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Future superstars to make waves in 2016

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Yesterday on Canada AM, I picked 5 artists to watch in 2016 – Scott Helman, Halsey, Sam Hunt, Christina Carpenter, and Elle King. Due to a cuter-than-cute video of a sleeping panda bear I just had to comment on, I didn’t have time to talk about Scott, who lists his main influences as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Damian Rice, The Cure and Pink Floyd, which is exactly what you want your next rock and roll idol to listen to. He’s got a great record collection, and attitude to match. Live, he’ll play his massive hit Bungalow and then Ring Of Fire by Johnny Cash as if he wrote it. The parents love him, the teens want to hang out with him. He’s James Dean with a guitar. And Scott, my apologies for not getting to you.

OK, now onto the video.

Tale of Tall Boy: The Origin of the Inflatable Man

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“On sale now!” “Best offer today only!” You have definitely seen those weird floppy inflatable men on roadsides around the country. But did you know these spineless vinyl shills have a real back story? Great Big Story delve into the history of advertising’s most dynamic pitchmen.

Have you cried yet over David Bowie? No? You will after watching this video

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A collective shock was felt when David Bowie passed this past Sunday, a couple days after his 69th birthday. Choir! Choir! Choir! immediately teamed up with the Art Gallery of Ontario to pay tribute by singing their original arrangement of Space Oddity with 500 singers. To the 20 people who downgraded this video, would it have helped if Bowie himself made an appearance? Sheesh.

Dave Bidini, Alex Lifeson, and Terra Lightfoot are going to be sharing their funniest stories from the road

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The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival (TOsketchfest) is proud to present an evening of comedy and music with HELLO! THUNDER BAY! on Monday, March 7 at the Randolph Theatre, plus over 70 sketch comedy troupes at the 2016 Festival. The 11th Anniversary TOsketchfest will present the best sketch comedy in North America March 3-13, 2016.

HELLO! THUNDER BAY!, hosted by Dave Bidini of Rheostatics, will feature musicians such as Alex Lifeson, Terra Lightfoot, David Quinton Steinberg, Tom Power, and Odario Williams sharing their funniest stories from the road, while Canada’s musically-inclined comedians such as Gavin Crawford, Jessica Holmes, and Sean Cullen, perform hilarious parody songs.

HELLO! THUNDER BAY! happens on March 7, 2016 at the Randolph Theatre, and you can go here to buy tickets. TOsketchfest 2016 will host over 70 troupes from across North America, March 3-13, 2016 at The Theatre Centre, Comedy Bar and Randolph Theatre.

The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival is Toronto’s comedy festival, highlighting the best live, scripted comedy in North America all in one place. Since 2005 the Festival has brought sketch comedy to wider audiences with ticketed and free performances showcasing hundreds of artists in acts such as Kate McKinnon, Kids in the Hall, Michael Ian Black, Kurt Braunohler, Sassy Gay Friend, FrankenMatt, Picnicface, and The Irrelevant Show.

For tickets, go to  www.torontosketchfest.com

Slaight Music Announces Kayla Diamond As Winner Of “It’s Your Shot 2015”

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Slaight Music – champion and prime supporter of the Canadian music industry – announced today that Kayla Diamond is the winner of “It’s Your Shot 2015”, Canada’s premiere songwriting and artist development competition. The contest, which drew over 1,000 entrants, encourages artists from all music genres to submit a song and/or video to www.itsyourshot.ca for a chance to win a Grand Prize valued at $50,000.

The “It’s Your Shot” competition is one of the many initiatives put forth by Slaight Music—a company focused on discovering, developing, inspiring and supporting Canadian recording artists.

Each year, Slaight Music partners with one of Canada’s major record labels to support this initiative.  This year Kayla Diamond will receive distribution, radio promotion, publicity, and marketing support via MapleMusic Recordings Canada, along with a professional photo session, a professionally written biography, the development of an artist website, social network pages and an opportunity to perform at a high-profile musical event in 2016.

“I could not be more thrilled to have been given such an opportunity to share my music with the world,” said Kayla Diamond, It’s Your Shot 2015 winner. “Having started writing my own music a short while ago, it is truly a dream come true to be able to join my new family at Slaight Music. I look forward to giving it my best shot!”

“As we go through the submissions each year, we are impressed and inspired by the creativity and quality of music that is written and produced by Canadian artists,” said Ali Slaight, Slaight Music Talent Development Coordinator. “We are excited to announce Kayla Diamond as this year’s winner and we look forward to working with her.”

Derrick Ross, President of Slaight Music comments, “Winning this competition is a giant step towards a successful musical career and we look forward to working with Kayla and our partners at MapleMusic Recordings to share Kayla’s talent with the world.”

“We are extremely happy to partner with Slaight Music’s It’s Your Shot competition this year,” said Iain Taylor, President and CEO of MapleMusic.  “Our team was blown away by the participation and level of talent we received.  Our congratulations to Kayla Diamond on being selected this year’s winner.  We look forward to working with her and the Slaight team in launching her career.”

Past winners of the “It’s Your Shot” competition include: Liz Coyles (2011) who had a Top 20 hit with her debut single “Butterflies”; 2012 winner, Hamilton’s Thought Beneath Film, Jillea (2013), from Saint John, NB, whose debut single “Shattered” is currently climbing the Canadian Top 40 radio chart at #35* and 2014’s winner Sam Drysdale.

Coca-Cola Announces “One Brand” Global Marketing Approach

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Coca-Cola has unveiled its new global marketing strategy & creative campaign today.

Coca-Cola launches a new “One-Brand” Strategy that for the first time unites the family of Coca-Cola products under one brand. The new creative  campaign, entitled Taste the Feeling launched at the Palais De Tokyo in Paris, today.

Chief Marketing Officer Marcos de Quinto said, “The new ‘One Brand’ approach will share the equity of Coca-Cola, across all Coca-Cola Trademark products, reinforcing our commitment to offer consumers choice with more clarity. This is a powerful investment behind all Coca-Cola products, showing how everyone can enjoy the specialness of an ice-cold Coca-Cola, with or without calories, with or without caffeine.”

Added de Quinto: “More than ever, we recognize people want their Coca-Cola in different ways, but whichever one they want, they want a Coca-Cola brand with great taste and uplifting refreshment.  Through the ‘One Brand’ strategy we will move away from multiple brand campaigns, to one single iconic brand campaign that celebrates both the product and the brand.”

The global beverage giant will unveil the campaign over the next 12 months via a series of TV commercials, print images, as well as a special track featuring music stars Conrad Sewell and Avicii.

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London born, Australia-raised singer Conrad Sewell was in Paris today to launch the new anthem, “Taste the Feeling’.
The anthem is part of a brand new Coca-Cola ‘One Brand’ global marketing strategy that, for the first time ever, unites Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light/Diet Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, and Coca-Cola Life under the iconic Coca-Cola brand positioning in one global creative campaign. “Taste the Feeling” features the studio wizardry of Swedish DJ, artist and producer.  A first acoustic version by Sewell is being featured in various TV spots for the new campaign and the lead single with Avicii will be released soon.
Sewell, an Australian singer, currently living in Los Angeles, was featured in the Kygo’s breakout 2015 single “Firestone,” which produced 300 million Spotify streams and 3 million-plus worldwide sales. Conrad has also toured with a number of notable artists such as Ed Sheeran, Maroon 5 and more recently Jess Glynne.
Grammy-nominated Avicii is best known for his work with Aloe Blacc on “Wake Me Up,”feel-good theme “Levels” and dance anthem “Hey Brother.” Avicii also collaborated with Wyclef Jean and Carlos Santana to create the official FIFA 2014 World Cup Anthem, “Dar um Jeito (We Will Find a Way).” Avicii has appeared in the top 10 of DJ Mag’s ‘Top 100 DJ’s’ rankings every year since 2011, reaching number 3 in both 2011 and 2012.

 

Sled Island Announces Peaches as 2016 Guest Curator, June 22-26 in Calgary, Canada

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Calgary’s Sled Island Music & Arts Festival returns from June 22nd to 26th, 2016 for its 10th year of thoughtful, eclectic and independent music and arts programming.

Organizers are thrilled to announce provocative musician-producer-filmmaker-performance artist Peaches as 2016 guest curator. Peaches’ curatorial selections will join over 250 additional bands, comedians, filmmakers and artists chosen by the festival in more than 35 venues across the city.

In addition to unleashing her top musical picks on the city, Peaches will perform at Flames Central on Saturday, June 25th. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 12th at 10am MST at SledIsland.com. Sled Island passes grant access (subject to capacity) and are currently on sale at SledIsland.com.

Each year, Sled Island’s guest curator helps set the direction and tone of the festival through specialized programming choices and with their presence at the event. Past curators have included Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, The Julie Ruin), John Dwyer (Thee Oh Sees), Tim Hecker, Andrew W.K., Colin Newman (Wire), Fucked Up, Scott Kannberg (Pavement) and more.

Sled Island will announce its first wave of 2016 artists on February 9th, 2016.

Sting and Peter Gabriel Team Up for North American Tour

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Two of music’s most iconic artists – Sting and Peter Gabriel – will unite this summer for a once in a lifetime concert tour. Rock Paper Scissors, produced by Live Nation Global Touring, will visit select North American cities this June and July (complete itinerary follows). Tickets will go on sale starting January 25th and February 1st at www.livenation.com.

Having first toured together in the eighties for Amnesty International, Rock Paper Scissors will find Peter Gabriel and Sting performing both separately and together, playing their own songs as well as melding their bands to explore each other’s most celebrated hits.  

Tickets for Rock Paper Scissors will go on sale beginning January 25th. The artists’ fans will have access to a pre-sale through their respective official websites, starting Wednesday, January 20th (time frames vary).   For complete tour and ticket information, VIP Packages and more visit: www.livenation.com, www.petergabriel.com & www.sting.com.

American Express Card Members can purchase tickets in Washington, New York, San Jose, Lake Tahoe, Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary & Los Angeles before the general public beginning Thursday 1/21 at 10am local through Sunday 1/24 5pm local and in Columbus, Detroit, Worcester, Chicago, Denver & Seattle beginning Wednesday 1/27 at 10am local through Sunday 1/31 5pm local.

“Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets beginning Thursday, January 21st at 10AM local time for performances in Philadelphia, PA and in Wantagh, NY starting Wednesday, January 27th at 10AM local time through Citi’s Private Pass Program.  For complete presale details visit www.citiprivatepass.com

Peter Gabriel first came to international prominence with the success of Genesis, a band that he co-founded while still at school. Since leaving Genesis in 1975, his recording career has included eleven studio albums, film soundtracks for Alan Parker’s ‘Birdy’, Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ and Philip Noyce’s ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ as well as numerous live albums. His wider musical career has included multiple Grammy Awards, the creation of the Real World Records label, and in 1980 the creation of WOMAD, the festival that has launched the careers of many world music artists and has to date presented over 170 festivals in 30 countries.

Peter Gabriel co-founded the human rights organization WITNESS (Witness.org) in 1992, the organization that pioneers the use of cameras and technology in human rights campaigning, and in 2007, alongside Sir Richard Branson, he founded The Elders (theelders.org) which was launched by Nelson Mandela.  In 2006, Peter Gabriel was awarded the prestigious Man of Peace title by The Nobel Peace Laureates and in 2008 was also included in the Time 100 list. He has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice. He remains engaged in a wide variety of tech-based businesses throughout a variety of creative industries.

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Composer, singer, actor, author, and activist – Sting was born in Newcastle, England before moving to London in 1977 to form The Police with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers. The band released five studio albums, earned six Grammy Awards and two Brits, and was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.  Since 1989, Sting has released fourteen solo albums and received an additional 10 Grammy Awards, two Brits, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, three Oscar nominations, Billboard Magazine’s Century Award, and MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year. Also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he received the Kennedy Center Honors in December of 2014. Throughout his enduring career, he has sold close to 100 million albums from his combined work with The Police and as a solo artist.

The Last Ship, his latest release, is inspired by his memories of the shipbuilding community of Wallsend in the North East of England where he was born and raised. A play of the same name, with music and lyrics by Sting, debuted on Broadway in October, 2014 and was heralded by the Associated Press as “thrilling with powerful performances, outstanding songs, and real heart.”  Sting received a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score. He has appeared in more than 15 films and authored two books, including The New York Times best-selling memoir, Broken Music. His support for human rights organizations mirrors his art in its universal outreach. Along with wife Trudie Styler, Sting founded the Rainforest Fund in 1989 to protect both the world’s rainforests and the indigenous people living there.

ROCK PAPER SCISSORS

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR ITINERARY – 2016

Date:                                     City:                                       Venue:                                                 On sale Date:

June 21                                 Columbus, OH                   Nationwide Arena                           Mon. Feb. 1 (10am)

June 23                                 Washington, DC                Verizon Center                                 Mon. Jan 25 (10am)

June 24                                 Wantagh, NY                      Jones Beach                                       Mon. Feb. 1 (10am)

June 26                                 Philadelphia, PA               BB&T Pavilion                                    Mon. Jan. 25 (10am)

June 27                                 New York, NY                    Madison Square Garden               Mon. Jan. 25 (9am)

June 29                                 Toronto, ON                       Air Canada Centre                           Mon. Jan. 25 (10am)

June 30                                 Detroit, MI                          The Palace of Auburn Hills            Mon. Feb. 1 (10am)

July 02                                   Worcester, MA                 DCU Center                                        Mon. Feb. 1 (10am)

July 05                                   Montreal, QC                     Bell Centre                                          Mon. Jan. 25 (10am)

July 07                                   Québec, QC                       Festival d’été de Québec            On sale March 2016

(Plains of Abraham)

July 09                                   Chicago, IL                         United Center                                   Mon. Feb. 1 (10am)

July 10                                   Milwaukee, WI                 Summerfest                                       Mon. Feb. 1 (10am)

July 12                                   Denver, CO                         Pepsi Center                                      Mon. Feb. 1 (10am)

July 14                                   San Jose, CA                       SAP Center at San Jose                  Mon. Jan. 25 (10am)

July 15                                   Lake Tahoe, NV                  Harvey’s                                              Mon. Jan. 25 (10am)

July 17                                   Los Angeles, CA                  Hollywood Bowl                               Mon. Jan. 25 (10am)

July 21                                   Seattle, WA                        Key Arena                                           Mon. Feb. 1 (10am)

July 23                                   Calgary, AB                         Scotiabank Saddledome                 Mon. Jan. 25 (10am)

July 24                                   Edmonton, AB                   Rexall Place                                        Mon. Jan. 25 (10am)

12-year-old Joey Alexander hits #1 on Billboard Jazz Albums

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12-year-old jazz pianist Joey Alexander makes a big chart splash thanks to his profile on CBS’ 60 Minutes (Jan. 3). His My Favorite Things album re-enters chart Billboard 200 at No. 59 (a new peak) with 9,000 sold in pure album sales — up by 3,563 percent. My Favorite Things also gives Alexander his first No. 1 on both the Jazz Albums and Traditional Jazz Albums charts. It flies 22-1 on the former, and re-enters at No. 1 on the latter. Alexander also dots the Jazz Digital Songs chart, as he places five cuts on the 25-position list, including his album’s title cut at No. 6 (1,000 downloads sold; up 1,722 percent).

Via Billboard

Kylo Ren Goes Undercover At Starkiller Base In Saturday Night Live ‘Undercover Boss’ Parody

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Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) goes undercover as Matt, a radar technician, at Starkiller Base in this Saturday Night Live spoof of the hot series, Undercover Boss.