Category for community events.
Last week Mano A Mano brought to you the exclusive interview with Paul Jago from the night of the Imbibe concert brought to you by SoundFM/Mano A Mano and Lake of Bays Brewing Company. Now we bring you the concert!
There are a few songs missing from the second set but just wait because Mano A Mano will be releasing video of some of these missing tracks soon! Also, check out the beer list below! Most notably the Mano A Mano Pomegranate Cerveza that was on tap that night and SOLD OUT!!!!
An authenticity runs through Canadian singer-songwriter Lynn Jackson’s music that reflects a deep commitment to telling stories that ring true with listeners. Combine this with her gentle voice, rich instrumentation and sweet melodies and you get a sound that is roots-Americana with a hint of folk-pop.
Having shared stages with Ron Sexsmith, Fred Eaglesmith and Jay Semko (The Northern Pikes), Jackson just finished her 7th studio album. The Acoustic Sessions is a stripped-down rootsy retrospective of her writing since 2002 and follows up 2012’s critically acclaimed Down in the Dust (Busted Flat Records, Fall 2012). Jackson take her cues from Lucinda Williams, Kathleen Edwards and Eliza Gilkyson, using her ‘whiskey and honey’ voice to mix her timeless melodies while spinning tales about love, loss and everyday people. Having toured Down in the Dust through the dusty Prairies to Vancouver Island in 2013, Jackson is about to hit the road again with a coast-to-coast tour to support Acoustic Sessions. As audiences warm to her soulful storytelling style, Jackson is solidifying her place as one of the most original and compelling voices on the Canadian folk music scene.
I love the fact that the record showcases the powerhouse talents of Lynn and her good pal Chris Boyne, who is in the band Sexdwarf. Lynn and Chris share an aural intuition and together their voices create the perfect vocal meld. The Acoustic Sessions is another fine testament to Lynn’s strength as a songwriter. It matters not what music genre she chooses. And the reviews are just beginning to roll in …. Coral
The Acoustic Sessions” boasts a live, off-the-floor vibe and the vocals are front and centre. Jackson has never sounded stronger and more self-assured as a vocalist. Whether you call it folk, country, introspective songwriter or roots, “The Acoustic Sessions” is, hands down, my favourite of her albums.” – Robert Reid, Waterloo Region Record.
“The Acoustic Sessions” is perhaps the cleanest and sharpest representation of Jackson’s strengths as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Unencumbered by careful, dense arrangements and studio sheen, her listeners are provided with the chance to hear her words and melodies as if for the first time. It’s also her first record to share billing with her frequent collaborator, tour-mate, and pal, Chris Boyne.” – Patrick Finch – Nightlife, The Waterloo Region Record.
Co produced by Lynn Jackson and Chris Boyne, Acoustic Sessions also showcases the creme de la creme of local players from guitarists, Joe Dunn of Sexdrarf, Scott Fitzpatrick, and pedal steel master Steve Wood, plus violinist Wendy Wright, cellist Nick Storring and very special guest performer /co-producer Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake!
I am so proud of Lynn and it was an honour to have her as a guest. During the show Lynn premiered specially chosen tracks from the Acoustic Sessions including Mark The Spot, Maria, Wintersong, and Scarecrow. Lynn’s also played her favorite songs Ham and Eggs and Trans-Canada Highway Go! from her special guest Slo’ Tom – ex frontfunman from Ottawa’s ultimate alt punkrockster trinity Furnaceface!
Lynn Jackson is having a CD release party for her 7th studio album The Acoustic Sessions at the Jane Bond in uptown Waterloo – with special guests, Ottawa’s Slo’ Tom plus a lot of local talent, including: Chris Boyne, Joe Dunn, Scott Fitzpatrick, Andy Miller, Steve Wood, Wendy Wright!
The admission price is $10 for the show and the CD! And that CD price is One Night Only folks! Because it will only be available for $15 after the Jane Bond gig.
For more info go www.bustedflat.com or www.lynnjackson.net
(**This is going to be such a great night. Doors open at 8 pm so I suggest you get to Jane Bond early and grab a CD for just $10 while quantities last ** Coral FM)
Just before the epic Paul Jago concert at Imbibe in Kitchener, where he unearthed the music of the Gandharvas, we were lucky enough to sit down with Paul and pick his brain about The Gandharvas, Said Dog, Balls Deluxe and more! Check it all out in the interview podcast!
The Gandharvas live concert will be aired over the next few weeks on the Mano A Mano show!
Not unlike the Perimeter Institute, just last night the Mano A Mano show witnessed the gathering of another local think tank group – The SoundFM Tech Committee. All the important people were here as we on the spot rocked out some “Tech Committee” themed songs and even infused some of the actual meeting! It is a podcast like no other! Please enjoy responsibly!
In the podcast we explore the origins of this ALS Ice bucket phenomena that is sweeping across social media. In addition to that we look at the rules and rock some great tracks.
I realize I was a few days late with completing the challenge. I wanted to look into this a bit further to make sure that it was a good cause. What I was worried about was that the time limit forced people to just mindlessly follow the pyramid scheme social media experiment without looking further into what it was about.
Check out our facebook page for my video!
I was nominated by DJ Jeff E Jeff. I nominated Brad Merritt, Lyle Bell and Parker Bossley.
https://www.facebook.com/manoamanoradio/videos/715956105152054
Post by Mano A Mano – 100.3 SoundFM.
The Space Committee joined the Mano A Mano show this past TDIT. There was a whole smattering of DJ royality in the station enjoying some fine Rock Cut Lake of Bays Brewing Company Beverages. We even turned on the mic’s unknowing on the meeting during some instrumental songs! It is radio gold! check it out above!
You can hear the awards party above with some great tracks rocked out for each of the winners…But here is your list of winners:
Local Hero Award
2013 – DJ Zach – Highbrau Radio
2014 – Moses Bogart – Str8 outta the pit
Community Champion Award
2013 – Non-Toxic Airwaves
2014 – The Coral FM show with DJ Coral
SoundFM Soldier for behind the scenes work
2013 – Lieutenant Dang & The Nattyphysicist for the station move
2014 – Lieutenant Dang & Dr. Mark for renewing the CRTC liscense
The Most Dead Air Award
2013 – Megaseg
2014 – Airtime
The Best/Worst Teen Moustache Award
2013 – DJ JD
2014 – DJ Jeff E Jeff
The DJ AdRock memorial award for exceptional DJing
2012 – DJ Steel
2013 – DJ Saviour
2014 – The Nattyphysicist
The Freshest Beats Award for the best new program
2013 – Friday Night Rockabilly
2014 – The Electrifying Sessions with DJ Jeff E Jeff
The Best Classic Show
2013 – Mano A Mano
2014 – Mano A Mano
Paul Jago will be rocking out two sets of new and old Gandharvas tracks at Imbibe this August 30th! Go back to school with a BANG this year and make sure to check out this show!
In addition to that Lake of Bays Brewing Company will be holding a Tap Take over! (with a possible one off beer!!! DO NOT MISS OUT!)
Hailing from Waterloo, Ontario, The Royal Streets featuring Sam Keating, drums, Eric Stirtzinger, guitar, Algeron Friolet, Guitar/Vocals, Jillian Dowding, vocals, and Michael Demsey, guitar, have already begun to make their mark on the Canadian folk-rock music scene. Following a year and half of consisting Eastern Canada touring, The Royal Streets released their debut studio effort, Kings & Queen, on March 6th 2014 with the help of Catherine North Studios and producer Dan Hosh whose credits include Canadian acts like City & Colour, Whitehorse, and Rose Cousins.
Although the four of us have gone to school and been friends with each other for the majority of our lives, it was not until recently that we decided combine our efforts musically. The Royal Streets is our way of demonstrating hours and hours of hard work mixed with a variety of musical influences and our own life experiences. We are based out of Waterloo, Ontario and hope to share these sounds with all of you. Have a listen and join the riot, we are The Royal Streets.
They are now on the verge of their first Western tour and I am sure it will not be their last.
**This is strange mix for this podcast – part of it is phone chat, and part of it is in studio. The reason for this – my recorder did not properly record the live broadcast, (with Jillian, Michael, and Al who also sang a new song Sour Diesel) so I salvaged what I could of it and then mixed in the phone chat that I did with Jillian and Michael the day before. And then I mixed in some of the great tunes from their latest CD Kings and Queen. Ah, technology… ain’t it great when it works? – Coral.**
Catch The Royal Streets at The Wax (beside Bobby O’Brien’s in downtown Kitchener) with special guests Amberwood and very special guests 1951 featuring their good pal / producer Dan Hosh from Hamilton’s Catherine North Studios.
For more info check out The Royal’s Facebook page or http://www.theroyalstreets.com/
Bob Log III Performs this Saturday at Jane Bond!
Check out this one man band extravaganza!!!
Check out some of his hit tracks in the podcast above!
This is sure to be a spectacular show!
One of Canada’s hottest bands right now is Royal Canoe and they came by the Mano A Mano and Electrifying Session for an interview and to enjoy an abundance of Lake of Bays Brewing Company Rock Cut Beverages.
Check out their Website and Music here:
www.royalcanoe.com
In the podcast we ask the band never before asked questions and gain some interesting insights into this Rock Cut Feature Band.
Rob Deyman is the executive director of The TD Kitchener Bluesfest now in its fourteenth year.
I sat with Rob live on location at City Hall Rotunda and we had ourselves a wide ranging chat from the festival economic impact within Waterloo Region, to this year’s Festival highlight headliners!
Like Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Tom Wilson’s Junkhouse now 20 years old!, Lee Harvey Osmond, plus solo perfomances from the supertalents Colin Linden, and Stephen Fearing.
We also speak about the Sunday’s BIA Stage Cajun/Zydeko/Acadien showcases featuring naughty and fabulous Rosie Ledet and The Zydeko Playboys, Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet, and special guest Festival fave Otis Taylor. Think of this as a mini Treme! Magnifique!
We cover the workshop stages, for music lovers and musicians alike who like to know the history of the Blues, and we talk about The Youth Legacy Showcase. This year The Suns open the Festival mainstage with what is sure to be an electrifying performance. Buddy Guy is being awarded The Mel Brown Award this year. So apropos!
And then we talk about Bluesfests to come….. Is music visionary Jack White in the running? And who is one of Rob’s all time fave blues players? Tune in and find out.
For everything TD Kitchener Bluesfest go to www.kitchenerbluesfestival.com and check em out on Twitter and Facebook – See ya all out there!
Look out for these guys! It was a lot of fun to put together this little podcast. This is a segment from Coral FM July 30 featuring The Suns original song Soul to Waste which was beautifully documented by Phil Bast – a Howling good time! And I thought I would play some Bill Burroughs for The Suns lead singer Scott Metzger – Splat! – Coral FM
(sound file not available)
In our quest to visit the BEST restaurants in the KW region we got on the road (Weber street) and traveled until we saw the Big Brown Beaver on the logo of The Crazy Canuck! The restaurant is right across from the St. Jacobs outlet stores.
We knew in advance that this place was going to be great and DJ Jeff E Jeff and the lady fox wanted to accompany us too! I kept thinking that we were going to get a crosswind (as you can hear in the podcast) at the restaurant but it was actually the Lake of Bays Brewing Company “Top Shelf” Beer that was on tap!
We have been talking quite a bit about our craving for poutine and what is cool about this restaurant is that they have 8 different types of poutine. DJ Jeff E Jeff went with the Greek Tzatzik Poutine seen on the right and DJ AdRock went with the Smoked Meat Poutine seen on the left! I was able to try both of the poutines and they were both exceptional!
Like our co-host on the podcast, DJ Steelhead, who won our Lake of Bays Brewing company contest, I (DJ Steel) am a burger man. I was a little worried about going with “The Crazy Canuck” burger; I didn’t want to look like a light-weight and not be able to finish, so instead I went with “The Best Burger in Town”. The name alone made me feel like I was making the right choice. It can be seen here….It was the best burger I have had in this town to date! I will continue my quest trying to top this…but it has set the bar pretty high! If your looking at all these above mentioned meals and thinking “I’m vegitarian, I bet there is nothing that I would like here” well you are wrong! The Crazy Canuck is currently revamping 
their website and we were ordering off their new menu. The Lady Fox found this gem: The Quinoa Burger with the option of a lettuce bun!
In fact the new menu has a whole vegetarian section that you veegs can choose from!
The Crazy Canuck has got a cool vibe to it. When we went, it was a beautiful day and so we decided to sit outside under the Patio Laterns. The inside though is perfect for music lovers! There is an abundance of Canadian Music vinyl covers all over the walls to check out while ordering or dinning 
in. In addition to this once your done your meal you can walk into the adjoining antique store and reminisce about cool items from your youth (as we did! )
Altogether we had a GREAT time dinning at The Crazy Canuck……But wait! DESSERT!
ooh man…..it was soo good I’m not even going to describe it…I will just finish this post with this picture:
Here is the profile of our newest Lake of Bays Brewing Company 
winner!
Name: Chris Martin
DJ Name: DJ Steelhead
Twitter: @steelheadsfan78
Lead singer of Coldplay
Facilitator of the Leafsaholics anonymous site
Follow on Twitter: @TMLeafsaholics
2 time Mississauga Steelheads Fan of the year
1 time OHL fan on the year
Winner of the Mano A Mano/Lake of Bays Brewing Company Share, Share A Like contest!
Honourary SoundFM & Mano A Mano DJ.
Although the podcast above is a tasting challenge you, the listener, can play along and submit your score
for your chance to win an exciting prize also.
1) Listen to the podcast.
2) Write down which lake of bays beer you think they are tasting based on the song that we play.
3) Keep your score and your answers
4) Submit to: manoamanoradio@soundfm.ca
*) Any submission counts as an entry (not only the best score)
The masked competetors shown are DJ Merlyn (aka DJ Second Choice, aka DJ Plan B), DJ Dragon, The 100 Beer Guy (@The100Beer ), and Mattthew George (@MatttthewGeorge )
They each taste tested their way through 7 rounds of various Lake of Bays Brewing Company Beers while DJ AdRock rocked out seemingly fitting rock tracks; giving the listeners a glimps at the struggles the contestants were having!
In the end it came down to a exciting tie for second place that could only be settled with a most difficult tie breaker! Check out the podcast for the complete details
When all the votes were in we had our winner! Mattthew George (The Lake of Bays representative) won by a landslide. Second place went to none other than! DJ Merlyn!!!! Congrats!!!
As you can hear above initially we (Mano A Mano) boycotted Big Music Festival when they refused to allow the Mano A Mano show to have media passes. Organizers of the Festival said “You guys aren’t big enough to have media passes”. Things changed when Slash refused to perform until we (Mano A Mano) got our “All Access” media passes.
Both Days the weather was just beautiful! First thing we did when we got in there was hit the food tent to see what the artists were eating. I believe that the “All Access” area was catered by The Waterloo Inn. There were many self-serve platters of various salads, breads to make sandwiches, etc. Then the entree’s were a choice between a beef medallion seen here and a chicken breast and some mashed potatoes. Everything looked good and I went with the beef. There were an assortment of Gatorade, Poweraide, coffee, Bob Marley drinks, water, pop etc.
The first day we got there just in time for Moist who in our opinion stole the Saturday show. Their new songs were great and the classics sounded even better this time around.
The second day we were a little braver, and had our camera’s ready. We got there just in time for Big Wreck and walked up and got backstage. This was the most exciting part of the entire weekend. Seeing things from the back of the stage with that many people there and then having the bands walk past was very cool! All the techie’s in the back were very nice! Big Wreck didn’t acknowledge any of us and just walked past but I’m sure they were just “in the zone”.
Next up this guy who was very unfriendly and seemingly like head of security started tightening things up. This was understandable since Slash was up next and then Aerosmith. The only problem I had with this was the way that he was going about doing it….threatening people with kicking them out and having them arrested – it seemed a bit excessive. Anyways, suddenly our “All Access” passes didn’t get us “All Access” anymore…it was more limited to a small section.
I was particularly excited to see Slash, because The Age of Electric front man, Todd Kerns was going to be playing Bass for them. They didn’t want to talk to anyone before the show and their Van pulled up right to the side of the stage (where we were no longer allowed) They got out went right to the stage and put on the best performance of the Sunday night show. They played a bunch of new songs off Slash’s new album and then finished off the set with a few Guns & Roses songs which really got the crowd going. 
We have a photo here of Todd Kerns (the guy who looks like he is terrified to go down the ramp) They decide to go the back way to walk past the “All Access” people so that they could snap a few shots. We were able to get close enough to take a shot of Slash
Then everyone jumped in the van. Todd Kerns noticed my Age of Electric T-shirt and came back, shook my hand and said “Nice Shirt” and then hopped in the van and they were gone. It was pretty exciting! I have met Todd Kerns many times and he is one of my favourite artists and his brief gesture just reinstated why.
I feel that the American bands create a separation between “celebrity” and “radio person” or “celebrity” and “listener” where they are guarded from us. They will allow you to enjoy their music but don’t want you to get too close. For me this makes the music less personal. Although Aerosmith played their stuff perfectly, it felt like a machine up there playing the music that I had no personal connection to. Todd Kerns reaching out (even just briefly) reminded me why I like Canadian music because I feel like the artists are more genuine towards their fans and will do things like sign an autograph or take time to not only perform but also take a photo etc. to make it more of an experience for the die hard fans.
Anyways, next up was Aerosmith. They were great! Equally great was the chocolate cake in the food tent that we were now allowed back into.
At this point I Facebooked Todd Kerns and told him about the great chocolate cake that was happening in the All Access food tent while we enjoyed Aerosmith! I was hoping he would make an appearance to get a photo opportunity. Perhaps the Slash entourage was already out of there or off enjoying Aerosmith somewhere, unfortunately he didn’t show up.
All together it was a great festival! Aerosmith closed things out playing “Dream on”, which I was especially excited to hear and it was a great version of the song. (at least this is how it ended for me as I rushed to beat the crowd to get out of there)
The most disappointing part of the night was how all the people parked (at least where we were) on a side road, all got $20 parking tickets for parking in the same spot for over 3 hours. Who knew! The city of Kitchener made out like bandits not only on Big Music Fest renting out the park but also on all the people attending who now have to pay an additional $20 on top of their possibly $130 tickets. That by-law officer can take the rest of the year off because he probably went well beyond his yearly quota.
In 2013, after touring her one woman shows around the world to critical acclaim, Sharron was named the first cabaret-artist-in residence in Canada right here at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. In anticipation of her hit 2012 cabaret tour Sharron Matthews Superstar: GOLD, Sharron was named “Woman of the Year 2012” by the New Current, the largest online student magazine in the UK.
GOLD travelled from Toronto, to Scotland, London to New York City and then on to Cape Town, South Africa, for their inaugural cabaret festival and Sharron sold out houses and received rave reviews on her biggest tour ever.
Her New York cabaret debut, Sharron Matthews Superstar: World Domination Tour 2010, was named “#1 Cabaret in New York City in 2010” by Andrew Martin of NiteLifeExchange and WPAT Radio.
In 2009, Sharron was named “Best Cabaret Performer” by Toronto’s Now Magazine. Sharron ended 2013 back at her alma mater working on and premiering her latest show, Full Dark, which was workshopped at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre where she is the Cabaret-Artist-in Residence. In 2014, Sharron’s performance calendar will see her traveling all across Canada and back to the UK.
TV and Film:
For two seasons, Sharron was one of the stars of Global’s hit TV show, Canada Sings, which was nominated in 2012 for a prestigious Reel Screen Award and in 2013 for two Canadian Screen Awards. Sharron was named “Queen of the Mash Ups” for CS by the Toronto Star’s Debra Yeo. In 2011, she played Daphne of VisionTV’s, She’s the Mayor. In the hit movie Mean Girls, she played Joan the Secretary alongside Tina Fey. Sharron was also featured in the films Cinderella Man, Take the Lead, The Music Man movie for Disney and Hairspray: The Movie.
Solo Performer and Cabaret Artist:
In 2013, after touring her one woman shows around the world to critical acclaim, Sharron was named the first cabaret-artist-in residence in Canada.
In anticipation of her hit 2012 cabaret tour “Sharron Matthews Superstar: GOLD”, Sharron was named “Woman of the Year 2012” by the New Current, the largest online student magazine in the UK. “GOLD” travelled from Toronto, to Scotland, London to New York City and then on to Cape Town, South Africa, for their inaugural cabaret festival and Sharron sold out houses and received rave reviews on her biggest tour ever. “Hot Show! One of the top cabarets of the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe.”- The Scotsman. “Sharron is pure gold!”- Broadyway Baby. “Sharron Matthews truly is the Superstar!”- The Curtain Up Show.
Sharron Matthews took the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival by storm, garnering amazing reviews for her one woman show, “Jesus Thinks I’m Funny”, which was named one of the “Best of the Fest” by the Scotsman newspaper, out of 2800 shows. Following the Edfringe, Sharron toured the show to London’s Leicester Square theatre to sold out audiences.
Her New York cabaret debut, “Sharron Matthews Superstar: World Domination Tour 2010”, was named “#1 Cabaret in New York City in 2010” by Andrew Martin of NiteLifeExchange and WPAT Radio.In 2009, Sharron was named “Best Cabaret Performer” by Toronto’s Now Magazine.
Sharron ended 2013 back at her alma mater working on and premiering her latest show, “Full Dark”, which was workshopped at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre where she is the Cabaret-Artist-in Residence.
In 2014, Sharron’s performance calendar will see her traveling all across Canada and back to the UK.
Stage Actress:
Sharron played Madame Thenardier in Les Miserable on a North American tour with Colm Wilkinson, Lottie in original cast of the Harold Prince revival of Showboat, Babette in Beauty and the Beast at the Princess of Wales and the Narrator in two sold out runs of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She played the Wicked Witch of the West in the acclaimed LKTYP production of Wizard of Oz for which she was nominated for a Dora Award the same year Sharron had the honour of hosting the Doras Awards (Toronto’s theatre awards) at the Winter Garden Theatre. In 2011, she returned to YPT (formerly LKTYP) play Maisie in the Seussical to critical acclaim.
Recording Artist:
Sharron is featured on the soundtrack for Harold Prince’s Showboat, Disney’s The Music Man, and her own cd, Party Girl.
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/par…
Writer:
Sharron’s has written articles that have appeared in publications across the globe. Recently, Sharron has written for The National Post, Now Magazine, The Scotsman and The List Magazine. Her blog was named “Brutally honest and funny” by CTV’s Glenn Sumi.http://sharrmatthews.blogspot.ca/
Sharron Matthews and I had a wide ranging chin wag which runs from her tumultous childhood, to portraying both sides of the theatre nasks through her work, her family tree and The Bard, in addition to singing in New York at Joe’s Pub, Vicious Bitches in Toronto with Gavin Crawford, Film roles in Mean Girls with Tina Fey, and Hairspray with John Travolta, her latest one woman show about stage fright (in creative progress) Full Dark, and of course ….
Sharron’s Big Broadway Show. For me meeting Sharron Matthews was like meeting a kindred spirit. Sharron is smart and sassy and so down to earth. She with her scotch and diet cola, and I with my shiraz, waxed songs, Sharron’s Mash Ups, theatre, her pal Jann Arden, Canada Sings, George! her Dora award winning husband (London Road!) Prince, and Grey’s Anatomy (**Spoiler Alerts**)!
I can hardly wait to experience this one of a kind performance July 26 at St John’s Church for The Elora Festival. Cheers to a Lady who Soars on Her Own Terms! – Coral FM.
Listen HERE for my chat with Sharron Matthews! 
http://soundcloud.com/coral-andrews-1/sharron-matthews-take-2
download podcast
Above is our Beertown review Battle. Beertown is a great restaurant right in Waterloo Square. Although the above mainly talks about our most recent visit, we also talk about a few other great things that have gone down at Beertown.
Firstly, Beertown is doing a special cask night on Thursdays. On various Thursdays they are featuring different craft brewery casks. If your like me you have no idea what a cask is….well as DJ AdRock explains: it is kinda like a keg but it is a more natural way to brew beer that uses yeast to carbonate the beer instead of artificial carbonation. (something like that at least)
Anyways, all the technical stuff aside, it has a very smooth taste. We headed down to Beertown because we heard that they were having a Lake of Bays Brewing Company Sparkhouse Red Ale Cask on tap. AdRock and I decided to split up, I went in at dinner time with my family to dine and DJ AdRock went with the university crowd at night.
During the dinner time Beertown session, the first thing I ordered was the Fish Taco’s. This is a picture of just one, but you get two of these bad boys! I have always heard great things about these fish taco’s and they did not disappoint!
Before I ordered this I noticed it was right between the appetizers and the entrees so I thought that it wouldn’t be enough so I also ordered the Poutine. Food wise the portions were so good that I could have done with just one of the two of these but, I was glad that I did order the Poutine because it was soooooooo good also! I must be Canadian because I have been craving it! The food and the Lake of Bays Brewing Company Sparkhouse Red Ale Cask were both excellent. The dinner portion of the night was excellent! As DJ AdRock reports in the podcast, the evening was a great time as well; mainly spent drinking more of the cask. Make sure to follow @beertownph and @LB_Brewing to find out when Lake of Bays will have a feature cask at Beertown again!
If your ever in the heart of Waterloo and looking for an exceptional place to eat and enjoy your favourite Lake of Bays Brewing Company beer stop into Beertown!
And there is always the chance that Neil Osborne and the 54-40 guys might be there rocking out!
Most people didn’t know this but, it wasn’t just Canada Day yesterday – It was also Netflix Day! We celebrated both early on Mano A Mano so that we could spend the day at The University of Waterloo’s Canada Day Celebration!
The above podcast was recorded at the underground Mano A Mano headquarters, which is why it sounds slightly different from our usual podcasts. This was done so that we could spend the entire day, into the night, at the UW Canada Day Celebration.
There was lots to do this year. We were especially excited to go because the musical groups were acts that we have featured on the show and/or are featured in The Electrifying Adventures of DJ Jeff E Jeff. To Start the day off we took the kiddies to the bouncy castles. They were great fun! We got there at 3:30 and there were no line ups. Tickets were a bit expensive: $2 for one “ride”. The “rides” lasted, at the very most, 30 seconds too. Toward the end of the day, these line-ups took about 20-30 minutes before getting your 30 seconds of fun. Even though this aspect of the Canada Day celebration was expensive there we a lot of free things and give-aways at Columbia Lake – one really cool thing that was put on was Canada Day Turbans.
People could go and get a free Turban in Canada Day colours!
To Start things off on the Main Stage, “The Water Boys”, The University of Waterloo’s expert singing group took the stage. (The University of Waterloo is not known for their music program) They beat-boxed us through a compelling version of the fitting Green Day Song – 21 Guns, something else, and then an alternative version of “Oh Canada”. This set the stage for the TVO Kids content that was to follow.
My daughter was soooo excited to see “Princess P” From TVO Kids. Apparently she was the stage announcer. All she really did was read from a clip-board and introduce the acts but for some reason my daughter just loved it and I could not figure out why.
Splash and Boots (as seen in the photo) were great! They had all the kids engaged and were dancing and singing along. They took a little break for an Aboriginal Hoop dancing and Drum circle which was amazing! I was in such awe that I forgot to pull out my camera. I would have to say that, for me, this was the best show of the entire TVO Kids set. When they finished, Splash and Boots returned and got right back to where they left on – captivating the kids. Next they played a few commercials, where an Canadian Olympian, Heather Moyse, told us about how she was an Olympic medalist “but more importantly, (she was) a University of Waterloo Grad”. I believe she was implying that ALL UW Grads are more important than Olympic Medalists.
Next up the “Silly People” started showing off their stuff. I think that people were starting to get hot, thirsty and hungry because their stuff was cool but the Silly People kept telling the crowd “Its ok to clap” and “We must have shocked you all into silence”. Anyways, the constant patronizing got to be too much, so we left and tried some of the food trucks. I had heard of SWAT so I got a Sandwich With An Twist and it was great! We played some tag, got some freebies and then the HUGE monitors told us that the Mano A Mano past feature band Born Ruffians were going on! In True UW Federation of the Students fashion (the people who fought to stop funding to CKMS and tried to shut us down) the President of the UW Feds took the stage and introduced the Born Ruffians saying “I’m excited to hear what they sound like”. Obviously she booked them because of their stylish good looks. Born Ruffians sounded great, I hope that the president of the UW Feds was happy with what she was able to book. The only criticism I have of their set is that they dropped a few F-bombs with lots of children still around. But in their defense – why are kids allowed to be awake after 7pm, even on Canada Day?
The almost main event was Steven Page ex-Barenaked Lady. His set went back and forth between new stuff and Barenaked ladies classics. His new stuff was quite good! At one point after one of his originals, I thought “they should finish there, that was darn good”. But I was wrong. After that they performed Brian Wilson which elevated it even higher. The night was topped with a great firework display.
Overall I thought that it was a great Canada Day! I cannot fully compare to previous years because this is the first year that my kids have been old enough to stay at the park from 3:30 until 11:00. They had a great time – so I rate this Canada Day an overall success!
We had such a tough time with this battle. We were getting so upset that the submitted theme might to too hard for us to accomplish. But in true Mano A Mano style we persevered, worked hard day and night and battled out the best first world problem songs.
Now to start things off we were discussing on twitter with the Wet 
Secrets and the Gay Nineties to have them in the Mano A Mano environment for an interview or live to air. It turned out that they were watching Mounties bandmate Hawksley Workman’s play “The God that comes”. So we took a request from the Gay Nineties here is that twitter discussion.
The Gay Nineties requested the Hawksley Workman song “Tokyo Bicycle” which got us thinking on Air. The Mounties have a song “Tokyo Summer” and Hot Hot Heat (which includes Mounties member Steve Bays) has a song “Tokyo Vogue”. So the other official member of the Mounties is Ryan Dahle and he has no “Tokyo” song. BUT, he is releasing a new Limblifter album sometime soon…we tweeted him about his possibility….and it looks promising!
If there is a 14th song on the new Limblifter album you can thank the Mano A Mano show for that! If there isn’t…..we might have another collaboration project for Ryan!
As part of Season 8 of the Mano A Mano show we are going to visit and review various local establishments that serve Lake of Bays Brewing Company beverages. This will then be used as our Mano A Mano battle theme every other week.
The Podcast kinda does the best job in describing the experience but I will add here a few photo’s and a brief description.
Upon getting there I was surprised at how packed the restaurant was – which is always a great sign!
And then the food! ooh my goodness! It was excellent! I have never had wings this good before…it was a different style 
from what I am used to, but it was excellent. Not battered, not deep fried – BBQ’d!! I also had some ribs, beer battered onion rings, some weird jalapeno bread ball things all topped off nicely with a refreshing Lake of Bays Beverage – Spark House red ale.
This Restaurant is a hidden gem in the KW area and I am very lucky that it is right near my house! I am definitely going to have to make a few extra stops here! Check out the podcast for some bands such as the local band The Gary Cain Band who play here and other songs we felt are great SmokeHouse Tunes!
Check out their website and menu here: http://www.lancsmokehouse.com/
The Wet Secrets have been one of my favourite bands for a long while. We recently got the chance to see the Wet Secrets and their live show is just awesome! They are definitely a band you want to check out at NXNE. But not only are the Wet Secrets playing that show…..
… just recently two other bands have entered my top ten fav bands, those being The Mounties and Fur Trade. A common element to those two bands is Parker Bossley who is guitarist and singer of a band called The Gay Nineties – who is on tour right now with the Wet Secrets. Their music is awesome! I have seen the Mounties a few times now and Parker Bossley is an amazing musician so I anticipate these Gay Nineties sets to be awesome as well!
There are two local-ish shows coming up, one being a NXNE showcase:
Sat June 14 – Hamilton, ON at Club Absinthe
Thu June 19 – Toronto, ON at The Rivoli (CoPilot AM showcase)
This is guaranteed to be a great show!!!!
Elora Festival Artistic Director Noel Edison is well established as one of the most versatile and charismatic conductors in the world today. As conductor and artistic director of two world-class Canadian ensembles, the large-scale Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and the chamber-sized Elora Festival Singers, Edison is widely recognized and appreciated for his skillful, interpretive work with both choir and orchestra.
A native of Toronto, Edison moved to the scenic village of Elora, where, in 1979, he co-founded the Elora Festival and, a year later, the Elora Festival Singers as its choir-in-residence. Since 1984, Edison has served as Artistic Director of the Elora Festival as well as Organist and Choirmaster of one of the few all-professional church choirs in Canada at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Elora. In 1988, he established the Elora Festival Orchestra.
In 2002 the University of Guelph conferred upon Noel the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music.
And on January 22, 2009, he was appointed to the Order of Ontario, the province’s highest honour.
Elora Festival
The Elora Festival was launched as the Three Centuries Festival in 1979. It has since evolved into an internationally acclaimed annual music event now known as the Elora Festival that attracts capacity crowds to the Village of Elora. Patrons enjoy four weeks of international calibre music, from large-scale classical works for choir and orchestra to intimate evenings of jazz and popular music.
Elora Festival and Singers
The Elora Festival Singers (EFS), an all-professional Grammy- and Juno-nominated chamber choir, was founded in 1980 by Noel Edison as principal choral ensemble of the Elora Festival. In 1992, the Elora Festival Singers was incorporated as a separate organization to manage its year-round activities. Since 1997, the choir has been the core of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers, and is the choral ensemble-in-residence of the Elora Festival for four weeks each summer. Through regular concert series, recordings, broadcasts, and touring, EFS has established a reputation as one of the finest chamber choirs in Canada and beyond, contributing to the musical life, not only of the community, but on an international stage. With eight releases on the NAXOS label, the EFS is known for its rich, warm sound and clarity of texture. The choir is renowned for its diverse styles, for its commitment to Canadian repertoire, and for its collaborations with other Canadian artists. The Elora Festival and Singers continue to manage a professional choir of international regard and present a summer festival of classical and contemporary music, with an emphasis on choral works, featuring Canadian artists of international calibre in the unique setting of the Village of Elora.
It was my great pleasure to have Elora Festival Artistic Director Noel Edison as a special guest on Coral FM. We had a lot of fun in a candid wide ranging chat which included Noel’s experience on The Grammys red carpet, his insight into the music of tomorrow, his childhood passion for singing, how Carl Orff’s Carmina’s Burana’s Oh Fortuna is about to be used in a most unusual way, and of course The Elora Festival 2013!
Noel Edison is welcome back anytime! – Coral FM.
For a complete guide to Elora Festival 2014 and to order tickets Visit http://www.elorafestival.com
Listen here for my interview with Noel Edison
