Brad Paisley bringing the hits and charm to Rogers Place Nov. 7
Country music superstar Brad Paisley is driving his hit machine up to Edmonton on Nov. 7 on his Truck Still Works World Tour.
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A thinking-person's hitmaker, some of the West Virginia-born singer-songwriter guitarist's 50-plus Billboard charters and No. 1 singles include She's Everything, Mud on the Tires, Whiskey Lullaby with Alison Krauss, Then and When I Get Where I'm going with Dolly Parton, which kicked off an impressive string of 10 peak chart-toppers.
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'No one can make the album they made 10 years ago with a straight face,' Paisley has said. 'There are two reasons: one is you change as a person. To be a true artist, I have to be true to who I am now and write that way. And the second thing is these are different times.'
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Besides the music, Paisley has written books about fishing and the ins and outs of his career, and has done voice work on King of the Hill and South Park.
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On the advocacy side, he promoted the COVID vaccines with Jill Biden, doing a cover of Jolene with the word 'vaccine' subbed into the chorus, and has been critical of the pharmaceutical industry for its role in the opioid crisis with his song The Medicine Will. He and his wife also founded The Store, helping low-income families around Nashville.
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General tickets for his nine Canadian dates including a Nov. 8 show in Lethbridge the day after the Friday-night Rogers Place gig go on sale 10 a.m. June 20 at bradpaisley.com.
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Winnipeg Free Press
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Toronto gives The Weeknd key to the city ahead of a four-concert run at Rogers Centre
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Toronto Sun
2 days ago
- Toronto Sun
Chuck Mangione, dead at 84, was no hack with a horn
Published Jul 26, 2025 • 4 minute read Chuck Mangione performs at the "A Time To Care Gala" on May 13, 2004 at the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills, California. The gala is to benefit the ALS research. (Photo by) 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 A healthy segment of Americans knew Chuck Mangione as an object of kitsch. The shoulder-length hair and beard, the colorfully banded fedora, the warm, glossy sound of his flügelhorn (all of which he happily sent up in his self-portrayals on the animated sitcom 'King of the Hill'): Mangione represented not just a weird limbo between hipness and squareness, but an outdated one. Yet if Mangione, who died Tuesday at 84, was game to make fun of himself in that way, it was because he'd already achieved what any artist strives for: He'd made his work an indispensable part of our world. Specifically, his hit 'Feels So Good,' an instrumental pop-jazz crossover that reached No. 4 on the Billboard charts during the summer of 1978, has unexpectedly had as much staying power as 'Stayin' Alive,' 'I Will Survive' or any other anthemic tune from that era. So much so, in fact, that we didn't always notice it. 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. The melodic, ever-so-gently funky record is played in restaurants and grocery stores, in hotel lobbies and elevators. It has powered more TV and radio commercials than anyone could count. Those of us who aren't pop-music nerds, or just not old enough to remember when it reigned supreme on Top 40 radio, know 'Feels So Good's' barrage of hooks by heart without even realizing the song has a name. Those are the qualities that make it easy to mock, of course. It's catchy but toothless, inoffensively pleasant, so of course it's ubiquitous. That was part of the 'King of the Hill' bit. Mangione was a celebrity pitchman (for Mega Lo Mart, the big-box store of the show's universe) who, no matter what he played on his horn, always segued into 'Feels So Good.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Through no fault of its own, the record became a cornerstone of smooth jazz, that intersection of jazz, rock, soul and easy listening that conquered the realm of background music in the 1980s and 1990s. The genre is much despised. 'Feels So Good,' by association more than any actual element of the song, has thus taken its lumps. It wasn't because he couldn't play anything edgier. The Rochester, New York, native was a graduate, and later a faculty member, of that city's Eastman School of Music. He also did time in the mid-1960s as the trumpeter in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, the most prestigious finishing school in postwar jazz. Before earning those two distinctions, he and his brother Gap, a pianist, had some early-1960s success leading the hard-swinging Mangione Brothers sextet, recording an album before he was 20 years old (with two more to follow). Dizzy Gillespie was both a fan of and mentor to the trumpeter. They remained close until Gillespie's death in 1993. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Chuck Mangione was no hack with a horn. But he came to jazz when it had split into two poles: a populist one, which was trending ever lighter to suit mainstream tastes, and an arty one, which was increasingly inaccessible. Mangione wanted to reach the people. He saw nothing wrong with that. But he wasn't interested in success for its own sake: 'I didn't want to record something I didn't like, because if it became a hit I wouldn't be happy playing it,' he told JazzTimes magazine. It's a sentiment that was also expressed by the likes of Paul McCartney – who, as a solo artist, had been on the receiving end of the same kind of kitsch accusations as Mangione. But it's also resulted in the horn player getting the same kind of world-class work: In 1980, for example, Mangione was invited to compose a theme song for that year's Winter Olympics. He played the resulting tune, 'Give It All You Got,' live at the Closing Ceremonies in Lake Placid, New York, for a worldwide television audience. (It was another Billboard Top 20 hit, too.) This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Talk about reaching the people. The comparison with McCartney is apt in another sense. Say what you will about 'Feels So Good' and its particular kind of ubiquity; it means that Mangione achieved, without exaggeration, Beatle-level cultural saturation. More people know his music than know him. He reached this point without, in his own words, having to resort to music he didn't want to play. In the wake of Mangione's passing, there will be plenty of people who are ready to pile on and crack jokes about the kitschy side of his legacy. The joke will be on them. Mangione was perfectly content with that aspect of himself. Meanwhile, he infiltrated our environment and our lives in a way that many of his critics can only dream of. 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. 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CBC
2 days ago
- CBC
Trump vs. TV: A play-by-play of a wild week taking on the U.S. president's naysayers
Social Sharing First he came for late-night TV, then a daytime talk show and a crude cartoon. U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration are fighting battles on all fronts when it comes to mockery and criticism of the 47th commander-in-chief. As speculation swirls that CBS might have turfed The Late Show with Stephen Colbert because of his recent criticism of parent company Paramount Global agreeing to a $16-million US settlement with the president over a 60 Minutes interview, the White House has also come out swinging this week against the animated series South Park and ABC's The View. South Park 's 27th season premiere episode, which aired on Wednesday, lampooned the president and the CBS-Colbert drama and depicted a naked Trump climbing into bed with Satan. That same day, a co-host of The View accused Trump of being "jealous" of former president Barack Obama's looks and marriage. Even though he's known for mocking a range of people he doesn't like, Trump's image, persona and brand are what made him a household name, and he doesn't take it well when he senses attacks on any of them. While he would largely take out his anger in a Twitter tirade during his first administration (what X was known as back then), there are concerns that Trump is using his power in his second term to influence corporate decision-making and settle grievances — especially when it comes to the news and entertainment industry. But freedom of expression groups say the political satire and parody that are now under fire are art forms that are not only constitutionally protected but vital to public discourse. "We have mocked presidents and leaders in this country since before this was a country," Will Creeley, legal director of the Philadelphia-based advocacy group Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression (FIRE), told CBC News. 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Creeley said no matter the reason for The Late Show 's cancellation, both the timing of it and Trump's "glee" contribute to what he sees as a "deeply depressing chill" setting in when it comes to satirizing and criticizing the president and his administration. "This is ugly, strongman authoritarian territory we're entering, and it should chill all Americans, regardless of your partisan commitments," he said, comparing Trump to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been accused by such groups as Human Rights Watch of limiting press freedom and freedom of expression. Creeley pointed to another White House clapback this week as further indication of how the political climate has changed. Spokesperson Taylor Rogers lambasted Wednesday's episode of South Park, which coincidentally airs on Paramount-owned Comedy Central, saying the show "hasn't been relevant for over 20 years" and that no "fourth-rate show can derail President Trump's hot streak." Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone brushed off the rebuke while speaking at Comic-Con in San Diego on Thursday, but Creeley said the mere fact that this episode has gotten so much attention speaks to the current state of affairs. "It used to be that South Park making fun of people wasn't front-page news, but it shows you how far we've slipped, that all of a sudden it feels like this extremely important, extremely righteous act," he said. WATCH | Trump in bed with the devil in South Park premiere (contains profanity, cartoon nudity): The View in Trump's sights But it's not just comedy shows that are in the Trump administration's sights — it's criticism in any form. Joy Behar, a longtime co-host of ABC's top-rated daytime talk show The View, appeared to hit enough of a nerve that both the White House press office and the head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reacted. Responding to Trump calling for an investigation into former president Barack Obama over unsubstantiated allegations that he tried to "lead a coup," Behar, a former standup comedian, called out Trump for his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2020, riots at the U.S. Capitol and said that the sitting president was jealous of his predecessor. "The thing about him is he's so jealous of Obama, because Obama is everything that he is not: trim, smart, handsome, happily married ... and Trump cannot stand it. It's driving him crazy," she said. White House spokesperson Rogers called her "an irrelevant loser suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome" and warned in a statement to media outlets that The View could be "next to be off the air." FCC chair Brendan Carr, in a later interview with Fox News, also said The View may face "consequences" but didn't elaborate. Tough to snuff out satire Attempting to silence political satire, parody and criticism isn't a winning strategy, said Sophia McClennen, a professor of international affairs at Pennsylvania State University and author of the book Trump Was a Joke: How Satire Made Sense of a President Who Didn't. Speaking with CBC Vancouver's On The Coast on Thursday, she said satire helps people develop their resilience to consume news and information that is interspersed with "lies, misinformation and B.S." "Having that sort of more playful source of information is really the heart of what makes satire such a really powerful remedy," she told guest host Amy Bell. But McClennen said that's also why "satirists are some of the most attacked entertainers in the world." Still, she said, it's important to remember that satire "doesn't die" when people in power try to muzzle them. Instead, it continues to evolve and show up in other forms. Another example of limiting free expression Trump butted heads with network television stars and comedians during his first administration, but Creeley, of the group FIRE, said the president now appears to have more of a "willingness to use extra legal means or abuse the power of the federal government to intimidate critics." He said what has happened in recent days is part and parcel of Trump cracking down on freedom of expression in other venues, which includes cutting funding for public media, threatening companies over diversity, equity and inclusion policies and putting legal and financial pressure on Ivy League universities. Creeley said the "hypocrisy" of Trump and his Republican Party is "staggering," having once sold themselves as champions of free speech, in the face of Democrats and left-wing groups and institutions, but are now the ones trying to put limits on political discourse.
