Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 76

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 76

Hosted Live/Produced/Recorded by: Andru Valpy, Natty Somers

Air Date: 05/11/2011 6:00 PM on UMFM 101.5 FM
Podcast Download Location: iTunes.
Web: http://wakeupwinnipeg.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg 

Become a FaceBook Fan: http://facebook.com/wakeupwinnipeg
Rebroadcast: 5/18/2011 on CJUM 101.5 UMFM - 6:30 AM

CJOB - Keith McCullough

We started this weeks episode delivering the latest developments in the 2011 spring flooding situation that is occurring across the province.

The Provence of Manitoba officially declared a provincial wide state of emergency on Monday in an effort to help make us of resources available to them during the 2011 Flood Season.

Shortly after 4:00 pm on Monday evening Manitoba Premier Greg Sellenger and provincial officials declared the state of emergency to deal with the imminent threat of flooding along the Assiniboine River in the cities of Brandon and Portage la Prairie and the rural municipalities of Woodlands, Rosser, St. Francois Xavier, Headingley, Cartier, Macdonald and Grey.

Fred Greenslade - Reuters

This comes as the Assiniboine river water levels on at the First Street bridge in Brandon climbed to 1,182.5 ft while continuing to flow down street at a rate of 42,500 cfs.

Flows on the Assiniboine River will continue to increase with recent and forecast rain, as much as 20 to 40 millimeters was expected to fallen in Southern Manitoba as of yesterday and today, with some areas of Western Manitoba seeing as much as 70 mm of rain.

Manitoba government has called in Canadian Forces from Joint Task Force West, under Canada Command, are arriving to assist the government in its operation to manage flood-fighting efforts along the Assiniboine River.

Bruce Bumstead - Brandon Sun

On Sunday evening through Monday Morning the City of Brandon requested a precautionary evacuation of 900 house holds in the lower lying areas surrounding the city, while closing down First Street due to buckling pavement.

Earlier this week residents were working to raise flood dikes by an additional two feet to accommodate high flows on the Assiniboine River.

The additional water levels were caused by recent rain storms and inaccurate water level estimates caused by at least one broken gauge that had been underestimating the flow of water by about 2,500 cubic feet per second.

In the early hours of Tuesday, Some 150 residences in the RM's were awaken by RCMP and Police officials who had told the residents It was time to go.

On Tuesday, the province announced that a controlled release of 2,000 to 6,000 cfs is necessary.

In a recent interview with CBC News, Premier Greg Sellenger said he was working closely with the local municipalities and the emergency operation committee to we that they get as much protection as possible by any additional water.

Rod Nickel - Reuters

Some 150 homes are expected to be affected by a controlled flood release occurring near the Hoop and Holler Bend which was planned by the province and is expected to occur on Thursday morning before noon.

Prime Minster Stephen Harper toured the affected areas with Premier Sellenger on Wednesday morning before meeting with officials to be briefed on the situation.

The controlled release will be preformed to reduce the risk and severity of an uncontrolled breach of the dikes. This controlled release could potentially save 850 homes that would have otherwise been affected by a uncontrolled breach.

Premier Greg Sellenger has stated that  in the event of additional damage, there will be a special compensation program.

AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Woods

Efforts to protect properties that would be affected by the controlled release and the potential spillover from the Portage Diversion are continuing and progressing well with the assistance of Canadian Forces soldiers and reservists.

Areas that have a significant risk of flooding from a possible uncontrolled break are identified on maps prepared by Manitoba Water Stewardship and can be found at gov.mb.ca

For more information about the 2011 Flood situation, and the provincial state of emergency, listeners are encouraged to visit www.manitoba.ca/flooding.


After filling our listeners in to the latest in flood news, we moved on to the lighter side of things as Natty brought us her weekly concert announcements. We'd like to point out that the Farewell to Freeway show that we had mentioned on this weeks episode actually falls on Sunday and not the Monday as we mistakenly announced on air. 

(For a full line up of events happening around town, please feel free to download this episode in iTunes).


We went back into the news room to discuss some local news happenings. Some of the stories we discussed this weeks seem to have revolved about transportation. . .

City of Winnipeg

Winnipeg commuters woke up to a surprise this week while crossing the Osborne Bridge which is currently under construction.

Some Winnipeg Cyclists were issued fines for $110.00 by members of the Winnipeg Police Service for riding their bikes across the sidewalk along Osborne Street North.

City of Winnipeg Website

Presently a pedestrian path runs underneath the bridges north side to connect to the legislature grounds or the Assiniboine Avenue Bikeway, but due to high water levels along the flooding Assiniboine River, that path has been made virtually inaccessible by pedestrians and cyclists leaving them to find their own alternatives.

Director Mike Cohoe of the non profit group "Bike to the Future" estimates about 1,500 cyclists travel through the bridge area on a daily basis.

He advises that the best way to not get ticketed is for cyclists is to walk their bikes across the bridge.

The non-profit group "Bike to the Future" is expecting to publicize alternative routes for cyclists during the construction period soon.

Winnipeg Police service have said that officers want to make sure roadways and paved sidewalks are safe during this time of year where there is an increase of pedestrians are out and about.
 

CAA Manitoba announced it's expanding it's services this week to help cover cyclists in the event that their bikes break down.

The CAA Program called Bike Assist will allow any CAA member to use any of their four annual roadside service calls for assistance in the event that their bikes break down. The program will allow members to be transported home, or be taken to a bike repair shop of their choice.

More information about this program is available on the CAA Manitoba website.


MPI Customers received good news this week as the crown insurance company announced that rebate cheques for the 2009-2010 Autopac season have been sent out by mail on Tuesday morning.

The Public Utilities Board earlier this year ordered Manitoba Public Insurance to rebate of 45 percent of their premiums to over 5,000 Autopac ratepayers.

The rebates are for basic Autopac on every vehicle that was registered during the 2009-2010 year.  Brian Smiley, MPI Spokesperson said the average rebate will be around $420.00.

He also noted that the smallest cheque was for $2.00 while the largest check issued totaled $1.7 million dollars for a fleet customer.

MPI Is advising those drivers who do not receive their cheques by June 7 to contact MPI's call centre at 985-7000.

Moving on in this weeks show, Natty and I re-introduced you to The Lonely Island's new track "Jack Sparrow" which features an appearance by the legendary Michael Bolton. The video was released as a SNL Digital Short last weekend.

We decided to play the new song with it's club worthy beats, and bizarre moments with Michael Bolton on this weeks show:






We also opened our listener lines by means of twitter and facebook to get your opinions on the song. 

And finally on this weeks show, we left with the news that NHL Fans in Winnipeg had been discussing since December of last year.

In what turned out to be a historic moment for sports fans in the City of Glendale, members of Council voted 5-2 in favor of keeping the Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale for a period of one year as they continue to support what Mayor Elaine Scruggs called "A city assist". 

Though the City (and presumably their tax payers) has already spent $25m dollars in management and resource fee's for last years NHL Season, last nights vote is a extension and guarantee that the Phoenix Coyotes will remain in Glendale for at least another year.

Unknown is what will happen to the purchase off that True North Sports and Entertainment had placed on the team in late 2010, or if there is any interest into putting their funding into another NHL Team.

Last nights news has some NHL Winnipeg fans upset, wondering what comes out of the wood works next.


Stay tuned to Wake Up Winnipeg as we continue to watch this story closely.

We will see you next week with another fun episode, but in the mean time, you can always visit us at http://wakeupwinnipeg.com for past episodes and interviews, and more.

Until then,

-Av

  

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 75

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 75

Hosted Live/Produced/Recorded by: Andru Valpy, Natty Somers

Air Date: 05/04/2011 6:00 PM on UMFM 101.5 FM
Podcast Download Location: iTunes.
Web: http://wakeupwinnipeg.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg 

Become a FaceBook Fan: http://facebook.com/wakeupwinnipeg
Rebroadcast: 5/11/2011 on CJUM 101.5 UMFM - 6:30 AM

After missing last weeks show due to special coverage of the 2011 Canadian Election Campaign, Natty and I returned to the studio to discuss world news matters.

We filled you in on local concert and event announcements including the recently announced Kings of Leon tour. We touched briefly on The royal wedding, a bizarre spring snow storm that touched down in Winnipeg, tornado's that devastated the southern United States and of course the results of the 2011 Canadian Federal Election. 

White House Handout

Also on this weeks episode We talked to our US foreign correspondent Wendy to get a first hand look at the US Reaction to the death of Al-Qaeda Terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. 

We reached her on Monday night, one day after the announcement of his death was made public.

During our interview, we asked Wendy what the overall feeling was in the United States:

"They are very very proud to be American tonight. We took down somebody that has the tract record that is the same as Hitler. 

Killing all these people, and killing his own people just to help him self and being responsible for killing 3,000 Americans. September 11th effected pretty much everybody in the United States and had everybody sitting in front of their TV's for a whole week.

To this day we still morn this loss, we still feel the after effects of it with security, with family, we still feel it so it's a good thing."

 

Ending off this weeks show, Natty introduced us to a Winnipeg musician by the name of Jamie Rumley and released the exclusive new track entitled Behind Closed Doors. 

We premiered it live for the first time on UMFM 101.5 as a world beat special premier.  

More information about Jamie may be found at http://jamierumley.com

We look forward to speaking with you next week on Episode 76 of Wake Up Winnipeg. 

  

(c) A. Valpy - http://wakeupwinnipeg.com

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 74

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 74

Hosted Live/Produced/Recorded by: Andru Valpy,

Air Date: 04/20/2011 6:00 PM on UMFM 101.5 FM
Podcast Download Location: iTunes.
Web: http://wakeupwinnipeg.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg 

Become a FaceBook Fan: http://facebook.com/wakeupwinnipeg
Rebroadcast: 4/27/2011 on CJUM 101.5 UMFM - 6:30 AM

Episode 74 was a special episode entitled The 4/20 Episode.

I started off the show by expressing my personal views on the cultural impact of 4/20 which is infamously known as a date to smoke cannabis.

Though I do not participate in these types of activities, or support the habit itself, I expressed that I understand how important this date is for our student population, and how I do appreciate it's place in culture, though the act remains illegal in most countries.

So, in a bold move to help others enjoy their day we put together this special episode.

I featured vocals and audio from the 1936 documentary "Reefer Madness", a anti drug campaign video that was made in the United States in an effort to stress the effects of smoking Marijuana.

Some feel the video goes to the extremes, and over-dramatizes the effects of smoking marijuana and see it more as a "comical" documentary rather than as it was it's originally intended to be seen as a "anti-cannabis" documentary.

We featured the following tracks:

1) Easy All Stars - Speak To Me (Breathe)
2) Andy Capp - Herbsman
3) Ken Boothe - I Shot The Sheriff
4) Joe White - Ganja
5) Easy All Stars - Great Dub In The Sky
6) Creedence Clearwater Revival - I Put A Spell On You (Live from Woodstock)
7) Peggy Lee - A Doodlin Song

Also on this weeks show, I informed our listeners that we will not air on Wednesday April 27th as UMFM 101.5 will be hosting a local political debate from. For more information, log on to http://umfm.com or tune in to UMFM Starting on Tuesday April 26th and again on Wednesday April 27th.

We will see you again on May the 4th at 6:00 PM. In the mean time, you can find this episode posted in iTunes by subscribing here.

Take care,

-Av


Disclaimer: The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed in this episode and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, positions or strategies of UMFM 101.5 FM, Wake Up Winnipeg, or any employee, volunteer or affiliate thereof.

  

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 73

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 73

Hosted Live/Produced/Recorded by: Andru Valpy, Natty Somers

Air Date: 04/13/2011 6:00 PM on UMFM 101.5 FM
Podcast Download Location: iTunes.
Web: http://wakeupwinnipeg.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg 

Become a FaceBook Fan: http://facebook.com/wakeupwinnipeg
Rebroadcast: 4/20/2011 on CJUM 101.5 UMFM - 6:30 AM

Episode 73, an episode that was quite comical in itself. Packed with zinggy one liners, lame cheesy jokes, and sarcasm galore.

We certainly had a action packed week at Wake Up Winnipeg, and this episode truly reflects that. On this weeks  episode, we started with our usual concert and event listings and educated our listeners on the difference between The Zoo and The West End Cultural Centre. . . only those that would have listened would have understood the joke in it's proper context. . .

After a few jokes and giggles, Natty and I talked about some of the shows we had recently seen including Natty's visit to the Winnipeg Comedy Festival.

We also talked about our weekend visit to see The Stereos at The Garrick Centre, in a show that almost didn't happen.

While most fans were lined up waiting to get in, we received information from promoter representatives who informed us that the show was canceled due to negotiation differences with James Lee Productions and Stereos.

This left Natty and I confused as we had only received this text 10 minutes before the scheduled door opening.

Though limited information was available at show time, we did learn that staff at The Garrick Centre had made arrangements with the bands involved to continue the performance, with the show running only 30 minutes behind production schedule.

We expect to follow up with The Garrick Centre and James Lee Productions at a later date as we continue to investigate the show that almost wasn't.

There were approximately 200 to 250 fans that had come to see the tween sensations The Stereos, with most of the fans recognizing them from Much Music and other mainstream media outlets.

At one point, Much Music VJ and Winnipeg native Phoebe Dykstra was even seen dancing amongst the crowd, and was even serenaded on stage by opening band Neverest, who seemed to get a very loud reception as they took their places on stage.

Fans were glad that The Stereos went on with their performance, and we're very pleased with their Winnipeg show.

"I thought they were pretty good considering I've only recently become a fan. Seeing them in person was better than hearing them on the stereo because we saw their true production talent" says Taylor Mellon who was in attendance at the show.

Though the band put on a great show, the over-usage of strobe lights had Natty and I leaving only after the first three songs.

It was difficult to watch the band straight on as the industrial sized strobe lights were situated facing the crowd.

To put it simply, it was near seizure-inducing.


Finally, on this weeks show we had a chance to discuss my thoughts on another performance that happened at The Garrick Centre on Friday night, and to help us in our discussion we went straight to the source.

On Friday April 8th, Juno Award nominated artist Classified took to the stage at The Garrick Centre for his seventh career stop in Winnipeg.

On this episode I had a chance to interview the hip-hop artist to discuss his new album, Handshakes and Middle Fingers and talk about his recent Winnipeg stop over.

Here's just some of the conversation:

WAKE UP WINNIPEG INTERVIEWS WITH CLASSIFIED:

Andru Valpy: When you launched Half Life Records, did you think that it would take you as far as you have come?

Classified: "For Me, it wasn't even about Half Life Records, I just started Half Life because I needed a record label to put out my own records because I didn't have anybody signing me or anything. So, it wasn't even so much about the label, it was more so about me trying to push my music as Classified and trying to get it out there. It was just like 'okay well, I have no label let me try to start my own by myself'.

Now, I'm trying to turn it into something where I am putting out other artists and putting out other quality music and kind of looking at that as the plan for the long run. It's great what we've done so far, but I think still as a label we still have a ways to go to be a real force.

Av: You started with your first full length back in 1995 right?

Classified: Yup.

Av: In 2010 you took all of us by surprise with "Oh...Canada", and I wanted to touch on that. There are definitely a lot of stereotypes in Oh...Canada that we all kind of joke about with each other, how did that song come to you?

Classified: I actually made the beat first. I just had a copy of someone singing the national anthem and I took the sample and put it over the drums. I was just sort of playing with it and making some beats, 'my God this is banging, I want to do something to it!'.

This is kind of right when we just started touring outside of Canada more, exploring the rest of the world and stuff, and you know, just kind of talking to people what they think of Canadian rappers...just in general, it wasn't like a big serious thing...you know just seeing where I'm from, and going to the rest of the world and it's like 'yo we do live in a great place, we are proud of where we come from for a reason.' It was kind of part of that as well, but to have more fun of it though.

Canadians are sarcastic, we like to make jokes and shit so I wanted to do it kind of more fun, not so serious, not like 'oh we're Canadian, we're the best, blah blah blah,' but kind of 'we're Canadian, we do some stupid shit, you're going to laugh at it' and we keep moving.

Av: When my American friends heard that song they were like 'Is This Guy Serious?' I was more like, 'nope, that's just how we do it!'

Classified: Straight up, it's not like it's a serious song!

Av: When you started hearing that song on heavy rotation, especially during the Vancouver Olympics, there must have been a sense of pride on your side eh?

Classified: Oh Yeah, Defiently! Even when I made it, when it was a done song, it was like 'yo this is cool man'. It's a cool different song because it sounds like it has it's own kind of style to it, but it represents Canada good.

Just even musically, it has a really epic kind of feel to it. So you know it just worked out great.

Av: What I noticed about your performance on Friday here, is that you bring in and you incorporate a lot of 'old skool' kind of beats. You have that tone of the old skool 90's hip hop, is that part of your influence?

Classified: That's all my influence. That's when I grew up on music when music was my everything. It was headphones, and hitch hiking just out partying doing everything and that was when I came up...in the 90's.

That's when I kind of started making my music, it was that kind of influence, so I think I'll always have that influence as kind of my foundation of my music and stuff.

At the shows, it's always good to throw on those old classic records for those people who haven't heard them for a while, and for some people who've never heard them before and open their minds to it.

Av: "Handshakes and Middle Fingers", you're new album, how long have you been working on that album?

Classified: The first song I did for it was "That Ain't Classy" and that was probably a year and a half ago now. I started working on that album when I was touring alot for for "Self Explanatory", so I was kind of going on the road, come home for a couple of days, work on the music for a bit.

But then back in September of last year, that's kind of when I stayed home for like five months straight and just said 'okay let me just stay at home and focus on finishing it'.

Av: It must feel good to get that out?

Classified: Ah yeah! It feels great to get it out, and just the reception that people are giving me, like, you get a lot of new fans that are hearing it, but just people who have always been listening to me for years and have always been giving me feedback, like real feedback, and they'll say 'oh this is your best your best work in a long time man' and it just feels really good to hear that.

Just for myself, for me to hear it top to bottom straight through, I'm just like 'yo this is crazy'. Music wise, I think it's crazy, just a lot of live instruments, not even on a hip hop level, but just music in general.

Lyrically, I like what I talked about, I liked the personality of it and 'the way it sounds, the way it sounds' at the end of the day that's what it's all about.

Av: Do you find it a challenge Classified? I mean, you're setting pretty high standards for yourself in all of your albums, and there is a noticable progression there. Is it a challenge for you as an artist to keep pulling?

Classified: Definetly! Defeinetly it is, I mean I work my ass off at this shit, it's not like I just go in and express myself and music, beautiful music comes out and it's easy...It's not!

I go in there and bang my head my head off the wall and make a beat, and work on the drums, and get some bass players over, and guitar players and I'll sit there and try different ideas for songs and different ways to rap, different flows. I really beat my head over for every song.

Sometimes, you get that lucky song where you go in and you just start it and you come out and it's done, but it doesn't happen often but..it keeps going and yeah, every album it does get harder because I want to top what I did last time. Hopefully, I'm just doing something new in life that gives me something new to write about and just try to do it.

For more of our interview with classified, tune into our podcast in iTunes or catch the repeat of this episode on CJUM 101.5 FM on Wednesday April 20th at 6:30 AM. You can also find my review of the show by clicking here.

With that, we leave you for this week but assure you that we'll be back next week for episode 74. Stay tuned to our blogs and websites for upcoming releases, and be sure to subscribe to our feeds for exclusive online content.

Until then.

-Av.

  

Review - CLASSIFIED - THE GARRICK CENTRE - Winnipeg MB. Canada - 4/08/2011

Review - CLASSIFIED - THE GARRICK CENTRE - Winnipeg MB. Canada - 4/08/2011
ByAndru Valpy - CJUM 101.5 FM

Was anybody listening to Classified on Friday night at The Garrick Centre?

The answer to that question, was yes. Hundreds of people filled the open floor at the once movie theater, and in a place that used to be filled with silence...the beats began to drop. Juno nominated artist Classified took to the stage shortly after 10:00 on Friday April 8th during his Hand Shakes and Middle Fingers Tour.

The lights dimmed, fog filled the stage and Montell Jordan's This is How we Do It started with fans clapping and welcoming the east coast rapper to "Peg City" for his seventh time.

With a coy smile and a t-shirt that said "Hip Hop Ain't Dead", Classified climbed the steps of the stage to prove his shirt right and take the fans to the skool of Classified.

With a puff of smoke, the show began.

The show started off with samplings of his new album Handshakes and Middle Fingers, including his recent single "That ain't classy" which seemed to be a favorite amongst fans.

Three or four songs into the show Classified greeted his fans and asked if they were listening which had the eager fans responding with cheers and yelp. As the screams filled the room, the opening fanfare for his single "Anybody listening" kicked in. The percussion and bass beats seemed to blend perfectly.

As the show progressed, Classified started digging into the vaults to bring back songs that were influential on him growing up as a kid, including a well mixed collaboration of 90's and early millennium hits. While hearing Classified rap along with artists like Dr. Dre, Outkast and Jay Z, fans started to appreciate where Classified's inspiration comes from.

In his lyrics, Fans have the chance to learn more about Classified and his upbringing in Nova Scotia and Canada. On stage, Classified not only shows his sense of patriotic pride, but also shares it with the fans who have helped support him along the way.

And though some may assume that the various awards and nominations Classified has received would make his ego larger than life, the rapper didn't seem to let it get to his head as he shared smiles, drinks, and even his stage with Winnipeggers who packed the house to see him.

In fact, at one point during the show Classified invited two Winnipeg ladies onto the stage to rap along with him. The two chosen fans were picked out of the crowd because they were seen rapping along to every song that Classified preformed. As they hopped on stage Classified took the time to thank them for being fans and treated them to an experience that they will surely remember for the rest of their life.

As the two and half hour show came to an end, Classified reminded his fans to be proud of where they were from, and with that ended with his single "Oh..Canada".  Seeing it preformed live certainly brought out the patriotism in the crowd, with fans singing and dancing along as they absorbed the popular singer.

Before he left the stage, Classified touched on a subject that all Winnipeggers are very familiar with, and as in his farewell promised that "Just like the Jets" he would be back soon.

-Av

(Be sure to tune into Episode 73 of Wake Up Winnipeg at 6:00 PM CST on UMFM 101.5 FM which airs Wednesday April 13th for our exclusive interview with Classified)

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 72

Wake Up Winnipeg - Episode 72

Hosted Live/Produced/Recorded by: Andru Valpy, Natty Somers

Air Date: 04/06/2011 6:00 PM on UMFM 101.5 FM
Podcast Download Location: iTunes.
Web: http://wakeupwinnipeg.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wakeupwinnipeg 

Become a FaceBook Fan: http://facebook.com/wakeupwinnipeg
Rebroadcast: 4/13/2011 on CJUM 101.5 UMFM - 6:30 AM
On this weeks episode we talk about the following:

1) Local Concert & Event Listings.
2) Local news headlines.
3) Manitoba Flood Outlook #1 of 2011.

2011 FLOOD BULLETIN #1

* Manitoba Water Stewardship reports the weekend precipitation experienced in the Manitoba portion of the Red River Valley will have little impact on median or average scenario outlined in the March flood outlook of a slightly higher than a 2009 magnitude flood.

* At this time, the American portion of the Red River basin is just above flood stage. The Manitoba portion of the Red River is up 0.6 to 0.9 metres (two to three feet) since yesterday but the Red River is still below flood stage at most locations. The Red River is at 4.3 m (14 ft.) at the downtown Winnipeg James Avenue gauge.

* Currently, the crest in Fargo is expected between April 14 and April 21, in Emerson, between April 29 and May 5. It takes approximately two weeks for the crest to travel from Fargo to Emerson and another five to seven days to reach Winnipeg from Emerson.

* Temperatures are expected to climb above normal in the next four to five days.

* The short-term impacts of the weekend precipitation included a minor ice jam south of the St. Andrews dam briefly causing minor over-bank flooding in the Captain Kennedy Road area.

* The Red River may begin to naturally flow into the floodway channel later this week. Floodway operations will depend on the breakup of river ice.

-30-

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We'll continue to provide updates as they become available.

In other news, we discussed the launch of a new newspaper entitled Metro News, which is a daily newspaper distributed around the city at no cost to it's readers.  The newspaper chain is nations #1 free daily news paper brands, and reaches out to youthful active metropolitans (or yams) through various means of social networking.

On this weeks episode, we also talked about Charlie Sheen's My Torpedo Of Truth / Defeat Is Not An Option world tour as it had just opened in Detroit Michigan a few days earlier.

We discussed fans reactions to the opening show in comparison to his show 24 hours later in Chicago Illinois in which serious set changes were made.

According to initial reports, sheen reportedly pocketed $300,000 for the first of his two shows. His first stop was in Detroit Michigan where fans were reported to boo sheen off stage, at times demanding a refund to which sheen replied by saying "It's too late dude, I already have your money".

By Sunday, Sheen had changed the format of his show to a question and answer period with a unrevealed voice asking questions to sheen, with sheen answering in true tiger blood fashion.

In total, sheen spent only one hour of time on stage on which had fans wondering why they spent between $75.00 to $519.00

Sheen's tour will stop over in Toronto at Massey Hall on Thursday April 14th 2011, and will hit Vancouver's rogers arena on May 2, 2011.

As part of our World Beat segment, we introduced you to a band out of Edinburgh Scotland called Shooglenifty who are a six-piece Celtic fusion band. Natty recalled her visits with them at earlier Winnipeg Folk Festivals where she had a chance to hear them live.

We played a track entitled The Arms Dealer's Daughter off the album of the same name.

To appreciate this episode in full, be sure to download and listen to it in the iTunes music store for free.
 
 Just search "Wake Up Winnipeg" in your iTunes music store, or click here to download it. 




We always welcome your suggestions and feedback to our show, and encourage fans to reach out to us. If you have a song that you'd like to request for our world beat segment, or a person of interest that you'd like to nominate for the people of your neighborhood segment, please feel free to reach out to us at info(at)wakeupwinnipeg(dot)com.

Tune in next week when we will interview Classified, and offer our thoughts on his upcoming Winnipeg stopover. 


Until then,

(c) 2011 - A. Valpy