About Renee Blodgett

Recent Posts by Renee Blodgett

2012: The Year of Fox Fire in Finland

The Finnish word for the northern lights, or aurora borealis, is ‘revontulet’, meaning fox fire. This originates from an old folk tale in which an arctic fox started fires by running through the snow covered landscapes, its bushy tail throwing sparks up into the sky. I love this story, and choose to recount it whenever people ask me what the northern lights are. Apparently some people, on the other hand, hold a different belief. One whereby the phenomenon of the aurora borealis is caused by charged particles colliding with atoms in the atmosphere, which are then moved by the Earth’s magnetic field. The resulting energy and light, they insist, causes us to see the wavering colourful lights. Hmmm… Fire foxes for me. 

The awe-inspiring natural show is different every time, with colors varying from blue, green, purple, yellow, and red. The changes in colours and shapes create a truly magical effect that should be a must on any travel enthusiasts bucket list. It is also worth mentioning that 2012 is going to be a particularly impressive and intense year for the aurora borealis due to the Solar Maximum.

This is the period in the solar cycle when the sun’s magnetic field on the solar equator rotates marginally faster than at the solar poles. Given that each cycle is usually about 11 years, and that the last Solar Maximum was in the year 2000, we are now due another. So they say. In truth, the fox population has grown over recent years, resulting in enthusiastic snow running, and plentiful tail swishing.

Due to the brighter-than-normal nature of this year’s ‘revontulet’ light show, the aurora borealis will be visible to large parts of Europe. The best places to see the colourful display will, however, be towards the Arctic Circle. For those of us in and around Europe, that most likely means areas around Scandinavia. The further towards the Arctic Circle, the better.

Those taking holidays to Lapland, Iceland, and other parts of Scandinavia in 2012 are likely to witness the stunning dance of light. In order to see the northern lights at their best, you should view them on a clear night, preferably away from light pollution caused by towns. Amazingly, on a good night, the northern lights can provide as much light as the moon.

If you are considering holidaying in the land of fox fires, there’s plenty to keep you busy. The fairytale landscape of Finnish Lapland has snow-laden pine forests, perfect for dog sledging through. Reindeer safaris, snow-mobiling, ice fishing are popular too, not to mention cross-country and alpine skiing, snowboarding etc. At the end of a day exploring the fox’s natural habitat, warming up and relaxing Finnish style is the icing on the cake; saunas and karaoke are more or less compulsory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guest post/contributed by Tessa Bowles, an eager explorer, and loves Holidays to Lapland.

 

Healdsburg Food, Wine & Cultural Events Thru March Including Its Jazz Festival

Since I live in the Bay Area, I tend to hear about and attend more food, wine & cultural events here than other parts of the world although I argue that it’s not enough and perhaps I don’t even know about half the amazing cultural and arts events here. If in the area or ‘can be’ wine country is celebrating via something they’re calling Epicurean Indulgence, which is being held at the Healdsburg Inn now through March 31, 2012.

20×20- Every Thursday, now through March 29: World-renowned chef Charlie Palmer’s celebrated fine dining restaurant, Dry Creek Kitchen, offers 20 bottles of wine for just $20 each.

Sonoma Neighbor Menu & Live Jazz- Monday-Thursday, now until March 29: Guests can enjoy a 3-course menu at Dry Creek Kitchen while listening to live jazz in the dining room from 7:00-10:00pm. $36/person; $51 with wine pairing. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Healdsburg Education Foundation.

Healdsburg Jazz Festival: “Jazz on the Menu” – Februray 2: Enjoy live jazz and signature dishes at any of fifteen participating Healdsburg restaurants. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Healdsburg Jazz Festival’s Music Education Programs.

Taste the Place, Zin Restaurant & Wine Bar- Every Wednesday from February 1- March 28: Zin Restaurant and Wine Bar will offer a 3-course, prix-fixe menu for just $29; $39 with wine pairing. Each week’s menu will focus on a regional theme:

• February 1: New Orleans & Southern Louisiana
• February 8: Iowa Farmhouse
• February 15: Austin, Central Texas Style BBQ
• February 22: Pennsylvania Dutch
• February 29: Mississippi: Flavors of the Deep South
• March 7: Central California Portuguese
• March 14: Taste of Tennessee
• March 21: Santa Fe, New Mexico
• March 28: Nevada Basque: Love Lamb

Healdsburg Wild Steelhead Festival- February 10-12: This family-friendly event includes educational, entertaining and delicious ways to learn more about this species:

• February 10-Wild Salmon Dinner at Villa Chanticleer: Dine on delicious salmon dishes as guest speaker Jim Norton hosts a screening of his documentary, “Salmon: Running the Gauntlet,” the most-watched PBS Nature episode in the history of the network.
• February 11- Steelhead Festival in Healdsburg Plaza: Kids can fish for trout in the pond under the gazebo while adult anglers can learn the art of fly fishing from the pros. Fish cooking demos, food, wine and entertainment round out this day of fun for everyone.
• February 12- Lake Sonoma Fish Hatchery Event: See the fish returning to the hatchery, jumping the fish ladder; witness fish sorting and enjoy music by the Healdsburg High School Jazz Band.

Healdsburg Wild Mushroom Weekend- February 16-20: This four-day festival is a mushroom lover’s dream. From foraging to mushroom-themed dinner, there’s something for everyone.

• February 16, 17, 18, 20: Williamson Winery will serve multiple mushroom dishes paired with their award winning wines.
• February 16-20: Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen will offer a mushroom dish with a focused wine pairing on their regular menu.

Exhibitors From 50 Countries at The Winter Fancy Food Show

Recently I attended the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, however it hosted a number of vendors well beyond the world of food in the BayArea. Global in attendance, vendors showed up to tout their latest and greatest from Asia, South America, Mexico, Europe, Canada, Australia and others. I saw and tasted so many things, my head was spinning by the end of day, as was my stomach. Try mixing garlic, yoghurt, tomato sauces, cheese, tea, wine, whiskey, tequila, coffee, sushi, noodle dishes, sweet sauces and chocolate all within a few hour period. The number of extra virgin olive oil producers was astonishing, so large that it made you think that it was the most economically viable product to sell, but above and beyond the 500% mark-up for pizza?

The show touts 80,000 products and 1,300 exhibitors from 50 countries. Since it covers so much ground, it obviously takes quite awhile to get to all the exhibitors and you can’t possibly take them all in and attempt to have any quality ‘tasting’ time along the way. Below are the call outs of some of my favorites as I meandered my way through aisle after aisle. Given the nature of the WBTW, I decided to separate them by country and by category for easy access. When I list a country, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the vendor is from that country, but rather it could be the food they specialize in.

• Canada: Rene Rey Chocolates based in North Vancouver. They have a number of ‘no sugar added’ options including almond, hazelnut, mint and orange to name a few.
• France: Les Trois Petits Cochons: they started a small charcuterie over 35 years ago in Greenwich Village New York and now, they lead the pate and charcuterie industry, offering an extensive line of artisanal pates, mousses, terrines, sausages, saucissons, smoked meats and other French specialties. My favorites: their Pacific-caught wild salmon terrine and the Pate de Campagne, which is made up of pork meat, pork liver and onions, spiced with garlic, parsley, bay leaves & thyme. They also do a really nice turkey sausage with wild mushrooms and cognac.
• France & US: Marin French Cheese Company specializes in gift boxes and baskets. What I tried (and liked) was their Quark Garlic and Blackberry, as well as their Grand Artisan Cheese and their Washed Rind Cheese (SchlosskranzHerz). The ‘CheeseFactory’ as it is often referred to, operates under the brand name Rouge et Noir. It has been producing hand crafted Artisan soft ripened cheese apparently since 1865. Rouge et Noir cheeses are similar to French and European varieties, but reflect the characteristics of Northern California, producing its own regional style. (they are located in Marin Country in California).
• Ireland & Japan: Located in Ireland but with offices elsewhere and tea from Japan, Suki Tea import to 37 countries. I talked to Oscar Woolley who set me up with an Earl Grey Blue Flower blend and a a Fairtrade Green Tea. They also have other flavors including Red Berry, Peppermint, Chai, Russian Caravan, Popcorn Green Genmaicha, Lemongrass and Ginger, Spiced Citrus, Roobios, Nettle, Mango Tango, Chamomile, among a number of others.
• Spain: Zoe Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Zoe means life. The color exquisite, the texture and thickness just right. I didn’t do a side-by-side comparison with the hundreds of others on the floor, but did manage to sample olive oil from about 8 vendors.
• Spain: I learned that less than 10% of all Iberico pork is 100% pure Iberico de Bellota. The meat of the pure Iberico pig, the gold standard for pork, has health benefits similar to olive oil that the Spanish call this acorn-fed pig, the four legged olive tree. The purebred Iberico pigs are all born onsite and raised by local farmers in The Farmers Cooperative of the Valley of the Pedroches (COVAP) in southwestern Spain. For more information, visit Iberico Fresco’s website.
• Spain: Flor de Sal d’Es Trenc comes from the southeastern coast of the Balearic island of Mallorca Spain. Since 2003, they have been harvesting their product in the salt flats of Es Trenc, a place with a longstanding tradition of salt extraction. They have five blends of herbs and spices, including Flor de Sal Olivas (Kalamata black olives from Greece), Flor de Sal Mediterranea (with Mediterranean herbs), Flor de Sal Hibiscus (with dried hibiscus flowers), Flor de Sal Sri Lanka (a curry blend of ten spices) and Flor de Sal Rosa (with Gallic Rose petals, Szechuan pepper and Sarawak black pepper). For more information, visit their site. (BTW, I absolutely love their packaging).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Japan: Health Bolstering tea from Zenyakuno. My favorites: Kuromame tea, which has a soft, sweet and roasted flavor. They’re made from black soybeans, which is traditionally used in many Japanese dishes. The black rind of the beans contains anthocyanins and other rich ingredients such as lectithin, which are said by some to aid in health. I also tried the Hatomugi tea which is made from Hatomugi (Adlay), which is often used in rice cakes, bean paste, tea and as a grain in Japan. The most unusual however was Dandelion Tea, which has a coffee-like flavor and texture, but is caffeine free.
• Japan: Black Garlic by Kashiwazaki Fruit and Vegetables Corporation (Oirase). Surprisingly good, black garlic was an unusual find as I had never tasted it before. Unlike conventional garlic, Oirase Black Garlic has a fruity flavor and is rich in various amino acids and polyphenol antioxidants, approximately 5.8 times more polyphenol antioxidants than regular garlic.
• Japan: Amazake cocktails from Houraiyahonten Company. Amazake is Japan’s traditional beverage made by fermenting rice malt with no sugar added. It contains glucose, B1 and B2 vitamins and amino acids, often referred to as a “drinking infusion.” It is said to help relieve brain fatigue especially during sports activities.
• Japan: Sake. How can you go to an international food show and not taste sake? In recent years, apparently the popular taste in Japan has moved away from the ‘light and dry’ style towards more full-flavored sakes. Tedorigawa sakes are known for their full-bodied sakes, and they also tout ‘low acidity,’ all done in conjunction with a method they call the Yamahai Brewing Method. Tedorigawa’s sakes are big on flavor but not dense or heavy. After tasting all of them, I’d have to agree. With the exception of its “Silver Mountain” junmai, which is best served warm, they taste best served crisply cold. My favorites were the Tedorigawa “Iki na Onna” which has a taste of wild honey, and the Tedorigawa “Yamahai Daiginjo” which also has a honey flavor but is also slightly herbal in taste. Their sakes are available in the states: California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Visit World Sake for more information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Japan: ZAck Lim’s “Pure Sake” which is a category of Japanese sake classified as “Jun-mai-shu” which is made with rice, rice koji (Aspergillus oryzae) and water. My favorites: Hikomago (Junmai-Ginjo – very dry), Ayaka Binkakoi (Junmai Shu) which was a little smoother and has a milling ratio of 60%, slightly higher than the Hikomago and lastly, the Abe Kameji which has a milling ratio of 40%. This is a premium sake and they suggest serving at room temperature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Japan: Yamamotoyama Pyramid Teas. I tried the Sencha Green Tea and the Gyokuro Green Tea, both full of flavor and body. You can find out more about their tea line at Yamamotoyama America.
• Greece: 5 Olive Oil. Not only is the olive oil delicious, but it is sold in a beautifully designed bottle. You can also get the Unique Gourmet bottle, which is decorated with Swarovski crystals. Their tout? A special varietal blend that is produced by the method of first cold extraction at low temperatures — its acidity does not exceed 0.5%.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Mexico: Tequila 1921. With a name like that, how could you not stop by? The story has it they told me as I was sipping, that the owner found a bottle in the 1970s of a tequila bottle from the 1920s which is what their packaging is based on. Their tequila is made from 100% Blue Weber Estate Grown Agave. Cultivated in the red oil of the highlands region of Jalisco Mexico, they use a slow production process. In the milling phase, the fibers are run through the juice extracting rollers and water is injected in strategic locations for optimal sugar extraction. For more information, visit their site here.
• U.S. – Vermont: I tried Vermont’s Smoke & Cure’s maple-brined bacon which drew me in. Also on their ‘menu’ is are pork sausages (Hot or Sweet Italian), Breakfast, Beer Brat and snack sticks. They tout that they’re artificial ingredient ‘free’.
• U.S. - California (Sun Valley): Velvet Rope Bake Shop not only has a fabulous name, which btw, the owner (Eric Katigbak) opted on as a connection to his previous profession when he was in “music videos.” A family run business in the Sun Valley area, their scrumptious cakes were not only delicious but perfectly presented. Each one of their Cake Truggles is handcrafted and made from scratch. Their flavors include: Double Chocolate, Red Velvet, Carrot Cake, Chocolate-Covered Banana, Mochaccino, S’mores, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Coconut and they also have a seasonal line as well which includes apple pie, champagne and chocolate, eggnog and pumpkin among others. The use real lemon zest and juice, grate their own ginger and carrots and use natural peanut butter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• U.S. – Pachamama Raw. They do raw organic products such as granola bars, pistachios, flax crackers, macaroons, chips and cookies. Their fabulously tasting Raw Kale Chips are drizzled with an organic sauce made up of cashews, lemon juice, pink Himalayan sea salt, and other spices. For more information, check out their site.
• U.S. Crystal Flakes has a product they call FalkSalt which comes in various flavors including citron, smoke, rosemary, red chili, black, wild mushroom and natural. My favorites were rosemary and wild mushroom.

• U.S. (Wisconsin): Eagle Cave Reserve Bandaged Cheddar from Meister Cheese Company. Their cheese comes from local dairy farms in the Southwest Wisconsin’s unglaciated region.
• U.S. (California): Artisan Truffles from Le Grand Confectionary. They specialize in gift boxes of truffles.
• U.S. & Italy: Arthur Schuman. They are the largest importer of Pecorino Ramano in the U.S., importing about 35% of all the Pecorino Ramano entering the U.S. All I can say is yum.
• U.S. & Italy: Parma’s Prosciutto Di Parma. It is produced in the province of Parma, Italy, using only four ingredients: specially bred and fed Italian pigs, sea salt, air and time. The prosciutto is air-cured for a minimum of 400 days up to 30 months.
• Italy: Giordano wines. My favorite of the batch they brought with them was the 2008 Piu Uve Unico Plus Giordano. For more on them, visit their site.
• Italy: Nudo Olive Oil is made from 100% Italian olives mainly sourced from the olive groves of a little village called Loro Piceno in Le Marche, Italy. The olives are picked by hand and cold-pressed the same day. They’re known for their flavored oils (and I tried 4 of them) leaving with a smile on my face and a huge thumbs up. Flavored oils are made by pressing fresh citrus fruit or herbs with the olives in the press with no additional additives. Flavors include: lemon, chillie, mandarin, thyme, basil and garlic. They also have a very cool program called: Adopt an Olive Tree, which now includes 6,380 olive trees of varying degrees of gnarliness, across Le Marche and Abruzzo on the east coast of central Italy. The program is a collaboration between twelve small, artisanal olive producers and the program has become a lifeblood for many small scale producers as it offers them consistent, reliable payment at a fair price.

• Italy & NY: I met the ‘sauce’ queen Lidia’s son-in-law Corrado Manuali who gave me pasta and sauce to sample. Her pasta is made in Italy and is made from high quality wheat, milled on the premises.  Some of the options include: Penne alla Vodka, Fusilli Puttanesca, Fettucini alla Romana, Spaghetti with Shrimp Marinara, Rigatoni with Chunky Eggplant Sauce & Ricotta Cheese, and Farfalle Primavera.
• Italy: Olive Oil Source touts a number of flavored organic olive oils and balsamic vinegars. Of those I tried, favorites included: Rosemary, Garlic, Chipotle flavor infused, Lime Flavor Infused, and those I didn’t try but wanted to and are high on the list include sun-dried tomatoe, tangerine, truffle and porcini mushroom flavor. How did I miss that one? For more information, check out their site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Kiwanuka’s Home Again Coming in March

Michael Kiwanuka, a North Londoner of Ugandan heritage, will be debuting at SXSW this year, with his album Home Again which will be released in March. He was recently named winner of the BBC Sound of 2012 Poll, a poll where UK industry experts predict who will be the breakthrough artists in the new year.

Also his EP apparently was noticed by 2008 BBC Sound winner Adele who invited him to join her on tour. Check out the title track to his album here.

UBER Car Service: A Dream App When Flow & Timing Are Critical

For those of you who haven’t heard of UBER, and because of the name, think it’s some funky, hip device, think again. UBER is a car service that is as simple to use as calling a taxi. Many higher end car services require you to call them well in advance and they’re often fairly pricey.

While UBER is definitely more expensive than a taxi (roughly about double in my experience), it’s incredibly useful when you need a more formal sedan for business purposes, when it’s late and taxis might take too long to get to you or you’re in a location where taxis are tough to find.

I ran into the CEO Travis Kalanick recently on my flight to Paris for the LeWeb conference, the annual renowned Internet, social media & technology event held in Europe every December. The news was that while UBER had already been announced in San Francisco and other cities, Paris was to be unveiled that week as their first European location. And so, I had an opportunity to use their newly launched service in the world’s most romantic city.

It was a simple free download onto my iPhone. Once you have the app, you can quickly request a car by telling Uber where you are. If you don’t have an iPhone or Android app, you can text them your address. Cars typically arrive within 5-10 minutes. In Paris, it ranged from 6 minutes to 18 although most of the time, it was around the 8-10 minute mark and the accuracy of arrival times was spot-on nearly all the time.

As your driver is nearing your location, you can see exactly where he or she is on the map on your phone (the geo-visual element is part of the UBER app and you can see literally where the driver is down to the street corner, providing constant updates of the estimated arrival time). UBER also tells you the name of your driver and includes a photo so when you walk outside of your venue, you can recognize them more easily.

I also tried UBER to the airport and while taxis charge roughly E65-70, UBER costs around E120 for your black sedan, which of course has a bottled water waiting for you in the seat. For a taxi that may cost around E8-10, I found that UBER charged around E20 but bear in mind that the final cost which is automatically charged to your credit card, does include the tip.

That was mid-December. Since then, they were hit by customer complaints on New Year’s Eve and write-ups by All Things D and more recently the Huffington Post followed as a result.

They apparently raise prices for major holidays where demand is going to be high, and did so on both New Years and Halloween. According to the D post, ‘when prices are about to surge, Uber sends a mass email out to its users, puts up a blog post detailing the pricing changes, and, barring technical issues, users should also get notifications through the app during times that surge pricing is in effect.’

Uber institutes a “surge pricing” system with the idea that they need to keep cars available for the customers who really want them, so as demand grows, prices would too. From UBER’s blog about how surge pricing works:

“Without a surge pricing mechanism, there is no way to clear the market. Fixed or capped pricing, and you have the taxi problem on NYE — no taxis available with people waiting hours to get a ride or left to stagger home through the streets on a long night out. By *raising* the price you *increase* the number of cars on the road and maximize the number of safe convenient rides. Nobody is required to take an Uber, but having a reliable option is what we’re shooting for.”

My experiences in Paris were nearly flawless but then again, bloggers and press were given credits so we didn’t have to face $200 surge pricing rides and because the service was brand new, there was a lot of availability (60 cars on the ground at launch), which meant that I never had to stand in the Paris winter rain waiting for a half an hour for a car that may never come. We’ve all been in those situations before and they’re not pretty.

So, while my experience was great (and btw, all the drivers were professional, courteous & shared useful information; one even brought me to a local place he knew for a crepe), the economics don’t make sense for me to use it at home. That’s the issue said a VC friend when I asked him what he thought of UBER. “The economics just don’t work.”

That said, UBER also gives you a sense of empowerment as well as freedom and control. If you’re still at a dinner and don’t want to disturb the flow of a conversation, you can simply push a button on your phone to see how far away your UBER car is…based on that information, you can either decide to push the button and order or wait for awhile.

For example, I just opened the app to see how many cars were available in San Francisco and was told that a driver was a mere 2 minutes away.

There’s no interruption or need to tell your colleague, business contact or the restaurant manager to call you a cab. Most of the time, you haven’t a clue when that cab is going to arrive, not to mention the fact that often you’re on hold for far longer than you want, with horrible elevator music playing in the background.

I find that most of the time, particularly in foreign cities, the accuracy of when a taxi will arrive isn’t great. UBER can be particularly useful in a business meeting where timing and flow is critical.

I can also see UBER being useful in cities like Los Angeles and Miami where there’s more of a “late night” scene and you could share an UBER car with friends to go to your next destination. Other cities where UBER is currently operating is: San Francisco/Palo Alto, New York City, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, Washington DC and as noted, Paris, as of mid-December 2011.

Two other things to note: you can rate the driver immediately after the drive and provide real-time feedback if it didn’t go well, which increases the likelihood of the service and quality of the drivers remaining high and improving over time.

Also, in my experience to-date, their customer service has been very responsive. I think if they can get their markets and target audience right and market to them effectively, UBER can be a dream app at just the right (or rather wrong) times.

Here’s a link to a video that Bloomberg’s Emily Change & Cory Johnson did where they share their own experiences using UBER in San Francisco.

Below is the video of Travis on stage with Loic LeMeur at LeWeb talking about their Paris launch. (note: they also announced $32 million in new funding at the time).

General Strike aka The Peaceful Warriors Performance

General Strike performed at Occupy Oakland November 2, 2011. They call themselves Peaceful Warriors and dance and learn others arts to move away from violence.

KULINARYA: Who Will Be the Next Top Filipino Chefs?

There will be a culinary showdown of six Filipino American chefs as they compete for the grand prize at KULINARYA: A FILIPINO CULINARY SHOWDOWN, hosted by the Philippine Consulate General, Philippine Department of Tourism, Philippine Department of Trade and Industry, and Filipino American Arts Exposition. The event is happening today, January 21, 2012 in San Francisco from 3 pm to 8 pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three finalists each in the Amateur and Professional Divisions have advanced to showcase their culinary skills and talents in this exciting cook-off, where they must prepare a starter course (appetizer or soup), a second course (their own version of adobo), a third course (second entrée of their choice), and a Filipino dessert… all in a head-to-head challenge.

KULINARYA’s goal is to elevate Philippine cuisine, promote local Filipino restaurants and showcase culinary tours in the Philippines. Hosted by TV personality Franco Finn, there will also be a special cookoff showcasing the Philippine Pili Nut.  KULINARYA attendees may sample specialty Philippine dishes at the FOOD TASTING SHOWCASE. Filipino restaurants, gourmet food trucks and caterers include:

»  Auntie Em’s Fine Foods & Pastries
»  Dampa Restaurant
»  Genevieve Wines
»  Goldilocks
»  Intramuros Restaurant
»  Mama Sita’s
»  Mega Sardines
»  Patio Filipin
»  Ramar Foods
»  Simply Calamansi
»  Sun Tropics
»  Tastebuds
»  The Coffee Adventure Company
»  The Naked Chorizo

The Music, The Piano, The Voice: Behind the Scenes With Burton Cummings

On Thursday, March 22, 2012, delegates of Slacker Canadian Music Week 2012 will have a rare opportunity to look behind the scenes into the life and career of a Canadian treasure and legend Burton Cummings as he speaks in an exclusive one-on-one at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto.

With a career spanning more than 40 years, Burton Cummings has cemented his place in Canadian music history as both a solo artist and as the celebrated lead singer and co-writer for The Guess Who.  Through timeless classics such as “American Woman” – recently ranked the greatest Canadian single of all time in bestseller The 100 Top Canadian Singles and the first Canadian song to reach number one in the US – “These Eyes”, “Laughing”, “No Time”, “Stand Tall”, “Break it to Them Gently”, and “You Saved My Soul”, he has endeared himself to audiences worldwide to become one of the most distinctive voices in rock.

As a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame, six-time JUNO Award winner, recipient of the Order of Canada, the Order of Manitoba, the Governor-General’s Performance Arts Award, and 22 SOCAN Awards for over 1 million airplays of his songs, Cummings’ success and acclamations have been rivaled by few. He has the distinction of being the only individual to be inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame twice and with 80 platinum and gold certifications has amassed more hit records than just about any other Canadian performer in history.

His performances and collaborations with fellow The Guess Who bandmate and co-writer Randy Bachman are legendary. The two reunited in 2000 to re-launch The Guess Who and tour the act across Canada and the U.S. The union reignited the creative spark between the two and transmitted into The Bachman-Cummings band, which the two would continue well into 2009.

Cummings’ latest release – 2008’s Above the Ground – was his first solo album of new material in 18 years.  Met with critical praise, it has been heralded as some of his best work ever by fans alike.  A man of the times, he has embraced the world of social media and has maintained an active presence through his blog.

 

Next Page »