’90s nostalgia gets short shrift

--taken from: Waterloo Region Record

by Joel Rubinoff

It was the Canadian version of the outlaw country supergroup, The Highwaymen.

Four frontmen, past and present, of four iconic Canadian '90s bands — Sloan, Barenaked Ladies, The Pursuit of Happiness, The Odds — joining forces at Guelph's River Run Centre last week to perform their greatest hits, and only hits.

"I'm An Adult Now," "Someone Who's Cool," "Brian Wilson," "Underwhelmed."

As The Trans-Canada Highwaymen banged out their songs of smart-aleck alienation with energy, conviction and an unerring sense of melody, it was all killa, no filla, a perfect time capsule of a pivotal era in Can-rock expansion.

"It's fun for Captain Kirk to be in the same band as Captain Picard," joked Sloan frontman Chris Murphy with classic Canadian self-deprecation. "I don't know if you know this, but this group was put together by Simon Cowell."

It was one for the record books.

But instead of Massey Hall or the Air Canada Centre, this so-called "supergroup" played a tiny, 785-seat concert hall to a rabble of enthusiastic diehards and loyal series subscribers in their 80s who appeared taken aback by the volume.

Which begs two questions: 1) jeez, what is going on with '90s nostalgia? 2) is this the best it can do?

At which point I remembered the much ballyhooed Big Music Fest two summers ago at Kitchener's McLennan Park.

Nope, not the sellout triumph with classic rock stalwarts Slash, Styx, Aerosmith and Bryan Adams, who drew a massive multi-generational crowd without breaking a sweat.

The one a year later that saw '90s alt-rockers Soundgarden, Jane's Addiction and Extreme play to a half-empty field of tattooed, nose-pierced 40-something slackers — and no one else.

This, it seems, is the pitfall of '90s nostalgia and indie rock in particular: great as it was in its time, it was so far from the mainstream, with such limited appeal, that it can't pull in the big tent crowds needed to fuel a genuine renaissance.

And it's not just in Canada.

Scanning Soundscan's Worldwide Ticket Sales chart for the top 100 tours of 2016, I count only 12 rooted in the decade of Bill Clinton, harem pants and Luke Perry sideburns, with zero in the top 20.

The highest, at No. 24, is Blink-182, followed by the Dave Matthews Band (27), Phish (29), Celine Dion (38), Red Hot Chili Peppers (42), Weezer and Panic! At The Disco (47), Snoop Dogg with Wiz Khalifa (53), Pearl Jam (56), I Love the '90s with Salt-N-Pepa and Vanilla Ice (76), Ricky Martin (83), Mariah Carey (94) and Rob Zombie/Korn (96).

Who made the Top 10?

Coldplay, a defiantly millennial act, is No. 1, followed by Bruce Springsteen ('70s/'80s), Beyoncé (current), Justin Bieber (current), Guns N' Roses ('80s), Adele (current), Luke Bryan (current), Trans-Siberian Orchestra ('00s), Kenny Chesney (current), and Muse ('00s).

What they have in common, of course, is that they play accessible music that appeals to more than one age group, boast killer live shows and — other than a cursory nod — have little to do with hip hop or grunge.

Call it the '90s Curse, but if you listen to Sirius radio's '90s on 9, what you hear is a preponderance of melismatic divas (Mariah Carey), teen troubadours (Britney Spears) hip hop schlockmeisters (MC Hammer) grunge distortionists (Screaming Trees) and one hit wonders (Right Said Fred).

None of which translate into a) arena-sized tours b) a legacy longer than Y2K panic.

Let's be blunt: The Spice Girls were big, but they were no Beatles (though they may have been The Monkees).

The Backstreet Boys were no Rolling Stones.

And Chumbawamba, despite their fist-pumping anthem "Tubthumping," was no Led Zeppelin.

So where do forged-in-the-'90s stars like Carey, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Alanis Morissette and Backstreet Boys earn a living these days?

Casinos, cruise ships and 2,000-seat venues across North America.

It's as if the entire decade, it's time come 'round once again, said, "You know what? Meh. I think I'll pass."

"Very few '90s acts were able to develop deep catalogues of albums with hits that sustained," notes former Kitchener deejay Steve Sobczuk, pointing to a determined lack of melody in both hip hop and alt-rock.

"In the '80s, acts like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince and Springsteen did this, and even secondary level acts like John Mellencamp were able to put together a pretty long career to draw from.

"If Nirvana was one of the biggest acts of the '90s, they had only two hit albums of new material and a third 'unplugged' record with covers and older material before Kurt blew his brains out. Pretty thin output to base any 'legendary' status on."

As New York Times essayist Carl Wilson pointed out in a pithy rant on the same topic, it's hard to feel nostalgia for, say, gangsta rap, when it's associated with things like crack cocaine, turf wars and the Rodney King riots.

The counter argument, of course, is that the reason there's no flag waving, cross-burning '90s revival overtaking pop culture is because the '90s, ahem, never left.

Think about it. In the decades prior to the '90s, we could expect a major musical paradigm shift once every decade or so: rock 'n' roll in the '50s, guitar bands and psychedelia in the '60s, disco and punk in the '70s, synth-pop and metal in the '80s, grunge and hip hop in the '90s.

And then what?

If you scan Billboard's Hot 100, you can draw a straight line between then and now, with a few squiggles for variations on a theme: dance pop, electropop, synth pop, indie pop, indie folk, indie rock, alt rock.

"There's so many more genres vying for your dollar," points out Greg Henderson, programming manager at Kitchener's Centre in the Square, noting how music splintered in the post-90s digital era. "EDM, R&B, hip hop ..."

And just as disco begat EDM and Madonna begat Lady Gaga, so did '90s titans like Mariah Carey beget Adele and Jay Z beget Drake — younger, hipper offshoots drawing from the same musical well.

To be fair, the decade wasn't a total wash, nostalgically, with remakes of TV shows/films like "Full House," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Power Rangers" going head to head with upcoming reboots of "Will & Grace," "Baywatch" and "Toy Story."

Flannel shirts and Mom jeans are back — who would have thought that was possible? — O.J. Simpson was the subject of two recent miniseries, and '90s 'It girl' Winona Ryder made a comeback in the Netflix series "Stranger Things."

"The Simpsons," on the other hand, never left, Pokemon and SpongeBob SquarePants are bigger than ever and — because the culture feels stuck in permanent dry dock — '90s series like "Seinfeld" and "Friends" feel contemporary almost two decades after they went off the air.

And guess who was just named "World's Most Beautiful Woman" by People Magazine for the fifth time since 1991?

Julia Roberts, of course, her perky visage seemingly frozen in time.

Which begs the question, how can we miss the '90s if they won't go away?

"In our Been There Done That Mashup Age, nothing is obsolete, and nothing is really new,"' Kurt Andersen wrote in Vanity Fair, explaining this "stylistic paralysis" as a natural reaction to massive techno and geopolitical changes since 9/11.

"I feel as if the whole culture is stoned, listening to an LP that's been skipping for decades, playing the same groove over and over. Nobody has the wit or gumption to stand up and lift the stylus."

"The end of history" was the popular refrain as the '90s kicked off with the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and pundits celebrated the fact humankind had reached its evolutionary peak.

Ha, ha. What's ironic, in hindsight, isn't that history continued with gleeful abandon — 9/11, the War on Terror, Donald Trump — but that pop culture had its head so far up its butt it neglected to pay attention and offer a modicum of course correction.

"I think Bruce Springsteen and Fleetwood Mac wrecked it for everyone," points out programming chief Henderson of the classic rock acts that dominate the concert landscape. "They're so massive and still huge draws."

So here we are in 2017, grappling with bro country and Justin Bieber in place of Billy Ray Cyrus and the Backstreet Boys, watching the same/similar TV shows, the same/similar blockbuster sequels, with the odd sense that no time has passed.

Once "The Rachel" makes a reappearance, there will be no turning back.

--taken from: Waterloo Region Record

The Trans-Canada’s muttonchopped minstrel is packing Gremlins

--taken from: Planet S (read more here)

by Emmet Matheson

He’s Mojo Nixon on maple syrup. He’s Stuart McLean for Millennials. He’s the lovechild of Red Green and Chixdiggit. He’s B.A. Johnston, Hamilton’s hard luck troubadour for an era of lowered expectations. He’s just released a new album — his eighth since 2005’s My Heart is a Blinking Nintendo — and it’s full of lo-fi, minute-and-a-half odes to cheap beer, bad movies, and lousy jobs.

When his 2015 album Shit Sucks made the long list for Canada’s Polaris Prize, which celebrates artistic merit in Canadian music, it was one of the Canadian music scene’s most controversial moments since everyone thought Sloan was breaking up after Twice Removed. Some critics didn’t think an ostensible comedy album belonged among nominees for a prestigious award, and some thought that was a myopic, elitist thing to say.

--taken from: Planet S (read more here)

Napalmpom Premieres Intimate and Hyperactive Video with IMVERYAPE

--taken from: BeatRoute Magazine (read more here)

Napalmpom: “The mid-to-late ’90s era of Much Music instilled confidence in us at a young(-er) age that being a Canadian band could be genuinely important and valued. We obsessively taped episodes of Much East and The Wedge hoping to see videos by Thrush Hermit, Change Of Heart and Slow and wore out our copies of Sloan’s own Intimate and Interactive. 90 minutes dedicated to the music and personalities of a Canadian band? Canada’s Kiss, but with far better songs. Its Beatles, but without the baggage. We dreamt of having our very own ‘leave the Much studios to sing a tune in Speaker’s Corner,’ as Chris Murphy did on ‘Deeper Than Beauty.’

--taken from: BeatRoute Magazine (read more here)

Music icons front and centre again

--taken from: Kingston Whig-Standard

by Peter Hendra

The first time the frontmen from four iconic 1990s Canadian bands -- Moe Berg (The Pursuit of Happiness), Chris Murphy (Sloan), Craig Northey (The Odds) and Steven Page (The Barenaked Ladies) -- got together to play a show, the idea was to do so in a songwriters circle, in which each performer would take a turn telling a back story about a song and then playing it. It didn't last long for that to change.

"We did [a show] last summer, and it was kind of formatted that way, but we basically cheated the whole thing by doing four songs that way, and then doing the rest as a band," Berg recalled over the phone.

The quartet have taken that "superband" idea a step further, and are now known as the TransCanada Highwaymen, a nod to the many hours, days, months each has travelled across the country while touring. The newly formed group, which performs at the Grand Theatre tonight, plays four of the best-known songs penned by each of its members while telling a few stories, too.

"We wanted to do something a bit different," Berg said, who penned hits such as "I'm an Adult Now" and "Cigarette Dangles."

"We wanted to present ourselves as a band. I think we wanted it to be like a real concert experience for the audience instead of just a songwriters-in-the-round. It brings a little more energy and excitement into the show, I think."

This show is different in other ways, too, Berg said, thanks to the involvement of theatrical producer Jim Millan, who previously designed tours for the Kids in the Hall and some reality show stars.

"He approached us about doing a more theatrical production where we share road stories and there's a multimedia aspect to it and also the music," Berg explained. "So it's a bit more than a concert."

Playing concerts, as it turns out, is something from which Berg excused himself for a long time.

"I created a lot of anxiety around it," he said. "I didn't really know how to get around it except for just avoiding doing it."

He warmed up to the idea of performing again, though, after The Pursuit of Happiness played a show about 18 months ago.

"I had a pretty good time that night and I was thinking, 'If I just fought through this, I could get back to enjoying it again.' It's something I can do, it's a skill I have, and then so I just decided when people asked me if I could come do this, could you come and sing a song for this, I decided to say yes more often than I said no, and I [used to] say no all of the time," said Berg, who moved to the other side of the console as a record producer when he stopped performing.

"And I started to get back into the idea of doing it and not being so anxious about it, and then this came up, and I thought, 'OK, this is going to be a real test. I'm going to go out and do this.'"

That he isn't the frontman but rather one of four made performing again more appealing, Berg said.

In hindsight, Berg feels as though he didn't appreciate what he had back in TPOH's heyday.

"I did really enjoy performing. I loved it a lot. It was my favourite thing to do," he reminisced. "In some ways, it's not so much I miss it, I wish I'd taken more time to smell the roses while I was doing it. I shouldn't have let the pressures of whatever was going on get to me. It's such an awesome experience to get to do that, and I know how many people would love the opportunity to do the things that I was able to do. I wish I had appreciated it more than I did."

Berg misses being part of a band, he said, and he especially misses his bandmates.

"There's a camaraderie, a single goal, and a lot of these cliches that are really quite wonderful, actually," he reflected. "I've even been experiencing it rehearsing with these guys. It's great being around these guys and talking about music and about stories about being on the road. They're hilarious, all three of those guys, so they're always cracking jokes. That camaraderie, that's really intoxicating, a really fun thing."

The quartet has eight shows in Ontario lined up, at least for now.

"We're just trying to get this going," Berg said. "There's been talk about maybe doing some songwriting and stuff like that, but I think we're trying to get through these first eight shows, and then talk about doing some more, and see where this goes. It all has to be scheduled around everyone's 'day job,' I guess, if you want to call it that."

--taken from: Kingston Whig-Standard

The resurrection of smart-aleck ‘power pop’

--taken from: Waterloo Region Record

by Joel Rubinoff

He really is an adult now.

Moe Berg, that is, the 58-year-old lead singer of Canadian band The Pursuit of Happiness, whose biggest hit, "I'm An Adult Now," prophesied, among other things, his reaction to the music business from which he made a stern exit in the mid '90s.

"I really became disenchanted and I was not enjoying being onstage," confides the Toronto resident who once lyrically opined, "I can't take too much loud music/ I mean I like to play it, but I sure don't like the racket/ Noise, but I can't hear anything/ Just guitars screaming, screaming, screaming/ Some guy screaming in a leather jacket."

He pauses on the phone. "I just couldn't face it."

And so Berg bought into his own song and found comfort as a behind-the-scenes producer, writer and part-time professor.

Until last summer, when a like-minded posse of smart aleck rabble-rousers from indie pop's glory days — Sloan's Chris Murphy, The Odd's Craig Northey, former Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page — made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

"There's a 'power pop' element in everyone's music that flows from the Beatles, Badfinger, the Raspberries and the Knack," he notes of their musical connection.

"All these bands have a real pop sensibility."

And so was born the Trans-Canada Highwaymen, a Can-rock take on the ragtag ensemble once formed by country music outlaws Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash.

"I'm not gonna say we put a ton of thought into it," jokes Berg, who played one gig in the summer with his fellow avatars of wit, snark and attitude before embarking on the current mini tour.

Technically, the multimedia show — which will include songs, video and pithy anecdotes — is billed as "An evening with Moe Berg, Chris Murphy, Craig Northey and Steven Page."

But don't expect one of those laid-back songwriter circles where a bunch of geezers sit around telling war stories while strumming acoustic guitars.

"We're a band," notes Berg, vaguely mortified by the association. "It's gonna be loud."

New material? Forget it.

No one wants to hear veteran artists perform new songs — the universal symbol for "bathroom break" — even when they're good.

Like the golden age of AM radio Berg and company grew up on, the show will be all hits, all the time.

"We decided to just put on the most entertaining show we can," says the Edmonton native, who figures the band's democratic "supergroup" structure will ease his return to the mike after a 20 year absence.

"Each of us will do our four most popular songs."

While he declines to confirm a set list, it's reasonable to assume it would include Sloan's "Underwhelmed," the Barenaked Ladies' "Brian Wilson," The Odd's "Someone Who's Cool."

And of course, "I'm An Adult Now" in which Berg, a wizened old soul at 27, complained about having to wake up early, the perils of drugs, fading sexual potency and his aching back.

"At the time I wrote it, I was just addressing the idea of adulthood — the irony, the humour," he explains patiently. "Definitely at that time in my life I was a little bit of an a---hole."

And now?

"I think being a wise guy is sometimes a bad idea," he notes reflectively. "But we were just who we were and tried not to do things just for the money, so we never looked back with regret. We had a great time doing it."

I point out that at 58, he's as old as the adults he once mocked, but the thought doesn't register.

"I don't feel old," he laughs. "I feel young at heart, with stunted emotional growth."

--taken from: Waterloo Region Record

Legendary Canadian rockers including Moe Berg join forces to form the TransCanada Highwaymen

--taken from: Post City

by Ron Johnson

I remember watching the Pursuit of Happiness play to a couple hundred people crammed into a venerable rock institution dubbed Call The Office in London, Ont. Here, Moe Berg unleashed another in a string of incredible live performances highlighted by now-iconic tunes such as "I'm an Adult Now"and "Cigarette Dangles." It was the early '90s, and live rock in splendidly crappy, beer-soaked clubs across the country was where it was at.  Some of the country's best bands, including the likes of the Tragically Hip, Rheostatics, Sloan, Lowest of the Low, Odds and Barenaked Ladies turned the Canuck sound on its head.

Many artists from that era continue to ply their trade, or have had too many reunion shows to count because the fans just can't let them go. In this swirl of whiskey-drenched memories and hot licks comes the TransCanada Highwaymen, a band composed of four former band leaders from that indie rock heyday: Berg of The Pursuit of Happiness, Chris Murphy of Sloan, Steven Page formerly of Barenaked Ladies and Craig Northey of Odds.

Between then and now, although the band has never officially broken up, Berg developed an aversion to performing live and was one of the few from that era who didn't end up on the reunion circuit — although there were a handful of shows and some greatest hits compilations sprinkled over the past couple decades.

"It was really just because I was anxious about having to go on stage and performing and I didn't look forward to it," says the Toronto-based music producer. "It's the thing that I love the most for the most of my life, so I transferred my energy to producing. I figured I was still in music, still being creative, so why do something you don't really feel great about doing?"

But, here he is surrounded by three of his favourite contemporaries churning out all the four bands' greatest hits on a tour that launches in St. Catharines on April 19, and hits Richmond Hill on April 27.

The idea for the show is credited to Toronto theatrical producer Jim Millan who presented the concept of four band leaders from an iconic era getting together on stage playing hits and telling war stories from a countless number of cross-country tour adventures. And the first four guys on the list jumped at the chance.

The only real challenge has been rehearsing, given just Berg and Chris Murphy are in Toronto, while Northey lives in Vancouver and Page in upstate New York.

"We'll be ready to go, I guess is the short answer," says Berg, who says he's just happy to be back in a band.

"What I miss most about TPH is just that camaraderie. I liked everybody in the band and I remember MIchael Jordan saying the same thing when he retired, that what he missed most was being with the guys," says Berg. "It becomes a family, sort of, I guess. We're not like that yet, but I like being wiht the guys, playing music and cracking jokes. It's a great environment to be in. The show is a ton of fun, it's not one of those songwriters in the round."

For those in need of a quick refresher, or even an introduction to the caliber of cool we are talking about, check out a song from each band below starting with the homespun video for "I'm An Adult Now" that changed everything for The Pursuit of Happiness.

--taken from: Post City

10-day tour lands at the Capitol Centre April 23

--taken from: North Bay Nugget

Pieced together from four iconic Canadian bands, the TransCanada Highwaymen play the Capitol Centre April 23. The lineup, from left, Steven Page (formerly Barenaked Ladies), Moe Berg (The Pursuit of Happiness), Chris Murphy (Sloan) and Craig Northey (The Odds).

by John Law

You can practically hear Craig Northey wince over the phone as soon as he hears the words: Supergroup.

The frontman for The Odds is on the line from Vancouver talking about his latest project, The TransCanada Highwaymen, when the dreaded tag comes up. Inevitable, when your new band includes Chris Murphy of Sloan, Moe Berg of The Pursuit of Happiness, and former Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page.

“None of us see ourselves as super, as you’ll find,” he says with a laugh. “We’re as mortal and as ordinary as they come. I don’t know how you get past that. I think the idea about all super groups is that they fail, so why put pressure on anybody?”

As Northey describes it, this new foursome pieced together from old bands is all about the fun. Fun to watch. Fun to listen to. And for all them, fun to hang out with. All have been friends for years, this is just another way to spend quality time together.

“This is just an extended ‘hang’,” he says. “Jim Millan, the person who’s kind of the producer of this show, was one of the people who shepherded it together. I worked with him with The Kids in the Hall for a long time, and he’s also a friend of Moe’s. He though this would be a great thing for people to see four frontmen who were all in bands talk about what that means and articulate the music.”

The music, for now, is all familiar. Each member brings some of their old hits to the table, which is like playing fantasy football with actual players, says Northey. He’s not just playing One Week or I’m An Adult Now, he’s playing it with the guys who sang them.

“I think all of us look at the set list and go ‘Oh, next song’s my song, OK …’, and then ‘Oh man! It’s one of Moe’s!’ You don’t really think about your own songs that much. It’s one you didn’t have to learn.”

The band kicks off a 10-day tour this week which brings them to the Capitol Centre April 23.

If all goes well, an album should follow.

“It would be a place to start,” Northey says. “To begin with, it’s for the fun of playing our stuff. I think after we’re together and we realize it could be even more fun, we’ll go further.

“I’m hoping we don’t put a bunch of pressure on each other. We really enjoy each other’s company so much and enjoy the music. That’s part of how music starts … the hang.

“It’s not like we needed verification we had common ground."

--taken from: North Bay Nugget

'Canuck super group' has Guelph show

--taken from: Guelph Mercury

by Doug Hallett

Four musicians who have got together to form what’s being described as a “Canuck super group” will perform at the River Run Centre on Thursday April 20 at 8 p.m. as part of an eight-stop tour in southern Ontario.

The TransCanada Highwaymen consists of Moe Berg of The Pursuit of Happiness, Chris Murphy of Sloan, Craig Northey of Odds and Steven Page, formerly of Barenaked Ladies.

The show will include 16 of their hit songs and will also incorporate band videos, photos and inside jokes gleaned from 25 years of friendship and camaraderie, a news release said.

“From British Columbia to Nova Scotia, each individual TransCanada Highwaymen member has left an indelible mark on the Canadian music scene. They come together now to share their road stories and laugh at the mayhem, mishaps and mischief that go along with being part of a band,” the release said. “Switching instruments throughout the show, the band will move freely from music to memories while providing behind-the-scenes access to the creative minds who wrote the songs that everyone knows and loves.”

--taken from: Guelph Mercury

Iconic Canadian Front Men Bring New Musical Project To River Run

--taken from: Guelph Now!

They are four musicians who have have played to millions of fans and sold just as many records. Now, Moe Berg, Chris Murphy, Craig Northey and Steven Page have joined forces as the Trans-Canada Highwaymen. The iconic Canadian front men will bring their new musical project to River Run Centre on Thursday, April 20, at 8 p.m. The Main Stage Performance is presented as part of the Richardson GMP Music Series.

Distinct singers and songwriters each with a fanatical fan base, the members of the Trans-Canada Highwaymen have performed at the world's biggest music festivals, sold-out arenas and on top television shows. Over time, the beloved Canadian musicians have evolved into music producers, television hosts, authors and composers for film and theatre. As the Trans-Canada Highwaymen, Berg, Murphy, Northey and Page come together to share stories and songs that live on.

A founding member of the Barenaked Ladies, Page’s distinctive and powerful tenor is among the most instantly recognizable voices in popular music. In recent years, he has enjoyed great success as a solo artist, composed six scores for productions at the Stratford Festival and collaborated and toured with the Art of Time Ensemble, among many other projects.

Northey spent 30 years as a member of the iconic Canadian band Odds, but is also well-known as a “serial collaborator” with musical and theatrical friends. Among the friends he's worked with are blues and swing musician Colin James, Rob Baker of the Tragically Hip, Jesse Valenzuela of the Gin Blossoms, Kids in the Hall and Brent Butt.

Murphy has enjoyed a more than 25-year career in the rock-quartet Sloan, one of the most popular bands in Canadian music history. He is also a member of the band TUNS and served as a host on CBC Radio. Murphy finds his greatest artistic joy playing music with friends.

Berg is best known as a member of the Pursuit of Happiness, a band that penned hits including I'm An Adult Now and Hard to Laugh during an active and successful 12-year career. While the Pursuit of Happiness has been on an extended break during recent years, the band does emerge from time to time, much to the delight of fans.

Together, Berg, Murphy, Northey and Page will perform 16 hit songs accompanied by funny and insightful stories that reveal the lives behind their careers. It's a performance that will prove they are as vital, entertaining and charismatic as ever.

--taken from: Guelph Now!

A Fan’s Perspective of the 2017 Junos, Part 2

--taken from: A Journal of Musical Things

[Emily Plunkett was given free rein to roam the Junos. The first part of her report can be found here. – Alan Cross]

In the whirlwind that is national awards shows, it’s inevitable that I’d learn a lesson or two.  Here’s one.

Lesson learned: Just because you don’t get invited to that all-inclusive after party doesn’t mean you won’t attend something just as, if not more, special.

As the complete novice journalist and photographer that I am, it can be really easy for me to get swept in the grand, romantic idea of the fast paced life of a reporter; especially after my last experience at the Junos. At the time I was still a student and 100 per cent green to the experience. Although I quickly learned it wasn’t all glitz, I was thoroughly impressed with the open bar for the members of the press and just being in the press room at all. In the midst of the flurry of activity that week was, I said yes to just about everything that came through my email inbox – including an invite to a major label after party that I didn’t realize was a very legitimate thing until I stepped onto their red carpet at Metropolitan on Sussex Dr.  That night I came face to face with members of Simple Plan, Blue Rodeo, and Epic Meal Time (remember them?).  For the aspiring music journalist without much experience, I was stunned. I still can’t walk past the restaurant without thinking about it, even five years later.

Fast forward to now. One of my grand ideas was to recreate that one story behind the major music label party. It’s been a bit of a hard road these past few years, and I wanted to know if I could do it again.  While I’m at it, I would be able to compare the experiences  But, as time passed this week, I found that my inbox was quieter this time around, and there was no invite to that label party – even though I know for a fact others got it.

Around the time I began to accept my fate as after-party-less, I got an invite to what was called Playlist Live: Canada’s 150th, presented by olè, a music rights management firm. I had no idea what it was about, or really who was putting it on, but George Stroumboulopoulos’ name was attached. I figured it might be a bit of a gamble to RSVP to it without more information. But the address in the email was very near my house in Gatineau, so if things went horribly wrong, I could just walk home and rest up for the next day. I would have to ditch the fancy welcome cocktails at the National Gallery an hour into it, and skip the Juno Cup game entirely, but the trade off possibilities were too interesting to ignore.

And then olè sent another email about half an hour before I arrived with the names of people who were going to show up. Arkells. Billy Talent’s Ben Kowalewicz. Jim Cuddy. Fred Penner. Whitehorse. Sam Roberts. Sloan’s Chris Murphy – now there was a name I wasn’t expecting to see this weekend!  There were also quite a few names that were unfamiliar to me, such as William Prince, Tasha the Amazon, Michee Me; and something called Feltworth was to open.

So I get there, just in time to see Chris Murphy walk in with Jay Ferguson (What?!), and to figure out the $20 I brought for drinks was useless because the bar was open.

To say this show was badass doesn’t even remotely come close to describing what I witnessed. It was Ben Kowalewicz performing Neil Young’s Ohio as a duet with Rough Trade’s Carole Pope.  It was the epic rap battle between Tasha the Amazon and Michee Me. It was the Tenors showing up to perform a tribute to Leonard Cohen.  It was the only chance I got to watch the Arkells properly all weekend and what did they do? Cover Bryan Adams.

And this Feltworth group? Well, they’re a puppet band. Literally puppets, like a rock and roll Casey and Finnigan – but with the singing voice of a certain Sloan frontman. They came back to open the next set with Fred Penner. They sang Spinning Wheel by Blood Sweat and Tears. I have followed Sloan to almost 25 shows in the past 15 years; I’m amazed I got to see this.

Behind me, Rob Baker and Paul Langlois wandered the crowd as Jim Cuddy performed Bobcaygeon. Kardinal Offishall was back there somewhere. As a child of late ‘90’s MuchMusic, my heart absolutely burst with joy to see Strombo be just the biggest music fan I’ve ever seen; and be the warmest fellow when I just couldn’t leave the party until I shook his hand.

The Rolling Stones once said you can’t always get what you want.  I walked home that night with exactly what I needed.

--taken from: A Journal of Musical Things

Cockburn Tops List of Canadian Icons Making Harvest Debut

--taken from: Wire Service

Iconic Canadian performers Bruce Cockburn, Martha Wainwright and Sloan will each make their Harvest debut during the festival's 27th edition, this September 12-17th in Fredericton, NB.

These performers join already announced headliners including fellow Canadian Colin James and American artists Steve Earle & the Dukes, The Revivalists, Lettuce and The Marcus King Band. Tickets to all shows go on sale May 11th at 11:00AM (AST).

"Cockburn, Wainright and Sloan are some of the most recognizable names in the storied history of Canadian music and we are finally getting the chance to present these iconic performers during the Festival" said Brent Staeben, Programming Director. "These are bucket-list performers for us and for many Festival patrons, and now there's yet another reason to wish away our time, pining for mid September to come."

One of Canada's finest artists, Bruce Cockburn has enjoyed an illustrious career shaped by politics, spirituality, and musical diversity. His remarkable journey has seen him embrace folk, jazz, rock, and worldbeat styles, and writing memorable songs about his ever-expanding world of wonders. That scratching and pulling has earned Cockburn high praise as an exceptional songwriter and a revered guitarist. His songs of romance, protest, and spiritual discovery are among the best to have emerged from Canada over the last 40 years. And he remains deeply respected for his activism on issues from native rights and land mines to the environment and Third World debt, working for organizations such as Oxfam, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, and Friends of the Earth. For his many achievements, the Ottawa-born artist has been honoured with 12 Juno Awards, an induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and a Governor General's Performing Arts Award, and has been made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Cockburn will be supported by Canadian roots rocker Terra Lightfoot from Waterdown, Ontario.

With an undeniable voice and an arsenal of powerful songs, Martha Wainwright is a beguiling performer and a refreshingly different force in music. Martha began building a buzz with her well-noted EPs, prior to her 2005 critically and commercially successful self-titled, debut LP. Now, four years later, 'Goodnight City' is poised to be her best record, returning to the rawness of her first release and including songs written by notable artists such as Beth Orton, Glen Hansard, her brother Rufus Wainwright, Michael Ondaatje, and Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs. Waintwright is the daughter of folk legends Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle. Martha tours her music around the world to sold out audiences on several continents.

Sloan is comprised of four distinct songwriting voices, guitarists Patrick Pentland and Jay Ferguson, bassist Chris Murphy and drummer Andrew Scott. The cohesive collective are self proclaimed Toronto scenesters who will always call Halifax home. Their back catalogue uniquely appeals to Much Music and rock-radio regulars, while the group maintains strong ties to their indie roots via their own label murderecords. They're Money-City Maniacs who have a soft spot for sweet sugar tunes, and instead of coasting on their cred, continue to challenge themselves with each record.

The Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival is Atlantic Canada's largest annual music festival, drawing up to 85,000 fans to the streets of Fredericton each September. Bruce Cockburn, Martha Wainwright, Sloan, Terra Lightfoot and more will perform at the 27th annual edition of the festival this September 12-17. Tickets and passes will go on-sale May 11 at 11:00am (AST) via www.etixnow.com or by using a self-serve kiosk at Graystone Brewing or Isaac's Way Restaurant in Fredericton, NB.

--taken from: Wire Service

Canuck Super Group TransCanada Highwaymen Sets Southern Ontario Tour Dates

--taken from: Broadway World

Four friends, four frontmen and four iconic Canadian rock bands ­- the TransCanada Highwaymen is a Canuck super group made up of Moe Berg of The Pursuit of Happiness, Chris Murphy of Sloan, Craig Northey of Odds and Steven Page, formerly of Barenaked Ladies.

Performing 16 of their hit songs including fan faves "I'm an Adult Now", "The Other Man", "It Falls Apart" and "BrIan Wilson", the set will also incorporate band videos, never before shared photos and inside jokes gleaned from 25 years of friendship and camaraderie.

From British Columbia to Nova Scotia, each individual TransCanada Highwaymen member has left an indelible mark on the Canadian music scene. They come together now to share their road stories and laugh at the mayhem, mishaps and mischief that go along with being part of a band. Switching instruments throughout the show, the band will move freely from music to memories while providing behind the scenes access to the creative minds who wrote the songs that everyone knows and loves.

For this limited engagement, Moe, Chris, Craig and Steven will share a glimpse into one of the most transformative eras in Canadian music. Ontario tour dates include Brampton, Brantford, Guelph, Kingston, North Bay, Oakville, Richmond Hill and St. Catharines, April 19 - 28.

Moe was, and technically still is, a member of The Pursuit of Happiness. The band had plenty of fun over their 12-year active career. They have been on a 20-year hiatus though they do occasionally come out from hiding, just slightly less often than the groundhog. During this time, Moe developed a severe case of stage fright. He is hoping that by teaming up with phenomenal performers like Chris, Craig and Steven he will regain his former love of the stage. He is looking forward to the shows and the camaraderie that goes with being in a band.

Chris Murphy always wanted to be in a band and loves playing music with friends. He considers project-based friendships the most efficient way to go through life. Chris has enjoyed 25+ years in the rock band Sloan where he is an equal member. He has another band called TUNS where he is an equal member. Now he is teaming up with Moe Berg, Craig Northey and Steven Page, three Canadian musical heavyweights that Chris is proud to call peers in the TransCanada Highwaymen... and Chris is an equal member. Fingers crossed, Chris is hoping to put together another project with Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and Bill Gates.

Craig Northey always takes the fun gig. To his wife's credit she has never bothered to roll her eyes when he completely ignores the pragmatic approach. She says, "That sounds interesting. See you when you get back". After 30 years in the band Odds and dozens more as "serial collaborator" with musical and theatrical friends (Kids in the Hall, Colin James, Rob Baker of the Tragically Hip, Jesse Valenzuela of the Gin Blossoms, Brent Butt, and Steven Page) he's found another fun and exotic ride to go on. Craig now gets to make rock n' roll joy with his pals Steven Page, Moe Berg and Chris Murphy as the TransCanada Highwaymen. Anyone would say yes to that. His wife smiles broadly and says, "oh...I'm going with you to those shows!"

Maybe you remember Steven Page from Barenaked Ladies. He was the one with glasses who sang songs like "BrIan Wilson" and "The Old Apartment" and left in 2009. Since then, he's released three albums, performed extensively with the Art of Time Ensemble, hosted his own TV show The Illegal Eater, and composed several scores for the Stratford Festival, including last year's acclaimed production of Macbeth. He is thrilled to be a part of the TransCanada Highwaymen as he's a huge fan of all three of his bandmates' music and is thrilled to be playing some of their biggest hits with them, particularly The Pursuit of Happiness' "Sweet City Woman," Sloan's "Sunglasses At Night" and "Everything I Do I Do It For You," made famous by Odds. Steven likes to think of TCH as Canada's Traveling Wilburys, which would make him their Roy Orbison. Except still alive.

--taken from: Broadway World