A 4 years girl – wise beyond her years – offers a valuable lesson in self esteem.
Winners at the 2015 JUNO Gala Dinner and Awards
Canada’s music elite gathered to toast 35 JUNO Award winners at the 2015 JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards presented by SiriusXM Canada last night in Hamilton. Hosted by Jessi Cruickshank at the Hamilton Convention Centre, the evening’s festivities featured performances by a spectacular lineup of 2015 JUNO Award nominees and winners, as well as unforgettable tributes to some of the most influential names in Canadian music.
Multiple Award winners at the Gala included alternative singer-songwriter Bahamas, who won honours for both Songwriter of the Year* and Adult Alternative Album of the Year; and electro-dance sensation Kiesza, who earned Dance Recording of the Year and Video of the Year*. Kiesza will also be making her JUNO Award performance debut during the Sunday night Broadcast on CTV from Hamilton’s FirstOntario Centre.
Four other JUNO Awards Broadcast performers also took home statuettes last night, including Hamilton’s own Arkells for Group of the Year; Magic! for Breakthrough Group of the Year*; Lights for Pop Album of the Year* and The Weeknd for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year.
The night’s special award winners included Rush, who received the 2015 Allan Waters Humanitarian Award (sponsored by Bell Media), and music executive Ray Danniels, who was honoured with the 2015 Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award.
Guests at the performance-packed Gala enjoyed numbers by 2015 JUNO Award winner Dallas Smith, nominees Alvvays, Daniel Lanois, and Matt Andersen, as well as a special Blues Jam featuring Crystal Shawanda, JW-Jones, Steve Hill**, Steve Strongman, and The Harpoonist & the Axe Murderer.
Winners of the 2015 Juno Awards as announced at the Hamilton Convention Centre Saturday, March 14.
International Album of the Year: In the Lonely Hour, Sam Smith
Group of the Year: Arkells
Breakthrough Group of the year: Magic!
Songwriter of the year: Bahamas
Country Album of the year: Lifted, Dallas Smith
Adult Alternative Album of the year: Bahamas is Afie, Bahamas
Alternative Album of the Year: July Talk, July Talk
Pop Album of the Year: Little Machines, Lights
Vocal Jazz Album of the Year: Red, Diana Panton
Jazz Album of the Year, Solo: Vista Obscura, Kirk MacDonald
Jazz Album of the Year, Group: Jane Bunnett and Maqueque
Instrumental Album of the Year: Encuentro, Quartango
Francophone Album of the Year: Maladie d’amour, Jimmy Hunt
Children’s Album of the Year: Where in the World, Fred Penner
Classical Album of the Year, Solo or Chamber Ensemble: Bartok, Chamber Works for Violin Vol. 3, James Ehnes
Classical Album of the Year, Large Ensemble: Mozart, Piano Concertos Nos. 22 & 24, Angela Hewitt
Classical Album of the Year, Vocal or Choral Performance: Schubert, Winterreise, Gerald Finley & Julius Drake
Classical Composition of the Year: Airline Icarus, Brian Current
Rap Recording of the Year: The Legends League Presents, Naturally Born Strangers
Dance Recording of the Year: Sound of a Woman, Kiesza
R&B/Soul Recording of the year: Often, The Weeknd
Reggae Recording of the Year: Welcome the King, Exco Levi
Aboriginal Album of the Year: Animism, Tanya Tagaq
Roots & Traditional Album of the Year, Solo: The Raven’s Sun, Catherine MacLellan
Roots & Traditional Album of the Year, Group: Let It Lie, The Brothers Landreth
Blues Album of the Year: Solo Recordings, Vol. 2, Steve Hill
Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year: VIP, Manic Drive
World Music Album of the Year: 500 Years of Night, Quique Escamilla
Producer of the Year: Adam Messinger, for “Rude,” by Magic!
Recording Engineer of the Year: Eric Ratz, “Ghosts,” by Big Wreck
Recording Package of the Year: Roberta Hansen, Mike Latschislaw for “Pilgrimage,” by Steve Bell
Video of the Year: Kiesza, Blayre Ellestad, Rami Afuni and Ljuba Castot, for “Hideaway” by Kiesza
Electronic Album of the Year: Our Love, Caribou
Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year: Z2, Devin Townsend Project
Adult Contemporary Album of the Year: Shine On, Sarah McLachlan
Astronaut Chris Hadfield on Success and the Meaning of Life
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth: What Going to Space Taught Me About Ingenuity, Determination, and Being Prepared for Anything Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield sat down with Peter Mansbridge on CBC’s The National to discuss his experience aboard the International Space Station.
Two thoughts stand out – his words on success and his version of the meaning of life:
If you view crossing the finish line as the measure of your life, you’re setting yourself up for a personal disaster. … Commanding a spaceship or doing a spacewalk is a very rare, singular moment-in-time event in the continuum of life. You need to honor the highs and the peaks in the moments — you need to prepare your life for them — but recognize the fact that the preparation for those moments is your life and, in fact, that’s the richness of your life. … The challenge that we set for each other, and the way that we shape ourselves to rise to that challenge, is life.
I’ve had a tremendous privilege of perspective that almost nobody has had. When you talk about the meaning of life, we tend to think about it as life on Earth. To be away from the planet for a long time and to be able to see it constantly out the window allows you a reflection on it that is really hard to get just in regular day-to-day. So I think if there is any sort of meaning of life, it’s got to be very personal. How does the life that you lead affect your own conclusions about what’s important to you?
The Making Of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
“Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen is found on their 1975 album A Night at the Opera and every few minutes on the radio. The song has no chorus, instead consisting of several sections: a ballad segment ending with a guitar solo, an operatic passage, and a hard rock section. At the time, it was the most expensive single ever made and sold a gazillion copies since then.
Breaking Bad music supervisor on soundtracks, sync budgets
From Music Week:
Interviewed by Music Week editor Tim Ingham at AIM’s recent Sync Conference in London, music supervisor extraordinaire Thomas Golubic discusses his job at length – especially his tricky role as a middle-man between labels/publishers attempting to maximise music fees and TV studios trying to minimise music spend. Golubic managed the soundtracks for hit shows Breaking Bad, Six Feet Under, The Killing and The Walking Dead – gives his thoughts on all aspects of the modern sync world.
Golubic explains that for Breaking Bad, overseen by Sony Pictures, he managed on a significantly smaller music budget than he did years before on Six Feet Under.
“These are big corporations,” he says. “Some of the companies you deal with are a bit more respectful of the role music has, some are less so. It was a bummer to us all the way through that Sony would not loosen the purse strings [for Breaking Bad]. Even when the show was successful, they still didn’t. But I have to recognise they’re a corporate culture and they operate within certain parameters. And to be honest, most studios are not filled with the bravest people. None of them are going to say: ‘It’s important for us to make music a bigger thing.’ They’re just going to say: ‘Here’s what you have, good luck.’”
“I think the honest truth of it is that music was in a way overvalued in the past,” he says. “If you look at it from a purely economic level, the amount of money music was costing to licence and the amount of extra revenue generated as a result was probably not commensurate. It was a set of rules essentially established by different publishers and labels saying: ‘This is how much it should be.’
“Now, the studios ultimately have the power, and they’re saying, screw that, you only have $20,000 to spend so… you’re going to have to shave everything down. We all have to readjust to the idea that the way this ecosystem is going to work has shifted – the Arctic just got colder.”
Led Zeppelin’s Isolated Vocal, Guitar, Drums and Bass Tracks For “Whole Lotta Love”
Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” is one of the greatest opening tracks on any album. This one, though, happened to be on one of the greatest rock albums in history – Led Zeppelin II. The US release became their first hit single, it was certified Gold in April 1970, having sold one million copies. As with other Led Zeppelin songs, no single was released in the United Kingdom, but singles were released in Germany (where it reached number one), the Netherlands (where it reached number four), Belgium and France.
In 2004, the song was ranked number 75 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and in March 2005, Q magazine placed “Whole Lotta Love” at number three in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. It was placed 11 on a similar list by Rolling Stone. In 2009 it was named the third greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1. In 2014, listeners to BBC Radio 2 voted “Whole Lotta Love” as the greatest guitar riff of all time.
VOCAL only (Robert Plant):
GUITAR only (Jimmy Page)–check out what Page does starting at the 1:54 mark:
SLIDE GUITAR/THEREMIN/MISC. GUITAR overdubs only (Jimmy Page)
BASS (John Paul Jones):
MusiCounts celebrates JUNO Week with nearly $600,000 going to 69 schools nationwide via Band Aid Program
MusiCounts celebrated JUNO Week by announcing the 2014-2015 recipients of the Band Aid Program via a special presentation at Orchard Park Secondary School in Hamilton. This year, the charity has distributed $595,000 in musical instruments among 69 schools nationwide in support of their individual music programs. SiriusXM Canada announced a contribution of $100,000 to MusiCounts’ Band Aid Program, which brings their total support to date up to over $1.3 million.
“Providing funding for music education is not just about creating the next generation of JUNO Award winning artists, it’s about giving students the tools that will help turn them into creative, and critical thinkers that will achieve success later in life,” said Allan Reid, President & CEO, CARAS/The JUNO Awards & MusiCounts. “We are tremendously thankful for all of our long-term key partners who make this possible, especially SiriusXM Canada who has been supporting MusiCounts over the past seven years.”
“SiriusXM Canada is pleased to contribute another $100,000 to the Band Aid Grant program through MusiCounts,” said Paul Cunningham, SVP, Sales and Marketing, SiriusXM Canada. “We’re so delighted to bring this news to Hamilton’s Orchard Park Secondary School and we’re looking forward to working with Allan, CARAS and MusiCounts for the remainder of the year to see the success of the program here and at schools across the country.”
As one of the 69 beneficiaries, Orchard Park Secondary School received $10,000 worth of new instruments. At the presentation, the instruments purchased were unveiled to the students by past JUNO Award winner and 2015 nominee Lights, following an acoustic performance of her hits “Running with the Boys,” “Up We Go” and a cover of Drake’s “Hold On, We’re Going Home” to an excited auditorium. A dedicated supporter of MusiCounts, Lights recently selected the organization as her charity of choice for a campaign with Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt. Yesterday, 20% of all yogurt sales from all Menchie’s across Canada were donated to MusiCounts.
“Congratulations on the new instruments, this is really amazing! Being here today brings back so many memories of high school,” says Lights. “One place I always felt at home growing up was in the music room. I was lucky because I had a teacher who really inspired me and made me realize how important it is to have music in your life. Music brings people together, it’s real life magic.”
Over 600 students were in attendance for MusiCounts’ Band Aid presentation today, along with music industry supporters, fellow partners and additional representatives from other Toronto-based schools receiving funding this year.
Infographic: 12 Data-Backed Tips to Increase Your Conversion Rate on Twitter
By now, most marketers know that Twitter isn’t just a great medium for creating and reinforcing your brand image — it’s also a tool for reaching fans of your business who can become leads (and, ultimately, sales).
But simply knowing that Twitter can make you money isn’t enough: Marketers need to be armed with the best way to execute on this knowledge. Right now, only 34% of marketers use Twitter to successfully generate leads. The problem isn’t understanding how to use Twitter — it’s understanding how to use Twitter to build a business.
So, to help you optimize your Twitter presence to generate leads and sales, HubSpot teamed up with Market Domination Media to create the infographic below. While every business should test what works best for them, you can use these statistics and tips to get started using Twitter..
Rush’s Neil Peart says what a lot of artists are thinking, but rarely talks about
Rush drummer Neil Peart says he’s in two minds about touring again as he doesn’t want to leave his family for an extended period of time. Nobody’s said it officially yet, but it’s a possibility this current tour might just be Rush’s last. His quote is one sentiment I’ve heard from many artists – both young and vets of the road – family will come first, last and always.
“It’s a true dilemma – there’s no right answer. People say to me, ‘Are you still excited when you go on tour?’ Should I be excited about leaving my family? No, and no one should. It’s as simple as that: if you put aside the fantasy of it, it is what it is and has to be done. And that’s fine and I pour my entire energy and enthusiasm into it, but of course, I’m of two minds about the whole idea.”
And he says the thought of leaving his five-year-old daughter Olivia leaves him with feelings of guilt.
He continues: “I’ve been doing this for 40 years – I know how to compartmentalise, and I can stand missing her, but I can’t stand her missing me and it’s painful and impossible to understand for her. How can a small child process that? And there’s the guilt that comes with that – you fell guilty about it, of course. I’m causing pain.”
Via Prog Magazine