Avril Lavigne’s Black Star Tour Coming to Canada

Tomorrow sees the beginning of the month of Rocktober when a black star will be shooting across Canadian skies. 

Few events are as electrifying as a good concert. There is something more satisfying in seeing the artists perform live than in popping their CD in the stereo and listening to the studio recording imitated by the speakers. A concert is real music coming at you from right in front of your face. The big arena sound sends vibrations through the bones and gets one’s heart pumping. Furthermore, to share the event with thousands of people all cheering and supporting the object of their hearts brings quite a thrill. Unlike a sporting event, where there is a chance one’s team will lose, there is no competition involved in a concert. It’s pure entertainment from start to finish.

Avril Lavigne’s Black Star Tour is coming to Canada tomorrow. The Pop Punk Princess has been rocking audiences in Asia, South America, and Europe all year. In March, the Napanee, Ontario native released her fourth and finest album to date, Goodbye Lullaby, a banquet of finely-crafted and inspired pop tunes. The fourth single from the album, “Wish You Were Here” is being released. Avril Lavigne is considered one of the best live singers in the world, delivering pitch-perfect performances, nailing note after note. She is backed by a band of highly skilled musicians. The Canadian leg of the Black Star Tour will begin in Victoria tomorrow, swing over to Vancouver on Monday, sweep across Canada to Halifax, before finishing off in Montreal’s Bell Centre.

Interesting Tidbits

• Her former guitarist and songwriting collaborator Evan Taubenfeld as well as Quebec band The New Cities will be joining in the shows.
• Interestingly, she is concentrating more on BC during this tour, playing in five cities, more than any other province.
• She will be in Edmonton on Thanksgiving Day.

Here is the list of dates. Double check them with the listing on her website HERE.

AVRIL LAVIGNE’s Black Star Tour in CANADA

1 Oct 2011: Save On Foods MC, Victoria
3 Oct 2011: Rogers Arena, Vancouver
5 Oct 2011: CN Centre, Prince George
6 Oct 2011: Interior Savings Centre, Kamloops
8 Oct 2011: Prospera Place, Kelowna
10 Oct 2011: Rexall Place, Edmonton
11 Oct 2011: Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary
13 Oct 2011: Brandt Centre, Regina
14 Oct 2011: MTS Centre, Winnipeg
16 Oct 2011: Sudbury Arena, Sudbury
17 Oct 2011: Scotiabank Place, Ottawa
19 Oct 2011: Coliseum, Moncton
20 Oct 2011: Metro Centre, Halifax
22 Oct 2011: John Labatt Centre, London
24 Oct 2011: Air Canada Centre, Toronto
25 Oct 2011: Centre Bell, Montréal

 

Metal Awards are Here and Now

Nickelback fans who’ve been waiting since 2008 for a new studio album from the Albertan rockers do not have to wait much longer. The band has announced the release of its 7th studio album, Here and Now, on November 21st 2011. Two singles have just been made available for download: “When We Stand Together” and “Bottoms Up”. They will be shooting a video for the former song on Monday for those of you who can’t get enough of the tuft of fur on Chadley Kroegster’s chin. You can sample the songs on their Facebook page HERE.

With the increased number of Canadian artists cranking out hard rock releases these days, the Junos have announced that they will be adding a new category next year. Metal/hard music album of the year will be awarded during the gala in Ottawa. There was such a category in the early 90s, but due to the lack of output in the genre, it was removed after a couple of years.

 

Nelly Furtado Donates a Cool Million to Free the Children

Victoria pop superstar Nelly Furtado left her heart in Kenya, performing an act that echoed the beauty of the Butchart Gardens. Previously we wrote about her trip to Africa which was showcased in a documentary aired by CTV called “Road to Kisaruni”.

During a Free The Children’s We Day concert at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, Furtado announced to the crowd of 18,000 strong that she was donating one million dollars to help fund two new Free The Children initiatives supporting girls in Kenya’s Maasai Mara region.

“My charitable mission is to empower girls around the world to realize their full potential,” she said.

Rock stars have made tremendous gains in helping with the development of Africa over the years. Now, if only the much wealthier corporate CEOs would follow suit!

 

2011-09-20 New Releases

We will try to keep up with the new releases for you all but can’t promise that we’ll mention every one of them.

Four new Canadian albums were released recently.

1. Victoria, BC’s Acres of Lions released Collections. You can listen to samples of their songs HERE.

2. Edmonton punk band Ten Second Epic has just released their third album called Better Off. The lead single is “Young Classics“. Ten Second Epic will be touring the country with Acres of Lions in November.

3. Vancouver grunge band State of Shock has released their third album as well, called Rock n’ Roll Romance. The lead single is “Have a Nice Day“.

4. Durmmondville, QC folk rockers Kain have just released Le Vrai Monde which is currently #7 on the Canadian albums chart. You can listen to song samples HERE.

Artists with forthcoming album releases include electronic pop singer-songwriter Lights (Siberia), Montreal band The New Cities (Kill the Lights), Russian-Canadian jazz vocalist Sophie Milman (In the Moonlight), heavy metal soloist Sebastian Bach (Kicking & Screaming), Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy (Skyscraper Soul), singer-songwriter Sarah Slean (Land & Sea), Feist (Metals), electronic punkers Skinny Puppy (hanDover), Maritimer David Myles (Into the Sun), Hamilton rock band The Arkells (Michigan Left), tenor Marc Hervieux (A Napoli), and Michael Buble (Christmas). All these albums will be released before the end of October.

 

2011 Walk of Fame Concerts

Seven Canadians are receiving a star on the Walk of Fame in Toronto this year. They are singer-songwriter Burton Cummings, tennis player Daniel Nestor, author Mordecai Richler, astronaut Roberta Bondar, comedian Russell Peters, actor Ryan Reynolds, and actor Sandra Oh.

To celebrate, the Walk of Fame will be holding a performance festival from September 29 to October 2. Performers include Bedouin Soundclash, Burton Cummings, Trooper, Serena Ryder, The Parachute Club, Ashley MacIsaac, Chantal Kreviazuk & Raine Maida, Jully Black and John Kay & Steppenwolf.

Musical prodigy Chantal will be performing her songs with the symphony orchestra and husband Raine will be opening for her. It appears that she will be holding concerts in several cities in Ontario afterwards, including Hamilton and Thunder Bay. We will keep you updated when the dates and venues are official.

More info can be found at the official Walk of Fame website: HERE. Howie Mandel will be hosting the main ceremony for the inductees.

The following points help in understanding why and why not certain Canadians have been inducted into the Walk of Fame.

• Nominees must have been born in Canada or have spent their formative or creative years in Canada.
• Nominees must have a minimum of 10 years experience in their field and have an established body of work.
• Nominees must have had national or international impact on Canada’s Heritage.

 

Evan Taubenfeld to Open for Avril in Canada

Many people have been wondering who will be the lucky artist(s) asked to open for Avril Lavigne during her Black Star tour in Canada. There have been some rumours. It has just been announced that Evan Taubenfeld will be handling the task. He’s an American musician who has worked with the Pop Punk Princess in the past, co-writing with her and being part of her backing band. He released his debut album last year called Welcome to the Blacklist Club. Please give Evan a warm Canadian welcome, especially Edmonton fans, as they will be playing Edmonton on Thanksgiving Day, and one of Evan’s songs is called “Pumpkin Pie”. His Facebook page is HERE.

 

Coffee, Tea, or my Domain Name?

Wouldn’t it be amusing if a rock band made more money from selling an internet domain name than it did from selling records! Such may become the case for The Tea Party. Huh? Let me explain…

Apparently there is a new political party in the United States (I’ve never heard of them) that chose the same name as the rock band. Who knows, maybe they were fans. In any case, they are very interested in buying the domain teaparty.com from Jeff Martin and company. The Tea Party is now defunct and their website is rarely updated, but they are sitting back to see how much money the grovelling American politicians are willing to give them for it. It is expected to be sold for millions.

Because of the number of Americans visiting the site and ranting about the lack of pedantic political babble appearing there, the band has had to title their webpage “No politics…Just Rock and Roll”. Let this be a lesson to future politicians: if you steal the name of a rock band, you’re eventually going to have to pay for it—big time.

 

Nelly Furtado in Africa

Nelly Furtado has recently taken a trip to Kenya and will be appearing in the documentary, “Road to Kisaruni”, airing on CTV tonight. She says she had been invited to Africa several times in the past but felt now was the right time to go. She visited in collaboration with Free the Children and Artbound, a Toronto-based organization that builds arts programs in schools around the world.

“I met so many people in Kenya,” Furtado said, “who haven’t forgotten about community, haven’t forgotten about spirituality, haven’t forgotten about helping out each other. We need to feel that and be exposed to that here in North America, so hopefully the documentary does that a little bit. Leaving Africa, I really felt hopeful about humanity, about the future.”

Nelly Furtado fans can look forward to her releasing a new studio album next year.

 

“Wish You Were Here” MV

We are pleased to announce the worldwide premiere of the music video for “Wish You Were Here”, the fourth single (to be released on September 26th) off Avril Lavigne’s magnificent fourth studio album Goodbye Lullaby.

Avril describes the video as “…simple but emotional. Raw and real. Stripped down.” The video shows her in a barren, decrepit room wearing a black dress. She pulls petals from a flower before setting fire to it and then sobs. She drowns her sorrows in a bathtub, pulls herself out and gazes out of a window into the light.

Fan response to the video was overwhelming as today, for several hours, ”THANK YOU AVRIL LAVIGNE” became a Top 10 Twitter Trend (tongue-twister) worldwide. Here are some selected tweets:

Ashley Carpenter of Port Coquitlam, BC:

THANK YOU AVRIL LAVIGNE for being such a great role model, and my idol since 3rd grade. Love youuuu

Suci Rizqiana of Indonesia:

THANK YOU AVRIL LAVIGNE for wish you were here music video, it’s made me smile n cry in same time.

Liliana Cruz of Mexico:

THANK YOU AVRIIL LAVIGNE for being the best songwriter and the best Singer!

CJ of Florida, USA

THANK YOU AVRIL LAVIGNE for loving your fans with all your heart. We love you too, so much, with every ounce of our love!

Paraguaiasdo Luon of Paraguay

THANK YOU AVRIL LAVIGNE for always being so sincere and real with yourself and with your fans! We really appreciate that!

Little Black Star of the Philippines

THANK YOU AVRIL LAVIGNE for giving me the reason to love my life.

Lauren Cahn Schoenfeld of New York, USA

THANK YOU AVRIL LAVIGNE for being born in Canada and not in NY, where you would have been known as April Levine … not very tough sounding.

Avril Lavigne Fans in the United Kingdom

Avril Lavigne is a huge inspiration to millions around the world, she’s our star. THANK YOU AVRIL LAVIGNE for being you, just you.

 

Burton Cummings to Receive Star on Walk of Fame

Along with six other Canadians, Burton Cummings will be receiving a star on the Walk of Fame in Toronto this year. The Winnipeg singer-songwriter led The Guess Who to international superstardom in the late 60s before launching his own successful solo career a decade later.

To celebrate the seven inductees, the Walk of Fame will be hosting a performance festival from September 29 to October 2. Musical performers will include Bedouin Soundclash, Burton Cummings, Trooper, Serena Ryder, The Parachute Club, Ashley MacIsaac, Chantal Kreviazuk & Raine Maida, Jully Black and John Kay & Steppenwolf.

More info can be found at the official website: HERE.

The following points help in understanding why and why not certain Canadians have been inducted into the Walk of Fame:

• Nominees must have been born in Canada or have spent their formative or creative years in Canada.
• Nominees must have a minimum of 10 years experience in their field and have an established body of work.
• Nominees must have had national or international impact on Canada’s Heritage.