February 13, 2013 · 5:01 pm

Bluesfest unplugged

Yesterday, we were treated to the announcement so many Ottawans breathlessly await each year at this time: the official announcement of the intention to officially announce the date for the official announcement of the Bluesfest lineup.

It was an edge-of-seat moment that local electronic-music aficionados in particular had been eagerly anticipating. That younger demographic, after all, was the target-audience for last year’s Bluesfest, as the event boldly sallied forth into unchart-hitted territory. Oldtimers are still welcome to attend, we were assured, but the future of the festival belongs to the younguns. And the younguns prefer that their music be largely free of musicians. Live musicians, at least. Continue reading →

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February 6, 2013 · 4:30 pm

beats out

Okay, one last Alpha Beats show before I return to the land of the dayjob. For a while. And given that we’ve recently completed the 26-letter alphabet (one of my favourite alphabets), let’s view this farewell show as both a refresher and an opportunity to fill in a few gaps. More often than not, an hour seemed far too short to properly explore a letter from my collection, and many a worthy contender failed to make the cut on the day. Hence, in what should be a rather fast-paced 60 minutes, Monday’s show on CKCU will be dedicated to running through the alphabet one last time. That’s Monday morning, 10 a.m., at 93.1 and ckcufm.com. Twenty-six tracks in 60 minutes. Talk may be kept to a minimum. I can’t imagine that will draw any complaints from you, the listener.

And hey, thanks for listening to the show. It’s been fun. We really should do this again sometime soon, yes?

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February 1, 2013 · 2:33 pm

the greatest cassingles of all time

There’s a list of 100 “influential” albums making the rounds on Facebook. Not the 100 most influential, to be clear, but 100 albums that have influenced somebody. Somewhere. At sometime.

I’ll confess to having perused said list, as I had earlier fallen for CBC’s list of Canada’s 25 greatest guitarists — if only to see where Paul Hogan, The Mighty Popo and Patrick Lawlor were ranked. (Curiously, all three failed to make the cut. But then, with Alex Lifeson rated as the greatest Canadian guitarist ever to have walked the earth, the list may well have been intended as a joke.) Continue reading →

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January 30, 2013 · 2:21 pm

not 2012 in review

It’s the end of January. More or less. And I had originally intended to cleverly follow up on my diatribe about premature year-in-review summaries by offering either a 2013 year-in-review or a 2012-in-review addendum, for those that relied on newspapers and magazines to put the year in its proper perspective.

But dang if those early editions didn’t have a point. No one cares about 2012 anymore. Just ask Psy. So I’ll limit my reminiscences to words of tribute to important music figures lost in the final days of an eventful year. Internationally, that means a mention of the passing of Dave Brubeck and Ravi Shankar. Locally, we’re talking the colourful Lance Matthews — the man behind The Whipping Post and a fixture at the Dominion Tavern and The Rainbow Bistro — as well as Dave Seal, the man who kept the beat for 1980s local faves Gonks Go Beat. All will be, and already are, missed. Continue reading →

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January 29, 2013 · 5:51 pm

twins break new ground with pop album

Right, then, I’m back from the land where breweries rally round the cry: “We are the four per cent!” And I can tell you, as mentioned last week, the debate over gun control has got nothing on the demand for live-vocal control. I can also tell you waking to news that your favourite local pub has been destroyed by fire, rather sucks.

Still, onward and upward, eh?

Just ask the singing sisters I first saw years ago performing under the billing Sara and Tegan. (The latter twin explained to me that the duo would shortly be changing its name out of respect for the fact that she is the older of the two.) The week has so far belonged to the veteran performers, the press breathlessly reporting that the new Tegan and Sara release is a “pop” record. Something you can even dance to. A new direction, it says here. Continue reading →

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