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Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour Screening- Ticket Giveaway- Jan 14, 7pm
CJLO is pleased to be teaming up with the Banff Mountain Film Festival to offer 5 free pairs of tickets (value $48 per pair) to their January 14 World Tour screening, 7pm (SGW Campus, Alumni Auditorium, H-110) The Banff Mountain Film Festival is the world's premier event for films on mountain subjects. Films selected for the tour were picked from 40 shortlisted entries, have innovation in image and sound, and cover a wide range of subjects including nature, adventuring, and mountain settings. To get your tickets: email promo@cjlo.com- first come, first serve!
January 13th, 2014
Hosted by: Celeste Lee
Stories by:Caitlin Spencer, Alexa Everett, Patricia Petit-Liang
Produced by: Emeline Vidal
Monday, January 12th, 2015
Hosted by: Danny Aubry
Stories by: Celeste Lee, Emeline Vidal & Danny Aubry
Produced by: Julia Bryant
Confessions of an Instagram Addict
I hate to say it, but I am an Instagram addict. I see friends and they tell me, “Oh I loved your photos on Instagram, you really post a lot!” A back-handed compliment, praised tinged with judgment. I don’t really know anyone in my personal life who uses the medium so ardently, so consistently, so obsessively, and to what end?
On days when I’m feeling good, I tell myself this is just an extension of my life as an artist, or as I’ve come to prefer calling myself“content creator”. Content creator, is just a less awful way of saying I am catering to my “personal brand”, empty words that signal to empty efforts. Calling yourself an artist or a writer implies value, depth and thought - my forays in social media, my Instagram problem doesn’t feel meaningful at all.
Boredom inspires me to sometimes treat my social media accounts as a video game, not unlike The Sims. Rather than merely a reflection of who I am, what I see, what I do, it becomes an opportunity to accumulate likes and friends. I’m strangely proud of the nearly 600 followers I’ve accumulated, but then I look at a classmate of mine who runs a successful fashion blog who has well over 200K and I come back to wondering, what am I doing? Why am I doing it?
Recent studies have linked feelings of depression and inadequacy to Facebook. A 2013 article in the New Yorker entitled, “How Facebook Makes Us Unhappy” by Maria Konnikova delves into these findings, searching for answers as to why the “social” aspect of media was actually making us feel increasingly alienated. Konnikova writes:
The psychologist Beth Anderson and her colleagues argue, in a recent review of Facebook’s effects, that using the network can quickly become addictive, which comes with a nagging sense of negativity that can lead to resentment of the network for some of the same reasons we joined it to begin with. We want to learn about other people and have others learn about us—but through that very learning process we may start to resent both others’ lives and the image of ourselves that we feel we need to continuously maintain. “It may be that the same thing people find attractive is what they ultimately find repelling,”
I might not be addicted to Facebook, but the effects are the same. As I scroll through my Instagram feed, I am both marvelled and upset by people’s beautiful vacations abroad, happy relationships and active social lives. I look at my Instagram and feel a stab of sadness, but also a sense of inspiration.
Maybe my Instagram is a work of art after all, an accumulative portrait in loneliness and isolation. I have to scroll back 26 photos before I find one with me and another human being. My photos of parties, of vacations, of friends are the anomaly: I’ve fully embraced the alienation of Instagram and cherish it as a portrait of my alone life. I don’t take photos when I am with others, because I have them to fill my time and my life. I use it to show the things I am looking at, and have time to look at because I am myself by myself.
Also, be sure to follow CJLO’s awesome Instagram page: http://instagram.com/cjlo1690am
- Justine Smith is CJLO Magazine’s Additional Content Editor
Friday January 9th 2015
Hosted by Catlin Spencer
Stories by Catlin Spencer & Patricia Petit Liang
Produced by Patricia Petit Liang
Commonwealth Conundrum broadcasting live from the Wildside Festival tomorrow
Have a taste for theater in these cold times? Then tune in tomorrow to hear from artists who will be performing at the Wildside Festival at the Centaur Theater, happening from January 7th - 17th. Rebecca from the Comonwealth Conundrum show will be broadcasting live, interview performers and artists from the festival from 4-6PM. Be sure not to miss it as it's sure to be a crazy romp into the minds of the creative people who will presenting the plays.
What's Happening?
We Just Wanna Have Some Fun, Down At The Rock And Roll Club
When he was a boy in the 1980s, Prince Palu used the year 2015 as the date of the future in the multi-layered story-lines he created while playing with his beloved Star Wars action figures. There was also a hope that one day in 2015 he might win the Millennium Falcon in a game of sabacc in the back room of Chalmum's Cantina. With this in mind, it is understandable that when the clock ticked to zero on January 1, 2015, Prince Palu was a little distraught. He was now living in the future and no closer to ownership of the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. However, he has gotten over the fear, confusion, and frustration with all of this to wish you a Happy New Year and tell you about a few things worth your time and money this weekend.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
If you are in need of a place to engage in some interesting conversations, enjoy a few drinks, and get lost staring at art on the wall, then head over to Le Divan Orange (4234 St-Laurent) and start your night off with a vernissage, ironically, given my feelings about this current state of the calendar, called Le Futur Commence Maintenant. You can check out the Facebook event to see the list of more than a dozen artists involved. But that is not all that is happening at Divan Orange tonight! While the walls will be occupied with the vernissage, the stage will be occupied by Mike O'Brian, and his baritone voice and finger-picked acoustic guitar, to provide the perfect soundtrack to the evening. O'Brian will be kicking off his month-long residency as the chosen artist for the January edition of Divan Orange Camp. Both events take place between 6 and 8 pm and are free! Cheap drinks, warm ambiance. This is a can't miss way to start your weekend.
Got a rockabilly itch that penicillin can't fix? Luckily for you L'Escogriffe (4467 St-Denis) has got you covered tonight with the Great Hoodlum Jam Special (Elvis' Birthday Edition) featuring members of Golden Two, Hardrock Goners, Bloodshot Bill and more. The King would have been 80-years-old today, so eat a peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich in his honour before heading out of the house and down into the amber glow of L'Esco.
If the holidays left you with a lot of pent-up aggression, one way for you to release all that excess energy would be to throw yourself into the swirling sea of moshing punks at La Vitrola (4602 St-Laurent) and take in the fast, loud and punchy sounds of four Montreal hardcore punk bands. While this is not really my scene, the last time I bumped into Monsieur Danny Marks of the legendary CPC Gangbangs, he told me that the current Montreal hardcore scene is the city's greatest musical secret. Vile Intent, Gashrat, Shitsu, and Facade will do their best to prove him right. I must warn you, given that the headliners sub-genre of music has been named 'power violence' this show is probably not for the casual punk listener.
If you like your punk with a little bit more glam and a whole lot less teeth on the floor, then you might be more interested in the homecoming party for the brother and sister duo of The Castagne's at TRH-Bar (3699 St-Laurent). It will be their first show since returning to the frozen tundra of Montreal after a successful tour of California. They will be joined by the experimental-improv-space-rock of Laval, Quebec's PHVRVON. $5 at the door.
And last but definitely not least for tonight, with it being the second Thursday of the month that means it is time once again for CJLO's Beats and Brews over at Kafein (1429A Bishop). This month your friendly college radio DJs will bring you an evening of cutting edge music in the indie rock sphere. Click the link above to see which DJs are spinning and when. Drink specials and good times. It all starts at 7:00 pm.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Now if you too have been house-bound, frozen by fear because it is now the year 2015, there is a gent who goes by the name Lew Phillips who will be setting up his musical Wayback Machine, that happens to be concealed inside his amplifier, down at L'Esco to make us all feel a little better about the calendar. This fresh faced fellow will take us back to a time when the cars were bitchin' and the tunes were far-out. A night of early '60s Rock and Roll and Rhythm & Blues. It'll be a gas!
Up the street at Bistro de Paris (4536 St-Denis) PONI and Ghost Vines, Devil Eyes and Leamers guitarist Matt Lee's new band, present a night of uncompromised rock 'n' roll. It is a PWYC event, but that doesn't mean you should just walk past the person taking money at the door. No, it means pay what you can, as in something.
For those who want to funk it up a little bit, the Montreal nine-piece band Busty and the Bass bring their brand of eletrofunk to the stage at Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent). Originally formed by a group of McGill University music students to have fun and play house parties, the bands momentum kept building and lead to them winning the CBC's 'Rock Your Campus' contest last October in the Canada-wide search for the best university band. They will be joined by another up and coming band, Kingston, Ontario's Will Hunter Band.
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Do you like your rock 'n' roll with equal parts pop, experimental, and art? Then the show happening at Casa del Popolo (4873 St-Laurent) on Saturday night is the show to kick off your 2015. Alden Penner, formerly of The Unicorns and Clues, will be joined by Smokes, who are fresh out of the studio recording their debut full length that will be out later this year, Bantam Wing and Year of Glad. If you are looking to dive deep into the Montreal music scene this year, this would be a great show to start your plunge. The Facebook event has it listed at $7 - $10, so be prepared for $10 at the door. Show starts at 9:00 pm.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
With it being so early into the new year and the post-holiday lull still lingering, there does not seem to be much happening on this Sunday night. Add to this that the weather is being as stupid as it is, what you really need to do is find a small, intimate space to rub elbows with fellow music lovers and keep the cold at bay and spirits high. What better combination of circumstances is there for me to recommend that you head over to Barfly (4062 St-Laurent) for the long-running Bluegrass and Old Time Country Jam hosted by Matt Large? If you have never been it is a real treat. And once the old timey music gets its talons in ya, you can head on down to the Wheel Club (3373 Cavendish) on Monday night and sink deeper into the bliss.
--Prince Palu hosts The Go-Go Radio Magic Show every Friday night from 6 to 8 PM.
January 8th, 2014
Hosted by: Marilla Steuter-Martin
Stories by: Marilla Steuter-Martin, Tom Matukala, Emeline Vidal
Produced by: Emeline Vidal
Wednesday January 7th 2015
Hosted by Marilla Steuter-Martin
Stories by Julia Bryant, Tom Matukala, Catlin Spencer
Produced by Tom Matukala
Eagle Tears
Self-released, July 2014
If I try to describe the debut album from Eagle Tears, I think of times when music actually held some technical clout. I think the '70s. There's a total '70s metal and hard rock vibe, but to stop there would be too easy. I'll have to get to that in my summation, it'll come.
The eight songs on this LP have craftily paid homage to these tone-heavy times. Whether they meant to or not, it's undeniable. Although their influences are almost in focus, there are no specific examples that scream, "well this song sounds like this band or that song sounds like that band". This my minions, is a skill that many try to master, but few actually attain by not even trying to. Their influences are held very close to their personal style and skill levels.
I have to mention right off the bat that Eagle Tears have three guitarists. That in itself raises the bar to a zone of genuine craft and composition. I mean, who do you think of when you think of bands with three guitar players? I think of The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, most of Frank Zappa's bands, Blue Oyster Cult, Black Oak Arkansas, Buffalo Springfield, The Eagles, Iron Maiden, to a lesser but equally atmospheric extent, Radiohead. Pretty awesome company they're keeping. There's a lot happening here folks, and technical playing and song arrangement pops on this album for me.
Big on the menu is harmony. The vocal harmonies are great. Hal and George belt out great vocal harmonies, and drummer Bob (guitar player for Mad Parish) rambles in with some mighty fine singing, as well as back ups. It always blows my mind when a drummer sings well, the shear separation going on in their brains amuses and impresses me to no end. The vocal harmonies are really there in "Driftwood" and their epic "Lady Bison", and really over the top in "Money for a Woman". The longer these guys play together the better their voices will melt into their harmonies. Their next release will be even sweeter by my calculations.
Speaking of harmonies, let's get down to the meatier harmonies of the guitars. I can only say, tasty, really sweet indeed. There are well thought out guitar harmonies in almost every song. Right from the first song "Sweet Little Thing", and a few songs later in "Driftwood", the guitar harmonies really sing out on top of JB's rumbling shag carpet bass tone. Steve and George and Hal all take turns at harmonising on their guitars with each other, truly paired or tripled for ultimate flavour, a fine skill in itself.
Not to mention the huge, dripping leads oozing off of Steve's Gibson armoury. His Les Paul Custom and jumbo fretted Flying V are just singing on this album. Having played in punk/hardcore bands like Blood Sausage and Jack Boot and the Oppressors has given him a really heavy attack in his solos and riffs. Hooking out on the bass in the Mongrels and playing bass for (Mountain's drummer) Corky Laing's solo project gave him some invaluable experience in classy riffs and letting it all hang out. Which is good because that's exactly what Eagle Tears does. George and Hal's lead work is solid as well, and Hal's harp playing is dubiously frenetic on more than one tune. I personally love it in "Hard and Heavy".
Eagle Tears album launch at La Vitrola
I've seen Eagle Tears live three times now and they do not disappoint. You can hear that these guys rehearse relentlessly. Tight and with an engaging delivery is the trail that they're blazing on stage, and this really comes through on the album. It has a very live feel to it. It is chalk a block with riffage and lead ins and outs to the chorus, pre chorus licks and tasty outros.
They released this album in the summer of 2014 and have sold out their vinyl. Playing at Heavy Montreal and just finishing both west and east coast tours (backing up Hamilton's Monster Truck) here in Canada have definitely broadened their reach and has really solidified their playing and singing as a unit.
I guess I can say they give off that thick carpeted harmonic vibe of bands like The Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynrd, that technical Blue Oyster Cult aesthetic, and that undeniably heavy punch and delivery of a Kiss, Humble Pie, or Thin Lizzy, while maintaining a cozy comfort zone with the tones from their Hiwatt and Orange amps, which spread out rich and thick.
I saw them twice before this album was even released and I knew, just from their earlier versions of these songs and the covers they chose to play, that the release would blow doors in 2014. It does not disappoint, in fact it shines, it shines like stars. (Bob will get that one).
Rating: 8.8/10
--The Kman hosts Beyond That Graveyard III every Friday night from 9 PM to midnight.
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