Snoop Lion
Snoop Dogg has changed his name to Snoop Lion for a rastafari reggae conversion which was all captured in the film Reincarnated.
The film, which is debuting at TIFF 2012, was directed by Andy Capper, the man behind the insane-o VICE Guide To Liberia series.
Sarah spoke to Capper about Reincarnated for Huffington Post Music Canada. Capper told her Snoop’s conversion is “the real deal.”
To read the full story click here.
Filed under Culture, Films, Music, Shameless Promotion
A Tribe Called Red
Here’s the latest batch of news stories I’ve done for the Spinner AOL empire:
With “EDM” being the new breakout thing in music, DJ A-Trak wants people to remember to respect the turntablist.
One of my new faves, Ottawa DJ crew A Tribe Called Red released an exclusive mixtape to Spinner to celebrate their appearance at Toronto’s Mad Decent Block Party. You should get it here.
Carly Rae Jepsen is not involved in a nude photo hacking scandal. Which, awkwardly, Vancouver Police say they have a suspect for.
Hey, I added two more news bits from the week of August 3:
1) Drake is finally gonna graduate from Degrassi.
2) Tiesto and Skrillex were the world’s highest paid DJs last year.
Filed under Culture, Music, Shameless Promotion
Religious protesters want Lady Gaga to go to hell
On any given day, in any town or city, anywhere in the world, there’s probably some crackdown/protest/sinister bullshit happening that’s attempting to prevent people from rockin’ and dancin’.
Basically, the people behind these crackdowns hate music and they hate life and they’re assholes.
Anyway, in lieu of the latest round of anti-Lady Gaga protests in the Philippines and such, Sarah was tasked to find other examples of The Man cracking down on rock ‘n’ roll.
It turns out there were no shortage of examples, from Elvis Presley to Eminem to The Beatles to you name it. Basically, the government is afraid of musicians.
To read about this story, head over to Spinner by clicking here.
Filed under Concerts, Culture, Music, Politics, Shameless Promotion
Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie
UPDATE: Because Spinner is RIP we’ve unearthed this story at this link.
The Tragically Hip‘s big Canada Day show this year took place at Burl’s Creek in Oro, Ontario.
The giant campsite played host to the Hip, Death Cab For Cutie, The New Pornographers and the Rural Alberta Advantage.
The one thing Sarah and I couldn’t get over when we were watching Gord Downie and the rest of the Hip perform was how effortlessly Downie has helped be sort of like a guiding hand for the less art intuitive.
What he represents is a gateway drug pusher for Canadian art, like that uncle who gives you a joint for graduating high school.
As such, Sarah wrote about it, and I took pictures of it, for Spinner.
You can read the whole related article by clicking here.
Filed under Concerts, Culture, Music, Shameless Promotion
So, monarchy fever seems to have crested with Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee festivities this past weekend and its related Diamond Jubilee BBC Concert.
Being someone who’s connection to Britain is virtually zero (Irish-French heritage, fully Canadian on both sides going back hundreds of years), my knowledge of the royal family has been mostly informed by what cool British rock bands say — and most cool British rock bands don’t like the Queen.
As such, I compiled a list of 12 Great Anti-Royalty Songs as a sort of inverse Diamond Jubilee Concert.
You can check out that list — featuring the likes of Morrissey, Blur and Billy Bragg — over at Spinner by clicking here.
Filed under Culture, Music, Shameless Promotion
I Overcame My Autism And All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder: A Memoir
Risky Fuel 