At today’s St. Hubert street sale, I noticed a crowd gathered near a stage as a band was playing. I figured I’d stick around a couple of minutes to take some pictures.

I ended up sticking around to the end.

It wasn’t so much that the music was so amazing. There weren’t any awesome Van Halen-like guitar riffs. But there was a beat, and it got the crowd moving.

The band in question, as far as I can tell, is actually two local Brazilian music bands (who knew?), called Zuruba and Bombolessé. They were hired by the people behind the street sale to entertain the crowd while they did their shopping.

All you really need to know about this group is that, of the 14 members, nine are drummers.

That creates a beat.

The rest, using bass guitar, electric guitar, keyboard and trombone, provide just enough non-percussion rhythm to make it work.

Now, I’m not a music writer. I don’t know jack squat about music. I just know what I like and what I don’t. So I can’t tell you what about the music exactly makes it great (and sadly, there’s nothing online that I can point you to that would do it justice). But I can show you a crowd that, young and old, were taken by the rhythm.

Part of the appeal, of course, was the stage presence of the band. Everyone there looked like they were genuinely having fun, despite the high temperatures and the fact that they were all drenched in sweat. They were moving around faster than my camera could focus on, and that energy infected the audience.

I’m just noticing now that the drummers were barefoot on stage. I guess that helped them cool down.

Despite the fact that the audience was already with them, the band did the best it could to try and get everyone involved. Here, one of them jumps into the crowd and gets them pumped harder than a Billy Blanks video.

That didn’t always work, though. When they tried to get everyone to squat in the middle of the street, only about a dozen followed their orders.

Later, they got some of the crowd on stage to dance. I feel bad for the drummers in back, though, who are soaking wet by this point.

In the end, the crowd convinced the band (and entertainment organizers) to keep going beyond their allotted time. Once they were done, the crowd dispersed, though some remained to take pictures of themselves with the group. Here, you’ll notice at least three female members of the band looking straight at me. This is because they totally have a thing for me.

I spent a good 10 minutes lowering my heart rate back to normal (because of the music, not the girls).

If you want to check them out, the band is rumoured to be playing the Ste. Catherine Street fair today (Sunday) in the early afternoon.

See also:

• July 14, 2008 — The CBC giveth, the CBC taketh away
• July 13, 2008 — Brunet launches music blog
• June 9, 2008 — The theme that wouldn’t die

So if you like hip hop mixed with a guy talking about himself (and really, isn’t that what hip hop is all about?) go ahead and subscribe to the feed.

See also:

• January 20, 2008 — Local bloggers on Test the Nation
• October 15, 2007 — New Galacticast is thrusterific

Remember Paul Potts? He’s the guy who got onto Britain’s Got Talent as a funny-looking manager of a cellphone store with no tie, a broken smile and zero self-confidence, and during his audition literally caused Simon Cowell’s jaw to drop mesmerizing the audience singing Nessun dorma:

That video (well, actually another copy of it that was taken off YouTube after a copyright complaint) went all over the world on YouTube (mostly because of the expression on Cowell’s face), seen by people who’d never even heard of Britain’s Got Talent. Still today, few outside Britain can name any other performers on that show.The judges pretty well guaranteed him a victory in the competition and sure enough… well I’ll just let you see it for yourself.

Now, after performing for the Queen, he’s on a world tour in a nice tuxedo and backup singers and everything. He’s coming to Place des Arts March 14. Tickets start at $49.50 ($58.96 with all the fees if you book online).

See also:

• No related posts

Then he starts getting mean.

See also:

• July 13, 2008 — YASTGB: Lampert at the airplane junket
• July 4, 2008 — YASTGBs: JFL, film festivals
• June 16, 2008 — YASTGB: The most boring military mission ever

Sadly, I can’t find any central repository for them (nor any links to some Montreal-based ones created by local radio stations I find particularly funny). But to demonstrate, I’ll show you this one (via), a song by Ryan Parker that makes fun of the Boston Bruins (in contrast to the success of that city’s other major sports teams):

See also:

• March 22, 2008 — 8 out of 8 ain’t bad
• May 3, 2008 — Your Habs playlist
• February 19, 2008 — Jon Lajoie

But have you ever heard Queen perform these songs live at the Forum? Now may be your chance. A CD and DVD of a November 1981 Queen concert at the Forum is being released. OK, it’s not quite as good as watching the 1993 Canadiens win the Cup, but what is?

See also:

• No related posts

And based on the Photoshopped clip art on the site’s homepage, you apparently also win Finger Eleven. (Is that just a one-night thing or can you, like, sell them into slavery?)

I’ve never been one for contests of creativity. They always seem more about a big company getting a cheap source of new ideas than they are about encouraging independent talent.

Here’s the skinny from the contest’s rules:

• Submit a song that you record yourself and that hasn’t been published anywhere (in other words, write a song for the competition for free)
• That song can be used by any Corus station as much as they want without paying you a cent. (Though you might get some money through SOCAN)

I know some artists are so desperate to get signed they’ll do just about anything, but it just doesn’t seem fair to me to work for free hoping that some stations will play a song you won’t get paid for. Especially when the grand prize is only $10,000. Surely a song good enough to win a national songwriting competition is worth more than a measly $10,000.

Am I just being cynical? Maybe. Maybe it’s just that horrible clip art graphic that’s getting to me.

See also:

• June 25, 2008 — MP3 isn’t good enough for Corus
• January 3, 2008 — Info 800 to be stripped of its info
• December 12, 2007 — Cable-access idol

Thoughts?

See also:

• July 13, 2008 — YASTGB: Lampert at the airplane junket
• April 15, 2008 — Gazette cycling blog
• March 21, 2008 — Gazette editor-in-chief starting blog

Well, in the continuing saga of mainstream publications whining about the crappy treatment they receive when trying to treat concerts as news, some members of the media are saying they weren’t given enough time to shoot photos during the Beyoncé concert this week.

Maybe newspapers should consider not going to big-time Bell Centre concerts altogether. I, for one, don’t care what the song order and costume choices were for some big-time musician’s sold-out show that I couldn’t see if I wanted to.

See also:

• No related posts

So don’t worry, Le Devoir, you’ll still have a chance to see them. Just make sure to buy your tickets early (they go on sale Aug. 8).

See also:

• No related posts

The article, which makes both Le Devoir and Gillett Entertainment Group look kind of petty, goes over Gillett’s excuses for denying them passes:

Excuse #1: They don’t have enough tickets to give away to “all the media”. Le Devoir sees right through this bull, noting that their photographer (also refused access) doesn’t take up a seat, and the rest of the media didn’t seem to have any problems getting as many tickets as they needed.

Excuse #2: Le Devoir doesn’t have a high enough circulation to make it worthwhile. Also BS. The paper’s circulation is in the six digits and rising, which clearly makes it a powerhouse worthy of the same treatment as the other newspapers and other media.

Excuse #3: Le Devoir doesn’t list when tickets for concerts go on sale. Or, to quote Gillett’s flak: “The other papers are easier to do business with.” This sounds more plausible. Le Devoir is a small paper (small as in size, not circulation or importance), and probably doesn’t have the space nor the lack of shame to give concert promoters free ad space.

Thankfully, Le Devoir isn’t taking this blackmail lying down. If staying independent means they can’t go to the Police concert, they’re not going to the Police concert.

And what do they lose, anyway? I don’t care about what Le Devoir thinks about a concert the day after, and anyone who likes The Police that much was probably at the concert and doesn’t need to read about it the next day.

Maybe, instead of sending journalists to see musicians everyone’s already familiar with, they can find some new people to talk about. It’s not like our city is lacking in talent.

UPDATE: Not a peep from the media concerning Le Devoir’s shunning. So much for media solidarity. The Gazette, the Journal and La Presse all had plenty of coverage of the concert (kinda pointless since nobody who doesn’t already have tickets can see it now), and none made mention of their colleague’s foible (OK, it got one mention — see Kate’s comment below). I guess this is what the mainstream media has come to. Since, when referring to each other’s scoops, they use terms like “a Montreal newspaper” (what are we, idiots?), I guess this shouldn’t come as a surprise.

UPDATE 2: “Vive le Devoir libre!”

See also:

• No related posts

1. Choose a popular song that everyone can recite the lyrics to from memory. It doesn’t matter if they don’t understand what the lyrics mean. In fact, it’s probably better if they don’t understand what the lyrics mean.
2. Choose a song whose chorus means something politically motivating. “Born in the U.S.A.”, “Born to run”, “Change the World” etc. “Money for Nothing” will never be a campaign song, unless the campaign is a parody. Yes, we all know the song’s chorus is nothing more than a metaphor for your last relationship, but take it literally.
3. Choose a song by an artist who isn’t in jail, accused of murdering someone, or otherwise in disrepute. Stay away from Michael Jackson songs.
4. Make sure the artist won’t be pissed off at your song selection and start campaigning for the other candidate (see Bruce Springsteen link above).
5. This one would seem self-evident, but choose a song by an artist who is a citizen of the country you’re running to lead. Choosing a song by a Canadian (and a French Canadian like Celine Dion) might give the wrong impression.

Then again, maybe I’m wrong. Nobody seems to have pointed this out yet except in passing. And only a few blogs are pointing out the silliness of Hillary Clinton using an old Air Canada theme song for her campaign.

UPDATE: The Gazette gave it front-page treatment, so I guess some people are noticing here at least.

See also:

• February 11, 2008 — PicApp: Ads for copyright compliance?
• January 21, 2008 — Bye bye, ByeByeLogement
• January 19, 2008 — When 90% just isn’t good enough

See also:

• No related posts

See also:

• No related posts

Meanwhile, John MacFarlane is blogging from SXSW.

See also:

• July 13, 2008 — YASTGB: Lampert at the airplane junket
• July 4, 2008 — YASTGBs: JFL, film festivals
• June 16, 2008 — YASTGB: The most boring military mission ever

I can’t even think of any prostitutes who would charge $1,000 for two hours of entertainment.

See also:

• February 11, 2008 — PicApp: Ads for copyright compliance?
• January 21, 2008 — Bye bye, ByeByeLogement
• January 19, 2008 — When 90% just isn’t good enough