Review - "We're In For Nasty Weather:" David Byrne and St. Vincent at Confederation Park

                                                                                                                                                Ashley Fraser, The Ottawa Citizen

I feel a genuine sense of accomplishment every time I see one of my favourite musical artists perform, as if I've just checked another item off my bucket list. I've felt this with, in chronological order, Tool, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Kathryn Calder, and now as of last night my eventual passing (preferably in my sleep at the age of 106) will be made a little easier after having seen David Byrne in concert.

Analysis - Cracked Pipes

I like okay singers a lot. This is not to say I dislike great singers--David Bowie, Peter Gabriel and Maynard James Keenan are at the top of my list for male vocalists--nor that I like straight up bad singers--Ian Curtis' voice will never win me over no matter how many times I hear "Love Will Tear Us Apart." However I do greatly appreciate frontmen who may not be the best on a technical level and yet manage to rise above their limitations in a holistic fashion.

Spotlight - On Marjan Mozetich, Mario Bernardi and Musical Rapture

Early yesterday afternoon, CBC Radio 2 was celebrating the life of Mario Bernardi, a longtime conductor for the National Arts Centre, Calgary Philharmonic and CBC Radio Orchestras, who passed away the previous Sunday. In remembrance of him, a former colleague of his suggested playing his recording of Postcards from the Sky, a piece by Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich as performed by the CBC Vancouver Orchestra.

Analysis - It's a Nice Day for a Red Wedding

Last night, HBO aired "The Rains of Castamere," the ninth and penultimate episode of Game of Thrones' third season. I haven't seen any of the third season as of yet, preferring to watch it all in one big lump after next week's finale, but having read A Storm of Swords, the bulk of which serves as the basis for this season, I knew the Red Wedding was coming. Without spoiling too much, the Red Wedding is one of the major turning points in ASoS and involves a shitload of characters, many of them important and almost all of them decent human beings, being mercilessly slaughtered by turncoats. So an emotionally and arguably awful part of me eagerly awaited to see how that portion of Game of Thrones viewers who hadn't read the books would react. The Internet did not let me down.