Results tagged “muchmusic”

"Did they say Joel Plaskett?" Fucked Up frontman Damian Abraham giggled, half-delirious with genuine shock and excitement minutes after he and the rest of the band (drummer Jonah Falco, guitarist Mike Haliechuk, bassist Sandy Miranda, guitarist Josh Zucker, and guitarist Ben Cook) accepted the 2009 Polaris Music Prize for their acclaimed, soaring hardcore epic, The Chemistry of Common Life. The press conference immediately following last night's performance gala and award presentation was full of journalists, but it was oddly silent, maybe because, for the infinite snide opining on the awards' predictability and who really deserved it, no one actually thought Fucked Up would win. Maybe we truly were, as Abraham mocked, all still in shock.

       

The devoted and the merely curious gathered outside MuchMusic on Queen Street West yesterday—as so many gathered around the world in similar spots—to watch the memorial for Michael Jackson in Los Angeles. One of the biggest television events of the decade, some news organizations compared it to the funeral of Princess Diana in 1997. Many people watched the ceremony online, as well, driving internet traffic up by as much as 33%. But as big a web event as the memorial was—with news organizations coordinating with social media to integrate, for example, streaming video with Facebook updates on CNN—the Barack Obama's inauguration in January posted bigger numbers.

Will.i.am and Fergie are probably asking this of Perez Hilton, but MuchMusic must be wondering the same thing: Sunday night's TV ratings show that the CBC’s re-airing of Happy Gilmore drew over twice as many viewers as the MMVAs. MuchMusic's smaller audience (368,000 viewers versus 801,000 for the CBC) could just as easily be the result of poor promotion as it is a reflection of apathy for the annual awards show—or maybe, on a more superficial level, viewers simply like watching Happy doing his thing. Who said golf was boring?

"I was assaulted by Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas and his security guards. I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke."

You’ve got to hand it to a woman who can look at footage of herself from the mid-1980s and unabashedly proclaim: “Yeah, I guess I was pretty hot.”

The NewMusic, one of the few remaining things at MuchMusic that doesn't really suck, is gone after nearly thirty years, the victim of CTVglobemedia cuts. Eye mourns the show's loss with a look back at its finest moments, while Much will probably cope by just playing "Womanizer" a few dozen more times on Mondays.

If you're still not sure whether or not MuchMusic is flailing, consider We're Experiencing Technical Difficulties, "a new MuchOriginal series that shows what would happen if Much was forced into broadcasting anything and everything." If the clips online weren't insufferable enough, how about Bobby the Puppet, a cross between Ed the Sock and Gabbo, who Much let post on their blog last night. We quote: "I am going to talk to my good friend Kenia today @ 6:30pm on WETD, and see if she will teach me how to say some fun stuff in Spanish...and then I'll see if I can give her some puppet tongue action below the equator!!!" Yeah. Aside from being stupid, vaguely offensive, and relentlessly unfunny, the show's also pretty superfluous: doesn't Much already broadcast anything and everything?

As Canada's largest city, we are most likely responsible for the continued existence of Girlicious, the singing quartet created by Pussycat Dolls creator Robin Antin on the television show The Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious, the sequel to the ridiculously titled The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll. After the show ended, MuchMusic put Girlicious on three of its shows: Live@Much, MuchOnDemand, and the MMVAs. We're guessing that led to their two singles "Stupid Shit" (video probably not safe for work) and "Like Me" landing in the top twenty on our charts, with the latter peaking at number four. The only other place where "Stupid Shit" got any reception? According to Wikipedia, Bulgaria. Finally, there was enough anticipation for their eponymous debut album, released last week, that Girlicious reached the second position on the iTunes album charts.

We've said it before: MuchMusic kinda sucks nowadays.

Each week, Torontoist examines the upcoming TV listings and makes note of programs that are entertaining, informative and of quality. Or, alternately, none of those. The result: Televisualist.

After decades of being situated as an icon of Queen Street West, it has been revealed that Citytv will be moving to a new high-profile location: Dundas Square.

It's been a while since we've had a good beef between two rappers (and release date conflicts don't constitute beef, Kanye and Fifty), but here's one that may have some artistic merit: Toronto rapper Seazon claims that American hip-hop star Chamillionaire ("Ridin'") jacked his idea for a music video.

All photographs in this article courtesy of Much Music.

Yes! The image above, taken at last year's MMVAs and courtesy of Much Music, is just a mere taster of the kind of reaction Torontoist's legions of adoring fans will make when we stroll down the red carpet on our way to liveblog this year's Much Music Video Awards from on-site. Who cares about seeing live performances from Avril Lavigne, Billy Talent, The Used and more! When you can instead sit in front of your computer and read about us recounting said live performances in our trademark snarky manner?

Overheard at 2 AM along Queen West last week by a reader who wishes to remain anonymous.

At left: Jennrock's sign says it best. (Photo by B-Mom Marta van Eerdewijk) Top right: the familiar set. Bottom right: stage door throngs in Buffalo.

He was known for his tales of Old Hollywood as much as his ever-present hairpiece, and Toronto just became way more boring without him.

If this green arrow were real it would crush several hundred teenie boppers and a few dozen talentless musicians on Sunday. Sadly, it's not real. What is very real is the Much Music Video Awards and the resulting noise from screaming adoring fans and traffic confusion from out-of-towners who forgot that MuchMusic actually occupies real space and once a year holds a large award ceremony.

MTV Canada launched three months ago, and since that time one thing has become obvious: it's way better than MuchMusic. Less annoying VJs (including Daryn Jones, of Daryn Jones & Mista Mo fame) and way more addictive content (My Super Sweet 16 and Laguna Beach, to name a few) are just the tip of this sexy, American iceberg. Sure, MTV doesn't have any actual music videos and their website is a huge pain to navigate, but for some reason, that doesn't matter; it's all coated in MTV goodness. The two channels are so unequal in quality, it's like comparing The Daily Show to Last Call with Carson Daly. No contest.

Lately there's been more and more attention paid to the TTC and it's conservative ways. It either doesn't embrace affection shown towards it (Spacing Subway Buttons, TTC Subway Rider Efficiency Guide), or outright rejects affection (TTC Anagram Map). But have things always been this way? A trip into the past reveals that they might have been worse:

...only a ridiculously adorable little puggle. On a frigid Friday morning like this, we like to sit around in our sweatpants browsing through our referral logs. And this morning our referral logs tell us that an inordinate number of people have been coming here lately looking for genitalia, severed limbs, and puggles (these numbers are matched only by instances of Torontoist contributers Googling themselves, and people wondering about the heights of obscure celebs - they would be better off here). Other unlikely searches that we're afraid we just can't help you with:

"Hey hey. Ho ho. Ashlee Simpson is a no-talent goat."

Much Music VJ and occasional TOist tipster Jenn Hollett bids adieu to the Queen and John scene today on Much on Demand. She's leaving to travel and pursue new adventures. But you'll be able to keep up to date on the former veej's activities by checking her personal site, One of those, for a dose of Hollett news. What's up with that place? Was George the glue that held it all together? And why is there a bloody car rammed into the side of the building?

Tall Poppy Interview - Amanda Walsh, Actor

Who can promote a irresponsible multinational corporation? Sprinkle it in dew? Cover it in chocolate and a miracle or two?

If you haven't seen the commercial where Paris promises it's gonna be HOTT in Toronto tonight....heads up on Queen Street tonight boys, cause Paris Hilton and Elisha Cuthbert are in town to promote their highly anticipated screaming-chick-horror-flick House of Wax.

And there will also be live performances from the likes of Lily Frost and others. At the Reverb.