Coming this Friday...

Well things look pretty well sewn up for TGIFR this week and so I'll give you a little heads-up as to what will be on.

First up will be an interview with Mat and Ashley from Boats talking about Cannonballs, Cannonballs and the CD release show for that album.

Then we'll have a special in-studio performance and interview with Tim Crabtree (UK by way of Halifax) who performs under the moniker Paper Beat Scissors. I recently wrote about his EP Flicker on my music blog, Ear To The Sound. Tim stopped into the studio recently and we had a great chat and I was fortunate enough to also get him to perform some songs live.

Lastly, we'll be talking to Weakerthans front-man John K. Samson, but the subject of our talk has nothing to do with his band and everything to do with Iceland. Samson is one of the organizers of the fourth-annual Nuna Now Festival and we'll be talking about FM Belfast (playing Friday at the Albert) and the rest of the schedule for the fest.

Tune in this Friday, April 30th from 6:30 - 8 PM!

The 28th will be busy, the 23rd is busy.

So tonight's episode is hella busy with talk and a touch of music.
Joining me in-studio is long time TGIFR favourite and local legend Greg MacPherson. He just released his new album Mr. Invitation on Smallman Records two weeks ago and stopped by the station to talk about the album and play a couple songs for us.
By phone we've got Olga from the Besnard Lakes who are playing the Royal Albert on the 28th with Hollerado and locals Absent Sound. The band just got back from a European tour of their new album The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night.
We've also got a phoner with Nick from Plants and Animals who are ALSO playing in Winnipeg on the 28th, at the West End Cultural Centre. Plants and Animals will be playing material from their new album La La Land.

Here's what I played in between all the talk about new albums...

Set One: 6:30 - 7 PM

Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar [Stones Throw]
Plants and Animals - Game Shows [Secret City]

Set Two: 7 - 7:30 PM

Greg MacPherson - Smoke Ring [Live at UMFM]
Greg MacPherson - Ukranians [Live at UMFM]
Greg MacPherson - Broken Dreams [Smallman]

Set Three: 7:30 - 8 PM

Besnard Lakes - The Lonely Moan [Outside]
Jose James - Love [Brownswood]

Online, but not online...

So I had hoped to post the download link to Thank God It's Free Range's first podcast in quite a while, but unfortunately due to some technical difficulties the files are unavailable. Hopefully you heard the show live because it was a doozy. By phone we had Jeff Innes from Kelowna, BC band Yukon Blonde (who are playing the LO Pub here in Winnipeg tomorrow night). I had a taped phoner with East Coast singer-songwriter Rose Cousins (who will be in town April 29th playing the Park Theatre with Amelia Curran) and joining me in the studio was author David Robertson who has written a four-part graphic novel about seven generations of an aboriginal family - the first book is called Stone and it was just released by Portage & Main Press.

Strong interviews all, and a shame that I can't share 'em with you here.
Anyway, here's what I played:

Set One: 6:30 - 7 PM

Library Voices - Haunt This House [Young Soul Records]
Balkan Beat Box - Move It [National Geographic Records]
Interview with Rose Cousins
Rose Cousins - I Were The Bird [Old Farm Pony Records]
Horse Feathers - Starving Robins [Kill Rock Stars]
The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt [Dead Oceans]

Set Two: 7 - 7:30 PM

Interview with Yukon Blonde
Yukon Blonde - Brides Song [Bumstead/Nevado]
Waving Hand - The Man Living On The City Landfill Site [Independent]
Tony Allen - Busybody [World Circuit/Nonesuch]

Set Three: 7:30 - 8 PM

Erykah Badu - Window Seat [Universal Motown]
Interview with David Robertson
Vesely Couture - Tasty Crumpet [Independent]

Back in the saddle.

Well I've been doing my show intermittently while on parental leave, but I'm back at it and have all sorts of things planned in the coming weeks (Greg MacPherson performing live in-studio, Hannah Georgas on the phone, graphic novelists David Robertson and Scott Henderson, and much more).

As for what I had on last Friday (which will be up as a podcast on the UMFM website SOON), the show included an interview with Tyler Shipley (Consumer Goods), talking about his solo album Sentinel Road, an interview with novelist Drew Hayden Taylor - who discussed his 're-telling' of the Nanabush legend in Motorcycles & Sweetgrass, as well as a host of new music.

Here's the setlist:

Set One: 6:30 - 7 PM

Magnum K.I. - Eyes On Fire [Independent]
Interview with Tyler Shipley
Tyler Shipley - A Woman In The Strike [Grumpy Cloud]
Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore - Sweet Marie [Sub Pop]
Bird Of Wales - My Lady In July [Sparks]
Ryan McGrath - Way West [Independent]

Set Two: 7 - 7:30 PM

The Sea & Cake - Exact To Me [Thrill Jockey]
Interview with Drew Hayden Taylor
Sally Seltmann - Harmony To My Heartbeat [Arts & Crafts]

Set Three: 7:30 - 8 PM

The Apples In Stereo - Dream About The Future [Yep Roc]
Mantler - Breaking Past The Day [Tomlab]
Woodhands - Talk [Paper Bag Records]
Booka Shade - Havanna Sex Dwarf [Physical Records]
Nice Nice - One Hit [Warp]
Lullabye Arkestra - The Icy Hand That Guides Us [Vice]

Hidden construction makes me cry...

So there was a bit of a change of plans from what was previously announced. Kings of Convenience was pushed back (again) and the Russian Circles interview will likely happen next week as there were some phone connection issues on first try and we couldn't schedule a redo Thursday/Friday due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.

The Construction & Destruction interview went off without a hitch (my thanks to Colleen Collins) and the interview I taped with Joel Gibb of Hidden Cameras earlier today (one of the more painful interviews I've ever done, to be honest) aired along with my fascinating talk with Stephen Brunt, author of Gretzky's Tears.

Here's what I played tonight:

Set One: 6:30 - 7 PM

Crush Buildings - Ghoul Pounds [Independent]
The Paperbacks - Regrettable Tattoos [Parliament of Trees]
Interview with Colleen Collins of Construction and Destruction
Construction and Destruction - Balaenoptera Borealis [The Quarantine]
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Hard Row [Saddle Creek]

Set Two: 7 - 7:30 PM

Monsters of Folk - Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.) [Shangri-La]
Interview with Joel Gibb of Hidden Cameras
The Hidden Cameras - Origin: Orphan [Arts & Crafts]
Hannah Georgas - All I Need [Independent]

Set Three: 7:30 - 8 PM

Interview with Stephen Brunt
Maps - I Dream Of Crystal [Mute]

In The Works For Next Time...

Well if you tuned in tonight expecting to hear me you got something a little different than usual. I was once again pre-empted for Bison Hockey play-by-play (there'll be more where that came from in January/February 2010), but was manning the boards and handling the production duties for the game so you did occasionally get to hear my throws to the Max Bell arena.

Things'll be back to normal next week and it's looking like the 27th and the next few episodes after that are going to be barn-burners. I've been conducting a number of pre-recorded interviews lately and have a few more lined up in the coming weeks that will be aired on Thank God It's Free Range so I thought I'd take a moment to let you know what to expect.

As it stands, next week's episode will include a live phoner with Nova Scotian indie-rock act (and married couple!) Construction and Destruction. Their latest record is called Video et Taco and is a great, textured listen.

I'm also scheduled to speak to members of Chicago post-rock outfit Russian Circles about Geneva, the follow-up to my number one album of 2008, Station.

And fingers-crossed, my third guest that night will be Erlend Øye, from one of my absolute favourite bands, the Kings of Convenience. It's been five years since Riot on an Empty Street, but Declaration of Dependence was worth the wait. The interview was originally scheduled for this week but was pushed back due to conflicts with some European dates.

Needless to say, that's about all I can cram into the one-and-a-half-hour timeslot and still have time to play some great new music but like I mentioned above I've been conducting a lot of interviews that will air in the coming weeks.

I've been talking to a number of authors lately and just today spoke to both Globe & Mail sportswriter Stephen Brunt and University of Waterloo professor John English. Brunt and I had a lengthy conversation about Gretzky's Tears, his book about THE TRADE. If you want to hear that interview before it airs on TGIFR, my good friend Trevor at Hockey Blog In Canada has it posted in its entirety.
Meanwhile, Professor English and I had a very illuminating discussion about Pierre Trudeau, the subject of Just Watch Me, which is the second volume of his biography of our former Prime Minister.
I'm also working on an interview with the Ecoholic, Adria Vasil. Growing beyond her weekly column in Toronto's NOW magazine, Vasil has two books on becoming an ecoholic and her latest, Ecoholic Home, is about greening your house with a number of interesting suggestions / hints / words of advice.

I've had so many interviews with authors lately that I'm considering launching a series called Turning Pages that would simply be my conversations with these writers about their books. Keep your eyes peeled to the program guide on www.umfm.com for more details on that program, but until then, stay tuned to TGIFR, Fridays from 6:30-8 PM CST.


****Quick Update****
Almost forgot - I've got the Hidden Cameras scheduled for a talk on Friday the 27th, meaning Russian Circles will likely be bumped to the following week as the Cameras will be playing the Albert on November 30th and their impending live date takes precedence!

Jazz and roots - what is this? Sunday?

Tonight's guests were local jazz artists Amber Epp of Trio Bembe and pianist Will Bonness who are holding a dual-CD release party on November 23rd. Amber joined me in the studio while Will phoned in from a gig. Speaking of phoning in, we also talked to Andrew Penner of Sunparlour Players who's currently in Creemore, Ontario but will be coming to town with Wil, playing the Park Theatre on November 23rd. And it was just announced today that they'll be swinging back through town on December 6th at the Folk Exchange.

Here's what I played:

Set One: 6:30 - 7 PM

Maiko Watson - Some Kinda Love [Independent]
Trio Bembe - Sin miedo [Independent]
Trio Bembe - Victory [Independent]
Canaille - Vincent Massey [Standard Form]
Patrick McDowall & The Melodramatic Pop Orchestra - Gwendolyn [Independent]

Set Two: 7 - 7:30 PM

Ola Podrida - Sink or Swim [Western Vinyl]
Will Bonness - Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise [Independent]
Interview with Will Bonness
Will Bonness - Walking On Water [Independent]

Set Three: 7:30 - 8 PM

Interview with Andrew Penner of Sunparlour Players
Sunparlour Players - Point Pelee Is The Place To Be! [Outside]
These Hands - Always Finds Its Way To Me [Independent]
The Schomberg Fair - Drunkard's Prayer [Hi-Hat/Sonic Unyon]