From The WildWorks Top 50 of 2013, It’s The Top 10 Non-Canadian Indie Music – S09E19

2013 wasn’t finished yet on this week’s first radio show of 2014 on CKCU-FM. This time, it was the Top 10 Non-Canadian Indie Music of 2013 and considered to be the fourth part of the year end countdown. It’s become a yearly tradition to do two different year-end countdowns. One strictly for Canadian music and the other being non-Canadian music. The non-Canadian list is shorter as I place more emphasis on the Canadian music scene.
Myself and Lauren were counting the best albums from outside of Canada. There were good releases from the top 10 played.
Bands like The Naked and Famous, Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The National had highly anticipated albums and there were surprises from HAIM as their popularity exploded in 2013.

There are two different versions of the countdown. The one aired on CKCU was the top 10 while the entry from the Best of 2013 page is the top 13 Non-Canadian Indie music of 2013.
The radio show version had three new Canadian indie tracks for 2014, they were Crissi Cochrane, The Balconies and Silkken Laumann.
The blog version has Hot Natured (recommended by the host of CKCU’s The Cloud), Best Coast and Foals played on the top 13 of 2013. At the end, leftovers of 2013 were “Your Life Is a Lie” by MGMT and Byegone by Volcano Choir.

To check out the CKCU-FM version, you can go to this link. The On-Demand audio is available to listen over there.
To view the full list, go to The Top 50 of 2013 page is over at this link.
This wraps up the best of music for 2013. Onwards to 2014!

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014 – S09E18

It was one of the coldest nights in the Nation’s Capital to end 2013 and ringing in 2014. It was adventure to remember as I had the opportunity to go to the National Capital Gala‘s Gatsby New Year’s Ball at the Conference Centre in downtown Ottawa. It was a lavish event with party-goers dressing in elegant dresses. There were live music and burlesque dancers. You can check out the photos below.

Towards the end of 2013, I was checking on Instagram to found out a good friend (and former co-host) was over at Zaphod Beeblebrox for the New Year’s Eve dance party and I decided to bolt over there and say hello. I didn’t realize there was a $15 cover charge and I had to run to the bank to withdraw money and back to Zaphods. I was a hot sweaty mess from the running. I did get to see my good friend. It was nice ringing in the new year and to hear the DJ play Reflektor by Arcade Fire several minutes after the new year.
I totally forgot that I dressed “nicely” on New Year’s Eve. It’s one of the rare time that I would dress formally. I just enjoy wearing this jacket with elbow patches. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in any photos.
Overall, what a way to finish 2013 with a bang and hope 2014 will be wonderful. I know 2013 was tough as greats from the likes of Nelson Mandela, ‘Stompin’ Tom Connors and many others have passed away. Hello to 2014

2013 in Review – S09E17 (Part 3)

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,700 times in 2013. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

From The WildWorks Top 50 of 2013, It’s The Top 10! – S09E17 (Part 2)

I had to split the entries this week because of the tribute to Anita Mui running on the same day. On this edition of WildWorks, it was the top 10 Canadian indie music of 2013. It’s considered the third part to The WildWorks Top 50 of 2013. 2013 had some good releases from Canadian musicians and bands. Myself and Lauren counted down to the 50 albums and EPs that came out this year. The number one for this year is Basia Bulat because Tall Tall Shadow (her third record) is considered a strong album and some of the songs showed some emotions as it dealt with loss.
Rounding out the top 10 are Shad, Arcade Fire, The Darcys, Born Ruffians, Young Galaxy, Austra, DIANA, Louise Burns and Gold & Youth.
The full list will be posted up on New Year’s Day.

Before airing the top 10, there was a pre-show as I played the best of 2013 where I forgot to add bands and musicians left out of my top 50 of 2013.
You can check the playlist over at this link. You can listen to the audio below.

Goodbye to 2013 and hello to 2014, Happy New Year!

A Tribute to Anita Mui, 10th Anniversary – S09E17 (Part 1)

It’s on this day, ten years ago when I heard the sad news that Anita Mui peacefully passed away from cancer. It was fitting on this day, being December 30th that I played songs on CKCU-FM. As I filled in for The Drunken Master Revue, it was just nice to play classic songs and try to remember how much of an impact Mui made in Hong Kong and abroad. Towards the end of the first hour, I was in tears when two songs (videos posted below) I played were emotional to listen.
Growing up, I have been fond of watching music awards shows and Hong Kong films. It’s part of my upbringing till this day that I kept my cultural background as people who we idolize over time are no longer around. Ten years seem to have gone by quickly as her presence and even Leslie Cheung (died in the same year) are deeply missed.

As mentioned on the show that she was the Madonna of Asia as she channeled songs and bringing lavish fashion and clothing. I cited quotes from an article over at Wall Street Journal during the tribute. Also on the day was the memorial concert held in Hong Kong to commemorate the tenth anniversary of her death. Stars from Andy Lau, Jackie Chan and Sandy Lam took part in the memorial. It was organized by singer, Jacky Cheung and actor, Eric Tsang.
For non-Chinese readers, here’s another article from WSJ Asia on the Anita Mui memorial concert. Published on December 31, 2013.

Anita Mui is still cherished and remembered to this day. Her music and movies will never be forgotten.
You can listen to the audio below. There were some songs I played for the first time on CKCU-FM as well with the usual classic Anita Mui songs played on occasion.

A Very Merry Christmas & The Top 50 of 2013, Part 2 – S09E16

It was an epic day as I was on the airwaves from 7-10am and then the regular show at 11am on CKCU-FM. First, it was the Monday Special Blend and I was joined by Canadian Spaces host, Chris White as we had Shannon Rose & The Thorns. Rose has a new song which is fitting for Christmas and it’s called North Star. She performed three songs live on the airwaves. First was North Star, the second was Phoenix and lastly, a Bing Crosby cover song, I’ll Be Home For Christmas. Luckily, Ottawa didn’t bear brunt of the ice storm which hit Toronto on the weekend. Overall, it was a great morning to have guests like Chris White and Shannon Rose. From the image above, it was shot on a Polaroid.
The next show to help out was The Filibuster and we basically played Christmas songs ranging from the popular one to Metal to Canadian indie music. It was a nice mix of tunes to play as I was joined host, Ben James for the Filibuster.
To my own show, I played the favourites from Jill Barber, Basia Bulat and Nat Jay. It’s become a yearly tradition to play those wonderful festive songs. There were a few new tracks from Mounties, The Mountain and the Trees and a new Said The Whale.
You can check the playlist over at the this link. You can listen to the audio below. It will be a lengthy listen. Happy Holidays!

The Interview with Kat Burns of Kashka – S09E14

Three consecutive days to writing a blog entry is astounding. It’s a nice way of making it up from a month’s absence in October. All I have to say that it was a great weekend as I attended Ottawa Pop Expo.
This week’s radio show on CKCU-FM had the interview with Kashka. It is fronted by former Forest City Lovers, Kat Burns. It’s been awhile since I last saw her.
As mentioned elsewhere, it’s the last music interview of 2013 as I will be getting into the festive tunes and the year end countdowns. Back to Kashka, Burns was in Ottawa on Friday night for her tour and in support of the second album, Bound. It was released in late November. For those who don’t know, Kashka’s music takes the term of ‘folkpoptronica.’ A blending folk, pop and electronic music into one. You can listen to the interview below.
I started the show with a tribute to Nelson Mandela. I played the song Glorious Days by Hong Kong rock band, Beyond. It’s a homage to Mandela back in 1990. It was inspired by his fight for inequality and the song is now used for demonstrations fighting against anti-racism and for freedom. The music video is posted below with English subtitles. Even though, it’s in Cantonese, there’s images of the late great Mandela. Long live Madiba!

You can check the playlist over at this link.
Lastly, if you’re listening from the blog, I played the full versions of Make Me A Mirror by Ark Analog and the brand new song by St. Vincent, Birth In Reverse.

Ottawa Pop Expo (Sunday Edition) – S09E13

Day 2 of Ottawa Pop Expo was a relaxed affair as I decided to check out the celebrity Q&A. I forgot to take a photo of their logo but able to take a photo from their video screen along with a countdown.
Let’s say that it was more on Doctor Who as Neve McIntosh and Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy were guests of the pop culture convention. It’s their first time to be Ottawa, Canada.
Aside from that, the first panel I checked out which was the Q&A on Doctor Who’s 50th Celebration. After the brief session, I had to bolt over to the celebrity Q&A for Neve McIntosh, who plays Silurian, Madame Vastra in the current series of Doctor Who. She’s quite a lovely actress without the heavy makeup as the fan-favourite Silurian. Her Q&A was pretty good as she told the crowd as being a lifelong Doctor Who fan and having Tom Baker (Fourth Doctor) as her first and favourite Doctor growing up. McIntosh also said that she will be back for Series 8 when Peter Capaldi takes over for Matt Smith in the new year. Towards the end of the Q&A, a couple of Daleks and Seventh Doctor, McCoy appeared to join McIntosh on the Q&A. It was quite the fun and hilarious moment as it felt like the Seventh Doctor crashed the party.
After her Q&A was then McCoy’s turn to get questions asked. Quite an entertaining and funny Q&A session as McCoy decided to walk off the stage and get interactive with the fans. Things he brought up was that he never watched the previous Doctors and decided to be his own character. He mentioned the 1996 TV movie and not knowing about the perks as he mentioned Eric Roberts wanted to change the carpet. McCoy also cracked a joke on Toronto mayor, Rob Ford. He liked how Canadians are polite towards him.
Overall, it was great to see one of the living Doctors to be Ottawa. It’s definitely a treat for Doctor Who fans in the Nation’s Capital. You will see some of the photos from below.

The last Q&A to check out was a popular actor who was in the hit show, The Game of Thrones. I decided to check out Jason Momoa because of the blogger I met at the convention to check this guy out. Mind you, I’m not into Game of Thrones as I listen to a radio show on Sunday nights. I know people tweet like crazy, hence the spoilers. OK, onto Momoa. He played Khal Drogo from the hit series. On stage, he got a nice comfortable chair and drinking Guinness beer. He talked about his time on Game of Thrones, Conan and going against Sylvester Stallone. He also mentioned about a movie he directed called Road to Paloma. The tone of the Q&A was more on the no-so family friendly side as Momoa swore a bit and there were a few guys asking negative questions towards him. It kind ruined the fun atmosphere because I could say that men are jealous of him, but it’s just my opinion.

All in all, what a way to wrap things up for the first year of Ottawa Pop Expo as the main convention, Ottawa Comiccon will be in full swing for May 2014.
Check out the photos!
I’ll be back again for the radio show recap as I have the interview with Kat Burns of Kashka.

Ottawa Pop Expo (Saturday Edition) – S09E12

I had the opportunity to attend Ottawa Pop Expo, a pop culture fan convention which features genres from comics, sci-fi, horror, anime and a bunch of others. It’s in the realm of geek culture nonetheless. The convention is presented and run by the organizers of Ottawa Comiccon. It’s the first time the pop culture convention is being held in December as Ottawa Comiccon has been running for two years and held in May.

For this convention, I decided to take photos of the cosplayers for the fun of it. You will see a bunch of photos below. I totally forgot to create a main photo for the blog entry. Luckily, I took a photo of their podium as shown above.
I decided to check out the celebrity Q&A with Tom Felton. The actor who played Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter film series. I got to deal with the screaming fans who are big into the actor.

Lastly, how could I say that I finally met one of Canada’s known wrestling analyst/commentator and TV personality, who’s currently with The Weather Network. It’s none other than Arda Ocal. I’ve been tweeting him back and fourth about wrestling and his time at The Score (now Sportsnet 360) on the programme, Aftermath. It’s a privilege to finally meet him and just good timing to see Ottawa become a fun city.

I will be back for another entry on Ottawa Pop Expo for Sunday and it’s most likely on Doctor Who.

The Lonely End of the Rink with Grant Lawrence – S09E11

Grant Lawrence was in Ottawa on Friday, November 29, 2013. He was there to promote his new book, The Lonely End of the Rink – Confessions of a Reluctant Goalie. The event was held at Pressed, which is a great place for sandwiches and other food.
I had the chance to interview with Lawrence and talked about the details on his second book, which is on the hockey side. You can listen to the interview below.
It was great to see the venerable radio host on CBC Radio 3 come to the Nation’s Capital and say positive things about Ottawa. His second book has connections to Ottawa, be sure to look for it at bookstores.

December 2nd Radio Show
Aside from the interview, there were new music from the like of The Balconies and MORI. MORI released a music video to this song, I Know It’s Over. If you watch the music video, a certain appearance from Cadence Weapon and Miracle Fortress are in it. Keep an eye on it.
The Balconies will be releasing their new album, Fast Motions in the new year, keep a look out on it.

As usual, Lauren joined me for the second half of the show and talked about HAIM as we approach the end of the year and have our yearly best of 2013 countdown coming up.

Performing this week in Ottawa is Kashka at Raw Sugar Cafe for December 6, 2013.
To check out the playlist from the radio show, click here. You can listen to the audio below.