Four suggestions for an Online music meeting:

1. Marianas Trench – Cross My Heart.
Here’s a great track by a band that kicks ass live, writes hooky, modern sounding songs with classic form and substance, can sing like the Beach Boys and or the Four Freshmen when they want to, and have an existing young fan base and a career ahead of them fueled by great response on various net sites. They could break through in the ‘mainstream’ if radio lends support. If you’re not already playing this track, you should be ashamed of yourself…this song is a hit.

2. Chinese Food – Test Pilot
An edgier take on the Dire Straits infectious drive, kind of a Tom Petty guitar base with a little distortion thrown in. Great record and it seems to indicate they have a maturity that will keep them making good music.

3. Justin Nozuka – Golden Train
This kid is consistent as hell. Another great track that has ‘career artist’ written all over it. An easy groove and terrific vocal performance. I believe him. So will your listeners.

4. The Hundreds And Thousands – Rat Race
Reminds me of ‘60’s British New Wave with a modern sensibility and a toe tapping Jedi mind trick groove that makes me want to dance. Fine production and a band that sounds like they’ve played together for a while and are on the same page. Anybody seen these guys live?

Fails of the week
Stephen Page
J.D Fortune
Whitney Houston
Amy Whinehouse
The guy that came up with those stupid Oscar medleys

Oscar Medleys…Way to piss off Peter Gabriel, Dude…
One of the mainstays in a band leaves after 20 years, and things will never be the same
For whatever reasons, imagined or real, Stephen Page has left the Ladies to pursue a solo career while Ed Robertson will soldier on with the rest of the crew. I wish them all continued success. My only question will be answered soon enough…will the band remain the Barenaked Ladies now that Stephen has put on his clothes?

I would suggest that J.D Fortune do an album called Blow Blew My Career, but I’m afraid some people might take me seriously.

The Net Wars: Pirate Bay & the CRTC
Everybody in the entertainment world is keeping a vigilant eye on the Pirate Bay trial underway in Sweden. The outcome could be a precedent setting decision for the availability and downloading of intellectual property all over the world.

The CRTC has an opportunity to man up and help bring the music/tv/movie industries in Canada into a competitive position worldwide by encouraging investors to think long and hard about who should get their support. Passionate, talented artists with vision and ideas that have a chance to succeed with the proper budgets and support, or more of the same material from the same architects that cut costs, shoot low, and have long received funding support because they ‘know’ people and have someone on their team that knows how to fill out those tedious application forms.

The Homogenization of Terrestrial Radio
With the addition of Alice Cooper’s syndicated show on at least one major market Corus FM, we see yet another example of the receding amount of locally produced programming. Want to save money? Fire your street teams and hire jocks that actually hang out and go to clubs and events. Get a profile and street cred with your listeners.

We get the Coop’s fine radio show, sure – but we lose an opportunity to hear local acts and news about local shows, connect with an interesting on-air personality we could call, and of course, one more shift is eliminated at the station. Now we have Ryan Seacrest, Little Steven, Coop, but then so does everyone else.

There used to be creativity, talent, and pride in being the first to expose local music in Canada. I guess these elements got chopped in the budget too.

Cheap Shots
Brett Michael’s reality show: A forty-something guy in a bandana with lots of dough refuses to meet a nice, intelligent woman and settle down in favour of wooing a bucket of skanks that look like professional cougars and out of work strippers. Mrs. Right? He has a better chance of finding skunks.

Sarah Jessica Parker has replaced Jennifer Garner as the spokesperson for Garnier Shampoo. Possibly the 3rd sign of the End Days…aside to Mathew Broderic. Get her a cookbook and a nice selection of pots and pans, or tie her up before going to work so we don’t run into her by accident.

Bono: I liked rock stars better when they didn’t say stuff… No one cared to hear what they said anyway.

I really want to meet Chad Kroeger and the Burger King and I want to meet them at the same time. Just want to make sure they’re not one and the same.

Don’t forget the question for next week’s Monday Morning Mailbag:
Name the top 10 Venues you have either seen a show at or performed in. Your criteria should include sound, sightlines, treatment, and any other information you think makes the venue a good one. Please try to keep your comments and mentions of bad venues brief…but please comment. If you can’t think of 10, any lesser amount will do. I’ll print my list along with yours next Monday. The deadline for submissions is Friday, Feb. 27, at 11:59 pm…otherwise, I’ll be working until 3:00 am Monday morning trying to get it all together.

That’s enough for now. Email me at radioresurrected@gmail.com with your comments, complaints, and thoughts…and remember…don’t believe a word I say.

Bob “The Iceman” Segarini was in the bands The Family Tree, Roxy, The Wackers, The Dudes, and The Segarini Band and nominated for a Juno for production in 1978. He also hosted “Late Great Movies” on CITY TV, was a producer of Much Music, and an on-air personality on CHUM FM, Q107, SIRIUS Sat/Rad’s Iceberg 95, (now 85), and now provides content for  radiothatdoesntsuck with RadioZombie, The Iceage, and PsychShack. Along with the love of his life, Jade (Pie) Dunlop, (who hosts and writes “I’ve Heard That Song Before” on RTDS), continues to write, make music, and record.