Mike's Bloggity Blog

Who knew that Moncton, New Brunswick was capable of helping U2 break records?!  But that’s exactly what happened at last night’s explosive show in (incoming Fredericton bias) the province’s second best city.

The Irish rockers played a rather wet outdoor show to a crowd of 75,000 people and with that, a few world records came tumbling down. Since the 360 tour started almost two years ago, it has become the highest grossing tour ever ($736 million) and played to more than 7.2 million people. That is insane my friends.  Word is that the United States government is asking you to to lend it “just a few bucks,” and they “swear that they’ll pay them right back!”

U2 weren’t the only ones having a good time, if my Facebook newsfeed is any indication, my friends back in my home province of New Brunswick had an AMAZING time.    Glad to see that even in a giant field, they still know how to have a great big ol’ kitchen party.

This is unconfirmed and purely suggested by me, but I’m also guessing/assuming that Bono tried a McLobster and loved it.  Great minds think a like.

Now the only question is how will Moncton top this concert series next year?  What’s that?  A Moffatts reunion show?  I’m in!

(Photo via: QMI agency)

Here in Calgary, we have something called the Peace Bridge.  And ever since it was decided that it would be built along the banks of the Bow River, the reception has been anything but peaceful.

Sure it’s delayed more than a year, will look drastically different than anything we have in Calgary right now and yes, it’s sorta unnecessary.  But I for one am patiently waiting for the bridge and think it will do wonders for our downtown core. Not to mention, it looks freakin’ cool.

Thus the top of my Metro column this week, while I’m a little annoyed that the bridge has taken so long, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Click here to read it or weigh in.

Chances are if you don’t already have Netflix, you’ve at least thought about.  No doubt, you’ve heard about their hit and miss library, so I wonder if this might change your mind.

Netflix has just announced a new deal with CBS that will see the online site bolster it’s television categories with some pretty modern hits.  This September, subscribers will be able to see current and past seasons of shows 90210 and back seasons  Californication, Dexter, The United States of Tara, and older shows like Twin Peaks!

No doubt this announcement has a lot to do with the impending arrival of Shaw’s Movie Club.

I’m really excited about Dexter and Californication.  Hopefully the more and more shows that sign up to the service, will have other networks deciding to jump on board too.

Until then, I patiently wait for Fringe and Buffy….

Just days after I put away my cowboy hat, the Canadian Country Music Awards announced their nominees and ladies and gentlemen, Johnny Reid cleaned.up. With a total of six nominations, he leads the back in a year that saw Canadian country artists make waves all around the world.  But don’t feel too bad for the other nominees, Dean Brody, George Canyon, Gord Bamford and Deric Ruttan all picked up multiple nominations.

Mr. Reid and his piercing blue eyes picked up nominations for Fans’ Choice, Single of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and CMT Video of the Year for “Today I’m Gonna Try And Change The World,” Album of the Year and Male Artist of the Year.  Okay, his eyes didn’t get nominated, but that’s only because my mom was not on this year’s jury.

Dean Brody is nipping at Johnny’s frosted tips with five nominations of his own:  Fans’ Choice Award, Single of the Year for “Trail In Life”, Album of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Male Artist of the Year.

The list of the show’s performers are equally impressive, so far Paul Brandt, Dean Brody, George Canyon, Terri Clark, Doc Walker, Emerson Drive, Johnny Reid and the internationally acclaimed Ronnie Dunn have all signed up to perform in Hamilton on September 12th.

Somewhere the Wilkinsons are carefully planning their comeback.

The Canadian Country Music Awards will be announced live on CBC on September 12th!  Good luck to all the nominees!

Who knew Alex Trebek was such a bad ass?

Late last week, the Jeopoardy host was checking into his hotel in San Francisco when he noticed he wasn’t alone! At 2:30 a.m, he ended up chasing a burglar down the hallway of the hotel.  While he was able to scare off the burglar, he injured quite himself quite badly in the process.  Now relegated to crutches, the Toronto-born TV show actually ended up rupturing his achilles tendon and  bruising his other leg in process leg when he fell. Because of his injuries, Trebek had surgery on Friday.

But the injury didn’t stop him from hosting the National Geographic World Championship, which were held at the Google HQ, just a few days later.

Your move Chuck Norris.

Sum 41 released the trailer for their new documentary “Don’t Try This At Home” today and it’s, uhh…enlightening, to say the least. The rock band, who have been barely strattling the line of success for the past few years, made the film while they working on their latest album Screaming Bloody Murder.

The movie will be released digitally on August 1st and will give the band’s fans (plural?) an inside look on the goings on during the recording of the disc, which was released in March.  If the trailer of the film is any indication, it looks like all they did was burn stuff and drink a lot. Which is cool, you know, for successful bands. But with their album sales dwindling, you’d think the band would spend far less time acting less like ass hats and more time working on making awesome songs, you know, like they used to. Maybe it’s because the death of Amy Winehouse is still fresh, but when your trailer’s most interesting content is you drinking and lighting things of fire, maybe recording an album shouldn’t be your first priority.

The Toronto International Film Festival announced it’s 2011 line up today and some people are already calling it “the brightest year yet!”  I’ve actually never been to TIFF but would give up my remaining hairs to make it to this year’s ten day festival.  Yes, it’s that good.

For the first time in 36 years, the festival will open with a documentary that follows a little band by the name of U2. The flick is called From The Sky Down and is directed by Davis Guggenheim.  It will launch TIFF on Sept. 8.

Here’s a look at some of the other films that will bring some of the world’s biggest stars to Toronto later this year.

Drive
Starring Ryan Gosling, Carrie Mulligan and Bryan Cranston, this dark film is probably the best vehicle to get Gosling that Oscar since that imaginary Breaker High movie.


The Descendants
Starring George Clooney as a distraught father trying to keep his family together. Clooney will also be in town for a movie he directed called The Ides of March.

Moneyball
Brad Pitt and a slimmer Jonah Hill.
A movie about sports has to be really interesting to get my attention and this flick, about reviving an all but dead baseball team, has my full attention.

A Dangerous Method
Directed by David Cronenberg. Starring Viggo Mortensen, Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender and Vincent Cassel.
This entry by one of this country’s most successful directors explores the controversial personal lives of psychiatrist Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud.

Movies directed by Madonnna (W.E.),  Frances Ford Coppola (Twixt) , Sarah Polley (Take This Waltz) will also all premiere at the festival.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 8-18….in Toronto.

Can you imagine anything better than listening to amazing music, surrounded by the mountain Rocky Mountains?  I know that I can’t.  That’s why if you’re in the area, you are going to want to enter today’s contest!  I’ve got one double pass to this weekend’s Canmore Folk Festival!

This year’s line up is super stellar with Joel Plaskett, Delhi2Dublin, Elliot Brood, The Good Lovelies, Luke Doucet & Melissa,  McClelland, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald and so much more.

The festival runs from July 30th until August 1st and also features a  Youth Songwriting Circle and a FREE Saturday Kids Concert and wraps up with a Heritage Day Monday Pancake Breakfast.

I’m going to be there and I know it’s going to be a blast!  So how can you win?  Pretty easy actually. Swing on over to the Canmore Folk Festival website and check out the line up.  Leave a comment telling me which artist you’d be most excited to see if you won the contest.

Second entry is via Twitter.  Tweet this:  “I want to win a double pass to this weekend’s @canmorefolk from @mikesbloggity. http://ow.ly/5NK9U”

Contest closes this Thursday, July 28th at Noon/MST.

Well I got some sad news today, my mom called and unfortunately we had to say goodbye to my doggie today.   His name was a Moosehead Morrison, he was a black Lab-shepherd mix, he was fifteen years old, a cancer survivor and had the biggest brown eyes you’ve ever seen.  Not only was he my first dog, he was my best friend, I think he was everyone’s.

I’m not sharing this with you to make you sad, because you shouldn’t be sad.  Moosey was amazing, he had a great life, swam in the Saint John River every day and loved everyone.  I’m writing about him because as much as this is a blog about Canadian entertainment, I also consider it a living journal of my life, a life that would be far lonelier if I hadn’t met my Moosey.

We got Moose fifteen years ago from the Farmer’s Market in Fredericton.  He was in a cardboard box with his brothers and sisters, and for only $20 he was a steal of a deal.  From that moment on, I can honestly tell you that this dog, who never seemed as big as everyone thought he was, affected each and every person he ever met.  Whether he was tearing up my parent’s couch, lying beside you on your sickest days, wandering the aisles of Home Hardware, going for solo neighborhood walks or singing his songs for food.  He was a part of the family, a part that will always be cherished and remembered. Like me, he never really liked children, but he tolerated being jumped on, never biting or acting annoyed, yet his lack of interest was charmingly clear to everyone over the age of twelve.

The last time I saw my dog, I knew it was the goodbye.   He could barely move his back legs but we went for one last walk. He still had a mighty bark, which always seemed like him greeting than the neighborhood more than anything else. .  He couldn’t hear, but his brown eyes spoke volumes.  I hugged him over and over again, he never liked getting hugged, but this time it felt like he was almost hugging me back.  I squeezed him tight and got in the car, which I quickly stopped and ran back into my parent’s house for one last hug.

It was a great hug.

I’ll never forget Moosehead Morrison, he was perfection.  Tonight I raised a glass of Moosehead beer and thought about all of our good times together.  Fortunately, those will last much longer than the beer did.

Has it really been four years since Leslie Feist released her award winning album The Reminder?  Wow.  Time sure does fly.  Last time I heard from the singer, she was literally booing me in the Juno press room for asking a question about iPods…ahh  memories.

The Broken Social Scene singer has just announced that she’ll soon be releasing her highly anticipated third album in just a few months.  The disc will be called Metals and hipsters and unknowingly sad people will be able to pick it up on October 5th.

With the big announcement comes a new website, with some special videos that give some insight to the production of the album, which is produced by the likes of Chilly Gonzales,  Mocky and Valgeir Sigurðsson.