PREVIOUSLY ON . . .

Monday, February 14, 2011

London Calling Season 4, Wild Domestic & Pacikifa


Every single day working at Blackdog Media is a breath of fresh air; working to meet with new up-and-coming bands, old Canadian favorites, and constantly striving to bring the people a product that any music lover will embrace and enjoy.  This was a special week where a lot of different things magically came together under looming deadlines and in between everyone’s sporadic schedules.

  Our brand-new BDM Office and film set has come along way since my introduction to the company just over a month ago. A very SPECIAL shout out to POI Business Interiors for hooking us up way beyond our interior business dreams. Seriously, you should come visit us at our Office and sit in one of these chairs..

  Our boys from Sarnia, Wild Domestic, have been in and out of the Office, gracing our set with their charm and UNIQUE senses of humour, which find its way into Season 4 of London Calling premiering on February 23rd!!!

  Last, but certainly not least, Blackdog Media had the special privilege of interviewing Canadian world-music group and Juno World Music Album of the Year nominee, Pacifika, this past week on the main stage at London’s historic Aeolian Hall. The interview was a lot of fun for everyone involved, the band joked about their compulsive reading habits, their other work and passions such as motorcycle maintenance and voice acting in e-books, and finally their collective love of 1980s vinyl and tape cassettes.  Please keep an eye out for more from the Canadian world-music trio Pacifika.

J. Frank, Intern | BDM

Broken Social Scene @ LMC

BSS @ LMH  Photo by: Brittknee Withikaye

Intern Reporting...
 
On a frosty Sunday evening in London, Ontario, the legendary Toronto-based indie band Broken Social Scene played the London Music Hall, gracing their fans with an epic set that gave the crowd just what they needed. The following is a tale not about how awesome B.S.S. is, because you know this, but rather how I ran three kilometers in the wrong direction, just barely making it to the venue to catch the last hour of heart-throbbing musical magic. 

  Let me explain. The night began with cab ride from my apartment near University campus all the way downtown to the Call The Office, where I foolishly ASSUMED the concert would be held. Don’t ask me why I assumed it was there, because I can’t answer that...a mental lapse. I ask the bouncer to check my name off the guest-list, he responds with a puzzled look on his face, “What’s Broken Social Scene? And what guest list …?” I instantly realize I ‘m at the wrong bar and the band I’m trying to see is about to hit the stage, elsewhere. “F*#K!!” I turn back to see if my cab driver was still there, but he was gone into the snow covered distance. 

  It’s 10:30 PM, I’m outside Call The Office, “Where’s this band playing?” I asked myself. Anyone I could have contacted about the show, was probably already inside the venue, unable to answer a phone call or text message. I pull out my cell-phone from my pocket and Google Search ‘Broken Social Scene, Jan 16 2011, the results point me in what I think to be the right direction, The London Music Hall. I enter the address into my Google Maps application on my phone and start running in the direction it points me in. 

 

  It’s 10:50 PM, I’ve been jogging for nearly 20 minutes and I think I’ve finally made it the venue. I take a minute to catch my breath and look back to my phone to see where the Music Hall should be because I couldn’t see it in front of me, just a bunch of deserted factory buildings. At this time, I make the shockingly frustrating discovery that there are TWO London Music Halls (Okay! One Music Club) in London, Ontario and I had just run for 20 minutes to the wrong one, nearly 5 kilometers in the wrong direction! After a couple of hot curses muttered under frosty breath, I finally call a cab to get me where I needed to go.

  After a relatively quick, yet equally embarrassing cab ride I find myself at the right London Music Hall, which is ironically much closer to my house than even Call The Office.

  It’s 11:30 pm, I hop out of the cab and hurry inside. I ask a bouncer if I’m at the right place and he says, “Yes, but the show’s just about over.” He tells me I can go in to catch the last few minutes.

  I finally made it! The warmth of the music instantly relaxed me and helped me forget the troubles I had been through just to make it. Even though I walked in more than halfway through the show, I still felt so happy to have made it in the end. Broken Social Scene continued to play past mid-night, encore after encore after encore, working to please every last fan, myself included. I left with a smile on my face and a sense of content, made all the more powerful because of my journey earlier that night. 

J FRANK, INTERN | BDM