“Barenaked Mess,” the cover story in the current issue of Maclean’s, starts off with message board quotes regarding a fact never reported in the media — save for a lazy copy-and-paste a few months later in Frank magazine — prior to news that Steven Page was facing a charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance in Fayeteville, NY. Page didn’t hide his new girlfriend, Christine Benedicto, from the passengers on the annual Ships & Dip cruise hosted in February by the Barenaked ... read more

The marriage of satellite radio companies XM and Sirius was reported an almost-done deal this afternoon once the Federal Communication Commission fined both firms a total of $20 million for using radio receivers and terrestrial repeaters that violated technical rules. That such a final decision would hinge on a tedious technicality, after 16 months of waiting — with further threats of legal challenges from merger opponents — seems an especially Canadian way of making an American bureaucratic ... read more

“An illustration with the Up Front column last Sunday was published in error,” reads a correction in this coming Sunday’s edition of The New York Times Book Review. “The Howard Hampton it depicts is the leader of the New Democratic Party of Ontario, not the reviewer with the same name who was profiled in the column.” The 50-year-old reviewer with the same name lives in Apple Valley, California, and was the rare recipient of a biographical blurb at the front of the NYTBR, pointing to his ... read more

Where exactly does the best-selling album of all-time fit into the long-playing vinyl canon? Classic Albums Live, the Toronto-based operation dedicated to bringing old LPs to life through recitals focused exclusively on the music, provoked the question by staging a live run-through of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, last night at the Phoenix Concert Theatre. These recitals have taken the operation beyond its Toronto base — cities in Florida were concurrently visited by Aerosmith and ... read more

Forty comedians will celebrate the 40th birthday of Guy Earle on Saturday night, but the public gathering won't be a roast — it’s a rally designed to raise funds and attention for the outburst that has given the Toronto-based stand-up a surge of celebrity. For now, the spotlight is mostly being shone by those crusading against the influence of human rights commissions in Canada. Last month, a couple days after the death of George Carlin, the BC Human Rights Tribunal announced their intention ... read more

Teletoon Retro, a digital cable channel comprised of predictable animation reruns that launched last October, sounds like the greatest example of how a corporation can succeed in modern mainstream media without really trying. What other type of programming could be more recession-proof, trend-proof, demographic-proof, controversy-proof and technology-proof? That is, even if Canadian Content regulations necessitate airing Rocket Robin Hood (pictured) five times a day. While the American ... read more