I'm Going to the 2011 Juno Awards on Sunday!!

First a big thank you to my big sis for taking me as her date to the Juno's on Sunday night:) I'm excited to say the least.

Never was a big fan of the Juno Awards until the past few years... always saw them as a kind of sub-par Grammy's... but Canadian music has stepped up its game in a huge way these past couple of years: Broken Social Scene, City and Colour, Alexisonfire, Metric, Shad, Down With Webster (from my hometown of The Beaches in Toronto I'm proud to say), The Sheepdogs, Hollerado, Feist, Drake, Arcade Fire, and of course The Biebs... that's just off the top of my head. And might I add that more than one of the above were represented and celebrated at the Grammy's this year? Sweet.

Arcade Fire

Broken Social Scene

Ok so I'm sounding super gung-ho about Canadian music, but I like that we've actually got a cool scene going on again - Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and The Band style - and after that sad, sad exhibition at the end of the closing ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics....I mean come on.

Neil Young - My Love

So I'm actually super excited to be a part of it on Sunday -  I know City and Colour, Arcade Fire, Chromeo, DWW, and Broken Social Scene are playing... and Neil Young is accepting the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award but not performing? I really hope he does a surprise number... would pretty much make my life complete. Oh and Drake is hosting - wonder how that'll go down.

Drake

The Sheepdogs: On the cover of the Rolling Stone?

My sister gave me a CD this summer by some Canadian band from Saskatchewan called The Sheepdogs, and being eternally up for anything new by my nation's people I plopped it right on into the car stereo and we listened to it all the way up north to the cottage. They've got this throwback Beatles/Eric Clapton/CSNY thing going on with a contemporary indie twist... they're doing a similar thing as The Black Keys style-wise but more rock n' roll driven where The Black Keys are more bluesy. It's all very good listening. I've come to love them.

That's why I was so excited to go onto the Rolling Stone site last week and see that they're top runners for a contest the mag is running where people vote for the band who gets to be on the next cover! Not only am I thrilled because they're great, I'm also happy there's some can-con in the mix there (Canadians have been representing this year, thank you Arcade Fire).

If you get a chance definitely go check them out and rate their music (that's how the voting works-pretty solid system I think).

And their album is a solid investment if your into paying money for music:)

I'm picturing these scruffy-haired dudes reliving that moment from Almost Famous when Stillwater finds out they've made the cover and break into song "...the thrill that'll get you when you get your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone"

Good luck to you Sheepdogs.

Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger

They make me want to wear sunglasses inside, they make me want to live in the 70s, they make me want to date a rock n roll star, too bad so few exist today that can live up to Mick's standard (and the ones that can are rare and usually taken).

Bottom line: I wish celebrity couples were still this cool.

Royal Mail UK: Classic Album Cover Stamps

So my sister just did a really good thing and ordered me these Classic Album Cover Stamps from the British Royal Mail. She gets serious points for this. They were released in January and feature some of the most iconic album art of our time: The Clash's London Calling (1979), Led Zeppelin's IV (1971), Pink Floyd's The Division Bell (1994), and Coldplay's A Rush of Blood To The Head (2002), just to name a few. I am just over the moon about these little guys, though they've left me with one minor dilemma...what exactly do I do with them?

So if anyone out there collects stamps (which I do not regularly do), could you please give me some much needed advice as to what to do with the stamps once you have them? I feel silly leaving them in their packaging....