Juno Awards 2010

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The 2010 Fog Awards aka The Junos

Written by: Sandra Elford

Classified

Mother Nature apparently did not get the memo that St. John’s, Newfoundland was hosting the 2010 Juno Awards the weekend of April 18^th and if she did, she’s one big bitch.  The whole weekend of events was threatened and affected by the layer of fog that hung heavy in the air at the St. John’s airports; some airplanes attempted landing up to four times before waving the white flag and heading back to Halifax for the night.  Juno Fest weekend was set to kick off with an abundance of shows including Down with Webster and Ten Second Epic at the CLB Armory – unfortunately both bands had members stuck in the Halifax airport and the show ended up being cancelled.  It appears that the Halifax airport had more of a Juno Fest than we were scheduled to have, with Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, Jully Black among others stuck in the confines of its walls.

Although some acts were smart and chose to fly in a few days early, they might understand that entering Newfoundland is like playing poker and the weather ALWAYS wins.  Classified tore the entire roof off of Junctions the night of the 16^th with people packed to the rafters; after playing a solid game of hockey at the annual Juno Cup hockey game alongside other musicians including the one and only Jim Cuddy. Not only does Jim Cuddy rock skinny jeans better than any fifty-something year old I’ve ever met, but he kicks ass in hockey AND music.  Also rocking the island that night were east coasters Wintersleep and the always-eccentric Metric.  I stuck to my hip-hop roots and rocked to Classified alongside his great management team over at Blackbox. Who am I kidding?  I have no hip-hop roots, I just happen to think Classified is the best thing since sliced bread.  It helps that he has the most amazing team on stage with him, including his incredible DJ, DJ IV

Early the next morning on the 17^th, the Village mall was filled with hormonal pre-teens and adults, as Johnny Reid turns any middle aged woman into a screaming adolescent apparently.  All in line to meet their favorite Canadian musicians at the 2010 fan fest! This too was affected by the weather, as Alexisonfire and Danny Fernandes were unable to show up and greet the fans. It’s all-good though, as there were many other artists that were able to come. It seemed the fan favorites were Stereos, Faber Drive and Down with Webster.  I have to mention, yet again, how awesome Classified is because all the acts came through the crowd high fiving fans and making their way to Much Music’s Sarah Taylor, but Classified took a good five minutes as he stopped along the way to sign autographs and take fan pictures. He’s a good east coast boy, that’s why.

Faber during Fanfare

Rushing from the fan fest over to get drunk, I mean have a nice media dinner along side my peers, we downed a few bottles of wine and dined on a delicious meal, then headed into the media room for the Juno Gala Awards. This was not the most exciting event in the world; it’s basically a dinner where they hand out awards deemed not good enough for the actual Juno broadcast. After an hour or so, I had to disappear over to the Delta ballroom for an amazingly mind blowing set from Alexisonfire. Well, the first three songs were amazing – because I had to yet again dash to the CLB Armory for the end of a Juno Fest show with Danny Fernandes and Stereos.

If you’re wondering, sleep is for the weak.

Drake

Making my way to the Gibson party at Club One to say hello to a few friends of mine, I mingled, grabbed my swag bag (thanks Gibson!) and ventured to Drake’s Red Bull party at the Majestic.  As my legs carried me there, I spotted Drake pulling up to the red carpet and I turned into an all out run to grab a few shots of the absolutely stunningly beautiful R&B artist.  Skratch Bastid was spinning; we had Hedley, Down with Webster, Classified, Ten Second Epic and Drake in one room.  I had to pinch myself to make sure this was actually happening in boring Newfoundland and yep the pinch hurt so it was.  Classified jumped on stage to drop his newly made platinum single “O Canada”  and then made his way over to tear the face off everyone with the Arkells at Junctions. I stuck around to witness Drake sit with Sarah Taylor, drink his expensive drinks and not mingle with anyone. Was he going to drop a track? Was he going to go on stage and let us hear the magic that is drake’s talent?  Nope. He went on stage to say goodbye. Yawn.

After 20 minutes of sleep, it was time for D-Day, the big one – JUNO DAY! This started with an Over the Top (amazing local band), Down with Webster and a Ten Second Epic show to make up for the cancelled one on the 16^th.  I think I was more excited for this show than all the 15 year olds in the audience.  Much Music’s Liz jumped on stage with the band for their single “Whoa is me” and as quick as I was there – I was headed over to the Red Carpet to capture all the magic.

Justin Bieber

We were all huddled into a little cage, maybe twelve of us?  There were two girls, and the rest were men with big cameras and they were intimidating.  Oh, you work for CARAS you say?  Being knee high to a grasshopper and having white blonde hair kind of makes you stand out in a sea of men.  I think this worked to my advantage.  As the acts started rolling through, I squeezed my way to the front of the herd and managed to get pretty solid shots.  Best dressed of the red carpet?  I’m impartial to Danny Fernandes and his awesome cream two-piece suit. The person who made my heart skip a beat?  Oh, Justin Bieber of course.  The kid looked right at me and gave me not one, but TWO winks and smiles.  Are you jealous?  Of course you are.  Person who annoyed me a tiny bit?  Jully Black because she took forever to walk the red carpet and we were cold, hungry and just wanted to get the hell inside.  However, she’s beautiful and talented so we’ll forgive her.

As I am similar to superman, I jumped into my car after the red carpet and emerged dressed to the nines ready to rock the awards show.  If by rock I really meant sit in my seat and scream for Justin Bieber and Drake like I was fifteen?  Then yes, I rocked the awards show. Having no host was just plain awkward, dear CTV – don’t let it happen again.  Justin Bieber and Drake killed their performance, even though poor J. Biebs inn ear monitor was gone wacky just before he hit the stage.  Bless the lovely lady beside me who had herself a nice cry during Johnny Reid’s performance and the old ladies behind me who I’m pretty sure thought Billy Talents rockin’ set was a message from the devil. Best performance of the night was obviously K’Naan’s “Waving Flag” as he was joined on stage with half of the Canadian music industry and just set the mood for the great weekend that had happened.  I should also bring up how adorable Danny Fernandes was while presenting, apparently he was quoted as being the worse presenter, but he just didn’t have his glasses on is all, cut the guy a break.

After the Junos, a little event called ‘The Crunos’ was being hosted by Tim Millar of Protest The Hero and The Human Kebab of USS.  I ventured over there to receive my prestigious awards of best photographer and best place to put a laminate.  Other awards included:  “Best Merch Guy” and “Best Grant Getter Guy”, the latter going to the awesome Dan Hand over at Underground Operations.

To end the crazy night, it was announced that all flights out of Newfoundland were cancelled due to volcanic ash.  Yeah, that big volcano over in Iceland had sent some of its ash over our way and it made flying deadly.  Michael Buble secured his role as ‘Most suave and dashing man ever’ by having a private plane idly waiting to whisk him away from the rock in the sea.  Other acts that made it out just in the nick of time included Drake and Justin Bieber.  The rest of the acts?  Well some were stuck here for as long as four days.  It’s okay though; we made sure there was lots of screech and black horse to go around.

Here are a few more shots from Juno Weekend:

Alexisonfire

Danny Fernandes

Billy Talent

Stereos

Ten Second Epic

Down With Webster

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