Mike's Bloggity Blog

The Junos are still months away, but it takes time to plan the country’s biggest award show and producers announced today that the first batch of performers have now been booked.

Feist, City and Colour, Deadmau5 and Blue Rodeo have all signed up to play the 2012 JUNO AWARDS on Sunday, April 1st from Scotiabank Place in Ottawa!

All four of these artists are arguably some of the biggest in Canada right now, so it will be interesting to see who else will be booked. If other artists were waiting to see who else was on the bill, I’d say now is the time to call your management, this show is going to be huge!

If you are in the Ottawa area next April, tickets for the Junos will be avaiable during a special one-day-only Holiday JUNO ticket pre-sale Friday, Dec.16 at 10 a.m. (ET), available through www.capitaltickets.ca

What do you think of the bill so far?  Who would you love to see play at the 2012 Junos?

Parliament Hill just got really interesting!

It’s been announced that the 2012 Junos will be held in Ottawa..otherwise known as Canada’s capital!  This is the first time the travelling awards show has been in Ottawa since 2003, needless to say, the music industry has changed a LOT since then.

This will be the third year in a row that the country’s biggest award show has been on the eastern half of the country, not that I mind (I love the travel), but I’m hoping the 2013 will bring the Junos back to the western side of Canada. I’m making a bold prediction that Edmonton will host the awards in 2014.

No word on who will host the award show, or any of the performers, but as the show has noticeably grown in the past few years, I’m sure it will be a show not to miss.

The 2012 Juno Awards and Juno Week events and festivities will be held from March 26 – April 1, 2012.

Have you ever heard of the Juno effect? No, it has nothing to do with moody Ellen Page look-a-likes bossing you around while listening to lame indie bands.

No, the Juno Effect is the phenomenon that sees bands and artists, who appeared or won at the Junos, bask in the glory of immediate increase in record sale, due in part to their added exposure.

Thanks to show’s monstrous ratings, the year’s Juno effect is especially impressive. Of note, Meaghan Smith, who won Best New Artist, saw an increase of 219% for her album The Cricket’s Orchestra!  219%!  That’s insane and totally deserved!

Album Sales:
• Arcade Fire – up 76%
• Broken Social Scene – up 69%
• Chromeo – up 59%
• Down With Webster – up 26%
• Hedley – up 22%
• Johnny Reid – up 31%
• Meghan Smith – up 219%
• Neil Young – up 131%
• Tokyo Police Club – up 53%

Digital Track Sales:
• Arcade Fire – “Rococo” – 485% increase
• Broken Social Scene – “World Sick” – 197% increase
• Chromeo – “Hot Mess” – 160% increase
• Down With Webster – “Time to Win” – 47% increase
• Tokyo Police Club – “Bambi” – 25% increase

Did you buy any new music after the Junos? I already had all of these albums, but it definitely made me listen to Arcade Fire an additional four hundred times.

photo via thirdage.com

In case you were living under a rock last week, Mike’s Bloggity Blog was busy in Toronto covering all things Junos.  While I was there, I actually did two segments with Breakfast Television.  I’ve finally gotten around to posting the videos from the two segments and thought I would post them for my mom the world to see.

The first segment was with Tara Slone and it took place via Skype high above the city of Toronto from on top of the CN tower.

The second was a few days later with Jill Belland, the morning after the Junos.  The voice was a little raspier but I got to hang out in the BT Toronto studios, so it was a lot of fun.

The Juno awards were a real blast this year and the red carpet were full of a ton of stars! The only problem was that it was freezing cold. Literally. I thought I was going to die. Okay, well not die but it was hard to stay warm for sure. My poor little bloggity fingers!

Here are some of the pics from the red carpet.  Please note:  I hate that I was all bundled up but I just wasn’t tough enough.  Those celebs got thick skin and more importantly people literally rubbing their arms and backs during interviews.

Edmonton’s Quanteisha won for Best R&B  recording!

Liam Cormier from Juno nominated Cancer Bats.

Frederictonians in the house!  Opera superstar Measha Brueggergosman was a Juno presenter.

Melanie Fiona has been nominated for Grammys and Junos!

Shad beat out Drake for Best Rap Recording.  He is also the winner of ‘Nicest Person of the Weekend!’

Superstar couple Royal Wood and Sarah Slean and me.  One of these things is not like the other.

Metric.  ‘Nuff said.

I could have talked to Marilyn Denis for hours.  Which is why she’s good at her job.

Justin Rutledge and I look so much alike…right?

Kellylee Evans won a Juno for best vocal jazz album and got to take a picture with me.

Juno Winners for Best New Group Said The Whale!  This is the only photo that I feel like I legitimately fit into!

Double Juno nominee Hannah Georges stuns the red carpet.

Welcome to the 2011 Juno awards live from Toronto! I just came off the freezing red carpet and it’s going to take me a while to feel like I have feeling in my fingers again! I’m going to be blogging away hoping that it warms me up faster!

6:01pm The Junos kicked off right on time with a very charming video intro with Drake, Justin Bieber and yes, Lloyd Robertson.

6:05pm Down with Webster opened the show.  They are good, too bad their lame name indicates otherwise!

6:10pm Drake is doing really good!  Quick suggestion:  When Charlie Sheen inevitably dies, Drake steps in and does a comedy tour instead!

6:12pm Drake does he make to make Shania feel like a women.   Women around the world swoon.

6:15pm: Arcade Fire win their second Juno of the weekend and the first of the night for Group of The Year.  I have a feeling that this will be big night for them.  I didn’t see them on the red carpet, but to be fair, this is Toronto, everyone looks the same.

Red Carpet Moment:  My outfit for the evening left me freezing but I gotta say, Bloggity cleans up nicely, no?

6:21pm Royal Wood and Keisha Chante welcome Sarah McLachlan to the stage and she sings her   On the red carpet, she didn’t do any press except the big guns like CTV.  Always disappointing that she couldn’t take a few minutes to at least chat with some of us.  It makes me wonder when artists make that switch.

6:24 Woohoo! Measha Brueggergosman and the guys from GBS present Juno Fan Choice Award.  They are both amazing, can we just give it to them? Then again, I could just be biased that Measha and I are both from Fredericton!

6:27 The award goes to Justin Bieber who is not here tonight.  Would have been great to give him last year.  Ahh retrospect.

6:28: Usher tells us why he loves Canada.  Great…wait…who asked him?

6:35: Arcade Fire picks up the second award of the night:  Songwriter of the Year.  Is this retribution for the all the american anti-Grammy hate?

6:36: DeadMau5 says he has already remixed Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday.’  I never want to hear it, but I think it would be too good to ignore.

6:45:  Shania Twain is about to get her big award.  I’m already crying. I can’t believe she is about to come back here. What do I say?

6:47: Who else is taking a shot every you hear the name Shania?

6:51: “I love our lakes, I love our bush, I love our people.” Best induction speech ever?

6:59: Robbie Robertson introduces The Love Letter to Toronto.  What’s a Robbie Roberston you ask?  Here you go!

7:04pm:  The Love Letter to Toronto!  I’m excited to see how this transfers across the country.  Jim Cuddy, Sarah Slean, Sarah Harmer, City and Colour.  Let’ be honest, the content might be a little pretentious but the voices, the voices!  So good!

Red Carpet Moment: I talked to Sarah Slean and her husband Royal Wood about being married and working together.  They both agreed that they don’t interfere in eachother’s music because it was too personal. They aren’t fans of mixing work and play.

7:17pm I just talked to Shania Twain.  I asked her if she felt like the icon everyone says that she says she is.  I don’t remember what she said, I was in awe.  I do remember that she made lots of funny faces. God I love her.

7:18pm: Meaghan Smith wins Best New Artist. Completely deserved as you can tell from her standing ovation.  Go Halifax! In case you were wondering, this Meaghan Smith

7:32: Single of the year goes to Wavin’ Flag Young Artists for Haiti.  They are going to need to make a whole lot of extra Junos.

7:39:  I’m trying to watch the Junos but Buffy Sainte Marie is in the room.  Her personality is so attention-grabbing, you can’t help but stop what you are doing.

7:41: Meaghan Smith just told me that living in Halifax allowed her to play  music without inhibitions. The city was very welcoming to her, especially considering she has no training in music at all.  She also said that she got her dress at a vintage shop.  What’s not to love?

7:53: Justin Bieber wins for Pop Album of the Year.  Seems like a weird juxtaposition of talent after just having Broken Social Scene play such a rocking number!

8:03 This special montage about Neil Young has taught me that I need to more about the man, especially musically.

8:10 It’s amazing that after so many years in the industry, Neil Young can say it better than anyone else: “But most of all… you need to look inside yourself,” “Music is the language of love,” and “Make music first.”

8:17:  Leslie Feist, possibly encouraged by Shania’s return, comes to the stage to introduce Arcade Fire‘s performance.  I’ve never seen her with so much energy!

8:19: Artist of the Year goes to Neil Young.  Wow.  He really came raging back didn’t he!  Amazing.  So what does he have to say?  “What is this?”

8:20: Quick someone buy whothefuckisneilyoung.com before the Bieber fans do!

8:21: Arcade Fire, Neil Young and Justin Bieber all walk away with numerous Junos.  What a variety of awards winners, which is why I love the Junos.  Always lots of surprises and deserving winners!

8:27 “It’s very unusual for me for me to be this exposed.” Neil Young backstage after winning numerous Junos.

8:34 Arcade Fire wins Album of The Year!

8:35 In case you were trying to figure out the math:  Drake was nominated for the most awards and is walking away with zero.  That is what you call awkward planning.

8:55: Arcade Fire is down the hall.  You know how I know you can tell?  They celebrating, very loudly.

9:45: I asked Arcade Fire if they still considered themselves “alternative”.  They quickly responded, “I think Bush and Nirvana are alternative.”

Well that’s the Junos for another year!  It’s been a blast and I’m so happily exhausted.   Thanks for all falling along and asking a ton of questions!  It’s always a blast to be a part of Canada’s best music party!

Well tonight’s the night!  The 40th Annual Junos are finally here!  This year’s Junos certainly brought out the star power. Neil Young won an award last night and is rumored to be performing tonight.  Shania Twain will be returning to Canadian TV for the first time in who knows how long and not to mention the host, who is easily the hottest export not named Justin Bieber in the world right now: Drake.

(Rumour: The Biebs will be making a video appearance tonight.)

I’m going to be honest, I’ve found it a little strange that Drake hasn’t been around this weekend as much as I would have expected him to be.  Maybe he’s visiting his old Degrassi friends?  Even though he lost out to Shad for Rap Album of the Year, I have faith that is going to do a really great job. Anytime I’ve seen him interviews, he always seems really professional and given the fact that we are on his home territory, his comfort level has to be pretty high!

While he’s been hard to track down, RapCity’s Tyrone “T-RexXx” Edward got the chance to chat with him and while he’s a little subdued, he does sound ready:

Now on to the awkward part:
While I think Drake is going do an awesome job on the show, there is one part of the two and a half hour long show that I have to warn you about. The name sorta speaks for itself, during the awards there will be a special musical montage entitled: “Love Letter to Toronto.” Right. Cause this city has self-esteem issues? I don’t think so. It’s not that the roster of talent involved won’t be great: City and Colour, Sarah Harmer, Serena Ryder, Justin Rutledge, Sarah Slean and Jim Cuddy, I’m just not sure how much the rest of Canadian is going to care about Toronto musically masturbating for ten minutes during the broadcast. Especially since the last three cities haven’t done anything like that, I get that it is the 40th anniversary, but I guarentee you, Twitterers across the country are going to destroy it.

I’ll be live-blogging from the red carpet and backstage.  Check back often!

Is it really Juno time again already?

So what are the Junos exactly?  Let’s get you caught up.  The awards celebrate the best in Canadian music.  Simply put they are the Canadian Grammys. The Juno Awards are actually spread out over two nights.  Tonight will see the majority of the awards given out, thirty three in fact.  Tomorrow’s actual broadcast on CTV will feature only eight awards and whole lot of performances.

As a lover of all things Canadian music and entertainment, this my friends is my bread and butter.

So where am I?  Toronto.  More specifically, The Allstream Centre for the Juno Gala.  I’ll be chilling out backstage all night, chatting with all the winners (and some losers,) so if at any point you have any questions, just let me know.  This night is always a blast.

I’m going to be live-blogging all night, so stay tuned!

6:15pm Tonight’s Gala kicks off with a super buzz-worthy Shad, he’s nominated for Rap Recording of the Year.  He also write a really interesting blog post this week in the National Post.  Could big changes be ahead for the Junos? Click here to read it.

6:19pm:  Jian Ghomeshi and Seamus O’Regan are tonight’s co-hosts.  I remember from last year that Shamus stole the show with his very surprising potty mouth.

6:40pm: Breaking news.  Welcome speeches are always boring.  No matter where you sit or how much free wine you’ve had.

6:41pm The minister of travel and tourism just said Justin Beaver.  A.m.a.z.i.n.g.

6:47pm Adult Alternative Album of The Year goes to Neil Young...who is looking anything but.  It’s been 29 years since he was last at the Juno Awards!

6:56pm: I asked Neil Young, if he followed the Top 40 genre that he will be winning awards with this weekend.  He said, “Music is music. I don’t follow handles. That’s someone else’s job.”

6:59pm: “How do we win an Instrumental Juno?  Add vocals.”  -Fond of Tigers after winning Instrumental Album of the Year.

7:02pm: Polaris Prize winners Karkwa win Francophone Album of The Year.  “It means a lot that we can make an impact on the Canadian music industry.”

7:09pm Edmonton’s Quanteisha wins R&B Soul Recording of The Year! Who knew Edmonton was so urban?  Turns out she doesn’t even have an album out yet, seven singles and she’s still independent.  Amazing example of how cool the Canadian music industry can be.

7:12pm Jim Byrnes wins Blues Album of The Year.  He’s a successful actor (Hellcats, Sanctuary), lost both of his legs in a car accident and is the nicest person we’ve had back here all night.  I’m amazed by his perseverance.

7:23pm: Elain Lil’Bit Shepherd wins Reggae Recording of The Year. I’m always surprised by how little attention this genre gets. “The reggae genre is actually lot stronger than we give it credit for.”

7:30pm Gryphon Trio, Lara St. John, Gerald Finley and R. Murray Schafer all win Junos for their classical albums, which has never come across my radar.  Tell me, am I missing out?

7:34pm:  Matt Good wins Rock Album of The Year. He’s not here because he’s previously called the Junos pointless. He should have at least come for the free food.

7:53pm: Deane Cameron wins the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award in the same building that his father enlisted in for the Canadian military when Deane was 17 years old.

8:10pm Cameron has been talking for quite a while now and I kinda thinking how great it would for everyone to get the chance to summarize their life and thank all those that have meant something to them.  That alone is an honour.

8:14pm “If I didn’t tell anyone that I won, I doubt anyone would know about this award.  I hope that more people would pay attention to Jazz music.” -Traditional Jazz Album of The Year winner John Macleod.

8:16pm Johnny Reid wins Country Album of The Year.  The media room is already swooning.

8:19pm: Show opener Shad shocks the crowd and wins Rap Recording of The Year.  Then why wasn’t he nominated for artist of the year!

8:32pm:  Hedley wins Best Video for “Perfect.”  I still can’t help that this video looks familiar.

8:36pm: Shad is backstage now and the media room is so happy that he got Best Rap Album  over Drake.  No offense to Drake, just refreshing I guess.  “Yeah absolutely”, when asked about hosting next year’s Junos.

8:42pm:  Daniel Lanois wins Producer of The Year and then apologizes for beating Arcade Fire.  I’m sure they’ll be fine. He then invites Neil Young up again, “just to say something.”  Why not?

8:49pm “The Hedley curse is definitely broken.” -Kyle Davidson, director of Hedley’s Juno winning music video.  Surprising that the band has never won before.

8:55pm “We try not to put in a bunch heyaheys, to make sure we didn’t do the overkill.” -Aboriginal album of the year award winner, CerAmony.

9:01pm I asked Johnny Reid if he felt that his positive attitude was exceptional in the music industry, “I learned a long time ago that life is too short. It’s as simple as that.”

9:09pm: Ladies and Gentlemen, the least likely winner of Best Children Album ever:
Peter Lenton.

9:19pm: Rush wins for Music DVD of The Year.  I was super excited until I realized that none of the people who won who are actually in Rush.  I’m glad that I asked my neighbour before asking a question.

8:26pm: Huzzah! Said the Whale wins New Group of The Year!  J’aime them beaucoups!  Plus their energy is infectious!  They actually had their stuff stolen a few days ago and hilariously re-enacted their mishap. Click here to watch.

Wow a great night!  Thanks for following along!  The big show is tomorrow night!  See you then!

Okay, so it’s official, I’m 100% going to this year’s Junos! I’m beyond excited to be going to Toronto in a few short weeks!  The last couple Junos (Calgary, Vancouver and St. John’s) have all been amazing but to celebrate the best of Canadian music in  what is essentially the home of Canadian music will be a truly unforgettable experience!

Here’s the top three things I can’t wait to do:

1. Talk to Shania Twain.  If there was a number higher than #1 one, I would invent it and then invent a number high than that.  Yes, my excitement is that high.  Neil Young comes in a close second but really that’s just for my dad. I already have a list of questions that I’m dying to ask her, hopefully I don’t seem too crazy/excited, so her people will let me get through an interview.  Fingers crossed. I’m also excited to see Drake.  He was amazingly humble last year, I wonder what 12 months has done.

2. Anyone that covers entertainment any amount of time can become cynical.  They forget how lucky we are to meet, interview and sometimes share a beer with any number of Canadian celebs.  You know who don’t become cynical?  The fans.  That’s why I always make sure I check out Juno Fan Fare. To see people who are genuinely excited about meeting their favourite bands is refreshing and extremely exciting.  Unless you’ve been, you really have no idea.  This year’s fan fest features the likes of: Classified, Danny Fernandes, Down With Webster, Faber Drive, George Canyon, Hannah Georgas, HEdley, Hollerado, Johnny Reid, Karl Wolf, Keshia Chante, The Midway State, Shad, Stereos, Sweet Thing and These Kids Wear Crown. The cynic in me would make a joke about it actually being a Straight Iron Conference, but not this time folks!

3.  I’m probably supposed to say that the actual Junos make it somewhere on this list, right?  While the awards are cool, I have to say that Juno Fest is just a wee bit cooler.  This year’s festival sounds amazing and I can’t wait until I can get myself to Toronto to enjoy shows in more than twenty of the city’s coolest venues featuring some of the bands that I’ve been dying to see including: Elliot Brood, Said the Whale, Hannah Georgas and Justin Rutledge. (Click here to see the whole list.)

The Junos take place in Toronto from March 21-27th!

See you there?

Every year when the Juno nominations are announced, I instantly look to see who was nominated in my favourite category: Video of The Year. I’m not sure what it is, maybe because amazing videos are so hard to come by nowadays, but feel like I’m one of the few people that still really love and actively seek out music videos. That’s why I’m so happy that this year’s crop of nominees are really, really good, I’m not sure how the the Juno voters are going to decide!

Take a look at this year’s nominees!  Who do you think deserves the big award?

Broken Social Scene – Forced To Love

Chargez! – Ariel

Collect Call [Christopher Mills short film] – Metric

Hedley-Perfect

Billy Talent – Saint Veronica