This started over some personal angst about not being approved yet for the TCHC media contact list and noticing that TCHC had the audacity to pull off a press conference in the hood just east of me. When I saw the clips on the evening news I noticed over the shoulders of the politicians that the exteriors of the townhouse units weren't finished. Then up pops this post on Facebook with a selection of photos attached that reads in part- "The homes are part of Toronto Community Housing’s commitment to clean, safe homes for tenants." I just had to go see for myself. On the one hand, I wasn't disappointed because I came home with pictures of exactly the opposite of a clean and safe neighbourhood. On the other, I was hugely disappointed because of what appears to be complete construction chaos.
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Shawn Hook and BC Youth Chinese Orchestra Performing Live On The 2018 JUNO Broadcast. (Photo Credit: CARAS/ iPhoto Inc.) TORONTO, ON - Today MusiCounts, Canada's leading music education charity, is celebrating a successful 2018 JUNO Week filled with numerous exciting events and initiatives. The week saw MusiCounts honour Canadian music icon Jim Cuddy, the 2018 MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award recipient Laura Lee Matthie and featured performances by the MusiCounts StarBand, MusiCounts TD Community Music Program recipients and special guests Dear Rouge, Scott Helman and The Beaches.
"MusiCounts was thrilled to be involved in many 2018 JUNO Week initiatives, and to have the opportunity to recognize our program recipients and supporters", Said Kristy Fletcher, Executive Director, MusiCounts. "Thank you to everyone who attended and supported MusiCounts' JUNO Week events". To kick off the opening of the TD Green Room on March 23, MusiCounts TD Community Music Program recipients, the Saint James Music Academy delighted guests with a special performance. They were then surprised with $20,000 in new instruments for the program. 2018 JUNO Award winners for Breakthrough Group The Beaches and JUNO Award nominee Scott Helman also took to the stage as part of the festivities. MusiCounts TD Music Program recipients, The BC Youth Chinese Orchestra then joined multi-platinum JUNO nominee Shawn Hook, on stage during The JUNO Awards Broadcast for a rendition of his hit song "Reminding Me". Visit www.cbc.ca to watch now. The MusiCounts StarBand, comprised of over 65 students from seven Vancouver Area schools who had previously received instruments grants via the MusiCounts Band Aid Program, hit the stage on March 24 at Let's Here It! LIVE. Led by Education Chair, 2018 JUNO Host Committee and 2013 Musicounts Teacher of the Year, Mark Reid, the students were joined by guest performers JUNO Award-winning band Dear Rouge. At the JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards presented by SOCAN, Jim Cuddy received the MusiCounts Inspired Minds Ambassador Award, presented by Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation. Cuddy was honoured for his profound support of MusiCounts and is the driving force behind the creation of JUNO Cup Presented By CBC Sports, which has raised over $850,000 to date for MusiCounts. The 2018 MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award recipient Laura Lee Matthie from Orillia Secondary School was presented with her Award at the Chairman's Reception Presented By Music Canada, experienced VIP treatment during JUNO Week, attended the JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards Presented By SOCAN and walked the red carpet at The JUNO Awards Broadcast. MusiCounts was also honoured to be supported by many events during JUNO Week including, JUNO Cup Presented By CBC Sports, JUNO Cup Jam Presented By CBC Sports, JUNO Songwriters' Circle Presented By SOCAN in association with the Canadian Music Publishers Association, Stories from the Studio and The JUNO Awards Broadcast. CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK (CMW) once again presents iHeartRadio Fan Fest and the Sirius XM House.
On May 11th concert goers can catch international radio hit makers at Rebel night club. iHeartRadio Fan Fest Line Up: Tyler Shaw, Elijah Woods & Jamie Fine,Shawn Hook, Ria Mae, Belly, Marianas Trench, French Montana & DVBBS Pre-sale: Wednesday March 21st @ 10am – Thurs March 22 10pm. General on sale: Friday March 23rd @ 10am EST On May 10th and 11th Sirius XM House will be taking over The Phoenix Concert Theatre. Sirius XM House Line Up: Kiefer Sutherland, Crown Lands, Monster Truck, Blackie Jackett Jr, and more TBA Pre-sale: Thursday, March 22nd at 10am General on sale: Friday, March 23 at 10am Ticket Info: Explorer Wristbands and tickets now on sale on cmw.net/music and Ticketweb. LINKS http://cmw.net/music https://twitter.com/CMW_Week https://facebook.com/canadianmusicweek https://instagram.com/canadianmusicweek Now in its 36th year, Canadian Music Week guarantees fans across all genres a week of shows at over 40 live venues in downtown Toronto. (Toronto, ON) – Frank Turner has revealed “Blackout”, the first single from his new album Be More Kind today. The song “is new territory for me, musically – a song you could even play in a club,” says Turner. “It’s about how we might collectively respond to social dislocation and collapse.” The accompanying video was directed by Michael Baldwin and shot on the George Lucas stage at the famous Elstree Studios. Be More Kind, out May 4 via Xtra Mile Recordings/Polydor Records/Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company, represents a thematic and sonic line in the sand for the 36-year-old. “I wanted to try and get out of my comfort zone and do something different,” says Turner.
After his stripped-down, live-sounding previous album, Positive Songs for Negative People, Turner wanted to try a new approach for his next record. With this in mind, he recruited producers Charlie Hugall (Florence And The Machine, Halsey) and White Denim’s Austin Jenkins and Joshua Block, and the idea of recording a more rock-led album with tints of electronic-pop took shape. Be More Kind was made over a period of seven months, giving Turner the opportunity to turn songs on their head, try different versions, and shake up the dynamics within his band. Be More Kind was inspired by a Clive James poem called “Leçons Des Ténèbres”: “I should have been more kind. It is my fate / To find this out, but find it out too late.” “It devastated me the first time I read it,” Turner says. “A lot of older, wiser people tend to say things like that, that the things that come out in the wash at the end of a human life are the way you treated the people around you. In the modern world, that’s a lesson that all of us, myself included, could do to learn.” Pre-order Be More Kind HERE. Toronto Tour Dates September 19th, 2018 The Phoenix Concert Theatre September 20th, 2018 The Phoenix Concert Theatre TORONTO, ON - Today MusiCounts, Canada's leading music education charity, is pleased to announce that this year $725,000 in musical instruments and equipment, will be distributed to 80 schools across Canada through the MusiCounts Band Aid Program. To celebrate, a special MusiCounts StarBand comprised of Vancouver area music students will perform during JUNO Week on March 24, with special guests JUNO Award winners Dear Rouge. MusiCounts is excited that generations of students across Canada will know the benefits of music through these instrument grants," said Kristy Fletcher, Executive Director, MusiCounts. "We can't wait to celebrate all 2018 MusiCounts Band Aid Program recipients during JUNO Week, with the MusiCounts StarBand and Dear Rouge."
The MusiCounts StarBand is a unique multi-school wind orchestra featuring over 65 students from Vancouver area schools, who previously received instruments through the MusiCounts Band Aid Program. Led by Education Chair, 2018 JUNO Host Committee and MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award recipient Mark Reid, participating MusiCounts StarBand schools include, John Oliver Secondary School, Killarney Secondary School, Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, Tamanawis Secondary School, Maillard Middle School, Terry Fox Secondary School and Vancouver Technical Secondary School. The free MusiCounts StarBand performance hosted by CBC personality Grant Lawrence, will take place Saturday, March 24 during Let's Hear It! LIVE at Vancouver Art Gallery Plaza (750 Hornby St., Vancouver, BC) from 3:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. (PST). TORONTO, ON - Today MusiCounts, Canada's leading music education charity, announced that Canadian music icon Jim Cuddy will be the recipient of the 2018 MusiCounts Inspired Minds Ambassador Award, presented by The Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation. The award recognizes individuals who have had an extraordinary impact on music education and MusiCounts.
As a member of Blue Rodeo and as a solo artist, Cuddy has received some of Canada's highest honours including, The Order of Canada, inductions into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Canada's Walk of Fame, multiple JUNO and SOCAN Awards and the Governor General's Performing Arts Award. For nearly 15 years, Cuddy has been an ongoing advocate for music education through his profound support of MusiCounts initiatives and events. In 2004, Cuddy was the driving force behind the creation of JUNO Cup, an annual charity hockey game, which to date has raised $840,000 for MusiCounts. Cuddy also served on the MusiCounts Advisory Committee for several years, helping to further the charity's mission of ensuring that youth have access to music in their school or community. He has also participated in a MusiCounts Band Aid Program celebration and been an advocate for CARAS and MusiCounts. Most recently in 2017, Blue Rodeo sponsored the MusiCounts Teacher of the Year Award hosting the recipient teacher and her students at the band's recording studio, The Woodshed. Cuddy will receive a solid crystal statuette based on the JUNO Award design, at the 2018 JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards on March 24 in Vancouver during the JUNO weekend. Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ), one of Canada’s largest and most widely attended music festivals, once again announces a long list of internationally acclaimed acts as well as national, local and emerging artists all performing July 5-15. The stellar roster of for the 51st edition includes Toronto R&B pop sensation The Weeknd, national folk-rock treasure, activist, singer-songwriter Neil Young (his only Canadian play this summer) and pop-prodigy Lorde who kicks off her UK tour with the Québec city performance joined by 80s feminist pop-icon Cyndi Lauper.
In addition, returning after their rained out performance in 2015, The Foo Fighters will finish what they started on the Plains of Abraham along with EDM duo The Chainsmokers, genre-bending avant-garde artist Beck, Canadian pop star Shawn Mendes, 90’s jam band legends Dave Mathews Band, and Atlanta rap-god Future, all performing on the legendary Bell stage this summer. On July 9, In collaboration with the Center de la Francophonie of the Americas and the Congrès Mondial Acadien, the FEQ will deliver a platform for Francophone artists of all different backgrounds to come together for an evening celebrating our rich cultural history. Highly acclaimed Acadian artists will be joined by a number emerging Acadian musicians. More details of the Québec-Acadie event will be announced in the coming weeks. Full list of artists from A - Z is available HERE Regular sale of passes begins Thursday March 8th, 2018 at noon HERE . Passes are $100 until June 4th, 2018 and $110 from June 5th, 2018. CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK (CMW) is thrilled to announce the next wave of artists performing at this year’s festival taking place May 7-13, at over thirty official CMW venues across downtown Toronto. Atlanta MC, and trap rap king 2 Chainz, Canadian electronic solo artist Alice Glass, Seattle based DJ and producer Sango and indie-pop duo Matt and Kim, all join previously announced acts Sloan, Cupcakke, The Rural Alberta Advantage and more for the 36th edition.
Next wave: 2 Chainz, Alice Glass, Anemone, The Funk Hunters, Beauts, Billy Moon, Bridgette Bardon’t, Chippy Nonstop, Don’t Bother, Helena Deland, Isla Craig, J Blissette, ZONES, Heaven for Real, Jaunt, Johnson Crook, League of Wolves, Matt and Kim, Mauno, Moon King, Motel Raphael, Natalie Lynn, Petra Glynt, Possum, Sango, Shred Kelly, The Boom Booms, The Used, Tough Age, Goosebump, TRAITRS, Mundy’s Bay, Twin Bandit, WHIMM, WHOOP – Szo, WLMRT Purchase wristbands & tickets here LINKS http://cmw.net/music https://twitter.com/CMW_Week https://facebook.com/canadianmusicweek https://instagram.com/canadianmusicweek A miniscule amount of knowledge about housing voucher programs in the US would have alerted the Social Planning Council of Toronto to the potential dangers associated with such an endeavour.
The number one thing I wanted to know as I listened to their speakers from places like the United Way, ISAC (the Income Security and Advocacy Center), and the ODSP Action Coalition.was how does the idea of a Portable Housing Benefit work together with the calls for commitments to Poverty Reduction Strategies and the Guaranteed Annual Income Pilot Program that has been rolled out in Hamilton, Lindsay, and Thunder Bay. The truth is it doesn't. The implementation of a Portable Housing Benefit would disempower individuals. It will prevent people from having any REAL choice while ensuring that the Social Planning Council and their member agencies still have a poor and unfortunate base to support. Without which it would be difficult for them to raise donation dollars, apply for grants, and supposedly earn their pay cheques. On the other hand, giving money directly to those in need through an expanded Guaranteed Annual Income Program, would arguable be more empowering to the recipients and cost effective as the money goes directly to those in need. Thereby removing, the need for the overpaid middle men representing the charities and organizations that are profiting off the backs of the poor. Overall, I was deeply disappointed with this forum. Especially considering that my three table mates appeared to have no clue what the proposed Portable Housing Benefit was all about. That's disgraceful given that as I stated before the speeches even started ... "I'm the only one at this table that's not being paid to be here." |