For This Week… – S08E38

On this week’s edition of the radio show at CKCU-FM, it was tribute to the late Teresa Teng and the annual songs for Mother’s Day. It’s quite fitting to commemorate on May 8th as it’s the 18th anniversary of Teresa Teng‘s death. She passed away in 1995. Teng was revered and beloved throughout East Asia as her music has garnered older and younger fans alike. I was able to play Faye Wong‘s version of Wishing We Last Forever (但願人長久). One of the Teresa Teng songs played was called Red Bean. A funny story was my former co-host, Candice, made a tweet that I am weird for not liking red bean. The tweet along with a photo can found here. Kudos to China Album for the support.
As usual, Mother’s Day is this Sunday and every year, I play certain songs for Mother’s Day. This year, I added Keep Shining by Shad as the song is an ode to strong females.
On the Wild 10 Countdown this week, New Summer by Young Galaxy takes the top spot as Ottawa was having warm Summer-like temperatures for the past week. The summary can be checked over at this link.
The playlist from the live show is over at this.

On the podcast part of the show, new tracks from likes of Vampire Weekend and She & Him were played. I’m still enjoying the new Daft Punk song, Get Lucky (featuring Pharrell). This week’s podcast used the M-Rock’s Bangin’ Disco Mix of Get Lucky. Starting off the podcast was playing a new Shad track called Peace but it’s a rough mix/demo, which won’t be on his upcoming album. Briefly mentioned the lineup for the Wolfe Island Music Festival as it was announced last week.
Playlist from the podcast is posted below. Red highlights Cancon.

This weekend, I will be checking out Ottawa Comiccon. Wish me luck when I see people in “unique” costumes and experience the geek/nerd culture. It’s been awhile I’ve gone to a comic book convention and it’s the first time to attend a major convention in Ottawa. The previous conventions I attended were in Toronto.

Lastly, I didn’t have an image to use and again, I used Vinylize Me to create the entry for this week.
Have a great week and wishing everyone a great Mother’s Day for Sunday!

A Lovely Warm Spring Day To Begin May & Asian Heritage Month – S08E37

What a way to start May with Summer like temperatures. With the lovely weather, the slight disappointment I had to endure was the O-Train being out of commission. Arriving to CKCU-FM a bit later will be the growing pain for Spring and Summer.
Aside from that, today’s show was focusing on Canadian bands and musicians with Asian background as May is Asian Heritage Month. This week featured music from Hooded Fang, Scary Bear Soundtrack, Dirty Beaches and Kid Koala.
It’s unlikely I will be playing a lot for the month of May but I will be playing known and emerging talents from Canada with Asian backgrounds. The image was made on the iOS app, VinylizeMe.
Lastly, as Summer is nearing, May and June are considered a slow point to the radio show and blog as the season draws to a close. Slightly having withdrawal as I had help with Candice for the past four month and she’s now in Toronto, I have to get used to doing things on my own. I will continue to play exciting indie music.

On The Wild 10 Countdown, Born Ruffians is still number one for the second week. To check the top 10, you can check the summary over at this link.
You can check the playlist from the live show over at this link. As usual, you can listen to the entire radio show below.

A Goodbye to Candice – S08E36

It’s been a fun time having Candice on my radio show. Wednesday was her final show as she’s moving down to Toronto. I’m trying not to rehash what was said on the show but it’s been a great privilege to have someone on the show with enthusiasm towards Canadian independent music.
All I have to say that we had a great time interviewing bands, interacting with them and going to the venues prior to soundcheck. It seemed like an adventure. The last and funny part was having to be at Second Cup in downtown several time to go through the questions. It was almost like a daily routine.
Another thing I forgot to mention on the show was getting to meet some of the hosts at CKCU.
Lastly, as much as you’re a worrywart and kept “cattle-prodding” me, I’ve been very easy-going, calm and made sure things were fine.

Prior to Candice’s final show, she decided to bring her adidas track jacket to slightly match the style that I’m wearing. The photo shown above. Unfortunately, the Polaroid pics didn’t turn out so well.

Song played today had new tracks from Louise Burns and Aidan Knight. The Cantopop segment was on Sandy Lam as her birthday is on April 26.
The send-off songs to Candice at the end of the show were I Was A Fool by Tegan and Sara and Take Care by Beach House. Videos posted below.
Also on the radio show, we played Genesis by Grimes as she won for electronic album of the year at the 2013 Juno Awards. What I didn’t know was that she posted on her Tumblr page about sexism. It was trending on Facebook and Twitter, so we didn’t get a chance to mention on the air what was happening as it was very sudden.
In my opinion, I rarely watch Grimes’s music videos and when playing her song on Wednesday, I was dancing along to the song and not think the image or anything in particular. Call it an ironic day by playing a musician and not knowing the buzz surrounding it.

On the Wild 10 Countdown, Born Ruffians take the top spot as we end the month of April. The countdown entry is over at this link. If you’re listening on the blog, the songs played on the podcast is posted from the countdown blog and no longer on the CKCU playlist.

The playlist from the live show is over at this link via CKCU-FM.

So long and enjoy Toronto, Candice!
You’re the best!

Remembering Leslie Cheung, 10 Years On – S08E32

Hi friends, this is Candice with a recap of today’s edition of WildWorks.

This week was an important one for Lenny – the 10th anniversary of the death of Hong Kong Cantopop legend Leslie Cheung. Cheung was one of HK’s biggest stars, releasing more than 30 albums and acting in over 60 movies.  Known affectionately as “Goh Goh,” translated as ‘older brother,’ he was also one of the first pop singers in Hong Kong to publicly acknowledge his bisexuality. However, on April 1, 2003, Cheung committed suicide by jumping from a hotel room balcony. He was 46.

To mark the occasion, Lenny put together a few medleys of classic Cheung standbys. It featured songs like “Silence is Golden,” “Black Midnight,” and “A Man of Intention.” We also played a live version of Sandy Lam’s song, “At Least I Still Have You,” taken from the Passion Tour in 2000, which was the last tour before his death. Being the tenth anniversary, there are several events happening in Hong Kong to mark the occasion.
The image chosen for this year’s tribute is the cover to his 1987 album, Summer Romance. It’s an iconic image as the album became critically acclaim and put Cheung into major stardom.

If you’re reading this entry after April 1st, 2013, some links to check out. A story over at AsiaOne/The Straits Times about the last phone call that Leslie Cheung made on the fateful day ten years ago.
Huffington Post on the exhibit paying tribute to Cheung. Over at AsiaOne – “Two million cranes for Leslie Cheung.”
At Yahoo! Singapore Entertainment – “Leslie’s memorial concert a success.”

Elsewhere on the show, we played some good ol’ CanCon, with folky tracks from artists like Octoberman and the Abramson Singers, both of whom are playing at Raw Sugar Café tonight. We also referenced a bit about the two pandas arriving to Toronto and decided to play a song called Slippery When Wet by The Acorn as it mentioned about the cuddly animal.
Scary Bear Soundtrack released a new track called Victoria Island, as it got revealed on Tuesday night.

Gloria of Scary Bear Soundtrack Taking Over The Show – S08E19

OK, I couldn’t think of a good title. On this week’s edition of the show, I had the opportunity to have Gloria from Scary Bear Soundtrack join me on the show because she has been promoting a live show at Babylon Nightclub for Wednesday night (today). It’s also her final live show as she will be moving to Nunavut at the end of January. Even though, it’s her swan song, the band is doing a music video party release before leaving to the Northern confines of the Arctic.
On the radio show, Gloria picked some of her music picks from the likes of Melissa Laveaux and gatesgatesgates while there were brand new music on my end from You Say Party, Leif Vollebekk and The Matinee. January is a bit slow in terms of new music being released. It was another blessing in disguise to have a guest on the show. It was an unexpected surprise to play You Say Party’s new song right away as it was announced on social media and music sites. It’s great to hear about the band reuniting after their tough time back in 2010.
Also mentioned during the live show was talking PSY’s Gangnam Style. Overall, a good mix of new wave, rock and folk music all in one for this week’s show.
The first half of the show for this blog is the Wild 10 Countdown. For the second week on the top spot, Pick Me Up by Hollerado is still number one.
The top 10 countdown for January 16th is over at this link.
After the countdown, I discussed about Arts & Crafts celebrating their 10th anniversary and Broken Social Scene reuniting for one night only. What I forgot to do was mention Broken Social Scene in the playlist set. It’s after Caught a Long Wind by Feist. I blame my co-host for no-showing.
The playlist for the radio show is over at this link.
Finally got New Myspace and my profile is over at this link. Hopefully the new version has a good following and not fizzle out.
All I can say to Gloria, enjoy your time in Nunavut, your presence in Ottawa will be missed but two years can go by quickly.

Checked Out Pop-Up Gallery’s Opening Night Reception – S08E14

The concept of pop-up have become popular recently and on Thursday night, I had the opportunity to check Pop-Up Gallery in Ottawa. They had a grand opening and opening night reception as the gallery is located in the Hintonburg area of Ottawa. Who’s running Pop-Up Gallery? It consists of Ottawa’s three artists, Andrew King, Alison Fowler and Katherine Jeans.
The opening night was quite packed with guests as the blue house was not as big of a space to walk around. Also on hand were Liberal MPP, Yasir Naqvi and City of Ottawa Councillor, Katherine Hobbs.
I was able to look at some of the art and they were pretty interesting and unique to look at. What caught me by surprise was King’s Ottawapparel t-shirts as they have been getting a lot interest recently. What can you not like about Ottawa’s past signs and icons from former establishments. One missing was the Cathay Restaurant shirt as King said that the former owner bought the whole thing. The restaurant is no longer around as it’s replaced but an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant.
How could I not forget about food and refreshments. Food were provided by chef, Michael Blackie and it was deliciously awesome to try them out to go along with the art. There were mini Yorkshire Pudding, Oysters, chips and popcorn. The drinks were also provided by Pop Shoppe soda. Picture shown from above, I chose cream soda on the left. The photos of the event are be posted below.
It was a nice but cold Thursday night to experience Ottawa’s first pop-up art gallery. The Pop-Up Gallery runs from November 29 to December 23rd. They are located on 77 Holland Ave. Opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday but check the website for further info.

Wednesday’s Radio Show
Sorry for the delay in posting up the radio show as I didn’t have an idea to write this week. This week’s live show was mainly on cold & snowy songs and for the Chinese music, it was songs using the Saxophone.
This week’s Wild 10 Countdown has Crystal Castles staying on the top spot for the third week.
The playlist for this week’s show is over at this link.

It Was Mostly Music Played This Week & A New Addition – S08E06

This week was just music being played on the radio show. There were no music interviews due to the post Canadian Thanksgiving holiday. There was an event I attended last Friday and it was the Herd Magazine launch party at Fall Down Gallery. Aside from it, that was it.
This was planned out of the blue and I decided to add a new segment to the blog. Prior to recording part of the radio show, I decided to come up with a video segment and it called WildWorks TV. It’s mainly talking about topics trending on social media. It will be less on the music and more on pop culture.
Apologies for the first episode due to the bad angling from the DSLR camera. It’s a work in progress. Hope you will enjoy the video segments. It’s a bit influenced from Nat & Marie as they talk about online culture. I’m waiting for their return on the interwebs. You can watch the video below.
This week’s top 10 countdown has a new countdown. To view the top 10 countdown, go to this link.
As for the radio show, Lauren and I played a bunch of new Canadian indie music and an Ellie Goulding track as she’s fallen in love with the new album, Halcyon.
Have a good week.

Audio/Radio Show
The October 17th playlist is at this link.
Press play to listen.

The Interview with Minus the Tiger, Tribute to Leslie Cheung (Nine Years) & Being Filmed – S07E32

March is ending in a few days and this week’s radio show was filled with a lot materials from the first part to the live part of the show. DJ Digs returned to the show and Lauren is there as usual.
After the top 10 countdown from the first hour, we played the local acts that are performing at JunoFest and then played the favourite bands and musicians who are nominated for the Juno Awards.
The live part of the show had the interview with Minus the Tiger from the Netherlands and the yearly tribute to Leslie Cheung. April 1, 2003 was when it happened and it’s now nine years since his tragic death. He is still missed among Hong Kong fans and abroad.
This year’s tribute was a bit shorter than previous editions. It’s still nice to play his hits from Monica and others.

The fun part to this week’s show was The Charlatan coming in to shoot video (their second attempt) and giving them a glimpse on how we prepare and going live for the radio show. It was great to have someone from The Charlatan come in and check out my radio show as I try to make it fun in playing good music. Aside from that, the written article on myself and the radio show is posted at the Charlatan over at this link.
This week’s playlist has the live part of the show posted there. You can go over at this link. Don’t forget to listen to the interview with Minus the Tiger.
Have a good week!

Audio/Interview
The March 28th Radio Show – Press play to listen.

The Live/Second Hour of WildWorks on CKCU-FM – March 28, 2012

The Interview with Minus the Tiger

From Thursday’s Fundamentally Sound, the freestyle rap challenge. Aired on March 29, 2012.

The Interview With Little City – S07E29

Last Saturday night (March 3rd), I had the opportunity to chat with some of the members of the Toronto band, Little City. They were preforming at the Avant Garde Bar.
I’ve been playing their songs on the podcast and live parts of the radio show. It’s nice to give a band some support. If you listen to the interview, there were mentions of a few prominent members (mostly part-time) in the band. There were some funny points to the interview as I mentioned a “rival” radio host. It’s all in good fun. Overall, give a lot of support for Little City.
You can listen to the interview in the audio section from below.
On the radio show, it was the return of Lauren on the airwaves as she has been away. She was there for the live part of the show. She got to listen to the interview. There were new tracks from the likes of Arcade Fire, Said The Whale (also played on the countdown) and a live track from The Naked & Famous for Daytrotter. It was a great show because of the interview and the tracks I played. I couldn’t be pleased with today’s live radio show and a relief that Lauren made it for the show.
I hope to do a review of Little Mountain by Said The Whale.
On another note, there will be delays to the Wild 10 Countdown blog as I got bogged down with various things. In case you wanted to know, Plants & Animals were on top for 4 weeks and right now, Said The Whale is number one this week as Little Mountain got released this week. I apologize for the delay for the current and past countdown entries.
Without further ado, the playlist for the March 7 show is over at this link.
Last thing, don’t ask me about the new iPad. I haven’t looked up much information.

Audio/Interview
The March 7th Radio Show (Full 2 hours) – Press play to listen.

The interview with Little City

The Will Currie and The Country French Interview and Yes! Cupcakes – S07E26

It was a great privilege to chat with Will Currie from Will Currie and the Country French on the weekend. The band has been around for a couple of years and I did not get a chance to do an interview them when they stopped by in Ottawa. The interview was aired on Wednesday’s show at CKCU-FM. It’s been awhile that I have done a music interview because it was a slow time during the holidays and up until January of 2012.
The interview with Currie was light-hearted at best and really wished that my co-host was there to help out as well. Overall, it was nicely done. Oh yes! Even though I rarely mention it on my show, I had cupcakes to bring along for Will Currie and The Country French and almost forgot that it was the lead member’s birthday at the time of the recording. The photo of the cupcakes is posted below.
Don’t forget to listen to the radio show and the interview at your own time.
The playlist for Wednesday’s show is over at this link. The Wild 10 Countdown summary will be posted later.

Audio/Interviews
The full February 15th show – Press play to listen.

The live part of the show – Press play to listen.

The Will Currie and The Country French Interview

Photo
The cupcakes to Will Currie and The Country French from Saturday, Feb. 11th