Student gospel singers take stage at New Orleans festival known for celebrity acts
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival each spring is known for hosting some of the world's most famous jazz, funk and rock acts. Yet it's also become a showcase for lesser-known talent: local schoolchildren.
Gospel choirs from area high schools took the stage Friday at the festival's famed Gospel Tent, continuing a decades-long tradition for Louisiana students.
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Toronto Sun
an hour ago
- Toronto Sun
'MIND-BLOWING': Ex-Barenaked Ladies frontman recalls performing with Brian Wilson
Published Jun 12, 2025 • 4 minute read Brian Wilson performs as part of Nissan Live Sets on Yahoo! Music in Los Angeles, Wednesday, July 30, 2008. Photo by Chris Pizzello / AP Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account TORONTO — When Steven Page penned an ode to musical visionary Brian Wilson, he never expected to share a stage with the Beach Boy, perform alongside him nor hear him sing 'Brian Wilson' to a roaring Toronto audience. But in the summer of 2000, Page says he felt an 'absolute dream come true' when all that happened during Wilson's tour stop with Paul Simon at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre. Page says he knew Wilson had performed the song at previous concerts and expected to hear it, but not as the opening number. As news of Wilson's death broke Wednesday, Page looked back fondly at the memory of being in the audience while a musical hero sang Barenaked Ladies' 1992 hit 'Brian Wilson.' 'Every musician in Toronto was sitting around us, and they all kind of turned their head to look at me,' said Page, who later joined Wilson and Simon for the encore to sing Wilson's 'Love and Mercy' and the Beach Boys' 'Fun, Fun, Fun.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'And I thought, like, do I stand up and wave, or do I hide, or what do I do? I mean, just absolute dream come true.' Wilson's family posted news of his death to his website Wednesday. He was 82. 'Obviously, (I was) sad to hear that Brian had passed. It's been a tough couple years for him, I think, with his declining health and the loss of his wife, Melinda,' Page said. Page wrote the song 'Brian Wilson' when he was a 19-year-old student at Toronto's York University, drawing inspiration from his own struggles and eager to see more empathy in discourse about mental health in the music industry. Even though he named it after the much-lauded musician who faced highly publicized mental health struggles, Page says he was actually not a great fan of the Beach Boys before then, considering them 'lightweight and not as musically evolved.' He changed his tune after a classmate made him a mixtape. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Page said he always felt Wilson was depicted in the press as a 'rock 'n' roll casualty' and wanted to bring more empathy and nuance to discussions of mental health in rock music. 'Even then, as a teenager I could hear in the music this kind of struggle between light and dark and that really appealed to me,' said Page, who split with Barenaked Ladies in 2009. The tune became a hit for the band and a staple in their live set. Eight years after it appeared on their debut album 'Gordon,' Barenaked Ladies recorded an album at the same L.A. studio used to make the Beach Boys' classic 1966 album 'Pet Sounds.' Page says their producer at the time, Don Was, said he had a surprise for the band and introduced them to Wilson and his wife, Melinda. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Page says during that meeting, Wilson played them a recording of his rendition of 'Brian Wilson,' which appeared on his 2000 live album, 'Live at the Roxy Theatre.' 'It was amazing to hear this song that I wrote in my parents' basement when I was a teenager being sung by one of the most important composers in the history of mankind. Even if it was a joke, it was mind-blowing,' Page said. 'At one point where I sing: 'If you want to find me / I'll be out in the sandbox wondering where the hell all the love has gone / Playing my guitar and singing and building castles in the sun,' he changed it to 'playing my piano.' He just turned to me and said 'I don't play guitar.'' Page also recalls performing 'Brian Wilson' with the Barenaked Ladies at a pre-Grammy tribute celebration honouring Wilson in 2005, when he was selected as the MusiCares Person of the Year. The group performed an a capella-style version of the song and was the only act that played a song not written by Wilson. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Page said the Beach Boys' harmonies were 'hugely' influential on the Barenaked Ladies, which also boasted a five-man lineup. The Beach Boys, he said, gave the group 'a palette to choose from that didn't really exist in music without them.' 'On top of that, Brian's adventurousness in the studio — as far as choices of instruments, the way the songs can flow in and out of each other — those are the kinds of things that, as we matured as musicians, continued to excite. And still continue for me to excite and inspire me.' 'He really is one of the greats. He is like Beethoven and Paul McCartney all mixed together,' Page said. Randy Bachman, former Guess Who guitarist and Bachman-Turner Overdrive frontman, also played tribute to Wilson in a social media post where he referred to the Beach Boys as being 'like family' after playing several shows with the group in the '60s. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'They were the American answer to the Beatles. They wowed everyone with the songs, structures, vocals harmonies … We lost one of the greatest composers and messengers who took jazz harmony, put it to a Chuck Berry beat and made a new genre of music,' Bachman wrote. According to a post on his Facebook page, Wilson became an honorary citizen of Calgary in the city's famed white hat ceremony in 2011. Love concerts, but can't make it to the venue? Stream live shows and events from your couch with VEEPS, a music-first streaming service now operating in Canada. Click here for an introductory offer of 30% off. Explore upcoming concerts and the extensive archive of past performances! World Celebrity Sunshine Girls World Sunshine Girls
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
How ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game' seeded a music nonprofit supporting the songwriters of tomorrow
NEW YORK (AP) — It's sung every summer in baseball stadiums around the United States. But the impact of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' goes much further than simply getting fans out of their seats for the 7th-inning stretch. More than a century after Jack Norworth penned the lyrics, a nonprofit founded with the song's royalties is celebrating 50 years of supporting young musicians — including the talent behind some of today's most popular musicals. The ASCAP Foundation, the charitable arm for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, was established in 1975 after Norworth's estate left a bequest of the licensing payments for baseball's unofficial anthem and his other hits.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
How ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game' seeded a music nonprofit supporting the songwriters of tomorrow
NEW YORK (AP) — It's sung every summer in baseball stadiums around the United States. But the impact of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' goes much further than simply getting fans out of their seats for the 7th-inning stretch. More than a century after Jack Norworth penned the lyrics, a nonprofit founded with the song's royalties is celebrating 50 years of supporting young musicians — including the talent behind some of today's most popular musicals. The ASCAP Foundation, the charitable arm for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, was established in 1975 after Norworth's estate left a bequest of the licensing payments for baseball's unofficial anthem and his other hits. 'Just as all music begins with a song, the ASCAP Foundation began with a song,' said Paul Williams, the group's president and a composer-lyricist whose award-winning career includes 'Rainbow Connection.' The organization provides money, lessons and mentorship at all career stages in an industry where that support is badly needed by artists who often toil for years working other gigs while trying to get their music before the right ears. To reach its semicentennial, however, the foundation has had to identify new funding streams and reinvent programming. 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame,' written in 1908, has since entered the public domain and no longer generates revenue. The foundation nowadays relies on a mix of philanthropies, corporate sponsors and general public donations. The Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation is a longtime backer and storied New York law firm Paul Weiss is another sponsor. And, according to Williams, 'there's not a lot of stingy songwriters out there.' The late Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, as well as Herb Alpert, are among those with named scholarships and awards. Williams said other bequests, which are charitable gifts left through a will, have come from 'Hello, Dolly!' composer-lyricist Jerry Herman and 'Tea for Two' lyricist Irving Ceasar. 'It's really a way of making a mark on the world and extending their values forward,' fundraising coach Claire Axelrad said of bequests, which she added have consistently made up about one-tenth of charitable gifts. With dwindling arts funding and millions of children reportedly going without music education, the ASCAP Foundation is also trying to reach underserved communities. Leaders count nearly 60,000 K-12 students who participated in last year's programs. They help teach guitar to New York summer campers and bring students to free Broadway-caliber productions. Youth are learning to play the djembe, a drum originally from West Africa, through a collaboration with urban farming nonprofit Harlem Grown. Tax filings show the foundation gave away more than $325,000 in grants for scholarships, fellowships and cash awards in 2023. Award-winning songwriter Emily Bear, who co-wrote the soundtrack for Disney's 'Moana 2,' said the foundation took her 'very seriously' when she was a five-year-old prodigy receiving its young composer award. 'That kind of validation at that kind of age means so much when you're just a little girl with very big dreams and you're in a room full of people that you idolize,' she said. Composer Stephen Schwartz, who was honored this week with the ASCAP Foundation Champion Award during a June 10 fundraiser at Tony winner Adam Guettel's Manhattan home, said the nonprofit is filling gaps as the government 'supports the arts less and less.' This April also marked the third year that Schwartz has hosted the foundation's two-day Musical Theatre Fest in Los Angeles. The location allows participants to get feedback from prominent guests and connect with Hollywood studios — one way the foundation is trying to stay relevant by serving the renewed interest in musicals for television and film screens. It's emblematic of the mentorship younger composers say Schwartz — a Broadway icon whose hits include 'Godspell,' 'Pippin' and 'Wicked' — has offered to emerging artists over the years. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the songwriting duo behind 'Dear Evan Hansen,' credited the ASCAP Foundation for 'cementing' their connection with Schwartz. Pasek said such close proximity to a hero, who then became a 'living, breathing person who gives you advice,' made the profession 'more plausible.' 'Typically, you're working on projects on a wing and a prayer and hoping that someday it reaches the stage,' Paul said. 'So, an organization like the ASCAP Foundation breathing life into not just your work, but your pocketbooks, is a huge, huge support.' Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. Schwartz said it was 'scary and bewildering' when he first started out without any connections. He sees an important role for himself as someone who can 'ease the way a bit' to help newcomers' 'talents flourish earlier and more completely.' There's also another motivation. 'It's slightly selfish because I get to see good work and enjoy it,' Schwartz added. ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
