Month: September 2009

A Dreary, Gloomy and Rainy Monday – S05E06

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On-Air Studio Control Board
It was totally unexpected but I got to fill in on-air again. It’s funny how I was on-air for Friday, the end of the week and now hosting at the beginning of the new week. I was hoping to be co-hosting with Kristal on her show and weigh in my thoughts on F**ked Up winning the Polaris Music Prize for their album, The Chemistry of Common Life.
On the show, I got to mention in short detail that I will be going to Basia Bulat at The Black Sheep Inn on October 3, 2009. I’m trying to not write as much but listen to the show for anyone who missed it, as you will be surprised with the songs I played and as usual, the playlist is posted up.

Here’s the player for anyone who missed it live or want to listen again. Press play to listen.
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My Weekend Warm-Up – S05E05

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Kyrie Krismanson at The Black Sheep Inn on Sept. 26, 2009
It was an exciting Saturday night at The Black Sheep Inn as it was Kyrie Kristmanson headlining with guests, Jill Zmud and Adam Saikaley. I was with a few friends and my brother. It’s nice to have good company and talk about funny stories. To the performances, it was a surprise to see CBC Radio One’s Alan “Aquaman” Neal be the MC for the concert. Adam Saikaley, who’s still a producer with the CBC started off by playing with the piano. It was raw and very different from the previous music I’ve seen and heard. Certainly, a nice way to start off his set. The second performer, Jill Zmud, who is an up and comer to the Ottawa music scene. She’s originally from Saskatchewan and now living in Ottawa. She brought a softer tone to her set. Her songs were sultry and calming, which felt engaging to the audience. She had a funny story about her previous guitar being broken thanks to United Airlines and mentioned about Dave Carroll and the broken guitar song.

Onto Kyrie, before she got on stage to perform, Alan Neal was still on stage and I told my brother about him wearing the Aquaman shirt. Alan heard me as it was somewhat of a funny moment because whenever I see Alan, he usually wears a DC Comics… or Entertainment heroes shirt. As for Kyrie and her trademark white furry hat, she delivered an excellent set where she performed her usually songs and addition to some new material. I was surprised with a few French songs she played. As usual, she got the audience to join along with the songs. Overall, great crowd to keep the performers excited on a Saturday.
You can check out photos on this link.
Here’s a clip I took.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJg3fpSbtfI&hl=en&fs=1&]

I have put some videos from the Chinese songs I played on the bottom of the post. I still cherish the early 1990s Cantopop songs.

Friday’s Entry: It was very last minute being notified but I filled in on the Weekend Warm-Up at CKCU 93.1 FM. This entry will be continuous because I will be covering my post for the concert happening at The Black Sheep Inn for Saturday night. Here’s the first part of the entry for the radio show I filled in.

Anyone can listen to it if they missed out on it live. Note: You may have to lower the volume during Night Lights by Videotape and after. Apologies on the sound issues coming from my laptop. Press Play to listen.

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Fly Me To Polaris, It’s About The Polaris Music Prize – S05E04

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Polaris List, Some of It. Missing Two.
The “Fly Me To Polaris” name is based on a 1999 Hong Kong movie. Ok, Monday is the day we’re waiting for and it’s the 2009 edition of the Polaris Music Prize Gala. The photo from above, let’s say that I am missing two of the nominees. It’s K’Naan and F**ked Up. That’s right, one of the short nominees will be chosen to win the $20,000 prize. Here’s the 10 nominees listed;
1. Elliott Brood – Mountain Meadows
2. F**ked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life
3. Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels
4. Hey Rosetta! – Into Your Lungs
5. K’Naan – Troubadour
6. Malajube – Labyrithes
7. Metric – Fantasies
8. Joel Plaskett – Three
9. Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane
10. Patrick Watson – Wooden Arms

There has been some criticism over the short list because it seemed like the jury has been lazy in choosing the top Canadian album of 2008-2009. Basically, returning nominees like Patrick Watson, Chad VanGaalen, and Joel Plaskett are back at it. Also, there’s no female artists (that’s if you include Emily Haines in Metric) in this year’s list.
As much as I like several songs from Metric’s Fantasies, I felt that it’s too mainstream to be on the short list. Although, how could I forget about “In Our Bedroom After The War” by Stars being on the short list for the 2008 edition of the Polaris Music Prize.
The 2009 edition of the Polaris Music Prize still have diverse genres in the running. There’s hardcore punk to Hip-Hop to the standard Pop/Rock and Folk. Aside from the criticism, it will be still exciting to finding out who will win.

I had the opportunity to co-host again on Kristal’s Method at CKCU-FM because we were playing the short list nominees for the Polaris Music Prize. We discussed about what we liked or not liked on the short list. I mentioned on-air my pick to win The Polaris Music Prize. I won’t write it on here because I would want you to listen to it. It seems more like keeping in suspense but I could be wrong on my predicted pick. To whoever wins, congratulations on being the 2009 Polaris winner.

You can listen again or if you missed out by pressing play;

Note: A Joel Plaskett song was ended abruptly and Metric’s Collect Call was skipped.

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2 Hours Being On The Radio For Monday – S05E03

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In The On-Air Studio at CKCU-FM
It was totally an awesome Monday because I got to co-host not only Horses Spilled Milk, but also Kristal’s Method on CKCU 93.1 FM. I won’t try to write a lot as I provided the audio from both shows, which you can only listen and not download. I hope I don’t get in trouble for it. It’s for my friends who missed out listening to me live.

A summary of Horses Spilled Milk were discussing about The Beatles, The Balconies (read the previous blog entry), a bit on TV Shows (vampire related shows) and the Kanye West–Taylor Swift incident at the 2009 MTV VMAs. It was nice to talk about pop culture. The lovely and main co-host, Erica, had to leave for class after the intro. I had to fill-in for this crazy edition of Horses Spilled Milk.

For Kristal’s show, it was relaxed as we briefly discussed a bit of the Polaris Music Prize Gala for next week, ticket prices at concerts, and some Metric talk. If you are wondering about the second last song being played, here’s the music video provided at the bottom of this entry. I saw the music video on The Wedge on MuchMusic not too long ago. Trust me, you will find the music video hilarious. Think About Life is an electronic-indie rock band from Montreal.

Hope you will enjoy listening to it. Apologies on the sound quality as I don’t know what happened when using Adobe Audition.

Horses Spilled Milk – Part 1

Kristal’s Method – Part 2
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The Balconies CD Release Party at The Black Sheep Inn – S05E02

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The Balconies at Their CD Release Party at The Blacksheep Inn
Last night (Saturday night), I got to check out The Balconies CD Release Party at The Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, QC. This time, I went by bus to the Blacksheep because I did not ask this friend of mine if he wanted to come. Overall, it was an exciting event for The Balconies to finally release their first album out. The performance started off with Leif Vollebekk, who is now residing in Montreal, Quebec. His set was acoustic and mellow to starting off the night. He also brought his “arsenal” of instruments, which were his other guitar and violin. The second band, Whale Tooth, of Toronto, performed to loud and songs to dance to. The main singer, Elise LeGrow was full of energy. They were great with their performance because the crowd were really into it. I almost forgot about who’s in the group and their genre because it has been awhile that Whale Tooth has performed in Ottawa. The last time was at The Rainbow Bistro.

Onto The Balconies, as usual, they performed their usual tunes and one new song. The same style and energy being brought to the crowd. Towards the end, Jacquie did a solo song which amazed the crowd and myself since it was brought a different part to their performances. I don’t know if I mentioned it before but what I like with The Balconies is their parents fully supporting them as they are they to root for them.

Photos are now on my Flickr account, you can click here.
Overall, The Balconies were great and hopefully they will do well in Toronto. Keep up the good work.
Even though I enjoyed the concert, I got so distracted with the new iPod nano (5th generation) because I was trying to test out the video camera. So far, I can’t post the ones I recorded at The Blacksheep Inn because of sound issues. Here’s one of the clips;

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXJvRKvoqNw&hl=en&fs=1&]
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9.9.09, A New Name Change & Look on the Blog – S05E01 (Season Premiere)

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The Beatles Rock Band and SF20: The Art of Street FighterIt’s a 9.9.09 to remember because I bought The Beatles Rock Band for the Nintendo Wii (pictured) and a way to start off the new season on this blog. I am surprised that I am up to 5 seasons and hoping to keep improving on my entries. It has been awhile that I have been playing music video games due to playing Punch-Out!! (a friend is still borrowing it) and the TV room is a mess at the moment thanks to 2 new bookshelves needing to be placed. I got a chance to play The Beatles Rock Band and have to say that it is excellent to hear their songs remastered. I only played 3 songs and I wish I can get friends over to playing it. Luckily, the Guitar Hero instruments are compatible to The Beatles Rock Band game. Although, Beatlemania continues to rock out in the 2000s and finally in digital form.
Also pictured is the Street Fighter book called SF20: The Art of Street Fighter. I didn’t know it was being released at The Comic Book Shoppe and I decided to go for it because they added art from Street Fighter IV and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. I still love the Street Fighter series. It brings a nostalgic feeling looking at the artworks from the video game covers to magazines.

New Name and New Look
I decided to change the name to The WildWorks Station because during the Summer, I have been incorporating more music and radio coverage. I got a chance to become a fill-in host at CKCU-FM and it’s become a learning experience to actually host a radio show. Expect to see more on the music front for this blog. It’s great to hang out with radio hosts from Monday and Thursday at CKCU-FM.
With the name change, I felt that Lenny’s World didn’t seem right since I don’t really travel around the world and the title didn’t make sense to what I am writing.
With the new look, I accidentally changed the template by mistake, that was very unexpected as I was supposedly browsing on the templates here. Continue reading →