The Kanpe Tea from DAVIDsTEA – S07E05

After my radio show on Wednesday, I was inspired to go to DAVIDsTEA on Bank Street to check if they had the Kanpe tea. I didn’t realize it was unveiled last Thursday while being in Montreal for the Arcade Fire free outdoor show for Pop Montreal. DAVIDsTEA and Kanpe Foundation teamed up to contribute the rebuilding of Haiti since the earthquake.
The funny thing when I went to the tea shop, I didn’t realize that they were suppose to sell it on Thursday. Luckily, the nice employee was keen enough to let me buy it and not let anyone know about it. I kind of sweet talked my way about attending the Arcade Fire show in Montreal last week.
As seen from the photo above (apology on an object being shown. It’s not the iPad, it’s something else). The 40g gift can and the labelling looks lovely. As for the ingredients, it consists of organic hibiscus, mango, coconut, banana, papaya, cinnamon, stevia and natural flavouring.
Onto tasting the tea, it had a tart and tangy taste. I pretty much liked it because it was just flavourful. I never expected a red colour (photo below). It reminded me of previous teas I drank that had a fruity and tangy taste. I just can’t remember what kind.
All in all, getting the Kanpe tea was worth it because it goes for a good cause to the Kanpe Foundation and being an avid tea drinker, I go for any kind of flavours. As the website says, it’s to “celebrate Haiti.” I don’t know if the tea is for limited time but just check up them up if they have any available.
Last thing, the photos were taken while watching Nat & Marie over from the iPad.

The Post Pop Montreal Edition and Tackling Album Reviews – S07E04

This week’s edition is a post Pop Montreal edition. I was suppose to have Lauren join me on the show but she’s under the weather. As much I try not to play a lot of Arcade Fire songs, I couldn’t help my own excitement because of the music festival, which celebrated its 10th year.
With the media pass, it was privilege to go to O Patro Vys as they had a good lineup from Friday and Saturday night. There were a lot of choices to go to but I stuck with O Patro Vys because Ohbijou has a new album and the opening acts have a connection to one another. The Evening Hymns and Forest City Lovers are friends with Ohibjou. It was quite a surprise to check out Tasseomancy. They seem to have an influence to Bjork. One thing I forgot was that Tasseomancy are the touring members of Austra. I had a chance to watch the Polaris Music Prize on MuchMusic HD and I didn’t realize they performed at the gala.
Saturday night was quite an interesting one, after attending the Pop Vs. Jock charity basketball game, I rushed to O Patro Vys to find out the 8pm performance never happened. Although, I didn’t know Silver Creek, who they performed at around 9pm, are from Ottawa. I noticed several CKCU-FM hosts are supporters of the band. This brings to Gianna Lauren, as I saw her on back to back nights. It was nice to see her perform in Montreal. The funny thing was saving a spot for her parents, who’s a great supporter of her music career. By Divine Right came up next and they totally rocked out. Then, came Allie Hughes as I haven’t seen her in a year. The worse part, I didn’t get a chance to say hi or bye to her. Finally, Sheezer packed O Patro Vys and for any Weezer fans, they didn’t disappoint. Overall, I had a great time in Montreal and I know I wouldn’t stop gushing over Arcade Fire. Kudos to Pop Montreal for the great music festival they organized. It was a fun time.
Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to play a track from Evening Hymns, Silver Creek and Sheezer as I was not able to find their albums to provide on the radio show.
Don’t forget to listen to the radio show from below.

The Arcade Fire Free Outdoor Show at POP Montreal – S07E03

It was a marvelous time at Place des Festivals/Quartier des Spectacles as Arcade Fire performed a free show in Montreal for Pop Montreal. It was an amazing time to be there as the band capped off an incredible year. Just days from winning the 2011 Polaris Music Prize, over a 100,000 crowds packed the place. The opening acts were Kid Koala and Karkwa. I totally forgot about Karkwa opening up for Arcade Fire. Both opening bands were great, Kid Koala played a few classic tracks with his own spin. Moon River was one and it sounded touching. Karkwa rocked out their set and their lead singer did say that they only sing in French as it’s a beautiful language.

As for Arcade Fire’s performance, it was definitely amazing! I kept singing along to all of the songs. There’s too many to list out as everyone would know all of their song since they’re recognizable.
My favourite, Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) was the final song and they had giant lighted beach balls bouncing through the crowds. I got bonked in the head several times as the balls kept flying around.
It was the best time enjoying all three acts in Montreal. Anyone from Montreal and Quebec should be proud at the band’s accomplishments and the free outdoor show was a way of giving thanks for the support.
Even though the attendance crowd is fluctuating from reports, here’s one from review from Spinner. It’s someone that I know of.

Who I got to see in Montreal?
I did not expect to see The Balconies earlier in the afternoon as I was hanging out at the Notman House. When I headed over to Place des Festivals in the mid-afternoon, I didn’t expect to bump into CBC Radio 3‘s Craig Norris and Steve Pratt. Briefly talked to them about Polaris Music Prize. It was great to see them.

From Storify, some of my tweets from the Arcade Fire outdoor show.
View “The Arcade Fire Free Outdoor Show for Pop Montreal on September 22, 2011″ on Storify

Photos
 

Summer Ends, Fall Begins & Interviews with Sara Lowes and Said The Whale – S07E02

Since I couldn’t get a photo to put up this entry. I decided to post a YouTube link to show that Fall is approaching. It’s from a Sally Yeh song called Fall Comes and Fall Goes (秋去秋來). I can’t believe the song is over 20 years now. It’s played towards the end of the September 21st radio show.
Due to circumstances, my radio show was live for 2 hours instead of the mix of pretaped and live for the one hour. Joining me for the first half of the show was Lauren and we got to count down the top 10 Canadian indie songs and talk about Arcade Fire winning the 2011 Polaris Music Prize. Also on the show was airing the interviews with Sara Lowes and Said The Whale. They were in Ottawa last Wednesday night. The one with Said The Whale was impromptu because I didn’t think of any questions but Ben Worchester was keen enough to do the interview. I stumbled on a friend’s blog as she wrote about Said The Whale and their documentary. If you listen to my interview, I mentioned about Winning America.
The entire documentary can viewed at this link [via CBC Radio3].
The interviews are posted on the audio/podcast section below.
I can’t wait to head down to Montreal for Pop Montreal from Thursday to Sunday. See you there

The playlist for the September 21st show is at this link. The Wild 10 Countdown entry is at this link.

Audio/Podcast
The September 21st Radio Show – Press Play to Play

The Sara Lowes Interview

Ben from Said The Whale Interview

From Mooncakes to Moon Songs – S07E01 [New Season]

What a way to begin a new season for the blog and radio show. It’s the second year to do a show playing moon songs and bringing in mooncakes in honour of Mid-Autumn Festival. This time, I decided to bring a unique kind of mooncakes to CKCU-FM. The ones I brought along were Taro and Sweet Potato cake and the other one with the purple, pink, yellow and white, they were the fruity flavoured mooncakes. Thankfully, I got them at T&T Supermarket and I wanted something different as I haven’t been accustomed to the lotus paste and egg yolk. I’m not a big fan of the egg yolk.
Enough on the food and on to the radio show. Now on the third season, it’s filled with great tunes and a returning co-host in some capacity. It’s great to have Lauren back, but I found out that she won’t be on the show for the live part. She will be there for the recorded part, which is the top 10 countdown. All in all, it’s great to get some help. In the first hour of the show, I played Go Outside (Menahan Street Band Remix) by Cults as I was listening to The Strombo Show on Sunday and George played the original version of Go Outside.

Wednesday night, we had an opportunity to interview Sara Lowes and an unexpected or impromptu but funny interview with Ben of Said The Whale. It’s great for my co-host to finally get a chance to interview a musician. Expect the interviews to be aired next week.
The playlist for September 14th’s show is at this link. The Wild 10 Countdown entry for September 14 is at this link.
Last thing, I decided to give some of the mooncakes to Dick Altavista of Both Kinds of Music and the hosts of A Juncture. Hoped you liked it. What a great way to begin the new season.