An Interview with Eddy Moretti (Head of Vice Films)
"...what you see is a really raw interpretation of how we would do 20/20, how we would do National Geographic, 60 Minutes etc. because we're all fascinated by science and culture and technology and the world of politics especially but, too many times all those important things are communicated through this kind of stultifyingly boring format."
The Vice Guide to Travel DVD has been out for a while now, so check it out to see the Vice crew stomp through locales like Chernobyl, Beirut, The Congo and Pakistan, and film it all. They say it's a revolution in the business of going places, doing things, and telling people about the places you went and things you did. That's true, and where global politics meets youth culture, you get this new form of guerilla journalism. It's interesting stuff and an exciting time for Vice. You'll hear that through the interview. This week Vice launched their new online TV network: VBS TV which will feature behind the scenes footage, and extras from this DVD and future projects in the DVD Series.
This interview, which was recorded in November 2006, looks at how the magazine is changing from the inside, and from the mind of a top brass official. What makes Vice different than 60 minutes? How will Vice retain it's original edge? What happened when the cameras went off? How can Lowsound get an invite to the next American Apparel photo shoot?
A 20 minute interview, I couldn't cut any more. Props to Eddy for taking the time. It's Lowsound in TO, Vice in BK, here's your vacation this month peoples.
Laugh Lab with Kenny and Spenny (hosted by: Brian Crosby)
Kenny: "...and I really like the shows where I intentionally lose, but make Spenny think that he's lost. That's how I get off, that's my X-box baby " Spenny: "...that's called delusional insecurity"
From the very beginning of the interview, they're at each other. Best friends and mortal enemies at the same time. At TFW, we caught them at the beginning of their press tour for their latest season of Kenny vs. Spenny on Showcase (Thursdays: 9:30pm) With Spenny on the line from L.A. and Kenny in studio, these 2 man-children were skillfully handled by our Brian Crosby.
If you have any interest in self absorption, juventile antics, humiliation, and boundary pushing forms of self expression (consider where you are), you're going to dig this interview. A Lowsound Stomper that is one for the books. Thanks to the fellas and B, click this shit.
"...it's a musical society, we just want people to enjoy the music..if they can take away something from the song, we've done our job."
Redeye are starting to take the Vancouver music scene by storm. Their self titled album is flying off the shelves and they're playing out to packed houses at BIG events, like the '06 NMW showcase at the Commodore. Their blend of SoCal funk, and Jamaican rhythms is keeping the dance floors slammed and heads noddin' all night.
Look for a new disc in 2007, and maybe even a remix or two. This is pure West Coast Music from a dope new Funkrock upstart crew. Expect big things. We talk to lead vocalist, Mike Redmond about the whirlwind. Cheers Red!
Higher Learning with Hal Johnson (The Fitness Show)
"...your body is about 2/3 fluids so it needs water in there..."
If you don't know who Hal and Joanne are, you did not watch nearly enough TV growing up. The Penultimate Canadian TV Fitness icons of our time; they worked their butts off to ensure that we knew how to work our butts off. Body Break taught us how to stretch before a workout, how to slide headfirst into 3rd base, and how to get off the chair at a ski resort without falling on your behind.
We really scored with this interview, thank you very much to Hal who I'm sure would have rather been on the golf course that day.
"it's a fun, party game, where it's not what you know, but how well you can use your imagination..."
From the co-inventor of BALDERDASH, the classic bluffing game that has sold over 10 million copies worldwide, comes the hilarious celebrity guessing game, !DENTITY CRISIS?. Laura Robinson is the brains and beauty behind the new game, and we sat down to talk about how it's played, the current board game craze, and her plans to make this game as successful as its predecessor.
Balderdash is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, so a great time for Laura to launch her new project. She's a busy lady, working in both T.V. and as a successful singer. We're looking forward to checking out the game; the private launch party goes this Thursday at the Drake.
The Steely Dan music bed, Po, that's for you!
Big thanks and best of luck to Laura R., and thanks to Laura S. too at rock-it.
Everyone was asking me whether or not Amy and I were dating after this aired, and I think that's because I'm flirting with her throughout the whole interview. Her flirting is a bit more subtle, but trust me it's there. She also thought this was for CFNY...so the interview is not without some interesting back and forth between me and the Stars songstress. The best part though, at one point she refers to me as Dr. Mike.
Ha, I'm not even an M.D.!
Amy has her first solo record out now, it's called Honey from the Tombs. This is the music she was making before starting up with Stars, and you can tell, because her heart is in it all the way. It's amazing to hear. The music is haunting, and sombre, and wistful. Perfect for reminiscing over a long lost love, or listening to live at an outdoor festival.
She's quite something so you won't blame me for hoping she'd tell me, don't go, say you'll stay, spend a lazy Sunday...Our Interview, in two parts covers quite a lot, but mostly just how much she loves hanging out with her friends and making music. Thanks Amy!
"...every time the media picks up a story that we ran first, or quotes 'this was said on Torontoist.com'...
it warms my heart a tiny little bit."
We just launched our newest segment on The First Word, and it's called Blog This! I got the call for Week 1 and looked no further than the go-to for local happenings in our fine city - www.torontoist.com
Editor Ron Nurwisah joined me for a conversation about Toronto, blogs vs. print, some of his favourite posts, and general blog nerdiness!
If you're a reader of Torontoist, then you're going to start hearing more about The First Word. We'll be posting there each week about who we've got coming up on the show, so check that out.
And this week, it's part 2 of Blog This Torontoist! ie. more nerdiness from me and Ron, mostly me though.
Big thanks to Ron for the dope interview, and the hook up with TOist!
"..and now they're making records, Spankrock for one, Amanda, Plastic Little, it all started with us just hanging out together....our whole energy of that party is now being translated into music, which is cool... it's not just me and Diplo spinning records anymore, people are actually making music based around that energy. "
That's LB, talking about how the old school legendary Hollertronix parties that him and Diplo put on in Philly, have now created the next movement of club music.
Over the past 3 years, no two DJ's have created as much hype both in the club and in internet land as Low Budget and his partner, Diplo. Mashups, blending styles - Dancehall, Dirty South, Indie Rock - it's all happening now thanks to these two Gents.
They're ruthless on the decks, and they'll cut anything. When you hear the fader cross, half the fun is the surprise of what they actually manage to mix together. Check Low Bee's newest mixtape, Snap or Die, for proof (done with his buddy DJ Deluxxx of their new crew the Trilladelphians.) The real fun though is in the energy of the crowd, and how their music makes the ladies bounce.
Toronto was no different, as Low Bee blew up Footwork on April 6th.
On the phone a little while later, we got into those early days of Hollertronix, the current state of hip hop (NY?), and getting rep off the internet.
Hot Interview. A two-parter. Go!
(And watch for this crew's next gen, believe it or not, they're already here.)
"The ability to work with little or nothing, and turn that into something, that's what makes Detroit."
Tresor, the Love Parade, M1, Club Yellow, and now Tempo, Mike Huckaby has played the biggest and best techno parties in the world. And each and every time, he represents Detroit to the fullest. Detroiters live and breathe their city, Mike is no different.
His record crate has both soulful house joints, and deep techno numbers. It takes a skillful DJ to blend the two, and on Jan. 29th at the Drake Hotel, he did it with ease and flawless execution.
We were lucky to score an interview an hour before he went on, check it out!
Big thanks to Mike Huckaby, Dan the man at Tempo, and Erin Craig for the beautiful photo work!
Leah's a writer for the Globe, and I've been reading her column for a while now. She's also appeared in the CBC show The Newsroom with Ken Finkleman, which I absolutely love. When I heard she had written a novel, I knew it was a great chance to sit and talk to her.
The book is called The Continuity Girl, and it's as sharp and witty as her column. In the book, the main character is after sperm and she'll do anything she can to get her hands on it. She's a raging spermbandit! It's craziness! Well, it's really a baby she wants, but you'll have to read the book to find out if she has one. (Hint: Page 220)
I was worried that Leah was going to ask me for my sperm, and then I was worried that she would try and steal it anyway. And then I realized, it was just a book. Damn!
Leah is taking her novel across the country, but she's still in Toronto for a while. You can catch her
Wednesday, Feb. 22, 06 at the Harbourfront Centre, if she doesn't catch you first.
Special thanks to Leah McLaren, and to Melanie Storoschuk at Harper Collins.
"The world has become complex and so strategic that peacekeeping is not what it once was. "
Alexandre Trudeau was in Toronto for the University of Toronto's Great Careers Series at the Career Centre. This was the first ever Higher Learning segment on The First Word.
Trudeau speaks with an incredible amount of passion. He's a man of ideas, and he uses jounalism and documentary filmmaking as a means to express those ideas to the world.
You can't help but be drawn into the philosophical way in which he lives his life. He speaks of living your life in the raw, being a risk-taker, and confronting your fears as if it's the only way to live. And to him, it is.
In 2003, he spents months in Iraq filming "Embedded in Iraq", a documentary on the US invasion. In 2004, he produced "The Fence" where he documented his stay with a family of Palestinians living on one side of a barrier, and then with a family of Israelis, liviing on the other side of the barrier.
He is a bold and decisive thinker, and one of Canada's great young minds. The students that braved the cold and made the trip were lucky that day.
This is an interview not to be missed!
Special thanks to Alexandre Trudeau, and Mary Giamos at the UofT Career Centre.
MADLIB aka..Quasimoto, the beat konducta, the loop digga, the tascam villain, yesterday's new quintet, DJ Rels, and Otis Jackson Jr.
"probably the Loop Digga, my homey..."
This is an interview I did with Madlib way back in June when he was here in Toronto for the Stones Throw 2005 tour.
There's not a lot left to be said about this guy, but for the most part he remains a mystery. He smokes green, makes experimental, totally original hip hop, is an old school jazz cat, and loves hanging out in record stores. Beyond that, he's mostly unknown.
He is mean on the drums though, as he showed at the Opera House. And at HMV, he played an instore set of unreleased beats and instrumentals, some of which will likely never see the light of day again. Lowsound was there for the recording and you can hear a sample below.
Special thanks to Madlib, everyone at Koch Entertainment, and Egon at Stones Throw. Be sure to check for Madlib's new projects - Beat Konducta Volume 1: Movie Scenes and Sound Directions: The Funky side of Life.
