the value of items coming in and out of their Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, from the commonplace to the truly historic.
Rick calls in a special guest to authenticate an extremely rare Nudie’s Rodeo Suit worn by Billy Gibbons from the iconic band, ZZ Top, in this clip from Season 18, “Gotsta Get Pawned.”
One person in the audience later said “We had no idea who she was, but she scared the hell out of us.”
The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) today announced that Andrew Cash, a former Member of Parliament and JUNO Award winning Canadian independent artist, has been appointed as the organization’s President.
“After an exhaustive search, we’re thrilled to announce Andrew Cash as the new President of CIMA,” says Tim Potocic, Chair of CIMA’s Board of Directors and President of Sonic Unyon Records. “Andrew brings enormous strength to our organization with his unique combination of music, government, policy and community activism experience. We’re excited for the future, with him leading the way.”
At CIMA, Cash plans to build on the relationships, skills and experience he has gained in his past work to help lead Canada’s independent music sector to a robust recovery when the Covid-19 pandemic ends.
“Our members are at the forefront of Canada’s new economy as home-grown generators of intellectual property, green jobs and exports,” Cash says. “I look forward to working with all parts of Canada’s music ecosystem, along with our partners in government and the private sector, to ensure our industry has what it needs for a robust post-pandemic recovery.”
The independent music sector is a significant and growing part of the overall music ecosystem, accounting for approximately one-third of the global recorded music market in 2020. Recorded music sales have been increasing steadily since 2015 in Canada, thanks in part to the growing popularity of streaming music services. However, many people and businesses in music – notably artists and the live music sector – have been significantly impacted by the global pandemic.
“As a former artist and arts entrepreneur, I’m particularly eager to help the people at the foundation of our sector – Canadian artists – get back on their feet stronger than ever,” Cash says. “The musical talent, digital knowhow and entrepreneurial spirit needed to make this happen are in place. CIMA will play an active role in helping artists and Canada’s independent music sector bounce back to full strength.”
Andrew Cash was the MP for Toronto’s Davenport riding from 2011 to 2015. As an MP, he served on the Canadian Heritage committee, the Special Committee on Copyright Act reform legislation (Bill C-11), and as Citizenship and Immigration Critic for the Official Opposition. Having experienced the realities of making a living as an independent artist and arts entrepreneur, Cash dedicated himself in Parliament to raising the issues and voices of independent workers. Legislation he tabled in the 41st Parliament led to first-ever labour protections for unpaid interns under federal jurisdiction. He continued this mission post-Parliament, co-founding the non-profit Urban Worker Project, which seeks better protection and conditions for contract, freelance and self-employed workers.
Previously as a singer/songwriter and guitarist in Canada’s indie music scene, Cash played with the punk band L’Etranger, whose lineup also included fellow MP Charlie Angus. He launched a successful solo career in 1986, later collaborating with other artists including Jason Collett, Skydiggers and Peter Cash, created soundtrack music for television and wrote for NOW Magazine. Cash’s contributions as an artist earned him a JUNO award and three SOCAN awards. His music can be found at https://andrewcash.net.
On June 22, 1971, Joni Mitchell released Blue, concluding her prolific four album run for Reprise Records with an album considered by many to be one of the greatest of all time. Its stirring, confessional songs have been celebrated by music lovers and critics alike for decades while inspiring a wide variety of artists as diverse as Prince and Taylor Swift. Even today, its stature as a masterpiece continues to grow. Just last year, the album was named #3 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”
To celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary, Rhino is releasing THE REPRISE ALBUMS (1968-1971), the next installment of the Joni Mitchell Archives series, featuring newly remastered versions of Blue (1971) and the three albums that came before it: Song To A Seagull (1968), Clouds (1969), and Ladies Of The Canyon (1970). In the case of Song To A Seagull, the original mix has been recently updated by Mitchell and mixer Matt Lee. “The original mix was atrocious,” says Mitchell. “It sounded like it was recorded under a jello bowl, so I fixed it!”
THE REPRISE ALBUMS (1968-1971) will be available on June 25 in 4-CD ($49.98) and 4-LP 180-gram vinyl ($109.98, Limited Edition Of 10,000) versions, as well as digitally. The newly remastered version of “A Case Of You” from Blue is available today on all digital download and streaming services.
The cover art for THE REPRISE ALBUMS (1968-1971) features a previously unseen self-portrait Mitchell sketched during the time period. The collection also includes an essay by Grammy® winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, another artist who’s been influenced greatly by Mitchell. She writes: “In my opinion Blue is the greatest album ever made. Blue didn’t make me a better songwriter. Blue made me a better woman… No matter what we are dealing with in these times we can rejoice and know that of all the ages we could have lived through, we lived in the time of Joni Mitchell.”
THE REPRISE ALBUMS (1968-1971) brings together the albums that helped establish Mitchell as one of the most-talented songwriters of her generation. It includes essential tracks like “River,” “Chelsea Morning,” “Both Sides, Now,” “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Woodstock,” and “The Circle Game.” Clouds, her second album, was certified gold and won the 1969 Grammy® (her first of nine) for Best Folk Performance. Ladies Of The Canyon and Blue were both certified platinum, while the latter was inducted into the Grammy® Hall of Fame in 1999.
THE REPRISE ALBUMS (1968-1971) will be followed later this year by JONI MITCHELL ARCHIVES VOL. 2, the second installment in the extensive archival series that began last year. Each one promises a deep dive into unreleased studio and live recordings from different eras of Mitchell’s storied career. VOL. 2 will focus on the timeframe when she recorded the albums included in THE REPRISE ALBUMS (1968-1971). Mitchell continues to be intimately involved in producing these collections, lending her vision and personal touch to every element of the projects. Future releases in the archive series will arrive in a similar manner, with a boxed set focused on studio albums from a specific era, followed by an official “Archives” release looking at unreleased audio from the same period.
THE REPRISE ALBUMS (1968-1971)
Track Listing
Song To A Seagull (1968) – New Mix (Produced By Joni Mitchell, Mixed By Matt Lee)
I Came to the City
1. “I Had A King”
2. “Michael From Mountains”
3. “Night In The City”
4. “Marcie”
5. “Nathan La Franeer”
Out of the City and Down the Seaside
6. “Sisotowbell Lane”
7. “The Dawntreader”
8. “The Pirate Of Penance”
9. “Song To A Seagull”
10. “Cactus Tree”
Clouds (1969)
1. “Tin Angel”
2. “Chelsea Morning”
3. “I Don’t Know Where I Stand”
4. “That Song About The Midway”
5. “Roses Blue”
6. “The Gallery”
7. “I Think I Understand”
8. “Songs To Aging Children Come”
9. “The Fiddle And The Drum”
10. “Both Sides, Now”
Ladies Of The Canyon (1970)
1. “Morning Morgantown”
2. “For Free”
3. “Conversation”
4. “Ladies Of The Canyon”
5. “Willy”
6. “The Arrangement”
7. “Rainy Night House”
8. “The Priest”
9. “Blue Boy”
10. “Big Yellow Taxi”
11. “Woodstock”
12. “The Circle Game”
Blue (1971)
1. “All I Want”
2. “My Old Man”
3. “Little Green”
4. “Carey”
5. “Blue”
6. “California”
7. “This Flight Tonight”
8. “River”
9. “A Case Of You”
10. “The Last Time I Saw Richard”
Canadian alt pop singer/songwriters Caardia embrace growth and overcome the past in this, their newest single, “Over You” — available now.
The latest to land from the multi-talented powerhouse duo, sisters Celia and Annie Siriopoulos continue to draw on their personal stories and observations as inspiration for their distinct lyrical storytelling. There’s a telepathy shared within their natural chemistry; cascading harmonies bolstered by a sisterly bond result in a synchronicity of their songs as they explore themes of life, challenges, working through pain, and coming out on the other side.
The new song nestles well within this stream, and is a “representation of the vulnerability one can have when having feelings for someone,” Annie shares. “It brings up the fear of ‘new feelings’ and the unknown.”
“The song also acknowledges self-worth, and not relying on someone else for our own happiness and validation,” Celia adds. “By acknowledging our thoughts, we can come to terms with the feelings we have, and start to grow from them.”
“It’s not meant to be a representation of full recovery after hardships,” they concur, “but rather, the first steps in acknowledging them, and the process of getting over someone.”
“Over You” follows the duo’s breakthrough EP, 2018’s The Deep End — which was recorded and produced by multi-Platinum, JUNO and Canadian Country Music Award winner Chris Perry — and precedes their forthcoming sophomore offering, currently underway with multi-Platinum producer, Roy Hamilton III.
Named one of CBC Searchlight’s Top 10 Teens to Watch in 2020, Caardia are the recipients of both CBC Searchlight’s Top 50 Judge’s Choice (for the second year in a row) and the York Region Celebration of the Arts Bursary for vocals, as well.
Their music has been seen, heard and heralded on CBC, SiriusXM, Global, CJLO, CP24, CTV, Rogers TV, Girls’ World Magazine, and more — as well as Canadian Indie Week and annually at the Distillery District’s Toronto Christmas Market.
They’ve started their own radio show, aptly titled “The Caardia Show,” on Agape Greek Radio, and are co-founders and co-organizers of Youth Jam TO, an annual music festival in Toronto hosting 2,500+ attendees, as well as were in-demand public speakers with ‘Kill It With Kindness,’ an anti-bullying initiative. In addition, they were recently featured in a book highlighting social activists, called Awaken Your Inner Hero.
After eight years of dedication, commitment and hard work, Austin, Texas-based psychedelic uke-pop artist Tim Delaney has finally broken out onto the music scene with the release of his debut EP, Where to Begin and lead single “Rocío” — available now.
“Rocío” (pronounced roh-see-oh) opens with a beautiful, reverb-heavy chord progression driven by the sounds of Delaney’s calculated acoustic playing abilities; “it’s played on a ukulele,” he shares, “the recorder of stringed instruments.”
Though a simple four-chord song, the song is layered with buttery vocal harmonies, sounds of shakers, and an enchanting guitar solo towards the end.
“Rocío” and Where to Begin is the first-ever taste of Delaney’s solo work, and gives the listener a general idea of his musical style: acoustic-centric pop and rock inspired by his ever-expansive taste for 20th century classics, from the British Invasion to the ‘90s grunge era.
The self-proclaimed poet and philosopher began writing the album in 2013 and, after many day jobs and roadblocks, has now unleashed the five-track project to the masses. After spending 2017 recording from the closet of his apartment, Delaney reached out to sound engineer Andre Moran about mixing the project, and Mark Hallman about mastering it.
Between December 2018 and March 2020, the trio worked together on Where to Begin at Congress House Studio in his hometown of Austin.
Before the long-awaited release of Where to Begin, Delaney first appeared on a joint-single with American rapper Neutron Squared (N²) entitled “Looking to the Stars for Direction (Hearing Colours).”
While the album was a long time in the making, Delaney’s full origin story begins at the end of his mother’s; in the 1980s, her dreams of becoming a country singer went up in flames, quite literally, when her husband — Tim’s abusive father — set fire to all of her demos. That fire has fueled Delaney since.
“For me, life is a constant evolutionary process,” he shares. “That’s what I want to share: Never stop wondering. Never stop evolving.”
A few months following the release of his sophomore solo album, Canadian classic rocker Howard Lee Naylor has released his premiere music video, for this, his latest single: the romantic, upbeat and undeniably charming love ballad, “Sweet Jeanine” — available now.
It’s clear as a cloudless summer day that “Sweet Jeanine” is a love song written about someone close and dear to Naylor’s heart. You can hear it in his voice; there’s this happy aura about his vocal phrasing and piano playing which, without fail, instills joy in the listener.
Perhaps the veteran musician is just a romantic, but once you hear lines like ‘Now I’d do anything // To feel your skin against my cheek’ and ‘Now I believe that our love is for real,’ you know this song means a lot to him. Better yet, when a song gets you to feel warm and fuzzy and have you reflect fondly on your own love life, then you know it’s a good one … And one to remember.
The best part? This is just one of the many songs from Naylor’s new album, Songs from Isolation that bursts forth from the heart and a place of vulnerability.
On making the 10-track LP, the Penticton, BC-based artist says it was a simply a result of the global pandemic. It wasn’t long after the social distancing restrictions were put in place he reached out to his producer Ian Lopez in hopes to record some new tracks he had, he recalls. “The stay home (order) got really boring, but thank God I make music!”
Rather than record just one single, Lopez suggested Naylor do an entirely new album, to which the musician agreed.
“Here we are,” he offers. “Ten new songs, all recorded and created in the most stressful manner I’ve ever done.
“With that said I’m proud of the way it turned out.”
Songs from Isolation was officially released to the world on October 2, 2020, more than half a year after the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic left the word at a standstill. The labour of love serves as Naylor’s second solo studio album, and follows his 2017 debut, Possibilities.
Beyond “Sweet Jeanine,” the record features lead single “When They Stared,” the existential and thought-provoking “I Miss Love,” and the extremely beautiful and fitting closing track, “We’re All in This Together” — the latter of which was written as a tribute to all the frontline workers helping to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus across the globe.
By Michala Rice
The endless trend this summer is the same team. They come in all sorts of different colors, styles, and patterns but have the same high level of annoyance. The matching sets for 2021 can be anything from colorful pants to a top and a dress, to shorts and a blouse – the idea is that the color / pattern / design is the same as the top of the toe.
MATCHING SETS 2021
The matching sets 2021 speak volumes about the game’s vibe, simple and beautiful. As noted above, no one style is more important than the other. Pantsuits are very popular for some seasons now, especially when made in pastels. Paired pajama accessories are also very modern, as well as matching pants and crop tops. I think animal prints and floral arrangements are still modern, but woven bands, as well as satin, are also commonplace. The matching 2021 sets are perfect for anyone who wants to have plenty of clothes in their wardrobe and get ready in no time.
What are Cute Rompers?
In hot weather, wearing cute rompers is the best choice. They are comfortable without self-sacrifice. If you are looking for an option that you can always wear, we have compiled the options that we like the most. Simple silhouettes and light fabrics will make your favorite pieces in your closet.
All you have to do is throw on cute rompers, and you have a full costume. We found Nordstrom, Amazon Mazon, ASOS, Kohl and many more great options, so you can find something useful for you. Trust us: you never want to take it away once you’ve taken a sip.
Bodycon Jumpsuit
Bodycon jumpsuits have no doubt that it gives statement style.Goes beyond plain dress or pants and top combo and into more fashionable regions. So, so many women still avoid this trend-worthy style? Well, pulling out a piece of clothing isn’t always easy. Choose the wrong fit or add the wrong accessories and your jumpsuit can go from fashion hero to fashion zero. Fortunately, we are here to make sure that each of your gifts is seriously sticky. Here’s our guide on how to wear a street-style bodycon jumpsuit.
When attending formal occasions, women often think that dress is their only option. While a dress is a “safe” option for proper dressing, it will rarely have the same effect as a jumpsuit. Bodycon Jumpsuits can be as beautiful and polished as a dress when offered out-of-the-box which will give you some serious style points. So get out of your comfort zone and put on a jumpsuit for your next formal event. Add some simple but eye-catching accessories to your figure and choose a cute and appropriate style that you are ready to go.
Casual Occasions
If you are thinking of adding some serious style to a casual event, you cannot ignore a casual bodycon jumpsuit. Comfortable, extremely comfortable and oh-slim, casual bodycon jumpsuit is the perfect item to take you out of your jeans and t-shirt. Choose from a range of silhouettes from cotton and denim varieties to find one that suits your style. In particular, loose-fitting bodycon jumpsuits featuring an elastic or drawstring waist are universally perfect for flattering and bodycon jumpsuit virgins. If you plan to wear flats with your jumpsuit, you should make sure that you choose cropped style boots or lace-up sandals that end up to or below the knee. This will help create balance and make you look taller and thinner.
The JUNO Awards turn 50 this year, and Canada Post is celebrating this golden anniversary with a new commemorative stamp.
The stamp pays tribute to the country’s premier music event, and its role in supporting and showcasing Canadian artists and creators over five decades. Since 1971, the JUNOS have recognized Canada’s immense range of talent, from rising stars to household names, including 25-time JUNO winner Anne Murray – the recipient of the most JUNO Awards to date – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Céline Dion, The Tragically Hip, The Weeknd and so many more.
To mark the importance of the 50th anniversary, the JUNOS have redesigned the prestigious award from the solid crystal tower into a new golden statuette, which is featured on the commemorative stamp.
What has become Canada’s biggest night in music started as a simple annual poll of the country’s favourite musicians in a former trade publication, RPM, founded by publisher Walt Grealis and record producer Stan Klees. Initially known as the RPM Gold Leaf Awards, they were renamed in 1971 to honour Pierre Juneau, first chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) who was also responsible for the implementation of Canadian content regulations in the early 1970s.
Since their beginnings, the JUNOS have evolved alongside Canada’s vibrant music scene, and they have added new categories to recognize the increasing diversity of the country’s most celebrated artists.
“We are thrilled to partner with Canada Post to celebrate the 50th Annual JUNO Awards,” says Allan Reid, President and CEO, CARAS/The JUNO Awards and MusiCounts. “Collaborating with this historical institution allows us to celebrate Canada and our nation’s renowned musical talent. Our new golden statuette will stand proud on the limited-edition stamp and we can’t wait for music lovers across the country to get their hands on one.”
The special 50th anniversary presentation of the JUNO Awards will be broadcast nationwide Sunday, May 16 at 8 pm, ET/5 pm, PT, on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, CBC Music and globally on CBCMusic.ca/junos.
Designed by Paprika and illustrated by Amanda Arlotta, the stamp features the new golden statuette that JUNO Award winners will begin receiving this year.
Printed by Colour Innovations, this issue includes a booklet of five Permanent™ domestic rate stamps and the Official First Day Cover.
Stamps and collectibles are available at canadapost.ca/shop and postal outlets across Canada.
Introducing Ralph, the new spokes-bunny of the global campaign to ban animal testing for cosmetics. #SaveRalph is a powerful stop-motion animation short film produced by Humane Society International, featuring an all-star multinational cast including Taika Waititi, Ricky Gervais, Zac Efron, Olivia Munn, Pom Klementieff, Rodrigo Santoro, Tricia Helfer and more.
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Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.
Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com
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