“Something” is a song by the Beatles, written by George Harrison and released on the band’s 1969 album Abbey Road. It was also issued on a double A-sided single with another track from the album, “Come Together”. “Something” was the first Harrison composition to appear as a Beatles A-side, and the only song written by him to top the US charts before the band’s break-up in April 1970. The single was also one of the first Beatles singles to contain tracks already available on an LP album. Frank Sinatra loved “Something”, calling it “the greatest love song of the past 50 years”
Gord Downie Announces “Secret Path” Album And CBC Animated Special
Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie will release his Secret Path album with a graphic novel by Jeff Lemire on October 18, 2016 through Arts & Crafts/Universal.
Gord Downie began Secret Path as ten poems, incited by the story of Chanie Wenjack, a twelve year-old boy who died in flight from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School near Kenora, Ontario, fifty years ago, walking home to the family he was taken from over 400 miles away. Gord was introduced to Chanie Wenjack (miscalled “Charlie” by his teachers) by Mike Downie, his brother, who shared with him Ian Adams’ Maclean’s story from February 6, 1967, “The Lonely Death of Charlie Wenjack.”
The stories Gord’s poems tell were fleshed into the ten songs of Secret Path with producers Kevin Drew and Dave Hamelin. Recording took place over two sessions at The Bathouse Recording Studios in Bath, Ontario, November and December 2013. The music features Downie on vocals and guitars, with Drew and Hamelin playing all other instruments. Guest musicians include Charles Spearin (bass), Ohad Benchetrit (lap steel/guitar), Kevin Hearn (piano), and Dave “Billy Ray” Koster (drums).
In winter 2014, Gord and Mike brought the recently finished Secret Path music to graphic novelist Jeff Lemire for his help illustrating Chanie Wenjack’s story, bringing him and the many children like him to life.
The ten song album will be released by Arts & Crafts accompanied by Lemire’s eighty-eight page graphic novel published by Simon & Schuster Canada. Secret Path will arrive on October 18, 2016, in a deluxe vinyl and book edition, and as a book with album download.
Downie’s music and Lemire’s illustrations have inspired The Secret Path, an animated film to be broadcast by CBC in an hour-long commercial-free television special on Sunday, October 23, 2016, at 9pm (9:30 NT).
The Secret Path was created, written, and directed by Gord Downie, composed by Gord Downie with Kevin Drew and Dave Hamelin, and illustrated by author Jeff Lemire. The film is executive produced by Mike Downie, Patrick Downie, Gord Downie, and Sarah Polley. The Secret Path is produced by Entertainment One (eOne) and Antica Productions Ltd. in association with CBC, with the participation of the Canada Media Fund and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit. Jocelyn Hamilton is executive producer for eOne Television and Stuart Coxe is executive producer for Antica Productions. Justin Stephenson is director of animation.
The broadcast date marks the fiftieth anniversary of the morning Chanie’s body was found frozen beside the railroad tracks only twelve miles into his journey.
Proceeds from Secret Path will be donated to The Gord Downie Secret Path Fund for Truth and Reconciliation via The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) at The University of Manitoba. The NCTR is dedicated to preserving the history of the residential schools in Canada, making this history known, and moving our country forward on the path of reconciliation.
Secret Path acknowledges a dark part of Canada’s history – the long-suppressed mistreatment of Indigenous children and families by the residential school system – with the hope of starting our country on a road to reconciliation. Every year as we remember Chanie Wenjack, the hope for Secret Path is that it educates all Canadians young and old on this omitted part of our history, urging our entire nation to play an active role in the preservation of Indigenous lives and culture in Canada.
STATEMENT BY GORD DOWNIE
Ogoki Post, Ontario
September 9, 2016
Mike Downie introduced me to Chanie Wenjack; he gave me the story from Ian Adams’ Maclean’s magazine story dating back to February 6, 1967, “The Lonely Death of Charlie Wenjack.”
Chanie, misnamed Charlie by his teachers, was a young boy who died on October 22, 1966, walking the railroad tracks, trying to escape from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School to walk home. Chanie’s home was 400 miles away. He didn’t know that. He didn’t know where it was, nor how to find it, but, like so many kids – more than anyone will be able to imagine – he tried. I never knew Chanie, but I will always love him.
Chanie haunts me. His story is Canada’s story. This is about Canada. We are not the country we thought we were. History will be re-written. We are all accountable, but this begins in the late 1800s and goes to 1996. “White” Canada knew – on somebody’s purpose – nothing about this. We weren’t taught it in school; it was hardly ever mentioned.
All of those Governments, and all of those Churches, for all of those years, misused themselves. They hurt many children. They broke up many families. They erased entire communities. It will take seven generations to fix this. Seven. Seven is not arbitrary. This is far from over. Things up north have never been harder. Canada is not Canada. We are not the country we think we are.
I am trying in this small way to help spread what Murray Sinclair said, “This is not an aboriginal problem. This is a Canadian problem. Because at the same time that aboriginal people were being demeaned in the schools and their culture and language were being taken away from them and they were being told that they were inferior, they were pagans, that they were heathens and savages and that they were unworthy of being respected – that very same message was being given to the non-aboriginal children in the public schools as well… They need to know that history includes them.” (Murray Sinclair, Ottawa Citizen, May 24, 2015)
I have always wondered why, even as a kid, I never thought of Canada as a country – It’s not a popular thought; you keep it to yourself – I never wrote of it as so. The next hundred years are going to be painful as we come to know Chanie Wenjack and thousands like him – as we find out about ourselves, about all of us – but only when we do can we truly call ourselves, “Canada.”
Jeff Lemire shares insight on Secret Path:
I first met Gord Downie and his brother Mike back in the winter of 2014. They wanted to discuss a potential project and, over coffee, they told me the story of Chanie “Charlie” Wenjack. Gord was then in the final stages of recording his incredible songs based on Chanie’s life and he shared the rough mixes with me in the hopes that I would be interested in creating a graphic novel to accompany his album. Before we left the coffee shop I knew I was going to do it. I had to. Chanie’s story is one that will not let you go once you hear it. It’s a story that can’t be ignored. And yet, somehow, it has been ignored. By nearly all of us.
Growing up white in Southern Ontario, I never learned about Chanie Wenjack or about any of the tens of thousands of other indigenous children like him who were part of Canada’s residential school system. This is such a massive part of our country’s history, yet our schools didn’t teach us about it. Why? Maybe because it’s easier to live with ourselves if we pretend stories like Chanie’s never happened. But they did happen, and still happen. Chanie Wenjack lived and died, and no one knows his story.
I’ve spent the last three years living with Chanie’s story and living inside Gord’s music. Gord’s haunting songs introduced me to Chanie Wenjack. Music is universal. It crosses languages and cultures and speaks to everyone, and I’ve always felt the medium of comics could do the same. It’s our hope that one day Secret Path will be taught in schools and that it will help to shed a light on this all too often ignored part of Canada’s past. I think, above all else, that’s what Gord and I wanted to create: something that can’t be ignored. Every Canadian should know Chanie Wenjack’s name and I hope Secret Path helps to make that a reality.
Side A:
1. The Stranger
2. Swing Set
3. Seven Matches
4. I Will Not Be Struck
5. Son
Side B:
1. Secret Path
2. Don’t Let This Touch You
3. Haunt Them, Haunt Them, Haunt Them
4. The Only Place To Be
5. Here, Here and Here
In A Canadian First, Rogers Radio And Shazam Team Up To Bring Countdown Show
Rogers Radio and Shazam, via Tapped Mobile, announced today an exclusive partnership that will bring the best of traditional radio and digital music content together. A Canadian first, the partnership includes a local daily countdown show, “The Shazam @ 7 Countdown,” beginning tonight at 7 p.m. local time on KiSS 92.5 in Toronto, 91.7 THE BOUNCE in Edmonton, and KiSS RADiO in Vancouver. Using unique, targeted data to feature different playlists in each market, the show highlights the top seven songs of the day, comprised of recently Shazam’d tracks and new and trending tracks from across the country.
Delivering content seamlessly across all platforms, “The Shazam @ 7 Countdown” will also be accessible on each station’s official website, Facebook and Twitter pages, and apps for iOS (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch) and Android (phones and tablets).
“We’re always striving to deliver innovative and engaging experiences and opportunities for both our listeners and our clients, and this partnership with Shazam checks every box,” said Julie Adam, Senior Vice President, Radio, Rogers. “I use my Shazam app all the time. It’s a complete game changer for discovering the songs we love, and allows us to really cater to the different tastes of our local listeners to bring them even more of the music they want in real time. There are definitely more exciting announcements to come as this partnership continues to evolve.”
There are great versions of The Beatles’ “Let It Be,” and bad versions. This one is a bad version.
A very, very disurbing version of The Beatles’ 1970 classic, as performed by a choir of Russian sailors. Hat waving is also included, so there’s that.
CBC Music and MusiCounts presents the Canadian Music Class Challenge
CBC Music, in association with MusiCounts, is challenging Canadian music classes to perform their best cover of a Canadian song. From elementary to high school, the Canadian Music Class Challenge wants to hear everything from jazz bands, kazoo classes and guitar clubs, to hip-hop programs, symphonies and choirs. Whether your music program is traditional, or on the cutting edge of a music genre and style, they want to hear your take on one of these great Canadian songs.
So, what is the Canadian Music Class Challenge? We want your music class to choose one of our pre-cleared songs, perform it on video, and upload it to CBC Music. It’s a chance to get a great Canadian song into your curriculum, while also featuring some of Canada’s best up-and-coming musical talent: students from classrooms and music programs all over the country.
Here are the songs you can choose from:
“2 Heads” by Coleman Hell
“Adia” by Sarah McLachlan
“Ahead by a Century” by the Tragically Hip
“Bobcaygeon” by the Tragically Hip
“Ain’t Gonna Bother” by Rosie and the Riveters
“Machine” by Scott Helman
“Stitches” by Shawn Mendes
“Run this Town” by Corb Lund
“The Hockey Song” by Stompin’ Tom Connors
“We’re Here for a Good Time” by Trooper
“Rolling Stone” by Reuben and the Dark
“Fil de Soi” by Marie Pierre Arthur
“Le Mepris” by Caracol
“T’es Pas Une Autre” by Buffy Sainte-Marie
“Soul Run” by Tanika Charles
For more information, go here.
NFL Stars And Spotify Collab On Original ‘Trading Playlists’ Series
An original sports and music series Trading Playlists, brought to you by Spotify and ACE Media, the content arm of the NFL Players Association, announced the premiere of their. Featuring NFL stars Von Miller, Demarcus Ware, Coby Fleener, Tyler Eifert, Rashad Jennings, Stefon Diggs, and more.
In the premiere episode, Superbowl 50 MVP Von Miller invited teammate DeMarcus Ware over to his house to trade playlists and to explore his palatial man cave.
Paul McCartney Shows You How To Make Mashed Potatoes…Wait…What?
Paul McCartney produced this amazing video online in December, 1998, a few months after his wife Linda passed away from breast cancer. The cooking segment was part of a live internet broadcast as a tribute to her book Linda McCartney on Tour: Over 200 Meat-Free Dishes from Around the World.
When you watch this, just keep in mind this is the same guy that wrote Helter Skelter, Penny Lane, Yesterday, and Hey Jude, and this video is just as life-affirming.
Check Out This DIY Modular Synthesizer Encased In A 1970s Era Keyboard Stand
Swedish artist and craftsman Love Hulten has created the Voxarray 61, a modular music environment, and a tribute to iconic synthesizers from the 70’s. It’s main body, crafted from ash, is divided into two segments. This clamshell construction rests on a weighty 4-legged stand handmade from steel. A ball handle applied to fold/open the lid doubles as pitch and modulation when detached and inserted next to the semi-weighted MIDI keyboard. The top lid stores an array of analog and digital audio modules, and like most module synthesizers, they all connect using a variety of patch cords, creating a matrix patching system. To use external devices, just patch them through the matrix. Add the custom-made dynamic microphone on top to complete the setup.
Wow. That is all.
The Trailer For The New Oasis Documentary ‘Supersonic’ Has Arrived
From award-winning director Mat Whitecross, SUPERSONIC tells the remarkable story of iconic band Oasis – in their own words.
Featuring extensive unseen archive, SUPERSONIC charts the meteoric rise of Oasis from the council estates of Manchester to some of the biggest concerts of all time in just 3 short years. This palpable, raw and moving film shines a light on one of the most genre and generation-defining British bands that has ever existed.
Welcome back to Zack de la Rocha, who released his first song in over a decade, “Digging for Windows”
Ex-Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha finally released new music, dropping the terrific song “Digging For Windows” via BitTorrent. It was produced by El-P who he worked with on the last Run the Jewels album. Best of all, it’s a free download, too.