I thought it was the best Grammy Awards show ever. I thought the music was great, the staging was awesome, I liked the mixture of old and young.
And I was so proud of our Canadian artists.
Michael Buble, Neil Young, the amazing teenager Justin Bieber.
But of course for me, the highlight of the show was when Arcade Fire, from Montreal, Québec, ran away with the big one.
In a major Grammys upset, Montreal's Arcade Fire won the coveted trophy for album of the year last night, helping reduce favoured contender Eminem to also-ran status.
The Montreal indie rock band's victory was one of the biggest upsets in recent Grammy history, with a visibly stunned frontman Win Butler thanking the Staples Center crowd before playing a second song at the ceremony simply, as he put it in his speech, "because we like music."
But I'm not. Because I've followed them for a long time, and they are simply the best live music act in the world.
For those in the Ukrainian Cultural Center on Friday, however, the band's win underlined what many already felt for the band but wouldn't have dared to expect on the Grammys' stage.
"When they played 'Intervention,' I stopped working and just watched, amazed," Carlson said of Friday's show. "The applause sounded like an arena in there."
Don't believe him or me?
Then check out this show at Madison Square Gardens...
I was hoping they'd play Rebellion to close out the show.
But hearing them say "Merci Montréal" at the end was even better.
French and English Canadians playing together. And conquering the world. It doesn't get better than that eh?
Even in the darkness of Harper's Canada some lights are still shining...
On a day when I was depressed after reading how the Harper Cons ignored International Youth Day.
Because they're too busy waging war on Canada's young people with the consent of a lot of older Canadians.
Despite the fact that the youth crime rate is at a 10-year low, their generation has been stereotyped as a threat to public safety. The Prime Minister, with no significant resistance from the federal opposition leaders, the provincial premiers, the big-city mayors or the courts, has enacted law after law to lock up young offenders, punish drug dealers and break up street gangs.
Despite the fact that young Canadians have led global humanitarian campaigns, created thriving businesses, raised environmental awareness, won civic office and worked at the grassroots level to build stronger, more resilient communities, few of these achievements are recognized in Ottawa.
Despite the fact that they’ve adapted to an ever-changing global marketplace, relinquished any prospect of job security and learned to live in a 24/7 world, none of this seems to count in their favour.
And I know this to be true because I hear it all the time. The young people of today are no good. They're lazy, they're whiners, they're DANGEROUS.
So on a day when I'm shaking my head about that, who should arrive on my teeny island to cheer me up ?
Only one of the hottest bands in the world, Arcade Fire, from Montreal, Québec, Canada.
The band whose new album, Suburb, just knocked the homophobic, misogynistic prick Eminem's new album out of the number one spot on the Billboard chart.
My buddy and I didn't know they were going to perform...in our backyard. Duh. So we didn't have tickets. But it didn't matter. We were able to get close enough. We danced under a crescent moon with some friends ...and the old dog. And it was FABULOUS.
If you're not familiar with Arcade Fire, this clip from a recent concert at Madison Square Garden will give you an idea of how good they are.
It's a long one, but it's all good, it's directed by the brilliant Terry Gilliam.
And the last few minutes are AMAZING...
Yup. From Montreal, Québec, Canada. Young Canadians conquering the world. Making Canada look cool in the darkness of the Harper era.
In a country where so many people hate or fear them. Great eh?
Hey Harper. Bastard. Porker. Fascist. Here's what I have to say to you. You can wage war on us all you like. But we think you and your gross Cons are the WORST thing that ever happened to this country.
