According to his official bio, folk artist Cam Penner spent over 10 years in Chicago working at soup kitchens and homeless shelters helping people overcome the daily struggles of life. That experience, not surprisingly, was something that he drew on when it came to song-writing.
Tonight, Penner is in town to play a show at Artesian on 13th (show at 8 p.m., tickets $12 advance and $15 door). To close, here’s video of Penner performing “Driftwood” with guitarist John Wood:
According to Facebook, Structures are a five-piece progressive metal band that calls Toronto home. Tonight, they’re in town to play a show at the Exchange. Also on the bill are Texas In July, Northlane and Intervals.
Doors are at 7 p.m., and tickets are $17 advance and $20 door. To get you pumped up for the show here’s video of the band’s drummer playing along to tracks laid down by other band members for the song “In Pursuit Of”:
Based in Winnipeg, this genre-defying band has played Regina several times in the past few years. Tonight, they’re in town to play a show at O’Hanlon’s Pub. Typically on a Tuesday, the back up band gets going around 10:30 p.m. with the headliner taking the stage around 11:30 p.m.
To give you a taste, here’s video of the band performing “Something Good” at a festival in Winnipeg in 2011:
Born in San Salvador, El Salvador Ramses Calderon (pictured) began studying music when he was 11. His area of expertise is classical guitar, and he studied with several disciples of a famous Latin guitarist named Agustin Barrios (1885-1944).
Since coming to Canada in 2000, Calderon has collaborated with a number of Canadian artists in different disciplines — music, dance, visual art, and film. On March 2, in fact, he headlined a show called Latin Blend that was co-presented by the Regina Symphony Orchestra and Sakewewak Artist-Run Centre at Westminster United Church.
Thursday night, Calderon is launching a CD called Cuerdas de la Historia at Artesian on 13th at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 advance and $20 at the door.
The CD includes some original compositions by Calderon, along with a selection of historical pieces from El Salvador and Central America that date back to the 18th century. After this performance, Calderon will be playing additional concerts in Canada, Cuba and Central America as part of a nine-date tour.
This is a reboot of a March 9 concert that got postponed when band members came down with the flu. According to the website for the Old Ideas tour, which in addition to Cohen and his band also features the Webb Sisters, this is the last concert on the North American leg. When Cohen next takes the stage on the tour it will be in Paris on June 18.
The show goes at Brandt Centre at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $59.50-$145.50.
The line-up for JazzFest Regina 2013 hasn’t been set yet, but the dates have been announced for this annual celebration of jazz music that includes a mix of ticketed and free events that take place at indoor and outdoor venues. This year’s festival will be held June 12-16. To help the Regina Jazz Society raise some cash to put the festival on a fundraiser is being held tonight at the Casino Regina Lounge. The evening will start with a silent auction that gets going at 6 p.m., and that will be followed by a performance by Canadian jazz legend Holly Cole at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $30 for lower level seating and $25 for upper level seating. And to give you a taste of what awaits here’s video from a 2012 concert DVD that Cole released called Steal the Night: Live at the Glen Gould Studio where she performs the classic “I Can See Clearly Now”:
1 HALF OF GUANTANAMO IS ON HUNGER STRIKE Probably because they’re being held for all eternity in a concentration camp without charge. Story here. And look at this quote: “Nearly 100 of the detainees have reportedly been cleared for release but remain at the facility because of restrictions imposed by Congress and also concerns of possible mistreatment if they are sent back to their home countries.” I remember when U.S. President Barack Obama, then a candidate, said he’d close Gitmo. Apparently a different definition of “close” than the English one.
2 CENTRAL LIBRARY IS REVIEWING WHICH SERVICES IT OFFERS, AGAIN That’s what I got from this piece about the RPL’s downtown branch. Are the pack of conservatives running that institution once again looking for an excuse to shut down the Dunlop Art Gallery (last attempt: 2002) and the RPL Film Theatre (last attempt: 1998)? I wouldn’t bet against it. I don’t trust them and neither should you.
3 IF YOU WANT A COLLAPSED LUNG, YOU SHOULD TOTALLY TAKE THE CINNAMON CHALLENGE Doctors say the cinnamon challenge is very bad for you.
4 IT’S EARTH DAY! HAVE YOU RECYCLED YOUR PLASTIC BOTTLES? The Philippines has! Also, Google has an Earth Day doodle. Also, Earth Day is 43 years old. With global warming passing the tipping point any minute now (if it hasn’t already), with the over-exploitation of fish stocks rushing us towards fishery collapse, with species extinction and habit loss increasing and with more and more toxins in the ecosystem, we’re on track for one hell of a happy 50th anniversary. Wooo, go sustainable development!
5 WE’VE BEEN JUNOED That was a fun weekend. Regina should invite Canada over to play more often. You can read James Brotheridge’s entertaining Juno Awards coverage here, and JunoFest coverage here, here, here and here, with more to come. Also, it sounds like Paul McCartney is coming this summer. Wait, wait–yup, that’s confirmed. Are you guys going to go? Should I go? Will Stephen LaRose write about this being yet another cynical cash grab from an artist well past his prime, and then go to the show anyway? So many questions.
6 CAT RESCUED IN SASKATOON Hooray!
VIDEO! In honour of Regina’s next big concert and cats, I give you: this.
No pick of the day today. Instead, here’s advance notice of a showcase that Regina Lyric Music Theatre will be presenting later this week. It features music made famous in various Disney movies. Shows will be held at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum Auditorium April 26-27 at 7:30 p.m., and April 28 at 2 p.m. Tickets for adults are $25, while for children 12 and under they are $10.
To close, here’s audio of the the show’s title track from Pinocchio:
Hey folks. I did things on Friday night that were intimately related to the JUNO Awards.
Here’s Rah Rah in full rock star mode at the downtown JUNO Fest tent.
We are unbelievably lucky to have a band like Rah Rah in this city. A national awards show is nice, but I’d rather hear Rah Rah playing the living hell out of “Prairie Girl” than Michael Bublé dumping out a can of one-liners for a crowd of music industry members. Someone should send a nice appreciative card to Rah Rah. Or maybe a DVD box set of The Facts of Life.
I also managed to capture Two Hours Traffic from PEI. Are they really that small? No, they were just far away. Or were they?*
Saskatoon’s Foam Lake started out the evening. I didn’t get any pictures of the band, but I can report with full confidence that they played melodic guitar-driven pop with polish, flair and heavy beards.
Also, there was someone in the crowd I called Mr. Eyeballs. I put up his picture, but then I thought that he might object, whoever he is. So I took it down. In his place I give you Molly Ringwald singing and playing ukulele from the first season of The Facts of Life.
*Two Hours Traffic are an entirely regular-size band.
When it comes to hosting national events like the Grey Cup and Scotties, we’ve got it down to a science. The Junos, though, are a different kettle of fish. They fall firmly in the arts/culture category, and the area they focus on (contemporary Canadian Music) is terra incognito for more than a few people.
Without tooting our own horn too much, I think Prairie Dog does a reasonable job of covering the Canadian indie pop, rock and folk music scene. Other media outlets in the city though (cough, commercial radio, cough) not so much. The Leader-Post has its moments too, but it also covers a lot of retro cheese.
When it comes to hosting the Junos, we’ll be hard-pressed to measure up to the standard of Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and other indie music hotbeds. But hopefully everything will run smoothly, and we’ll show the rest of Canada that there’s more to us than just our obsession with watching green-clad men in tight uniforms play football. Here’s a breakdown of events that will be happening in the next few days.
Tonight, there’s a live broadcast of the CBC radio program Q With Jian Ghomeshi at Conexus Arts Centre (7 p.m. $22-$27). Guests will include Tom Cochrane, k.d. lang, Corb Lund, Bahamas and Dragonette. Also on tonight is a concert under the bigtop at City Square Plaza that will feature the Grapes of Wrath with Fly Points, Indigo Joseph and Jason Plumb & the Willing. It gets going at 5 p.m. and tickets are $15.
Friday and Saturday the feature event is JunoFest. It’s a showcase of over 100 bands (perhaps 40 per cent from Saskatchewan, the rest from across the country) that takes place at 17 venues in Regina and Moose Jaw. You can pay individual admission charges at the venues, but your best bet is to pick up a wrist band for $30 that will grant you priority access to all the venues. We’re publishing a JunoFest guide in our April 18 issue so it will give you the lowdown on everyone who will be performing. Or visit the Juno website and check the events tab.
Also on Friday, the Juno Cup, which pits a team of former NHLers against a team of Canadian musicians goes in Moose Jaw at 7:30 p.m.
On Saturday, the second night of JunoFest will be held, along with Juno Fan Fare, a meet and greet between fans and musicians that goes at the Cornwall Centre from noon to 3 p.m. Then on Sunday, there’s the Juno Songwriters’ Circle at Casino Regina from noon to 2 p.m. It’s being hosted by Tom Cochrane and will feature participation from Kathleen Edwards, Colin James, Bahamas, Danny Michel and more. It will be followed by the Juno Awards gala at Brandt Centre at 5:45 p.m. The gala, by the way, will also be simulcast at City Square Plaza.
To close, here’s Classified’s 2010 video for “Oh… Canada”. He’ll be in town for JunoFest, headlining a show at City Square Plaza on Saturday night:
It’s one of those days. So here’s The Leisure Society with their number one jam, “Fight For Everyone.”
Here’s a shot from a few minutes ago of the tent going up on City Square Plaza in preparation for the Juno Awards which are in Regina next week. The official Juno dates are listed as April 15-21. Events that will be happening in the tent that I’m aware of include the following:
Thursday April 18 Grapes of Wrath, Fly Points, Indigo Joseph and Jason Plumb & the Willing will be playing. Start time is 5 p.m. and tickets are $15. Friday and Saturday, admission will be via a $30 wrist band that allows access to 17 venues in Regina and Moose Jaw as part of JunoFest. The line-up Friday is Rah Rah, Two Hours Traffic, Foam Lake and Slow Down, Molasses starting at 8 p.m. Saturday there’s a hip hop show with Classified, SonReal & Rich Kidd, Kayo and Quake starting at 8 p.m. Then on Sunday there will be a simulcast of the Juno Awards show from Brandt Centre (assuming it goes from there as scheduled) at 5:45 p.m..
The tent will remain in place for Saskatchewan Fashion Week which happens May 9-11. Then come Grey Cup time, I imagine the tent will be returning to the plaza. In 1995 and 2003 there was an outdoor tent on 19 block Scarth that proved to be a hit with revelers.
Born in Tennessee, with stops in Texas and Mississippi along the way, Scott Holt took up the guitar at the relatively late age of 19. Once he started playing, though, he didn’t waste any time in developing his chops, and he eventually ended up touring for 10 years with blues great Buddy Guy.
Tonight, Holt is in town to play a gig at the Exchange. The show is being sponsored by the Regina Blues Association and includes an opening set by Random Groove. Doors are at 7 p.m. and tickets are $20.
To give you a taste of what Holt’s about here’s video from 2011 of him and his band performing “Dark of the Night”:
This is being held in conjunction with a special exhibit at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum that’s tied to the Juno Awards called The Power of Music: Sustainability & the JUNOS. “The exhibit explores how musicians have written music around three themes: nature, resilience and wisdom and the idea of those being aspects of living more sustainability,” says Glenn Sutter, a RSM biologist who also practices as a singer-songwriter in Regina. ”There’s been a lot of music written and activism by leading songwriters in Canada and that lent itself to a pretty interesting exhibit that involves four listening stations where you learn about the causes that artists are supporting and also hear songs that they’ve written.”
Musicians represented include Sarah Harmer, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Neil Young. “The exhibit features over 20 Juno Award-winning songwriters and the whole idea with the Songwriters’ Circle is to give local songwriters a chance to explore those same themes,” says Sutter. “The artists won’t be bringing new material to the circle, but they’re all excited to explore their catalogues and explain where the songs come from.”
Sutter is hosting the event, and will also be participating as a songwriter. “We’ve got some great people who have stepped forward to help out,” he adds. “JJ Vos is on the country side, Megan Nash from Moose Jaw is country-pop, Thomas Roussin is well-known from the nancy ray-guns and other projects and has an interesting First Nations perspective on some of these topics, and Mark Ceasar is just a fantastic songwriter.”
The circle, which is a licensed event, goes at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum at 8 p.m. tonight. Tickets are $15 advance and $20 door. For more information call 306-787-8165. And to give you a taste of the talent that will be on display here’s video from 2011 of Megan Nash performing “Coming In From the Cold”:
Hailing from Peterborough, this is a roots rock band fronted by Dylan Ireland. Other members of the group include Melissa Payne (fiddle), Joe Hay (drums), Liam Wilson (bass) and Benj Rowland (multi-instrumentalist). The group has a self-titled EP to its credit, and has played over 200 shows with the likes of Whitehorse, The Sadies and Jenn Grant.
Sunday night they’re in town to play a show at Creative City Centre (doors at 7:30 p.m., tickets $10). Backing them up will be Regina country artist Chris Prpich (Lazy MKs) and his friend Caroline who are collectively known as Brass Buttons. To give you a sense of what Ireland and his group are like here’s video from last summer of them playing their song “Out Of The Trees” at the Mariposa Folk Festival:
