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 Host Russell Peters likens the Juno stage to a venus flytrap while our man Darryl Sterdan leans more toward Blade Runner meets Little Shop of Horrors. On acid. (Jonathan Hayward, The Canadian Press) |
VANCOUVER -- "This is quite the venus flytrap I'm performing on -- and by venus flytrap, I don't mean the WKRP in Cincinnati guy."
So said comedian and Juno host Russell Peters when the set for tomorrow night's televised awards show was unveiled to the media at General Motors Place yesterday.
For eternal wiseacre Peters, it was a rare (and doubtless unintentional) display of understatement. Personally, I would have gone with something more along the lines of Blade Runner meets Little Shop of Horrors. On acid.
The massive multi-tiered stage was flanked by giant multi-coloured leaves like something out of a psychedelic Jurassic Park. Suspended above that trippy rainforest, meanwhile, were three giant mobile cubes constructed from video screens, filled with lighting rigs and trimmed with neon-like tubes. Behind it all was another gigantic video screen that spanned the length of the stage, but was split horizontally down the middle to make room for more lights.
It's an attempt to mirror Juno host city Vancouver's trademark fusion of urban architecture and green space, set designer Pete Faragher explained to a gaggle of reporters gathered at the foot of the stage.
"What Vancouver is to us is this gleaming glass and steel jewel," he said, his voice echoing through the otherwise vacant arena. I'd love to tell you what else he said -- it was something about all that technology being embraced by nature, and about how the stage took three months to build -- but honestly, the sound was so boomy I could barely make out a word he or anybody else said.
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For the most part, that was no loss. After all, one awards show media conference is pretty much like any other. A network suit makes some introductions. A producer -- in this case, the charismatic, beret-loving and elaborately moustached John Brunton, who promised us "performances that you can't see anywhere else" -- talks about how excited everyone is and how great everything is going to be. Some reporters lob some softball questions, mostly out of politeness. And the host -- in this case, returning standup Peters -- makes a few lame wisecracks. Yawn.
Fortunately, there was one dissenting voice: Singer-songwriter Dallas Green of City and Colour, who is up for artist and songwriter of the year.
Why he was onstage is beyond me. But thankfully, he did something other than smile and talk about how fabulous the show was going to be.
Apparently, Green was recently quoted by a reporter saying that the Junos were hokey. When he was asked about that, things got interesting.
"I probably would not have used the word hokey," he said. "But I'm confused a lot of the time by awards. I don't understand a lot of the nominations -- why certain people get nominated and certain people don't. There should be a handbook."
Because some Juno awards are based on sales -- seven out of 39, to be exact -- there are "a lot of really, really great bands that don't get nominated," he claimed.
"If we're going to celebrate the Canadian music industry, we should celebrate the entire Canadian music industry and not just those artists that sell records -- including myself."
He also suggested the Junos add more subcategories like alternative hard rock and alternative roots to better reflect the diversity of the musical landscape and allow for more nominees and winner. Of course, he acknowledged the Junos have been working to change that. And he's right -- this year, for the first time, the artist and group of the year nominations were based on votes as well as sales. And there's no denying that the awards have been embracing new hipper artists like Green, Feist and Sam Roberts, along with old standbys such has Nickelback (this year's top dog with five noms) and Celine Dion (three nods).
But even if Green didn't exactly tear the Junos a new one in the end, it was nice to see that there are still a few flies in the ointment along with the ones in the trap.