Some people think awards shows are stupid. Until SOMEBODY THEY KNOW wins one!

Well the pressure is off this year.  My Jethro did not get a nomination.  I guess after four years in a row it's time to give somebody else a shot.  You know, kind of share the love around, eh?

For the 40th anniversary of these awards, the show is back in Toronto.  I think sending it around Canada for the last ten years has been awesome.  We got the opportunity to see places in this country that we normally wouldn't get to.  I mean, it's a lot of land.  And it's all really far apart.

Generally, I've enjoyed each city.  The Canadian culture is just slightly different in each place.  I started thinking maybe it's not that I totally hate cities.  Maybe it's Toronto I don't like...

But it is the first location of the Juno Awards.

It's a friggin' party. The televised awards are a big fat concert.  You know what we do well up here in the Great White North?  WE RAWK.  I've been in the audience for a couple of Nickelback appearances and I'm not kidding when I tell you THEY MELTED MY FACE.  We were four seats up from the floor and maybe 20 seats from the stage.  When the pyro went off we felt the heat!!!!

Anyways.  No nomination this year = no free tickets to the events.

However.  Being in Toronto, less than a two hour drive away, there is no need for an expensive plane ride.

Also, less Ativan/ lorazepam for me!!!!

You might be wondering why we're going if he's not nominated.  Well folks, here's the weird thing about the music biz.  We have to show up.  He has to make an appearance.  He has to catch up with other people in the biz that he might only get to see once a year - at the Junos.  Sometimes I look around the room and think "holy crap, if everybody's here, who's taking care of all the recording studios??!"  Performers have to travel to do their job, but for the rest of the industry who lock themselves up in windowless rooms, it's a big deal to get busted out once a year.

So we bought the tickets (and we both cringed at the price - at least they feed us well at the Saturday night Awards Gala dinner) and decided that this is the year TO BRING THE KIDS.

You know what?  They really haven't benefitted much from being a music biz family.  The biggest perk has been hearing some really great music their dad's worked on.  And bragging rights.  I guess that counts.  But they have had to put up with their dad being gone way too much, and on top of that, doing without a lot of luxuries in life.  They've been fed and shod and sheltered.  At least.  They deserve to have some fun with this incredibly difficult, poorly paying and overly demanding biz.

When else would we get a chance to take the kids?  We're spending the weekend in the big city, possibly taking elevators with The Famous, eating granola bars for breakfast (after some heavy duty sleeping in), them sleeping through their parents stumbling in at 3 am after a vigorous shmooze fest at some record label party.  We'll get to have showers, rather than baths in the old claw foot tub.  The younguns will be amazed by all the channels on the TV.  They'll see what goes on in the stadium while those watching at home see commercials!

It's going to be awesome.

(You can watch the show on Sunday if you can get CTV)

(and yes I will be posting pictures here of what we're wearing!!)

(Maybe even a report on which of The Famous we bump into!)