Continuing With Chinese New Year, The Year of the Horse – S09E24

It’s been an exciting weekend with the lion dance performances and continuing to celebrate Chinese New Year. Monday was an off-day for the lion dance troupe but I had the radio show with the annual Chinese New Year show. Lauren returned to do the Chinese New Year show as I had Candice join me on last year’s edition.
Being year of the horse, it’s Lauren’s favourite animal as she kind of owns a horse. I got to explain the strengths and weaknesses of anyone who’s born year of the horse.

We also got to talk about food and there’s one I’m not fond of and it’s red bean. I know I will get some backlash as it’s their favourite food and dessert. To keep some happy, I played the song by the late Teresa Teng as part of the CNY show.

As usual, there were the familiar Cantopop tracks played and there were several band and song names with the word, ‘horse‘ in it. I was able to find some Canadian indie tracks with the particular animal name.
The best “horse” song would have to be Horses Fell by The Darcys. It’s still new but the band has become a favourite of mine.

I took a couple of instant photos by Impossible and finally got to use the gold frame. There are a few from Sunday, February 3rd. You can see the photos from below.
You can check the playlist over at this link and the audio is posted below.

Lastly, don’t forget about the Winterlude Lunar New Year Parade on Ottawa Chinatown. Happening on Saturday, February 8, 2014 and starts at 1pm. Hope to see you there.

Again, Kung Hey Fat Choy!

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.

The Christmas Edition and The Top 50 of 2013, Part 1 – S09E15

It’s that time of festive season where I’ll be playing Christmas music. This year is a bit different in terms of music format as I decided to play J-POP Christmas songs on CKCU-FM. After a debacle from last year’s radio show where I played Christmas UK #1 songs, it’s a better way to play it safe by choosing Christmas tunes from the Far East.
Played were Cream, B’z, L’Arc~en~Ciel, BoA and KinKi Kids. For Cantopop, there was Lonely Christmas by Eason Chan as it’s become part of the yearly Christmas playlist.

As usual, I was joined by Lauren as we decided to play through the festive tunes and it’s her last live show for 2013. She will still be on the air for the year end countdown show.
We were joined by Erica who made a surprise appearance. We also had fun taking some instant film photos using The Impossible Project film to the Polaroid camera. It was two hours full of fun music and wearing Santa hats.
The playlist can be checked over at this link. You can also listen to the audio below.

Summer Special #3: Going A Bit Pop Culture

Due to the long holiday weekend, I didn’t bring up any guests relating to social media. For this week’s Summer show, I decided to go into the pop culture through TV shows and movies. Two cult shows were trending throughout the weekend.
Doctor Who announced the new Doctor to replace Matt Smith, the Eleventh Doctor. The BBC had a Doctor Who Live special to reveal “who” the next Doctor was. It happened to be Peter Capaldi. The actor appeared in a previous episode of Doctor Who (in Series 4) and on Torchwood: Children of Earth. On my radio show, I played the Doctor Who theme but totally forgot to mention the new Doctor. This is my make up to a mention of the new Doc as he will regenerate at the upcoming Christmas Special. It will be exciting to have an older Doctor take over as fans like myself get used to seeing a younger Doctor who was 40 years and under.

Onto the other hit show. It was slightly low key in North America because it was announced over in Japan. Sailor Moon will be back in the Winter and to be stream worldwide via niconico. Not much has been said about the returning series, in terms of the voice actors have not been revealed. It’s definitely going to be exciting to watch a new series and unbelievable that the anime series is twenty years old.
On the radio show, the original theme song was played along with a soundclip of Sailor Moon’s attack.

Lastly, to round out the radio show summary, Faye Wong songs were played August 8th is her birthday. Off-air, I tried to get the acting CKCU Program Director to guess one of Faye Wong’s song. It was originally done by Karyn White and the song was “Superwoman.”  One more Hong Kong pop culture to mention was Chow Yun Fat returning to do a Hong Kong film.
Another pop culture tidbit was playing Eyes On Me from Final Fantasy VIII as I have been playing some video games recently. Though, I haven’t played through Final Fantasy VIII.
Music played this week had new tracks from likes of MGMT, Volcano Choir, You Say Party and The Darcys. I was joined by Summer guest co-host, Katarina, host of The Cloud on CKCU-FM.

The playlist of the radio show is over at this link.

Wrapping Up Season Eight & The Interview with Born Ruffians – S08E46

I can’t believe the blog has gone on for eight seasons and as usual, it’s that time to wrap up the blog and radio show (currently on season four) for the Summer. On this week’s show, there was the interview with the Toronto band, Born Ruffians as they were in Ottawa on the weekend for the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. You can listen to the interview below the entry. Note: The version on the blog is a full version as we discussed about social media. The radio show version was edited.
Apologies for the image as I forgot to get a photo with the band members.

Also on the show was the conclusion to the tribute to Beyond’s Wong Ka Kui as June 30th marks the 20th anniversary of his death. The song choices for the Cantopop segment are the well-known Beyond tracks. One track I played was unusual choice and it’s an English song called Long Way Without Friends. Another classic song played which had significance back in 1990 and it was about Nelson Mandela. That song is 光輝歲月, which is translated as Glorious Days. We’ve been hearing about Mandela’s health in the news recently. It’s just fitting to play that song one more time as it’s another tribute to a fearless leader.

Due to the length of last week’s entry, I’m reposting the interviews with Chris Ho and Crissi Cochrane. In case you weren’t able to find it. They are posted alongside the Born Ruffians interview.
Maestro Fresh Wes takes the number one spot for this week to end the month of June on The Wild 10 Countdown.
The playlist from the June 26th radio show (season finale) can be seen at this link.

Still having a bit of NXNE/Toronto withdrawal and if you kept up to date on my Facebook page, I posted a link from the CBC Music Presents The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions where there was a finale party in Toronto. Yes, I appear in the video. If you’re wondering why I have been wearing an aqua coloured vintage adidas jacket, it partly due to attending the 2012 edition House of Paint. I decided to wear the track jacket and wore it during my high school days in the 1990s, which still fits me.

Last thing, this ends the blog for another wonderful season. I know it’s confusing that it’s season eight and the radio show is season four. A big thanks goes out to Candice So as she helped out and contribute for the blog. We also had a great time interviewing bands and musicians. You’ve been awesome!
Another shoutout goes out to Lauren Bridle in joining me for the first half of season four of the radio show on CKCU.
The blog will be back in the Fall for season nine but expect a few Summer specials on the blog.

Have a great Summer.
NOTE: I will not be doing any music interviews for the Summer. They will return in the Fall.

Off To NXNE (2013 Edition) – S08E44

For the second year, I will be heading to Toronto for NXNE and this week’s radio show consisted of acts who will be playing at the music festival in Toronto. On this edition of the show, played were Chris Ho, Gold & Youth, The National and a bunch of others.
Starting off the live show was a brand new song from Maestro Fresh Wes as he will be releasing his new album, Orchestrated Noise. It will be out on June 25th. The track played featured Canadian soprano, Measha Bruggergosman. It’s a unique track as Hip-Hop meets Opera. To my own surprise, Bruggergosman tweeted with excitement that it was played on CKCU-FM.

It’s the second week play another tribute to Beyond’s Wong Ka Kui as this year is the 20th anniversary of his tragic death.
This week’s song choices were from the 1988 album, Secret Police (秘密警察). The album cover is shown above for this week’s image pick. Although, the two songs didn’t have Wong Ka Kui on vocals and I forgot to mention on-air that it was Paul Wong, who did the vocals for the two songs. Ending the Beyond set was the song, Morning Train (早班火車), as I will be hopping on the train on Friday morning, barring no disruptions.

On the Wild 10 Countdown, Said The Whale is still number one for the third week. You can read the summary over at this link.
You can check the playlist from the live radio show over at this link.

Have a great week and I will have a great time at NXNE in Toronto.

Hong Kong Milk Tea & The Radio Show – S08E43

I was a bit stumped in writing something as I haven’t had any music interviews for the past month. Instead, I decided to blog about making Hong Kong Milk Tea as DAVIDsTEA came out with a recipe to making Hong Kong Milk Tea. It caught my attention as I like things about Hong Kong.
I decided to buy Kenyan Tinderet and didn’t expect to see the tea leaves looking like coffee. Worse part was not getting sweetened condensed milk until later in the night as I walked to the supermarket and bought one. It costed around three dollars as I’m not too familiar with it.

Onto making the tea, I boiled one litre of hot water (95 degrees Celsius) and added four spoonfuls of Kenyan Tinderet in a teapot. I didn’t use a pitcher as it got used for storing water. Later, I put 1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk. I didn’t know it was gooey and sticky compared to liquid-y condensed milk. Mixed it together on a cup and measuring cup due to not using a pitcher (photo shown above). Added ice and it was done. The silly part was drinking from the measuring cup.

The verdict: It tasted sweet and nice. There was hint that you’re not really drinking tea. On their website, it mentioned “light honey” and I did felt a bit of a slight honey taste. Another thing that I was reminded of drinking Vitasoy.
Overall, a nice drink but had a complicated time in making due to not using a pitcher. I’ll definitely make another drink again.

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 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!

Interviews with Language Arts and FIRExFIRE / Chatting Hong Kong Films – S08E34

After several weeks of Candice writing on the blog, it’s nice to be back and writing. I decided to give her a break for this week.
On the April 10th edition of WildWorks on CKCU-FM, myself and Candice had the opportunity to interview with Toronto-based bands, Language Arts and FIRExFIRE. Both bands were in Ottawa last Friday as they were playing at venues. Language Arts was at Raw Sugar Cafe, opening up for Gianna Lauren. FIRExFIRE was playing at Cafe Dekcuf. It was definitely a busy Friday.
Overall, both were great and it was a privilege to see Kristen (of Language Arts) again and finally meet the members of FIRExFIRE. Thanks again to the two bands.

To listen to the interviews, the audio are posted below.
The interview with Language Arts has two versions. The one posted to Soundcloud is the entire version, while the one aired on CKCU-FM (and on their On-Demand) had a segment edited out.

On the Wild 10 Countdown, New Summer (Doldrums Remix) by Young Galaxy takes the top spot this week. The summary and playlist for the podcast can be seen here.