Making this one a night to remember
MUSIC: Nine years after we ‘dropped the ball,’ Vancouver embraces opportunity to host Juno Awards
Nine years ago, Vancouver hosted the Juno Awards. If you don’t remember it, you’re not alone. A straw poll of people on the street about the 2009 event had a near 90 per cent response of “was that here?”
Even Mayor Gregor Robertson is on record stating that “in 2009, we kind of dropped the ball.”
Nickelback played. Russell Peters hosted. Lights won New Artist of the Year. There was a certain sporting event just over the horizon that assumed priority over everything else at the time.
The 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics owned the podium. That won’t be the case for the 2018 Juno Awards.
This one is so jam-packed, you should register at letshearitbc.com and start getting your calendar of events sorted out.
“We really wanted to take that negative vibe about 2009 to task and put together something that really strikes a balance between the glitz and glamour of the Junos and also arts out West,” says Rob Calder, programming lead for the host committee.
“You need everybody on point and, this time, everyone from the city to the province and right down to the industry is coming together to reach the quite ambitious mandate that we all came into this with.”
What is that mandate? You could break it down into a multi-tiered plan to provide the proper showcases for both the vibrant national and B.C. music scenes. In a city known worldwide not for its art, but rather its outrageous real estate costs, staggering opioid crisis and environmental front lines, the 2018 Junos are aiming to position the music industry in the news.
Naturally, you want to see them. For free would be even better, right?
Performances are packed into the downtown core. The free Let’s Hear It! Live hits the Vancouver Art Gallery (March 23-24, noon to late) and JUNOFest launches into multiple local venues, ranging from the Fox Cabaret and the Rickshaw to such venerable locales as the Railway Club. It may be called the Railway Stage and Beer Cafe officially, but the letshearitbc.com schedule just calls it Railway Club. Some things never change.
That’s OK if it means quality is maintained, says Nick Blasko, co-chair of the Juno Host Committee.
“Vancouver has seen how great these kind of events can be and it wouldn’t do the moment or the city justice by doing anything less than all that has come before and adding in a lot of new ideas,” says Blasko. “From the modernizing of the liquor laws to the B.C. Music Fund, which is a big influence, we have a whole different climate around music at this moment. The last time around, people were still buying CDs.”
Calder and Blasko both urge attendance at the free live site at the Vancouver Art Gallery for a family-friendly and open experience. From there, each has their own additional recommendations ranging from JUNOFest gigs to the very popular Juno Songwriters’ Circle.
Mother Mother’s Ryan Guldemond, who hosted a special night for under-19 songwriters last week, has clear memories of how these evenings of artists discussing their craft and open mics can be of value.
“I had a very helpful and potent experience at one of these open mics, where you’re given three songs and, at the beginning of the second song, I was told to stop because it was so bad,” said Guldemond.
“Now that sounds like a relatively unsupportive environment, but it fuelled a fire to develop the skills and the courage to do things like lead songwriting circles. Ultimately, it was one key step toward making a decision to pursue this as a career, which I’ve never looked back from.”
Calder says there were three things the committee discovered working on other projects in the creative sector before coming to the Junos.
“Regional diversity, genre diversity and ethnic diversity all proved to be key areas that needed focusing on, so we really worked hard to hit the mark there and not just do the same old thing,” he said.
“We’ve been really happy to see success there, too, with everything from First Nations showcases to Christine Jensen and Phil Dwyer playing jazz with high schoolers in Nanaimo, to working with the Vancouver Art Gallery on FUSE. We’ve got to get a place for everything, from the established to the hustlingto-be-heard.”
According to Calder, one pleasant surprise in putting together the events calendar was just how many venues were on board and how much effort outlets such as the Rickshaw and Imperial put into being involved. The cliché that the prices in the city are killing live music just didn’t ring true. Plus, the Vancouver of 2018 isn’t the one of 2009. There were many strong arts organizations and festivals to join forces with to bring the party.
“Everyone is always quick to jump on closing venues and be critical, but the truth is, there are a lot of people out there who are totally kicking butt,” says Calder. “And we have also seen a serious, deep-wallet push to develop arts corridors in New West and Surrey to feel good about the future, too, even if the downtown core might lose some of those outside, experimental venues of the past.”
So, the lesson going into the 2018 Juno Awards in Vancouver just might be: ‘Don’t worry about dropping the ball.’ It turns out, you can catch it on the rebound and — with any luck — slam dunk it after.