ACCOLADES
The Toronto Arts Council has announced the finalists for this years Toronto Arts Foundation Awards. The recipients will be recognized at the Mayor’s Arts Award Luncheon on Friday October 8. One of the awards that are handed out (bi-annually) is the Roy Thomson Hall Award of Recognition, which honours outstanding achievement in the development of the Arts in our community. The finalists for this years award are:
Lydia Adams, Artistic Director of Amadeus Choir and Elmer Iseler Singers
Art of Time Ensemble
Jose Ortega, Artistic Director of Lula Music and Arts Centre
Congratulations on all of your hard work and contributions and best of luck in October!
JUST ANNOUNCED
Japanese metal band X Japan, have sold an astounding 30 million albums over their almost 30 year career. After recently performing at this years Lollapalooza in Chicago, the group has announced their first ever North American tour which will stop in at our very own Massey Hall on October 7 . Their single “I.V.” was a featured track from the film SAW IV, which we think is cool because we are featured in the upcoming, SAW 3D!
Toronto guitar fans will certainly be excited to hear that it was announced Friday Joe Satriani will perform at Massey Hall on December 8. He’ll be supporting his forthcoming album, Black Swan and the Wormhole Wizards. If you pre-order the album from his website, you’ll also receive an autographed copy, (presumably in the form of a CD in the mail – and not with the digital version of the album!) But still, a pretty cool incentive for fans to buy a hard copy of his anticipated Full Length.
WEB WATCH
Speaking of incentives to buy music, check out U2s manager, Paul McGuinness and his recent editorial in the UK edition of GQ, discussing the future of the music business. No doubt it’s interesting and exciting times as the business continues to change and evolve – An example of a cool initiative: check out Neil Young’s announcement (which he did via Facebook yesterday) of his new album Le Noise (which was produced by Daniel Lanois.) Young’s album becomes available September 28 on vinyl, CD and digital formats followed up by a Blu-ray version and an iPhone / iPad application which will be available for free. The app will enhance the listeners experience with “an interactive album cover.”
And on the topic of iPad, Verizon is apparently planning to offer live TV streaming via the iPad and other similar tablet devices.
In even more iPad news, we’ve learned that the piano-driven number “Never Stop,” from famed ‘entertainist’ Chilly Gonzales has been chosen to accompany Apple’s new worldwide iPad campaign. “Never Stop” is Chilly’s second Apple placement, having produced Feist’s smash hit, “1,2,3,4” which was prominently featured in a 2007 iPod Nano campaign. You’ll remember Gonzales is playing at Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, September 14 to celebrate the release of his new album Ivory Tower. You can download an MP3 version of “Never Stop (Rap Mix)” right now for free from his website in anticipation.
Stephen McGrath is Soundboard Editor and Media Relations Manager at Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall
note: no iPads were used in the creation of this post.
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