JUST ANNOUNCED
Just yesterday afternoon we announced that comedian Ron “Tater Salad” White will be heading to Massey Hall on April 12, 2012 as part of his Moral Compass Tour. Ron White has been a busy fellow with a New York Times Best Seller, I Had the Right to Remain Silent… But I Didn’t Have the Ability, two Grammy Award nominations, and three of the top-rated one-hour TV specials in Comedy Central’s history. Tickets for FriendsFirst members are on sale today and for the general public on Friday.
PERFORMANCES
In addition to Justin Bieber’s hugely anticipated Home for the Holidays TV special being taped tomorrow at Massey Hall, Toronto’s own The Canadian Tenors bring their own, Home for the Holidays Tour to Roy Thomson Hall for two nights this week (Thursday, December 22 & Friday, December 23): The Canadian Tenors, who were recently called by the Washington Examiner “a perfect partnership of classical and pop,” perform two shows this week in celebration of the festive season. For a taste of the music of which these four gentlemen are capable, check out this CBC Concert on Demand from their 2009 benefit concert in Vancouver for the Bulembu Foundation. The concert included a version of their now-classic take on “Hallelujah” made famous in their performance of the tune on this year’s Emmy Awards. And to get an idea of the Tenors feeling festive, here’s a video for their “O Holy Night.”
Whitehorse (Featuring Melissa McClelland & Luke Doucet) with Special Guest Frazey Ford (Wednesday): We are super excited to showcase to you all that is Whitehorse. Everybody’s talking about them – NXEW.ca called the newly released album “assured and excellent” and called the band a “marriage of songbird and falcon.” The Grid said they “might just be the Can-Con answer to She & Him.” After getting praise from both Spinner and BlogTO for their play to music supervisors and other industry types at last week’s Festival Music House (an invitation only event that was part of TIFF) the pair are ready to hit the Glenn Gould Studio stage. Of course, if you were unable to buy tickets to this sold out show, we’re presenting them again at the charming Winter Garden Theatre in February. Their GGS set will be preceded by a performance by Frazey Ford, a founding member of band The Be Good Tanyas – you can check out some of her tracks here.
An Evening With Bill Maher (Saturday): Bill Maher takes the stage at Massey Hall this weekend. Maher’s popular HBO show Real Time just returned to airwaves last week for its ninth season. Looking for a little more Bill Maher in your Tuesday in advance of his appearance this weekend? A catalogue of other videos is available at HBO Canada, his podcast is available here, and his Twitter here. Of course, much of this is NSFW, so use viewer/listener discretion on some of these pieces of content.
Welcome to July! Our 10|11 season is winding down but there’s still lotsofreasonsto be excited this month. And we can’t wait for what’s to come in our 11|12 season! Stay tuned!
Moving along…
JUST ANNOUNCED
Canada’s Walk of Fame: Seven prominent Canucks will be inducted into (or is it on to?) Canada’s Walk of Fame this fall. Adding a touch of class and fame to Toronto’s downtown sidewalks is an eclectic mix of inductees like Burton Cummings (more on him below), Russell Peters (who recently stole the show hosting Charlie Sheen at Massey), and, my personal favorite, the late Mordecai Richler.
Nicole Cabell (Friday): The lovely Nicole Cabell returns to Roy Thomson Hall with accompanist Spencer Myer. When she performed at Roy Thomson Hall in March 2009, John Terauds (of the Toronto Star) called the show “the kind of love-in usually reserved for the world’s great divas” and he declared that she had “a natural musicality that caresses pleasing shapes out of musical phrases, a warm presence.” The soprano takes the stage this Friday evening – it’s your chance to hear this magnificent voice again or for the first time.
Lizz Wright (Sunday): The sultry-voiced Lizz Wright performs at Glenn Gould Studio this weekend. In a recent New York Daily News article, Wright is differentiated from the “melisma-mad” (think Christina Aguilera’s take on Aretha Franklin this weekend). In the article, Wright is quoted: “I let the song guide me… I move through the space that I’m given, rather than trying to make an impression on the material. I’m curious to learn from the music.” We can’t wait to learn from you this Sunday!
TIFF announced its full screenings and events schedule this past week which will include numerous Gala screenings at our very own Roy Thomson Hall. One of the most anticipated events (at least for this blogger) is the premiere of The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, a documentary about the making of the legendary Bruce Springsteen album. It was also announced that the Boss will be in town to celebrate this event and while he’s here will be interviewed at the Bell Lightbox by actor Edward Norton to discuss the film as well as the relationship between his music and American filmmaking.
If the amount of Twitter-chatter the past few weeks is any indication, Toronto fans are no doubt excited about the Sufjan Stevens performance at Massey Hall on Oct 13. To add to the anticipation, he announced via his record label Asthmatic Kitty that he’ll release a new album called The Age of Adz (pronounced odds) on October 12, the day prior.
Last week, we made our big Season Announcement and this week (yesterday, in fact,) tickets to those fabulous shows went on sale to the public! If you haven’t yet, have a look at what the Season has in store through our website or our brochure and see what Royal Wood, Michael Kaeshammer, and Measha Brueggergosman have to say about their upcoming performances with us by checking out this video.
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.
Peter Frampton (Thursday): Frampton’s career properly took off in 1976 with his epic album Frampton Comes Alive! which features the songs we now know, love, and call classic – “Show Me the Way,” “Baby, I Love Your Way,” and “Do You Feel Like We Do” – and was the best selling album of all time (to that point). True Story: Peter Frampton began his musical journey with a Banjolele – a “banjo-shaped ukulele.” I wish I could say I made up this word but it’s totally legit – it’s pretty much the best word mash-up since liger. Also very cool: you can make your very own banjolele. While I would be surprised if Frampton cracks out ye olde banjolele on Thursday, I am certain that he will bring the awesome sounds that have made him the legend he is (legendary enough, in fact, to have appeared on both The Simpsons and Family Guy).
WEB WATCH
While it may seem like early days yet for the flurry of TIFF-related blog posts here on Soundboard, the delightful tidbits have started to drop from the TIFF office including this one: Score: A Hockey Musical will be the Opening Night Gala here at Roy Thomson Hall on September 9. You may recall us mentioning the film back in February when it was still in production. Cameos from musical artists include Hawksley Workman, John McDermott, and Nelly Furtado.
The arrival of June means Luminato is just around the corner for Toronto which is very exciting. We’re particularly keyed up about The Canadian Songbook: 40 Years of Bruce Cockburn which appears as part of Luminato at Massey Hall on June 16. Several new artists have just joined the bill for this very special event including Barenaked Ladies, Sylvia Tyson, and Jason Fowler. This is in addition to the already announced talents of Colin Linden, Hawksley Workman, Michael Occhipinti, Buck 65, Amelia Curran, Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, Host Jian Ghomeshi, as well as the legendary Bruce Cockburn himself. Rarely is there such an opportunity as this to see so many fantastic artists on the same stage.
WEB WATCH
This time of year is renown not just for its holidays but for its year-end lists. They are fun, they provide fodder for friendly disputes around the water cooler or at the bar, and they provide a nice sense of order to the year/decade/century/millennium that has passed. Last week we looked at what Rolling Stone and Billboard thought of the decade based, respectively, on logarithms and sales reports. This week we thought we’d check out some more local and Canadian based lists. CONTINUE READING >
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.
