All posts by Alex Cook

Area 506: Festival Finds Its Strength In Local Products

New Brunswick is a curious place and New Brunswick Day weekend is inevitably something of a celebration of that fact, whether it’s intentional or not. We  pack a lot into that one weekend. With most communities having their own events, festivals need to work hard to differentiate themselves. Now in its second year, Area 506 proved it could hold its own, at least against the other music festivals… Continue reading Area 506: Festival Finds Its Strength In Local Products

Music/Musique NB Announces 2017 Award Nominees

Festival 506 is coming up next month and at the heart of it is the 2017 Prix MNB Awards. It’s a celebration of music and/or musique in the province, this year happening in Moncton between October 12-15, with the winners being announced on Friday, October 13. Also, they want your help in deciding who wins.

Continue reading Music/Musique NB Announces 2017 Award Nominees

Music Video: Mauno’s ‘Helah’ Is Manufactured Nostalgia

When you’re a touring musician, you need to make the best of your time on the road. Go where the audiences are—be they domestic or foreign—and the work will follow. It is essentially the opposite of the Field of Dreams business model: if someone else has built it, you must go, as it has been ordained by the Universe and Kevin Costner, the only exceptions being Celine Dion and Cher who get to stay in Vegas. It’s a life of great inconvenience, requiring great sacrifice and necessitating fitting in what you can, where you can. As Mauno have yet to earn their Vegas residencies, they are currently touring the UK and Europe, which is exactly where we find them in their new video:  ‘Helah’. Continue reading Music Video: Mauno’s ‘Helah’ Is Manufactured Nostalgia

New Music: Partner Releases Long Awaited ‘In Search Of Lost Time’

We’ve been waiting for this. We’ve been waiting much longer than any of us could have ever realized. In Search Of Lost Time, Partner’s first full debut album, isn’t just the most anticipated album of 2017, but perhaps the best album of the ’90s,  just two decades removed. It could be a time capsule, deemed too awesome. Without being tiresome, the album is a glorious revisitation of all the poppy, simple, and wonderfully dumb charm that gilded MTV’s golden age. Continue reading New Music: Partner Releases Long Awaited ‘In Search Of Lost Time’

Cease & Desist: Picaroons Pulls Dark & Stormy Night After Legal Battle

Picaroons announced today that after a lengthy legal battle they have ceased production of one of their craft beers. For eleven years their Dark & Stormy Night certified organic dark wheat beer has been a mainstay, not only in the Picaroons line-up, but in the east coast craft brewing cornucopia. Today that comes to an end as they  bow out of a legal battle over the product’s name. Continue reading Cease & Desist: Picaroons Pulls Dark & Stormy Night After Legal Battle