1.
Hamilton, Ontario
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Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Residents of the old city are known as Hamiltonians, since 1981, the metropolitan area has been listed as the ninth largest in Canada and the third largest in Ontario. Hamilton is home to the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, McMaster University is ranked 4th in Canada and 94th in the world by Times Higher Education Rankings 2015-16 and has a well-known medical school. Possibly because of its environment, numerous TV and film productions have been filmed in Hamilton, regulated by the Hamilton Film. A growing arts and culture community garnered media attention in 2006 when the Globe and Mail published an article called Go West, the article highlighted local art galleries, recording studios and independent film production. In pre-colonial times, the Neutral Indians used much of the land but were driven out by the Five Nations who were allied with the British against the Huron. A member of the Iroquois Confederacy provided the route and name for Mohawk Road, which originally included King Street in the lower city. In 1784, about 10,000 United Empire Loyalists settled in Upper Canada, chiefly in Niagara, around the Bay of Quinte, and along the St. Lawrence River between Lake Ontario and Montreal. They were soon followed by many more Americans, some of not so much ardent loyalists but attracted nonetheless by the availability of inexpensive. At the same time, large numbers of Iroquois loyal to Britain arrived from the United States and were settled on reserves west of Lake Ontario. The town of Hamilton was conceived by George Hamilton, when he purchased farm holdings of James Durand, nathaniel Hughson, a property owner to the north, cooperated with George Hamilton to prepare a proposal for a courthouse and jail on Hamiltons property. Hamilton offered the land to the crown for the future site, Durand was empowered by Hughson and Hamilton to sell property holdings which later became the site of the town. As he had instructed, Durand circulated the offers at York during a session of the Legislative Assembly. Initially, this town was not the most important centre of the Gore District, a permanent jail was not constructed until 1832 when a cut-stone design was completed on one of the two squares created in 1816, Princes Square. Subsequently, the first police board and the limits were defined by statute on February 13,1833. Official City status was achieved on June 9,1846, by an act of Parliament,9 Victoria Chapter 73, the city had several interurban electric street railways and two inclines, all powered by the Cataract Power Co. Though suffering through the Hamilton Street Railway strike of 1906, with industrial businesses expanding, allan Skyway in 1958, and the first Tim Hortons store in 1964. Since then, many of the industries have moved or shut down operations and the economy has shifted more toward the service sector, such as transportation, education
2.
Ontario
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Ontario, one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada, is located in east-central Canada. It is Canadas most populous province by a margin, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all Canadians. Ontario is fourth-largest in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and it is home to the nations capital city, Ottawa, and the nations most populous city, Toronto. There is only about 1 km of land made up of portages including Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border. Ontario is sometimes divided into two regions, Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. The great majority of Ontarios population and arable land is located in the south, in contrast, the larger, northern part of Ontario is sparsely populated with cold winters and is heavily forested. The province is named after Lake Ontario, a thought to be derived from Ontarí, io, a Huron word meaning great lake, or possibly skanadario. Ontario has about 250,000 freshwater lakes, the province consists of three main geographical regions, The thinly populated Canadian Shield in the northwestern and central portions, which comprises over half the land area of Ontario. Although this area mostly does not support agriculture, it is rich in minerals and in part covered by the Central and Midwestern Canadian Shield forests, studded with lakes, Northern Ontario is subdivided into two sub-regions, Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario. The virtually unpopulated Hudson Bay Lowlands in the north and northeast, mainly swampy. Southern Ontario which is further sub-divided into four regions, Central Ontario, Eastern Ontario, Golden Horseshoe, the highest point is Ishpatina Ridge at 693 metres above sea level located in Temagami, Northeastern Ontario. In the south, elevations of over 500 m are surpassed near Collingwood, above the Blue Mountains in the Dundalk Highlands, the Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern region of the province. A well-known geographic feature is Niagara Falls, part of the Niagara Escarpment, the Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies roughly 87 percent of the area of the province. Point Pelee is a peninsula of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario that is the southernmost extent of Canadas mainland, Pelee Island and Middle Island in Lake Erie extend slightly farther. All are south of 42°N – slightly farther south than the border of California. The climate of Ontario varies by season and location, the effects of these major air masses on temperature and precipitation depend mainly on latitude, proximity to major bodies of water and to a small extent, terrain relief. In general, most of Ontarios climate is classified as humid continental, Ontario has three main climatic regions
3.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
4.
Folk rock
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It has also been influential in those parts of the world with close cultural connections to Britain and gave rise to the genre of folk punk. By the 1980s the genre was in decline in popularity. When English bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s defined themselves as electric folk they were making a distinction with the existing folk rock. Folk rock was what they had already been producing, American or American style singer-songwriter material played on instruments, as undertaken by Bob Dylan. They drew the distinction because they were focusing on indigenous songs, the result of this hybridisation was an exchange of specific features drawn from Traditional music and Rock music. For example, electric folk groups, while using traditional material as their source for lyrics and tunes. In the same year, The Beatles began incorporating overt folk influences into their music, the Beatles and other British Invasion bands, in turn, influenced the Californian band The Byrds, who began playing folk-influenced material and Bob Dylan compositions with rock instrumentation. The Byrds recording of Dylans Mr Tambourine Man was released in April 1965 and reached #1 on the U. S. and UK singles charts, setting off the mid-1960s folk rock movement. The Beatles late 1965 album, Rubber Soul, contained a number of songs clearly influenced by the American folk rock boom, such as Nowhere Man and If I Needed Someone. Folk rock became an important genre among emerging English bands, particularly those in the London club scene towards the end of the 1960s. Like the American revival, it was often overtly left wing in its politics, most important among their responses were the foundation of folk clubs in major towns, starting with London where MacColl began the Ballads and Blues Club in 1953. These clubs were usually urban in location, but the songs sung in them often hearkened back to a rural pre-industrial past, in many ways this was the adoption of abandoned popular music by the middle classes. This meant that there were, by the later 1960s, a group of performers with musical skill and knowledge of a variety of traditional songs. The result was an interpretation of the song A Sailors Life. The rapid expansion of electric folk that followed in the wake of Liege, five Hand Reel a band formed out of the remnants of Spencers Feat proved to be one of the more successful and influential folk rock bands. Releasing 4 albums with Topic/RCA records they were popular in Europe. He then quit that and eventually formed the Albion Country Band, later the Albion Band, a much smaller group of English bands were formed in emulation of existing electric rock bands. Fiddlers Dram were often dismissed as one hit wonders for their single Day Trip to Bangor, most of their career, from that point until they disbanded in 1979, was one of declining profile and sales
5.
Luke Doucet
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Luke Doucet is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. He has written and performed as a solo artist and as a member of the rock band Veal. In 2006 and 2011, Doucet was nominated for Juno Awards in the Adult Alternative Album of the Year category for his albums, Broken and he lost to Neil Young both years. Doucet has received plenty of critical acclaim, the Toronto Star referred to him as the best young guitarist in the country, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but raised in Manitoba, Doucet planned to become a lawyer before deciding to focus on guitar. When Doucet was six years old, he travelled the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, when he was just 11 years old, Doucet travelled solo from Winnipeg to Nova Scotia. And at 13, he took a Greyhound bus from Winnipeg to Vancouver, Doucet got his first guitar later that same year, and played in a blues band with his dad when he was 15. Since his parents divorced when he was young, playing in the band was an opportunity for Doucet to bond with his father, after playing in bands throughout high school, Doucet moved to Vancouver at 19 and joined Sarah McLachlans band. Luke Doucet was the front man for Vancouver rock band Veal, along with Doucet, Veal consisted of bassist Nik Kozub and drummer Chang. Howard Redekopp and Barry Mirochnick had also played bass in the band, Veal released three albums, Hot Loser in 1996, Tilt OWhirl in 1999 and The Embattled Hearts in 2003. In 2001 Doucet released his first album, Aloha, Manitoba, the album consists of songs written for Veal that his band-mates felt were too soft. A departure from his work with Veal, Aloha, Manitoba has a mellower, bazil Donovan, Barry Mirochnick, Lloyd Peterson, Christine Fellows, Sky Onosson and Gilles Fournier performed on the record. Aloha, Manitoba was the first official release for Toronto record label, Six Shooter Records, Doucet is still with the label, and has released all of his solo albums with Six Shooter. In 2004 Doucet released Outlaws, Live and Unreleased, a collection of live songs. Most of the album was recorded in February,2004 at the Rivoli in Toronto, in 2005 Doucet released his sophomore studio album, Broken. A break-up album, Broken focused on the heartbreak of a failed relationship, Broken was nominated in 2006 for a Juno Award in the Adult Alternative Album of the Year category. The Fokestar EP was released as a digital-only EP in 2006 and it contains five songs, two of which are early versions of songs that would be re-recorded for Doucets next album, Bloods Too Rich. In 2007 Doucet moved to Nashville where he wrote Bloods Too Rich, despite being excited about living in such a musical city, Doucet was homesick and longed to be back in Canada. Six Shooter released Bloods Too Rich on January 8,2008 in Canada, while Doucets earlier albums are simply billed as ‘by Luke Doucet, Bloods Too Rich is credited to both Luke Doucet and The White Falcon
6.
Melissa McClelland
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Melissa McClelland is an American-born Canadian singer-songwriter who lived in Hamilton, Ontario, in her youth and now bases her career from Toronto. McClellands music is influenced by blues and americana, a writer on CMJs staff blog wrote that McClelland has a persona reminiscent of a female Tom Waits. Melissa McClelland was born in Chicago, Illinois and she spent her youth in Burlington, Ontario before developing her career in Toronto. McClelland married Luke Doucet on 24 June 2006, the two have played together on numerous stages, including at the 2006 Calgary Folk Music Festival and he has produced three of her records, Stranded in Suburbia, Thumbelinas One Night Stand and Victoria Day. In 2006 McClelland opened for Matthew Goods solo acoustic tour across Canada, during the tour the two singers closed Matthew Goods set with a duet performance of the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt. She also works with Sarah McLachlan, providing backing vocals at her live shows, McLachlan makes a guest appearance on the song Go Down Matthew from McClellands album Thumbelinas One Night Stand. Skyway Bridge features Greg Keelor from Blue Rodeo, additionally, McClelland is the only guest artist on Blue Rodeos 2008 live album, Blue Road. In 2007 McClelland opened a tour with Jesse Cook and sang on his recording of It Aint Me Babe which was released on his 2007 album Frontiers. It Aint Me Babe was released as a single from that album, also in 2007, McClellands Passenger 24 won in The 6th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Americana Song. McClellands song Rooftop was featured on the 2005 soundtrack CD of the television series Degrassi, The Next Generation. The song was played on the montage of the 2004 episode Time Stands Still Pt.2, in which a main character, Jimmy Brooks was shot by a bullied student. She also performed the song for the childrens reality show This Is Daniel Cook. In 2008, she contributed to the soundtrack of the film One Week, in the same year, her side-band Ladybird Sideshow released a live album entitled Ladybird Sideshow Live at the Orange Lounge. McClellands follow-up album, Thumbelinas One Night Stand was released in 2006, reviews drew attention to the eclectic nature of the album. Magazine described the album as impossible to pin down stylistically, as it segues from roots-y rock to country to pop to folk. In late 2008 Melissa McClelland began work on Victoria Day, her fourth album, Victoria Day was scheduled for release on April 14,2009. The album was recorded at Canterbury Music by Jeremy Darby, and was produced by Luke Doucet, Victoria Day has a vintage 1950s sound, combining dixieland with high lonesome twang. Seasoned Lovers, from Victoria Day, features vocals from Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith, in 2011 McClelland and her husband Luke Doucet released an self-titled album under the moniker Whitehorse on Six Shooter Records
7.
2013 Polaris Music Prize
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The 2013 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 23,2013 at The Carlu event theatre in Toronto, Ontario. The award was won by Godspeed You, black Emperor for their album Allelujah. Maybe the next celebration should happen in a hall, without the corporate banners. Despite their criticism the band accepted the award, but donated the money to a Quebec-based program of music education in prisons. The prizes 10-album shortlist was announced on July 16, the prizes preliminary 40-album longlist was announced on June 13
8.
Massey Hall
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Massey Hall is a performing arts theatre in the Garden District of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The theatre was designed to seat 3,500 patrons, Massey Hall was designated a National Historic Site of Canada on June 15,1981. Massey Hall was built to fill the need for a meeting place where people from Toronto and area could meet. It was designed with a facade, and features moorish arches that span the width of the interior hall. This interior was inspired by the Alhambra Palace in Spain as well as Louis Sullivans Chicago Auditorium, the exterior neoclassical facade was a preference voiced from Lillian, Hart Masseys daughter. Designed by architect Sidney Badgley, Massey Hall was completed in 1894 at a cost of $152,390.75, construction was financed by Hart Massey of Massey-Harris holding company. The halls debut concert was on June 14,1894, the Albert Building, at 15 Shuter Street, was added as a janitorial residence in 1917, and later converted as backstage space. However, it will be demolished and replaced by a new addition during pending renovations in spite of potential historic value, the exterior is Palladian architecture while the interior is Moorish Revival architecture. In 1933, the Massey Foundation undertook further renovations to the hall and it is currently used for a variety of events and is operated by the same corporation as Roy Thomson Hall. In 1994, to commemorate the Halls 100th anniversary, the basement was refurbished to include Centuries. Prior to this addition, alcohol was not permitted in the hall, the decor of Centuries includes hundreds of photos of artists who have performed there over the years including many autographs. Centuries has a capacity of 220 people, and often hosts CD release parties, roughly five years after Centuries was created, an additional bar in the balcony lounge was added. The doors at the front of the venue were painted red, a neon sign was hung above the main entrance. Many dignitaries have attended the Hall since its inauguration, in 1901, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York visited with Canadian Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier. It was the site of the legendary Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie concert, recorded as Jazz at Massey Hall, accompanying Gillespie and Parker in this acoustically sound hall were Bud Powell, Max Roach and Charles Mingus. Neil Youngs performance on January 19,1971 was recorded and later released as a live album, rush, in June 1976, recorded the live album All the Worlds a Stage here. Matthew Good performed and recorded his concert, on May 29,2008, during Natty Dread Tour, Bob Marley and The Wailers performed for the first time in Toronto, Canada on June 8,1975. On January 8,1995, Ronnie Hawkins celebrated his 60th birthday by throwing a concert here, the concert featured performances by Hawkins, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Band and Larry Gowan
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