One of the summer’s biggest events is set to take over Douglas Street next weekend. Car Free Day YYJ will occupy six blocks of one of the busiest streets in the downtown core on June 21, with a mixture of live music, food and family fare.
Not only is it car-free — all of Douglas Street from the Hudson to the Bay Centre will be open only to foot traffic — it comes with free admission.
Full details will be forthcoming next week, according to organizers.
But the musical lineup was made public this week — and it’s a good one, especially for fans of local music.
A roster of 18 acts will perform on three stages during the event, including Bucan Bucan, the Electric Timber Co., Man Made Lake, Righteous Rainbows of Togetherness, Steph Macpherson, The New Groovement, Towers and Trees and more.
Car Free Day YYJ runs from noon until 6 p.m. and will include everything from a man-made park situated between Johnson Street and Pandora Avenue — one that will cover 7,000 square feet — to upwards of 125 food-truck vendors, business and community organizations, and artisans. Happy Father’s Day, indeed.
Read the Times Colonist for more information as it is announced.
Former Victoria resident Carly Rae Jepsen, she of the massive hit Call Me Maybe, will release her new full-length album, EMOTION, on Aug. 21.
Jepsen will preview songs from the new record June 21 at the MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto.
The Grammy nominee will perform her new hit I Really Like You on the broadcast. Her appearance on the MMVAs continues a string of high-profile appearances that includes Good Morning America, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Saturday Night Live, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Dancing With The Stars.
Visiting lecturer Warren Michelow will host a timely talk on Tuesday at the Greater Victoria Public Library on Broughton Street.
Michelow will share his research on drug-use patterns at summer music festivals such as Shambhala, a hugely popular electronic music festival held each year in the Kootenays, and how harm-reduction education can ensure the safety of festivalgoers.
Michelow is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health. The event is presented by the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research of B.C.
The event will be held from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 735 Broughton St., in the Central Library Meeting Room.
For more information, contact Amanda Farrell-Low at 250-853-3229 or [email protected].
Greg Drummond will perform songs from his new album, Drive, at the Solstice Cafe (529 Pandora Ave.) on Thursday.
The Port Moody-bred singer-songwriter — who made it to the Top 20 in Vancouver’s 2013 Peak Performance Project — will also perform Friday at The Vault Cafe in Nanaimo and Saturday at Moby’s Pub on Salt Spring Island.
Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door.
One of the most iconic bands in Victoria history will be inducted into the Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame in September.
Nomeansno, which has been led since 1979 by Victoria-born brothers Rob and John Wright, will be honoured at the WCMA gala on Sept. 20.
For the first time ever, this year’s event (which is part of the BreakOut West Festival and Conference) will be held in the Garden City.
“Nomeansno is one of Western Canada’s greatest music exports,” WCMA board member Chris Wynters said in a statement. “Their smart and edgy songs, along with their pioneering DIY ethic, influenced many and paved the way for Canada’s indie revolution in the ’90s.
“I think I saw them play about a hundred times as a kid in Victoria in the ’80s, and they always blew the roof off the venue! I can’t think of a more deserving and fitting inductee into the WCMA Hall of Fame.”
BreakOut West and the Western Canadian Music Awards will be held in conjunction for the first time with the annual Rifflandia festival, which takes place Sept. 17-20 at various venues.
Nanaimo’s annual Bathtub Weekend festivities will have a decidedly musical edge this year.
The event gets underway July 24 at Diana Krall Plaza with a roster of performers that includes Platinum Blonde, Bif Naked, The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer, Kendall Patrick & The Headless Bettys and more.
Tickets to the event, which runs from 5 p.m.-11 p.m., are on sale now for $25.
After June 20, when early-bird pricing ends, prices will increase to $35. Tickets can be purchased in person at The Port Theatre (125 Front St.), by phone at 250-754-8550 or online at porttheatre.com.
Los Angeles rock trio Lifehouse — which features Victoria native Bryce Soderberg on bass — is celebrating a No. 1 debut for its new album, Out of the Wasteland.
The recording placed atop Billboard’s independent albums chart in reports that were released this week.
During the same time frame, Out of the Wasteland also made it to No. 3 on the rock albums chart and No. 26 on the all-inclusive Billboard 200 chart.
To date, the group has sold more than 15 million records worldwide, much of those because of its massive hit Hanging By a Moment.
During his 11 years with the group, Soderberg, a St. Michael’s University School grad who was born and raised in Sooke, has yet to play his hometown.
Unfortunately, that trend will continue for the foreseeable future, it would appear. The band’s U.S. tour kicks off June 19 with two dates in Washington state, which is the closest the tour will come to Western Canada.
