{"id":9564,"date":"2014-10-06T13:12:38","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T13:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=9564"},"modified":"2014-10-06T13:12:38","modified_gmt":"2014-10-06T13:12:38","slug":"wcma-2014-manitobans-clean-up-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2014\/10\/06\/wcma-2014-manitobans-clean-up-at-home\/","title":{"rendered":"WCMA 2014 – Manitobans clean up at home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"fred<\/a><\/p>\n

by Anastasia Chipelski<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a disappointingly bleak crop of local awards at the Junos, Manitoban artists, dolled up in their finest and sipping beers at ballpark prices, got the respect they fully deserve at the Western Canadian Music Awards.<\/p>\n

This year’s awards, held at the Club Regent event centre, was filled with the kind of absurdity and stark contrast that only gala events can provide – but with our hometown’s own particular cultural stamp. Host Grant Lawrence presented his take on prairie formal in a suit and \u201cWinnipeg\u201d toque, and led off with a nearly never-ending string of shout-outs, from KENmode, Novillero, and Personality Crisis to the more widely known inspired comedic threads (everything’s named after Burton \u2013 how about flying into Cummings International?).<\/p>\n

Perhaps as an order of efficiency, or perhaps because sharing the stage is the ultra-Canadian act of polite deference (\u201coh no, you go first, no you\u201d), the award categories were presented in pairs. The first couple were Country and World recording of the year, and while Manitoba had no stake in the Country side of this unconventional marriage, hometown heroes Mariachi Ghost took the World Recording of the Year Award. They took the stage amidst hoots and hollers, proclaiming \u201cThis is what happens when you put all of your best friends in the same room for six years!\u201d<\/p>\n

Seen for once without their signature facepaint (\u201cThat would be cocky\u201d, they confided), Mariachi Ghost were all smiles and hugs as they wove their way through the media and on to the green room, each holding the soon-to-be-popularized victory gift of the WCMAs, a Kaotica Eyeball.<\/p>\n

As the night wore on, a greater proportion of the winners were clued in to the purpose of this device and its potential benefits for their future recordings, but for early victors, it was an odd riddle foisted at them in the middle of an adrenaline rush. This weird thing called Eyeball, in a box large enough to be visible and awkward but not so big that it wasn’t impossible to carry around as they got lost in the maze-like bowels of the Casino.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d I’d ask, and be met with a baffled, beer-glazed look. \u201cI don’t know…\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal Lights were the second Manitobans to celebrate a win for Aboriginal Recording of the Year (presented with the \u201cSpiritual\u201d category \u2013 no locals there). \u201cWe’re surprised, flabbergasted. It’s awesome!\u201d they exclaimed, before they took their Eyeballs and moved along. In the Blues category, local favourites the Perpetrators reigned, though they were at a slight loss for words when asked where they might take the afterparty. Luckily, John Scoles suggested the Times Change(d).<\/p>\n

\"perps\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile onstage, Grant Lawrence was giving a gift of his own to Ace Burpee while singing a slightly off-kilter rendition of Happy Birthday. \u201cGiving people booze in a Casino, illegal and awesome,\u201d Ace replied before announcing the winners for the Rock and Pop categories.<\/p>\n

There were no Manitobans in Rock, a vast understatement. Imaginary Cities, the soulful duo of Rusty Matyas and Marti Sarbit, took the Pop trophy and almost immediately proclaimed their love for their fellow local nominees: \u201cWe actually thought Royal Canoe would get it,\u201d said Sarbit. \u201cWe didn’t expect to win, I’m having heart palpitations!\u201d Aside from an MTS commercial, the band is otherwise laying low at the moment.<\/p>\n

After asking another set of presenters \u2013 the Bomber Girls \u2013 to show off their moves, Lawrence made the transition from \u201cbooze and gambling and politics to Children’s Recording of the Year.\u201d Artists from BC swept that round, taking awards for both Instrumental and Children’s albums, and I learned a little more about how the Eyeball works. The great mysteries of the evening were almost fully revealed.<\/p>\n

Moses Mayes claimed the award for Urban recording of the year, and while only half of them were there, they were more than enough to fill the room. To much fanfare, Nickelback’s agent presented the Independent album of the year award to Royal Canoe, who, being independent, are touring relentlessly and weren’t present to receive it.<\/p>\n

The twin category to Independent, Francophone, was full to bursting with four out of five nominees from Manitoba. Winner marijos\u00e9e paid respects to the others as \u201cstiff competition, it’s like my brothers and sisters.\u201d She lauded the overall spirit of the WCMAs as inspirational for her ilk to keep on loving Winnipeg: \u201cWe need these events to convince us to stay at home and do what we love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans of roots music found a pair of winners in Del Barber for Roots Solo Recording of the Year and Sweet Alibi for Roots Duo\/Group Recording of the Year. Both acts had the dubious honour of pairing the gala back-to-back with Western ventures. Sweet Alibi left the stage in Camrose, Alberta at midnight and drove all night to be back here, and Del plays Edmonton tomorrow night.<\/p>\n

They still all managed to deck themselves out finely, with Del sporting a variation on the Canadian Tuxedo. \u201cI always wear double denim on tour,\u201d he shared, but tonight he matched jeans and a denim suit jacket, a last minute addition found at his parent’s house. \u201cI got it a year ago and it still fits\u201d, he proclaimed; Spoken like a true Gala-dressed prairie musician.<\/p>\n

\"del<\/a><\/p>\n

As the night drew to a close, it was time to bring out the big guns: Fred Penner, and his classic \u201cThe Cat Came Back.\u201d As he worked through an extended medley of Cat, the strays in the lobby bar wound back towards the main stage and nearly all of those working behind the scenes batted at the curtains along the side. Once the performance was through, Penner graciously answered questions about his longstanding influence: \u201cIt’s bizarre, because it’s not something that I would have certainly ever anticipated,\u201d he shared. \u201cMusic can and does makes a difference in the lives of humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tattooed rockers excitedly queued up backstage for a chance at a cel phone pic with the esteemed children’s performer while the final award, songwriter(s) of the year was announced; Del Barber (in double denim), now held two trophies and fielded more questions. \u201cI didn’t have a shot at that one,\u201d he replied, incredulous.<\/p>\n

All told, nine\u00a0Manitoban acts took home ten\u00a0awards across 21 categories at last night’s gala event, along with six industry awards Saturday afternoon. If you do the math, averages out to pretty good. But we’ll stay humble about that fact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Anastasia Chipelski After a disappointingly bleak crop of local awards at the Junos, Manitoban artists, dolled up in their finest and sipping beers at ballpark prices, got the respect they fully deserve at the Western Canadian Music Awards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[139,563,1081],"class_list":["post-9564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-news","tag-breakoutwest","tag-local","tag-wcmas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}