On Saturday, August 23rd, 2008, at Club Soda in Montreal, Quebec, a collaboration of Canadian musicians joined forces with Confront Magazine to help create awareness for the charity ((( MAPMUSIC ))) – Musicians Against Parkinson’s founded by diagnosed Parkinson musician Robbie Tucker.

The event included performances by upcoming Canadian artists Arthur Kall, Monday Rose, Polar Eyes, The Hot Streak, La Confrerie and The New Cities as well as presentations by MapMusic founder, Robbie Tucker, Craig Buntin (currently the Canadian Pairs bronze medalist ranked 6th in the world) and MusiquePlus VJ Mathieu Marcotte.

The benefit’s main goal was to create strong awareness to all those in attendance and to educate that Parkinson’s disease doesn’t just affect the elderly but young adults and children.

“I was really pleased with the turn out and the generosity shown by all. It was a great cause and it was a privilege for our event as producers to be an Awareness Concert for MapMusic. We can’t wait to do it again.” Says Confront Editor Angel Karmazenuk.

The involvement of the music community and grateful work by the band The Hot Streak behind the scenes in aiding MAPMUSIC & Confront Magazine is highly appreciated.

Many music fans walked into the event uneducated of the disease and the common notion that Parkinson’s is a disease that causes shaking in the elderly. But as the night proceeded, the over 300 music fans of all ages walked away with a better understanding of Parkinson’s symptoms and effects as they were informed throughout the night by the many members of MAPMUSIC.

ABOUT: Canadian musician, Robbie Tucker, began 2008 with a promise. He pledged to create an organization to aid in his fight against Parkinson’s disease; and through this organization, to raise $1,000,000.00 to help others who are living with the illness.

MapMusic (((Musicians Against Parkinson’s))) aims to accomplish the following:

- Educate and change the way people think about Parkinson’s
- Help in Finding a cure
- Assist and motivate individuals living with Parkinson’s

MapMusic founder, Robbie Tucker, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 28. Now 31 years old, the musician is fully aware that there might come a time when his disease will permanently prevent him from performing live music. So now, with his medicated 2nd chance, he is pushing himself and his re?established abilities to the limit to avoid any future musical loss.

Craig Buntin, currently the Canadian Pairs bronze medalist, ranked 6th in the world has joined forces with MapMusic ((( Musicians Against Parkinson’s ))) to aide in the fight against Parkinson’s. Craig represented Canada at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games and, in addition to winning three Canadian National Pairs titles, has been an international competitor for ten years. His mom was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease two years ago. This is not only his way of helping his mom, but all those affected with Parkinson’s.

Contact: Jon Asher – Music Publicist
514-581-5780 – ashermedia@gmail.com

MapMusic Official Website

Confront Magazine

When: Thursday July 10th 2008 at 9pm

Where: Sneaky Dee’s, Toronto, On

Toronto Is Ready To Rock For Humanity

Rock For Humanity, a registered non-profit organization will be  hosting an evening concert at Sneaky Dee’s on July 10th, 2008 as part of their annual concert tour in support Street Health Toronto.

Featuring, “Dead City Citizens” (Kitchener), “Fifty Stars Anger” (Montreal), “Stop Drop n Skank” (Toronto), and “P.D.H” (Guelph), 100% of the proceeds goes directly to providing street level medical assistance to the homeless community of Toronto.

In Toronto, over 30,000 people check into homeless shelters at least once every year. 5000 of those people being children, and this figure is growing exponentially. People on the street are  dying at an astonishing rate of between 2 and 4 every week and their average age is only a mere  46 years old. Even If someone is “lucky” enough to find a bed in one of the few shelters in  Toronto that person faces mass overcrowding, tuberculosis, lice and a significantly increased threat of violence

Rock For Humanity is determined to bring homelessness to its knees through their music based  events. Born out of a love of music and a passion for change, Rock For Humanity was created 5 years ago as a way for two 18 year old kids (at the time) to bring awareness to a growing national  disaster.

“We love what we do and we love who we do it for,” says Jordan Howard, Co-founder of RFH. “We refuse to be known as the passive generation and it’s amazing to see the amount of people that truly care in this city. A few years ago I was in doubt, but now I see that there is actually a lot  of hope”.

Rock For Humanity has grown from back room a bar endeavor to taking centre stage at some of Toronto’s most elite and famous concert venues. They have held concerts in every major city  from Windsor to Ottawa and have raised thousands of dollars in support of their cause.

On July 10th Rock For Humanity will take centre stage yet again for its biggest and best concert to date. Tickets are available at the door for $5.00 and the event is 19 plus.

For more information please visit:

Rock For Humanity Official Website

Myspace

The talent overflows with: The Meligrove Band, Kid Gib, The Marble Index, Spirits and this year’s crowning glory goes to the Lowest of the Low who will be inducted to the Indie Music Hall of Fame.

It’s a week in music you won’t want to miss and it all takes place in Toronto as scheduled below:

The Meligrove Band - Thursday, March 6th, 2008 — Supermarket

Spirits – Friday, March 7th — The Rivoli & Saturday, March 8th – Indie Awards – Fairmount Royal York Hotel

He hasn’t even been here a year so many Maritimers may not even be aware of his presence…, yet.
Upon moving to the HRM Peter proceeded to the studio to capture the vibe and observations of the trip from Ontario to Nova Scotia and is only now seeing the light of day with cd in hand.

PXA is currently auditioning new players for the PORCUPINE Roadshow show and preparing to invade the region after a brief stint thru Ontario and Montreal to work out any kinks in the show.
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Peter X Anthony may not be a household name but people know who he is.
A veteran of the road and the rock & roll landscape of Canada for the past 20 years his schizophrenic guitar has graced countless stages and studios across the land behind some of the biggest names in the industry. Along the way he’s written 100’s of songs in hotel rooms, buses, vans, trains and ditches. He’s released countless independent recordings, which has created somewhat of an underground cult following. Being a guitar player he was releasing his more “guitar” oriented tracks leaving his “singin” songs on the back burner for emergency camp fires, sing-a-longs and those nights when you just might get stuck at the Legion. After years of persuasion Peter has finally decided to start releasing the diaries of the Six-String SchiXophrenic. This is Chapter 1.
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The CD:
Porcupine has the presence of the ‘classic’ country sound with a progressive, surf edge that Peter is known so well for. Combined with tongue-in-cheek humor, honest performance and delivery and kick your ass attitude Peter X Anthony remains to live up to the monicker of Rock & Rolls Bastard Son.
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PXA Quote: “The whole point behind the cd is simplicity. For years I’ve been writing songs and solos that either require a whole band to play or require a chart and two hours to figure out. I just wanted to write and record a cd that the average Joe could pick up his dusty old acoustic guitar and sing and play along to. No rocket science, dictionaries or Marshall stacks required”.
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Throughout 2008 Peter will be bringing the Porcupine Roadshow to as many locations as possible.
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For more info contact;

Verge Music Group Canada
Atlantic phone; 902-446-5407
E-Mail; info@vergemusicgroup.ca

Genre: Pop / Alternative / Trip Hop
From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Having refined and perfected their trippy, sexy, noirish melancholia during a year long hiatus Canadian trip pop band, Girl Nobody is regrouping. Pitched somewhere between Portishead and Laurie Anderson their next album, ‘Balaclava Casino Heist’ is scheduled for release at the end of August 28th. Produced by Futcher (The Be Good Tanyas), ‘Balaclava Casino Heist’ is the follow up to the critically acclaimed ‘The Future Isn’t What It Used To Be’. The new album features Beth Gibbons soundalike Marta Jaciubek-McKeever’s vibrant, girlish vocals, and the dashing and defiant harmonies of Joey Turco (Guitar), James Northey (Guitar, Moog, Rhodes) and Jeremiah Schneider (Bass). This is a band that will break your heart in two and then make you laugh as you try to put it back together again. These Girl Nobody’s are gonna be Somebody’s someday and if you are in any doubt check out the video for ‘Let You Down’ which would melt the heart of a statue.

Go Try

Girl Nobody – Balaclava Casino Heist
Go Visit

Girl Nobody – Myspace // Website

Santa Cruz, CA — Japanese alphabet sounds are quite tongue twisting for most Westerners, but Hiragana Song, a new single CD release by 16-year old Alyssa Collins makes it all come together with a quirky dance beat and a fresh, but richly musical, mix. The young singer teaches the vowels sounds and raps the syllabi in Japanese as educational harmonies soar through creative, sophisticated production.

The youthful vocalist loves Japanese culture and has a wide collection of her own sketches of anime and a few self-portraits ala Japanese maiden. She adds authenticity to the vocal performance in the record, but no feeling is lost by singing simple sounds here; it’s rather oddly the opposite, one begins to feel drawn in and somewhat happy to feel your own feet tapping. This is her first released single, and she’s ecstatic with her record which has created quite a stir in Canada. iTunes added the song to their roster on her birthday, Christmas Day.

“That was the best present I could ever imagine getting for my 16th birthday or for Christmas!” Alyssa exclaims. “To hear my own voice on iTunes was a dream come true!”

Alyssa and her “Hiragana Song” have been the subject of many recent interviews in Canadian papers and radio stations and her song has been played repeatedly, its popularity spreading across Canada. The engineers in the radio station control booth where she was first interviewed called it “the Velcro song,” because it “stuck” to anyone who listened to it. “We kept playing it over and over,” one engineer told Alyssa.

Hiragana Song began when Daniel Bloom, a reporter in Taiwan, sent songwriter Janet Fisher, Santa Cruz, CA, a lyric idea along with a letter regarding his vision of “Hiragana” becoming an internationally enjoyed song. He wrote that he wanted to keep it fresh and young, highly danceable, yet still make it educational. Fisher created a melody and a direction, looked for some reliable production help and then found the right singer.

The Internet was used to send blossoming versions, fresh mixes, and edited ideas back and forth between Alyssa, Fisher, and the other members of the team. Working back and forth via email, Fisher, with co-producers Adam A. Johnson (MN) and Art Munson (CA), built and rebuilt the composition until it became a true record. They decided that iTunes would become their distributor of choice, as housing and shipping physical a single-song disk would create more cost than a single could allow. Bloom had a graphic artist friend, TubbyPaws (UK) create a cover, and Hiragana Song was ready.

“We also chose digital downloading so it could go easily around the world. Once downloaded from iTunes, a CD can be made on one’s own computer, to be enjoyed anywhere,” said Fisher. “It seemed like a perfect choice for everyone, no matter where they might be geographically. No shipping, no handling fees for the listener. Just download, dance, and learn.”

There is a website for the Hiragana Song, with details about the writers and Alyssa Collins. It has some rave reviews already posted, and no doubt more will come along once the song is ready via iTunes. It is of note that co-producer Art Munson, a legendary guitarist for hundreds of household-name musicians, added unique flavors and touches that Fisher felt took the track to an entire new level above the normal dance track.

“A lot of people who are legendary are not still creating legendary performances today — Art Munson definitely is creating at that level, and it shows on this record. The freshness that Adam A. Johnson brought to the direction of the tone and tracks kept the song exactly in energy and form as to the vision. And Alyssa just plain sold it on every level, and kept it a serious song, never hamming it up to a novelty level. I am so happy to work with all of them!”

“When Danny first brought me the idea, it took him a year of bugging me until I finally finished the melody and produce the record. Now I’m really, really glad he did, because the feeling of getting a gem is really the reason you work at it, that’s the reward,” grins Fisher.

Hiragana song may be accessed on iTunes by linking to:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=202040888&id=202040881&s=143441

A sample of the song, more factoids about the creation of and participants in the Hiragana Song can be found at:
www.goodnightkiss.com/hiragana.html

Other press links:
Ottawa Sun, Showbiz, 29 January 2007
“Going global as easy as Japanese ABCs for teen”
http://www.ottawasun.com/Showbiz/Music/2007/01/29/3473532-sun.html

Le Droit, Front page Arts, 27 January 2007
“D’Ottawa à iTunes… en japonais”
Available as .pdf

CBC Radio Canada, 20 January 2007:
“La voix de Alyssa Collins, 16 ans est diffusée sur i-tune, depuis décember 2006. Elle nous raconte son histoire.”
http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/ottawa/Radio/divines.shtml (look under “Entrevues” on the right side for the audio link)

Express Ottawa, Front page,13 January 2007:
“Une Ottavienne diffusée en japonais sur i-Tunes”
http://www.expressottawa.ca/article-65015-Une-Ottavienne-diffusee-en-japonais-sur-iTunes.html

There will obviously more coming from Alyssa and her Hiragana Song.

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