WEB WATCH
Sometimes, musical collaborations are obvious – while I’ll admit I didn’t think of it first (shocking I know,) the Ben Folds/Nick Hornby collab I mentioned last week is brilliant in its simplicity. This week, I report that former Secretary of State (and classically trained pianist) Condoleezza Rice and current (and everlasting) Queen of Soul recently performed together in Philadelphia in an effort to raise funds “for urban children and awareness for music and the arts.” You can check out some video here.
This week in Arcade Fire news, TODAY IS THE DAY!!! The Suburbs, Arcade Fire’s highly anticipated album, hits shelves in Canada and the US today for your listening pleasure. The word on the street (and by that, I mean, of course, the word on Twitter,) is that the album is pretty spectacular. Mind-blowing new album not enough? Stand by to check out Arcade Fire’s Madison Square Garden play live-streamed and directed by none other than Terry Gilliam (The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Brazil, 12 Monkeys) this Thursday, August 5 at 10p.m. ET.
Hawksley Workman just released a music video for his song “Tokyo Bicycle” which Six Shooter Records notes is “created by Oscar nominated NFB animator Chris Hinton.” Check out the video here and stand by for the release of his new album, Milk; exclaim! recently announced that the album will have its official release on August 10.
Long have the Billboard charts reigned supreme but the times, they are a changing. Billboard charts are calculated on sales, streaming, and radio play and were the original source for American Top 40 pre-Ryan Seacrest (remember Casey Kasem and his various appearances on Saved by the Bell?) AT40 now uses Mediabase which you can also see in USAToday. The next big thing is from BigChampagne which incorporates sales, airplay, and new to the scene: social networking data. According to Variety the “chart aims to track not just current hits but buzz as well.”
TIFF TALK
It sounds like this year’s TIFF (the festival’s 35th) is going to be a big one. Last Tuesday, the Galas and Special Presentations were announced and include starpower from Nicole Kidman, Clive Owen, Christopher Plummer, Natalie Portman, Woody Allen, and the list goes on and on. Naturally – this is the world’s biggest public film festival after all. Another exciting announcement to come out of the press conference are the free public screenings at the new Bell Lightbox. For a well-balanced look at coverage from most every outlet; check out takes on the announcement from the Globe and Mail, Hollywood Reporter, The National Post, The Toronto Star, and Torontoist.
Stefania Paterak is programming coordinator at Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall
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