Hello Canadian comedy lovers;

Well, 2011 was an interesting year to say the least. A great year to be Canadian. A terrible year to be a dic…tator.

The new mayor of Toronto provided all the fodder a comedian could ask for. The new majority Prime Minister is quick to shun tyrannical leaders (and no one sees the irony in this). The most heated debate in the house of Commons was whether or not to keep the beaver as a national symbol. And we left the Kyoto protocol in our greenhouse gas emissions proving that the new Canadian mantra is “we’re here for a good time, not a long time.” Heck, if Charlie Sheen can get his citizenship, maybe there’s a Senator post for him?

I’ll be talking about all this and more in the New Year’s Eve Comedy Extravaganza with some of the funniest comics in Canada and the absolutely incomparable Andrea Martin. I guarantee there’s not a funnier place to be to end the year on a high note! And that’s not debatable.

Steve Patterson is host of CBC’s The Debaters and headlines the 11th Annual Massey Hall New Year’s Eve Comedy Extravaganza. Here is a clip of Steve performing at the Halifax Comedy Festival

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNInsQEKkiE

I doubt The Band set out to make the greatest rock movie ever. Most bands, when they break up, dissolve into a pool of watered down press releases all citing musical differences. We’ve heard it all before. But not The Band.

They get the greatest concert promoter in the history of music – Bill Graham – to produce a farewell show. Then they get the greatest filmmaker in the history of film – Martin Scorsese – to direct and document the evening. Then they get the world’s greatest musicians together to play some of the greatest music ever made.

Things like this don’t happen anymore. Today there’s a team of people behind the scenes all going over contract details and backstage riders before their ‘treasured artists’ step foot in the door. But in 1976, it was less formal and more about the music. The Last Waltz is the sound of some hippies getting together and saying goodbye. Thanks for the trip.

Before the concert, Bill Graham served everyone in the audience dinner. I’m told it was quite good. It was American Thanksgiving. During the filming, all the movie cameras kept overheating because they weren’t used to running for more than 5 minutes. Upon its release, The Last Waltz was instantly regarded as the greatest concert film ever made. Still is to this day.

35 years later, Classic Albums Live is at Massey Hall, bringing great musicians together on stage to recreate what I consider to be a Canadian album. Yes, it was shot in America, but the Canadian vibe of the evening cannot be downplayed. The music of Neil, Joni, Garth, Danko, Robbie, the Hawk. Add a touch of flannel and you’ve got yourself a Canuck fanfare.

The evening promises our stock in trade – note for note / cut for cut – delivery. But it also promises something that we’ll carry away from the evening – a beautiful memory. For my generation, this was our Woodstock. We felt part of something once the movie made it onto the screens. I saw it numerous times at a local drive-in. That, to us, was the perfect venue. The power of the collective songs never left us. Those evenings spark something undefinable.

I remember thinking, ‘What’s the big deal about Bob Dylan?’ I was fifteen. Then one day Dylan hit me. It was like being blindsided by a mountain. And Joni. Our flower. It’s a ray of sunshine whenever her music is played. Her songs are like mini movies. Her depth is unparalleled.

And Neil. 3 chords. The first 3 chords you learn when you pick up a guitar. But they’re so beautiful in his hands. He wraps his voice around them like a blanket at the top of the stairs.

And Levon. The rock ‘n’ roll soldier. There’s something wise behind those eyes. His touch on the drums is like horse hooves. His voice is like a cannon.

Robbie Robertson. He took a lot of flack over the years for not reuniting with the band. I think he did the right thing in letting the legacy lie. The Last Waltz‘s credibility remains in tact largely due to Robbie not wanting to revisit it. That’s heavy.

I could talk about all the artists at length. But the movie does it best. I have the album and I like the album. But I’d rather put the movie on and go about my day. Let it play in the background. Right now the weather seems to match the music. The change of season. Bracing for new ventures.

The Last Waltz shows us that we can say goodbye. Gracefully. On Friday, November 25, 2011 - 35 years later, Classic Albums Live is going to drop everyone a note that says ‘remember me?’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqJJdiG61jo

 Craig Martin is director of Classic Albums Live which performs The Bands ‘The Last Waltz’ in its entirety, note for note, cut for cut at Toronto’s Massey Hall on Friday, November 25, 2011

Jamie Oliver is coming to Roy Thomson Hall next week (Wednesday, November 16!) for a speaking engagement, titled after his new book Jamie Oliver’s Food Escapes (which you receive for free with every ticket) - In addition to the event, you can send a question for Jamie to “soundboard(AT)rth-mh(DOT)com” and he’ll answer right here on the Roy Thomson Hall blog, soundboard.ca

To get you started, here is a great video clip of a speech he gave when he accepted the TED Award:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIwrV5e6fMY

As our bio suggests, Soundboard is the official community of musicians, music fans, and friends of The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall. Here, we provide a place for those on stage and behind the scenes to share their insights and experiences as it relates to events not only in our Halls but in our community at large. Today, guest contributor Laura Newcombe shares what she took home from a recent presentation by former US Vice President Al Gore. Laura is a Toronto resident, grade 9 student, and a master spelling expert! Here is Laura’s review of October 13, 2011 at Roy Thomson Hall.

When my mother asked me if I wanted to hear a speech by Al Gore ‘live’ at Roy Thomson Hall, my first reaction was: …He’s still alive?! This is the man responsible for An Inconvenient Truth that we watched in school years ago. Isn’t that a classic? And aren’t the guys who did the classics generally… ahem… somewhat… dead?

Well, he sure was anything but dead. As he walked briskly onto the stage, the whole crowd burst into wild applause. It took several ‘Thank You’s’ before they settled down enough for him to begin.

He began with an anecdote about an experience he had with one of his friends about country music. While it wasn’t completely related to the rest of his talk, it was interesting and effectively humanized him in the eyes of the audience. Now, he was no longer just the icon, the Nobel Prize winner or the man who (almost) won the US presidential election. He was a regular person, just like the rest of us.

He set the stage for convincing the audience about social responsibility by explaining the text message term IBGYBG, in terms of the economic crisis. IBGYBG stands for ‘I’ll Be Gone, You’ll Be Gone.’ It was used by the bankers who gave out worthless mortgages to say: we won’t be here to be held accountable when this all crashes. As we all know, this attitude enriched the bankers but brought the world economy to a serious crisis that we are still struggling to get out of.

After that, Al Gore laid out his points in an easy to understand, clear manner. Humanity is creating large amounts of carbon dioxide which traps heat. This heat is reflected down to us. This heat messes up the environment in a major way. It causes floods, mud slides, hurricanes, and the gradual raise of temperatures around the world. The other effects can be attributed to the rising temperatures. It melts ‘permanent’ ice and messes up the water cycle. And then he said that the IBGYBG mindset is what is allowing this to continue but he tells the audience: “We can stop this!”

He went on to detail some of the things that people are doing to help stop global warming. Renewable energy sources, less fossil fuels, electrically powered vehicles are all in the planning or early developmental stages. But at least they are being worked on. He spoke compellingly and passionately. That was why people listened to him.

“All we lack is the political will. But you know what, ladies and gentlemen? Political will is a renewable resource!” So went the closing remarks of Al Gore’s speech. Simultaneously, it grabbed the audience’s attention while rousing them to action. It also referenced an often used term when referring to global warming and ways to stop it. In this way, he added humour and still tied his last words into the rest of his speech and the crowd responded with a standing ovation.

Walking out of the theatre, the audience talked among themselves about the speech. What they liked about it, what they thought of Al Gore, and many other opinions were expressed. And the best thing about Al Gore’s speech? People will still be talking about it for a long time.

Guest contributor Laura Newcombe, is a three-time winner of the Canspell National Spelling Bee  from 2009 to 2011 and placed second at the Scripps National Spelling Bee (US) in June, 2011 when she was just 12 years old.

Next Tuesday, October 25, Roy Thomson Hall welcomes ‘I Believe – A Holocaust Oratorio For Today’. I Believe is a non profit organization who in their words “seeks to move audiences towards a spirit of understanding and acceptance of others through music and words in telling a story of the Holocaust.” An artistic work, created by composer and music teacher Zane Zalis, is intended to inform, educate, perpetuate remembrance and hopefully affect change and acceptance of others. In today’s post, guest contributor, Zane Zalis shares his thoughts on the project and the process and inspiration behind it.

Creating I Believe has been and continues to be a life-changing journey. I knew when I started the project that it would be an artistic and emotional challenge but, as a dear friend shared with me “….bet you didn’t know what you were getting into” – despite all the preparatory work I had undertaken, he was right. In 2004 I had just completed a new work which had focused on Kristallnacht for the gala opening of the Arthur V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice at the University of Manitoba and as a result I felt compelled to create a large scale work about the Holocaust.

For 5 years as I created I Believe, I struggled both emotionally and intellectually with both the content and the form of the work. Every note and every word was reflected upon from a host of perspectives. Interviews with survivors, community members and research visits to Europe, Israel and the USA combined with voluminous hours of reading and thinking have resulted in I Believe, a 12 movement story from within the minds of victims and perpetrators. No one work can encompass the depth and breadth of the Holocaust and its impact on humanity. I knew from the beginning that I Believe had to be “a story” not “the story”.

From an artistic perspective I knew that I was going to create a symphonic work. Having spent years in recording studios and stages working in a host of idioms I did not want to use guitars or drum set in the work. I was after a specific tone color for I Believe and as much as I enjoy the sounds of today’s popular music, of which I am still quite involved, I made a decision to keep the instrumental aspect of the work in the orchestral field. That having been said I also knew that the voices that would lead the show would be more from the popular field. Likewise, I did not want I Believe to be atonal and I purposefully created a melodic score. Each movement had to stand on its own yet a narrative was to be woven through the entire work. I structured the work in layers, so the work has both a vertical and horizontal interest for the listener. I Believe is melodic and for some listeners that is sufficient, but upon multiple listening it is evident that the harmony, rhythm and structural development also provide content commentary. Music is the currency of youth and I would like to think that listening to I Believe is time well spent – for many reasons.

Guest contributor Zane Zalis is composer and creator of ‘I Believe – A Holocaust Oratorio for Today’. October 25, 2011 at 8PM, Roy Thomson Hall

To announce our 2011|12 Season at Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall, we created a video (with the help of Brent Kitagawa, Ryan Kitagawa, and Fil Bucchino) as an introduction to the year ahead at our Halls. We hope you enjoy and please feel free to share it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDCi6vu1QWA

Let us know what shows you’re looking forward to!

Stephen McGrath is Soundboard Editor and Media Relations Manager at Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall

Massey Hall has a long and illustrious history. From the origins of the great Toronto Symphony Orchestra to the Greatest Jazz Concert Ever and beyond, there is a seemingly endless list of memorable events staged at Massey Hall over the years and that legacy continues today. For those of recent memory, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who didn’t think of Neil Young when they thought of the Hall. With all of the great feedback and comments we’ve been getting about the pair of Neil Young shows that occurred this week, we thought we’d post for your interest, a list of some Toronto show reviews not only as a way of documenting the events here on our site but hopefully, inspiring you to share your personal comments/thoughts about the shows in the comments section below.

Both shows were filmed by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme for the third instalment of the Neil Young live documentary films and we are honoured to have hosted them.

“Young plays Massey Hall like it’s one of his beat up guitars. He rattles around the bones of the Old Lady of Shuter Street with his six strings on tracks like Down By the River and Tell Me Why as if a day hasn’t passed since those same songs were pressed into vinyl following his famous show there in 1971.” – National Post

National Post by Scott Deveau

Globe and Mail by Robert Everett Green

Toronto SUN by Jane Stevenson

Toronto Star by Ben Rayner

The Grid by Aaron Brophy

Exclaim! by Ian Gormely

Chartattack by Kate Harper

Torontoist by John Semley

Live n’ Loud Magazine with photos by Dave Logan

Examiner.com by Tom Pandi

Tunes in TO with photos by Ryan O

BlogTO by Lucas Samuels

and if you haven’t seen this yet, here is the trailer for the 1971 Live at Massey Hall album

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5qRJrbT5rA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW7fTMzBxRI

7 Bucks a Night…

We would all get there early, if you were one of the first four you got in on the euchre game. You had to be in your uniform first, the red bellhop uniform that nobody wanted to wear, it was too hot, it made your neck itchy, and well, you looked like a bellhop… The game would commence, and it was not for the faint of heart, I was younger than most of the other ushers at the time, but they never cut me any slack. If you stepped out of line, you heard about it. The rest of the crew would arrive over the next thirty minutes and soon after that, the head usher, an austere man named Si Kuiack would enter and roll call would commence.

Everyone would gather around when Si spoke, a quirky and hilarious man who would bark “Tuesday, Wednesday” as he tried to fill the weekly roster. Tuesday & Wednesday were the regular nights of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra before they vacated the premises for Roy Thomson Hall in June of 1982.

Once at a particular Salvation Army graduation show, each audience member was handed a card that said “When I die, I am going to H_____.” With no hesitation, Si grabbed his pen and scrawled in “Hamilton” and promptly deposited the card in the collection box. It was Si we would come back to see 15 minutes after each show started. We would line up at his desk (to receive our pay for the evening) and he would give everyone 7 bucks, in cash.

So here I was, a teenager living in Toronto, and between 1978 and 1983 I was paid 7 bucks a night to watch the best acts in rock.

On many of those nights, we would rush up to the hall to see the headliner soundcheck. Midge Ure and Ultravox Ultrasound, they could soundcheck with the best of them, a marathon against the backdrop of their conceptual all white stage, right down to the hardware on every drum and guitar. Adam & the Ants, Squeeze, Devo, The English Beat, The Eurythmics, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, U2, XTC, Gordon Lightfoot, Pete Seeger to name a few, we got to see them all.

Roger Whittaker was a pure entertainer, and his sound checks were almost as entertaining as his show. My friend Howard recounts the story to this day, how every time Roger played the Hall, he would break from the flow of the show and step out in front of the microphones to praise the hall’s brilliant acoustics. He would then launch into an a cappella version of a song called “Waterboy” to demonstrate how great the place sounded even without the benefit of a sound system. Every show it was as though it had just occurred to him, but he did it every night, and he played there a lot… Pure showmanship.

Nana Mouskouri would check every night in a housecoat and curlers, and never seemed particularly happy to be doing it. You would have never known that to see her walk out on that stage when the audience had filled the seats.

Only once were we shut out of a sound check, and that was on Dylan’s Slow Train Coming tour, that night when I got up to my usual balcony door extra early, I was met by a private security guard. Dylan had hired security to police the security.

Speaking of The Police, that’s one I will never forget. It was 1980 and they were touring the release of Zenyattà Mondatta. I’m down in the usher’s room going through the usual pre-game routine, when the building starts to rattle with the first notes of “Walking on the Moon”. Several of my fellow ushers and I rush up to the hall only to find three dumpy blokes playing a note perfect version of the song. To this day, I wonder how long it took Sting to find a roadie that sounded exactly like him.

Obviously, Massey Hall played a huge roll in who I am today.

28 years later…

Sometime late in 2010, i got a call from Kim Cooke. Kim’s label, Pheromone Recordings, had just released the 20th anniversary edition of my band’s first recording, Shakespeare My Butt… Kim was calling to tell me that we were being invited to play Massey Hall. And although my first reaction was a mix of excitement and utter disbelief, it soon became apparent that this was actually going to happen. On May 7th, 2011, Lowest of the Low will play Massey Hall to conclude our 20th Anniversary tour. This magical hall will be ours for one night, sandwiched between a show by Paul Simon, and two shows by Neil Young. My band will get a chance to add its name to a storied line-up of performers who have given this sublime venue a voice and a story that is known the world over.

We will be joined on this night of nights by two Australian musicians that we have been in awe of for twenty years. We first heard Mick Thomas and Squeezebox Wally early in the 90′s when they brought their seminal band Weddings Parties Anything to Canada. We were first fans and over the years have forged a lasting friendship. Ron, David and I will join Mick and Wally for a good portion of their set, and you can expect to see them on-stage with us over the course of the night.

As for me, I suspect I will revisit a lot of memories on May 7th. My friends that I worked with all those years ago. The shows, the literally hundreds of shows that I saw at Massey. Si Kuiack and the reality that some people pass through your life for the shortest moment in time, but you just don’t forget. And maybe of Gordon Lightfoot stopping to talk to this fifteen-year-old kid in a bellhop uniform way back at the end of the seventies. But most of all I suspect I will just be breathing it all in and hoping that this night lingers longer than any night that has come before it.

Thanks to everyone that made this event possible, but mostly, thanks to the three lads I share the name Lowest of the Low with. Let’s get on with it boys….

Stephen C. Stanley

Guitarist, Lowest of the Low

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeqqFEn7IOY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mImgwPg8wJ0

Michael Kaeshammer performs at Massey Hall on Saturday, April 30, 2011 with special guest, Jill Barber

Two musicians we are very proud to support, Michael Kaeshammer and Jill Barber, have been touring the country together. We can’t wait to welcome them to Massey Hall when we present them in Toronto on Saturday April 30, 2011 at 8PM.

Both artists are about to release new albums on April 5 and if you can tell us the title of either record in the comments section below, you’ll be entered into a draw to win a CD and a pair of tickets to the show. We have 5 prize packs available and we’ll award one pair to our readers each day all next week.

Good luck!

Oh! And here is a little something we found on a quick YouTube search…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIC8_DBUJ50