Toonage’s Weblog

Friday was a jam-packed day for this gal, and started at 7:45 am at The Royal York Hotel with the 6th Annual Women in Broadcast “Trailblazers” Breakfast, produced by a trailblazer in her own right, Liz Janik. This year’s breakfast included guest speaker Karen Salmansohn, and Evanov Radio’s Ky Joseph, recipient of this year’s “Rosalie Award”. In case you’re wondering who “Rosalie” would be, she’s none other than Rosalie Trombley, the woman with the Golden Ears, the former receptionist and music librarian who became the Music Director at CKLW-AM in Windsor, famed for her ability to recognize a hit song. Look her up - and you’ll see just how important she was to the classic hits we all know and love.

Next, I was off to “The Bedroom Project: How Young Adults Use, Consume and Interact with Technology & Media”. Fred Jacobs, of Jacobs Media, presented his findings on how youth and young adults use technology and media in their homes through “ethnographic” research. Everything from TV, video, radio, games, music, and the internet were covered. Truly fascinating stuff!

Following that, I sat in on “Guitar Hero and Rock Band: Transcendental Air Guitar and the Object Lesson of the Gaming Phenomenon”. This pitted guitarist Gary Lucas against one of the producers of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, Helen McWilliams in a “Don’t Fear The Reaper” duel. As a recent convert to the Guitar Hero phenomenon, I found it very cool that a woman is one of the developers, and kicks ass at the game, too.

Later that afternoon, I attended the Alanis Morissette press conference, following the Canadian Music Industry Awards, in which she was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award. I was thrilled that I had the chance to ask her a question during the press conference, and enjoyed hearing what my peers had to ask her. Hands down, since the beginning of Toonage, this tops my list of favourite moments!

Continuing with the Alanis Morissette theme, I ended my day at The Royal York Hotel at her Celebrity Interview. Maie Pauts of 104.5 CHUM FM conducted a great interview, and fans even had the chance to ask a few questions at the end of the session.

It was a fantastic day, and be sure to check Toonage.ca for full reviews on all of these events in the coming days.