La Presse music columnist Alain Brunet has launched a music blog which he’s using to cover the Jazz fest. Nice of La Presse’s editors to tell us about this after the festival is over.
Tag Archives: Music
Brazilian music really gets the heart pumping
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.
The theme that wouldn’t die
After being dead, then maybe-not-dead, then absolutely positively dead (as I tried to explain previously), the Hockey Night in Canada theme is once again maybe-there’s-hope, as the CBC brings in a lawyer to maybe hammer out a new deal.
It shows, I think, that the CBC vastly underestimated people’s connection with the song, and wants to do everything it can to save it.
UPDATE: Looks like it’s closer to dead again. CBC negotiators aren’t very optimistic.
UPDATE: CTV has just announced it secured rights to the song and plans to use it on TSN (and RDS). Wow.
UPDATE (June 12): Thank you Stephen Colbert. (CTV owns the Canadian rights to the Colbert Report through the CTV and Comedy networks, so he’s actually being half-serious about licensing the song.)
End of an anthem
The fact that politicians are getting involved in this (if only by commenting out loud) really gets me. Yeah, we’re emotionally attached to it, but it’s not as if the Parliamentary Library is burning down here.
UPDATE (June 6): It’s over. Negotiations have fallen through and CBC is launching a $100,000 contest to find a replacement. Good luck with that.
Some suggestions for replacement songs. Or, if you haven’t given up yet, the inevitable Facebook group. Or two. Or three. Or four. Or five. Or six. Or seven. Or eight. Or nine. Or ten. Or … holy crap! There are 204 other groups for this! Plus the HNIC fan page, and the petition to bring in that Stompin’ Tom song instead.
UPDATE (June 7): Really? CBC ices Hockey Night theme? The puck’s stopped here? These are the best headlines you could come up with?
The Great Canadiens Conference Quarterfinal Riot Song
For those who haven’t heard it yet, the Great Canadiens Conference Quarterfinal Riot of 2008 has been immortalized in song, thanks to The Paul Brown Show on Edmonton’s The Bear.
Unfortunately.
Should we add it to the Habs song list, or just hope we can forget about it before next year?
Your Habs playlist
UPDATE: See the 2009 version here, and the 2010 version here.
OK folks, this time they really need us. The Canadiens today sit on the brink of elimination. Down three games to one in the series, the team has to win three games in a row to survive in the playoffs. One loss in three games, and they’re going straight to the golf course.
Super Cauchon is doing his part, but that’s not enough. We all need to contribute.
To help warm up your fan muscles so you’re in top shape tonight, I’ve compiled some Habs-related songs from local radio stations. (Local radio stations being as useless as they are, hockey-related parody songs are one of the few things left that they can do pretty well).
I had a larger collection, but sadly most of them refer to a victory off the back of Cristobal Huet (or worse, José Theodore). So I had to scrap those.
Here’s what’s left, in no particular order:
They Made Us Believers
by Willy Nilly
Parody of The Monkees’ I’m a Believer
via Q92
25 Feels a Little Like 93 (Video)
by Annakin Slayd
samples Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’
via Q92
On Va Faire Les Séries
by Rick Hugues
via Radio Énergie
On est plen dans les séries (Video)
by Ruck Hugues with Dominic et Martin
via Radio Énergie
(UPDATE: thanks bebehabs for the link)
On veut la coupe Stanley (excerpt)
by France D’Amour
via Rythme FM
Je déteste les Flyers
by Justiciers Masqués
GO HABS GO (on va gagner)
by Justiciers Masqués
La Fièvre du CH
by Alain Dumas
via RockDétente
a parody of I will Follow Him, which in turn is the English translation of Petula Clark’s French song Chariot (you learn something every day)
Bring the Cup Back Home
by Daniel Iorio
via Team 990
Go Habs Go (Montreal has gone insane)
Go Habs Go (J’entends crier)
by Christopher Pennington
via Team 990
Bleu Blanc Rouge la chanson
via CKAC
Chanson de Halak
via CKAC
Parody of Brown Eyed Girl
Les Canadiens sont là (Game On)
by Daniel Iorio
via Team 990
Parody of Celebration
Ghosts of the Forum
by Bob Olivier and Sylvie Choquette
via Team 990
I’m too sexy for this team
by Daniel Iorio
via Team 990
Parody of … well, isn’t it obvious?
Go Habs Go
by Speedhair
via Team 990
(Go Go Go Go) Go Habs Go
by Tag Radio
Go Habs Go (Allez la Coupe Stanley)
via 98.5fm
Any other suggestions? Or more detailed information on some of the songs linked to above? Let me know in the comments.
In Over Your Head is back
Montrealer Julien Smith is resuming his In Over Your Head hip hop podcast after an extended absence (and some sponsorship).
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.
Paul Potts, diamond in the rough, is coming to Montreal
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).
Living in an ethereal world
The Gazette’s Juan Rodriguez goes postal (verbally) on Madonna, calling her a fraud and saying she’s “the worst piece of meaningless trash ever propagated by pop culture.”
Then he starts getting mean.
Sports parody songs
I’m a fan of parody songs in general, and sports parody songs (at least the funny ones) specifically. Some are musically enjoyable in addition to lyrically entertaining. Others take annoying songs and make their topics infinitely more interesting by tying them to sports teams.
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):
Another one burns the DVD
If you’ve ever watched a hockey game in the old Forum during its last 20 years of existence, you’ve no doubt heard recordings of Queen songs. We Will Rock You before puck drops certainly, and We Are The Champions at least a couple of times.
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?
Corus killed the radio star
I’d never heard of it before, but apparently Corus Entertainment runs a songwriting competition every year called Canadian Radio Star. It awards $10,000 in cash and a bunch of smaller prizes to one Canadian act.
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.
Gazette starting music blog
Called “Words & Music“, it’s another group blog with music writers T’Cha Dunlevy, Jordan Zivitz, Bernard Perusse, Juan Rodriguez, joined by clarinetist, classical music afficionado and copy editing intern Kate Molleson as well as Adam Kinner, who you’ll remember from the Jazz Fest blog OffBeat.
Thoughts?
Beyoncé has too much power over the media
Remember when Le Devoir was banninated from a Police concert because they wouldn’t play ball with promoters? (And other Montreal media stayed mostly silent on the subject?)
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.
The Police are coming back
Desperate for more tour money Answering the desperate demands from fans for more shows, The Police have announced they’re returning to the Bell Centre on Nov. 12.
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).