On September 1st, 2017, I had the exciting opportunity to interview 54-40 drummer Matt Johnson on my radio show, Mediafrenzy Fridays (CHRW 94.9 FM). We discussed their latest summer tour, new album, historic venues and the group's endurance and longevity as one of Canada's best rock bands.
Get ready for a trip down memory lane to the mid 1990s!
These are all cassettes still in my collection (except the #10, my first CD and the Honourable Mention) In 1994 and 1995 there would be dances at the Youth Centre in my small hometown of 1200 people. Many of these cassette tapes would come along, labelled with my name on masking tape to give to the DJs to play. This was my first foray in providing music for the masses. (Not listed in order of importance). I did not have cable, so I would not have seen any of these videos at the time, but I've included them for your listening pleasure!
1. Dance Mix ’94 (Featuring “I Like to Move it Move it” among other embarrassing dance songs this compilation was my 2nd foray into dance music, after ‘Technotronic’ which deserves mention)
2. Dance Mix ’95 (Saturday Night and Macarena were played at every single dance in 1995, always)
3. TLC - CrazySexyCool (Waterfalls was a schoolyard hit. We knew all the words, but not how to talk to boys)
4. Salt n’ Pepa - A Blitz of Salt-N-Pepa Hits: The Hits Remixed (I didn’t know exactly what Shoop meant, but I knew I wanted to, baby! The love of old school hip hop I have today, can be traced back to this tape and I still DJ these songs!)
5. Alanis Morrisette - Jagged Little Pill (A Canadian woman in the mainstream, who is this miracle person!? Let’s sing along and be angsty like her!)
6. Cranberries - No Need to Argue (not a tape for the dances, but one I remember fondly playing in my walkman on long car rides to drown out the chatter of my parents. I love the Cranberries (and my parents) now more than ever.)
7. Presidents of the USA - s/t (The album when I learned bands didn’t have to take themselves seriously and you could write a silly song about anything and make it a hit. “Peaches come from a can, they were put there by a man”)
8. The Offspring - Smash (I bought this at the Music World in Pickering Town Centre mall, brought it back to my aunts house, put it in my 6 year old cousins pink cassette player and blared ‘Bad Habit’, including the swears!)
9. Green Day - Dookie (Rounding out my pre-teens I fondly remember singing Basketcase with all my friends during our Grade 7 grad trip to the Skydome. The Jays lost, but we were leaving public school and on top of the world! I also love that I sell the new Green Day album to 11 year olds today!)
10. Oasis - What’s the Story, Morning Glory (MY FIRST CD. This was kind of a big deal. My family was late in the game getting a CD player. I bought the CD brand new and took it to my neighbour’s sweet 16 birthday party. This was a huge opportunity for me, being only 12, to prove my worth and coolness as a teen, not a dorky kid (which, let's be real I still very much was). Anyways, the CD went over well, the older kids liked it. I was accepted and had plenty of bad influences for years to come. Mission accomplished!)
Honourable mention: Live - Throwing Copper. (I didn’t actual own this CD, but borrowed it from a friend and we all experienced and/or comforted a friend during some heart wrenching meltdown at one point or another at the dances when “Lightening Crashes” came on)
This edition is split between two topics. In the first half dj mediafrenzy is joined on this show by special guest, Matthew Beal, coordinator for the Emergence Queer Arts Festival this year and we celebrate LGBTQ2S-identified musicians and talk about what the festival has in store: such as film, poetry, food, dance, live music, drag, dj and more (Feb 7th). A clip from Pearl of Africa is played, Director Jonny von Wallström will be a keynote speaker at the full screening of his new documentary, 4pm Feb 7th at the UWO Physics and Astronomy Atrium.
The second half of the show focuses on local releases nominated for theCHRW Local Album of the Year Award, gala happening Friday Feb 13th at Rum Runners (9pm, free event). DJ mediafremzy selects a few tracks from varying genres, including some of her personal faves up for the award for best album and EP. Join us to find out the results at Rum Runners Friday Feb 13th!
Local film director, Jason R. Gray called in for a quick live interview about “A Short Escape”, a local short film event happening that night, featuring 5 shorts including a short drama (The Golden Hour), an experimental film, a comedy, a thriller and a documentary. (Approx. 212 people attended the Hyland Cinema for the screenings).
Congrats to Parker who won the Shiloh Nauvoo CD giveaway.
Raised By Swans - Except Us Dreamers (2014 LOCAL ALBUM “Oxnadalur”)
The Horrors - First Day of Spring (2014 ALBUM “Luminous”)
Sloan - You’ve Got a Lot on your Mind (2014 ALBUM “Commonwealth” + 2 CONCERTS, Western Fairgrounds and London Music Hall!)
St. Vincent - Bring Me Your Loves (2014 ALBUM “ST. Vincent”)
Jenny Lewis - Just One of the Guys (2014 ALBUM “Voyager”)
Modest Mouse - The View (CONCERT at London Music Hall)
Caribou - All I Ever Need (2014 ALBUM “Our Love”)
Dakar Audio Club - Promo EP (CONCERT in Exeter UK, also have a new album on Bandcamp)
Imogen Heap - Minds Without Fear (2014 ALBUM “Sparks”)
Le Fruit Vert - Epherimedes (CONCERT at EVAC)
Whoop-Szo - Niizhwaaswo (2014 LOCAL ALBUM “Niizhwaaswo”)
Timber Timbre - Curtains?! (NEW ALBUM “Hot Dreams”)
Chromatics - Candy (UPCOMING 2015 release!)
Morrissey - World Peace Is None of Your Business - (GIVEAWAY “World Peace Is None of Your Business”)
Daniel Lanois - Space Love - (2014 ALBUM “Flesh in the Machine”)
Electric Youth - The Best Thing (2014 ALBUM Innerworld”)
Astral Self - Restitution (2014 LOCAL TAPE “A Person Described As People presents Forest City Series Vol. 1”)
James Hunter Six - Let The Monkey Ride (CONCERT at London Music Club)
The Coup - Guillotine (CONCERT at Hard Luck Bar in Toronto)
Atmosphere - The World Might Not Live Through The Night (2014 ALBUM “Southsiders”)
Broken Bells - After The Disco (2014 ALBUM “After the Disco”
Tanya Tagaq - Uja (CONCERT at Aeolian Hall)
Thanks to Aaron for calling in and telling me about his favourite concert of 2014, Operators at CMW in Toronto. Congrats to Jason, for calling in and winning the 2014 CD from Morrissey “World Peace is None of Your Business”, and thanks for telling us about your favourite show of 2014, Timber Timbre at Aeolian Hall. I didn’t get a chance to play a track from “Late At Night” By Alanna Gurr and the Greatest State, which also made my list this year. A couple of noteworthy new local bands to mention, Pacanomad and Wormwood: Look out for more from them in the new year!
Let me tell ya, Half a Dino organizes some pretty wicked music events and I want to spread the word about this great rock n roll show happening August 10th. I'll be closing the night with by spinning some vinyl tunes. There will be 4 bands playing before my set, so I'm likely to be on around 1AM.
I'm familiar with The Raccoon Wedding (soo much fun live! Great instrument line-up) and The Sea & City (Their sweet fabric covered CDs avec button are stocked at Grooves Records) and I had a listen to the other acts online and can say that this show once again features some amazing talent. I'm oh so glad we have venues like APK Live and dedicated promoters/organizers/producers such as Half A Dino (who will be releasing a compilation album later in the year. Keep your eyes peeled for that.) The poster for the show was designed by multi-talented super gal Katie Wilhelm.
Here are the deets. I have a few new records I got in Chicago, I'd like to share them with you. Come on, rock out:
