2006 Juno Award Experience
By Elio Iannacci, Senior Features Editor

Day Two - Friday March 31st: Shoots and interviews

Feist’s song and video “Mushaboom” wakes me up (via my trusty television alarm) and the first thing I see in the morning is Ms. F ride down a street in a white horse. With all that inspiration in mind, I choose a Marc Jacobs Blondie t-shirt, a grey Preloved jacket, Levis and Ponys for my first full-length Juno day look. Walking down the street some guy asks if I am part of a band – I tell him I’m working on it.

After grabbing a quick club sandwich brunch at The Argyle (on Argyle Street), Tracy and I walk over to our first shoot with Canadian Idol winner Kalan Porter. Actually, other than the cab we take from the airport, everything is walking distance and the weather is on our side. The city is charming with trees and water surrounding it and a huge bridge as its focal point zooming right over the harbour.

The whole week we are confusing everyone with our main meeting spot at the Delta Hotel because there are two Deltas in this town (the Delta Halifax and the Delta Barrington) and they are both on the same street – Barrington. It’s a running joke that isn’t so funny when you are pressed for time.

Kalan arrives with his two person entourage (the darling Erica Silver from Sony and Kalan’s agent) and Tanya Kim from eTalk beautifully trails behind us, shooting us, shooting Kalan in one of the hotel’s elevators. It is a hilarious scene because people are STILL riding the elevator and are asked to get on as Kalan is getting shot from floor to floor. Tanya, Tracy, Erica and I wait patiently as Andrew and Kalan go up six floors and return with surprised hotel guests including a new mom with her baby. We could have shot a video to one of his upbeat songs like “Lucky Day” and it would have been perfect.

Through the whole fracas, Kalan is totally cool, cracking up every time the elevator doors open and new guests try and take the ride down as if nothing is happening (even though they are sharing a tiny space with a FLARE photographer and an eTalk Daily cameraman). It was very “comedy central”. When we finally get the shot we want and head to the lobby for our interview with Kalan, we are interrupted by fans of all kinds (and all ages), snapping shots nervously and asking for a slew of autographs. Kalan deals with the swarming like he’s sitting down for thanksgiving turkey with his family and it’s his turn to pass the gravy.

Our next shoot was with country newcomer, Belleville’s own Amanda Wilkinson. Daughter of legendary songwriter/country man Steve Wilkinson and a member of country fam group, The Wilkinsons, she immediately reminds me of June Carter Cash (whom she says she idolizes). She’s a tiny little whisp of a thing who is beautiful, has got lots of flair and a voice that is bigger than Halifax and Nunavut combined. After we finish up photos with Andrew McNaughton (who, for the record, does not scream “work it” while shooting, thank God) in the hotel ballroom, Amanda and I start discussing her life on the Canadian road and in Nashville, where she took up residence for a number of years. This girl is the sharpest whipper snapper I’ve met in a long time, calling Nashville’s old boys club mentality, “a personal work in progress.”

We soon get back to our rooms, change and take a cab over to a very unFLARE-like venue – a hockey arena. Every year, the Junos hosts a “rockers” vs. NHL all-star game to help raise funds for CARAS – a group that helps raise money and resources for music education in Canadian schools. The announcers – Michael Landsberg from TSN’s Off The Record and Sloan’s front man made the night, sassing the players and giving enough snappy play-by-plays to make Don Cherry look like an amateur. The highlight of the whole game was when opera diva Measha Brueggergosman, took to the ice and slapped a puck in goalie/popstar Luke Doucet’s net. The arena stands were as receptive to her fancy footwork at the Halifax Forum Arena as her opera buff fans are to her higher-than-Mariah voice during arias.

On our way to catch a few acts for Juno Fest (the options are endless – T.O.’s Jacksoul to Halifax’s Jimmy Swift Band and and, I kid you not, NYC's Matisyahu — pronounced Mat-is-ya-u — the first Hassidic Jewish reggae star) we pass by a few restaurants getting into the spirit of things. One serves a Barenaked Ladies “million dollar macaroni” with foie gras and ketchup, another puts a Blue Rodeo cappuccino (with spirits) on the menu and another café (called the Stars Café) touts The Matt Mays Torpedo ginger cookie as their baked good of the week. The members of Bedouin Soundclash (who are up for best new group of the year) are on the hotel elevator, talking about their glam grueling schedule the next day. Interviews, soundcheck, interviews, interviews. Tough life.