America’s all-time top-selling rock ‘n’ roll band, Aerosmith, is bringing the heat to the Las Vegas Strip with their headlining residency, AEROSMITH: DEUCES ARE WILD. Shows begin Saturday, April 6, 2019 at Park Theater at the new Park MGM resort.
Aerosmith’s Las Vegas residency, promoted by Live Nation and MGM Resorts International, will bring you face to face with America’s Greatest Rock ‘N’ Roll band in one of the most immersive, state-of-the art audio and video technology experiences in Las Vegas. The show features never-seen-before visuals and audio from Aerosmith recording sessions. GRAMMY Award winning producer Giles Martin, known for creating the soundscape for The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas, will create a spectacular show experience.
Aerosmith has teamed up with THX and L-Acoustics for their upcoming breakthrough residency at Park Theater to deliver the world’s first THX Certified live performance presented in L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound.
The 18 performances going on sale are:
April 2019: 6, 8, 11, 13, 16, 18, 21, 23, 26
June 2019: 19, 22, 24, 27, 29
July 2019: 2, 4, 7, 9
The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) and the Festival international de la chanson de Granby (FICG) are proud to announce that the song “Bleu et blanc” – written by Franco-Ontarian songwriter Robert Paquette – will be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. The induction will happen on August 26, live from the Scène Desjardins, during the closing concert of the 50th edition of FICG. “I’ve always maintained good relations with the Festival,” says Paquette, who was a finalist during the 1971 edition, before winning the People’s Choice Award in 1972. “I’m super-happy that the induction will take place there!”
“Bleu et blanc” was deemed a SOCAN Classic in 2001, for having aired more than 100,000 times on the radio. It was also included in a list of 150 popular songs compiled by Le Journal de Montréal for Canada’s 150th anniversary.
Paquette was the first Franco-Ontarian to record a professional studio album. The singer-songwriter was driving home to play a concert in Sudbury in 1976 – from his base in Montréal, where he was pursuing a solo career – when the song came to him in its entirety. Paquette was so struck by it that he stopped at a pay phone to call home, saying, “I’ve just come up with a really good song.”
That December, back in Montréal, Paquette laid down “Bleu et blanc” at Studio Six, along with other songs for the album Prends celui qui passe, which was released in Canada and Europe by Kébec-Disc. The uptempo “Bleu et blanc” was released as a 45-rpm single with “Baba nam” (from the same album) on the flip side, and sheet music was also published. To Paquette’s surprise, two Montréal radio stations, CKOI and CHOM, both included it in their rotation. “Because the song was unusually long, at more than six minutes, I didn’t think it would get commercial radio airplay, but the public reaction was really good. Listeners began asking CKOI and CHOM to air it, and it took off.” “Bleu et blanc” was on its way to becoming a classic of the French-Canadian music scene.
As with the very best poetry and song lyrics, “Bleu et blanc” deals with passion and emotional symbols. The song begins with the singer re-telling his chance encounter with an old, down-and-out hobo, in which he asks if the old man has given up hope. His wise reply proves to be a valuable life lesson that both surprises and influences the singer. “Back in Ontario, I used to meet down-and-out fellows who would ask for a dime to get a sandwich or a coffee. Then in Montréal I met one who asked for a whole dollar, but he was honest about it; he wanted money for wine,” said Paquette. “The song is about contrasts, truth and passions, and taking into your own hands the things that matter to you.”
Paquette intended the colourful kites in the chorus (“Bleu et blanc, vert et rouge/Sont les couleurs des cerfs-volants,” or in English, “blue and white, green and red, are the colours of kites”) to represent flags: red for the Canadian flag, blue and white for Québec’s fleur-de-lis, and green and white for a new flag that had recently been proposed for Franco-Ontarians; white represents purity and red represents passion. The song’s kite imagery also suggests freedom – freedom to go with the wind and freedom from practical necessities. A more direct reference is one to Québec politics in the line “Tout le monde parle de révolution” (everyone’s talking revolution), referring to November 1976, just before the song was recorded, when the Parti Québécois was elected to power in Québec, while many French-Canadians in Paquette’s Northern Ontario hometown were keeping a close eye on the process.
Paquette made the enigmatic, philosophical “Bleu et blanc” a staple of his concert tours for the next decade in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Notably, his performance at Switzerland’s famous Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1979 (with an outstanding jazz sax addition) was captured on the live album Robert Paquette: Europe. “Bleu et blanc” is also featured on Paquette’s 1995 compilation album Moi j’viens du nord (DisQuébec, CD). Other recordings on which “Bleu et blanc” can be heard include 30e Anniversaire— Festival international de la chanson de Granby, New Brunswick group Garoche’s Jour après jour, and Winnipeg Folklorama’s Celebrate! in a cover by Rendez-Vous. The sheet music appears in the song collection Chante la vie as well as in Paquette’s own songbook, published in 1980.
Singer-songwriter-producer Robert Paquette was born in 1949 in Sudbury, Ontario. Influenced by English pop music and by the songs of Félix Leclerc, Gilles Vigneault, and Claude Leveillée, Paquette sang and played guitar with the bands Les Chat-Uteurs and Marketville Riot in Northern Ontario before moving to Montréal and embarking on a solo career. From the mid-1980s he wrote music for theatre and did television work. His song “Jamaica” is another SOCAN Classic, and Radio-Canada ranked him No. 1 on its list of the most important Franco-Ontarian musicians.
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Nope, it’s just the sillest and coolest cover version of Queen’s classic Bohemian Rhapsody you’ll ever see.
Make no mistake, this is not a military operation. See Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund and Pedro Pascal attempt to rob one of the world’s most violent cartels in Triple Frontier — on Netflix and in select theaters. Coming this March, 2019.
Live Nation Canada and Alberta Ballet are excited to bring All of Us to new audiences across Canada in Spring 2019, including multiple performances in Toronto, Hamilton, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver. Featuring music from Canada’s most beloved rock band, The Tragically Hip, All of Us tells the story of two warring clans who battle to inherit the earth to redesign its future anew. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday, December 19 at 10am.
“I saw it twice and found it exhilarating. We are thrilled that the Alberta Ballet is taking the show out nationally,” said Rob Baker, The Tragically Hip.
Alberta Ballet Artistic Director and Choreographer Jean Grand-Maître found inspiration for All of Us in both current events and films such as Mad Max and Blade Runner. The post-apocalyptic drama features a dynamic soundtrack highlighting 20 iconic songs from The Hip’s legendary 30-year anthology. The ballet unfolds in a futuristic landscape featuring a riveting dystopian narrative.
Says Grand-Maître, “Beyond the Canadiana we usually attach to the music of The Hip, there lies a whole other universal wisdom which speaks, through its extraordinary simplicity, about humanity’s true inner potential.”
All of Us is the latest addition to Grand-Maître’s series of portrait ballets. These ballets are contemporary works that showcase music from chart-topping pop stars and musicians including k.d. lang (Balletlujah), Sarah McLachlan (Fumbling Towards Ecstasy), Joni Mitchell (Joni Mitchell’s The Fiddle and the Drum), Elton John (Love Lies Bleeding), and Gordon Lightfoot (Our Canada).
Alberta Ballet’s All of Us featuring the music of The Tragically Hip
May 25, 2019 – FirstOntario Concert Hall, Hamilton, ON – Matinee
May 25, 2019 – FirstOntario Concert Hall, Hamilton, ON
May 30, 2019 – Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, ON
May 31, 2019 – Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, ON
June 1, 2019 – Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, ON – Matinee
June 1, 2019 – Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, ON
June 9, 2019 – Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver BC – Matinee
June 9, 2019 – Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver BC
June 11, 2019 – Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver BC
June 14, 2019 – Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary, AB
June 15, 2019 – Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton, AB – Matinee
June 15, 2019 – Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton, AB
June 17, 2019 – Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary, AB
Tickets will go on sale Wednesday, December 19 at10am.
It’s been said that you only get one chance to make a first impression. In H.E.R.’s case, you get two. She stunned NPR as a special guest for Daniel Ceasar’s Tiny Desk concert earlier this year, in an appearance that showcased her vocal mastery. That earned her an invite to play again, front-and-center. She attacked her second go ’round with more fervor than the first, highlighting her skills as a multi-instrumentalist, maneuvering between acoustic and electric guitars, then the Fender Rhodes.
In 2003, at age 17, before she became Lady Gaga, Stefani Germanotta gained early admission to Collaborative Arts Project 21 — a music school at New York Universit’s Tisch School of the Arts—and lived in an NYU dorm. At NYU, she studied music and improved her songwriting skills by writing essays on art, religion, social issues, and politics, including a thesis on pop artists Spencer Tunick and Damien Hirst. During the second semester of her sophomore year in 2005, she withdrew to focus on her music career. This video was filmed at that time.
The Wu-Tang Clan gathered at the Tiny Desk to commemorate the 25 years since the release of the group’s landmark album Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). With more than 60 albums between the various members, The Clan’s combined discography left them spoiled for choice when it came to narrowing down the set list for their performance. The result was an extended, 20-minute medley of songs from across the group’s iconic catalog. At one moment in the performance, RZA — the mastermind behind the Clan’s success — omits some explicit lyrics from earlier in his Wu journey, while alluding to the #MeToo movement mid-cadence.
For the last 500 years, the music business has built its economic model on convincing people to own their favorite songs. We are now shifting rapidly from owning to streaming. In this video, music historian Ted Gioia looks at the reasons for this change, and explores its likely impact on the music ecosystem.
The names of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 2019 Inductees have been released. Def Leppard, The Cure, Stevie Nicks, Radiohead, Roxy Music, The Zombies and Janet Jackson all make it this year.
The 34th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, will take place on Friday, March 29, 2019 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The Rock Hall unveil its 2019 Inductee exhibit at the Museum in Cleveland, Ohio in conjunction with the celebration.
Ticket on-sale dates will be announced in January. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2019 Induction Ceremony will again have its television premiere on HBO, and a radio broadcast on SiriusXM.
Ballots were sent to an international voting body of more than 1,000 artists, including current living Inductees, historians and members of the music industry. Factors such as an artist’s musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique are taken into consideration.
Three of the Inductees were on the ballot for the first time, including: Def Leppard, Stevie Nicks (as a solo artist) and Roxy Music. Additionally, the top five artists, as selected by the public, comprised a “fans’ ballot” that was tallied along with the other ballots to determine the 2019 Inductees. Four of the top five artists (Def Leppard, Stevie Nicks, The Zombies and The Cure) from the fan ballot will be inducted as performers in 2019.
