According to lead singer and guitarist, Aron D'Alesio, Young Rival's new album sounds "like Sinatra dropping acid with Deerhunter". Consider yourselves warned! We've been waiting over 3 years for the Hamilton trio's new disc, Interior Light and it has been worth the wait. Ten years together and 3 albums later, they are in Ottawa tonight at House of Targ. We'll be chatting with the band today on Hop The Fence.

More music news: the city will abound in musicology all next week as the Megaphono festival takes over stages in a variety of venues across the city. From Feb 2 to 5, you can learn from expert panel discussions and soak in some great concerts.  Jon Bartlett, head of Kelp records and grand poobah of the festival will be joining us today to give us the scoop!

Find us at 89.1 FM in Ottawa or online at CHUO.fm. You can also find us on iTunes radio under College stations and on #943 on Rogers HD.

anne-marie
Host/Producer, Hop The Fence
Fridays @ 5
CHUO 89.1 Ottawa

It has been a strange week. The past few mornings, I've awakened thinking I've had a bad dream. But no. It's real. Anyone who knows me, is well aware that I've been a Bowie fan since forever. I was 9 years old when I discovered Ziggy Stardust. Ever since, I've looked forward to Bowie's next release because I knew it would be completely different from the last. He set the barometer quite high for me as to what I considered to be great music. He did the same for live concerts. I first saw him during the Low/Heroes tour in 1978! (I was but a wee lass.) I can't think of too many artists who managed to impress me after witnessing that show - with strikingly simple white fluorescent tube lighting. He kinda ruined it for me, really!  I always thought everyone else was  lame and predictable! 

I liked him because he was so odd and unique. In high school, and much to my delight, everyone thought I was a little weird because I liked him.  And today, everyone is calling him a genius. Sure! Where were you guys all those years ago when I was trying to tell you exactly that.

I had the privilege of seeing him live many times.  My favorite memory is from 1997 during "I'm Afraid of Americans" phase. I saw him at the Metropolis in Montreal.  That's a "small club" for a rock star of his stature (irony intended). I was standing front and center just a few fans-depth away. That was cool. He sang Jacques Brel's, My Death. It was mesmerizing and heart-wrenching. I recorded it to voice mail with my flip phone and listened to it over and over again in the weeks following. Cell phone cams were not so ubiquitous at the time. That recording is gone now. But the timbre and volume of his voice, the sounds and images of the night are all neatly etched in my memory banks.

I never met him but always thought I might somehow, someday bump into him (in a grocery store? in a bank line-up?)  I even had the crazy notion that we might convince him to do a college radio interview on CHUO's Hop The Fence!  Ha!  But now those wistful little fantasies are no longer plausible. Death sucks.

One thing I admired was Bowie's curiosity and willingness to learn and absorb different styles. He took genuine interest in what others were doing and collaborated with unknown as well as elite artists like Brian Eno, John Lennon, Trent Reznor, Arcade Fire, Iggy Pop, Nile Rogers, to name a few. He used the same strategy on his final progeny, Blackstar where he invited NYC-based jazz artists to contribute to the album's sonic direction. Heck, album credits even include Prague Philharmonic conductor, Paul Bateman!  This is a lesson we can all benefit from. By surrounding himself with other talented artists with an open mind, he leveraged their strengths, resulting ultimately, in numerous masterpieces.

I have a ridiculous collection of vinyl, rare singles, CD's and posters (and Ziggy's phone booth!). Here's the weird thing, my record collection has been in storage for about 6 years until just last week. There I was going through all my Bowie albums on Sunday night at the very time that he was on his death bed.  Timing is weird.  He was a groundbreaking, game changing artist right up to the end.  He certainly went out in style in one final flash of brilliance! 

As the needle lifts one last time, the sound of his absence from earth is somehow deafening. The man who once fell to earth is no more.  Ashes to ashes; funk to funky.
anne-marie
Host/Producer, Hop The Fence
Fridays @ 5
CHUO 89.1 Ottawa

Edited January 18
The show is available at CHUO.FM. Here's the track list:
Helden
Soul Love (Ziggy Stardust, 1972)
Hang On To Yourself (Arnold Corns version 1971)
Ragazzo Solo
Memory Of A Free Festival (1970)
Black Country Rock (The Man Who Sold the World, 1970)
Andy Warhol (Hunky Dory, 1971)
This Is Not America (Soundtrack for The Falcon and the Snowman - This version recorded live  at BBC Radio Theatre, London, 27 June 2000, and it was released on the bonus disc accompanying the first release of Bowie at the Beeb.)
Look Back In Anger (Lodger, 1979)
Up The Hill Backwards (Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, 1980)
Space Oddity audition from 1969