Mike's Bloggity Blog

Photo: The Canadian Press

Yesterday was a weird experience for me.  It was the first time in five years that I wasn’t backstage at the Junos, which took place last night in Ottawa and were hosted by William Shatner.

Instead, this year I find myself in Banff, Alberta covering the Live! with Kelly show tapings, which was a happy coincidence after I decided that I wouldn’t be making the sojourn to Canada’s capital.  So instead of being caught up in the hustle and bustle of a busy awards show, last night, I was nestled in my comfy hotel room bed, eating a fruit cup and watching the Junos in my pajamas. Definitely not a look for any red carpet.

Because I was in the hotel, I didn’t have time-shifting capabilities, which means that I had to wait until 9:00pm to watch the show, which at that point, was no longer live. Many of the results had already been spoiled for me on Twitter, which I think is the strongest reason why CTV should look at airing the show live coast to coast.

Because of the later airtime and the ridiculously comfy bed, I actually only made it through the first hour of the show, before promptly falling into sleepy blogger land. I was sorta bummed to fall asleep, because I’m normally a huge fan of the show and the attention it brings to Canadian music.

Fred Chartrand / The Canadian Press

From what I did see, William Shatner has an amazing amount of energy, that helped carry a show that sorta felt unorganized.  There were too many moments of people just standing on the stage, looking around, seemingly unaware that they were still on TV. Were there prompter problems?  Not enough practice?  Those are things we’ll never know and I’m not even sure a casual Juno award watcher would even notice, but for me, the show lacked the tightness that it usually has.

Judging from I read on Twitter, Feist City and Colour, Blue Rodeo and Hey Rosetta! were the night’s top performers. Unfortunately, I missed all of those performances, I did catch the opening act of Nickelback, which was  plagued with some audio troubles (insert your own joke here) and the mix-tape performance which wasted Dragonette by making them share the stage with mediocre performers like Alyssa Reid, Mia Martina and Anjulie.  If there was ever an argument about if technology has let bad singers become better than they are, this performance was it. I have to assume that these ladies can sing, otherwise they wouldn’t have a record deal, but there was no evidence of that last night.  Not that their tween fans would’ve ever noticed.

Patrick Doyle / Reuters

Even though the Junos are scheduled a year in advance, Michael Buble, Justin Bieber and The Sheepdogs all were unable to “clear their schedules”, which would make for a boring telecast when the artists that win the three biggest awards of the night are no shows. I’m cautiously optimistic that the talent would have been there if they really could have….right?

So did you watch the Junos?  What did you think?

Here is the complete list of winners from the entire weekend.

JUNO FAN CHOICE: Justin Bieber

SINGLE OF THE YEAR: The Sheepdogs, “I Don’t Know.”

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Michael Bublé, Christmas.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Feist

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Dan Mangan

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR: Dallas Green for “We Found Each Other” and “Weightless,” from Little Hell.

DANCE RECORDING OF THE YEAR: Martin Solveig and Dragonette, “Hello.”

INTERNATIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Adele, 21.

NEW GROUP OF THE YEAR: The Sheepdogs.

GROUP OF THE YEAR: Arkells

COUNTRY ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Terri Clark, Roots and Wings.

ADULT ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Feist, Metals.

ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Dan Mangan, Oh Fortune.

POP ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Hedley, Storms.

ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR: The Sheepdogs, Learn & Burn.

VOCAL JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Sonia Johnson, Le carré de nos amours.

CONTEMPORARY JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Phil Dwyer Orchestra featuring Mark Fewer, Changing Seasons.

TRADITIONAL JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR: David Braid, Verge.

INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Stretch Orchetstra, Stretch Orchestra.

FRANCOPHONE ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Malajube, La caverne.

CHILDREN’S ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Charlie Hope, Songs Stories and Friends: Let’s Go Play!

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR, SOLO OR CHAMBER ENSEMBLE: Marc André Hamelin, Liszt Piano Sonata.

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR, LARGE ENSEMBLE OR SOLOIST(S) WITH LARGE ENSEMBLE ACCOMPANIMENT: Alexandre Da Costa/Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Daugherty: Fire and Blood.

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: VOCAL OR CHORAL PERFORMANCE: Jan Archibald/Orchestre Symphonique Bienne/Thomas Rosner, Haydn Arias.

CLASSICAL COMPOSITION OF THE YEAR: Derek Charke, “Sepia Fragments,” Sea to Sea.

RAP RECORDING OF THE YEAR: Drake, Take Care.

R&B/SOUL RECORDING OF THE YEAR: Melanie Fiona, Gone and Never Coming Back.

REGGAE RECORDING OF THE YEAR: Exco Levi, Bleaching Shop.

ABORIGINAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Murray Porter, Songs Lived & Life Played.

ROOTS AND TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR, SOLO: Bruce Cockburn, Small Source of Comfort.

ROOTS AND TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR, GROUP: The Wailin’ Jennys, Bright Morning Stars.

BLUES ALBUM OF THE YEAR: MonkeyJunk, To Behold.

CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN/GOSPEL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Downhere, On the Altar of Love.

WORLD MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Kiran Ahluwalia, Aam Zameen: common ground.

JACK RICHARDSON PRODUCER OF THE YEAR: Brian Howes for Hedley, “Heavens Gonna Wait” (from Storms) and Nickelback, “Trying Not to Love You” (from Here and Now).

RECORDING ENGINEER OF THE YEAR: George Seara for Michael Kaeshammer, “A Little Bit of Love” (from Kaeshammer) and Laila Biali, “Let Go” (from Tracing Light).

VIDEO OF THE YEAR: The Sadies, “Rumbleseat,” directed by Mike Roberts.

MUSIC DVD OF THE YEAR: Feist:Look What the Light Did Now.

ELECTRONIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Tim Hecker, Ravedeath, 1972.

METAL/HARD MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR: KEN mode, Venerable.

WALT GREALIS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Gary Slaight

ALLAN WATERS HUMANITARIAN AWARD: Simple Plan

This weekend, musicians from every corner of this country will be descending upon Ottawa to celebrate (and hopefully win a few) Juno awards.

This will actually be the first time that I won’t be at the Junos in five years, and I’m truthfully really sad about it.  But there’s always next year, right?

Since the Junos seem to be so far away from Calgary, I asked my brother John-Ryan, who lives in Fredericton to write a blog post for me.  He is a music fiend and I gave him opportunity to introduce me and you guys to some Juno nominees  that maybe we’ve never head of before.  So if you’re looking for some new music this weekend, here’s the blog post for you!

Take it away, JR!

I begin my research where anyone with such an assignment should, the list of nominee’s. Starting at the top and working my way down I realized that everyone knows these people and other than City and Color, I personally do not and in some cases could not listen to them. I continue down the page and I pleasantly see the Sheepdogs nominated but they were on the cover of the Rolling Stone so who wouldn’t know them? A couple of categories later I see Feist. I really like her new album, not as much as the last two, mind you, but everyone in Canada knows Feist, right? Well those faithful readers of Mike’s blog certainly would, so we move on. The next category is an interesting one, New Artist of the Year. This should lead to someone and I am pleasantly surprised to see Dan Mangan’s name among the nominees. Without doing any research into to the selection criteria of the Juno’s, I wonder how he could be included in this group of people. He has put out four albums to date so how can he be considered a new artist?

This leads me back to my earlier concern, who does not know Dan Mangan? In my head anyone that likes ‘good’ music should already but just in case you’ve been in a coma or lost at sea, my first I’d like to introduce you too is indeed, Dan Mangan. I personally own all four and think they are great. His new album is quite different that his previous releases. The difference is the introduction of a bit heavier and more electric album which is typical of folk singer song writers these days. Most people enjoy the progression in these artists; I however like the type of mellow acoustic based music that got me to like the artist in the first place. I’ve seen Dan Mangan recently in concert and he certainly does put on a great show and I suggest that next time he is on your town or city, please go check him out, you will not regret it.

I love everything about this video. Enjoy

The very next Juno category on the list was ‘New Group of the Year’ and to my delight and somewhat surprise I see Hey Rosetta is there. Much like Dan Mangan, how are these guys considered a new Group? They have put out 3 amazing albums to date. Their latest album Seeds was nominated for the prestigious Polaris prize but up against Arcade Fire they unfortunately didn’t stand a chance. I remember the time, date and location that I first saw them live. By the time they were done playing their very first song I had gone to the merchandise table and bought both their first album and LP. They are one of my favorite bands anywhere and I am quite stoked to see them play live again this Saturday night. I was wondering if too many people would know them to include them in this list but two thoughts came to mind which made the decision for me 1) when I saw them play in Toronto last year they played Lee’s palace. Not the biggest venue in Toronto so maybe there are people further west that really haven’t heard of them and most important for the sake of this blog post 2) I think everyone should know them.

Hey Rosetta is a group from Saint John’s Newfoundland. They incorporate a small string section in their band that plays folk rock. It leads to an amazing live show and sound. Please promise me you’ll check them out next time they are anywhere near you. Everyone that I have taken to see them perform live for the first time has fallen madly in love with them.

I was getting a bit worried after this category. Trying to find my next artist/band to introduce you too I had to go way way down the list but I was pleasantly surprised and happy to find an artist that I have know for quite some time. Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Craig Cardiff ( Roots & Traditional Album Of The Year: Solo).  Craig Cardiff was one of the first independent artists I was ever introduced too. It therefore can be easily argued that it is his amazing song writing and albums have helped develop my passion for indie Canadian artist. Of anyone that I will present to you today I think Craig was the one I was most surprised to see nominated. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not because I do not think he is deserving of the accolades but due to the fact he really flies under the radar. Other than the friends that I personally have introduced his music too, I have never met anyone that has come up to me and said, ‘I’ve got this great new artist, do you know Craig Cardiff?’

To be honest I cannot wait till that happens and who knows maybe a win at the Juno’s will help propel his career to the great and very lucrative solo folk singer circuit, haha sorry that doesn’t exist. Craig Cardiff was also the first artist I’ve ever heard of that did what he called ‘Living Room’ shows. Basically in exchange for a little bit of money and a place to stay he’d put on a show at your house. Amazing thing is he still does this. Imagine a Juno award nominee, and possibly winner, playing in your family room.

I’ve always wanted to have him do a show and the next time he is on the east coast I am going to make it happen. I cannot even imagine how many couches this guy must has slept on over the last 12 years trying to follow his dream but if there is any artist a big break or more recognition in Canada, I have not met them.

Sit back and enjoy:

(Now download the entire album)

I am going to put it right out there, I love the east coast. I have lived in cities like Toronto, Calgary and Ottawa but in my well traveled experience nothing beats the east coast. I love the food, the beer and all of the great music coming from here. I have already introduced you to Hey Rosetta and now it is time for another Newfoundland Group, The Once (Roots and Traditional Album of the Year: Group). One thing I’ve noticed in the last 10-12 years is the sharp decline in bands around the Maritimes that put out traditional east coast tunes. I grew up with the Rankin Family playing in the house and when I was in University Great Big Sea came along and I was one of their biggest fans. Since then there is not one new band that I could think of that is carrying on the traditional music that is until now. The Once are an amazing little group. The first time I heard them play I was hooked. They are currently out on the west coast touring so if you get a chance to see them I promise you will walk away from that show with a smile on your face and their album in hand. I could go on and on about how good they really are but I will let you find out on your own.

What a voice:

For my final artist, I am going to mix it up a bit. Who’s up for a little blues? Me and Mike’s hometown is Fredericton, New Brunswick. Fredericton happens to have one of the best music festivals in Canada, The Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival. I have been introduced to many great blues legends and up and comers at this amazing festival over the years and these guys are one of my favorites. These guys are coming off multiple wins at the Maple Blues Awards and I hope they soon come home with a Juno, please open let me introduce you too, Monkey Junk(Blues Album of the Year).

That’s it for me folks. Thank you for reading and thank you for lending me your ears. I hope that I was able to introduce you to some new artists and maybe even add some newly discovered music to your musical library. Thanks also to Mike for the invitation to write on your super popular blog, I hope you too enjoy these as much as I enjoyed writing about them.

Thanks John-Ryan!  Follow him on Twitter!

The 2012 Juno nominees were announced this morning and I’ll be taking a look at them a little closer in a different post.  But for now, I wanted to share with you one of my favourite categories: Video of The Year.

I love the diversity of both the artists in this category and the videos themselves.

Check them out below.

Dan Mangan – Rows of Houses

Hollderado- Good Day At The Races

Mother Mother- The Stand

The Rural Alberta Advantage- Stamp

The Sadies- Rumbleseat

The Junos air on CTV on April 1st.

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!