Weekend was good. Nothing great or mind blowing occurred and nothing horrible did though either hence the good weekend.

I discovered I don’t like a lot of “industry people” but people I knew beforehand I like even more. I also met a few great people new to me during the course of the weekend and can’t be happier for that.

Cheers to the ECMA staff and volunteers for a great weekend for lots of people. Again the opportunity to speak one on one with top industry professional from around the world is nothing to sneeze at.

Jeers to Peter MacKay who gets the douche bag of the weekend award for forgetting [??? not caring??] where he was on Sunday during the awards show.

You can see a CBC News video recap here

PDF of Music Award Winners
PDF of Industry Award Winners

Shannon Webb-Campbell was all over the place this weekend and filed three reports for ChartAttack.com:
Joel Plaskett And In-Flight Safety Win Three East Coast Music Awards
ECMA Weekend Offered Wide Variety Of Music
Halifax Comes Alive With ECMA Showcases

2007 ECZEMA Winners

3 Comments on these:
1) Not only are Risky Business the best dressed band, but they are also the only band that I know that has jogging pants - that in itself is award worthy in my books.
2) The genetic award going to Horses over Ghost Bees - pure genius
3) I think this was the final straw for something to be done with our washrooms at the Rock Garden - we’ll definitely provide updates and some before/after photos!!

THE CHUCKY DANGER AWARD FOR BEST DRESSED BAND
* The Stance
* BA Johnston
* Risky Business (for wearing their own merch)
* The Sweet Tenders

THE RITA MACNEIL RISING STAR AWARD
* Anne Murray
* George Canyon
* Sloan
* Inflight Safety

THE TINY DRAFT BEER AWARD FOR LEAST SURLEY BARTENDER:
* Gus
* Barry
* Peter
* Eric

THE BA JOHNSTON SHRIMP RING OF EXCELLENCE
* Dimo

THE MOST RIDICULOUSLY ABBREVIATED NAME FOR A BAND (AKA THE AA AWARD)
* VKNGS
* GTGG
* ASFSE
* OTBOO

THE BAND WITH THE MOST GENITICALLY IDENTICAL MEMBERS
* The Stance
* The Hold
* The Ghost Bees
* Horses

WORST BATHROOM
* Stage Nine
* The Rock Garden
* Gus’ Pub

THE SLOAN/AV/MATT MAYES/TREWS AWARD FOR BAND WHO MOVED AWAY TO MAKE IT BIG
* BA Johnston

BEST APPEARANCE BY A LOCAL MUSICIAN IN A FILM
* Seth Smith in Beach Girls
* Greg Napier in Vampire Bats
* Christian Simmonds in Beach Girls
* Dale Fahey in Vampire Bats

BEST EAST COAST BAND
* Dog Day
* Shotgun and Jaybird
* The Just Barelys
* The Maynards
* The Stolen Minks
* Winner: Gidi Gidi Maji Maji from the east coast of Africa

OK I don’t know maybe I am or maybe I’m not for being included in That’s Fucking Dynamite’s “My friends are cooler than yours Pt. 2: The Bloggers” but I thought it was nice of Matt to ask me to be part of this and well, he said some really nice things about us. [Thanks Matt]

My friends are cooler than yours is when he asks friends for a single track they’ve been listening to a lot lately [part 1]. I based my choice on the track that my player said was literally my most listened to track at the time. To see what it was you’ll have to read his post.

Close contenders included:
Inbreds - Turn My Head
And the previously mentioned Harlem Shakes

Honorable mentions included:
Mooney Suzuki, Concrete Blonde [random, big fan, but still as of late, random], Meligrove Band, Guitar Wolf, Flashing Lights, Their Majesties, Malajube, Teddybears, Karachi Prison Band and Iggy Pop [I Got a Right = monster of a song - find it]

P.S. Matt just posted this yesterday, so as far as having time for exploring new sites, well i haven’t - but in quick glances I think the other blogs he included might be worth checking out as well. If I find out any of them are shit I’ll be sure to let you know. In the meantime they were:
Aquarium Drunkard
Muzzle of Bees
music (for robots) [i’ve read this one before - thumbs up]

P.S.S/Aside: Their Majesties + Malajube + Meligrove Band = one happy show should it ever happen

P.S.S.S/Aside #2: Matt’s post helped remind me this site needs a visual makeover if anyone has such skills and interest that’s reading…..

Last week [to the day] said the gramophone posted a track from Great Lake Swimmers (Put There by the Land) - but promptly removed it at the label’s request.

I’m going to let some comments from the post speak for me:

everytime a label or band does this i’m shocked and disgusted. are they fucking living in the stone age???

K, that was a little harsh but:

Well, let’s see: I didn’t get to hear it, and they seem unlikely to be on the radio, so now if I’m curious about it I need to search out the CD and buy it on blind faith.

Seems unlikely. Thank you, label, for sparing me from something I might have enjoyed.

That nails it for me.

Ottawa wants music association to find new sponsors

Never really saw or heard much response to this at the time back in January. As much as I could care less about the awards show aspect, while that’s where it all started it’s heartening to see artists, managers, and others involved in the industry from across the region brought together to reconnect, make new connections, maybe get some business done, and well of course party and see some music.

The weekend has come to provide networking opportunities for regional acts that they would only otherwise have if they traveled to other festivals/conferences, and even then the quality would not be the same when we have a “home team” supporting us and helping us along the way. Here’s hoping current successes in recent years are not lost due to future lack of funding.

The federal government will give $525,000 to the East Coast Music Association over the next three years but the amount allotted will decrease in each year of the funding.

Peter MacKay, minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, said in a news release that the federal agency will give the association $250,000 in 2007, $150,000 in 2008, and $125,000 in 2009.

The agency wants the association, which organizes the annual nationally televised East Coast Music Awards and an industry convention, to become more self-sustaining.

In the coming years Virgin would like to add more Canadian cities to the festival, namely Montreal and Halifax and in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

from Vancouver Virgin Fest announced

Stephen Cooke, music[+] writer for local daily newspaper the Chronicle Herald had the following to say on the subject:

I asked someone at the Metro Centre, they said “no comment.”
Which likely means, “we’re working on it.”

The existing tour dates and openings TOOL has in their schedule show it could work.

Been enjoying their music so much as of late I thought I’d post some additional reviews in case you need more reason to check them out.

*Sixeyes Score: 9.0 out of 10

Allmusic Review: 4.5 stars [out of 5]

Stylus Review: A-

Folks on local message boards have deemed this the worst poster of the weekend by far - ignoring that, if you’re underage you have two options for shows this weekend, the shows mentioned here and a small window of opportunity to attend some performances at the Palace during the 72 hour jam. The Palace. Kids. Creepy.

Music Nova Scotia ECMA Showcase Schedule.

Thursday, February 15 - Tribeca Bar and Bistro
9:15-9:45 John McKiel
9:55-10:25 Ruth Minnikin
10:35:11:05 David Myles
11:15-11:45 Rose Cousins
11:55-12:25 Jenn Grant
12:35-1:05 Tanya Davis
1:15-1:45 Old Man Luedecke

Friday, February 16 - The Seahorse Tavern
10:00-10:30 Troy MacGillivray
10:45-11:15 Ryan Cook
11:30-12:00 Feral Bliss featuring Dammien Alexander
12:15-12:45 Gypsophilia
1:00-1:30 Brett Ryan
1:45-2:15 Tom Fun

Saturday, February 17 - The Seahorse Tavern
10:00-10:30 Rebekah Higgs
10:45-11:15 Steven Bowers
11:30-12:00 Jill Barber
12:15-12:45 Hotshot Robot
1:00-1:30 Carmen Townsend
1:45-2:15 Dr. DFunkt