PREVIOUSLY ON . . .

Monday, February 14, 2011

Broken Social Scene @ LMC

BSS @ LMH  Photo by: Brittknee Withikaye

Intern Reporting...
 
On a frosty Sunday evening in London, Ontario, the legendary Toronto-based indie band Broken Social Scene played the London Music Hall, gracing their fans with an epic set that gave the crowd just what they needed. The following is a tale not about how awesome B.S.S. is, because you know this, but rather how I ran three kilometers in the wrong direction, just barely making it to the venue to catch the last hour of heart-throbbing musical magic. 

  Let me explain. The night began with cab ride from my apartment near University campus all the way downtown to the Call The Office, where I foolishly ASSUMED the concert would be held. Don’t ask me why I assumed it was there, because I can’t answer that...a mental lapse. I ask the bouncer to check my name off the guest-list, he responds with a puzzled look on his face, “What’s Broken Social Scene? And what guest list …?” I instantly realize I ‘m at the wrong bar and the band I’m trying to see is about to hit the stage, elsewhere. “F*#K!!” I turn back to see if my cab driver was still there, but he was gone into the snow covered distance. 

  It’s 10:30 PM, I’m outside Call The Office, “Where’s this band playing?” I asked myself. Anyone I could have contacted about the show, was probably already inside the venue, unable to answer a phone call or text message. I pull out my cell-phone from my pocket and Google Search ‘Broken Social Scene, Jan 16 2011, the results point me in what I think to be the right direction, The London Music Hall. I enter the address into my Google Maps application on my phone and start running in the direction it points me in. 

 

  It’s 10:50 PM, I’ve been jogging for nearly 20 minutes and I think I’ve finally made it the venue. I take a minute to catch my breath and look back to my phone to see where the Music Hall should be because I couldn’t see it in front of me, just a bunch of deserted factory buildings. At this time, I make the shockingly frustrating discovery that there are TWO London Music Halls (Okay! One Music Club) in London, Ontario and I had just run for 20 minutes to the wrong one, nearly 5 kilometers in the wrong direction! After a couple of hot curses muttered under frosty breath, I finally call a cab to get me where I needed to go.

  After a relatively quick, yet equally embarrassing cab ride I find myself at the right London Music Hall, which is ironically much closer to my house than even Call The Office.

  It’s 11:30 pm, I hop out of the cab and hurry inside. I ask a bouncer if I’m at the right place and he says, “Yes, but the show’s just about over.” He tells me I can go in to catch the last few minutes.

  I finally made it! The warmth of the music instantly relaxed me and helped me forget the troubles I had been through just to make it. Even though I walked in more than halfway through the show, I still felt so happy to have made it in the end. Broken Social Scene continued to play past mid-night, encore after encore after encore, working to please every last fan, myself included. I left with a smile on my face and a sense of content, made all the more powerful because of my journey earlier that night. 

J FRANK, INTERN | BDM

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

DEADMAU5 AND US

Deadmau5 | Photo By: Brittknee Withikaye
The digital deejay is KING.

London, ON no longer a party virgin! 
A party so sophisticated, that even mother nature couldn't F with her.  







Hosted by Premier Productions and The London Music Hall, Saturday October 02's 'Tent Party, rocked London, Ontario in historical fashion.  


 
BDM BLOG | DEADMAU5 from BDM on Vimeo.


Was this the biggest outdoor event in our Ltown's ever? I dunno, but it was good, real good.  Yeah, there were people there that I never imagined dancing or kibitzing with, people who gave my camera the middle finger, but in good fun! Behind purple, "UWO" chants, W thumbs, and custom Deadmua5 masks, it was all about the music and the feeling of sharing something with a ton of peeps. It was like raving with your cousin David (the Hugo model) in Montreal inside Expo Stadium.  Plus, wouldn't you go back to university or college if you could for just one homecoming weekend?

An estimated 4,000 music fans and lost frosh attended Saturday's 'Tent Party'.  Without a doubt, this night proved that house music and dub step are in high demand in Canada and around the world.  "It's blowing up," Mark Russell of Premier Productions enthusiastically tells our team.  
Imagine a collage of rich and bass-Y beats that come at the brain like visual cues in a game of DDR: today's digital deejay manipulates and crosses audio layers at will.  One rule up and coming house deejays points out 'Tent Party' opener Bryan Wong, "pay your dues and master the art of the mix".    

Our team will dedicate an entire 24 minute show to this event this winter on London Calling IV.  In music terms, we see the 'Tent Party' as an example of the popularity and creativity associated with house.  Is this the ideal live experience?  You'd have to be there to know.  If you weren't, we'll do our best to show you what exactly went on in that tent.

LOLAfest | The Article

LOLAfest, Victoria Park | Photo By: Brittknee Withikaye
Let’s face it,  London Loves LOLA.
Maybe its’ the feeling you got when you finally pieced together the verses of  The Kink’s 1970 song by the same name, combined with a 2000 and something LULU Lemon advertising campaign.  Maybe its the two-syllable thing.

If you had the pleasure of re-discovering London, Ontario’s Victoria Park September 18th-22nd, LOLA moved you in ways a butt-clinching rock song and tight leggings never could.

London Ontario Live Arts opened with Wild Domestic who crushed the first of four afternoon sets. The local band altered songs and speed changes to keep regular fans guessing and newcomers assuming, “If this is the first band of the event, we’re in for a good time”.  I’m thinking about one of those RV’s for next September. Was the RV open to all media?  Wild Domestic added some serious synth to their guitar humm’in - look out for the band when they appear on London Calling Season IV. 

Flashback to the night before: for a scheduled 5:45PM interview with Zeus. Zeus (aka Jason Collett's touring band courtesy of Arts & Crafts) are into ninjas, Phil Collin’s covers, sleek moustaches, and are highly competitive red ass players. BDM plans to post the entire interview, raw, unedited, and in yo face real soon.  In the meantime, click here for a sneak audio visual peak:
Zeus, who is currently touring with Jamie Lidell, opened the first of three LOLA ‘after party’ nights.  The band eased through crowd sing alongs like How does it feel, Marching through your head, and Kindergarten. Band mates swapped the mic for keys and strings while their drummer batted beats out at the London Music Club. 

Just when you were running out of beer money, the night was taken to new spiritual heights, when Lidell laid down soulful track into beat box and back round again. For the goods on Lidell.

Before Born Ruffians could steal your future-girlfriend's heart, LOLA organizers built the momentum with the dual-stage-approach (not official festival lingo). As one band was finishing on the main stage, another was plugging in and preparing to continue the flow of music never played on commercial radio. The stage consideration was a positive step for LOLA in terms of keeping crowds moving and augmenting sounds in the park.  The ‘conflict resolution’ theme and media installations were thought provoking. 

The performance by Tony Conrad on the Transmedia Stage was a mental marathon, but the guy had a 20+ foot slide guitar and a violin that he stole from the Tin Man (Not true). Big props to BDM crew Pat and Brit for sticking out the entire performance.  This is what LOLA is about: challenging musical convention, form, and sweaters Bill Cosby would be proud of. 

Big shout outs and London thank yous to Fond of Tigers, Caribou (interview content is coming!), London emcee and visual artist Thesis (aka James Kirkpatrick), Minotaurs who will also be featured on the TV show, and the band from Philadelphia who’s lead singer roamed with a wireless mic into on-lookers to lay with LOLA fans.  If you didn’t see Born Ruffians, slap yourself.  Take Vampire Weekend and toss out the shy college rock-boy, singing under trees on campus thang, add some maple bacon, raw back-up vocals and Born Ruffians are on your next playlist.  Born Ruffians are the kind of Canadian band your kids will end up listening to thanks, in part, to festivals like LOLA. | AJS