BTW -Friendly Rich, Apryll Aileen, AFROWAVETO, Leanna Oki, Art Bergmann, Betty Moon, Heal The Earth

Fri Apr 16 2021
Friendly Rich & The Lollipop People

This week we spotlight Eastview Neighbourhood Community Centre 86 Blake Street, a member of the Daily Bread Food Bank that has been operating for over 40 years. Open Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Stepping in with the irrepressible Friendly Rich and what he dubs A Love Letter to Live Music from Friendly Rich

Friendly Rich & The Lollipop People unearthed a rare live recording of the band in their element, one Monday night in Toronto, September 2019.  This unique recording captures the distinct vibe of one of Canada's most important music venues on any given Monday night -- The Cameron House.

This new recording is available on all streaming platforms Friday April 16th.

"This recording is a love letter to live music and the people that it connects" professes Friendly Rich, who has been performing at The Cameron House regularly for the last two decades.  Although we all miss live music right now, releasing this buried treasure is bittersweet.” 

BTW-Partow, Sitar Fusion, Oblyx, Wayne Hussey, Morning Bells, Betty Moon, Jonathan Emile, Logan Ledger, Lynne Hanson

Fri Dec 20 2019
Partow

The World at Hugh’s is a new series coming to Hugh’s Room Live that will feature some of the best music from around the planet. The host of CBC’s Big City Small World, Errol Nazareth, will be speaking to a few of the musicians on stage ahead of the performance. This intimate Q+A will be a perfect introduction to our World at Hugh’s. Errol will be taking the stage at 8PM along with his guests.

First up is Partow, Sunbeam in Persian. Partow is an international ensemble led by Iranian tar player and composer Padideh Ahrarnejad. Its roots are in Persian classical music but the sound encompasses diverse influences and draws its strength from the group’s members who come from Turkey, Greece, Peru and Brazil. Partow has recorded its first album, set to be released in early 2019. website: https://bit.ly/36tIsmL

BTW-Zach Oliver, Basement Revolver, Lydia Persaud, Frazey Ford, Laura Repo, Little Scream, Betty Moon, Terry Gomes

Fri Oct 25 2019
Zach Oliver

Starting off with a blast of cheeky monkey music. Canadian pop-rock n’ roll bad boy and self-described “bastard” Zach Oliver has dropped his personal anthem and “battle cry” in the form of new 10-track LP, Banzai — available now.

“I feel alive in this music,” the Toronto-based artist says of the album as a whole. “I think that’s where the name came from. I love that ‘banzai’ is used as a patriotic cheer and battle cry. It’s kind of like the Japanese version of ‘hooray’ and shouted in the same sense as ‘long live the King’ in English…

“This relates EXACTLY to how I felt making this,” he continues. “It’s a battle cry for being original. I wanted to celebrate coming into my own.

“Although 90% of the album is about a relationship, a lot of the back-end emotion came from just being 21 or 22 years old, and figuring out who I wanted to be and what I wanted to say.”

Betty Moon’s Address To The Nation

Fri May 31, 2019
Betty Moon Cover

There is such a thing as being too far ahead of the curve. Or just too outspoken, creative or damn convincing. Betty Moon is a former teen model, singer and dancer. She sold over 10,000 DIY records during her high school years and A&M/Universal signed her to a record deal, launching her professional career. Still and all, traction for her particular brand of music was hard to come by in Canada and in 2010 she relocated to El Lay. There she found a toehold which to date has grown to an impressive global footprint.

In 2013, Moon broke through as a featured artist at the Sunset Strip Music Festival. Moon has performed at venues including The Roxy, Whisky a Go Go, and The Viper Room in Hollywood, California. As you can imagine, much has been written about the rising Moon, with the final product, of necessity, allinterlarded with the viewpoints of the writer and oftimes, an editor.

A good way to get out of the way of the story is to have Betty tell it in her own words, via a Q&A.

So here we go.

How do you stay so prolific?

Betty's New Moon Comes Chrome Plated

Fri Sep 29, 2017
Betty's New Moon Comes Chrome Plated

In these troubled times, Betty Moon wants us to all to chrome out and appreciate the bright and shiny aspects of life. So it follows that her current cookie Chrome is the soundtrack to all that appreciation, an on point SoCal NuPop sound filtered through Moon's quirky and all-embracing sensibilities.

“The name Chrome comes from an expression I use. When you think of chrome, you think of shiny, sparkling, something that mesmerizes you, the cream of the crop. That was how we saw the album, so Chrome it was."

If you're familiar with Moon's output, 7 albums staggering the lines between Goth, garage rock and metal, this shiny happy new thing seems to be coming outa nowhere. Truth is, Betty's always been a genre dabbler. While the lines she's blurring may have changed, the blurring itself remains, flirting brazenly with disco, clubby bangers, pure pop harmonies and Europop and techno throughout. Being Betty, the girl pop on " Bullet To My Brain" and "Natural Disaster" comes over like something Haim and Nina Hagen cooked up in a Detroit basement.

BTW with Lenny Stoute The Wilderness Of Manitoba, Bombargo, Hermitess, Tin Pan North, Pokey LaFarge, Betty Moon, The Pistolwhips, The Blue Goose

Fri May 19 2017
The Wildern4ess of Manitoba Photo Credit Zuzana Hudackova

The current offering from The Wilderness Of Manitoba, The Tin Shop EP is something of a changeup for the band. The layers of anthemic folk rock it's known for have been stripped back to reveal the heart of Will Whitwham’s songwriting. Whitwham together with vocalist/guitarist Raven Shields will support the release with a string of tour dates throughout Spring with Jenny Berkel and Eamon McGrath.

Since its inception The Wilderness Of Manitoba has continued to grow and evolve with every new release. Throughout it all founding member Will Whitwham has left his imprint on each and every sound the band has produced - from the chamber folk debut, Hymns of Love and Spirits, to the cinematic indie pop of Between Colours.