I know the blog has been a bit saturated with Joel Plaskett news since we stuck him on the cover back in November 2009, but this is too good to be ignored. Joel’s original band Thrush Hermit has announced a short reunion tour that’ll hit the east coast before travelling to Toronto for two dates at Lee’s Palace. This is a pretty cool opportunity for anyone in or around one of these cities.

The dates and one of the band’s videos can be found HERE. The blog is called North by East West, and it seems pretty cool…

Help the earthquake victims in Haiti. Visit the World Vision Canada donation
page at www.worldvision.ca/give-a-gift/Pages/EarthquakeinHaiti.aspx

Just got back from a crazy busy (but fun busy, you know?) week down in Anaheim, CA at the NAMM Show. For those unfamiliar with it, the NAMM Show is basically the biggest annual gathering of music gear in North America, where all of the big names in drums, guitars, DJ equipment, recording gear, and everything else in between come together to show off the latest and greatest. Of course, along with the next-generation toys are last generation’s hairstyles, but I digress…

We’ll have a wrap-up video for you in no time with some of the sights, sounds, and celebs from the show, and you can check out spots on some of the gear unveiled there in the next few issues of CM. Expect a big impact from new stuff by Pearl, Roland, Sanyo (yep), and many others…

I was lucky enough to finally land myself a decent acoustic guitar. I mean, I was getting pretty crafty with my electric’s clean tone, but it’s just not the same trying to rock a campfire with a Fender Twin. Anyhow, my neighbours have been listening to nothing but second-rate Weakerthans and Joel Plaskett covers this week, and I couldn’t be happier about it.

It’s an Ibanez EW20 ASE (nice, isn’t it?), and while Ibanez isn’t a company that built its reputation with acoustic guitars, this beautiful-looking and sounding instrument leads me to believe they could have. I’m really, really impressed, and glad my family was kind enough to give such a stellar gift.

I’m working on a countrified version of an Alexisonfire tune. I’ll let you know how it goes…

So a lot of the popular webzines and print publications have dropped their "Best Of 2009" lists, though I’m having a hell of a time trying to think of what my top 10 will look like (though #1 might be obvious…). There were some terrific releases this year, and when I get it to a pool of 20 or so, about 17 of them are Canadian. Sure, most of the albums I receive through my profession are Canadian releases; however, the amount of quality Canadian albums released in 2009 far surpasses what one might expect from the ratio of Canadian and foreign releases (at least in this guy’s eyes…)

Feel free to post or link to your list in the comments – I find them a great source for new music I was either unaware of or simply unable to check out.

Happy New Year, and cheers to a musical 2010.