My morning ritual upon rising consists of coffee, checking my email and my Facebook feed for any news affecting friends.
This morning I woke to the big news. One friend wrote she was at the Air Canada Centre last night for the Toronto-Ottawa hockey game. The ACC played “The Hockey Song” to honour the passing of Stompin’ Tom Connors, a fitting tribute if there ever was.
If there is/was a more iconic, quintessential Canadian artist than Stompin’ Tom, I’ve never heard of them. Stompin' Tom was fiercely Canadian, attracting respect across this country from young and old alike, for his passion and iconic Canadian songs.
You wouldn’t fault a History or Geography teacher for playing Stompin’ Tom’s works. While he’s most famous for “The Hockey Song” and “Bud the Spud,” I think his legacy would be his uncompromising vision of Canada and Canadian music.
A letter to be published after his death asks for all Canadians “to help keep the Maple Leaf flying high.” Stompin’ Tom was quite possibly Canada’s biggest champion and his profile has not wavered, possibly even grown over the years, even with his recent low profile.
There is even a heartwarming and charming chapter in Dave Bidini’s On…
While much of the Oscar buzz revolved around Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook or Les Miserables, I was ecstatic when one of the nominees won and will now hopefully open more ears to a voice from the past. That film is Searching for Sugar Man, and the “man” at the centre of this story is Rodriguez.
I was aware of the name Rodriguez when I went to a screening of Searching for Sugar Man in December 2012, but I had never heard a song. Rodriguez recorded two albums over 40 years ago; 1970’s Cold Fact and 1971’s Coming from Reality.
Most likely this film won’t get much attention in the shuffle of the big Hollywood productions, but I urge you to see it not just for its shocking yet heart-warming story, but mostly for the music of Rodriguez.
I won’t go into any detail, so no spoiler alerts required. You’ll thank me after you see the movie though and I still champion Rodriguez's music’s new lease on life almost half a century later thanks to this documentary.
A voice of the streets, Rodriguez’s music evokes early Dylan or the grit of Leonard Cohen, yet the man possesses a soothing, almost…
Musically speaking 2012 was such a mixed bag of a year.
Notably, what we lost in 2012 seemed to overshadow the great new music we gained.
It seemed that every week we lost at least one big name. From Adam Yauch, Whitney Houston, Etta James and Donna Summer to Dick Clark, Dave Brubeck, Raylene Rankin and Ravi Shankar, 2012 was sad year with heavy losses. May they all rest in peace.
On a brighter note, Canadian music had a great year internationally. Carly Rae Jepsen infected many heads across the globe with her hit “Call Me Maybe” while Justin Bieber managed to hit the top spot with his first “adult” album, Believe. Critics and audiences fell in love with Japandroids, Grimes, Cold Specks and Metz. Leonard Cohen proved he can still compete with the best of them with Old Ideas, while Neil Young did him one better by releasing two albums with Crazy Horse (Americana and the double disc Psychedelic Pill).
Gotye was omnipotent with his hit “Somebody I Used to Know” from his surprisingly strong album Making Mirrors, while Fun exploded with their sophomore album Some Nights featuring “We Are Young”. Adele owned the Grammys and Brit Awards and managed the…
It’s Streisand-mania! With a recently completed mini-tour, the release of her newest album, Release Me, and a thorough biography on the icon’s early years, Barbra Streisand will be ubiquitous over the coming months.
Much like author William J. Mann when he set out to write Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand, I was pretty oblivious to Streisand's work and her road to the iconic status.
An exhaustive detailing of the four years leading up to landing the starring role in the Broadway production of Funny Girl, Hello, Gorgeous successfully lays out one woman’s determination to break down “leading lady” stereotypes to conquer every facet within the Entertainment industry.
Surely 500 pages to cover four years may be daunting to the casual fan, but I would argue that Hello, Gorgeous is a fascinating look into the work that Streisand and her team put into building a career and realizing her dreams. I would even recommend anyone thinking about entering the industry to read this just to understand the trials and tribulations of making it in a competitive and mostly superficial industry.
I mean, who can imagine Streisand a misfit? I sure didn’t and always dismissed her as a product of privilege. Hello,…
