Joel Plaskett performing in advance of a planned FlashMob on Halifax's Celebration Square: Mr. Plaskett was joined briefly on one chorus by Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter. It occurs to me Mr. Plaskett's songs cry out for bluegrass covers. They are made for that high lonesome sound. ...

14 February, 2011

In 1995, when Jim Nunn left the host chair at what was then called First Edition and moved to Toronto to take over co-hosting duties on the CBC Show Marketplace, some of his chums produced a tribute music video called, "Jim Nunn is in the Smoke Room." There are a few CBC in-jokes, but the piece, starring Jonathan Torrens, Mike Clattenburg, Keith Bradley, and Brian Heighton, never fails to crack me up. Other credits: Producer/Director: Cynthia Kent; Editor: Keith Bradley; Shooters: Steve Lawrence & Doug Carmichael. H/T: Sharlene Woods....

29 January, 2011

Another leader with image problems takes a page from PM Harper's fakebook: Remarkable parallels here — similar image problem, similar soft-soap remedy. At least Putin didn't sully John Lennon's memory....

18 December, 2010

Speaking of the weird and homemade, D. Brown, a carpenter in Canning, makes guitars out of cigar boxes. John Dunsworth, an ardent fan, interviewed him, and Mike Swain filmed it. Seems there's quite a movement behind these rigs. [Update] If a $200 cigar-box guitar is out of your price range, Dave Atkinson recommends the cardboard upright bass....

17 December, 2010

A resident of England, who spends much of his time in Nova Scotia working on Seaside's rural high-speed Internet project, writes from Tel Aviv, where he is attending a wedding: An Irish fiddle band is providing the music for the wedding. The band members are all Israelis. I was chatting with one of them, and he asked what I did. I told him about Seaside and spending half my life in Canada. "I'm going to Canada in the autumn," he said. "I'm going somewhere called Cape Breton, for a festival called Celtic Colours." So a Londoner visiting Israel meets an Israeli playing in...

21 May, 2010

Two weeks ago, Contrarian featured a exceptionally funny and creative YouTube video by two dorky techno musicians from Leeds, comprising two-thirds of the Brett Domino Trio. I didn't say so at the time, but these guys strike me as worthy 2010 inheritors of the 1960s folk revival. They make their own music, using an assortment of real and pseudo instruments. They exemplify the indie knack for using the Internet to bypass industry middlemen en route to fans (and, potentially, a living). Here, thanks to James Fallows, is a similar but even more successful YouTube group, Pomplamoose, covering the sublime Chordettes hit, Mr....

08 May, 2010

Brett Domino and Steven Peavis use a variety of electronic folk instruments to perform a medley of Justin Timberlake tunes: Featured instruments include Stylophone Beatbox, DigiDrummer Lite on the iPod Touch, Kazoo, Thumb Piano, Shaker, Stylophone, Cowbell, Recorder, Ukulele, Theremin, Spoons, and Roland AX-Synth. Via: Andrew Sullivan....

26 April, 2010

Chris Milk, who has directed videos for Kanye West, U2, Courtney Love, and Barack Obama, is assembling a few thousand volunteers to complete an animated music video for Ain't No Grave, title track of the last album Johnny Cash recorded. The Johnny Cash Project invites participants to use custom drawing tools to create the 1,368 frames in the 2 minute, 51 second, video. Since more than one artist will end up submitting artwork for each frame, the video will look different each time it's played. Writes Milk: Strung together and relayed in sequence, your art, paired with Johnny’s haunting song, will become...

19 April, 2010

Theresa Malenfant takes another little piece of Halifax's heart at Bearly's Friday night. ...

30 January, 2010
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