Browsing Tag

VIA Rail

24 Hours, 3 Bands, 2 Cities

Molson Amphitheatre hosted an amazing concert with the Goo Goo Dolls and Matchbox Twenty on Thursday night. The Goo Goo Dolls were up first and played many of their big hits, including Slide and Black Balloon, but the crowd didn’t stand up until they started singing Iris.

Goo Goo Dolls

Although it was disappointing that the two bands were never on stage together, they were both incredible. The Goo Goo Dolls’s music is more rock-heavy, whereas Matchbox Twenty’s set list was more mellow. Going to the nearly sold out concert was the perfect way to satisfy my nostalgia for the 90s and the crowd of 15,000 fans seemed to agree.

Matchbox Twenty

Typically that would’ve been enough live music to keep me happy for a few months, but then I went to another concert Friday night in Montreal. Just in time for Canada Day, Feist opened the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

TD was a prominent sponsor, which made sense considering their large presence seen at the Molson Amphitheatre on Thursday night, where they gave out neon green wristbands printed with a #TDmusic hashtag.

Feist took the stage a few hours after my VIA Rail train arrived, so it was very good timing. (Have I mentioned that taking the train is the best way to travel?) I’m not a huge Feist fan, but I’m always down for a good free concert, not to mention the opportunity to support Canadian musicians.

June 29, 2013 by Sarah Prince

Google+ and Topshop Present… The Future of the Fashion Show

It’s reading week for Ontario’s university students. While I took the VIA Rail from Canada’s London to Toronto, hundreds of designers, editors and buyers travelled overseas for London Fashion Week.

Watch this video to see how Topshop employed Google+ features to produce an innovative fashion show:

[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TAF9OfL99g’]

Anyone need a shopping buddy?

Full article about the campaign available via Fast Company.

February 18, 2013 by Sarah Prince

Western Fair at Heart of Forest City

With O-Week festivities over, I eagerly wanted to find something fun to do with my long weekend (thanks to Fridays off all school year long). The Arkells’ free show on Thursday night at Western Fair inspired me to take the roommate and leave the bubble bordered by Masonville to the north and the VIA Rail station to the south.

I have yet to try Elephant Ears or a Colossal Onion, but exploring the fair grounds and midway made for a great evening, especially because I didn’t make it to The Ex this summer. Ferris wheel: awesome. Mini roller coaster: awesome. Fun at Western Fair: priceless.

September 14, 2012 by Sarah Prince

Some Kind of Wonderful Summer

My Facebook album featuring summer 2012 highlights is called Paradise, after the hit song by Coldplay, which captures my sentiment this summer. Here’s why:

Walt Disney once said, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” Going backstage at a concert has been a dream ever since meeting a Marianas Trench band member working the merchandise table at their 2009 Western O-Week show.

Ian Casselman, Marianas Trench (September 2009)

Saturday afternoon, I managed to meet Jesse Labelle, a 2012 headliner at the same show. Leaving that tent afterwards broke my heart, but at least I also got to meet my mitZine editor IRL for the first time!

September 9, 2012 by Sarah Prince

Less Than Impressed: Award Shows

Sometime after the People’s Choice broadcast and my simultaneous live tweeting session ended, I realized watching the awards show was a waste of time. I hadn’t voted in any of the categories this year. In fact, I waited until the day of to even look at the nominees list. All I knew was that this was going to be a buzz worthy televised event, so I had better watch to stay in the know.

After the credits rolled, however, my response could be summarized as indifference.

There’s usually one winner at each award show, typically a young Hollywood star, who mentions how they’d watched the show growing up and could then only dream about attending, let alone winning and now voila, here they are; it’s so incredible, they boast. I’ve let my dreams of becoming famous on the silver screen subside, with little to no expectations of ever performing or working in a role constituting its own category amongst the likes of Best Performing Actress. Entertainment PR professionals are recognized at less glamorous events, with ironically less publicity.

If it weren’t for the social component of watching the Golden Globes with a group of film-obsessed writers and fans, I wouldn’t have been much more entertained than I was the Wednesday night prior.

January 30, 2012 by Sarah Prince