Check out the podcast above as we rock out some super hard hitting tracks while I explain to AdRock about the repairs that were done to “ol’ Betsy” my beloved van.
If you or any of your loved ones are experiencing heat problems in one of your vehicles and don’t have the money to get someone to fix it…Go to this site! Perhaps you can make a change in someones life:
James Brown is/was trying to bring the Foo Fighters here to the illustrious Waterloo. I include “was” in my previous sentence because as I type this and visit his kickstart page it says (canceled). His Kickstart page that can still be found here (at least for now).
There are a few problems that I see with this whole situation….
1)The Foo Fighters need $350 000 to come to Waterloo! WHAT! That is quite the pay off for one night of rock. I have been working to get the Unicorns to come play in Waterloo just for the betterment of the city.
2) CANCON – I wonder if James Brown told the masses of Waterloo that a Canadian Classic band such as the Unicorns was opening for the Foo Fighters if it would have gotten more pledges. Although American music is great, I think that Canadians are waking up to the amazing Canadian culture that is right before them. We don’t have to pay the high prices to import culture anymore – WE HAVE IT!
3) What I think he thought would have happened (and still may) is that a big company like Blackberry or Manulife etc would jump on board and endorse the concert. Blackberry has brought in Huge bands in the past for its employees and has thrown some amazing concerts in the city.
Perhaps he can appeal to the creators of “Big Music Fest II” and get the Foo Fighters on that bill. But that is a rant for another time!
Our own plight: We have had some success with Canadian Indie bands to contact them and have them play concerts in the area but the Unicorns are difficult guys to reach. They broke up approx. 10 years ago and played a handful of shows this past August. If you are unfamiliar with their brand of music check out the podcast above! We have had our own radio campaign to have the Unicorns come and play here in Waterloo which is why I push for them to become the Foo Fighters openers! We also want the Unicorns on the Mano A Mano program (and I guess we would take members of the Foo Fighters too, but they have to work around the Unicorns busy schedule) Hopefully one day James Brown and MAM’s hopeful concerts can all be realized!
54-40 has always been a favourite band of the Mano A Mano show, SoundFM and pretty much all of Canada. They are in the midst of recording their new album and “Building Future History”. Right now they are doing a very cool tour where they are playing a bunch of their singles acoustically and giving some cool stories about either the recording or some background information about each of these Canadian classics!
We were lucky enough to check out the last third of the Hamilton show! IT was AWESOME! The stories are great and because the songs are so well written they hold up acoustically and seem to connect even more intimately with the audience.
Although we missed the first two thirds of this show we are not worried – 54-40 is playing here in Waterloo! OCTOBER 19th! More details here: Details
Here is our Second Episode of “Top Shelf Video”, here is another great music Video put out by the Band PUP (formerly Topenga) It is a great video! Check out our “insights” above and then watch this GREAT video below!
This week we feature 8 local (for the most part) stores or services that YOU should check out!
First, Guitar shops, sure Long and McQuade is great but if you are into acoustic guitars we have just the place for you: “BrickHouse”
Second, Worth a Second Look has a bunch of great used stuff. We could spend hours in there looking for old treasures!
97 Victoria St N, Kitchener, ON N2H 5C1
Third, Total Auto Service! These are the only people I trust with my car! They will tell you what needs to be done and doesn’t give you extra unnecessary crap. Their prices beat every other place we have used!
http://www.totalautoservicewaterloo.com/
Fourth, The Blind Stitch. If you don’t want to have the same stuff as everyone else then check out The blind stitch. They make awesome sewn products and you can read a story behind various items that were just created
http://theblindstitch.blogspot.ca/
This one is obvious living here in the Waterloo region: Blackberry (formerly RIM) Even as they went through some tough times they still supported the community, including SoundFM and now that their products are AMAZING! go pick one up!
http://ca.blackberry.com/
For our less Glutenous Mano Amigo’s we have Grandma’s Gluten Free Goods. I had one of these cupcakes at DJ Adrock’s house and even if you enjoy gluten…its worth it to be healthier and eat these cause they taste sooo good!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grandmas-Gluten-Free-Goods/102737203373
Second lastly, Start Communications. Unsatisfied with what some of the big named companies provide? These guys offer rates that are the exact same….only thing is, you get WAY more for the same rate! check them out here:
and Lastly but not leastly, Mastermind Toys. This is a chain but has a small business feel to it. They have great selection and good prices! Check em out!
http://www.mastermindtoys.com/
If you have other great local buisnesses please send them to: manoamanoradio@soundfm.ca so that we can check them out and tell the community about these great places!
In the lineage of “Down The Alley” parties, the ex-owner of “Down the Alley” threw a new party at a new secret location in the Waterloo area that was even more remarkable. Including the re-forming of a few local bands, a rave, food, drink, you name it….it was at Wed-Dig. DJ AdRock and I were lucky enough to be invited and so we had to battle out great tracks pertaining to this event.
This is the third time we recorded the segment for this same video. We wanted to start with this video since it was a tweet by the Gay Nineties that gave us the initial idea in the first place!
Check out our review/commentary of the Gay Nineties video “Letterman” above then be sure to check this great video out below!
This is a reunion that we totally missed out on! The shows were all in August and in the US with only one in Canada but up in Montreal.
We are seriously hoping that the Unicorns will come down to Waterloo and perform here on the Mano A Mano show and continue the great indie rock that we know and love from this band! Check out the podcast above for two tracks recently released that are b-sides from the time of their amazing album “Who will cut our hair when we’re gone?”
Mano A Mano was lucky to have the regions best guitar player and even better Guitar Hero player, Gary Cain in the Mano A Mano studio.
Gary sat down with DJ Adrock and DJ Plan B and answered the tough questions about naming his band and what it is like to be the best guitarist in the region.
He then proceeded to partake in an audio battle with DJ Adrock and DJ Plan B with the “comic 
book” theme (that will be released soon)
For now make sure to check out this great local legend in the interview above and at his website below.
Here is DJ Adrock and DJ plan B enjoying the music shredding of none other than the Gary Cain Band
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!!!!
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!)
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.
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.
DJ Adrock always talks about Frightened Rabbit. So there isn’t much more so say about this Rock Cut Feature band called “Owl John” other than it is great and it has members of Frightened Rabbit! Check it out!
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.
This weeks feature is not just one band as it usually is….Last Gang Records sent us their new releases moments before the show and both of these bands are among our favourite Canadian bands so we had to release both of these as our feature at the same time!
To top that off….both of these tracks are AWESOME! Check it out in the podcast above.
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!
