Satellite Fan Clubs

 [ Owen @ Pyramid Cabaret, Winnipeg ]

I have eyes and ears all over this country now. Even some in the U S of A. These long-distance fans/friends are sure to keep me posted on all of the sightings, reviews and radio play that I may miss. It's true that I Google the band, ALOT (hey, Google helped me snag le garçon de mes rêves) but I don't always catch everything. 

Leah has been near-harassing Ottawa radio DJs for more than two months, and I'd like to think that her persistence has paid off. Dance Mother has been picked up on Live 88.5 in the past week! 'Bout time, Ottawa. 

I did know about the CHUM debut, however. The NEW single, Change of Seasons played on CHUM FM in Toronto last Friday. We were delighted to see that it was the featured track on the Chum FM Poll this week. The results are in: 71% of voters "LOVED IT" and 12% "LIKED IT". A whopping 83% in favour of a song by a relatively unknown band is really something. Yes, it is. Last week's track only managed a 43% in the "LOVE" category. Take that Natasha Beddingfield.

Annoyingly, Change of Seasons still doesn't seem to be added to the station's playlist. In an attempt to request the song, the track list came up empty. Help them out! Text your request to Chum at 104536 from your mobile!

The Edge has basically refused to pick up Dance Mother. Yet, that have no problem playing barf like Nickleback. The latest playlists reveal very low Toronto content, and they're not even playing Arkells much anymore. C'mon, Toronto! This city has a complex. We just wanna be someone else sooooo badly. We're afraid to support homegrown talent. Ugh.

OK, rant over.

More random news this week: 

• Sweet Thing hit #46 on the Billboard Canadian Rock Charts this week! I haven't found anything online to prove it, but this is the word received from the boys' manager via Nielsen. Maybe I'm not supposed to share? Oops? ;)
• Alex flies to LA with the band on July 13th to shoot the next video! (Does someone wanna have a romantic dinner with me for my birthday on the 14th?)
• They seemed to have skipped the festival circuit this summer, curiously, but did squeeze into the Scene Festival in St.Catherine's tomorrow. More festival updates to follow... there could be some other last-minute adds, but I'm only guessing.
• The guys play a majorly overdue Toronto show at The Horseshoe next Wednesday. Lots of questions about tickets, lately... No, I have no more info than you do. I don't buy tickets, remember? :) I would suggest arriving early to buy at the door, though.
• Other shows lined up for just after the Canada Weekend: Hamilton, Kingston, Ottawa, Waterloo. I will be hitting the Ottawa show, most definitely! Check out the MySpace for deets.
• Tidbits (reviews/buzz/videos) here (Thanks, Matt) and here and here and here.
• Finally a band page on the EMI Canada site!
• The Peak 100.5 appears to be debuting Change of Seasons this week - see "Check this Out".
• Show pictures by my West Coast homie, Eric Newby, here. 
• Plenty of World Cup coverage, too! Apparently, Winter Night, Change of Seasons AND Dance Mother were all heard during the games this past week. I don't watch, so it's all hearsay. But VERY exciting! (Thanks everyone!)

Oh, and I snagged this MMVA Red Carpet pic from Facebook:

[ Sweet Thing @ the MMVAS! Photo: Akina Hoshiyama ]

 

Keep the sightings coming! And, come dance with me in Toronto and Ottawa!

p.s. I know that I KEEP promising a tour post, but I've been lazy. In the meantime, pics are posted here.