Viet Cong Archives - Alan Cross' A Journal of Musical Things

Really Think It Through – When Band Names Go Bad

Coming up with a band name can sometimes be even harder than making music. It needs to be memorable and

I stumbled across this one when poking around SoundCloud. Preoccupations, who are from Calgary (the formerly named Viet Cong, t00),

Almost all of today’s music news is consumed with stories of Prince. But there are a few other things going

Viet Cong, the Calgary band whose self-titled album os on tonight’s Polaris Music Prize short list has seen the light

Come September 21 at the Carlu in Toronto, one of these album will be declared by a jury of twelve

Still working on flushing out that goddamn kidney stone. This is NOT fun. The lawsuit against Led Zeppelin over “Stairway

I clearly remember when the first Lollapalooza came to Toronto in 1991, local TV news anchors had a hard time

It was one year ago today that Russia annexed Crimea. How’s that working out for everyone? Bette Midler has found

Another eleven songs that for whatever reason tickled my fancy this week. Maybe there’s something here that will tickle you.

Remember the Calgary indie band Women? They had plenty of potential but blew apart in spectacular fashion right on stage

The premise of this week’s list is very simple: artists to watch in 2015. The hosting comes, as always, from

The Genius of Live Sports Production – Paul Graham In Conversation with TBP Podcast EP 013 December 1, 2020
The best live sports executive producers are a blend of genius, in both art and science. Whether we realize it or not, as viewers, we are of course more deeply engaged in cliffhangers. Match outcomes that keep us tuned in until the very end. That is where the executive producer shines. The research and preparation […]
Mark Silver
Intimate Gatherings of Sports Fans and Media Personalities – Kevin Kennedy in conversation with TBP Podcast EP 012 November 25, 2020
No matter the sport, passionate fans and pundits have long debated the goings-on in the clubhouse or on the pitch of every pro sports team. For most of us, this dialogue and discord are limited to Twitter, or perhaps yelling at sports talk radio hosts in our cars. If you were paying slightly more attention, […]
Mark Silver
The Business of Independent Production – Don Young in conversation with TBP Podcast EP 011 November 18, 2020
Canadians have long heard about Canadian content, aka CanCon. What most outside of the broadcast business don’t generally realize is that much of that content is actually subsidized by the private broadcasters, such as Bell Media and Rogers Media. Many independent producers have made a career, and a lot of money, perfecting the art of […]
Mark Silver