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It might still be another two years before the Liberal party elects a new leader. After an unprecedented fall to third party status and the withdrawal of party leader Michael Ignatieff, the Liberal’s national board suggested they have bigger priorities.

In a statement sent to the party’s caucus, the board cited challenges and responsibilities that the federal Liberals now face. Under recommendations released by the board Tuesday, the next liberal leadership race could be delayed to 2013.

In the meantime, the elected and defeated candidates in caucus will meet Wednesday to discuss the recommendations. Among the recommendations is a proposal that the interim leader should not be allowed to run in the next leadership race. 

The board also recommended that the interim leader should not explore merger options with the New Democrats. It stressed that a temporary leader not be allowed to fundamentally change the nature or structure of the party without the approval of all delegates.

Ruth Ellen Brosseau found herself in the spotlight again on Tuesday. It was revealed that the NDP incorrectly claimed in a biography that the controversial MP had a college diploma. The false claim was removed from the party’s website and the officials take full responsibility.

They say Brosseau never made the claim to them and had only said she had been a student at the college. A party worker inadvertently changed that by writing in the biography that she had a diploma in Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications from St. Lawrence College in Kingston. After removing the claim, the party also replaced the picture of Brosseau on the website with a more professional one.

This development is the latest embarrassment for Brosseau and the NDP. It was previously reported that she took a vacation in Las Vegas during the campaign and never set foot in the Quebec riding she won. She’s been shielded by her party from explaining to Canadians through the national media why she didn’t campaign for the seat she won. She only provided one interview to Le Nouvelliste newspaper last week.

She said her French was rusty and she’ll work on improving her language skills and visit the riding in the days ahead.  

Dallas, Texas-based psychobilly trio The Reverend Horton Heat were recently back in Montreal and back in my jukebox! With 9 albums and 25 years of greasy, grimy, guitar lickin', bad-ass upright bass whippin', and dirty drum kickin' music under their belt, The Reverend Horton Heat kept the crowd rockin'.

The Reverend (aka Jim Heath) on guitar and vocals was a tall stack of a man in his fine 1950's vintage suit and shirt and looked straight out of a James Dean movie. Now in his early 50s, The Reverend's voice was still as clean as a whistle. He belted out tunes such as "400 Bucks" and "Nurture My Pig" from my favorite-to-date Sub Pop released 1993 RHH album, The Full-Custom Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat, with such precise guitar accompaniment it made me shake.

To The Reverend's left, Jimbo Wallace on upright bass walked the dog on that dog house like no other. Not to mention his straight-driving stage face with one eyebrow raised to the heavens as he hammered licks with cool confidence. Never talking directly into his vintage microphone, Jimbo took control over the stage in other ways.  Right from the beginning, Jimbo was a crowd favorite as he banged that driving bass rhythm with one hand, but even more so when we heard, as an introduction to "Jimbo Song," of his ass-kicking alley fight that sent the Reverend to the hospital during a cocktail party some odd years ago. Jimbo just smiled and nodded.

On the back beat was the new (since 2006) long-haired, baseball cap wearin' band member Paul "Paulie" Simmons who kept that fast paced psychobilly beat going. He did not say a word, nor did he show any signs of stopping. He just kept that shinny silver kit rockin'.

Together this Texan trio performed a tight 1.5 hour set of dirty, beer drinkin', heart breakin', and sweet-sounding love-makin' American sub-culture rockabilly classics. Most astonishing was the brotherly affection and rapport these two front men, and original members The Reverend and Jimbo, had with one another. Jimbo would slowly drop to the ground whilst banging on the bass. The crowd followed his every move. The Reverend then stepped on the bass and continued to play his rock n' roll riffs without a scratch. The crowd was roaring! Another crowd favorite was when Jimbo played with one hand on the bass and another on The Reverends Gibson beauty as The Reverend played with one hand on the bass. This was performed without interruption to the classic track "Yeah, Right" from the 1994 album Liquor in the Front. I tell you, if you had your eyes closed you would have never known - except for the wailing audience screams, of course.

Towards the end of the show, The Reverend Horton Heat had gone through their set list. It was time for requests. The crowd was yelling their favorites from left and right. All you could see were smiles on the band's faces. This Montreal crowd sure knew their stuff. "Baddest of the Bad," "Cruisin' For a Bruisin'," "Wiggle Stick," "Bales of Cocaine," "It's Martini Time," and many more were added to the bill that night. The band ended off the night with their psychobilly cult classic "Psychobilly Freakout," which left the crowd doing a psychobilly shuffle on the dance floor. Needless to say, I left Le National popping my feet. It's been a while since I have heard some good ol' rockabilly boogie and I only hope for more. For now listen to my favorite The Reverend Horton Heat track "Big Little Baby" on YouTube here.

-Sugarface Nene hosts Beat The World on Saturdays from 12-2pm

Heading out to see Alfa Rococo on April 29th at La Tulipe was an experience that was - as my friend described it - “quintessentially French." Striped shirts and glasses that begged the question “do you have a prescription for that?” were out in full force. However, there were also pockets of people that are normally under-represented at concert: children and older folk. It was actually quite endearing to see the concert as a gathering of music lovers of all ages. However, the music itself left me with mixed feelings.

Before I get into the full swing of my critique, I want to preface the negative by saying that this was not a bad show. I had a good time, and were it not for the input of a friend this show might have walked away with an A- in my books. That would have been based on fact that I was reviewing the show and not the band. However, as my friend put it “the music is the show”. If I am to give my full opinion on the show, I need to include the critique of the band that I feel is holding this act back from being truly entertaining.

Let's start with the opening band, Cecile Hercule. She was the perfect act to precede Alfa Rococo; it really illuminated the differences between France French and French Canadian music. Her set consisted of really solid French folk tunes; she even played a melodica (let me save you the trip to Google; it's that funny keyboard with a blow tube thing that usually only turns up in the Frenchy-est of music)! The crowd seemed to really appreciate her, and she even managed to get people laughing with a few jokes she made that ribbed Quebec. It was cute, and was the perfect set-up for Alfa Rococo's energetic pop entrance.

Once the main act was on the stage, people were really moving. The group got going with "Météore," which is undoubtedly one of their more popular songs. The band's energy was impressive. Nobody took a breather, and they were dancing and getting people on their feet for the entirety of their show. They looked good, they sounded good, and they interacted well with their audience. What I like about this group is that the pop stylings feel very North American, but there are also influences of French Canadian and traditional French music that give it a sound that is very unique to Montreal (aside from the French Canadian lyrics, of course). I was really feeling it as they moved forward into songs like "Lever l'Ancre," and "Chasser Le Malheur;" I think I've had "Chasser Le Malheur" stuck in my head ever since.

Sadly though, I have some hangups I must talk about. As I mentioned before, if I was reviewing this show simply on the merit of the showmanship, this concert would have been a success in my eyes. What sours it however, is that when you see Alfa Rococo, especially if you're like me and you only know the songs you've heard in stores and on the radio, you'll be disappointed to see that what you've heard is about as deep as the well goes. There's really very little to distinguish one song from another, and after about a half hour goes by you'll sadly find that, while you really want to love this adorable duo, you've just grown insidiously bored. I hate to say it, but it feels like you're watching Metric without the edge. I like this band, and I think that if you're a diehard fan this show will not disappoint, considering that Alfa Rococo has the energy and the showmanship to keep you in your seat. However, if they want to win over what I can only presume is a considerable group sitting on the fence, this band needs to take some risks and push for depth in what is already some catchy and solid music.

-Joshua K hosts The Chesterfield Hour on Fridays from 11am-12pm