Just in case you have been living in a cave with very limited wi-fi connection for the best part of a year, you may have missed the fact that October 2019 marked fifty golden years since a little TV comedy show called Monty Python’s Flying Circus was first broadcast on BBC television.
In celebration there have been a number of releases, a BFI Season and much more throughout this year… and to add to the mix, we now bring you Terry J’s unique and vibrant contribution to the party: The very first single release of an alternative country and western version of ‘I’m So Worried’, entitled ‘I’m (Still) So Worried,’ released on Virgin/Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company, complete with an animated music video produced by Holly Gilliam and directed by Paul Shammasian.
As fellow Monty Python member, Terry Gilliam valiantly says: “Terry can no longer speak but he can still sing,” referring to Terry Jones’ dementia which, explaining in 2017, caused his: “frontal lobe to abscond!”
For the video, Paul went “back to complete basics”. He took Terry Gilliam’s original ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ animation artwork into Final Cut Pro then “finished off with classic keyframe animation.” This method was as close to Terry Gilliam’s cut out animation style as he could get. “I could go anywhere and do anything. My imagination was free to explore and have fun.” Paul said. How very Monty Python!
The song was originally written and recorded for the group’s 1980 album, Monty Python’s Contractual Obligation Album.
As composer Andre Jacquemin recalls: “Pete Willsher, a very good friend of mine, played the Pedal Steel on the track, and it was Terry Jones who thought it might be a good idea to see if there was another version to be made out of ‘I’m So Worried’. He certainly preferred singing on the country version as it was a lot more fun with the boys.”
And, oh, how prescient the track is! Footwear fashion can still hurt like hell, and the baggage retrieval system at Heathrow is still nightmarish. Broadcasters are still very happy to flood the schedules with repeats, although that’s including lots of Monty Python recently, so no complaints from us. The worry about “all the things that they dump in the sea” is now, at long last, a serious situation that we should all be worried about, and one that is finally being addressed by international governments: nearly forty years after Terry Jones wrote this song. He is clearly something of a prophet.
“It’s great that this version is now finally getting released for the Python 50th anniversary. Andre has added the Fred Tomlinson Singers backing vocals from the full orchestral version, which really helps the choruses, and has produced a terrific re-mix. Enjoy!” comments John Du Prez, the musical producer & arranger of the original track..Amidst draining election fury, boy do we need a worrisome laugh now. Take it away, Terry J.
The SOCAN Foundation has unveiled a new Equity X Production Mentorship Program for new music producers, developed as a result of research by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative that identified a significant disparity between the number of men and women working in the field.
The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released a report in 2019 that uncovered the
unfortunate fact that only 2.1% of producers who worked on the top 100 Billboard
songs from 2012 to 2018 were female. The data showed that for every one woman
producer, there were a staggering 47 males filling the same role.
“The Equity X Production Mentorship Program strives to address the lack of diverse
representation among producers,” said Charlie Wall-Andrews, Executive Director of the
SOCAN Foundation. “As many as 25 women and gender minorities will be selected to
participate in a three-day retreat where they will gain the capabilities and talent to start
their journey to becoming a confident and skilled music producer.”
This SOCAN Foundation program is made possible with generous support from the
RBC, Ableton, and Signal Community Forum. The learning-intensive retreat will take
place in Toronto, Ontario, on January 9, 10, and 11, 2020.
Music producers may perform many vital roles that may include, but are not limited to,
gathering ideas and composing the music for the project, proposing changes to the
musical work, arranging ideas, mixing, sound design, managing the production of the
work, and so on.
Participants accepted into the program will receive many benefits, including access to
small group and individual production skills training, mentorship from industry leaders,
and accommodation and travel support for participants accepted from outside Toronto.
Applications to the Equity X Production Mentorship Program are being accepted
until December 15, 2019, at 11:59 p.m. EST.
Visit www.socanfoundation.ca for more information about the program, eligibility
guidelines and online application materials.
Warner Music Nashville recording artists and Blumenort-born brothers High Valley have announced a headline tour of Canada kicking off in May, 2020. Brad and Curtis Rempel will be joined on the road by the multi-platinum Eli Young Band as well as special guests Lindsay Ell and Jade Eagleson. The tour will take the group from Abbotsford, BC through Brandon, MB – see below for a full list of dates.
Of the tour, Brad says “We are pumped to head back to our home country in the spring of 2020! We know our fans are going to love the Eli Young band and we can’t wait to show them around our neck of the woods. We had a great time at the CCMA awards performing with Lindsay and Jade is the real country deal! It’s going to be so much fun getting this show out on the road!”
In addition to the tour dates, High Valley have recently released their new single “Your Mama.” The track was inspired by the recent announcement that Curtis Rempel’s family of four will soon become five. The video for the track, which features the band enjoying a campfire with their real families is a tribute to mothers everywhere.
APTN has just published the first ever National Indigenous Music Impact Study (NIMIS). This landmark Canadian study looked at the contributions made by the Indigenous music community and the impacts that this community has on the Canadian economy and on the social fabric of this country. The study also looked at the Indigenous music community’s challenges and successes. This study provides the most recent, best available data on any segment of the music industry in Canada.
APTN and its partners engaged with those involved in the Indigenous music community to conduct the study. This included anyone (Indigenous or non-Indigenous) who creates, promotes and supports Indigenous music in Canada. In total, 620 industry insiders completed the online survey and 70 interviews were held to gain unique insight into the industry.
Some of the key findings of NIMIS show that Indigenous music contributed a total of almost $78 million to Canada’s economy (GDP) and supports more than 3,000 full-time positions across the country. While the Indigenous music community is thriving, the Indigenous music industry, comprised of Indigenous-owned, Indigenous-directed music companies and supporting organizations, is still in its infancy and is poised for development.
Musician Sam Edelston performed an exciting cover of the iconic Ramones song “I Wanna Be Sedated” on a tabletop electric dulcimer. He says, “I believe that dulcimers are among the world’s coolest musical instruments. People deserve to know about dulcimers, the way that people already know about harmonicas, ukuleles, and xylophones (to name a few examples). …I believe in exposing people to interesting and surprising music on dulcimers.”
Internationally award-winning Canadian singer/songwriter Francine Honey has her sights set on the holiday season with this, her newest album release, Take Me To The North Pole — available now!
“Life can be so busy around the holidays!” Honey says of the season and the release. “We are all running around trying to get it all done to make it the best ever.
“As a kid and a parent, watching the Christmas classics always allowed me to find a pleasant escape into the world of Santa and the North Pole. It is a welcome relief from all of the hub-bub of the holidays… I love being taken to the North Pole into that land.”
“For the song ‘Take Me To The North Pole,’ we purposely chose a southern, swampy shuffle you can dance around the kitchen to while making your Christmas cookies, and bop to while driving to go shopping. “, says Honey.
“How does Mrs. Claus do it all? Look in the mirror!”
With eight songs — both original and Honey’s Americana spin on classics — Take Me To The North Pole doesn’t stop at the title track to showcase the Ontario artist’s long-held soft spot for the season.
To sing Verlon Thompson’s original holiday song “My Heart Is There With You” has been on Honey’s own holiday wish list, so to speak, for some time now. That she was able to include it on the album feels like a gift all its own, she says.
“When I was at a songwriting workshop in Italy with Verlon last year, he was talking about the power of a song. He played ‘My Heart Is There With You,’ which he wrote at Christmas time as a Christmas card for his friends, and talked about the impact it had on his friends and how that song had been made into a commercial.
“When he played it, I immediately felt tears running down my cheek,” she continues, “because of its honesty, and how I feel about my family and friends who you don’t get to see over the holidays and at other times.
“When it came time to record Take Me To The North Pole, I asked Verlon if he would play guitar on this album… But I was too shy to ask him to record the song.
“Eventually I shared my shyness and my love of the song there in the studio as I was about to record another song, and he said he would be honoured if I would record it! So right then and there, I learned the rest of the song and we recorded it together. It’s that recording that is here on the album. “
“What an honour and a wonderful Christmas card for those that you cannot spend time with over the holidays.”
On that note, and penned with Honey’s delicate sagaciousness that suffuses her songwriting, original tune “Christmas Round My Tree” is a bittersweet ode to those feeling grief or loneliness during the most social time of the year.
“When I was in my teens, I would go to nursing homes and sing Christmas carols for the elderly,” Honey recalls of her inspiration behind the tune. “My heart always sank when I would see some of them there with no family.“
“Some of them would ask me to just sit with them and spend time with them, and we would sing some carols, play cards and then drink hot chocolate.“
“As I got older and saw my own family members deal with their first Christmas alone after a loved one passing away, I witnessed the determination to still find a sense of the Christmas tradition and the knowledge that what truly matters is being together and not the gifts you buy.”
Although she’s made music since childhood — “I wrote my first song in 1976” — Honey never dreamed of making it a career. However, along the way, the down-to-earth artist has displayed extraordinary dedication to her craft.
Francine’s debut self-produced album An Ordinary Woman came out in 2008 and was followed in 2014 by Re-Drawn, produced by Lang Bliss in Nashville; her EP entitled An Ordinary Woman (In Studio) was released in 2015.
As a graduate of the Berklee College of Music Professional Singer-Songwriter Certificate Program, Francine regularly makes the nine-hour drive from Ontario, Canada, to song-writing workshops in Nashville where she has been mentored by icons like Beth Nielsen Chapman (who contributes backup vocals to Honey’s “Snowflakes On My Eyelashes”), Mike Reid (“I Can’t Make You Love Me”), Mary Gauthier (“Mercy Now”), Verlon Thompson (“Boats to Build”), Gretchen Peters (“Independence Day”) and Jonatha Brooke (“My Mother has 4 Noses”). Francine is a member of the Songwriter’s Association of Canada (SAC), Nashville Songwriter’s Association International, Canadian Country Music Association and Americana Music Association. She co-ordinates the SAC’s Leamington/Windsor Regional Writer’s Group, mentoring other songwriters. She has showcased at the Texas Songwriters Symposium four years in a row, NSAI Tin Pan North Festival, Hugh’s Room, the WinterFolk Blues and Roots Festival in Toronto, the Kingsville Folk Music Festival and the Folk Music Ontario conference. Francine’s music and songwriting have not only taken her through Canada and the U.S but to the U.K., Switzerland and Italy.
Her 2018 full-length album to be continued… received critical-acclaim and a finalist in the 2018 International Songwriting Competition in two categories for her song “Stay.” Honey was also recognized for her songwriting contribution from more than 19,000+ entries around the world, receiving semi-finalist nominations in both the Americana and Blues categories.
2019 saw Honey release a few singles starting with “Flocons de neige sur mes cils,” the French counterpart of “Snowflakes On My Eyelashes.” This was followed by “Chez mon oncle Lucien,” a song written around the Hangman’s Reel that her Grandmother used to play on her violin. A traditional French Canadian song which chronicles the memories of doing maple syrup at her Uncle’s farm in Eastern Ontario.
Her latest single “Red Sky” was released in October 2019, and is a gritty and dreamy flight through change.
Honey’s music has received critical acclaim and sees airplay on CBC, Radio-Canada, AM800, CTV, SiriusXM, Folk Roots Radio, and more across Canada, the US, UK, Germany, Australia and the Netherlands. Her over 20k+ fans online are very happy she left her government career to pursue music full-time. She performs regularly on-line and streams every venue performance. Her belief that music gets you through life and her commitment to helping people feel less alone by sharing life through song connects people across the world to support each other. Her campaign last year to touch those suffering with grief through the holidays with her song and video “Snowflakes On My Eyelashes” and the French counterpart garnered over 1.5 million views, but most importantly connected people grieving from all over the world; it’s no wonder that the video for “Snowflakes On My Eyelashes” is a finalist in the UK Songwriting Contest.
Francine Honey’s Take Me To The North Pole is available now.
Few rock and heavy metal legends have had an impact on the world of music like the incredible Ozzy Osbourne, which is why it was so worrying to hear about the health problems he was suffering from earlier this year.
Of course, we’d be fools to think that an injury from a fall at home would keep the great man down and it was very welcome to recently hear the news that his previously-announced – and brilliantly-titled – ‘No More Tours 2’ series of shows would still be going ahead in North America next year. Black Sabbath may be no more, but Ozzy keeps on rocking and fans are sure to be in for a treat with Marilyn Manson joining him for the tour.
However, if you simply can’t wait for the shows and want to get your Ozzy fix in the meantime, you may be pleased to hear that the icon has also recently entered the world of gaming in recent weeks.
Celebrating his career
In the middle of November, the leading games developer NetEnt confirmed the launch of a brand new video slot based around the life and career of the legendary metal frontman.
Ozzy Osbourne Video Slots features a range of imagery and illustrations of the singer from throughout his career, while the official game also gets to showcase some of his famous back catalog along the way too. Furthermore, it includes everything you would expect from a slots-style game, including a range of bonuses and multipliers designed to give players a chance to win big.
Commenting on the decision to make a game based on Ozzy, NetEnt’s director of games Bryan Upton said the hope was that the title would “appeal to his fans as well as a wide cross-section of slots players”. He added that the company was also “ecstatic” to work with him.
A pop culture icon
While to some it might seem strange that Ozzy has been immortalized in an online slot game, he is actually not the first major rock icon to take a leap into the area. For example, the likes of Guns N Roses, Jimi Hendrix and other music legends have already ready been given similar treatment, with titles based around their imagery and songs.
Furthermore, it also cements Ozzy’s place in pop culture as a whole, as he now also sits alongside a host of other icons from other parts of the entertainment world. For example, a trip to William Hill casino online will demonstrate that slot games based on big- and small-screen favorites such as Grease, The Dark Knight, The X Files and Dirty Dancing are also available these days.
Put simply, Ozzy means something to metal fans and the wider public too, thanks to both his music and the famous reality TV show featuring his family from the early part of the 21st century, which makes him a perfect fit for a slot game. As Bryan Upton added, he is a name that “transcends the music industry”.
An incredible career
It is incredible to think that next year will be the 50th anniversary of the release of the debut Black Sabbath album, a record that helped propel Ozzy Osbourne into the spotlight for the very first time. Across the following decades he has gone on to have a remarkable and colorful career, but it is truly fantastic that he still around and going strong.
The launch of a new slot game based on his life is a great example of his enduring popularity and it is sure to be a big hit with metal fans and other players across the months and years ahead.
Eclectic Method keeps the sound snippets and notes from various Red Hot Chili Peppers songs so short that even the best of fans can’t recognize them to create his new mashup worthy of Flea, Anthony and the rest of the band themselves.
