22 - North Shore News - Friday. May 19. 2000

Farrell spoke via video from L.A.

From Pane 18 The veteran pertormer’s tour coincided with NMW, suo he playfully knocked around an effigy of a record company executive on stage. To end the evening, Star Collector was holding fort on the cosy stage at Pemberton Station in a low-key set without bass (one bassist quit to focus on his day job, the other got a gig on a cruise ship). Led by North Vancouver's Vic Wayne, the self-deprecating “guitar collectors” managed to win over much of the Saturday night crowd except for one novice drinker pounding back the Bud’s by the pair. @ Pearl Jam’s status at NMW was a tad confusing. The onc- off Commodore Ballroom snow happened on the first night of the festival and was listed in the official program. NMW delegates weren’t officially permitted to attend, neither was the media. CFOX paid an undisclosed sum to stage the concert and give tickets away to lucky listeners, as per Pearl Jam's wish to play for fans only. Some of those “fans”, however, included NMW sponsors, CFOX clients and staff. For some reason, approximately 100 tickets were unused. So, to their credit, Commodore Ballroom and CFOX staff opened the doors to more than 60 gen- uine, die-heard Pearl Jam fans waiting near the alley. One of the fans came ail the way from Greece. The Commodore Ballroom was supposed to host Perry Farrell, NMW much-ballyhooed keynote speaker, at its Friday artists and repertoire conference. .. . The former Jane’s Addiction and Porno For Pyros” singer , stayed home in southern California and was replaced by

- freak show ringmaster Jim Rose.

-: Farrell apparently was working under a tight deadline for

- his next project for Virgin Records and was reluctant to ‘make the trek north to speak and spin some discs later at Sonar. NMW managed to keep Farrell’s speaking engage- ment alive via videoconference the next day.

Rose’s speech was supposed to be about how his Jim Rose Circus Sideshow became such 2 hot commodity and why he’s the modern P.T. Barnum. Rose instead complained

LIMBLIFTER’'S Ryan Dahle at the Commodore Friday.

about a threatened deportation by Canada Customs and delivered a “Joe Canadian” type speech applauding Canadians for infiltrating the American-dominated enter- tainment and media industry. Those waiting to hear how Rose discovered Mr. Lifto or hoping to see him hammer a nail into his head were mildly disappointed.

Allan Gregg, however, more than compensated. He received a standing ovation for his rousing call to arms for independent record labels to do what the major labels won't: embrace technology like MP3 and Napster and nur- ture artists for long-term careers, not instant hits.

by Norm Foster

sarring

Jackson Davies Stephen Dimopoulos Mark Weatherley

er Andrew Wheeler £> Bill Millerd set & fighting design

Ted Roberts

costume design Lana Krause

Gregg is The Tragically Hip’s co-manager, former Decima Research pollster and head of entertainment giant Viacom's Canadian operations. He also helped get Bnan Mulroney elected, but everyone makes a mistake.

Now he’s presiding over the Song Corporation, an inde- pendent record company traded on the Canadian Venture Exchange.

Watch closely to see if art and commerce can coexist.

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