Last week Winnipeg was buzzing. We forgot (or pretended to forget) that it still felt like winter for the week, and headed outside to the many amazing events that built up to the Junos last Sunday.
Here at Charcoal we were lucky enough to experience the Junos from various vantage points.While Brett was running around with a camera to cover media events from the first unveiling of the Juno stage at the MTS Centre, to the Juno Photography Exhibition at Gurevich Fine Art; Sarah had the opportunity to appear on CTV Morning Live to talk red carpet makeup looks and to do Serena Ryder’s nails for the big Sunday event.
Along the way we also attended a live taping of CBC’s Q with Jian Ghomeshi, a Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra performance with Imaginary Cities, Nathan Music Co., The Lytics and Royal Canoe, and the Junos’ themselves of course. Daniel managed to fly back from a hot vacation just in time to attend Sunday’s broadcast (lucky guy) while Arielle provided her lovely company (and photo skills) to various events throughout the week.
Charcoal also called on our friend Brigitte to help us with the week’s events. We are very grateful to have talented people surrounding us to step in and give us a hand. Brigitte gave us a backstage take on Saturday’s Awards Gala:
“The RBC Convention Centre welcomed performers, industry greats and music enthusiasts on Saturday night of Juno Week to hand out 35 Junos at the pre-broadcast segment to Sunday’s awards show. The Gala, hosted by CBC’s Jian Ghomeshi, saw favoured winners walk away Juno in arm, including Tegan and Sara, Matt Mays, Serena Ryder, Ryan Hemsworth, Dean Brody and Ron Sexsmith, to name a few.
Charcoal, not to miss a beat during Juno Week, was invited to go behind the scenes that night by attending the media Q&A portion of the event.
Joined by Canadian media from coast to coast, the Q&A was hosted by Winnipeg’s Ace Burpee whose signature sense of humor made for a fun and laid-back approach to the night.
Media had their turns asking the artists questions that varied from lighthearted to more in-depth, like: Where were you? What took you so long to get to the stage? (Matt Mays was out in the hallway having a beer talking surf when his name was called), How does the city or environment you live in influence your music?, What advice would you give young women in the industry?, Who was the first person you texted when you found out you won?, Where will you keep your Juno?
While some questions prompted thoughtful answers, some incited laughs and some struck a chord… “Music is one of the last platforms for people to really say what they want to say,” Aboriginal Album of the Year Winner, George Leach.
“Prior to 2005, the music scene had a lot of gusto. Today, people aren’t going on Pitchfork to find music, they just want to turn on the radio and hear hits”, Matt Mays on how the music industry has changed since he was last in Winnipeg for the 2005 Junos.
One theme reoccurred throughout the evening, and that was how Winnipeg was living up to its standard in being a welcoming, friendly, culture-laden, talent-breeding city. From artists who were visiting Winnipeg for the first time to those who call this place their home, they seemed to all agree that we did it right and highlighted some of the best we have to offer throughout the week.”
This sums up just a few of the many amazing events that took place here in Winnipeg last week. Congratulations to all of the Juno winners and to you Winnipeg for being, as per usual, a gracious host to our out of town guests.
With love from the charcoal collaborative & friends
photography: brett howe, sarah & arielle gurevich
main words/words from saturday night: brigitte burgoyne
more words & layout: sarah gurevich & brett howe
Tagged: George Leach, Jian Ghomeshi, Juno, junos2014, Matt Mays, music, Royal Canoe, Serena Ryder, Tegan and Sara, winnipeg
