Rockinhammer

Feist at Air Canada Centre

It didn't take long for Feist to hit the big time. The morning after her stunning five-trophy sweep of the Junos Sunday night, promoter Live Nation announced they had booked Feist into the Air Canada Centre for Monday, Nov. 3, with tickets going on sale Friday, April 11 at 11 a.m. through Ticketmaster. That's a huge step up for the uber-hip pop singer who until now was performing in soft-seat theatres like Massey Hall and Hamilton Place. I'm hoping she packs the Air Canada Centre. Her stellar performance of Sea Lion Sunday night at the Saddledome proved she's more than ready for arenas. 

A cheesy moment with Michael Buble

Michael Buble was in fine form Sunday night after receiving the Doritos Fan Choice Juno Award.

When asked by reporters about how he felt winning the award, Buble replied. “I’d like to thank Doritos for making such tasty treats,” Buble said in accepting the award. “Sometimes they make my fingers go orange but it’s worth it.”

Later in the evening, Buble added: “I like the Cool Ranch (flavour). But one thing I’ve learned is you should never watch dirty movies or anything like that after eating them. I thought something was wrong with me, but it was just Doritos …That was so un-classy. But I’m Michael Buble.”

A Miss USA moment from Finger Eleven

Finger Eleven's next big gig after playing the Juno Awards Sunday will be in Las Vegas where they'll be the main musical attraction Friday, April 11, at the Miss USA pageant.
"That's exciting," Finger Eleven frontman Scott Anderson said. "We're going to play a very extended version of Paralyzer."
Anderson and Finger Eleven guitarist James Black were also award presenters in the rap category at Saturday night's gala Juno dinner at the Calgary Convention Centre. The presenting duties meant that some artists lost out on the meal service. Before presenting the rap award to Belly, Anderson asked the audience "How's your delicious Alberta beef? I wouldn't know. We've been backstage for half an hour. I expect ours has been and gone."
After the show, Anderson said he did eventually get his steak. "It was good, but cold."

A muppet moment from Feist

When accepting her Juno for Songwriter of the Year Saturday night, Feist confessed to the crowd that she had just returned from New York where she was taping an upcoming episode of Sesame Street. She said working with the Sesame Street gang was the greatest moment of her life.
"I'm sorry, Junos," Feist said. "But the muppets trump everything."

Complete list of Juno winners from Saturday night

2008 Juno Award Winners

From Saturday’s Gala Award’s Dinner
At the Calgary TelusConvention Centre

 

1. International Album of the Year: Good Girl Gone Bad, Rihanna

2. Artist of the Year: Feist

3. New Artist of the Year: Serena Ryder

4. Songwriter of the Year: Feist

5. Adult Alternative Album of the Year: Small Miracles, Blue Rodeo

6. Alternative Album of the Year: Neon Bible, Arcade Fire

7. Rock Album of the Year: Them Vs. You Vs. Me, Finger Eleven

8. Vocal Jazz Album of the Year: Make Someone Happy, Sophie Milman

9. Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year: Almost Certainly Dreaming

10. Traditional Jazz Album of the Year: Debut Brandi Disterheft

11. Instrumental Album of the Year: The Utmost, Jayme Stone

12. Francophone Album of the Year: L’echec du materiel, Daniel Belanger

13. Children’s Album of the Year: Music Soup, Jen Gould
14. Classical Album of the Year, Solo or Chamber Ensemble: Alkan Concerto for Solo Piano, Marc-Andre Hamelin

15. Classical Album of the Year, Large Ensemble or Soloists with Large Ensemble Accompaniment: Korngold, Barber and Walton Violin Concertos, James Ehnes, Bramwell Tovey, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

16. Classical Album of the Year, Vocal or Choral Performance: Surprise, Measha Brueggergosman

17. Classical Composition of the Year:Constantinople, Christos Hatzis

18. Rap Recording of the Year: The Revolution, Belly

19. Dance Recording of the Year: All U Ever Want, Billy Newton-Davis vs. Deadmau5

20. R&B/Soul Recording of the Year: Revival, Jully Black

21. Reggae Recording of the Year: Don’t Go Pretending, Mikey Dangerous

22. Aboriginal Recording of the Year: The Dirty Looks, Derek Miller

23. Roots and Traditional Album of the Year, Solo: David Francey, Right of Passage

24. Roots and Traditional Album of the Year, Group: Key Principles, Nathan

25. Blues Album of the Year: Building Full of Blues, Fathead

26. Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year: Holy God, Brian Doerksen

27. World Music Album of the Year: Agua Del Pozo, Alex Cuba

28. Producer of the Year: Joni Mitchell, Shine

29. Recording Engineer of the Year: Kevin Churko, Black Rain by Ozzy Osbourne

30. CD/DVD Artwork Design of the Year: Tracy Maurice, Neon Bible by Arcade Fire

31. Video of the Year: C’mon, Christopher Mills for Blue Rodeo

32. Music DVD of the Year: 666 Live, Pierre and Francois Lamoureau, Billy Talent, Pierre Tremblay and Steve Blair for Billy Talent

 

(Note: Seven more Juno awards will be announced Sunday night at 8 p.m. (CTV) during the televised Juno Awards concert)

 

A Kanye moment from St. Alvia Cartel

It wasn’t exactly a repeat of Kanye West’s snit at the 2004 Grammys, but Ben Rispin of Hamilton/Burlington rock band St. Alvia Cartel gave it a good try.

The Kanye moment came near the end of Saturday’s 3-1/2 hour Juno Award gala dinner when Finger Eleven was announced as winner for Rock Album of the Year.

As the Finger Eleven guys approached the microphone to give their acceptance speech, Rispin jumped up on stage and announced that St. Alvia Cartel “made the better record.”

Finger Eleven lead vocalist Scott Anderson shrugged Rispin off and then told the audience at the Calgary Convention Centre: “I’m blown away, man. This is awesome. Let’s go party. Thanks.”

Later, Anderson told reporters that he was expecting a prank from St. Alvia Cartel, which was also nominated for top honours in the rock category. The members of Finger Eleven, which also had its origins in Burlington, are old friends with the Cartel guys.

“Ben’s a friend of ours and he’s pretty loaded,” Anderson said. “He came over to the table and you could tell his buddies were kind of egging him on. He said ‘I want to do a Kanye joke. And I said, ‘Ben, this may not be our crowd. It may not work …But he committed to the scene and I thought, Okay, Good on you.”

Finger Eleven guitarist James Black said rockers from other bands were stopping by the Finger Eleven table all evening. "Pride Tiger left a note on our table. I think it said 'Youz guys are toast.'"

 

NOW publisher breaks leg at Juno Cup

Hockey is a tough sport even when it’s for fun. On Friday night at Calgary’s Stampede Corral, a squad of rock stars played the fifth annual Juno Cup hockey game against a team of NHL oldtimers that included Doug Glimour, Lanny McDonald, Paul Coffey, Russ Courtnall, Bob Probert and Mike Pelyk.

Blue Rodeo’s Jimy Cuddy was the captain of the rock stars, a team that included Tom Cochrane, Craig Northey, Barney Bentall, Luke Doucet, David Francey, Andrew Scott (Sloan), Zack Werner (Canadian Idol) and Michael Hollett (publisher of Toronto’s NOW Magazine).

Nobody really kept score, but at the end of the game, the board overhead read 16-15 for the NHLers.

Unfortunately, there was one casualty during the game. Hollett broke his leg in three places and was sent to Calgary's Foothills Hospital where he was still awaiting surgery Saturday.

“He fell backwards during the middle of the game,” Jim Cuddy said. “He hit Mike Pelyk, a former Maple Leaf, and he fractured his leg in three places.”

The Juno Cup is held each year during the Juno Festival to help raise funds for MusiCan which provides musical instruments for school children across the country.

 

 

The Dudes rule Junofest

The hottest band at this year's Junofest is a Calgary group called The Dudes. They seem to be everywhere. The Dudes opened for Finger Eleven and Sloan at the kick-off concert Thursday night at the Olympic Plaza in downtown Calgary. They also performed with Justin Rutledge and Gord Bamford Friday night at the official welcoming reception at the Hyatt Ballroom. From there they went to a club called The Warehouse, taking the stage at 10 p.m. before Pride Tiger and Craig Northey's New Odds. I've been following The Dudes since hearing their CD Brain Heart Guitar last year. It's produced by Jann Arden’s guitarist, Russell Broom. The album is melodic alt rock with just enough edge to give it credibility. On stage the rocks. It's good to see the local guys get some attention. Even the Toronto Star's Ben Rayner was impressed.

Busking with Canadian Idol's Zach Werner

It’s not unusual to see buskers working the downtown streets Juno weekend. So I wasn’t too surprised to hear a four-piece country rock band, drums and all, playing Golden Earring’s Radar Love on Calgary’s
Eighth Avenue yesterday. They were set up on the sidewalk under the marquee of the old Palace Theatre. It’s now called Flames Central and serves a whole lotta beer to Calgary Flames hockey fans (The place has been seeing a lot of action since the Flames sneeked into the playoffs by default Thursday when the Canucks lost the Oilers … people are very sensitive about the topic here).

So there was this street band playing Radar Love (which along with Roadhouse Blues by the Doors is probably the best driving song ever recorded) … and I had some time to waste before the free drinks started flowing at the Hyatt Ballroom for the Juno opening reception … so I decided to watch a couple of songs, maybe toss a dollar into the hat.

But I couldn’t find a hat to toss the buck into. The black straw cowboy hat was on the head of none other than Canadian Idol judge Zach Werner, who happened to be the guy singing Radar Love. Zach is lead vocalist and guitarist in this band which calls itself Haymaker.

So I mention that this busking thing would have been a better publicity stunt if they had let people know they were doing it. “It wasn’t a planned thing,” Zach says. “We have a show tomorrow (at Ceili’s Irish Pub down the street) and we needed to practice.”

Fair enough, it didn’t sound bad. Of course Canadian Idol fans can be the judge of that later this year when Haymaker releases its first album. According to the publicity sheet ,Haymaker has “roots that run deep in to the sounds of Canada, flavoured with tweeks of The Eagles, Fabulous Thunderbirds and the Jayhawks."

Premier Ed "Saucer" Stelmach replies

For anyone who didn't see the previous post, scroll down now. Otherwise, I did indeed get a response from the premier. Here it is:

Hello Mr. Rockingham, got your message, let me know if this works:

"The Premier wanted to express his support for musicians at all levels of achievement, as it is not just the stars who enrich our lives with their efforts.

"Simply Saucer was suggested by our Culture department as a perfect example of a group that major fame ultimately eluded, to the dismay of their fans, and despite all they had going for them."

We are delighted, by the way, that you picked up on the reference. Hope you are enjoying Calgary.

Cheers,

David Sands
Communications Manager
Office of the Premier