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Now imagine this in 3-D (Image: Jorge Mejía Peralta)
We were a little surprised that after James Cameron decried the “stupid stuff” emerging from 3-D cinema (i.e. Clash of the Titans) he would make a 3-D film about a band whose previous hits include “My Humps.” The Black Eyed Peas, fresh off the success of “I Gotta Feeling,” which broke the Billboard record for topping the charts for 20 weeks, will be the stars of Cameron’s next blockbuster 3-D flick.
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Jake Shears (Image: Neill Turner)
Electronic rockers Scissor Sisters professed their love for Toronto and Canada yesterday in an interview with the National Post, and we’d just like to say, the feeling is mutual. Apparently front man Jake Shears took away a very special souvenir from Toronto at the tender age of 18. “I met this really sweet construction worker from Collingwood and lost my virginity in Toronto at the Four Seasons Hotel,” Shears said. “He had saved up his money because I was only 18 and had nothing, and now Canada always makes me think really sweet thoughts.” Scissor Sisters’ new album, Night Work, was released yesterday, and it’s every bit as delightfully upbeat and artfully nuanced as their previous two works. Pride Week is on now in Toronto. Maybe we can convince them to swing by for a sequel to their Four Seasons adventure.
• Scissor sisters actually didn’t feel like dancing [National Post]
Last week, Playboy Enterprises filed a lawsuit against hometown hip-hop superstar Drake, alleging that his mix tape hit “Best I Ever Had” samples a song owned by the company. The song in question: 1975′s “Fallin’ in Love” by Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds. From our listen, we assume it’s the intro to the song that has offended Playboy, so much so that it is demanding that “all infringing works be recalled and destroyed.” Ouch. Did Drake’s song cross the sampling line? You be the judge.
• Drake: “Best I Ever Had” [YouTube]
• Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds [YouTube]
• Playboy suing Drake for copyright infringement [CTV]
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While Drake’s Thank Me Later has garnered generally positive reviews south of the 49th (its MetaCritic score currently sits at 80, with big-ups from Pitchfork, The Onion, All Music Guide, Spin, Village Voice and Vibe), some Toronto critics have taken their homeboy to task for being “unbelievably shallow,” “humourless” and sounding “like a frog.”
The reviews are now out for Drake’s debut album, Thank Me Later, which was released today. Our favourite comes courtesy of the National Post, which had the inspired idea of playing the album for the musician’s former Degrassi cast mates, Paula Brancati, Charlotte Arnold, Raymond Ablack, Dalmar Abuzeid and Melinda Shankar, who loved it so much that they want one of the songs in the show. Reports the Post:
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Arcade Fire may be playing Olympic Island this summer, but Toronto fans should consider this weekend’s impromptu shows on Friday and Saturday; tickets are much cheaper than the summer gig. Full details after the jump.
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All of the Canadian Virgin Mobile festivals (Calgary, Toronto, Halifax, Montreal, Burnaby) have been cancelled due to “economic conditions” and difficulties finding headliners. (Is it because of that time a crazed fan beat up Noel Gallagher at V Fest? Don’t punish the rest of us.) Virgin will sponsor summer concert series in Montreal and Toronto instead.
• Virgin music festivals cancelled in Canada [CBC]
Our favourite greasy-haired NBAer, Steve Nash, has donated a piece from his private art collection to the AGO. It’s a portrait of his twin daughters, Lola and Bella, painted by our favourite greasy-haired artist slash filmmaker, Julian Schnabel (see them talk about the experience in this video). Nash happens to be besties with Schnabel’s son, Vito, with whom he plays basketball. The girls were three years old at the time (they’re now five) and flew with their dad to Schnabel’s studio in Montauk for the portrait, which was hung in the gallery in late April and will remain there for the Schnabel exhibit, opening in September.
This man is no longer (Image: Martin Reis)
Internationally renowned anonymous street artist Banksy was in town recently to promote his documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop (we’ll have to trust the filmmaker that it’s the real Banksy in the film). While he was here, the prankster left a few presents for fans of his graffiti work. Up to seven works (which Banksy’s publicist confirms are his) were spotted this weekend on the walls of buildings in the core, near such landmarks as Union Station, Trinity Bellwoods and the Rogers Centre. But in an act of graffiti-on-graffiti crime, one of the images (at right) has already been painted over.
• Banksy art turns up in Toronto [CBC]
• Banksy comes to Toronto? [Torontoist]
• Banksy’s press tour hits Toronto [National Post]
The new album cover
Despite self-propagated rumours that Forgiveness Rock Record will be Broken Social Scene’s final release—Kevin Drew apparently said so during a taping of a recent concert in Toronto—Brendan Canning and Andrew Whiteman assured fans that’s not the case by being kind of rude to a reporter in an interview with the Toronto Sun:
“Anything to sell a few papers, eh love?” said Whiteman in a mock British accent. “We’re entertainers. And Kevin is the master of ceremonies. So let’s not get so precious about everything.”
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The K’naan-induced warm fuzzies keep on coming. Our hearts are still swollen from his Juno wins for artist and songwriter of the year, and we can’t get the song “Wavin’ Flag,” which was chosen as the official song for the World Cup Trophy Tour, out of our heads. Even our moms are swooning over the Somali-Canadian—a.k.a., The Little Prince of Mogadishu. And now we find out K’naan’s star-studded remix of “Wavin’ Flag” has reeled in over $1 million dollars for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.
Run like hell, Floyd fans. As announced this morning, rock god Roger Waters will be launching his 36-date tour of The Wall on September 15 at the ACC. It’s been 30 years since Pink Floyd first performed the concept album in its entirety, and 20 since Waters’s historic concert marking the fall of the Berlin Wall. No word yet as to whether music’s most famous mascot will be making an appearance, but there will be a 21st-century version of the band’s big build, with a massive wall being constructed and dismantled over the course of the show. What goes up must come down, after all.
• Roger Waters announces The Wall tour dates [Billboard]
• Roger Waters to kick off The Wall tour in Toronto [Toronto Star]
The Twitterverse had a minor explosion last week when a story broke that Fucked Up was being sued by an energy drink company after the local band badmouthed them on their blog. “One of the companies that was involved with presenting our official SXSW showcase [Thriller Energy Drinks] took out a claim against us yesterday for defamation,” wrote the band on their blog. They even created a Facebook group to support the band and shared a link to the court documents. The news quickly circulated around the Web before the band exposed the prank, writing, “Hey, so the whole lawsuit thing was real. I mean fake. It was fake. No one is suing us. It was a really elaborate April Fool’s joke we thought up, like, maybe 48 hours ago.” Of course, hindsight is 20/20, and we appreciate the apparent lengths Fucked Up went to to give fans a laugh and reporters a minor heart attack.
• Fucked up sued by “bullshit” energy drink company after SXSW rant [Exclaim!]
• Fucked Up Sued By Energy Drink Company [Aversion]
• Fucked up sued over blog [Clash]
• Today is April Fools Day, and Fucked Up is getting sued [Village Voice]
• Just kidding [Fucked Up blog]
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