Yes, Virginia, there really is a rap version of Oh Canada, the national anthem of Canada. With a few additions, of course, including: poutine, a pregnant lady with a maple leaf on her belly, and mention that they invented the telephone. In the patriotic tradition of my mother, I will wake up our guests on Canada Day (June 1st!) with this rendition and other Canadian patriotic music. Mom would wake us up on July 4th with Sousa marches.
This past Sunday was the Juno awards, the Grammy awards of Canada. It was hosted by Drake (A Canadian Jew, in case you were wondering. He's also pretty cute, eh?).
We heard a lot of great music, particularly a great selection of music commemorating the last 40 years of music evolution in Toronto by Sarah Slean* and Garth Hudson of The Band, Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, The Sadies, Sarah Harmer* and City and Colour*. I tried to find a video of this but had a hard time, but any of these artists are worth a listen - they were fabulous. Arcade Fire won a lot of awards, but honestly, I just can't get into their music, and while I can see why they won (they are very talented and it is almost like watching and listening to an orchestra), they would take a lot of energy. Neil Young was there (Canadian), Brian Adams (unfortunately Canadian), Shania Twain (she felt like a Canadian woman), but no Bieber. He totally ditched the Junos. He did do a few video presentations, but it was weak. And the new haircut? Eh.
On Saturday (we had a very exciting weekend), we watched. . . Hockey Night in Canada! On every single Saturday night all long winter long, there is a hockey double header. Those lucky Canadian women! We watched the Leafs - that would be the Toronto Maple Leafs for those of you who aren't yet fans, even though you should be since we live here - lose a heartbreaker, and then we watched Don Cherry. He is a crazy man who comes out and talks about hockey in between game 1 and 2, and wears the most conservative attire possible. Below, a few samples:
We now understand why hockey season goes on forever. You see daffodils and flowers in the states, and we have snow. We have temperatures that are warm at plus 2 degrees Celsius, and you wear flip flops in March. It makes sense for the NHL to still play hockey in Canada right now. For them to still be playing hockey in Nashville (and when did they get a team in Nashville?), well, I'm not so sure.
So, in that spirit, we signed the kids up for skating lessons and bought them their hockey skates and helmets, with full face masks, so S has a chance of keeping those teeth we worked so hard to keep. E and S's twin, 17 year old, female babysitters are hockey players, and so we have some awesome role models. Watch out!
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