As the subject for a serious music book, Céline Dion––amazing or not––seems like an odd choice. In the latest book in the 33⅓ series, however––a series which typically looks at albums like the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds or Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures or the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St.––Carl Wilson, probably Toronto's pre-eminent music critic, takes it upon himself to "[strive] to understand Céline's global popularity," in the process "fac[ing] the question of what......

Readers in their thirties may remember Going Great: the Toronto-produced CBC/Cineworld newsmagazine targeted to kids. The series eventually folded after a few seasons wrestling the challenges of presenting newsy human-interest stories to kids, but it won a 1983 Children's Broadcast Institute Award for Best Network Television Program. What Going Great was most known for in later years, however, was its hosts. The entire run was helmed by Chris Makepeace, 1980s Meatballs and My Bodyguard teen......

Over the past month, Hillary Clinton has been on the hunt for a campaign song, with her "exploratory committee" website inviting her followers to vote on a winner. Finalists included born-and-bred American bands like U2 and Shania Twain, as well as tried-and-true musical legends like Smash Mouth. This morning, however, the winner was announced. And Hilary Clinton's 2008 campaign song is...that Céline Dion song from that Air Canada commercial! It's such a good song......

Hot off their recent Polaris Prize nomination, Malajube used the momentum to pack Lee's Palace on Saturday night with rabid (mostly French) fans and those curious to see what all the fuss is about. They certainly didn't disappoint, and even with much of the crowd not understanding the lyrics, the catchy hooks managed to get many people dancing (gasp!) and yelling all sorts of things at the band in franglais. A few songs into......

I'm *sixeyes. I'm back. And Torontoist is sick of radio. The kind of crud that gets played on the type of stations that advertise themselves as 'Music for the Workplace'. Celine Dion (a little restraint please), Christina Aguilera (a lot of restraint, puh-leeze), Shania Twain ("Don't", that's the name of the song... so Torontoist has got to say... Please, please, please... doooooonnnnn'tttttt) and ("It only hurts when I'm Breathing"... then doooooonnnnn'tttttt)... Torontoist could go......

Excuse the lateness of this post - the Live 8 announcement was this morning - but we've been working on calming ourselves down all day. The jaw-dropping news of a lame-centric Live 8 concert left us in a state of speechless, head shaking shock. After throwing a few chairs and kicking a few garbage cans, we decided that Live 8 might be the worst concert ever held on Canadian soil. Here's our exasperated reaction: a)......

When Air Canada sought out a spokesperson for their flight back into the black, they were looking for the musical equivalent to airline food. Or the musical equivalent to those uncomfortable pillows. Or those cheesy headphones. At any rate, they got Celine Dion. Last August, Air Canada inked a much publicized deal with Dion to act as the airline's Official Voice - that's voice, and voice only. Air Canada thought it more prudent not......

In honour of Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish's spate of America-bashing, Torontoist feels compelled to add to the incendiary mood with a link to this piece about increasing fuel costs and American fattery. Maybe this is why Air Canada chose to hire the frighteningly stickish Celine Dion as its post-bankruptcy spokesgal - fatties need not apply to fly. But back to Parrish's inflammatory parliament turn. Torontoist agrees that there's much to fear in four more years......