TO GIVE OR NOT TO GIVE?

FRIDAE MATTAS

ROCKING THE ROOF OFF OF THE OPERA HOUSE
TORONTO SATURDAY MAY 12 2007

By: Fridae Mattas

The Siren Sounds benefit concert was put together to raise money for The Interval House, Toronto’s first safe haven for battered Woman and their Children. An important event to take part in because the charity is a very significant organization that is close to my heart. Many abused women suffer from “Battered Woman Syndrome” where the victim believes it is her fault and is afraid to leave her abuser. It is very important for people to donate to such causes because without the publics help, these women will have no place to turn.

A few interviews and then I decided to observe and help with a few things. After helping with the merchandise table, I offered to help with selling raffle tickets. In the draw people had a chance to win, a variety of prizes all wrapped up nicely in a basket. The prizes in total were worth over a thousand dollars and all proceeds went directly to The Interval house. As I became part of the “Raffle Angels” I noticed how cheap people really were. You are at a charity event, HELLO! You have to donate something, selfish people. The person to whom I sold the most tickets to was local Toronto TV/Radio Personality George Stroumboulopoulos. (CBC’s - The Hour) This dude has the Greekest last name I have ever come across my entire life, thank GOD my family name is a nice, short, pronounceable Greek last name.

Fridae’s Quick FACT: ‘Strombo also took the same program at the same college as me and my girl Francesca “Fritaly” who is one of the amazing women that put together Saturday night’s Benefit.’

The only malfunction in the running of the event was the fact that Fefe Dobson was late for her sound check, backing everything up. Originally, she requested an hour and a half but because of her lack of punctuality, she quickly turned it into TWO and a half hours. I was tentatively slated to interview Dobson but when she wandered outside two hours after her sound check, I decided the interview is never going to happen, I refuse! Fefe was in a bathrobe and jeans, hair all askew not very personable and only talking to her entourage. She was going on about how she needed to walk somewhere and reduce some stress “What stress?” Clearly, this girl was on something and it definitely showed in her performance later on that night, very sad I must say. MTV Canada’s Nicole Holness and Diane Salema hosted the event and did an alright job, they tried to hype the crowd, I felt sorry for them because the crowd was very tough, not very friendly or energetic. There were a few great people lingering that night, those who understood the concept of a charity benefit.

SARAH-JEAN VILLA

Never is there an event without someone trying to pick a fight with me and this time around it was not someone at the show but someone spun out, outside. Me being me always saying what is on my mind without a care as to what trouble my words may bring. I can handle it either way. We went outside for a smoke and this Hobo crack woman asks everyone for money. Every person one by one was replying with the usual line when it comes to bums. “No sorry, no change.” All of a sudden, the crack head starts yelling, “I need to get home! I need money for the bus!” Of course, I turn around and say, “Maybe you shouldn’t have spent all your money on that rock.” That set the crack head off! She was yelling all over the place so loud, threatening my life and all that jazz, to me that was nothing new. According to one of the Raffle Angel’s she almost walked right into a pole as she was hollering. If only she walked into that pole, it would have been so funny. That crack twig would have been snapped in half if she tired anything she was so skinny, think Nicole Ritchie, Kate Bosworth skinny. Maybe the crackhead hobo was looking for Fefe.

DAME

The first to hit the stage that night was, DAME a trio of young teen girls from Brampton, Ontario. The lead singer I say looks the youngest, not a day past twelve. As they performed, you could tell they were still very green at their stage performance. The girls seemed as if they were trying so hard to remember the chords forgetting that an audience was there. The music is okay, nothing special yet. In time with some coaching and guidance, eventually they might get it. The next performer was solo artist Melissa Bathory, well what can I say about her without being rude? She was a nice girl although a snoozer on stage but hey if Nelly Furtado can make it so can she. That goes for Zoë Bentley as well, she was also a napper, but she did have a much better sounding voice. There was more soul and wisdom coming from Zoë than Melissa Bathory, but both were equally as boring. Another performer was Sarah - Jean Villa an emerging artist. When I heard her track “Cherry Boy” it reminded me of Amy Lee vocally and the music was somewhat similar to Evanescence but as she performed her other tracks, they were a far departure from Evanescence. Sarah - Jean’s vocals were good, she seemed a bit uncomfortable on stage at first, and the band was a little slow with the track transitions but she got more confident near the end, overall a respectable performance.

MELISSA BATHORY

Zoë Bentley

The Performers who stole the show was a band called Goodbye Glory. A bunch of characters, fun personalities with loads of charisma. This band had amazing energy onstage, I was expecting the typical let the lead singer do all the work band but nope they all rocked out, wearing their hearts on their sleeves. I have not seen such energy from the whole band in a longtime, especially out of Toronto. They entertained the crowd and the girls did like. It was hard to take good pictures because these boys were bouncing all over the place. Will I check out Goodbye Glory again? Damn straight with a full review although there is one peeve. Dudes, what is with all the love spreading? The heart Costa makes on the back of your EPK, very sappy cheesy!

GOODBYE GLORY

Melissa O’Neil was one of the "big names" performing, she was the first female Canadian Idol and has sold millions of her debut album. Now as she readies herself to drop her sophomore LP she’s doing a few gigs. Melissa started her set with a Sheryl Crow cover switching it up from her tunes to another cover of the “Four Non Blondes” only hit. She made a mistake and said oops! When you are performing and you mess up just keep going that way nobody notices the glitch. It is worse to stop and jibber about it rather than continuing on as if nothing happened. She did good comfortable with the stage a little nervous but she managed to pull it off.

MELISSA O'NEIL

Fefe Dobson was the headliner of this event. You would think as a headliner you would draw some sort of crowd but nope not in this case. There were fewer people on the floor watching Dobson’s performance than any other performance that night. Half of the people rooting her on were her entourage, the girl asked for twenty VIP tickets but did nothing to help bring in a crowd for the event. Now I know why Dobson’s label dropped her and why Avril Lavigne sustained her popularity while Fefe’s career plummeted drastically. As she got onto the stage, she was full of energy, but it was not believable, everything seemed contrived as if she was doing it because she had to. Jumping around relentlessly, back and forth cursing under her breath as she kept losing the mic chord that kept dropping out. I was laughing so hard because after having a two-hour sound check, someone would tape the mic, that way it does not fall out! Not Fefe, I guess her brain is so fried that common sense escapes her. After two tracks I could not listen to her warbling any longer, just like her CMW performance it was pathetic. I like her tunes 'Take Me Away' and 'Bye Bye Boyfriend'. The event in itself was done with perfection, there were no major problems becuase the ladies of Milkcrate made sure things ran smooth!

www.milkcrateevent.com/sirensounds
MTV.ca - Your On-Demand Broadband Video Channel: Free music videos and live concerts, full length TV shows, celebrity news and more, all available online at mtv.ca.
Melissa O'Neil - Official Website - News
www.myspace.com/zoebentley
www.myspace.com/fefedobson
www.myspace.com/dameband

www.myspace.com/goodbyegloryband

www.myspace.com/sarahjeanvillamusic

www.myspace.com/melissabathory

©2007FRIDAE™