The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) announced today that, eight-time JUNO Award winning artist Jann Arden and Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee Bob Rock will co-host and perform at the 2018 JUNO Songwriters’ Circle Presented by SOCAN, Sunday, March 25, 2018 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. PST at Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre.
After co-writing what is known as Arden’s most personal and poignant album to date, These Are the Days, to be released in March 2018, the pair will reunite as co-hosts of the JUNO Songwriters’ Circle.
Presented by SOCAN (The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers) JUNO Songwriters’ Circle is an intimate and interactive event, benefiting MusiCounts. Considered the “Jewel of JUNO Week,” JUNO Songwriters’ Circle showcases some of Canada’s most talented songwriters, performing their original songs and sharing the stories behind them. Arden and Rock will be joined on stage by 2018 JUNO Award nominees who will be announced in February 2018.
“JUNO Songwriters’ Circle is a truly inspiring event that demonstrates the passion and inspiration of songwriting. These artists truly open themselves up to their audience showcasing their vulnerability and raw emotion,” said Arden. “I feel so fortunate to be a part of an event that not only offers audiences unfiltered access to artists but also benefits Canadian youth through MusiCounts.”
“I’m honoured to be co-hosting the JUNO Songwriters’ Circle with Jann in Vancouver. This one of a kind showcase offers an in-depth look at the inspiration and power of story-telling that come with songwriting,” said Rock. “It brings me great pleasure to support MusiCounts and the work they do for school music programs across the country.”
Tickets for the 2018 JUNO Songwriters’ Circle go on sale on January 19 at 10 a.m. PST through www.ticketmaster.ca or by phone at 1-855-985-5000 Tickets are available starting at $39.50 (plus taxes and service fees).
Proceeds from JUNO Songwriters’ Circle will benefit MusiCounts, Canada’s music education charity associated with CARAS, that works to keep music alive in schools and communities across Canada.
This year’s JUNO Songwriters’ Circle, will be rebroadcast on CBC Music.
Cold January temperatures couldn’t beat the heat at Koerner Hall as a host of Canadian blues artists and fans gathered to celebrate at the 21st annual Maple Blues Awards.
The big winner of the evening was Colin James, who took home awards for Electric Act of the Year, Recording/Producer of the Year and Guitarist of the Year. Several new faces were honoured with awards including multiple nominee Hamilton’s Harrison Kennedy for Songwriter of the Year, Ottawa’s Laura Greenberg for Bassist of the Year and Victoria’s Jason Buie for New Artist of the Year. In a rare occurrence, there were no other multiple winners throughout the evening.
The Blues With A Feeling Award for lifetime achievement was awarded to Toronto-based Diana Braithwaite for her longtime career and commitment to blues music in Canada, while musicologist, professor, and writer Rob Bowman was presented with the Blues Booster of the Year award, a very special Maple Blues Award honouring outstanding contribution to the Canadian blues music industry.
In addition to the Maple Blues Awards, the fourth annual Cobalt Prize Contemporary Blues Composition Award was announced last night naming Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta’s Joe Nolan the winner for his song All You’ve Got To Do, with runners-up Conor Gains for his song Walking Alone and Miss Emily for her composition Hold Back The River. A cash prize of $1000 was the grand prize, with the second and third place winners each receiving $250.
Hosted by ShoShona Kish of Digging Roots, the Maple Blues Awards featured an electrifying performance from Kish, joined by her husband guitar player Raven Kanatakta and on kit drum their son Skye Polson. An array of live performances continued with Calgary’s Donald Ray Johnson, Montreal-based guitarist Cécile Doo-Kingué, Toronto’s Diana Braithwaite, New Brunswick powerhouse Matt Andersen with surprise guest Steve Hill and the evening’s big winner Colin James, who closed the show with another surprise guest Steve Marriner of MonkeyJunk, all backed by The Maple Blues Band.
The 21st Annual Maple Blues Award Winners
Entertainer of the Year – Paul DesLauriers Band
Electric Act of the Year – Colin James
Acoustic Act of the Year – Big Dave McLean
Male Vocalist of the Year – Matt Andersen
Female Vocalist of the Year – Angel Forrest
New Artist of the Year – Jason Buie
Recording/Producer of the Year – Colin James – Blue Highways (True North); Producers: Colin James & Dave Meszaros
B.B. King International Artist of the Year – Joe Bonamassa
Songwriter of the Year – Harrison Kennedy
Blues with a Feeling Award (Lifetime Achievement Award) – Diana Braithwaite
Guitarist of the Year – Colin James
Harmonica Player of the Year – Guy Bélanger
Piano/Keyboard of the Year – David Vest
Horn Player of the Year – Jon Wong
Drummer of the Year – Matt Sobb (MonkeyJunk)
Bassist of the Year – Laura Greenberg (JW-Jones)
Blues Booster of the Year – Rob Bowman
Two decades after the album’s critically-acclaimed release, hip-hop artist Nas teamed up with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, to stage a symphonic rendition of “Illmatic,” one of the most revered albums in hip-hop history. The new concert film Great Performances — Nas Live From the Kennedy Center: Classical Hip-Hop captures the energy and nostalgia of this collaborative performance and premieres nationwide Friday, February 2 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).
The program will be available to stream the following day at pbs.org/gperf and PBS apps. Released in 1994, “Illmatic” is the seminal debut album from Nas, and has long been considered one of the greatest hip-hop records of all time. The album is a densely textured, deeply lyrical portrait of life in the largest public housing project in North America, the Queensbridge Houses, located in the Long Island City area of New York City, home to nearly 7,000 people. “It’s crazy, you know, I wrote this in the projects in New York City. Here we are in the capitol of America, Washington, DC, and, you know, a bunch of white people with strings and all that, playing this album, and they [sic] feeling it,” says Nas in exclusive behind-the-scenes footage captured during on-stage rehearsal before the concert.
Alternating between candid reflections from Nas, photos from his youth, backstage footage and a symphonic performance of “Illmatic,” the program gives an inside look at the inspiration behind Nas’ music and his early life growing up in New York City. The combination of Nas and the orchestra reinvents the sound of some of his most popular songs, like “N.Y. State of Mind,” “The World is Yours,” “Memory Lane (Sittin’ In Da Park)” and “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” to create a classical hip-hop journey. “This was the first time me [sic], as a classical orchestra conductor, was going to branch out into the realm of doing hip-hop music and rap music. And the idea of finally tackling this genre was something I was really looking forward to do,” says National Symphony Orchestra Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke about this innovative collaboration.
Great Performances is produced by THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC for WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers. Throughout its more than 40- year history on public television, Great Performances has provided viewers across the country with an unparalleled showcase of the best in all genres of the performing arts, serving as America’s most prestigious and enduring broadcaster of cultural programming.
A Mass Appeal production, Nas Live From the Kennedy Center: Classical HipHop is directed by Jason Goldwatch and executive produced by Nas, Anthony Saleh and Peter Bittenbender. For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is series producer; David Horn is executive producer.
After learning Kat Dennings’ voicemail has been the famous George Costanza answering machine song, Jason Alexander records a custom version for the 2 Broke Girls star.
Dayna Shereck
Two Feet On The Ground
Toronto country singer-songwriter Dayna Shereck has released her sophomore EP, Chasing The Moon — a four-track collection of newly handcrafted and heart-spun material. It’s a much more personal release for Dayna this time around; written and recorded in just under a year, she continues to use her critically acclaimed songwriting to express perspective in areas of family, life, and growth.
Emmanuel Patterson
Silver Eyes
Written in the middle of a sleepless night many years ago, this is a song about the feeling of becoming lost in life and how social interaction can help remedy that feeling. This is his first song, and it’s likely deeper than most artists are creating with a few years under their belt. Nice one, and keep going.
Faux Canada
Projector
If you loved the Secretly Canadian record label of the early 2000s, you’re going to dig this. I wonder if that’s where the name comes from? In any case, the San Francisco indie-pop-rock foursome sounds as fresh and new with fine knowledge of where they came from. It’s whimsical, and a serious signpost to where the next generation of guitar bands will sound like.
Pat DiMeo
Tiny Dancer (Live in Studio)
I can’t be the only one that will forever picture the scene in Almost Famous whenever I hear this song, right? Pat explores the fears and concerns much deeper than Elton John did on the original, and he’s got a world-weary voice that bring yearning and searching to a while new process. I just might be thinking of his version when I watch the movie now.
The Curls
Prickly Feelings
The new single from Chicago-based art rockers’ debut record SUPER UNIT, they’ve already got fans like Adrian Belew, and add me to the list, too. It’s instantly accessible and radio friendly on an FM station willing to take the shot as it’s still slightly weird, but cool enough for repeat listens. It’s mysterious, and I’m still not sure the mechanics of how a song like this is even put together from someone’s mind, but I’m thrilled these artists exist in our world.
Matt Shill
Spain (Live)
I love it when artists cram their band in the small space and film it like this. Matt didn’t get to where he is today by fooling the listener into anything other than a great song and players surrounding him. There’s going to be plenty more where this came from, I am sure of this.
Martian Subculture
Lonely And Free
The opening track to Martian Subculture’s 5th EP, Sleeping, hauls the real Evan O’Malley into the quiet, introspective moments in John Lennon’s catalogue without any giant-rockstar baggage. A wizard of hearing the difficult and making it sound simple, there’s a lot going on here, and he’s probably amazing just on the acoustic guitar. The whooshes and space sounds give a wonderful energy that makes you want to listen again and again.
Daniel Elia
I Know It Very Well
Really cool simple arrangement of firm complexity that hits right to the heart, the mind, and the feet, the way Marvin Gaye and Kendrick Lamar does so well.
Chamber Band
The Chain (Fleetwood Mac cover)
It’s really hard to perform a Fleetwood Mac cover without thinking of the tremendous back stories of the members involved. The Chamber Band use this knowledge and get into the joy and pain of the song wth affection and enduring respect. Equally comfortable to listen to this song, or the original, that’s how strong their version is.
Tom Forest
Monster
The latest track from forthcoming debut album Hope, was, says Tom and Isabel Gracefield, “from the perspective of a girl with anorexia, then it became about anxiety and vanity. It’s also about being the victim in any toxic relationship, and the abuse of power.” Heavy topics, indeed. I’ve got mixed feeling about the song – not because it’s not brilliant, because it is – but they carry it off so well, and as it’s a real topic, I’m waiting to keep the faith that things are going to work out for the better. In this case, I’m not sure it does, but at least it makes you feel something, dammit, and isn’t that what the greatest artists try to do every single time? Tom Forest gets it right.
Rasmus Gozzi
My Money
Rasmus Gozzi has been one of the fastest growing producers within the Swedish music scene. He’s got over 30 million streams and having over 320,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, but don’t look for his fellow Abba or Max Martin in here. This is Rasmus’ move outside the nation with even greater commercial success. This is easy a high-water mark for him, and look for him to crack it in 2018.
Terry Gilliam began his career as an animator and strip cartoonist. One of his early photographic strips for Help! magazine featured future Python cast member John Cleese. When Help! folded, Gilliam went to Europe, jokingly announcing in the very last issue that he was “being transferred to the European branch” of the magazine, which, of course, did not exist. Moving to England, he animated sequences for the children’s series Do Not Adjust Your Set, which also featured Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.
Gilliam was a part of Monty Python’s Flying Circus from its outset, credited at first as an animator (his name was listed separately after the other five in the closing credits) and later as a full member. His cartoons linked the show’s sketches together and defined the group’s visual language in other media (such as LP and book covers and the title sequences of their films). His animations mix his own art, characterised by soft gradients and odd, bulbous shapes, with backgrounds and moving cutouts from antique photographs, mostly from the Victorian era.
In the videos below, he teaches YOU how YOU can use animations just like him.
Canadian Music Week (CMW) is pleased to announce the 2018 Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Awards will be hosted by Jessi Cruickshank, “One of the funniest women on TV today, period”. The annual gala and award show is to take place on Thursday, May 10th at Rebel Nightclub in Toronto, ON. Tickets are on sale now here.
The Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Awards will celebrate the best and brightest in all fields of the Canadian music and broadcast industries. Previously announced honourees to be inducted into the Hall of Fame include: The Legendary TooTall (CHOM FM), Patti-Anne Tarlton (Ticketmaster), Jeff Craib (The Feldman Agency), and David Farrell (FYI Music).
Jessi Cruickshank is the Canadian Screen Award-nominated host of Canada’s Smartest Person, and The Goods on CBC.Hailed as “one of the funniest women on TV today, period” by The Province, Cruickshank grew up in Vancouver, where she broke into comedy as the only girl in an all-male improv troupe alongside Seth Rogen. She soon became a household name as the face of MTV, hosting the daily show MTV LIVE and smash hit The Hills After Show; which became the first series in Canadian television history to be live-simulcast to the US. Soon after she re-located to Los Angeles to host Live from E!, Oh Sit! Fashion Fail, Jerseylicious, and recently wrapped 6 seasons as the L.A. host of Canada’s #1 entertainment show, eTalk. Jessi earned rave reviews as the host of the 2015 & 2016 CCMA Awards and can currently be seen as a guest-anchor on E!’s Daily Pop. She splits her time between Toronto and Los Angeles.
Music students from the Compton Kidz Club today unveiled a new music video—funded by Need to Impeach founder Tom Steyer and directed by arts education advocate Fred Martin—covering Andra Day and Common’s Stand Up For Something to empower and help youth across the country rise up against political oppression and social pressures.
The video features young Black and Latina women who attend the Urban Entertainment Institute, an after-school program in the Compton Unified School District, which is one of the many school districts across the country that would be impacted by the current administration’s agenda against public funding for arts education and after school programs. Filmed throughout Compton, CA, the video includes scenes inspired by real political issues, including Trump’s recent “shithole” remark and its impact on youth, as well as social issues such as drug use, domestic violence, and sexual abuse.
“These young people are a beacon of hope for our future,” said Steyer, who makes a cameo in the video and whose involvement with the Urban Entertainment Institute, a group started by Martin, has helped keep the arts alive for youth in the Compton community. “Despite attacks on funding that further hurt our youth, young people continue to rise up—becoming role models not only for their peers, but for everyone else, including myself. As a country, we must prioritize and invest in our youth by giving them opportunities to maximize their futures.”
Said Martin: “Tom is a prime example of why you should never judge a book by its cover. He is as authentic as anyone can be, and as we say in Compton: ‘he keeps it real!’ It takes a unique person to relate to today’s youth and Tom does it effortlessly. Why? Because he genuinely loves this country and all people in it and truly believes we are all created equal and have certain unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The song, written by Grammy-award winning songwriter Diane Warren, was featured in the 2017 movie “Marshall” and has been nominated for several awards, including a Grammy Award. Steyer and Martin collaborated on the idea for the video to empower young people, while highlighting social issues and giving them a platform to speak their truth on the attacks on communities across the country.
In October 2017, Steyer launched the Need to Impeach campaign through television and social networking ads calling on supporters to sign a petition and demand that Congress remove Trump from power. More than 4.2 million people have since signed the petition, creating a digital army of supporters that many political strategists call one of the most formidable and powerful political tools in the Democratic party. Learn more about Need to Impeach atwww.NeedtoImpeach.com.
Oprah Winfrey’s amazing – and possibly pre-presidential – acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille award at Sunday’s Golden Globes Awards is available for streaming on Spotify.
“I want all the girls watching to know a new day is on the horizon,” Winfrey said. “And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure they are the leaders to take us to the time where nobody has to say ‘me too’ again.”
