Hollerin' with joy

Hollerado is the winner of Live 88.5 FM's Big Money Shot contest in Ottawa, Ont. Live is one of two radio stations in Canada offering big paydays to up 'n' coming artists. The Big Money Shot awarded $250,000 to Hollerado last Friday, Nov. 27.

The Peak, a station in Vancouver, will award $150,000 to the winner of its contest -- the Peak Performance Project -- in January. The top three finalists will be announced Monday, Dec. 14. You can still vote for your favourite contestant until the end of today -- Monday, Nov. 30 (I can't believe December is just around the freakin' corner. Where did the year ... and the decade go? Do I really have to come up with lists of my fave albums, singles, and concerts for the '00s? It all feels like such a blur.)

As for Hollerado, the winning foursome flew to China only hours after collecting their cheque. Seriously -- they'll be performing in cities such as Shanghai, Wuhan and Yangshua over the next 19 days. (You'll be able to follow their exploits on Exclaim!'s site.) Their next Canadian tour is scheduled for February -- to coincide with the re-release of their debut, Record In A Bag, on Feb. 9. Juliette is the first single.

I'm 18 again ...

For more than 15 years, Elizabeth Fraser was the haunting voice of Cocteau Twins. The British trio broke up in 1998 and tried to reunite in 2005. (She initially agreed, then had second thoughts.)

Moses, a tribute to Echo & The Bunnymen's late keyboard player, is Fraser's first single in a decade. You can listen to a snippet of it on The Guardian's website and read the results of her first interview since the '90s.

Jammin' with Jann

Jann Arden's next album of covers? Reggae versions of all her hits. Here's a snippet of I Would Die For You, courtesy of vwayner, from Wednesday's show at the Jubilee Auditorium. (She did it again on Thursday.) Sweet, mon.

It was a treat to see Arden as just a fan, not a reviewer. For once, I wasn't thinking about leads, segues, or taking notes ... I was able to escape and lose myself in her music. Here's Fawnda Mithrush's Journal review of Arden's Wednesday show.

Out and about

Two members of Edmonton’s Shout Out Out Out Out are trying a little experiment this weekend. Nik Kozub and Jason Troock will be writing and recording a track while shoppers browse through jewelry, clothing and other doodads at the Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair.

The electro duo will be working in a makeshift studio for the duration of the fair, which runs Saturday, Nov. 28 and Sunday, Nov. 29 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre, 8426 Gateway Boulevard. The track will be available — for a small fee — at the end of the two days. Admission to Royal Bison is $2.

The fair, masterminded by designer/publisher/musician Raymond Biesinger, will celebrate with a little pre-party on Friday, Nov. 27 at Teddy's, 11361 Jasper Avenue. The event will feature vendors, DJs, bands and a fashion show. Tickets are $10 at Nokomis, $12 at the door.

In other Shout Out-related news, Kozub is working on a remix of one of Hawksley Workman's new songs, Snow Angel. Cool.

Reach for the Peak

One lucky musician — or band — from British Columbia is about to become $150,000 richer. Vancouver’s adult alternative radio station, The Peak 100.5 FM, is offering one of the largest cash prizes in the history of Canadian musical contests.

The winner of the Peak Performance Project will be decided by a mix of fan votes, performances, demos, work ethic, and a panel of industry experts. The contest “is designed to educate, promote, develop and hopefully launch the careers of some of BC’s top up and coming artists,” says the project’s website.

Nineteen artists are vying for the top prize, including indie-rockers Bend Sinister, house/reggae/hip-hop act Wassabi Collective, and pop chanteuse Adaline. Fans across Canada can vote for their favourite HERE until Monday, Nov. 30 at 11:59 p.m. (PST).

The top three finalists will be revealed, in no particular order, on Monday, Dec. 14. The $150,000 winner will be announced at a concert in January, but the first two runner-ups won’t leave empty-handed. They'll receive $75,000 and $50,000 for their efforts.

In comparison, the winners of the Polaris Music Prize for best Canadian album win $20,000, while the winners of the Verge Music Awards receive $25,000.

If selected as one of the lucky three, Adaline says she would use her winnings to record the follow-up to her debut, Famous For Fire. (The money must be used towards their music careers and not to buy cars or take vacations in Fiji.)

“The money is the carrot dangling in front of your face,” says the part-time Vancouver waitress. “I’m so ready to record a new album but I don’t have the money. To see it in your grasp and to know the money equals creative expression and the freedom to do that, I wouldn’t have to serve beef tenderloin for the next 10 years. It’s insanely motivating.”

As part of the contest, each contestant received $3,500 to show off their work ethic and drum up some buzz. Adaline used hers to shoot a snazzy ‘50s-style video for Whiter/Straighter, a sly and bouncy piano number (posted above). It looks like it paid off — both MuchMusic and Bravo added the clip to their playlists.

About 450 musicians and groups applied to take part in the Peak Performance Project. It kicked off with a boot camp, where 20 finalists spent a week writing songs, performing, and learning from industry experts.(One contestant ended up leaving the boot camp after only a few days.)

“There’s very little sense of competition between anyone,” says Adaline. “If it was all based on votes, it would be cut-throat. But because it’s not, it allows us to support each other, so we all kind of win in that sense.”

The Peak Performance Project is slated to run for the next six years.

An Ottawa modern rock station, Live 88.5 FM, runs a similar contest with an even larger payday — $250,000 for the winner. Five bands, including Hollerado, are in contention for this year's pot. Live's Big Money Shot winner will be announced on the evening of Friday, Nov. 27.

Consider this

Local cowboy Corb Lund will be on NPR's All Things Considered TODAY at 3:30 p.m. (MST). (Thanks to Zureen for the tip!)

Death to dark days

“It was a moment of revelation for me. I was really feeling a lot of darkness inside and it was my heart song, calling for help. It’s a pretty personal and spiritual song for me.”-- singer Becky Ninkovic talks about writing the lyrics to You Say Party! We Say Die!'s song, Dark Days. Listen to it HERE.

Read about Dark Days and the rest of YSP! WSD!'s new synth-punk album, XXXX, in the Edmonton Journal. The Vancouver fivesome will perform Friday, Nov. 27 at New City with Little Girls and Christian Hansen & The Autistics. Advance tickets are $10 at the New City Likker Box and Megatunes.

Quest for flyer

Jay Sparrow’s wailing single, The Ballad of Mary White, is now available on iTunes. The local tunesmith was one of 13 acts to pen a song about a specific Canadian location for CBC Radio 2. Both the artists and the spots were selected by listeners as part of the Great Canadian Song Quest.

Sparrow was tasked with writing about the Hoodoos/Badlands of Alberta. “It was a little daunting so I wrote a few different ideas and did some rough demos,” he says. “Then I sat back and listened to them to try and decide what was the most fitting sentiment. I wanted the song to represent some of the Badlands’s history. The song is a fictional story about the first child born of a first nations mother and a European father.”

Sparrow and his fellow Questers only had four weeks to write their tunes. The results, including Kim Barlow’s Dawson City and Chantal Kreviazuk’s In Waskada Somewhere, were aired earlier this week. All the songs are on iTunes — either separately or as an album. Listen to snippets on CBC Radio 2's website.

“I listened to the whole record (Tuesday) while driving and I was really impressed,” says Sparrow. “It feels like there is some cohesion among all of the songs which is surprising considering the diversity of the songwriters. I really enjoy the contributions from Joel Plaskett and also The Deep Dark Woods.”

Plaskett’s tune, On the Rail, is about the Cabot Trail in Nova Scota. The Deep Dark Woods wrote Charlie’s (is coming down), inspired by a bar in The Plains Hotel in Regina, Sask. The hotel, compared to the Strath on Whyte Avenue, will be torn down in the new year. A new hotel/condo development will reportedly take its place.

Sparrow is also in the redevelopment phase of his career. After fronting Edmonton’s Murder City Sparrows, he is now releasing his own raggedy folk-punk discs, including Good Days Gone. (One of his tracks, Lay Yr Mountain Down, is posted below.) His next, produced by Jimmy Gnecco of Ours, is slated for 2010.

Sparrow will perform Wednesday, Jan. 27 at Myer Horowitz Theatre.

Another Gold Rush

Former Polaris nominee and Toronto singer-songwriter Basia Bulat will reveal part of her heart on Wednesday, March 3 at the Starlite Room. Tickets are $15 plus service charges at Ticketmaster.

Bulat will be releasing her second album, Heart Of My Own, on Jan. 26. (Gold Rush is the first song.) It's the follow-up to Oh My Darling, which was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize in 2008.

More gigs:

* Misfits with No Problem: Wednesday, Dec. 9 at New City. Tickets are $40 plus service charges. On sale HERE.

* Behemoth with The Shining (and this name always makes me laugh) Septic Flesh: Friday, Jan. 22 at the Starlite Room. Tickets are $20 plus service charges at Ticketmaster.

* Charley Pride (nice man, but again?): Thursday, May 6 at the Jubilee Auditorium. Tix are $67.90 and $76.90 WITH service charges at Ticketmaster. Read more about the Jube/TM ticket project HERE.

Nothing stops King Khan

If you haven't figured it out by now, The King Khan & BBQ Show WILL be making their Thursday, Nov. 26 show at the Pawn Shop.

The duo's tour manager was arrested for possession of a controlled substance last week in Kentucky, forcing the garage-rock duo to cancel some of their U.S. dates. Not suprisingly, King Khan wasn't too happy with the ensuing media coverage.

Tickets are $18 plus service charges at Ticketmaster, Blackbyrd and Megatunes. Doors are at 8 p.m. Those Darlins and Sub-Linguals are also on the bill.

The Advantage returns

Yes!

After making their first trip to Edmonton in June, The Rural Alberta Advantage will be returning on Saturday, Feb. 13 at The Pawn Shop. Tickets are $13 plus service charges at Ticketmaster, Megatunes and Blackbyrd. On sale: Saturday, Nov. 28.

The Toronto trio, starring Edmonton native and frontman Nils Edenloff, are one of the success stories of 2009. Their pop-country-electronica ode to wild rose country, Hometowns, was re-released on Saddle Creek in July. Not only did it connect with Canadian listeners -- it hit the top of the national campus radio charts in August -- Hometowns is earning raves around the world.

The RAA will also be playing in Winnipeg (Feb. 9, West End Cultural Centre) and Vancouver (Feb. 15, Elizabeth Theatre) as part of the Cultural Olympiad.

"Missed by all"

November 23, 2009

Released on behalf of the Neale family:

At 39 years of age Juno Award-winning artist Haydain Neale of jacksoul passed away Sunday, November 22, 2009 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, after a very private seven month battle with lung cancer.

On a beautiful, sunny morning with his wife Michaela, daughter Yasmin, brother-in-law Shawn Hudson and friends Davide DiRenzo and Jennifer Hyland by his side, Haydain passed away peacefully.

Throughout his rehabilitation after a car accident in August 2007 and during his illness, Haydain always maintained a positive spirit.

In a statement from his wife Michaela; “Through all these challenges, Haydain’s sense of humour and love of music were ever-present. He constantly brightened the room with his singing and his smile. His joyful presence and beautiful voice will be missed by us all.”

An interment with a private family gathering will take place later this week.

The family appreciates your messages of condolence but requests that you respect their privacy during this difficult time. Messages can be left at www.jacksoul.com

(Blogger's note: Jacksoul's first album since Neale's car accident, SOULmate, was scheduled for release next Tuesday, Dec. 1. There's no word from Sony as to whether the label will change its plans.)

Must be Monday ... more gigs announced

* American Music Award winner Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert will headline the 2010 edition of Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose.

The country camp-out, which runs July 29 to Aug. 1, will also feature sets by Tracy Lawrence, The Oak Ridge Boys, Jack Ingram, Doc Walker, Chrystal Shawanda, and the king of generosity, Kevin Costner & Modern West.

The Hollywood actor and his bandmates were waiting to perform at this year’s Big Valley when a wind storm ravaged the mainstage, killing a Lloydminster mother, Donna Moore, and injuring dozens of others. Afterwards, Costner donated several items — including a dinner with himself — at Global Edmonton’s auction to raise money for Moore’s two young sons.

Early-bird Jamboree tickets are now on sale. Three-day adult and youth passes are $155 plus service charges until Jan. 29. They’re available through the Big Valley box office, 1-888-404-1234, or Ticketmaster.

* Switchfoot will kick up a rock ‘n’ roll hurricane on Friday, Jan. 15 at the Starlite Room. Tickets are $21.50 plus service charges. On sale: Friday, Nov. 27 at Ticketmaster.

The San Diego rockers and surfers are best known for their 2003 hit, Meant To Live. Their new album, Hello Hurricane, was released earlier this month. It’s the first of four recorded by Switchfoot. The next, Vice Verses, is scheduled for 2010.

* Loverboy and Barney Bentall will team up for an ‘80s flashback on Saturday, Feb. 6 at the River Cree Resort & Casino. Tickets are $39.50 plus service charges. On sale: Friday, Nov. 27 at Ticketmaster.

* Tickets to John Mayer’s April 4 show at Rexall Place will go on sale this Saturday, Nov. 28.
Prices range from $40.50 to $86 plus service charges.

(P.S. Mayer is using paperless tickets for his Edmonton show. To get in, fans will have to show up at Rexall with the same credit card used to buy their tickets.)

* Tickets to Lonestar’s Jan. 30 gig at River Cree will go on sale Friday, Nov. 27 at Ticketmaster. Prices are $39.50 and $49.50 plus service charges. The country act is subbing in for the Trailer Park Boys, who had to cancel their gig due to a scheduling conflict.

* George Thorogood & The Destroyers will perform May 19 at the Jubilee Auditorium. Tickets are $45 to $85 plus service charges. On sale: Friday, Nov. 27 at Ticketmaster.

You gotta know when to hold 'em ...

Local hero Corb Lund will play two nights in the YEG -- Thursday, Feb. 25 at the Jube, and Friday, Feb. 26 at Edmonton Event Centre.

Tickets for the two nights are $74.50 plus service charges. (Separate tix for the Jube show are $35 and $45, tix for EEC are $39.50.) On sale: Friday, Nov. 27 at Ticketmaster.

Lund released his first country/roots album on New West Records, Losin' Lately Gambler, in September.

A small but welcome step

Buying tickets from Ticketmaster.ca is like playing a weird version of the slots. You never know what the service charges are going to be — and thus the total cost — until you hit the “find tickets” button, fill in the captcha codes and wait for the site to generate the results.

This is one of Ticketmaster Canada’s more infuriating aspects and the company, along with the Jubilee Auditoria in Edmonton and Calgary, are quietly testing changes to alleviate consumer frustration.

When you now look for tickets to any Jube shows, you’ll notice the total price is listed up front on the site. Then, by clicking on an arrow, you’ll get an instantaneous breakdown of the service charges — or what Ticketmaster calls a “fee roll-up display.”

Let’s say you want to buy a main-floor seat to ZZ Top’s show on Saturday, Nov. 28 in Edmonton — the full price is listed as $116.10. Click the arrow and you’ll find out you’ll pay $103.95 for the ticket and $12.15 in service charges.

It’s a small step, but the director of both venues, Katherine Huising, welcomes the change. “It is something we’ve been asking for,” she says. “It serves our patrons better.”

The Jubilees are the only two venues in Canada beta-testing this new initiative with Ticketmaster Canada. Five venues in the U.S. are also doing the same with Ticketmaster.com.

Christine Hall, director of sales and marketing for Ticketmaster Canada, says these tests are the results of online surveys filled out by ticket buyers. They want to know what the service charges are up front.

“That’s the feedback we’ve gotten through the surveys,” she says. “We take consumer feedback and try to adapt what we’re offering to the public and our clients.”

Hall says the Jubes were selected as test subjects because of Huising’s expertise in the concert industry. Another two Canadian clients will be added in the second test phase. “She understands the intricacies — meeting consumer needs, as well as her needs from a venue perspective, and promoter needs,” says Hall.

“We’ve gone out and had conversations with a number of venues and introduced them to the concept. Katherine volunteered the Jube.”

She says Ticketmaster Canada only publicly started testing the concept about two or three weeks ago. “So far, it’s going well,” says Hall. “We’re looking for feedback.”

Earlier this year, Ticketmaster Canada was slapped with four class-action lawsuits over its service charges and its resale site, TicketsNow.com.

Norm Brandsma, a music fan from Edmonton, filed one of those suits. It alleges Ticketmaster’s charges and fees are illegal because they are added to the face value of tickets.

-- Taken from my story in The Edmonton Journal

Make time for Work ... man

Hawksley Workman’s tasty new single, We’ll Make Time (Even When There Ain’t No Time), will be available Tuesday, Nov. 24 on iTunes.

It’s the first cut from his next album, Meat, due Jan. 19 — and judging by his breathless rush of words (about sex) and grungy, squealing riffs, Workman’s in the mood to rock again. (His last two discs for Universal Music Canada, Treeful of Starling and Between the Beautifuls, reflected his introspective folkier side.)

Workman will perform Sunday, March 14 at the Winspear Centre. Tickets are $34.50 plus service charges. On sale: Friday, Nov. 20 at the Winspear box office, 780-428-1414. (A presale, through his website, is sold out.)

Look for a new track from Meat and his next next album, Milk, to be released every Tuesday, “via non-traditional digital methods,” according to a press release, "over the next few months."

Here's the full list of his Canadian dates:

March 05 - Cumberland BC - Sid Williams Theatre
March 06 - Victoria BC - Alix Goolden Theatre
March 07 - Kelowna BC - Kelowna Community Theatre
March 08 - Trail BC - Charles Bailey Theatre
March 10 - Red Deer AB - Memorial Centre Theatre
March 12 - Banff AB - Eric Harvie Theatre
March 14 - Edmonton AB - Winspear Centre
March 17 - Calgary AB - Jack Singer Hall
March 18 - Saskatoon SK - Odeon
March 19 - Regina SK - Darke Hall,
March 20 - Winnipeg MB - Burton Cummings Theatre
April 07 - Saint John NB - The Blue Olive
April 08 - Fredericton NB - Playhouse Theatre
April 09 - Halifax NS - Rebecca Cohn Theatre
April 10 - St. John's NL - Holy Heart Auditorium
April 12 - Charlottetown PEI - The Guild
April 13 - Charlottetown PEI - The Guild
April 15 - Quebec City QC - Le Cercle
April 16 - Montreal QC - La Tulipe
April 17 - Ottawa ON - Bronson Centre
April 20 - St. Catharines ON - Sean O'Sullivan Theatre
April 21 - London ON - Music Hall
April 24 - Toronto ON - Massey Hall

New Sloan EP and shows

Surprise!
Everyone’s favourite Halifax natives, Sloan, will be releasing a new EP, Hit & Run, on Monday, Nov. 23.

Taking a page from Radiohead’s book, the Toronto-based rockers only broke the news yesterday. As in Wednesday, Nov. 18. (We’re technically not allowed to use words such as “tomorrow” and “yesterday” in the Edmonton Journal.)

The five-song disc, partly inspired by singer/cyclist Chris Murphy’s recent run-in with a car, will only be available on iTunes and Sloan's website. (The first single, Take It Upon Yourself, is now available as a free download.)

Murphy and his mates are also about to hit the road with Magneta Lane and another group of Vancouver up 'n' comers, TV Heart Attack — including a Saturday, Dec. 12 date at the Starlite Room in Edmonton. Here are the rest of their western Canadian shows:

Dec. 9: The Pyramid, Winnipeg
Dec. 10: Louis' Pub, Saskatoon
Dec. 11: SAIT, Calgary
Dec. 15: Commodore, Vancouver

Not to be outdone, fellow Nova Scotia native Brian Borcherdt is offering his own collection of unexpected recordings, Torches (& the Ward Colorado demos). (Seriously, his press release arrived less than four hours after Sloan’s announcement.)

Fans can download the 17 tunes, written and recorded between 2004 and 2006, from Hand Drawn Dracula's site. For free.

When he’s not writing his own tunes, Borcherdt is a member of a band of critically acclaimed Toronto noise merchants with a name we’re also not allowed to use in the pages of The Journal.

("This isn't the Journal's site!" you might argue. True. But, I initially wrote this post for my Journal blog, Plugged In, which is suffering from technical issues -- again -- and I didn't feel like revising my words.)

Avoiding the "disgusting bump and grind"

Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy is nervous about performing at the Grey Cup's halftime show in Calgary on Nov. 29.

For the first time, viewers get to pick the act's playlist -- perhaps to stave off some of the criticism which has followed the Grey Cup's previous performers. In 2005, football fans howled with disgust when the Black Eyed Peas sang My Humps and singer Fergie shook all that junk insider her trunk.

"Until the Grey Cup halftime show I was proud to be a Canadian. Now I'm not. I'm ashamed, embarrassed and angry. There were young children watching that disgusting bump and grind and I can only imagine the horror with which the parents of those children witnessed that so-called musical display," wrote one Edmonton Journal reader. In an online poll, 82 percent of Journal readers said they didn't like the BEP's halftime performance.

Then again, some viewers were also critical of rocker Lenny Kravitz's set in 2007. He "was by far the worst half-time show in Grey Cup history," wrote a Journal venter.

So, the pressure is on for Blue Rodeo -- and football fans. They can pick three of the group's country-rock songs, including Trust Yourself, Diamond Mine and (ha!) Hasn't Hit Me Yet.

"We've given them 10 choices," says Cuddy. "We need it to come into a particular format so we hope they choose the right songs. So we're a little nervous about that."

Votes can be cast HERE until Friday, Nov. 20.

Cuddy and Blue Rodeo's co-frontman, Greg Keelor, are no strangers to the football field. They used to play together on their Toronto high school's team. Cuddy was quarterback, Keelor was defensive end. The two, however, didn't like each other much in school, as they recently reminisced during an interview in Edmonton.

"We met in a classroom and we really weren't friends and certainly the football field wasn't a good icebreaker," says Cuddy.

"I moved to Toronto from Montreal after March break," says Keelor. "In true Montreal fashion, I thought Toronto was bumpkin-town. Jim and a couple of his friends were writing notes about me in class ..."

"Susan and I," clarifies Cuddy.

"Making fun of my suede topsiders at the time," continures Keelor.

"And your hair," adds Cuddy.

"So I was watching them and people would turn around and they'd laugh at me," says Keelor. "Susan, this friend of ours, would turn around and laugh at me. There was another girl in the notes, but I can't remember who it was. At the end of the class, Susan took the notes and threw them in the waste paper basket. And so I waited till everybody left class and I went up and picked out the notes. They were calling me 'Leroy Newboy.''"

"So it never started out well," smiles Cuddy. "After the football, we became friends and hung around in the same circle. But none of those things were auspicious starts for a long friendship."

"Leroy Newboy," Keelor chuckles. "Leroy Newboy," Cuddy repeats.

"That would've been 1971," says Keelor. "It's pathetic, isn't it?"

Wow. No.

Thirteen years later, the two and their friends would form Blue Rodeo. They've gone on to win 10 Junos and sell more than four million records. The country-rockers released their 12th studio album, The Things We Left Behind, in October.

Swoonery

One nation in a groove

"I'm not that high ..."

Holy cats! Has it really been more than a month since I've updated this blog? Terrible, terrible Sandra. OK, so I've been working, holidaying, posting items on my other blog -- for shame! -- and watching far, far too much TV. (Which isn't why I picked "Two Hundred Couches" for the name of this blog, but it might as well have been.)

One of my favourite new shows of the season: HBO's Bored To Death, featuring the unlikely (and hysterical) stoner duo of Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson. (Above.) Watch out Cheech 'n' Chong. Delicious.