I have no idea what I emailed to my Prof on Saturday night. Its not my fault that no one cares about Canadian television. Seriously, it should be an indication something is wrong when you’re allowed to use course materials as all of your sources on a final research paper, because there is practically nothing printed that hasn’t been included.

And you know what, I like Canadian television. I remember moving to Massachusetts when I was ten, and flipping between MuchMusic and MTV on satellite, and thinking, despite the fact these two channels have exactly the same purpose, they’re nothing alike. Yes, MuchMusic and pretty much all Canadian is budget as shit, but it was more than a superficial difference, the whole vibe Much gave off was completely different. This was back when they had Bradford Howe and Strombo and Rick Campanelli, basically people who were more than pretty faces and actually knew what they were talking about. I mean lets face it, despite the fact Bradford Howe has quite a space carved out for him in the collective conscious of every Canadian born in the late 80s, he would have never made it on MTV. One look at those plaid pants and he would have been escorted out of the building.

And Strombo! I was watching Jay Leno the other night (granted Jay Leno will never be known as a good interviewer, nor does he host the same kind of program) and it really made me realize just how good George Stroumboulopoulos is at his job. Jay Leno couldn’t even keep up with Megan Fox. She says something about how she started modeling when she was fourteen or fifteen, and Leno’s next question is “so when did you start modeling?” Sweet Jesus Leno, what are they paying you for? Can you at least stay present? After that incident, all I notice is how detached every other interviewer is. I used to hate the set of The Hour and how Strombo would always lean towards his guest to the point where when they cut to the guest’s response, the corner of his head would be in the frame. I found it gimmicky, like they were saying “look at what an effort Strombo is making to connect with his guest! he’s almost falling off his chair!” but now it doesn’t seem so irritating, because weird posture or not, at least he’s ENGAGED. He is PAYING ATTENTION and asking RELEVANT QUESTIONS. Granted the testament to his skill is how easy he makes it look, but shouldn’t those two things be the bare minimum for someone who gets paid to talk to someone?

The problem is no one’s allowed to have opinions anymore. The media is just one big circle jerk, the shows need celebrities, and the celebrities need the shows, but they aren’t going to go on the shows if they aren’t going to come out looking good. So no one is allowed to ask anything but the most benign questions, because God forbid someone who is being payed millions of dollars to do something, have to justify why they’re there and someone else is not.

Obviously celebrities/politicians/whatever and the press have conflicting objectives, but that’s just the nature of things. I remember watching an episode of Disband where they school Dean Lickyer (I think) on the media, telling them the success of the interview is based on how many times they can drop their album release date in the span of five minutes. The same thing happens at the White House, the press corps literally has a meeting every morning and defines the key issue of the day, then tries to push that issue as hard as physically possible while avoiding the others. The difference is the news media will pry as hard as they can, while Sarah Taylor just stands there in leggings.

Its a damn shame, because the whole reason I used to watch Much (and watch shows in general) is because I wanted to know other peoples opinions. I like certain hosts and liked hearing what they had to say, even if I didn’t always agree with them. I mean even if George Stroumboulopoulos wasn’t explicitly bashing Good Charlotte, you knew he had an opinion. Today with music journalism you might as well just subscribe to an RSS feed and be done with it, because everyone is saying the same thing.

I always love when I run into the guys in Hedley, I’ve been following their career now since Jacob did his infamous stint on Canadian Idol which lead to the Hedley we know and love today. (I bet you didn’t know there was a .hedley before there was a Hedley).

The guys dropped by Much on Demand on November 19th to debut their latest video ‘Dont Talk to Strangers’ and being the gentlemen they are, allowed me to shoot.

Anyone else think that Jake is channeling his inner Newfie?

You know what? Fuck everybody. It’s about time that somebody finally sat all of you down and told you the straight goods. Let me clarify/qualify that statement: fuck everybody who watches and supports reality television. You are ruining everything for everybody else, so, stop it.

These fucking assholes want six figures for interviews after they crashed Obama’s first state dinner. Give yourself a pat on the back, everybody-who-watches-reality-television, you made pieces of shit like this possible.

Has nobody learned the lessons of Balloon Boy? Those two fucking negligent parents who were willing to risk fucking EVERYTHING just to get their 15 minutes? Euthanize them, the children (it’s obviously too late for them), and everybody who spent their day glued to the television/internet and then were outraged when they found out it was a hoax. You did that to yourself, so stop placing the blame elsewhere, assholes.

Stop watching Much Music and MTV, while you’re at it. As a matter of fact, boycott it all together until it calls itself what it is: Lowest-Common Denominator Programming.

Leona Lewis is back with a new album, and the (stunning) songstress was at Much On Demand yesterday to promote the album, titled Echo. There isn’t much to say about her other than what an amazing body the girl has. Superficial? Yes. But we all are, so just admit it and keep on living your life.

Take a look at the pictures below (and above) and check out Leona’s album on iTunes. The 16 track (sixteen!) deluxe edition includes a collaboration with OneRepublic as well as a few live versions of her latest songs. I think the album is better than her debut, although I didn’t care for it all that much to begin with, so I was perhaps starting out on a sloped hill. Either way, you should check out the new album. It’s got all sorts of sounds, from melodic to hip-hop, with essences of everything from Whitney Houston to Jay-Z. Enjoy!

There’s a newfangled security measure I had yet to encounter that I recently met.

I’ve never worked in any kind of corporate job. Never enjoyed the privilege of low-pile grey industrial no-nonsense carpet, the kind that causes constant shocks each time I imagine lowering myself into my aerodynamically-designed low-pile corporate turquoise computer chair. I’ve never been privy to the myriad of mysteries and adventure brought to life by the audible squeal of the opening supply cupboard, pencils, rulers and paperclips glimmering just beyond my reach. Never been within fifteen feet of the legendary watercooler, nor have I heard its tales of last night’s AMERICAN IDOL or KING OF QUEENS.

So it was natural — obvious, even, that there were things in this brave new world of rat-race-pencil-pushing that I wouldn’t understand. That I couldn’t understand. That I shouldn’t understand. Short of imaginary visits to a corporate criminal’s jail, I’d never seen a room that necessitated fancy welcoming glass office doors that mysteriously lock in secure measures previously seen only in the opening sequence of Get Smart, sealed strong enough to resist the combined bodyweights of the Dallas Cowboys 1995 roster (and yet… made for a woman). I’ve never yet encountered the large red button that overrides the aforementioned locking mechanism and delicately, digitally defeats the door’s blocking capacity, also diminishing the amount of facial bruising caused by the average Joe’s typical daily interaction with the smug, unfrosted, clear-handled bastard of a door.

You think this story is about a door, don’t you? Don’t you? Don’t you?

No.

This is a story about a button. A red button that protruded from the wall like a mysterious nipple, a scarlet siren that begged to be flogged, yet was shaped hexagonally, invoking a traffic-oriented collective-unconscious archetype. This button demanded you to STOP, CEASE, DESIST — DO NOT TOUCH ME. There was no labeling on or around the button, no “push me” or “don’t push me” tags had been attached, and so, intimidated patrons of the doorway were much like Alice through the looking glass: wondering which side of the mushroom would provide the desired effect, as the blasé Caterpillar slithered blithely away, vague and glib answers emanating in puffs of coloured smoke.

About an inch and a half under the button was a fire alarm. This, of course, had been dramatically labeled as such, but was so close to the mystery button that it provided less of a distinct juxtaposition between which button was to be pressed ritually and which was to be reserved for the far more dress-up occasion of flames, smoke and panic. As I stood in front of these buttons, a small crowd gathered behind me, also waiting to exit the office. I felt like the child who had been triple dog dared into sticking his tongue to the telephone pole as I wiped the sweat from my brow and poised my finger above the red hexagon. I imagined it, cartoon-like to be screaming a rubberfaced “NOOOOOOO” as i poked my french tipped index finger into the center of it’s cyclops’ eye.

Successfully, the glass panels opened, Open-Sesame-style. The worker bees behind me filed through the open french doors and those comically augmented moments of delay and frustration were traded once more for the buzzing hum of shuffled papers and forgotten pipe-dreams.

I stood on the low-pile mottled grey carpeting and relived the moment in front of the buttons. I could very easily have imagined myself “accidentally” pulling the fire alarm instead, and began then, to wonder how many other people — like me — stand daily in front of that door, contemplating the social suicide of playacting the unintentional pull of the fire alarm, riveted by their own daydreams of playing the sad, blue-eyed-victim-of-it-all, explaining, with glistening eyes the mistake, the hand slip, the trip on the low-pile carpet to the boss, the chief of police, the burly ash-covered fireman. Blaming non rubber-soled shoes, decaffeinated coffee or excessive amounts of Jergens lotion for the total decay of the civilized workday.

I imagined these same people going home and feeding their cats, in constant worry that for the one brief second when filling the cat’s paw-print shaped dish with f-grade byproduct gelatin-horsemeat, they would be compelled to instead take that viscous forkful and plough it right into their unsuspecting mouth, not realizing the fatal error until the moment the gag reflex had been suppressed, the mouthful in stasis just past the surprised esophagus. Imagining them in front of the Doomsday button, and realizing that for this individual any given situation had Doomsday potential, if logic and reason ceased to define “proper” actions derived by impulse and instead impulse became hardwired to rebel against social and hygenic convention, bypassing reason entirely.

I left the building in a daze. Crossing the street I began to fantasize in ten second bursts, about the impulses we have, the impulses we are aware of an obligation to avoid (so as not to seem completely insane), and of how having those impulses; I mean, being aware that one must not even fantasize about such illogical and terrifying consequences to situations that don’t actually even exist is actually quite crazy in and of itself, and this, perhaps, is what differentiates the artist from the rest of society. The casual ability to slip into a moment of hideous and unrealistic possibilities with every minute action denoting chain reactions of epic proportion.

I imagine being hit by cars, shot at, followed, licking stranger’s faces, stealing food from homeless babies, grabbing an old woman and forcing her to Tango, walking four-legged on a treadmill at a high-end gym, answering the door for a deliveryman while wearing a horsebit, accidentally breaking the fingers of a businessman while shaking hands on a million-dollar-deal. I imagine and enjoy each sensation of embarrassment and awkwardness while I pride myself on my ability to walk away from each of these imagined scenarios with a sense of exuberance at having fooled another sucker, Guess I’ll Die Another Day.

In my dreams, I push the Doomsday button and laugh as the Eiffel Tower collapses. I wake up and of course I’m happy it’s still standing. It’s a curious affliction, one that I’m not sure isn’t more of a curse rather than the blessing of a vivid imagination.

Two clips, one funny, one uncomfortable, and both apt.

Anyway, the new single, ALL THE LITTLE THINGS is now on Virgin radio as well as MuchMusic, so I’ll post the links, and I’d love it if you’d all request it about a zillion times.

http://www.muchmore.ca/mmtop10/

http://toronto.virginradio.ca/music

http://www.z1035.com/

http://www.proudfm.com/song_request.php

Thanks Loyals!

xx

In an effort to raise awareness for AIDS, Much Music VJs Sarah Taylor and Jesse Giddings took to the streets of Toronto wearing some (very classy) reindeer costumes and dance in the Toronto Eaton Centre. A part of “A Dare to Remember”, a campaign by the Stephen Lewis Foundation, the program encourages people to dare friends and complete dares from others in order to spark a change for good in the world. The campaign’s website has ideas for dares and allows you to make donations for celebrities to do dares themselves. George Stroumboulopoulos has participated, and these two VJs are doing their part to spark change themselves. Check out the (hilarious) video and pictures of the pair dancing to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” in front of hundreds of passers-by just off of Yonge-Dundas Square in the heart of the city.

“Left In The Dust”
Much Music recently celebrated its 25th anniversary on the air. Looking back, it’s easy to see that it is not the same network that people championed a decade ago. Much has cut nearly every tie it had to Canadian culture, but why?

Walking up the stairs in my best friend’s apartment building has become rhythmic, hypnotic, and most of all familiar. Up two flights of twelve steps each, through the worn-out second floor doorway, down the hallway of painfully bland white walls, and finally in through the last door on the left. I take off my shoes in the entryway, and round the corner into the living room. Without fail the television is on, odds are the dial is turned to Much Music. I laugh now, curious how many times I’ve completed this ritual, and I wonder if somewhere deep inside of me, I’ve noticed the devolution of the once great Canadian culture benefactor.

At the Capital Bar in Fredericton, Zach Atkinson is hard at work. He makes his living as a concert promoter, booking agent, and a graphic designer. On top of all that though is his real passion, music. Atkinson is a drummer in local band the Slate Pacific. He says he remembers a different Much Music than what’s on the air today, one that inspired his musical side.

“Much used to be the source for good Canadian music,” said Atkinson. “Before the internet was so accessible, before Myspace, Facebook, all other social networking and free download sites, and before torrents, Much Music made me want to listen to music and play in bands,” he said.

The network was founded as an independent specialty channel in 1984, by well known broadcasters John Martin and Moses Znaimer. Its mandate was simple, to be a twenty-four hour music video channel. To stay in line with a CRTC requirement known as CanCon, Much had to maintain a proportional percentage of Canadian content. It was that compliance, as well as the creation of VideoFACT – a fund that provides money for Canadian artists to produce music videos – that gained the network a reputation for developing an exciting Canadian music scene.

In the early nineties alone, Much greatly helped launch the careers of Matthew Good, Our Lady Peace, David Usher, Chantal Kreviazuk, and Sloan, among others. All of these artists were young Canadians, who were new to the music industry, but all of their music retained a high level of artistic integrity, and their videos were played in heavy rotation. This raises the question of what has changed in a decade.

“Much Music had some great shows that highlighted great national and international bands such as New Music, Spotlight, The Wedge, Loud & The Punk Show,” said Atkinson. “Most of these shows are no longer on the air, and Much has now moved towards an MTV style of music network focusing on bad realty TV, ‘sister stations,’ and superstar spotlights that just show how spoiled most of these people are,” he said. “They have pulled the focus away from good Canadian content and left its culture in the dust for an episode of The OC.”

It’s possible that priorities changed when co-founder John Martin left in 1993, or even when CTV Globemedia acquired Much in a takeover a few years ago. Somewhere along the way though, the emphasis went from what could be popular to only what is popular. Today, the network is rarely plays anything aside from the Top 40 Chart.

Unfamiliar Records president Greg Ipp believes that the fallout has to do with how VideoFACT and FACTOR – its government counterpart – are dolling out grant money today.

“As the inner workings of the industry become more transparent, and as my personal debt mounts, the process is becoming increasingly frustrating,” wrote Ipp, in an open letter to the Canadian music industry.

In that letter, he describes a tendency for grants to be distributed to “bands under the wing of well-funded labels with cash to spare.” He cites very popular Canadian band Metric, who he says have garnered over $60,000 so far this year, as one such example.

“If the band is relatively unknown to the national music scene, juries are more likely to pass on their application because of their smaller status,” Atkinson agreed.

For now, musicians like Atkinson have to rely on amateur videos, like one recently done by Mitch Fillion of Southern Souls. The production quality is low, the camera work is a little shaky, and there is definite background noise. The music however, stands on its own two feet. It may not be a flashy video, with some big name producer and a five figure budget, but aren’t all of these things just distractions anyway? Cliché as it might sound, a lot of people put the music ahead of they watch while listening to it. I only wish Much Music would return to the ‘good ol’ days’ when they thought the same way.

Merci à Fearlessbird des LoD d’avoir trouvé ce petit passage de Bobby, perdu au milieu d’un flot de reportages sur la sortie de “New Moon“. C’est tout ce qu’il reste de l’entrevue réalisée à Toronto par “Much Music” (où est passée la chanson ?). Emission pour laquelle Bobby avait fait l’aller/retour de Vancouver en septembre… Je n’ai gardé que le passage qui nous intéressait !

Les photos : ITV Much Music Toronto (11.09)

Most people think of OneRepublic as a one hit wonder, but if you just knew what they did behind the scenes with some of the past year’s biggest songs, you’d beg to differ. They worked on Beyonce’s Halo, Kelly Clarkson’s latest album, and were even featured in a Leona Lewis track. Hardly small time music, I think. While I admit I haven’t heard their latest album, I fell in love with their debut and I’m sure the new one is at least up to par with bar they set with the first.

Sarah Taylor sat down with the band at Much Music Headquarters and chatted music, their careers, and the band also put on a two-song set for the audience. You can check it all out here. Meanwhile, take a look at the photos I grabbed while at the studio!

I was featured in Farahri’s new video ft Choclair “Dance the night away

I also choreographed the video. You can’t see the dance scenes as much as I would like, but you could see just enough. I’m the young lady dancing with Choclair:)

Here it is. I know I’m a little late posting this, sorry.

outisthrough.com: Jesse Giddings is MuchMusic’s newest VJ.

I fell in love with this song, the first time I heard it.

CHECK THEM OUT!

http://www.myspace.com/satelitesband

http://www.youtube.com/satelitesmusic

Credit Just Jared

In a few hours, Tokio Hotel will perform their first concert in Greece for the First Anniversary of MTV in Athens! On Wednesday (above), they were presented with Greek Gold Records for both Humanoid and Scream.

This event is getting some great North American coverage! It’s exciting to see big blogs like Buzzworthy and Just Jared following the promo tour, with footage and pics being released directly to US outlets simultaneously with German outlets like  RTL. We’re on the map, America!

MTV Buzzworthy

Just Jared

Much Music (Canada)

This past Monday was Free The Children’s “We Day”, a day of motivational speeches across the city that encourage students and adults alike to do something good in the world, whether it be to help global warming, poverty, disaster relief, or any other worthy cause. Founder of Free The Children Craig Kielburger and his brother, Marc, stopped by the Much Music studios for Much On Demand to talk about the message they’re spreading around the world.

Justin Bieber was also present as a result of his involvement with the activities and he obviously got a huge cheer from the pre-pubescent tweens. I was just thankful I had earplugs! These girls were insanely loud, but I must say, they were just as loud for the Kielburgers, which means the message is sinking in and people are willing to make change. 299 Queen West was packed to the brim with screaming fans, but if you looked through a different filter, you could see that they were all catalysts of change.

I learned about Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps from Jodi at I Will Dare. Since I refuse to visit MySpace Music websites, I still don’t know very much about the band…

…except they’re from the Twin Cities and kick some aural hinder. This cover of Rod Stewart’s “Young Turks” haunts me like Norman Maclean was haunted by waters. Listen to that organ in the opening of the song! Listen to Caroline’s voice! I mean, anyone who can pull the redeeming qualities out of a Taylor Swift song is someone deserving of a record contract and mainstream adulation.

I want more. (And I should get my act together and purchase their album, “Backyard Tent Set,” from iTunes.)

support my friend shane in his attempt at becoming much music’s 2009 vj.

he’s pretty funny, i guess. check out his other SNATCHTV videos. i promise it will only take minutes of your life that you won’t necessarily need back.

Lots of work has brought my way with class. This means lots of new studies to add to my portfolio. I’d love to say my life is exciting and ridiculous at the moment but it’s fairly steady with school, school and more school. Although, there is a pinup girl calendar shoot in my near future.

Don’t forget to vote for me as the next MuchMusic VJ!

]]> http://sostandout.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/varak-for-much-music-vj-2-0/ Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:45:59 +0000 jkaladjian http://sostandout.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/varak-for-much-music-vj-2-0/

Here’s a clip that an old friend shot for the Much Music VJ search.

I must say, this is definitely one of the better submissions.
Every vote counts, so click HERE to vote for him!

Toronto’s Fucked Up have certainly come a long way from their days opening for local bands in the small room of the Croatian Cultural Centre, bleeding for the assorted 30 hardcore kids (half of which were in the other bands). Indeed, having successfully avoided the splatter on multiple occasions, I would never have dreamed that Fucked Up would take home what is rapidly becoming one of Canada’s most prestigious music prizes.

But take it home they did.

The 2009 Polaris Music Prize Gala was presented by Sirius Satellite Radio and hosted by Much Music’s Sarah Taylor and CBC Radio 3 Vancouver’s very own Grant Lawrence, while it streamed live at muchmusic.com and cbcradio3.com/Sirius channel 86. The fourth annual prize also marked the first ever pairing of the two media outlets.

This was a year of firsts for the Polaris Prize. Patrick Watson, who won for his 2007 album Close To Paradise, was again nominated for his latest Wooden Arms along with Joel Plaskett and Chad Vangaalen. K’NAAN, Malajube and Metric were also nominated in 2006. And for the first time in Polaris history, no debut albums made the cut.

Each year, a jury of 182 music journalists, broadcasters and bloggers from across Canada submit their top five Canadian albums released between June 1, 2008 and May 31, 2009. These picks are then condensed into a top 40 Long List. From there, it gets whittled down to a Short List of 10. 12 of those Jurors are sequestered when the Gala begins, deliberating on who will win the $20,000 prize. The prize is then awarded based solely on artistic merit, and not record sales or marketing.

All 10 Short List nominees performed at the star studded gala. Toronto radio station 102.1 the Edge’s Alan Cross (also of the Ongoing History Of New Music as well as Explore Music) introduced Toronto’s Metric, who were nominated for their album Fantasies and kicked off the evening with a rousing acoustic rendition of their hit single “Gimme Sympathy.” Next was Toronto’s Great Lake Swimmers, nominated for their album Lost Channels. Montreal’s Malajube played from their latest Labrinthes, before Montreal’s Patrick Watson performed in the middle of the crowd, CBC’s Jian Ghomeshi providing auxiliary percussion reminiscent of his MoFru days before introducing Toronto’s K’NAAN, whose album Troubadour was recorded in Bob Marley’s original home studio. Halifax’s most famous son, Joel Plaskett performed songs with triad’s for names from his latest triple offering Three, which he recorded with his father. Chad Vangaalen, nominated for Soft Airplane (b-sides now available for free download at softairplane.com), was introduced by legendary author of the Canadian Music Bible, Michael Barclay. Elliott Brood nominated for their rootsy album Mountain Meadows were next in the stunning showcase of Canadian talent, introduced by the CBC’s Amanda Putz. St. John’s Hey Rosetta!, nominated for their album Into Your Lungs, which was produced by Hawksley Workman, performed just before Fucked Up closed the night with a spirited set.

Fucked Up’s enigmatic front man, Damian “Pink Eyes” Abraham, stripped on stage, his gruff vocals providing an interesting contrast to the more pleasant music atypical of the hardcore punk genre. If the Chemistry Of Common Life proves anything, it proves that it is definitely not what you’d expect from a hardcore punk album.

Following a food fight started by Malajube and Patrick Watson and ended by Chad Vangaalen, last year’s Polaris winner, Caribou announced the final results to torrents of applause. Pink Eyes and co graciously accepted the award after first kissing Grant Lawrence on the lips and thanking him for being such an influence with his band the Smugglers.

The win marks an interesting turning point in the Canadian music industry, and truly shows why the Polaris Prize is so different from any other and so vital.

Expect a compilation of Fucked Up’s singles early next year titled Couple Tracks: Singles 2001-2009 on Matador Records.

You can find the full gala at muchmusic.com or cbcradio3.com in both audio and video podcast form.

-Kristina Mameli (Broadcast Journalism Alumni)

Fresh video from Halifax’s own Ghettosocks; directed by Halifax’s own Pardis Parker:

I’ve entered in to be MuchMusic’s VJ 2.0 contest! I could be one of the new hosts of MuchMusic! So, take a little bit of time to vote me 5 stars in the hot and cool section of the webpage!

Remember, if you’re feeling extra generous, you can refresh the page and vote a few times!

http://vj.muchmusic.com/gallery/3271#gallery

Check out the video as well! If you have a youtube account you can also vote it 5 stars!

Much Music is hosting another VJ search. This seems to be one of the only decent audition tapes so far….Ok, It’s me. But don’t you think it’s time again for Much to have a VJ who speaks for you? The entry link for you to vote will be up later today.

UPDATE: Here’s the link to vote over and over again http://vj.muchmusic.com/gallery/3271#gallery

It’s no secret around here that we’re big fans of LIGHTS; she’s a Canadian born, completely original, synth-pop goddess. She writes comics, does video blogs (and not just ’cause the record company thinks it’s all the rage), and even makes her own music videos. In her apartment. With pencil crayons!

In any case, the songstress stopped by Much on Demand on Tuesday for an interview and performance (three songs: Saviour, Drive My Soul, and River), where I just happened to be passing through and snapped some pictures.

Her debut album, The Listening, also dropped Tuesday, so go check it out; I’ll have a full review of it tomorrow! (Hint: it’s insanely good). Enjoy the pictures from her MOD appearance. See you tomorrow!

(As always, you can click through to see larger versions of the pictures. Or, click HERE.)