The SHURE Give It Voice Tour came through Toronto on Monday, January 24 for a night of performance, culminating in the choosing of a winner for it

I’ll be heading down to Halifax/Dartmouth for the 2011 edition of Tour Tech East’s All Access Conference & Tradeshow, running this year on both Thursday, January 20th (from 10 am-6 pm) and Friday, January 21st (from 10 am-3:30 pm) at the company’s shop in Dartmouth. I’ve been going the last couple of years and can attest that, if you’re at all involved in any branch of the professional audio, lighting, staging, or production industries on the east coast, including you home recording enthusiasts and touring bands, you belong here. Plenty of high-profile exhibitors make the trip to show off their latest technology and services in a comfortable atmosphere while the conference programming offers helpful and insightful advice from industry experts.

Check out a full list of exhibitors and conference presentations and presenters here:

http://www.allaccessshow.com/seminar_details.html

What’s more, Saturday night is the company’s annual fundraiser party which, in past years, has welcomed artists like Sam Roberts Band, George Canyon, April Wine, Matt Minglewood, and on several occasions, the Trailer Park Boys. As one of the country’s biggest production suppliers, TTE spares no expense on a breathtaking show (yeah, that’s a photo from a previous party). Someone gave me a hint on this year’s headliner, and it’s going to be HUGE! Call the company to get tickets for a great time and to support a great cause:

http://www.tourtecheast.com/contact.php

How much does the venue effect how music is made? Would we have arena rock without arenas? Could there have been punk music without cramped, loud, and dirty bars? Would classical music of been able to evolve in the manner it did without the construction of music halls and rooms? For a very persuasive answer, check out this great presentation by Talking Heads founder, songwriter, soloist, artist, cyclist, and author David Byrne. In it, Byrne offers a historical overview of how architecture has influenced the evolution of music. Touching on examples from African drumming to classical music halls to the modern implications of personal music players, Byrne constructs an interesting take on how music has evolved.

A very happy new year to all of you fine folks from our team at Canadian Musician! I hope the holidays treated you well and that there was some music or music-making tools in your stockings/under your tree/in your trunk after the robbery.

I realized that I didn’t get around to making up an informal "Best of" list for 2010, and I’m just fine with that. It seems that each year, more and more arbitrary and not-very-important lists keep popping up with music you "need to hear" or films you "need to see" or taxes you "need to pay." To that end, I’d rather just open up the floor for some suggestions of Canadian music that came out in 2010 that you think others should hear. Anyone?

There’s no question it was a great year for Canadian music from pretty much every genre, or for Canadian Musician, for that matter. If there’s anything specific you’d like to see from us in 2011, please feel free to send your ideas our way. Of course, we’ll continue to bring you the same calibre of killer content you’ve come to expect. Here’s to a happy 2011. Until next time, where I’ll get giddy about the nifty toy I received with "BOSS" stamped on it, take care of yourselves.