Gordon Lightfoot Announces 11 City Canadian Tour

This tour is being announced rather breathlessly this morning, complete with a Canadian Press story that starts:

A few years ago, fans of Gordon Lightfoot were wondering whether the music legend would ever be able to perform again.

Problem is, Gordon Lightfoot did shows last year, has a full concert schedule for this year and bookings for next year.

None the less, it is the legendary Lightfoot's first cross country jaunt in seven years, and it is good to see a working musician out working. The tour starts Oct 3rd, in Vancouver and breaks on the 15th in Kitchener. It resumes with dates in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto in November. Here's the schedule, from Lighfoot.ca:

October 3 Vancouver, BC The Centre For The Performing Arts

October 5 Edmonton, AB Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium

October 6 Calgary, AB Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium

October 7 Regina, SK Casino Regina

October 8 Saskatoon, SK Sid Buckwold Theatre

October 10 Winnipeg, MB Pantages Theatre

October 11 Winnipeg, MB Pantages Theatre

October 12 Thunder Bay, ON Community Auditorium

October 15 Kitchener, ON Centre In The Square

November 9 Montreal, PQ Place Des Arts

November 10 Ottawa, ON National Arts Center

November 16 Toronto, ON Massey Hall

November 17 Toronto, ON Massey Hall

November 18 Toronto, ON Massey Hall

David Foster Promoted to Officer of the Order of Canada

Vancouver music producer/composer David Foster today was elevated from member to officer of the Order of Canada. The Officer Snowflake (right) which has gold edging, gold lettering and a red center Maple Leaf recognizes "a lifetime of achievement and merit of a high degree, especially in service to Canada or to humanity at large"

Foster has worked with John Lennon, George Harrison, Chicago, Lionel Ritchie, Barbara Streisand, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Destiny's Child, Mariah Carey and Madonna.

He has won 14 Grammy's, 5 Juno's and a Golden Globe Award. He has 42 Grammy nominations, as well as 3 Academy Award nominations for Best Picture.

If your Nickelback's Chad Kroeger...

How do you feel about todays Toronto Sun front page?


It can never be good when a half page picture of you is beside a half page headline with the words "Kid Porn Rap" in them. While no one is suggesting Mr. Kroeger is in any way related to the headline, it kind of looks that way at a glance - in fact it fooled me for a second.

If I where in charge of Nickelback's promotions, I think I'd be keeping today's Sun away from Chad.

Cross Posted to At Home in Hespeler

2006 Juno Nominees

Nominees for the 35th annual Juno Awards, to be presented on April 2nd in Halifax, where announced today. Nickelback leads nominees with 6. Diana Krall and Michael Buble shared 5 nominations each, while Neil Young came in at 3.

Nickelback's nominations include Fan Choice Award, Single of the Year, Album of the Year, Group of the Year and Rock Album of the Year.

The complete list is here, or as PDF here.

Other nominations of interest are Diana Krall's Christmas album for Album of the Year (Really. A Christmas Album?) and nothing that is any good for International Album of the Year.

Singles Scene # 2

Bayfield: Sometimes, the interesting story is of the one that got away: "Yea, we caught all these barely edible little fish, but you should have seen the one Jonah had on..." It is July 4th, America day. I am in Bayfield Ontario and stumble upon a true piece of Canadiana, a Canadian gem. Unfortunately, I couldn't pry it out of the hands of the owner; more specifically still, the owners dad.

Bayfield is a small tourist trap of a town, approximately 20 minutes south of Goderich, where we were camping for a week. The main street is a series of small houses painted white, with white picket fences and gingerbread gabling all around. The houses are in reality however, shops, restaurants and B&B's. Many of the shops of the antique kind. It is really a nice little downtown, and it makes for a good summer afternoon walking through it. If you like old stuff, the antiques, this is a town that must be visited.

On the corner of Charles St. and Main St. there is a sign for the group of 7 shoppes [sic]. The group of seven is seven small stores all selling old stuff; two of which appear to be in business. One is "Around the Block" which sold used clothes as well as a small selection of antiques and LP records. My wife was eyeballing a dress and went in to the change room. A minute later she shouts out:

"Singles. The wall is covered in singles."

Sure enough about 50 singles grace the wall of each change room. Mostly old Rock and Roll, mostly U.S. and British stuff. John Cougar, The Beatles, The Dave Clark 5 and The Jackson's. An eclectic mix really, not from one era, or even style. Almost like someone bought a pile for a dime at a flea market. In the first change room we were in, the one in the vary back corner of the store, there was my CanCon gem. The Young Canada Singers 45 of Canada.

Remember this song? "Caaaa-Naaaa-Da. One little two little three Canadians..." Bobby Gimby wrote it. Also known as the Centennial song the Canadian Government commissioned this piece of pop for the 1967 centennial celebrations. We used to sing this in school, along with "A place to stand, and a place to grow, and call this land, Ontario." Bobby Gimby spent the summer of '67 touring Canadian villas, marching through town with a hundred kids behind him singing "Caaaa-Naaaa-Da.". My guess is no town ever refused to pay him for services rendered. But while they may never have refused him, Bayfield refused me; more specifically Around the Block did.

I emerged from the change room with my find in hand, only to be told the 45's are not for sale. I offered up what I consider to be prime dollars for a single that's been thumb tacked to a wall, but no go. It turns out the owner is at home with her kids for the afternoon and her dad is watching the shoppe [sic]. Now, if owner lady is there, I think she takes my three bucks and runs, but dad considered the merchandise not for sale, and he wasn't budging. I wonder if the daughter notices sales slippage when dad runs things, or is it just me who can't get him to take my money? Either way, my first foray into the heart of CanCon came up flat. Too bad, because I only vaguely remember this song, but the tiny bit I do remember has been stuck in my head since I saw it on the wall.

Oh, well! Maybe next time I'm in Bayfield dad will have the day off and my three bucks will be good enough for them.

Bryan Adams Hall of Famer

Rocker Bryan Adams will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the 2006 Juno Awards in Halifax on April 2nd.

Adams has had a stellar career, beginning a phenomenal run of international hits in the early 80's. Adams is still a major international star, although he is less popular at home than in Europe.

Adams will join Canadian luminaries such as the Tragically Hip, Tom Cochrane, Lenny Breau, Rush, The Band, Gordon Lightfoot, Guy Lombardo and others in the Hall of Fame category

The Canadian Music Hall of Fame was established in 1978 by CARAS to honour individuals or groups who have made an outstanding contribution toward the greater international recognition of Canadian artists and music..

Rich Dodson

It's nice to see Stampeder guitarist and founder Rich Dodson get a big article in last Saturday's Toronto Sun. I've been a fan of the Stampeders since I have been a fan of music, and as a guitarist Rich Dodson was one of my early favourites. As a writer he penned "Ramona" "Wild Eyes" and "Carry Me" during his career, and was inducted into the Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame this past weekend for writing "Sweet City Woman."

"Sweet City Woman" was featured in Singles Scene #1

Inductees in the Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame

Leonard Cohen, Andy Kim (aka Archie Andrews), Rich Dodson and Gilles Vigneault lead the pack of this years inductees in the Canadian Songwriter's Hall OF Fame. The winner's receive a sculpture by artist Elizabeth Wyn Wood entitled "Northern Island", shown on the left. Cohen and Vigneault we're inducted for penning several songs, while Stampeders guitarist Dodson was inducted for "Sweet City Woman" and singer Kim for "Sugar, Sugar" which Kim performed as lead singer of "The Archies."

This is the third year for the awards, with Gordon Lightfoot and others receiving the honour in 2003, and Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings leading the pack in 2005.

The Canadian Songwriters Hall Of Fame celebrates the outstanding accomplishments of Canadian songwriters through an annual star-studded induction gala, which showcases the work of inductees and features performances by popular singer-songwriters and other recording artists from across the country.

The Singles Scene #1

Cambridge: What is the singles scene? The singles scene could be simply defined as a look at Canadian music through the eyes of the singles that have brought Canadian music to the world. But it will, I hope, be so much more. It is a search for the heart of Canadian music through those singles. As well, it is a search for those singles. A journey through yard sales, music stores, flea markets, the basements and the dens of the people foolish enough to let me near their homes.The single is an ubiquitous element in popular music from the 1950's to the 1990's. Elvis Presley and Live Aid were both end products of hit singles. And so it is with Canadian music. Canada has never had it's Wagner, it's Verdi, or it's Beethoven. Thirty years ago the term Canadian music would have been a punch line. But through the very singles we are about to search out, from Paul Anka, to the Guess Who, to the Tragically Hip, Canadian music is definable by the singles we used to listen to.

The single is also a physical product. It is what fed the music industry for the 1950's and 60's, and supplemented the albums we remember in "Milk Crate Classic" for the next 30 years. The 7" piece of vinyl (also known as a 45 because they were played at 45 RPM on the record player) was the song your favourite AM radio station played. Today, we would watch the video. Twenty years ago, we went out and bought the single. If the single were still in prominence, if the record companies hadn't been so greedy as to do away with 99¢ music, there would have been no need for Napster. But they are still out there, in some cases wasting away (in those crummy antique shops with old coke bottles and Beatles singles), alive and well heard in others (my basement). And in those piles of antique junk, and personal treasure troves, there lies the heart and soul of Canadian music.

For surely, this is where Canadian music exists; in the singles. Without 7" vinyl would we have ever heard of BTO, Anne Murray or Bryan Adams?

Less obvious, what would the Stampeders, Brutus or Hagood Hardy have done without a hit single. Making money in the Canadian music industry has always been a near impossibility, without singles it would be a complete rout. Canadian music was born, bred and kept alive through the single. And sometimes, the story behind the piece of vinyl, is as interesting and telling as the song itself. So join me in my search for Canadian music as I delve into collections of singles aiming to unearth Canadian gold.

We begin our journey with a descent, not a literal descent, but a physical one. My basement. There sits a few hundred singles, not a few in the field of CanCon. This is a place we will return again and again, examining the old and story telling from the past.

Today I pull out The Stampeders Sweet City Woman.

Now here's a great place to start, the core of Canadian music. My three-year-old son dances happily as I play the song through. Same reaction I had when I was ten. The single looks like it was once owned by a ten-year-old too, although I'm not sure it ever really was. I remember the song, but I don't remember the single until later. The single is scratchy, as singles always were, and has a chip out of the corner, but it can be played; I can't count how many 45's I have owned with a chip out of the corner. Many have complained about the quality of vinyl records through the years, but the record players were made to play whatever you put on them. (Try playing a CD with a chip off the corner some day.) So despite the chip, the banjo comes on anyway; a few bars late perhaps but unmistakably the banjo of Sweet City Woman.

What can you say about this song: "Great Beat and I can dance to it Dick. 4 out of 5!" That about covers it, but there's more. So much more. It has always seemed to me that Canadian music has an ability to deliver pappable pop with a very hard edge. This song does that. Hummable melody, high tempo banjo the like of which has never been done by a hard rock band, yet there is that guitar in the chorus, reminding you that these guys were hard rock. One of the great advantages of 45 (and of Napster, just in case some record company clown is reading) is that a group could switch gears and you didn't have to spend $20.00 to get one song you liked and 8 mediocre ones you would never listen to. So it was that hard rock acts like the Stampeders could do a song like "Sweet City Woman" and everybody would be happy.

The Stampeders had other hits: Ramona and Wild Eye's come to mind, and I distinctly remember the 45 for Hit The Road Jack around the house, although I have no clue what happened to it (hopefully that will be another installment of "The Singles Scene"). But Sweet City Woman is the Stampeders song. One listen to that old 45, and I remember why.