From: owner-headline-girl-digest@smoe.org (headline-girl-digest) To: headline-girl-digest@smoe.org Subject: headline-girl-digest V6 #65 Reply-To: headline-girl@smoe.org Sender: owner-headline-girl-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-headline-girl-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk headline-girl-digest Friday, April 4 2003 Volume 06 : Number 065 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: EC: IOTA update [Candace Smith ] RE: SEC: Some Emm Content AND Stars and Jason Mraz (and Kathleen Edwards, and more) ["Rob Tittel" ] Re: Artists against War ["Julian C. Dunn" ] (OAC) Stars on RadioSonic... ["Tab Siddiqui" ] OAC: 'Canadian Invasion' ["Tab Siddiqui" ] (OAC) La Feist... ["Tab Siddiqui" ] Re: SEC: Some Emm Content AND Stars and Jason Mraz (and Kathleen Edwards, and more) ["M. Lucas" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 00:36:54 -0800 (PST) From: Candace Smith Subject: Re: EC: IOTA update >> As some very clever Headliner predicted about a week ago.... No prediction... I just asked her where she was touring at a recent show and she mentioned the lovely Emm Gryner. And then I said, well isn't it a small world after all. . . >> Please check her out at www.kim-fox.com and pass the word! Her new CD is marveloso!!! Absolutely one of my favs of the year!! "Tread This World So Lightly" will break your heart it's so beautiful. Buy them in bulk ;) Turbonegro is playing tonight at the Troubadour if anyone's interested. They're playing an early and late show and they're both sold out but there are usually some tix at the door. . . Kind of surprised hardly no one showed up for last night's show at Fais Do Do with Trembling Blue Stars and Aberdeen. Be sure to make it to next week's show. . . k? k. Also, don't miss The Postal Service tour with The Jealous Sound. Too good. Candace Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, forms, and more http://tax.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: 3 Apr 2003 07:38:33 -0800 From: "Rob Tittel" Subject: RE: SEC: Some Emm Content AND Stars and Jason Mraz (and Kathleen Edwards, and more) Good assessment of Jason Mraz's sound... this is a very good CD and easily one of my favorite "driving" cd's of the last year. Catchy lyrics -- he definitely has is own style. Can't wait to see him live (although I just missed him in Pittsburgh about 2 months ago which is the closest he's come to this area so far). Also wanted to brag on Kathleen Edward's CD "Failer" which has been mentioned on this list from time to time. Just wanted to say I LOVE this CD and its been stuck in my cd player for the last week or so. Very alt-country; sounds a little like Sarah Harmer but more like a happier Lucinda Williams. It deserves every critical rave that its getting. Also downloaded a couple of Broken Social Scene songs -- pretty cool stuff. Looking forward to checking out Stars and Postal Service. Everyone also go at once and check out kristinhoffmann.com and download a couple of tracks from this CT and NYC based singer/songwriter. Very sultry voice, sweet (but not syrupy) songs. You won't be disappointed. Ani DiFranco's "Evolve" is tasty too... a bit jazzy but can you beat her lyrics? Just coming out of lurking to give my two cents on some of my latest faves. Latest Guilty pleasure: Linkin Park's Meteora. Gotta have a little anger release in there sometimes too. Rob >--- Original Message --- >From: >To: >Date: 3/31/03 7:34:06 PM > Heeeeey. Here's me coming out of...I dunno hibernation... > >Here's my latest Emm interview/article: http://www.gazette.uwo.ca/2003/March/27/arts_and_entertainment1.htm > >Seeing her tonight with Holly. Not feeling well. Oh well. Mmm microbrewry beer > >And I'd also like to rave about The Stars and their latest album "Heart." I really enjoyed their CMW set last month when they played with the Sadies, Two Minute Miracles and another one of my favourites, King Cobb Steelie. "Heart" just makes my heart pitter patter in a bittersweet kind of way and "Everything the Snowman learned about love" is just...well the cutest name for a song...ever. > >I just got a copy of Jason Mraz's CD "Waiting for my Rocket to Come" and I do like it muchly. Reminds me a lot of Dispatch/One Fell Swoop and a pinch of John Mayer. Will be a great sping/summer driving CD :). > >Tired and a lil' sick, Andy ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2003 10:44:45 -0500 From: "carrie lounsbury" Subject: Artists against War hey people. i'm new to this thing so just wanted to say hello. and i was on emm's website and she said something about a artist against war rally in toronto. so if any canadians out there know any details about this event that would be lovely! good bye. carrie. _________________________________________________________________ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 13:13:40 -0500 (EST) From: "Julian C. Dunn" Subject: Re: Artists against War On Thu, 3 Apr 2003, carrie lounsbury wrote: > i'm new to this thing so just wanted to say hello. and i was on emm's > website and she said something about a artist against war rally in toronto. > so if any canadians out there know any details about this event that would > be lovely! good bye. It's called the One Big No festival -- here's the press release that Tab sent me this morning. >For Immediate Release >Wednesday April 2nd, 2003 > >ONE BIG NO PEACE FESTIVAL HITS NATHAN PHILLIPS SQUARE >ON APRIL 12th > >A major anti-war festival is set to take over Nathan >Phillips Square on Saturday, April 12, from 1pm till >11pm. Big name Canadian acts, including Sarah Harmer, >Cowboy Junkies, Andy Stochansky, the Rheostatics, King >Cobb Steelie, Danny Michel, Jian Ghomeshi, the Lowest >of the Low and many, many more will be performing at >the One Big No Peace Festival, an Artists Against >War/Coalition to Stop the War Event, sponsored by NOW >Magazine. > >In addition, there will be acts running all day with >local DJs, bands, spoken word artists, videos and >others. A full list of performers is below. Nathan >Phillips Square itself will be filled with art >installations by local anti-war artists, along with >tables for political groups, cultural associations and >human rights organizations. > >The festival on April 12th will follow two shows >happening simultaneously on Friday April 11th on the >Danforth - The Black Swan (located at 154 Danforth >Ave., just east of Broadview) and Mackie's Taigh Osda >(located at 2112 Danforth Ave, east of Woodbine.) >Tickets for the shows will be available at the door of >each venue for $7. A variety of live music will be >presented at both clubs; the response from the musical >community was so large, the only way we could manage >to fit everyone in was to put on three shows! >Performers and set times for the club shows are to be >announced. > >These events are being organized by Artists Against >the War, a newly created organization launched after >the circulation of an open call at the beginning of >March. The first meeting, built entirely by word of >mouth, drew nearly 80 people. Already there have been >a number of successful efforts by artists around the >world to use their talents to raise opposition to this >war - such as the Lysistrata Project. Bringing >together musicians, visual artists, writers, >filmmakers, actors, puppeteers, poets, graphic >designers, web designers and more, AAW is a volunteer >organization striving to create a cohesive voice from >the arts community, in opposition to the war. > >In conjunction with the show on April 12th, AAW is >releasing a compilation CD called One Big No with >songs by Andy Stochansky, the Barenaked Ladies, Moxy >Fruvous, Ron Hawkins and the Rusty Nails, Emm Gryner, >Kevin Hearn and the Thin Buckle Band, Jian Ghomeshi, >the Creaking Tree String Quartet, the eines, Nine >Mile, Su Alexanian, Sara Marlowe, Chris Brown and Kate >Fenner, Rob Szabo (Plasticine), spoken word artists >Evalyn Perry and Brad Marshall, By Divine Right, >Stevie Wonder Bread (featuring Jacksoul's Haydain >Neale), and Veal. The limited edition CD - only 1000 >are being manufactured - will be for sale for $15 at >the event with all proceeds going to charity. > >Scheduled to perform on Saturday April 12th, between 6 >and 11pm (in alphabetical order): > >Lillian Allen >DJ Denise Benson >Cowboy Junkies >Jian Ghomeshi >Sarah Harmer >Jacksoul >King Cobb Steelie >Lowest of the Low >Danny Michel >Nine Mile >Evalyn Parry >Robert Priest >Rheostatics >George Sawa >Lorraine Segato >Sarah Slean >Andy Stochansky >Women Ah Run Tings >DJ Zahra - -- | Julian C. Dunn | | WWW: http://www.aquezada.com/staff/julian/ | | "I've got love and anger, they come as a pair" -- Aimee Mann | ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2003 19:54:23 +0000 From: "Tab Siddiqui" Subject: (OAC) Stars on RadioSonic... Hey, folks... Since there's been some discussion about Montreal/Toronto band Stars here in recent days, I thought I'd mention that CBC Radio will be broadcasting a session with them on the alt-pop show RadioSonic this Saturday, April 5th. I'm not sure exactly when their segment will air, but the show is on between 7 and 10 pm (EST). Those of you not in Canada can listen in on the web at www.cbc.ca - go to Radio, and click on Radio Two (*not* One, as that's the news-oriented station). Or check out: http://www.radiosonic.com Enjoy, - - Tab. _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2003 20:05:47 +0000 From: "Tab Siddiqui" Subject: OAC: 'Canadian Invasion' Regarding this whole discussion, I think Andy's point, and the article she wrote, was more about the current breakthrough of several Canadian indie acts on the international (specifically American and British) scene. Most people, even most *Canadians*, haven^Rt heard about most of these bands as yet, but the point is, *everyone* (well, a lot of people, anyway ;)) is going to very soon. It's a "Canadian Invasion" in the sense that this is the first time that so many acts, and a diverse array of them at that, have either signed international deals or are the subject of major 'buzz'. Some of these deals aren^Rt even 'big' in the sense of major labels, but rather signings with key 'boutique' labels that will be good for the bands' careers, such as Sub Pop signing Guelph noise rockers The Constantines (they make The Strokes look like sissies, seriously ;)), or Guelph country-rock band Royal City and Toronto gay pop orchestra Hidden Cameras signing to Rough Trade in the UK. In those cases, it's a perfect marriage of label and artist. All of those bands I mentioned have basically been critical and 'underground' favourites in the (greater) Toronto area for a few years now - none of them are at all 'mainstream' in the larger sense of the word, but they have been the subject of endless press and growing fanbases, and it just seems that in the past year, practically all these 'buzz' bands are poised for much bigger things - it's just a really exciting time to be a Canadian artist. For example, South by Southwest was practically taken over by several of these Canadian acts, and their shows were the hit of the festival, from Broken Social Scene (Toronto art-pop collective) to Buck 65 (oddball East Coast hip-hop dude) to America's new sweetheart Kathleen Edwards. Edwards is a case in point - she sold about 500 copies of her roots-rock album "Failer" here at home last year before her American label, Rounder, made her a priority. Six months later, she's been on every single late-night talk show, had rave reviews in every single major magazine and newspaper in the U.S., and sold thousands of copies of her album. Why? Well, it's hard to say - as she told me recently, it's really just luck, timing, and getting the right label (or manager or booker or publicist) behind you. In that sense, the time is right for all these acts that I've mentioned, and several others. People may not care where the music is from, and when it boils down to it, if the music is good, who really *cares* where it's from? But it's just noteworthy, especially to us here that have watched all these acts come up over the years, that they *are* from Canada, and by golly, there just seems to be a whole lot of 'em! ;) As a music writer, I'm almost jaded with news of the latest Canadian band starting to make waves elsewhere - - I'm super-glad it's happening, but it's getting ridiculous! ;) While I think some of these 'underground', critically acclaimed acts I mentioned will do well, I don't really think the Constantines are going to hit the U.S. and automatically become the next Strokes or something, and certainly a band like Broken Social Scene isn't going to be playing Letterman anytime soon (the very idea is mildly ludicrous, actually ;)), but they will all get some degree of attention, whether it's reviews in the music mags (which will probably love the Cons), or simply good word-of-mouth for a band's live shows, but in terms of actual mainstream success in the U.S., my bet is on Chantal Kreviazuk, whose record comes out there next week (after nearly being shelved by Sony) - her single is doing incredibly well at radio already, and she's due to hit all the usual late-night TV suspects at the end of the month. If Sony plays their cards right (and heaven knows they've messed it up before), she^Rll easily be the Next Big Thing. It's the most radio-friendly, 'pop' album she's made to date, and TV & radio will eat it up while she poses for spreads in the fashion mags. ;P Just to address some of Greg's points: >The Canadian music industry is very much in tune with the US, as the > >habits and trends of US music easily reach across the border. Actually, you'd be surprised. While Canadian commerical radio and music television (MuchMusic may be marginally better than MTV, but it's a far cry from its heyday, sadly) are basically indistinguishable from their American counterparts, the Canadian industry itself isn^Rt really all that similar to the US. I'd say it's actually a bit more influenced by what^Rs going on in Europe, especially when it comes to 'pop' and dance music. >- Canadian musicians (if they make it to a certain level) are >guaranteed >some amount of exposure due to the "Canadian content" rules Well, this certainly doesn't apply to any of the artists I've mentioned (aside from Chantal) and that Andy wrote about in her article, because all of them were so indie that they never got played on commercial radio. Not a single major station was playing Kathleen Edwards' single before she hit Letterman, lemme tell ya, CanCon or not. And I think people have a bit of a distorted view as to what 'CanCon' actually is - it's not so much a quota of 'you have to play X amount of Canadian material an hour/day/week' as it is an attempt to make sure the playlist is not completely dominated by foreign material. The Canadian Radio and Television Commission, in drafting the CanCon 'rules', was trying to level the playing field for domestic artists, who, at the time, were not being reflected in the on-air content. >- The Canadian music market is somewhat simpler than the US market, >with a >relative handful of major population centers. It is that much >easier to >create a buzz and generate interest. Contrast that with the >US, with >dozens of population centers, and each one has it's own >unique challenges. > Breaking onto the national scene is more >difficult. I'd completely disagree - it's actually harder to break an artist in Canada *because* the market is so small. While that sounds like an oxymoron, no indie artist can afford to tour across Canada - it's undoable financially and size-wise, and the only way they're going to generate that buzz is to get out there and play. Because there's only one late-night talk show that airs music artists, and you're not going to get on that show until you've reached a certain level, anyway. As for press, you can make a name for yourself in your own hometown, but unless you're in the media-saturated (and fiercely competitive) centre of Toronto, there really aren't many outlets to hit. It's easier to tour America and hit several cities even in the course of a week, building a fanbase by touring repeatedly - I mean, isn't this Nettwerk's main strategy ever since it worked for Sarah M.? It takes several *days* to drive between cities in Canada, so many bands, even those signed to major labels (just ask Sarah Slean, who's with Warner - she's only started touring coast-to-coast extensively in the past year because of opportunities like the Bluebird North series and key opening slots), just can't undertake it. As an example, Emm Gryner stayed in the US for two years because she was able to tour easily, and while she didn't really get the breakthrough she was looking for, she definitely made inroads into the market and garnered a loyal fanbase in the process, and will be well set for further success once her current album is properly released south of the border later this year. While she's fairly well-known here at home, she still certainly isn't a household name - you could chalk that up to the fact that she's an indie artist, but it's not so much that as it is the basic fact that it's really hard to break into what passes as the 'mainstream market' in Canada. It's a market that's very limited in scope - I could go into more detail and explain why that is and criticize it until the cows come home, but that's a whole other story. ;P >- In general, I think the Canadian industry is more focused on > >musicianship, while the current US market is focused on marketability > >and popularity. To my knowledge, there is no uniquely Canadian major > >label (maybe Nettwerk). Well, Nettwerk can really only be seen as a major because of their multitasking approach, not their domestic roster of artists, which they've been ignoring in recent years (anyone want to know why Kathleen Edwards is a star and Martina Sorbara isn't, hmm?) in favour of the big management contracts (Avril, Swollen Members, etc.) and American/UK licensing deals (Dido, Coldplay, etc.). There's a new all-Canadian label that's come out of the online portal MapleMusic.com - they are an indie label, but in cooperation with Universal, so for their artists it's really the best of both worlds (Kathleen Edwards is on that label here in Canada). >Anyway, I don't think it's a "Canadian invasion." For many reasons, >the >music industry in the US never has relied on the nationality of >the >artist. If there is an invasion underway, it's not something the >American >public at large is aware of nor cares about. And that I >think, is probably >the most important argument against it. But who's arguing for or against it? When Andy and her co-writer wrote "Canadian Invasion", I don^Rt think they really meant that 'Hey, there's all these Canadian artists marching into the US and taking over the scene', they were just using a catchy phrase to say, 'holy shit, what's the deal with all these Canadian acts having a certain degree of success at this very moment?' That^Rs the way I see it, anyhow. - - Tab. _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2003 20:47:23 +0000 From: "Tab Siddiqui" Subject: (OAC) La Feist... Hey, folks... Some of you on these lists have been wondering what Leslie Feist has been up to... Wonder no more - her site's finally been re-launched, and it's beautiful, so check it out: http://www.listentofeist.com There's even some demo MP3s up there so you can check out her current sound (and for those of you who've never heard the first album, her 'old' sound as well), awesome photo section, blurbs about the bands she's been playing with lately, and best of all, the new album should hopefully be out before the summer is through! Yay. :) - - Tab. _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 14:37:04 -0800 From: "M. Lucas" Subject: Re: SEC: Some Emm Content AND Stars and Jason Mraz (and Kathleen Edwards, and more) "Rob Tittel" wrote: > Also wanted to brag on Kathleen Edward's CD "Failer" which has > been mentioned on this list from time to time. Just wanted to > say I LOVE this CD and its been stuck in my cd player for the > last week or so. Very alt-country; sounds a little like Sarah > Harmer but more like a happier Lucinda Williams. It deserves > every critical rave that its getting. Here, here! I definitely agree. I just got my copy in the mail last week, and it's all I've been listening to since. I describe her to people as a drunken Sarah Harmer... but that's a good thing. One thing though... I'm assuming Kathleen wrote all the songs on the album? I got my copy from MapleMusic.com, but there's no MAPL symbol in the liner notes. I thought that was odd. Maybe just some distribution quirk? But yes, Kathleen Edwards is a must-have. Mirah ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2003 22:09:01 -0500 From: Subject: Re: OAC: 'Canadian Invasion' Thanks Tab, you got it bang on. Well put. Perhaps "invasion" isn't a great word to use b/c it's not exactly literal, but it's the term Torq (The Stars) used to describe the rise of Canadian signings in indie music and the rise in popularity of the Avrils, Sums, Nicklebacks, etc. Zzzzzzzz... Andrea ------------------------------ End of headline-girl-digest V6 #65 **********************************