Totally blown away by Feist – Juno Awards

I’m watching the Juno Awards – that’s Canada’s music awards which are our equivalent to the Grammy’s and Feist is taking a lot of awards.

The Juno’s are held over two days. There was a private dinner ceremony on Saturday night where the bulk of the awards were handed out. Feist pretty much took the big awards – Artist of the year and Song writer of the year.

Other than seeing her perform her song 1234 for the itunes/ ipod commercial on TV I’ve never really seen Feist perform.

I can’t say that anymore! She performed at the Juno’s and totally blew me away. In some ways she reminded me a little bit of Bjork but with a much more mainstream sound. I’d love to go to one of her concerts. I’m sure she’d be a performer worth seeing.

Avril Lavigne also performed at the Junos. She sang Girlfriend. Her backup dancers where sturdy looking girls. It a way it was nice to see more “every woman” type dancers highlighted in an area where usually only the thin and skeletal get to play.

Other big winners at the Juno’s were Finger Eleven for Rock Album of the Year – Them Vs. You Vs. Me.

Here’s the list of Saturday Nights winners. I’ll add the official Sunday night telecasts winners shortly.

• International Album of the Year — Good Girl Gone Bad — Rihanna

• Artist of the Year — Feist

• New Artist of the Year — Serena Ryder

• Songwriter of the Year — Feist

• Adult Alternative Album of the Year — Small Miracles — Blue Rodeo

• Alternative Album of the Year — Neon Bible — Arcade Fired

• Rock Album of the Year — Them Vs You Vs Me — Finger Eleven

• Vocal Jazz Album of the Year — Make Someone Happy — Sophie Milman

• Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year – Almost Certainly Dreaming – The Chris Tarry Group

• Traditional Jazz Album of the Year — Debut – Brandi Disterheft

• Instrumental Album of the Year — The Utmost — Jayme Stone

• Francophone Album of the Year — L’echec du material — Daniel Belanger

• Children’s Album of the Year — Music Soup — Jen Gould

• Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber Ensemble — Alkan Concerto for Solo Piano — Marc-Andre Hamelin

• Classical Album of the Year: Large Ensemble or Soloist(s) With Large Ensemble Accompaniment — Korngold, Barber and • Walton Violin Concertos — James Ehnes, Bramwell Tovey, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

• Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance — Surprise — Measha Bruggergosman

• Classical Composition of the Year — Constantinople — Christos Hatzis

• Rap Recording of the Year — The Revolution — Belly

• Dance Recording of the Year — All U Ever Want — Billy Newton-Davis Vs. Deadmau5

• R&B/Soul Recording of the Year — Revival — Jully Black

• Reggae Recording of the Year — Don’t Go Pretending — Mikey Dangerous

• Aboriginal Recording of the Year — The Dirty Looks — Derek Miller

• Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Solo — Right of Passage — David Francey

• Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Group — Key Principles — Nathan

• Blues Album of the Year — Building Full of Blues — FATHEAD

• Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year — Holy God — Brian Doerksen

• World Music Album of the Year — Agua Del Pozo — Alex Cuba

• Jack Richardson Producer of the Year — Joni Mitchell — Hana/Bad Dreams — Shine

• Recording Engineer of the Year — Kevin Churko — I Don’t Wanna Stop/God Bless The Almighty Dollar — Black Rain — Ozzy Osbourne

• CD/DVD Artwork Design of the Year — Tracy Maurice (Director/Designer) and Francois Miron (Photographer) — Neon Bible — Arcade Fire

• Video of the Year — C’mon — Christopher Mills (Director) — Blue Rodeo

• Music DVD of the Year — 666 Live — Pierre & Francois Lamoureux, Billy Talent, Pierre Tremblay, Steve Blair — Billy Talent





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Producer Garrett talks about Britney’s new album and recent events

britney_spears2.jpg Producer Sean Garrett says that things are starting to come together for Britney these says. She’s out of rehab and has a lot of people rooting for her.

Garrett spoke with People at the Kids Choice Awards, stating that he’s working with Britney and “It’s really coming together right now. I know she’ll do exceptionally well now that she’s out of rehab.”

Garrett had been working with pop star Spears her on five songs for her upcoming album just before she checked into Malibu’s Promises treatment center for rehab on February 20th. Garrett has worked with and produced tracks for Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, and Jennifer Lopez in the past.

Garrett freely promoted Spears new album when he was speaking with People stating that the new disk “is like ‘Toxic’ times 10. It’s going to be a lot of fun and it’s really exciting. We did a lot of great work before her break.”

He feels that Britney knows how to handle herself, and that she’s a superstar and will emerge from her recent experience stronger than ever.

He also said that she’s kept her composure under the circumstances. Well, perhaps she has in some cases, but I’m not sure how shaving your hair off in public and attacking a paparazzi’s vehicle with an umbrella shows that she’s kept her composure.

What do you think folks? In all the Britney Spears stories that you’ve heard since oh say October 06, do you feel that Britney has kept her composure?

I do feel that she will overcome everything that’s happened over the past six months or so, but lets not sugar coat it.

The pressure sometimes gets to you, but I think she has done such a great job keeping her composure under the circumstances.”

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Bollywood hits Toronto

bollywoodtoronto.jpg The hottest Bollywood movie out of India, Guru, premiered Thursday night in Toronto, Canada. Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, the stars of the film, and the new Brad and Angelina of the Indian community.

Arpana Vora declared that the couple were “Absolutely gorgeous. Both of them. Just stunning!”, moments after the darling duo was whisked along the red carpet and into the screening.

Rai, who wore a white sari, and Bachchan, who donned a black suit and headband, were several hours late for the gala because of flight schedules and didn’t stop for questions. The delay built momentum at Toronto’s historic Elgin Theatre where the crowd of approximately 1,200 fans stood screaming on the sidewalk behind barriers for 6 hours. Yet another 1,200 filmgoers were already inside the theater.

The films producers chose Toronto for the premiere after receiving an impressive response for “Never Say Goodbye” which was another Bollywood film. That film had premiered at The Toronto International Film Festival this past September. The Gala crowd out numbered that for Brad Pitts film Babel.

“The South Asian community is very important to our city and so is the film industry. Bollywood brings them together,” said Mayor David Miller as he walked into the screening.

Producer Bobby Bedi (“Bandit Queen,” “Fire”) said at the premiere he chose Toronto for his premiere because it “by far is one most cosmopolitan city in the world.”

“Guru” is loosely based on the life of a young man who rose from poverty in a small Indian village in the 1950s to defy the odds and become a major textile merchant. In the film version, the character of Gurukant Desai (Bachchan) employs unethical methods to achieve his materialistic goals but does what he has to do to crack a market firmly controlled by the rich and privileged.

Rai – who has been described as giving Halle Berry strong competition for the unofficial title of most beautiful woman in the world – plays his wife Sujatha.

“She was stunning. Stunning. Very beautiful,” said Adesh Vora after he caught a glimpse of Rai. Looking at his wife though, he hesitated to concur that Rai is the most beautiful woman on Earth.

“My wife is number one,” he said.

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