Updated at 6:13 p.m.
Some of Canada’s top Country artists will be recording a song dedicated to Canadian troops killed in combat and their families on the sidelines of the Canadian Country Music Association Awards gala in Edmonton this weekend. The project, called We Salute our Heroes, was conceptualized by The Vancouver Province deputy editor Fabian Dawson and Kelowna-based entrepreneur Barry Stecyk of HevyD’s Kettle Korn. The song, entitled Standing Strong and True for Tomorrow, is written by Ron Irving and Lynda McKillip…
Hailed as “the Bob Dylan of Iran” by the New York Times,, Mohsen Namjoo fled his homeland to live in America-the-free where he could pursue his traditional Persian music fused with western blues and rock without fear of reprisal (and make a buck or two). With his band and full live orchestra, Namjoo takes the stage at Toronto’s newly renovated Sony Centre for the Performing Arts on Saturday, October 16…
Here’s a sweet novelty song by Reunion, studio musicians Joey Levine, Norman Dolph, and Paul DiFranco. The lyrics harken back to a day when we would hang in for an eternity to hear the DJ spin that one song we just had to hear one more time. And, when it was announced, we’d hit the rotary phone to tell friends the ‘news’. It was a time when we’d borrow dad’s car and crank the volume to listen through that single dashboard speaker that was custom made for those mono discs with the hole in the middle. Oh, but life was so simple then, the music universe finite, the songs so sweet, the tunes we knew off by heart–and there wasn’t a chance in hell we were ever going to hear “our” music in the supermarket or a shopping mall…
CNN has made it official. Veteran British tabloid journalist turned media personality Piers Morgan will host a new interview program launching in January 2011 at 9:00 pm ET/PT following the retirement of Larry King. Morgan will
continue to write his two regular columns for the UK’s Mail on Sunday newspaper – one on sports, the other a weekly diary of his life – and he will also provide regular columns to CNN.com. He will be based in New York, and also work from Los Angeles and London.Expect lots of glamour, lots of digs at the Royal family and plenty of hardball questions that will have guests squirming, attract a ton of media attention and, hopefully, dig the network’s ratings out of the toilet bowl…
New York Radio Market Radio is breaking conventional rules to showcase the unconventional and too often undervalued influence of radio in today’s marketing universe during Advertising Week in NYC. The association is on a mission to help advertisers discover how forward-thinking companies are using radio and all of its tentacles to creatively engage loyal audiences and integrate their messages across successful audio, digital, video and social media assets – in many cases, right down to carrying audiences to retail locations and moving the needle.
So their exclusive “Rated R†event in Times Square features unconventional personalities such as keynote & brand pioneer Sir Richard Branson and Dennis Miller — RBR…
Mi2N — There has been a change in the weather in the ongoing Death Row Records owner dispute between the company’s former CEO/President Lara Lavi and Canadian banker, Ron Ovenden who is the Chairman of New Solutions Capital, the private lending company that loaned part of the money to purchase the Death Row Records and Suge Knight Publishing Assets in a California Bankruptcy Proceeding in Jan. 2009 – more here
The xx’s success at the Mercury Prize was the latest triumph for a small, discerning and influential independent record label that is also home to MIA, Vampire Weekend, Adele and Sigur Ros.
XL was born in the DIY rave era of the 1980s and broadened its musical horizons by reportedly beating 17 competitors to sign Badly Drawn Boy, opening the door for a more diverse range of acts. Dizzee Rascal followed in 2003 and Thom Yorke signed to XL to release his solo debut in 2006. That deal led XL to be the label of choice when Radiohead put out a physical version of their last album In Rainbows. Last February, when British artists swept the board at the Grammy Awards in LA, the label with the most UK nominees in the main four Grammy categories – record, song and album of the year, plus best new artist – was not a major, but XL. Radiohead, Adele and MIA all earned Grammy nominations that year, and XL’s status on the world stage was confirmed this January when Vampire Weekend’s 2nd Âalbum Contra became the 1st record from a British indie label to reach number one in the US for 20 years — BBC…
The Dears launch the release of an as-yet untitled new album with 3 nights in Montreal, Toronto and 2 in NYC starting Sept.29. The gigs are designed to almost exclusively showcase the new material. Dates and locations available via the band’s website and while you are there, watch a cinema vérité video taken at a show in Mexico in early summer…
Four and a half months after an Apple license change led Adobe Systems to scrap a project to bring Flash-derived applications to the iPhone, Apple has reversed the ban, CNET reports. Apple undid license restrictions for software developed for iOS devices on Thursday, saying it was taking developer feedback to heart. “We are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code,” Apple said in a statement…
Roots Three Music/ole, a co-venture between ole, one of the world’s largest independent music publishers, and Roots Three, Publishing division of RGK Entertainment Group, has signed songwriter and Open Road Recordings artist Dean Brody to a worldwide publishing deal. Brody is currently riding high on the Country chart at #6 with the single Roll That Barrel Out from his sophomore album, Trail in Life. Brody has 5 nominations at the upcoming CCMA Awards including Songwriter of the Year and will be one of the featured artists at FanFest on Sept. 11 in Edmonton…
When Edmonton was announced as the site of this year’s Country Music Week, Canadian Country Music Association chair Jackie-Rae Greening said it was like “country coming home,” calling Alberta the market for country music in Canada. This year, there’s a lot to brag about. Alberta artists and bands nominated for CCMA Awards include Gord Bamford, Corb Lund, Terri Clark, Hey Romeo, Shane Yellowbird, Jaydee Bixby, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Shane Chisholm, The Higgins and High Valley Better than that, there’s a rich bottom line. The “party” is worth between $5 million and $7 million to Edmonton’s
economy, much of that being spent at restaurants and hotels, the Edmonton Journal reports. When the awards show is held in Alberta, about 65% of the 700 or so delegates who attend are from out of province. Edmonton hosted the event in 2000 and again in 2004…
Arts & Culture Day Canada on Sept. 23 has the CBC inviting listeners to the Jian Ghomeshi show to celebrate your event or celebration on TV. Register your expression on the website here and find out more about this unique interactive engagement in Canada’s culture…
Police descended on 48 separate sites in European countries yesterday in a dramatic crackdown on internet piracy. Sweden was the site of arguably the highest-profile raids. Included in the raid, Â the offices of PRQ, which authorities believed to host perennial whistle-blowers WikiLeaks and torrent aggregator The Pirate Bay. The Eurostrike was masterminded by the Belgian police, and followed a two-year investigation into various firms and servers…
Montreal performance artist Amanda Mabro fuses artistic sensibility with a spectacular live show. A sassy songstress with a multicultural background, Mambro has toured in Europe and North America and won high praise from music critics for her powerful soul and caberet-styled vocals. Her latest project, the Wine Flows and Red Rows sister EPs, present her gorgeous larger-than-life vocal prowess with inspiring and original songs. She has several dates in Toronto in the coming months, including a free show at Yonge-Dundas Square on Sept. 23 between 1:30 and 3 pm. In the accompanying video she renders the Kinks’ Alcohol with a raw sensibility and unique flair. Other shows in Montreal and elswhere can be found on her MySpace page…
Singer-songwriter duo Madison Violet has been announced as the winner of the Maxell Song of the Year Award from the 2010 John Lennon Songwriting Contest (JLSC) for their original song The Ransom, taken from the band’s Juno Award-nominated album No Fool for Trying. The Toronto-based duo of Brenley MacEachern and Lisa MacIsaac was chosen from a field of more than 1,000 entries, and will be awarded $20,000 courtesy of Maxell, in addition to other prizes…
Grammy-winning rap mogul Eminem has a new publishing home. The Michigan-based star inked an exclusive, worldwide administration agreement Tuesday with Universal Music Publishing Group. The deal encompasses tracks on Eminem’s multi-platinum, ‘05 greatest hits collection Curtain Call, the ‘06 Shady Records album Eminem Presents: The Re-Up, songs co-written on rapper 50 Cent’s The Massacre album and the hit song Smack That, produced by Akon and featuring Eminem. It also includes any new songs he writes and a joint venture with the rapper’s Shady Music Publishing that allows the rapper and manager Paul Rosenberg to sign other artists and writers, reports AP…
Sean Wilentz, an American history professor at Princeton U  and “historian-in-residence” at BobDylan.com, traces Dylan’s influence on American culture in his new book, Bob Dylan in America. The Atlantic online has published an interview with the author who has a number of notable observations to make. For example: “One of the things Bob Dylan did was almost single-handedly kill Tin Pan Alley—the whole traditional form of publishing and producing and recording music. Now, his doing that changed music for everybody. That doesn’t mean people are going to be writing and singing and performing the way he does, but they’re not going to be performing anything like the world of Tin Pan Alley before Bob Dylan 
Marcy Playground’s Sept. 28 release, Indaba Remixes from Wonderland, features fan remixes from around the world. Frontman John Wozniak says this is the 1st time an entire album has been produced using collaborative space Indaba Music com’s worldwide community. The mixes were judged by the band, with the prize being the opportunity to have the winning mixes included on the album. Better still, winners will be paid a royalty for their contribution. Canada’s contribution is the 13th and final track—Down the Drain: Morsecode Remix by Neil Morrisey. More details and full-track listing at www.marcyplayground.com…
Astral-owned Hamilton AM, 820 CHAM has announced that award winning Canadian singer/songwriter Jason McCoy will headline an exclusive concert to officially welcome country back to Hamilton at the Studio at Hamilton Place on Friday, Sept. 24. In addition to being a successful marquee act in his own right, McCoy is also a member of the country-rock trio The Roadhammers. Brand manager for the station, Drew Keith says he’s thrilled to be bringing Country Music back to Hamilton, “hence we wanted to throw a big party with one of our favourite guys, Jason McCoy.†CHAM is the only Country music format that can be heard in the Toronto GTA and has a 25 year history with the format with the exception of a flip to all-talk that was discontinued in July of this year…
Canada
Biz — Doc Walker, Shane Yellowbird, Tambura Rasa, You Say Party, Grapes of Wrath and We Are The City are among the acts announced yesterday to perform at a 3-day Breakout Festival in Kelowna, BC over the weekend of Oct. 22. The event is tied to the Western Canadian Music & Industry Awards. Complete details at the Breakout West website…
Ladies Of the Canyon’s Maia Davies has joined the Advisory Board of Balanced Copyright for Canada, a national organization that supports the federal government’s introduction of the Copyright Modernization Act (Bill C-32). “Pirate download sites have been a catastrophe for me and many artists in my circle, making it now nearly impossible for us to make a living as recording artists. Compensation for our recorded music not only represents a significant part of our would-be income, but is justly deserved by those whose art is being distributed to listeners,” Davies said. “Artists and the people who invest in them deserve a law that protects their work from theft and unauthorized use on the Internet.”
Cultural groups and broadcasters are lining up to be part of the CRTC’s new media working group following the Aug. 31 deadline to apply to participate. The Wire Report has confirmed that the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC), the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC), the Alliance and Radio Artists (ACTRA), the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC), Rogers Communications Inc., Bell Canada and the CBC have applied to be members of the working group. The CRTC has yet to announce who will be part of the group…
The Ontario Superior Court has granted Canwest, Canwest Media Inc. and subsidiaries an extension under bankruptcy act, from Sept. 8 to Nov. 5. The transaction between Canwest and Shaw Communications Inc. remains subject to certain conditions, including CRTC approval. Public hearings on the proposed transaction are scheduled Sept. 20. On the closing date of the transaction, Canwest will be delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange. In addition to the Global TV Network, Canwest operates 19 specialty channels, 20 online properties and an ownership stake in 5 specialty channels…
The Stanfields lead the pack with 6 nominations, followed by Dave Gunning, David Myles, Ghettosocks, Amelia Curran, Rose Cousins. and Myles with 4 each in the Nova Scotia Music Awards, to be held at the Yarmouth Mariners Centre on Sunday, Nov. 7. A panel of judges selected the first round nominees and the membership gets to vote on the winners. A separate Industry Awards brunch is to be held the day previous. A complete list of Music and Industry nominees and further details can be found here…
Promoter Rob Bennett brings the all-star Experience Hendrix tour to the refurbished Sony Centre on Oct. 28. Tickets for the show that includes Billy Cox, Steve Vai, Living Colour, Ernie Isley, David Hidalgo & Cesar Rosas, among others, are scaled between $89.50 and 59.50. The $30m renovation of the 3,000 soft-seater, which opened its doors as the O’Keefe Centre 50 years ago as of Oct. 1, includes new seats and carpet in the proscenium theatre, new washrooms, restoration of the commissioned mural and removal of gypsum in the front foyer to reveal the original marble pillars. An acoustic curtain has also been installed, allowing 1,000 seat events to be scaled in the venue….
Event company Oye Canada, a partnership between Donald K. Tarlton, Steve Herman and Matt Zimbel has closed up shop and its operations absorbed into Montreal-based DKD Events. The firm handled large spectacles such as the Canada Olympics and Canada Day on the hill in Ottawa…
Sadly we neglected to note the passing of Miriam Braidberg, affectionately known to most simply as Mimi, proprietor of Mimi’s Restaurant and blintz house in Toronto. Well, neglected she is no more. The unofficial house mom to many a struggling musician, her generosity and kindness was celebrated with an all-star cast of singers and musicians at The ‘Shoe last night in Toronto. Mimi’s house band consisted of Tony Quarrington on guitar, Denis Keldie on keys and accordion, Greg Bob Scott on drums, and Terry Wilkins on bass. Among those joining the qaurtet on stage: Molly Johnson, Micah Barnes, Kurt Swinghammer, Big Rude Jake, Jaymz Bee, Bob Wiseman, Russell deCarle, Lee Harvey Osmond, and Blue Rodeo closing the show with Bazil Donovan joining on stage for a set that included Galveston. Congrats to David “Blue†Bluestein for pulling the event together…
International
IP specialist Fiona Macmillan pens a sobering and instructive article for The Guardian about how big business lobbies to subvert the larger good when it comes to copyright and patent reform…
Soccer and The Local still rule in the land of take-out curries and mushy peas: Sales at HMV UK and Ireland fell 13.9% in the 19 weeks to Sept. 4, with the company blaming the World Cup and a weak games market…
Live Nation stock took has taken another hit following an influential Stifel, Nicolas & Company analyst lowering his rating from a “buy†to a “holdâ€. Ben Mogil lowered his rating of on concerns about Live Nation’s financial guarantees to artists which he says need to be significantly reduced. – Ticket News
Ticket News reports Broadway box-office receipts last week totalled $16,6m, only slightly stronger than the previous week at $16,1m. Overall, the gross this year is $298m compared to $291m, same time last year…
Talent – Portuguese-Canadian songbird Nelly Furtado, salsa superstar Marc Anthony and Spanish poster Enrique Iglesias are among the brand-name artists scoring noms for this year’s Latin Grammy Awards…
Leonard Cohen will close out his world tour with four US shows in December, the final concerts at Coliseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Cohen, who turns 76 later this month, plans to return to the studio next year to record his first album of new material since 2004′s Dear Heather. As he can take as long as a year to write a single song, it’s expected that Lenny will be off the road for a time to come…
Tim Hus fronts the hardest-working traveling band in western Canada, and one that plays about 250 dates a year. And despite that, he’s only played in Toronto twice before. Currently on tour with his band backing up Stompin’ Tom Connors out west, Hus is returning to Toronto’s â€home†of good rockin’ Canadian music, Queen Street’s Cadillac Lounge in Parkdale with his band for an early two-hour show on Fri. Sept. 24. Except to hear some Stompin’ Tom yarns from the Calgarian who’s made a name for himself playing old-time cowboy music…
Jimmy Page’s upcoming autobiography is lacking the inside skinny on Zeppelin back in the day when they personified debauchery and destruction on the road, but it does come with a hefty price tag. The personally autographed, 500-page Moroccan leather hand-bound memoir, with a print run of 2,500 copies will sell for upwards of $600 on this side of the pond. That is, if any copies are left for purchase after Jimmy’s deep-pocketed friends have sprung for a copy or two. Oh, shipping and handling are extra, The Guardian reports…
We try to avoid the mundane but the fact that Marilyn Manson has cast aside his ‘shock’ look in favour of a baseball shirt and a mullet we thought worth reporting on. The ghoul is now an all American boy for his upcoming role on HBO’s Eastbound and Down
Obits — John Kluge, founder of Metromedia stations that were sold to Rupert Murdoch to form the core of the Fox network, aged 95.
Comments about inclusions above, please write dfarrell@fyimusic.ca
