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?
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds will be hitting the Massey Hall stage on November 7 and 8 this year. The concert coincides with the release of Gallagher’s first solo album since the end of Oasis. Back in July, the National Post was reporting that Gallagher said the album “marked a departure” from his work with Oasis but that Gallagher noted, “People who are fans of what I do will hear echoes of what Oasis do in there.” Also, if you haven’t seen it yet you can read Noel Gallagher’s musings on the Oasis split in this Chuck Klosterman article on Grantland. Can’t wait for the concert? Can’t wait for the album? You may be in luck – there’s an app to tide you over filled with all sorts of good stuff and it’s free! You can check it out here.
We’re thrilled to relay that in celebration of his 25th anniversary as a solo artist, the one and only Sting will bring his Back to Bass Tour to Massey Hall on November 1, 2011. The tour promises all the hits, “stripped down” (including a selection of greatest hits from The Police!) Sting will be joined by his longtime guitarist Dominic Miller, Rufus Miller (guitar), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Peter Tickell (electric fiddle), and Jo Lawry (vocals). Should be an incredible evening of music.
PERFORMANCES
Wilco (Friday and Saturday): Wilco return to Massey Hall this weekend in support of their latest recording The Whole Love. Everyone’s talking about Wilco these days so we’ve got some delightful things for you to check out. First and foremost, perhaps, is The Atlantic’s coverage on the writing of Wilco’s “Born Alone” and, of course, the new music video for the track. The Montreal Gazette has a great feature interview with the band – Jeff Tweedy uses an analogy that sees the creation of soapstone “uni-whales,” you’ll have to read it for yourself to get to the bottom of that one. That Jeff Tweedy sure is one clever fellow. Just for fun, if you haven’t already, check out this TimeOut Chicago link for Mr. Tweedy doing a rather brilliant performance of the Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling.”
WEB WATCH
Al Gore, who is presenting Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisisat Roy Thomson Hall this October 13, is coordinating, along with the Climate Reality Project (of which he is the Chairman), 24 Hours of Reality, in order to “show the world what can change in a day.” Of the special event, he says, “24 Hours of Reality will focus the world’s attention on the full truth, scope, scale and impact of the climate crisis. To remove the doubt. Reveal the deniers. And catalyze urgency around an issue that affects every one of us.”
Last week we announced our 2011-2012 Season and just yesterday tickets went on sale for the public – we’ve been busy bees around here but we’re looking forward to another great year! The National Post featured some highlights from the Season last week and included a rather smashing photo of Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet who, as you will have heard, are hitting the Winter Garden Theatre stage in February in the form of their new band, Whitehorse. You can check out new music and a video on their new webpage.
One of the very special events taking place this season at the Halls is Al Gore with his new presentation, Our Choice: A Plan to Stop the Climate Crisis. It’s almost back to school time (you can tell by the increased prevalence of Staples commercials and sales on ruled paper) so probably best you get to that summer reading list you had the best intentions of creating and then completing: Al Gore’s newest book (of the same title as the presentation) is also an (award-winning) interactive app.
Soundboard is the official community of musicians, music fans, and friends of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Canada. It’s your behind-the-scenes source for related music news, recommendations, and rewards.
