Elvis at Gemini Awards Gala, November 13, 2010

[sweetest punch]

http://www.stockhouse.com/News/Canadian ... ?n=7946785

25th ANNUAL GEMINI AWARDS GALA TO FEATURE MUSICAL PERFORMANCE BY ELVIS COSTELLO WITH FEIST, RON SEXSMITH, KENDEL CARSON, AND BARRY BALES PLUS A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO DEGRASSIS

The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, Global, and Showcase are thrilled to announce that music icon Elvis Costello (Gemini25 nominee for Best Talk Series, Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...) will be performing with Juno award-winning singer-songwriters Feist, Ron Sexsmith, fiddling sensation Kendel Carson, and renowned bassist Barry Bales at the 25(th) Annual Gemini Awards Broadcast Gala on Saturday, November 13, 2010. The annual celebration will air nationwide on Global and Showcase at 8pm.

The gala awards presentation will also pay a Special Tribute to Degrassi and will include appearances by Degrassi alumni including Nina Dobrev, Stefan Brogren, Amanda Stepto, Adamo Ruggiero, Cassie Steele, Lauren Collins, and Melinda Shankar.

"We are very excited to welcome such an incredible group of legendary musicians to the Gemini Awards stage, as well as pay tribute to one of Canada's best-loved and longest-running TV franchises," said Sara Morton, CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. "This year's show is going to be one of the most memorable in the Academy's history and we look forward to celebrating the success of Canadian television with viewers across the country."

"From the host to the presenters and performers, we've pulled out all the stops for this milestone year," said Christine Shipton, SVP, Drama and Factual Content, Shaw Media. "The mounting excitement for the 25(th) Annual Gemini Awards is palpable, and television fans from coast to coast will be able to see all their favourite stars up close only on Global and Showcase."

For more information, please visit http://www.geminiawards.ca.

Launched by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television in 1986, the Gemini Awards honour outstanding achievements in the Canadian English-language television industry. The 25th Annual Gemini Awards brings together Canada's most gifted performers, craftspeople, producers, and decision-makers over several evenings of special events in Toronto.

[scielle]

Nice! (Although the Geminis are generally considered a joke...)
Hopefully that means he'll be doing some promo work in Canada this week - would love to hear him on Q or see him on Strombo's show.

[johnfoyle]

http://canadiantabloid.blogspot.com/201 ... lding.html

Singer Elvis Costello leaves the Elgin/Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto after rehearsals for the Gemini Awards. Costello, who is married to Canadian singer Diana Krall, will perform during the televised gala. • Photo by John K/Todd G / SplashNewsOnline.com



http://www.torontosun.com/life/2010/11/12/16113521.html


Gemini goodies

Nominees and presenters can look forward to some patriotic bonuses

By REBECCA ZAMON, QMI Agency

November 12, 2010


Canadian small-screen stars are getting set for their turn in the awards show spotlight with the Saturday evening taping of the Gemini Awards. The 25th incarnation of this celebration of Canadian television will be held at Toronto's Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre, and nominees and presenters are getting a chance to take advantage of their celeb status beforehand at a gifting lounge.

"The Tastemakers Lounge was created because we wanted to make sure that our talent got the same kind of treatment as at other awards shows," explains Michelle Easton, a publicist working with the event.

Gifting lounges are well known in the entertainment industry for being the places where stars can acquire thousands of dollars worth of "swag" - free products from companies who are hoping for some publicity if the celeb is photographed with it.

For the Gemini recipients - including the ceremony's host, Cory Monteith, Tre Armstrong, Feist and honourary Canadian Elvis Costello - beauty and national pride is top of mind. As seems only appropriate for this event, all of the main companies are proudly Canadian.

Jewelry brand MMCrystal, the brainchild of Michelle Merizzi, is no stranger to red carpets.

"My stuff's been worn everywhere," said Merizzi. "At the Grammy Awards, at the Oscars - it was even at Obama's inauguration!"

The Swarovski-encrusted bracelets, necklaces and earrings are just the kind of thing to catch the attention of those seeking a big splash, and Merizzi is lending out her pieces for the evening for just that purpose. Ranging from $100 to $1000, stars can pick and choose their favourites to shine during the gala.

Meanwhile, Cheeky Monkey Cosmetics has mini manicures on offer for those in need. The one-year-old company has been attracting a bit of attention for their strewn-with-innuendo polish names (like Back Alley Sally or Nail Me), but notice should be paid to the fact they're also formaldehyde-, toluene- and DBP-free.

"They're totally meant to be taken with a smile and a giggle," said Andrea Pahn, the company's founder.

Asked which colour she anticipated would be a hit with attendees, there was no hesitation. "My money is on Filthy Madame," she said. "It's a tuxedo grey, and very suitable for a gala."

For the face is The Soya Boutique, an all-natural skin-care line started by former model Melani Chong. Stressing their "multi-functioning" uses, Chong has a range of 11 products that work for men, women and even babies.

"We're offering 'The Bomb', an aromatherapy healing balm," she explained. "It can be used everywhere from chapped lips to dry skin around the nose. I even dab a bit under my eyes."

Those feeling in the seasonal spirit can be indulged with Hallmark's impressive offerings for Christmas, including 3D gift cards complete with lights that can proudly be displayed on the mantel and storybooks that allow family members to record their voices reading the tale - perfect for stars who are often away from their family and friends.

As for the gift bag that nominees and presenters will walk away with, extras include a certificate for an eyebrow treatment at much-loved Toronto beauty bar Gee Beauty, delicious smelling candles from Country Home Candle and Glade, and perhaps the ultimate modern symbol of Canadiana: a pair of Canadian Olympic Team Red Mittens from the Bay. With much more stuffed inside, the swag is worth over $300.

[scielle]

Spectacle just won. (And beat Strombo!)
I understand Elvis, Feist, Ron et al performed Josephine

[sweetest punch]

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2010/11 ... nners.html

(...)
More entertaining was Elvis Costello, who played a new song, Slow Drive with Josephine, with Ron Sexsmith and Feist.

Costello then won the Gemini Award for best talk show for Spectacle: Elvis Costello With….

"It's been an incredible opportunity to talk with friends and people I didn't know before the show and see some incredible performances," he said, recalling in particular a show that featured Jesse Winchester as guest. He also spoke of Kris Kristofferson's moving performance of Sunday Morning Coming Down.

"It's been remarkable to me that when I go out to the shops in Vancouver, people of all ages come up and talk to me about the show," Costello added.
(...)

[scielle]

Vancouver Island boy Cory Monteith (of Glee fame) hosted the show. Perhaps the chances of an EC cover on Glee have gone up ever so slightly.

[johnfoyle]

Elvis arriving , at c.1.26

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J38K5erzk9M

[johnfoyle]

http://www.spinner.com/2010/11/15/elvis ... nis-feist/

Elvis Costello Hits Bernie Taupin Art Party
Nov 15th 2010

by Karen Bliss

Elvis Costello, in Toronto for Canada's Gemini Awards for the television industry, made an unexpected visit to a private party to launch Bernie Taupin's art exhibit at Toronto Liss Gallery. "I just happened to hear about it last minute," Costello told Spinner.

Costello wound up winning Best Talk Series for 'Spectacle,' his musical talk show co-produced by Elton John and husband David Furnish.

Taupin, Elton John's lyricist for the past 43 years, paints grand abstracts with titles like 'Yo-Yo' (price tag: $9750) and 'Corporation Department' ($13, 250). The exhibit opened Friday night and runs for the next three weeks.

"I really liked that one 'Red Shroud,' the smaller canvas down there," Costello said. "I just said to [Taupin], with all the songwriting, that he would have the time [to paint] and he has young children like me, as well," says Costello. "I've managed two paintings in 30 years and I wouldn't call what I do painting; it's a bit like what I do at the piano."

Costello has only seen Taupin's artwork when he's visited his house. "I haven't seen it exhibited like this and that's part of it, isn't it, seeing it [at a gallery] and you see the different moods of things."

The next night on the Gemini's, Costello performed "A Slow Drag with Josephine" - from his brand new album, 'National Ransom' - with Feist, Ron Sexsmith fiddle player Kendel Carson and upright bassist Barry Bales from Alison Krauss's Union Station. They rehearsed for the first time on Friday.

"It was great today," he said. "In the last month, I performed that song with Mike Compton who sings it on the record and the Sugarcanes who played it on the record; I performed it with Emmylou Harris at the Bridge School benefit; I performed it on the Speaking Clock Revue with Scissor Sisters (?? -JF) and Karen Elson, so already, in just a month, that song has got a few different versions. It's always fun to play a song with different people participating and really good players."

Asked about Elton John's recent comment that "I don't have to make pop records anymore," Costello says he he understands what the man whose pop albums have sold 250 million copies over four decades might be trying to say.

"I think your expectations change as time goes on, your objectives. I think I know what he's getting at there because you're writing different kinds of songs, " Costello says. "If you set yourself up and you're not trying to write the latest dance hit, or the latest pop hit, then some other song might last a little longer."

Longer than his pop songs? "You never know. For one thing, music's not a competitive sport. [Pop charts] reflect sales, they don't necessarily reflect merit."


http://www.lissgallery.com/bernie_taupin/index.htm

http://www.lissgallery.com/bernie_taupi ... d24x36.htm



Red Shroud - 24x36

"I've managed two paintings in 30 years

These two?

[FAVEHOUR]

SECRET Sisters

[Jeremy Dylan]

For a moment, I thought that headline was:

Elvis Costello Hits Bernie Taupin At Party

[johnfoyle]

http://www.geminiawards.ca/gemini25/win ... m?gemnig=5

[johnfoyle]

http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainm ... story.html

Fiddler on the rise

Kendel Carson went from Inner Harbour busking to a call from Elvis Costello

By Mike Devlin, Times Colonist

November 17, 2010



The career of Kendel Carson took an unlikely, unexpected and unfathomable turn upward over the weekend, as she performed before a nationally televised audience in a one-off super-group led by none other than Elvis Costello.

Carson, who was born in Calgary but raised in Victoria, is an in-demand fiddler, singer and songwriter who usually has four or five musical projects on the go simultaneously. The call to join Costello on Saturday night's Gemini Awards telecast in Toronto was a result of her inter-connectedness, it would appear.

With only a small window of time to assemble a group for the Geminis, Costello had to rely on the recommendation of musicians he trusted. He learned of Carson through Barney Bentall's guitarist, Colin Nairne, who knew of Carson through her duties in Bentall's other group, the Grand Cariboo Opry.

"He told me that Elvis got my name and Googled me," Carson, 25, said with a laugh. "Picturing Elvis Costello Googling me is the best thing in the world."

Costello performed his new song, A Slow Drag With Josephine, live with new bandmates Feist, Ron Sexsmith, Barry Bales from Union Station -- and Carson. They rehearsed only once prior to the live broadcast but it was an experience the fiddler will not soon forget.

Carson arrived to the set early for rehearsal, so it was just her and Costello. "Within about two minutes, he got his guitar and I got my fiddle and we stood face to face, jamming through the song. He just couldn't wait to try the song and see what was going to happen. He's got this spirit about playing, and I really hope in 30-odd years I still feel like that."

The Claremont Secondary graduate, who lives in Vancouver, New York and Toronto, began laying the groundwork for a successful career in Victoria, of all places.

Along with her brother, fellow fiddler Tyler Carson, she began playing on streets of Victoria under the moniker the Carson Kids, an adorable -- and popular -- Inner Harbour busking duo. That soon led to bigger things for the siblings, including performances with the Victoria Symphony in 1995 (when Tyler was 13 and Kendel was 11) and on the Jerry Lewis Telethon in Hollywood, before a viewership of more than 50 million.

The siblings (who morphed from the Carson Kids into the Carsons, and eventually Kid Carson) continued to amass resumé-boosting accomplishments well into their teens. In addition to releasing four albums over their career, they were also invited to perform in Japan, Thailand and the Cayman Islands.

In 2004, Kendel and Tyler began working on other projects, which eventually dissolved their creative union. Tyler branched off into bluegrass territory (though he recently moved to Newcastle, England, he continues to teach fiddle and play in various local groups), while Kendel pursued a direction more closely associated with alt-country.

While playing fiddle in the Juno-winning Vancouver group the Paperboys, Carson developed a songwriting relationship with Chip Taylor, brother of actor Jon Voight and author of songs recorded by the Troggs (Wild Thing), Merrilee Rush (Angel of the Morning), Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Emmylou Harris.

Her relationship with Taylor not only continues, it is thriving. Carson's 2009 recording, Alright Dynamite, which Taylor produced and co-wrote, drew raves in the U.K. and Europe. "I've got a really good foundation for a solo career there," she said. "We're really hoping that with this next record, we can push it a bit bigger."

Her forthcoming record will be a concept album of Taylor songs based on an Emmylou Harris model. It will sound "very classic country," according to Carson.

When she's not working with Taylor, she is either acting (Carson plays the lead in the hit video Dance Mother, by Toronto group Sweet Thing) or working with a variety of groups, including Belle Starr with fellow singer-fiddlers Stephanie Cadman and Miranda Mulholland of Great Lake Swimmers.

Carson, who also performs in a duo with Bentall's son, Dustin, clearly enjoys being a part of the Grand Cariboo Opry celebrations, which materialized five years ago out of kitchen parties at the Bentall family farm.

She will be back on Vancouver Island this week for a trio of concerts with the Opry, including stops tomorrow at the Tidemark Theatre in Campbell River and Friday at the Alix Goolden Performance Hall (the group's Saturday show in Brentwood Bay is sold out).

"It's so much fun, and I do everything I can to clear my schedule for it as much as possible," Carson said of the Opry concerts. "It's an old-fashioned, radio-hour, revue-style show, and the energy is so much fun."

She knows many of the Opry associates from her days in Victoria, including Daniel Lapp, her former fiddle instructor. To her surprise, she noticed the same inter-connectedness at the Geminis last Saturday.

The night's host, Cory Monteith, is from Victoria. Costello's wife, Diana Krall, is from Nanaimo. Sexsmith, though born in Ontario, spent some of his pre-fame years living in Victoria. Carson continues to be amazed by the richness of the Victoria music scene, which has begun to permeate the rest of the world, too.

"There's some sort of energy that is in people here. We sort of find each other all over the place."

mdevlin@timescolonist.com

[scielle]

Still no video of this anywhere?
(Nothing on the Global TV site, as far as I can see.)

[scielle]

Ah, it's here, but seems geo-blocked for Canada.

http://www.globaltv.com/geminiawards201 ... d#specials

[FAVEHOUR]

ARRRGH! Can't anyone up North capture this for the rest of us?

[jardine]

i'd be willing but i don't know how to do it (bit like the mystery dance, i guess)!

regarding the josephine "whistling" debate in another thread, here we get a small duel between whistling and violin!

[johnfoyle]

Mojo, Feb.1'1

From a Ron Sexsmith feature




From Andy Fyfe's profile -


"I was 29, just about to get dropped and thinking this was never going to happen," Ron says, "when Elvis Costello mentioned in MOJO that my album was the best thing he'd heard all year. For me that was the shot that was heard around the world."

Their friendship has been firm ever since.The previous night, Costello insisted Sexsmith help him on A Slow Drag With Josephine (from latest EC set National Ransom) at the Geminis, alongside fellow Canadians Feist and fiddler Kendel Carson. Kitted out in an expensive grey suit bought specially for the occasion, Sexsmith's perform­ance wasn't as smooth as he'd hoped. "Ron made a little stumble going into the verse, but I think it kind of made the night," Costello generously said at the aftershow party, as Sexsmith stood beside him brushing spilled red wine from the new suit. "I doubt anyone noticed anyway."

In the car to Niagara Falls, Sexsmith cringes at the thought. "I'm jinxed on TV. Every time I appear something goes wrong. I'm not scared of TV, but..." He trails off. "I clam up in my big moments. Story of my career, I guess."

Six labels and nine albums after that first record comes the knowingly titled, big sounding Long Player, Late Bloomer. Packed with Sexsmith's direct and punchy emotions - he can turn love into despair or empathy into turmoil, and back, in a single phrase- ...Late Bloomer has a grandeur not previously achieved. When Costello heard it, he told Ron it, "sounded as if I'm holding my head up for the first time. "It's an album Sexsmith was scared to make.

[sweetest punch]

A Slow Drag With Josephine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYkUGXMlplU

[FAVEHOUR]

Urk. An audience clip? Thanks for the link, though. But geez, didn't anyone in Canada tape the TV show???????

[johnfoyle]

http://roadshowcompany.com/press/beyond ... ie-taupin/



Elvis Costello and Bernie Taupin at Toronto Exhibition

[The imposter]

What the hell is he wearing! Looks like Albert Steptoe's dressing gown.

[fred darden]

funny. i was gonna say fred g. sanford.

[migdd]

Putting on a few pounds.