Conan O’Brien took an unexpected visit to a Vancouver, British Columbia hospital yesterday, reports TMZ.
Conan’s tour manager had to be taken to the hospital after showing “symptoms” (what kind of symptoms we don’t know).
Luckily the new TBS host was in a joking mood with the cameramen, and couldn’t help but comment about the free Canadian healthcare system. “I think they’re gonna take his American Express card … because we’re American.”
Attack in Black surprised me in a couple ways. First of all, their former punk rock sound has gracefully matured into mellow yet rough-around-the-edges acoustic indie rock. Second, they are a ridiculous interview. I highly recommend you give their most recent album Years (by One Thousand Fingertips) a thorough listen. You’ll be surprised too. [ PS - you can watch the Much On Demand clip that I mention here:
He may be out of her league in a movie, but Jay Baruchel is definitely in the league of young, successful actors. He’s worked with Clint Eastwood in the multi Oscar-winning “Million Dollar Baby” and shared scenes with fellow Canadian Funnymen Seth Rogen and Michael Cera — and those are only three of his nearly 30 acting credits.
Earlier this year, Baruchel proved that a 5 can date a 10 in the comedy vehicle “She’s Out of My League.” Now, he has the No. 1 movie at the box office with “How to Train Your Dragon,” an animated 3-D movie he co-stars with a CGI fire-blower.
While he’s already accomplished a lot this year, let alone throughout his acting career, Baruchel hasn’t reached his ultimate goal — one that doesn’t involve comedy. The 27 year old hopes to direct horror films.
Although “Dragons” is far from a gory horror flick, Baruchel still had a blast making the animated movie. In fact, his character Hiccup is one of the closest characters to himself that he’s ever played. Even his mother was blown away by their similarities.
Drizzy fans rejoice!
Toronto’s own rapper sensation Drake is headlining his first American solo tour, reports canada.com.
“The Away From Home Tour,” which runs from April 6 through May 8, will hit 25 cities. It follows Drake’s participation in the “Young Money Presents: America’s Most Wanted Music Festival,” which Lil Wayne headlined.
Drake’s tour will feature performances from synth pop New York band Francis & The Lights as well as Canadian rapper K-OS. It will hit a number of large cities as well as over 15 colleges and universities as part of the “Campus Concious Tour.”
Woodpigeon has always crafted beautiful, delicate folk-pop, and their latest album ‘Die Stadt Muzikanten’ is no exception. They won me over with their heart-stopping live show, and I want them to win you over too. Check out WP’s new release, and the bonus album ‘BALLADEER / to all the guys i’ve loved before’, which includes recordings from their residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts.
Meet your new favourite band. Make Your Exit is a fantastic Toronto band that, despite numerous Fleet Foxes comparisons, have a very unique sound. Their excelent EP, “Remind me the Reason I came”, is an ecclectic mix of indie rock, jazz, and pop. I would love for these boys to receive a lot more attention – just listen to the music and you’ll know why.
(Special thanks to SouthernSouls.ca for providing the subway footage!)
One of my New Years’ resolutions was to refocus on finding great music from bands that I had never heard of. Enter The Racoon Wedding. Very little has been written about this band, but I truly feel that their debut LP “Gather Gather Bones Rattle Rattle Truth” is one of the strongest releases I’ve heard in a long time. So go get the album and join me in the Racoon Wedding fanclub.
The best way I can describe Spiral Beach’s music is “ghoul punk”. Yes, that’s ridiculous, but I stand by my claim. Considering how young the members of this band are, they have an impressively well-developed sound and style. Spiral Beach puts on one of the craziest live shows in Toronto, and their recent album “The Only Really Thing” is a great listen. Check out our interview and hop on the bandwagon.
We are not saying that we are mind readers or we can see into the future, however we are not surprised by Avril Lavigne’s break up from her rocker husband Deryck Whibley. As Jordan explained in our XM radio show last week, we had an opportunity to interview Avril a few weeks ago when she was promoting the launch of her new clothing line, Abbey Dawn. We also saw Deryck there and had a quick interview with him. Although Deryck tried to be as courteous as possible, it was more than clear that he had no interest in being there, and there was something else happening behind the scenes. He just stood in the corner with a pissed off look. You can check out the interview below. Nevertheless we wish both Avril and Deryck the best of luck.
If ‘alt.country’ (as the kids call it) is ‘your jam’ (as the kids call it), then look no further than Cuff the Duke. I’ve been a fan of these boys for years, and I’m really impressed by their latest LP, Way Down Here. The footage in this video is from their in-store performance at Criminal Records in Toronto. Check out www.myspace.com/cufftheduke to hear more of these good Canadian kids.
Well perhaps saying they don’t care what you think is a little bit of an exaggeration. However Young Galaxy has been doing this so long that they are making music that makes them happy and proud. If you like it, great. If you don’t that’s completely cool with them also. I sat down with them to talk about the past, the future, and their newest release “Invisible Republic”.
One of the most successful Canadian bands in recent memory is back with their fourth studio album, Billy Talent III. Do they feel any pressure with this album given the multi platinum success of their other releases? And what do they think about today’s record business? Jordan found out.
XM Radio Canada will host the Independent Music Awards and open their recording studio for live-to-air sets by some up-and-coming bands in Canada, all in support of Canadian Music Week (CMW) taking place on March 11 through March 14.
“This is the fourth year XM Canada and CMW have teamed up for the Independent Music Awards,” said Neill Dixon, President of Canadian Music Week, in a statement. “XM Canada’s continued support during CMW has helped foster and showcase great Canadian musicians looking to break-through in the saturated music industry.”
Music lovers can listen to Canadian bands like Arkells, USS, Hey Rosetta!, Crystal Castles among others live when XM brings The Independent Music Awards live-to-air on March 14. The event will be broadcast from the Royal York Hotel on The Verge (XM Canada’s rock channel 87).
XM Canada will also be opening up its recording studio on Avenue Road in Toronto, to invite Canadian artists to perform acoustic sets live-to-air. The satellite radio company expects to broadcast around 30 Canadian bands over the span of 2 days.
Twenty-nine-year-old Jillian Harris has been named the latest “Bachelorette” when it kicks off its 5th season this upcoming summer.
The Canadian interior designer finished in third place in the latest season of “The Bachelor,” with Jason Mesnick.
“I’ve been a huge fan of the show since day one and I’ve always looked at The Bachelorette as, ‘Oh my god, they’re so lucky, how did they get there?’ And now I’m sitting here—it’s very surreal,” said Harris on “After the Final Rose: Part 2.”
“The Bachelor” reached new heights this season when bachelor Jason Mesnick broke off his relationship with Melissa Rycroft on “The Bachelor: After the Final Rose” to start a new relationship with Molly Malaney, who had originally finished in second place on the series.
“Although I know there are no guarantees, it is a great, great opportunity to me to meet 25 guys that are a good match for me and I fell in love once before and know that this is a great venue for me to fall in love again,” Harris continued.
Not many Canadian producers will be honoured with Oscar nods today, but they do have reason to celebrate: a new award created just for them at the Canadian Indie Awards.
The Canadian Film and Television Production Association announced yesterday that the Best Feature Film category will be added to the awards list. The award will be given to the producer of the best film. The CFTPA also announced all their nominees for the best in Canadian independent film, television and new media.
Those nominated include Robert Lontos (Eastern Promises); Daniel Iron, Jennifer Weiss and Simone Urdle (Away From Her); Bruce McDonald, Sarah Timmins and Paul Barkin (The Tracey Fragments).
Perhaps taking a cue from his wife, songstress Chantal Kreviazuk, Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida has recorded his first solo album.
Maida’s concept for the record may surprise some OLP fans. “‘The Hunter’s Lullaby’ is a collection of poems put to music,” he described to ChartAttack. “It was written and recorded without the persuasive hand of a major record label.”
All ten tracks were recorded independently in his private studio. Maida says the beatnik-style acoustic songs were influenced by Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Allen Ginsberg and Saul Williams. The album will also address significant social issues, defined with the help of activists Amy Goodman, Howard Zinn, Jared Paul and David Suzuki.
Kreviazuk plays piano and sings on several tracks.
Maida’s first single is entitled, “Yellow Brick Road.” Look for “The Hunter’s Lullaby” in stores November 13.
KNOCKED UP director JUDD APATOW has denied claims his movie copies Canadian writer REBECCA ECKLER’s best-selling book Knocked Up: Confessions Of A Hip Mother-To-Be, insisting “they are two very different stories.”
Eckler filed a copyright infringement suit against Apatow and Universal Pictures in January (07), seeking unspecified damages.
In the latest issue of Maclean’s magazine, Eckler writes, “Both my book and the movie feature one night of passion and the nine months that follow. Fine. Whatever.
“But what got me was the fact that Alison (Katherine Heigl) was an up-and-coming television reporter; in my book, I was an up-and-coming newspaper reporter.”
In response, Apatow says, “”The book Knocked Up is very different than the film Knocked Up.
“The book is about a woman who gets pregnant by the fiance that she loves on the night of her engagement party. The film is a very different story; the film is about a one-night stand between a pot-smoking slacker and an ambitious young woman that leads to a pregnancy and their attempts to get to know each other.
“Anyone who reads the book and sees the movie will instantly know that they are two very different stories about a common experience.”
The trial is set to begin in March 2008.
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It seems, for whatever reason, that hockey will always be Canada’s dominant sport; as such, it demands a certain amount of attention from Canadian media outlets – which is something we non-hoser sports fans have come to accept. However, broadcasters, analysts, and sports writers alike can’t continue to overlook the other major sports; such as basketball.
Generally speaking, the basketball IQ of the Canadian media is terrible, at best. Their hockey-centric tunnel vision is compounded by the fact that this lack of knowledge doesn?t prevent them from sharing uninformed, ignorant opinions with their audiences about basketball.
Those in the know can discern a well-versed hoops-junkie from a hockey analyst who?s out of his element, but unfortunately fair-weather basketball fans are lured in to believing what these ?experts? have to say.
My solution? A modification of the old adage, ?if you don?t have anything informed to say, don?t say anything at all.?
Canadian television programs like Off The Record are problematic as, at some point, the guests must discuss things outside their Neanderthalic Ice Capades world. This is where the problems arise.
Case and point, a few days ago Rob Babcock, GM of the Raptors, was on Off The Record answering loaded questions posed by the host Michael Landsberg, while at the same time being berated by moronic small-talk that, in this context, passes for the majority of the show?s content.
Babcock kept his cool, toeing the company line and answering questions without even a hint of trepidation or anger towards the other guests. Commendable. He even got his own jabs in, most notably a funny dig towards Toronto sports writer and Raptor-hater extraordinaire, Dave Feschuk.
But why continue with the pattern? Surely someone must notice that in a show where basketball and Rob Babcock are the key topics, having more than one knowledgeable basketball mind is a good idea!
Zack Werner and Fred Patterson are the targets of this particular rant. They threw in some player names, some painfully obvious commentary — but nothing that went beyond the surface. Nothing that would lead any informed viewer to believe that these goons have watched more than one or two Raptors games this season (and that is me being nice; I?d be shocked if they have watched even one from start to finish). Yet there they were, arguing with Babcock, a man with more basketball knowledge than either could ever aspire to have; taunting him, telling him to his face that his team sucks, the Vince Carter trade was bad, he?s not handling the roster properly, his drafting is suspect, etc etc.
All of that might be accurate, but who are they to say? Where could they have possibly obtained this knowledge if they don?t follow the team regularly? The answer: from other uninformed sports analysts too busy listening to themselves talk to understand the damage they are doing to basketball in Canada.
This is not to say things are always rosy in Canadian basketball. Usually it?s far from. But I urge the Canadian media to leave the curling to the curlers, leave the hockey to the hosers and, for the love of God, leave the basketball to the ballers. Canada has enough intelligent basketball minds to discuss, analyze and critique the game – we don?t need help from you sub-zero saps.
