Shocking

It has been quite sometime since I have been compelled to post something. I have been struggling with the recent news story of Tyler Clementi. Maybe it is because I have children attending University away from home for the first time who could be feeling exposed and vulnerable without the safety net of their family. Perhaps it is that one of my kids was the victim of bullying early in high school and I have seen the effects it can have on someone.

This case highlights something deeper that has been on my radar for quite sometime.... reality TV. Now don't get me wrong I am not going to rail on TV programming as the reason for this tragedy but stay with me for a moment. Programming like hit show Jersey Shore are solely predicated on the humiliation of others. I am far from a prude with a high moral compass but after watching one episode I was appalled. It astounds me there are actual human beings that are willing to put up with a whole bunch of shit just so they can be famous. They have at least made that choice of their own free will but at the end of the day they present the wrong message to the public.

When The Situation brings a girl home to have sex with her and leaves her in the bedroom while he has some cereal, then does the deed and sends her home in a cab bragging about how to handle that shit....how does that message get unscrambled in the brains of our youth? Some people are intelligent enough to see through the veil of reality TV and laugh at it because they know what losers these participants truly are. There is however, a large portion of the population who are of the same mental capacity and look up to, admire and attempt to emulate their heroes. Think of all the emergency room visits caused by endless hours of watching Jackass. Reality TV is only one part of the problem but today we have the "perfect storm".

Not only can you attempt to replicate the behaviour but technolgy has provided the way to show it off in public. Video something on your iPHONE and have it up on YouTube in minutes.....snap an embarrassing pic and post on Facebook or Twitter in seconds. Think back only 5 years or so....if I want to take an embarrassing pic of my college roomate having sex, I had to drag out my massive 1 megapixel camera, snap the shot, download it, print it and post it somewhere public. A few hundered people might see it if you were lucky.

Today, the thought process is compressed by technology, you can simply act upon your urge and in an instant it is too late to reverse your decision to broadcast to the world....something you think might be funny takes only seconds to act upon...there is not time to process if this is a bad idea or not...you just act. Whip out the iPHONE, video, take a picture or broadcast it on Skype....instantly post on Youtube or Facebook and then spread it via other social network platforms. In minutes people are watching and sending it out to their network of friends. They think it is funny too and why? It goes back to desensitization....you watch enough mindless TV and this video that popped into your inbox looks the same, so you send it around the web without a thought.

Except for one detail you didn't think of....the people on TV signed up to be humilated. Tyler Clementi DID NOT!

Fate Intervenes

So my neighbour Kevin sends me a text message last week asking if I would like to go golfing, grab some cocktails and then dinner. Kevin had collected numerous rain checks and gift certificates that were all expiring so it was time to use them up...I was game.

In Toronto we have had a spell of zero rain for 21 days...as Saturday approached the forecast calls for what? You guessed it. Rain! The morning looked promising, overcast but warm....as we hop in the car Kevin says to me "well today should be pretty inexpensive" (first element of foreshadowing). As we are on our way I am informed "just so we are clear this is my first round of golf this year so please be patient with me" (second element). I proceed to ask about the rain check for Royal Ontario and he says, "funny story, it is from 2007 but I called ahead and the pro said no worries, they would honour it" (third element). We arrive and see they have two tournaments set to tee off...this could be brutal.

The starter sends us off to 16 and says if we start there we shouldn't be held up in the least (he was right). About five holes in (Kevin is playing like a guy who has not played yet this year) it begins to rain. We make the decision to tough it out, after all I have have rain gloves...Kevin does not (fourth element). At hole number 3, a par 3, Kevin makes contact with the ball and his club helicopters out of his hand landing past the forward tees...small snicker as my rain gloves are working great. After hole 4, by some form of miracle the rain stops....as we are standing on hole 7 to hit our approach, Kevin pulls out his 9 iron to hit. As he swings the club once again helicopters out of his hand into the middle of a gigantic pond (fifth element). We were both in hysterics as were the foursome on the adjacent hole who happened to witness this spectacle of futility.

As we approach hole 11, a Par 3...139 yard hole...I snicker and say, "Kevin, I think I am going to hit an easy 9...what about you?" His response is unpublishable. I hit and plunk one into the centre of the green as the pin is ticked in the back right behind a big grassy mound. Kevin reluctantly grabs his 8 iron and swings away. The ball flight appear to be right at the flag and he begins to yell "be enough! get there!" I see the ball hit the mound and kick up toward the green and I comment, "shit, that could be really close".

As we approach the green the ball is not visible so the first place I walk to is the cup....and OMFG! he has just got a hole in one...I start yelling wooohooo! way to go Kevin..he of course thinks I am yanking his chain and refuses to believe me. That is, until he walks up and looks in the cup himself. There was no way in hell Kevin should have been on the golf course that day, but he was and by all rights we should have quit when he couldn't grip the club the first time but we soldiered on. If he had not lost his 9 iron in that pond, he would have never hit an 8 iron on hole number 11 and he would have never had his first hole in 1.

I shot my best round of the year scoring an 84 but my partner took away the days prize. A memory that will last a lifetime....I am sure glad I was there to see it!

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

This week I discovered my two year old son has "no issue" with fishing items from the toilet or fulling a cup for a little drink....first it was an expedition to retrieve gum...the second time he was brushing his teeth (we let him pretend) and was carrying a cup, which he dipped into the bowl to refill. Makes sense I guess since he is too short to run the taps...but SERIOUSLY!

Time for a toilet lock.....

Toronto was treated to a monster of a storm last night. It was a lightning show like no other. MY wife and I sat on the couch and watched the front roll in. At one point the thunder clap was so loud it felt like the house shook. Didn't help that we were watching True Blood (HBO's new Vampire series) and it was an intense episode. The severe rain and the result inside out home got me thinking about the last 30 days....

Have you ever felt like the world was against you? That your luck had suddenly run out? IT seems as of late our family is on one of those streaks....The ceiling in our living room has started leaking during rainstorms, main light fixture in our kitchen blew and is beyond repair, garbage disposal stopped working, cost $124 to find out there is a wiring issue (somewhere buried in the walls), Noah runs into a play structure and splits his lip, gums and knocks a tooth loose, Hannah gets stung repeatedly by a bee in the palm of her hand, our basement gets flooded a second time in 12 months (if we claim it our insurance company will cancel our policy), While backing up my Macbook, I manage to delete 3000 images and end up having to buy a new Macbook ....on and on it goes, a myriad of coincidental events that begin to make one truly mad. This morning I go to put my coffee in the cup holder of my car...one side simply falls off. Are you F*#kin' kidding me. This is the last straw....

Dear God, whatever we did to piss you off, we are deeply sorry and would appreciate some slight relief from this deluge of disasters both physical and financial.

sincerely the Arkell family

NXNE / MMVA Week

First off let me tell you that although it is considered work, we still take the time to have a little fun! The festivities kicked off at the NXNE Gala party at the Berkeley Church which is a super venue for a party with the many different levels and cool architecture. Had a great chat with Jake Gold about the soon to be released Cliks video...sounds absolutely off the charts. Can't wait to get a preview. We slid by Rancho Relaxo for Jay Sparrow's early set and then off to Tattoo Rock Parlour. 

Thursday was a great day with the people from Amos The Transparent who did an in store performance at Sunrise Records followed by a killer set at The Drake Hotel which saw a large group of industry people drop in to see what all the fuss has been about.

Friday afternoon kicked off at the Feldman BBQ with a great cook out by the staff of Rancho Relaxo and some ice cold Molson products. Then it was our newly formed business family UR Artist Network's VIP BBQ at Montana......some kick ass performances by The Free Press, Michou, Magneta Lane and The Reason. Although I was bleary from the days activities, I wanted to see one more band. Slam a Red Bull and off to The Hideout to catch Clothes Make The Man. It was a fun energetic set and more than I expected.

Maybe it was the constant rain on Saturday that made me not want to leave the confines of my house but maybe it was the lack of sleep and family time over the past few days....Saturday was down time which turns out was the best call considering how Sunday went.

We hit the Artist Sanctuary for Jay Sparrow's 3PM performance on the Sirius Emerging Artist stage...which was more like a single floor of a hotel suite but it was pretty damn cool. The entire Santuary was a great experience to just kick back and chill with some Organic Vodka, hang on the patio with good friends, taste the new Redbull Cola (think old school RC). Jay and I made our way through the gifting rooms and were presented with a brand new pair of PF Flyers, a microscopic Nokia bluetooth headset and killer messenger bad that fits vinyl records from the good folks at PKG...wish we had time to visit the massage room, hair salon etc etc. It was an unbelievable event for Artists in town to enjoy the MMVA's, Edgefest and NXNE. Our routing then entailed a stop at The Field party, always a hopping deal held at Tryst, then to Circa for a MMVA afterparty which featured DJ sets by members of The Stills and KOS...barely able to hang on, we managed to make it to Cobra for the Universal Music afterparty. The club was rammed so we hung in the outside patio area until my body was ready to drop. The most disappointing part of the evening was the fact we left less than a minute too soon. The big news of the night is an alleged beating laid on Perez Hilton by Black Eyed Peas star Will I AM.

I love Perez, he cuts through the crap, he has become a celebrity himself for his inflammatory web site. However, all the whining he is doing right now about the incident is tasteless. Dude, if you are going to make your living off calling humans out....making them uncomfortable and accountable for their indiscretions, then you had damn well expect to get a few bumps and bruise along the way. Quit being such a pussy and take it like a man....sometimes you fuck with the bull and you get the horns.

Wish I had held up for one more minute....that would have been the perfect cap to a perfect week.

Manners For A Social World

Words to ponder as posted by Chris Brogan - social media guru

http://www.chrisbrogn.com/pirate-moves-promoting-without-being-that-guy/

Makes sense to me as the biggest issue I have with Facebook is the Mass Unwanted messages I get on a daily basis. I would be more interested in your event if you weren't just hammering me 5 times daily. Our company has a group on Facebook, every once in a while I invite some of my friends to join. I have sent out possibly 3 messages to the group in 12 months. I value the people who have chosen to pay attention to what we are doing and I do not want to turn them off.

Words to live by Chris...thank you.

Don't Be That Guy! (or Gal)

Canadian Music Week Wrap Up

As I finally get a moment to sit down and record my thoughts on CMW 2009, I recognize how much time has flown by since this year's edition of CMW. The main reason it took so much time probably has more to do with how successful it was for Cool Planet Entertainment. We have been so busy preparing for the next 9 months, I have had little time to sit and reflect.

What knocked our socks off?

Amos The Transparent - This band first came on my radar screen in Nov 2007 when my business partner Cameron Carpenter showed me a link while we were in Montreal for a show. I had always been a fan and have seen them live a few times. Something changed the way I saw them as band at their CMW showcase at Rancho Relaxo. Never mind the fact the room was at capacity and I had to barge my way past the door staff and basically break in to see the show....it was a life changing event. I saw the band perform such a amazing set that it confirmed for me there was something special about this band. Th crowd began singing along early and never wained, driving the band into more and more of a frenzy. IT was a true testament to the fans the band has been building in Toronto as of late. I will go on record as saying (again as I did on Twitter that night) I think Toronto has just discovered the next Broken Social Scene.

Without making the story longer and more painful, our company now manages this very special act and I couldn't be more excited to be part of launching them on an unsuspecting world.

But wait...there's more

Before I get into the fantastic artists we are now working with, let me mention two other performances I saw that were awesome.

Billy The Kid at The Rivoli was pure magic - check out Just Trying To Get By. She delivered a haunting version of this track. I was gobsmacked....

Birds Of Wales were simply super in their first Toronto show since coming off the Mishka tour, alas it was a short pit stop on their way to SXSW, where I am told actor Matthew McConaughey himself insisted they get an encore at their showcase. Full disclosure...I LOVE this band!

So...on to other magical discoveries we made over the past several months and have added to our roster are...

Allie Hughes - I quite literally stumbled upon Allie's music while searching for something on the net. What an fantastic stroke of serendipity. I was instantly taken by her voice and the quirky / smart nature of her lyrics. I had hoped to book her for a show but could not get it worked out. Instead, we met for coffee and chatted about her career direction. After seeing several more shows including her residency at the Drake Hotel we met up and agreed to begin working together. She has been compared to many artists but instead of drawing the same comparisons, I would ask you to discover her for yourself. Allie is an amazing talent who will turn many heads in the years to follow. She is currently in Winnipeg rehearsing for a role in Andrew Lloyd Weber and Ben Elton's The Boys In The Photograph

Walter Mitty And The Realists - Extremely clever name aside, if you see this band live, it is GAME OVER! I have not seen a single person walk away from one of their shows without raving about the bands performance. This four piece from Ireland is going to make some noise this year and we are happy to be on board to help that process along. They have a debut CD in the can which was produced by The Cranberries Fergal Lawler and another Canadian tour planned for the fall of 2009

 Other exciting projects we have begun work on are Isle Of Thieves and Street Pharmacy.

Both bands are young and exciting to watch. The similarities cannot be found in musical style but in song writing ability, desire to succeed and intelligence. These are educated kids who know there is an easier way to make a living but will not be denied. Just check out their sites and see the number of dates they will be playing before the end of May. These are two bands to watch in 2009 as I predict they are both on the verge of a breakout year.

Isle Of Thieves has had extensive radio play and support from stations like XM 87 The Verge. If they were not on the Canadian music industry radar before CMW, they are now. Their performance at the CMW kick-off party was fantastic and garnered the attention of many industry vets including Juno nominated producer Greig Nori, who commented on a Much Music News segment "I love this band so much, I just told their manager I want to produce their next record" and he wasn't bullshitting - he did tell me that.

Street Pharmacy have a new video for the song Degenerate which will be hitting Much Music and MTV in the coming months. The video is a hysterical send up of Simon and Garfunkel, featuring a two hour teasing of lead singer Ryan Guay's coif to give him a spectacular fro.

This band has sold over 5000 units of their release Free Delivery  and plans to record some new tracks and release an updated version this spring. Catch this band live as their Ska Punk Party Rock will have you dancing on the spot.

Not to be forgotten are Jay Sparrow and SLAVE to the SQUAREwave who are both in the studio putting together more awesome shit for you to enjoy!

Hope you enjoy the music as much as we do. We have such an amazingly special group of people in our musical family, 2009 is guaranteed to be a tremendous year.

Chris Brown

I figured it was high time I weighed in on something entertainment related. This is the story that won't go away...but for the wrong reasons. For those who have been under a rock Chris Brown * allegedly * beat his girlfriend Rihanna to a pulp prior to the Grammy awards earlier this month.

I am literally shocked by the number of celebs who have spoken out in support of Brown. Are you FREAKIN' kidding me! He is accused of beating his girlfriend.

Kayne West says "can't we just give Chris a break"...ummmm let me think for a nano second. NO KAYNE....NO!

Don't get the idea I am hanging the young man out to dry on this one but until all of the fact's come out on this one then he should not be supported. Right now the spin doctors of the music industry are in full flight trying to save the very lucrative career of the talented star. Yes, he made a mistake, but those in the public eye need to above the fray.

If you want to be famous, then try not to be a f*ck up (Michael Phelps). Though, you are entitled to have human moments of weakness but then you should suffer the consequences. If it means you lose your endorsements...then so be it.

As the famous TV detective Baretta said "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime" funny how that worked out for the actor who portrayed him in real life (Google Robert Blake).

I say let's wait and see what the truth is. As always in domestic situations there are three sides to the truth...his, hers and the truth.

While we may never know what started the altercation, there is one truth my parents taught me and has been passed down by generations. A very simple rule to follow....

Don't EVER hit a woman..... Chris you are a disappointment men all over the world.