How Saya Gray turned voice notes into critical acclaim
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CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Southern Alberta's lesser-known music history saved by Calgary Cassette Preservation Society
Arif Ansari and Arielle McCuaig look at some of the 500 albums that will soon be added to the Calgary Cassette Preservation Society's online archives. Arif Ansari has been part of Calgary's music scene for decades and in 2006 saw a need to archive some of southern Alberta's lesser-known bands. Soon after, the Calgary Cassette Preservation Society was born. He began with cassette tapes from the 1980s and '90s in his own collection and says the medium was a popular way for local musicians to get their music out to listeners. 'Because of the nature of the format, it's one which degrades,' said Ansari. 'It's one which is kind of disposable, and so the reason why preservation of those became important was because a lot of those tapes were just lost; people, especially friends who had through moves or because they played the tapes to death just didn't have them anymore, and so that's really what this project is recovering.' Friends and music lovers have shared their cassette collections from the '80s and more recent recordings with him to add to the archives. Over the years, he's also gathered records and CDs to include. So far, Ansari has uploaded more than 2,600 cassette recordings into the online archive. 'I'm up to date with cassettes, but the LPs are a bit more work because there's a lot more manual intervention with those things,' he said. 'There's about another, I'm going to say, 500 LPs and about 800 CDs that are waiting to be added to the archive and a thousand gig posters as well.' It's a big task, but it's something Ansari is passionate about. 'I enjoy this so much,' he said. 'It's a way of getting obsessive about something, which is always fun, to get obsessive about something, but it's also a way of giving back to the community and creating something which I think is really important for the people that played in the bands, the families of the people that played in the bands and people who are just really curious and were fans of those bands.' Arielle McCuaig shares that music passion with Ansari. She's on the board of directors for the society and enjoys exploring its website. 'All this music is available for you to listen to for free,' she said. 'You can follow the links to find out what these other artists did and what other bands they were in and what kind of scene they're a part of; it's all very cool for any sort of music (lover) like myself.' McCuaig says without the society and dedicated work by Ansari, much of this music would be lost forever. 'I think it's important in a place like Calgary, where the arts and culture is not super supported and it's never been a hub for arts and music within Canada,' she said. 'A lot of our bands are never going to make it to the next level and big notoriety, big fame or anything, so it's important that we document stuff that is happening so we can keep encouraging people even if they're not making it to the next level. There's amazing stuff happening, and there always has been, and no one's going to care to document it except for the people that care about Calgary.' 'If I hadn't started this project, there are a bunch of tapes that I think would be completely lost to time,' said Ansari. 'There are tapes which I have one of just a handful of copies that are left, and so they would be sitting maybe on someone's shelf, and I don't think the people that have it on the shelf would have the time, energy or resources to put it up on the internet.' You can learn more about the society at
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Quebec man who pulled off AI band hoax reveals his identity
The Quebec man who pranked journalists and music fans by saying he was behind a wildly successful AI band has revealed his identity as web platform safety and policy issues expert Tim Boucher. Speaking on video from his workspace in a rural area outside Quebec City, Boucher told CBC News Wednesday that the reality-blurring prank was partly motivated by revenge for the five years he worked as a content moderator. "When you're the one that has to deal with all the fighting and the fakery and just all of the garbage that humans can come up with, it changes how you look at the world," he said. Last month, Boucher claimed he created the Velvet Sundown, a '70s-inspired "band" that had about 300,000 monthly listeners at the time and was drawing attention for appearing to use AI. He set up an X account purporting to represent the band and fielded media requests. Using the pseudonym Andrew Frelon — frelon being the French word for hornet — he first said the band was made up of real humans, then "admitted" it was AI, then said he had nothing to do with it at all. The Velvet Sundown now has nearly 1.5 million monthly listeners and its creator remains a mystery. "I want to be able to show people a bit of what that's like — this feeling of having to determine what's real, and having to determine is this right or is this wrong, or having to make all these really weird decisions that for some reason are your problem, or your responsibility," Boucher told CBC News. Boucher has previously been in the news for publishing novels using AI and proposing an AI bill of rights. He also has a history of public pranks, having helped create a fake company and a fake art movement. He insisted on using a pseudonym when he spoke to CBC News three weeks ago, in part because he says he was bombarded with messages from people telling him to kill himself over the Velvet Sundown experiment. He says those messages have tapered off significantly. He says he also hopes to deepen the "convoluted" conversation that has come out of his experiment. "I realized that there's a limit of the depth that we can go to if I'm not willing to expose myself, too, and to be vulnerable," he said. The truth is out there The experiment has sparked conversations about the impact of AI and artificial streaming on music platforms, while spawning a miniature industry around the mysterious band. Countless AI artists with identical or similar names to the Velvet Sundown have popped up on Spotify. On YouTube, people have made videos using band's songs, dissecting the controversy, creating similar AI bands and, in one case, making an eerily realistic fake documentary. At times, it's difficult to parse who is involved with the original Velvet Sundown, who is trying to capitalize on its success and who is simply toying with the absurdity of it all. The Velvet Sundown's official social media accounts have remained quiet, and have not responded to CBC News's requests for comment. Two men behind one of whom says he's Canadian and lives part-time in Vancouver, told CBC News they are part of a network of people behind the Velvet Sundown, but declined to answer specific questions about the operation. The site is selling Velvet Sundown-branded merchandise but is not linked to the band's official Spotify or social media accounts. Meanwhile Vinyl Group, which owns Rolling Stone Australia and other music outlets, bought as a condemnation of AI trickery, with an expressed goal to "expose the fakes." Rolling Stone Australia editor in chief Neil Griffiths told CBC News he's found the Velvet Sundown experiment both "fascinating" and "terrifying" and says the new website will be a hub for conversations and investigations about AI and art. Spotify has not responded to CBC News's requests for comment. Boucher wants people to be vigilant Boucher's X account, which he initially claimed was run by the band, turned to absurd farewell messages mid week, including AI-generated images of the band members walking into Narnia, being abducted by a UFO and going to heaven. He also posted a collection of public domain Velvet Sundown T-shirt designs, playing on one of the biggest questions raised by the spectacle: who has the rights to a band that no one will claim ownership of? Many have suspected he's behind the band after all, a theory Boucher played into with a satirical blog post before going public with his real name in a lengthy blog post entitled The True Confessions of Andrew Frelon. He maintains he has nothing to do with the Velvet Sundown and has been working to crack the case himself. In the meantime, Boucher says he hopes the experiment encourages people to be more vigilant about verifying things they see — and people they encounter — online. "I want people to be encouraged and to learn on their own, to share and to have those conversations," he said. "In a way, it's too bad that sometimes the best way to make those conversations is to trick people in the wild. But I think if you can do that, and then you can expose the trick, there can be a lot of value in that."
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Hulk Hogan's greatest moments in professional wrestling ‘run wild on you'
in this April 3, 2005, file photo, Hulk Hogan fires up the crowd between matches during WrestleMania 21 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File) Hulk Hogan's back had weakened, a failed early attempt at slamming all 525 pounds of Andre the Giant left the 'Immortal One' unsteady as the World Wrestling Federation champion once more needed to rally to beat another of wrestling's baddest bad guys. Andre wrapped his tree-trunk arms around the champ and tried to wring the final breaths out of Hogan with a bear hug so tight that more than 90,000 fans in Detroit almost witnessed the final day of Hulkamania. But, wait! This was Hulk Hogan. Wrestling's biggest star had more late comebacks than fellow 1980s sports stars John Elway or Michael Jordan combined. Hogan had some gas left in the tank, some extra bite in those 24-inch pythons, and hammered away at Andre. One right hand, then another one, and another! Wrestling fans roared as they knew the bad news that was coming for Andre. Hogan fought back — much as he did against those 1980s baddies out of the Cold War or Iran — and finally body-slammed Andre the Giant. Hogan hit the hopes and delivered his famous leg drop on Andre's chest to get the three count. Hulk Hogan won again at WrestleMania. He always won, of course. It's what the story called for and there was no reason for WWF owner and pro wrestler puppeteer Vince McMahon to ever deviate from the plan of Hulkamania running wild. Why would he? Hogan had the hulking size, the charisma and catchphrases — 'What'cha gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild on you?' — that led the industry out of gyms and regional arenas and into NFL stadiums, like that 1987 night when Hogan beat Andre at the Pontiac Silverdome in WrestleMania III. 'There he is,' announcer Gorilla Monsoon said, as Hogan played to the crowd, 'the greatest professional athlete in the world today.' Whether you break out an eye roll or crank up Hogan's ' Real American ' anthem to that statement depends, of course, on one's ability to suspend disbelief. There is no denying, though, just how real Hogan's impact was on professional wrestling and pop culture in the 1980s. He stood toe-to-toe with Rocky Balboa. He fought side-by-side with Mr. T. He hosted 'Saturday Night Live' and flexed on the cover of Sports Illustrated. 'He did what he set out to do,' WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter said Friday by phone. 'He became the most recognized, not only professional wrestler and sports entertainer in the world, he's probably top-five of anybody you'd recognize when you saw him.' WWE has long claimed the paid attendance of WrestleMania III was 93,173, a number some historians claim is as artificially inflated as the chemically-enhanced biceps of that era. What can't be disputed, when the two had their match in 1988, live on national television, more than 33 million fans tuned in to NBC, still far and away the record for largest viewing audience in American televised wrestling. Making money and moving merch. That was the real power of Hulkamania. Hogan, who died Thursday in Florida at age 71, left behind more than three decades of memorable matches that captured the spirit of those little Hulkamaniacs to the ones that loved to hate him in the 1990s as 'Hollywood' Hulk Hogan in the New World Order. Here are some of his best moments. He beat the Sheik Hogan wasn't some upstart when he returned to the WWF (now WWE) in late 1983. He tested the waters of Hulkamania in the old American Wrestling Association and made his famous appearance as Thunderlips in 'Rocky III,' when was beckoned back to WWE and became an instant contender to face the champion, the hated Iron Sheik. Hogan broke out of the dreaded camel clutch and pinned the Sheik to become the new champion on Jan. 23, 1984, at Madison Square Garden — the building paid tribute to Hogan on Thursday night — and set the course for Hulkamania. He was champion for 1,474 days before losing to Andre in 1988. Slamming Andre Back before the internet spilled behind-the-scenes secrets, and there was easy access to watch wrestling around the globe, WWE created its own version of wrestling history. If the company said Andre the Giant had never been slammed, and had never been pinned over a 15-year undefeated streak, then it was believed to be true (neither were, of course). Yet, the faux hype set the stage for the match that changed wrestling forever. 'Andre the Giant was a momentum-shifting moment where he passed his torch,' Hogan said in a 2009 interview with the AP. 'He was like the icing on the cake. Once he blessed me, it was up to me to mould that business and carry it through.' You can call this the New World Order of wrestling, brother By 1996, Hogan's good-guy, beats-the-odds character had grown stale as he made the shift from WWE to Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling. Hogan even started to get booed as wrestling fans clamored for a new direction, a new star on top. They got one. 'Hollywood' Hulk Hogan. For weeks, two former WWE stars had 'invaded' WCW and claimed they were taking over the company. That led to a six-man tag-team match where the two outsiders, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, promised a third man to help with their cause. No one showed to help the two until the end, when Hogan walked out in his red-and-yellow attire, and stunned the crowd when he put the leg drop on Randy Savage. Hogan was third man. He ditched his traditional colours for black-and-white, sunglasses, dark facial hair and embraced the 'Hollywood' heel persona. Much as he did a decade earlier, Hogan led WCW to new heights and the company would defeat WWE in the TV ratings for 83 straight weeks in what would be known as the 'Monday Night Wars.' Hogan lost as much as he won without his Hulkamania powers. He still moved the needle where it mattered most and made WCW must-see TV every Monday night. It's icon vs. icon against The Rock With WCW out of business and bought by McMahon, Hogan kept a low profile until he made a comeback with WWE in 2002. He returned with Hall and Nash as the NWO but at this point, WWE fans wanted their old Hulkster back. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson was WWE's baby-faced crowd favorite when he met the villainous Hogan at WrestleMania in an 'Icon vs. Icon' match in WrestleMania in 2002. One problem, the Toronto crowd decided to back Hogan. 'When we hit the ring, 70,000 loyal people didn't want to hate Hulk Hogan,' Hogan said in 2009. 'Everybody kind of started to panic and I just said, 'Brother, stick with me and I'll get you through this.'' After the match, the cheers for Hogan called for a last-second change of plans, with his former NWO allies running down to attack him. The Rock helped Hogan fight off the NWO and the two men posed together to riotous cheers. 'As I raised his hand and said he's the greatest wrestler in the world, they had to turn me back red and yellow immediately,' Hogan said. 'It's kind of interesting, that was going to be the nail in my coffin. It turned out to be the fountain of youth for me.' ___ Dan Gelston, The Associated Press
