Do you like music? Do you like good times?
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Here's another YouTube video from some Prince George music guys. It made me laugh.
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While on the subject of supporting local musicians, here's some new additions to my Bandcamp collection:
Smeele is tough to pin down- he's somewhere between EDM, hip-hop, and ambience, although better than that description implies. Name your price.
Doug is Quesnel-based, and a well-known face at northern festivals both on-stage and as a volunteer helping everything come together. Musically he plays with looping vocals that create ambient spaces I enjoy visiting- he used to do it all improvised, but is now moving more into composing/songwriting. Name your price.
If you were a member of the "scene" or whatever it was in Prince George circa 2007, you probably owned a copy of "Anticipation is our Destination" by the Arbitrarys(that's a MySpace link, so you know it is authentic 2007). Anyways, Josh Sandu was in that band and now he is Newfoundland and has apparently formed a new band and they have banjos and sound nice. Name your price.
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In case you forgot, you can vote for Doug, Isaac and Black Spruce Bog and a host of other deserving independent musicians in CBC Music's Searchlight Contest.
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OK, I know I'm very late to the party on this but I finally watched Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake perform their History of Rap bits. My key takeaway is there are lots of classic hip-hop songs that I haven't listened to in a long time, so I made this Rdio playlist including everything from all five parts. Jump on it.
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Cats Rule Everything Around Me. via the other ex-half of the Arbitrarys
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Let's talk some more about CBC and music. There is a campaign underway to get the program Q to come to Prince George. It has attracted over 1,000 likes, a cool banner, and the attention of Mr. Ghomeshi himself. But my favourite part so far is yet another talented Prince George musician's song "What's your problem Q?" William Kuklis puts together a haunting song full of lyrical Easter eggs for both CBC fans and Prince George residents (example: "We've got a bad rap/Maclean's says that we're sketchy/We've got Mr. PG/Now we want Jian Ghomeshi/Don't want to be outshone by Stuart McLean/So come to Prince George for Canada's Winter Games." Give it a listen.
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Coming up:
- I'm interviewing Chris Hadfield on Friday. Yes, that Chris Hadfield. Yes, this is my job. I know.
- Also Friday: The Two Rivers Art Gallery and the HealthArts program hosts a public forum exploring the links between the arts and health care among indigenous populations. I had the opportunity to speak to some of the people taking part in this, including Dr. Terri Aldred of the Tl'Azt'En Nation who talked about how she uses art with her patients and for herself in order to help avoid burnout that is all too common in the healthcare profession. Starts at 7:30 pm.
- Friday April 18 and Saturday April 19 are going to be great music night. On the 18th, Black Spruce Bog perform with Goodnightmare and Sober Becky at the Westwood Pub, and on the 19th Derek Joyce and Rosewood's Diary are preparing for a joint album release at the ArtSpace. I tell you about this now because I fully anticipate these to be sold out in advance.
I think I'm going to leave it there for now. Next time: a narwhal.
