By Kerry Doole
Awards news
The 2022 American Music Awards nominations were announced on Monday, and Bad Bunny topped the list with eight nods. Beyoncé, Drake and Taylor Swift followed with six nominations apiece, with all of them up for the artist of the year award. The Weeknd earned five noms this year. See the full list here
– Music NL Celebration Week takes place in Corner Brook, Oct. 26-29. Performers announced for the Awards Gala include Deantha Edmunds, Jing Xia, Rosemary Lawton, Swimming, Silver Wolf Band, Kellie Loder, Nick Earle & The Reckless Hearts, Rachel Cousins, Ife Alaba, Jason Benoit, Youngtree & The Blooms, and Quote The Raven. Info here.
– Also for Music NL Celebration Week, young musicians aged 19 and under are invited to perform during this week at the NewFound Talent Contest. The competition offers professional industry development and prizes valued at over $6K to assist young artists. Apply here.
Festival news
– Free applications to play NXNE 2023 in Toronto (June 13-17) are open now here. Every accepted band receives a small performance fee. Close to 2,000 applications were received last year, with over 300 artists performing. NXNE head Michael Hollett also pledges that fest passes will be kept cheap.
– The 2023 Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose runs Aug. 3-6, and the fest has already named its headliners. US country superstars Morgan Wallen and Dierks Bentley will perform, as will Canadian star Dallas Smith, the most-played Canadian country radio artist of all time. This marks the return of Big Valley Jamboree after a 3-year hiatus. Source: Global News
Industry news
– The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) & MusicOntario will be holding their Annual General Meeting on Thu, 27 Oct, at 3 pm ET online. The AGM will feature the election of a new Board of Directors, guest speakers Fay Milton and Lewis Jamieson (Co-founders of Music Declares Emergency), and performances from Basset and Teon Gibbs. The full list of Board of Directors nominees for the 2022-25 term can be found here.
– The MVP Project, a joint RBCxMusic & Prism Prize initiative, provides Music Video Production Grants valued between $5K and $15K. Apply here by Nov. 3.
– CIMA is offering the opportunity for artists/bands to be featured during its Professional Development Sessions. These include panels, information sessions, lunch & learns etc in front of both a national and international audience. Apply now here.
– POP Montréal has announced the latest installation of the Wainwright Holiday concert Étoiles et Toi on Dec. 3, at the Église St Jean Baptiste in Montreal. It features the Rufus & Martha Wainwright Ensemble + Famille, and all profits from the concert will support the The Kate McGarrigle Foundation, a foundation that provides funding for sarcoma research as well as music therapy resources to cancer patients with a passion for music. Tix here.
– Music PEI is looking for an experienced music industry professional to mentor artists from historically underrepresented communities in Music PEI’s Diverse Voices program and in a newly created Black Artist Mentorship Program for mentoring artists from the Island’s Black community. Send proposals or questions to music@musicpei.com, with the subject line “DV and BAM RFP attn: Rob Oakie” by Oct. 31.
– Canzona Chamber Players is presenting The Tenth Annual Memorial Concert for Elizabeth Krehm on Nov 3 (7.30 pm) at Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge St, Toronto. .Admission by donation at the door or online. Krehm passed away in 2012 in the ICU at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, and these annual concert fundraisers for the hospital's Intensive Care Unit have raised over $200K. The program includes Mendelssohn's 'Italian' Symphony and Come Closer: Songs on Texts by Elizabeth Krehm. For more information, call 647-248-4048
– Drake's well-known love of gambling was to the fore last weekend, but with unhappy results for Drizzy. He lost 537K (English pounds) on football, betting on wins by Barcelona and Arsenal, and coming up short when the former team lost. Read more here
– A guitar played by Canadian jazz great Ed Bickert was recently sold to an anonymous buyer for US$32.5K. Read more here.
Artists news
– Shania Twain has been cast as Mrs. Potts in ABC’s upcoming Beauty and the Beast special, one that celebrates the 30th anniversary of Beauty and the Beast’s Best Picture nomination at the 64th Academy Awards in 1992. Taking to Instagram on Monday, Shania posted: “I am unbelievably honoured… and excited… and all of the emotions(!!) to announce that I will be joining the cast of #BeautyAndTheBeast30th to play the part of my favourite character. The special, set to screen on Dec. 15, also features H.E.R., Josh Groban, Rita Moreno, and Martin Short. The original voice of Mrs. Potts, Angela Lansbury, died on Oct. 11. Source: Noise11
– I saw a superb solo show by Ron Sexsmith on Oct. 15 at Bridgeworks in Hamilton. He charmed the attentive crowd with a well-curated selection of songs from his extensive catalogue, from Lebanon Tennessee off his major label debut through to brand new single What I Had In Mind (there's a new album coming in Feb.). He came armed only with his guitar and wry self-deprecating wit. A sample: "Here's a song of mine Michael Buble covered. He's playing tonight in Hamilton too - I think it might be a slightly larger venue.' Dedicating a song to his late friend Dallas Good brought a lump to this throat. Opener Jennifer Castle also delivered a sweet set.
– Live Nation has confirmed that Beck will no longer be opening for the North American leg of Arcade Fire’s “We” tour, which begins at the end of this month. A company spokesperson did not provide a reason for Beck’s cancellation, but there is speculation it relates to allegations of sexual misconduct made against AF lead singer Win Butler. Back in Aug., Feist withdrew from the group's European tour for this reason. Source: CP
– Canadian indie rock outfit Alvvays is basking in praise for its new album Blue Rev. It earns a second top 40 album in the UK, new at No. 27, a career-best, according to Billboard.
– Nova Scotian R&B singer/songwriter Reeny Smith has long been recognised regionally, as shown by two ECMA awards, four Music Nova Scotia Awards, and two Best of Halifax awards from The Coast. She is currently on tour with East Coast Hip-Hop star Classified and has been making moves as a songwriter. Smith has written three musically diverse songs for Taiwanese rapper and singer J. Sheon and tracks for several Japanese artists and had her music included in the popular TV sitcom Workin’ Moms as well as the 2020 film Love By Accident. Here's her new single, Amber Lights.
– Moncton-born singer Travis Cormier is making a splash in Las Vegas via a leading role in a Meat Loaf-based musical that premiered in Las Vegas on Oct. 7. In Bat Out of Hell: The Musical, Cormier plays Strat, the young leader of a rebellious gang. Cormier was doing a tour with his band in Montreal when the opportunity knocked. "They asked me to just belt out a bunch of Meat Loaf songs on a Zoom call in my living room at home in Montreal, so I did that," he tells CBC News. "A couple of days later, I'm moving to Vegas and doing this really awesome, big musical," said Cormier.
–The American Songbook-inspired piano and vocals duo Dizzy and Fay launches its second album, Hooked, with a hometown performance at Reid's Distillery (32 Logan Ave) tomorrow evening (Oct. 21). Tix here.
– Tonight (Oct. 20), at Toronto's Aga Khan Museum, the Jazz Performance and Education Centre presents The Jazz Standards, featuring two elite ensembles, the Bernie Senensky Quintet (with sax legend Pat Labarbera) and The Joe Sealy Trio (with guest vocalists Liberty Silver and Caity Gyorgy. Highly recommended. Tix here.
Lunch At Allen's is a project featuring the combined talent of four acclaimed veteran Canadian singer/songwriters, Murray McLauchlan, Ian Thomas, Cindy Church, and Marc Jordan. Always entertaining in performance, LAA has eight Ontario concerts coming up, with the tour starting in Oakville on Oct. 25 and closing out in Sudbury, on Nov. 6. Info and tix here.
