Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 38

C8 CALGARY HERALD Saturday, January 6, 2007 ENTERTAINMENT Calgary's Top 10 Music Source: SoundScan Country Alternative Current Hard Rock This Last This Last Last This Last Ths Last week National Artist week week National Artist weok weoK National Artlit week week National Artist week week National Artist week 1 1 Carrie Underwood 3 1 1 Various Artists 4 1 3 Jutln Tlmbrlak 11 Nlckelback 1 1 2 Justin Tlmberlake 2 Some Hearts Eminem Presents The RE-UP FuturesexLovesounds All The Right Reasons FuturesexLovesounds 2 3 Keith Urban 1 2 2 OwenStefanl 2 2 2 VJ2U A1' 10 2 3 Threa Days Grac 4 2 1 Various Artists 1 Love Pain The Whole Crazy Thing Sweet Escape tminem Presents The RE-UP Orw-X Eminem Presents: The RE-UP 3 2 Dixie Chicks 2 3 5 Snow Patrol 7 3 1 Beatles 4 3 4 Evanescence 2 3 3 Akon 3 Taking The Long Way Eyes Open Love Open Door Konvlcted 4 6 Rascal Ratts 4 4 4 Fray 6 4 5 GwenStefanl 642 Billy Talent 5 4 4 Beyonce 8 Me i My Gang How To Save A Life Sweet Escape Billy Talent II BDay 5 10 Keith Urban 5 3 U2 3 5 8 Akon 12 5 5 Red Hot Chill Peppers 3 5 6 Nas 4 Be Here U218 Singles Konvlcted Stadium Arcadium Hip Hop Is Dead 6 11 Johnny Cash 6 8 Nlckelback 5 6 13 Snow Patrol 6 6 Incubus 8 6 8 Christina Agullera 6 Forever Johnny Cash All The Right Reasons Eyes Open Light Grenades Back To Basics 7 5 Johnny Cash 10 7 7 My Chemical Romance 9 7 7 ILDIvo 2 7 9 Audloslave 7 7 7 Fergle 5 Legend Of Johnny Cash The Black Parade Siempre Revelations Dutchess 8 8 Various Artists 5 8 10 Three Days Grace 8 6 Nelly Furtado 7 8 12 Aerosmlth 6 8 5 Jay-Z 10 Best Of Country Hits 2007 One-X loose Devil's Got A New Disguise Kingdom Come 9 7 Johnny Cash 7 9 6 Killers 9 11 Fray 18 9 7 Foo Fighters 9 9 9 Snoop Dogg 7 Legend Of Johnny Cash 2 Sam'sTown How To Save A Life Skin And Bones Blue Carpet Treatment 10 14 Sugarland 10 20 John Mayer 10 4 Various Artists 9 10 8 Rise Against 10 10 Game Enjoy The Ride Continuum Muchdance2007 Sufferer A The Witness Doctor's Advocate MUSIC CONCERTS Clapton concert highlights China's class distinctions -A, 1 At'' Vit -V Moonlighting Dallas Green isn't the only member of Alexisonfire with a side project. Screamer George Pettit has two other part-time bands while guitaristco-vocal-ist Wade MacNeil recorded a folkrock album with pianist Sammi Bogdanski. They call themselves Black Lungs and their disc could be released as early as February on Dine Alone Records. Two of their songs Fire and Brimstone, In My Memory are now posted on MySpace.com. "Sammi is classically trained and I can play guitar and I can write songs, but I have absolutely no grasp on music theory or the names of chords," says Mac-Neil.

"So it's really interesting playing with her." Lack of music theory aside, MacNeil and his Alexisonfire are a talented bunch of guys, no? "I don't know what to say about that," says Green. "I'm not good with compliments. Next question." OK, then, is there any temptation for him to sneak his City and Colour songs into Alexisonfire's sets? Not at all. The two are entirely different beasts. "When we do Alexis, it's such a band," says Green.

"All five of us are so into it and writing the songs together, that we do these side projects just to have that little bit of alone time and write a song and be like, 'This is how the song is going to go. This is how I want it' You don't have to please anyone else. It's cool to have both." The Associated Press SHANGHAI, CHINA Guitarist Eric Clapton is set to play Shanghai this month, the latest rock legend to take the stage in China's business and entertainment hub, the concert's organizers said Friday. Best known for solo hits such as After Midnight and Wonderful Tonight, Clapton, 61, is scheduled to appear Jan. 20 at the Shanghai Grand Stage the same venue where the Rolling Stones made their Chinese debut last ApriL Ticket prices for the show run from about for stage-side seats to $38 for the upper balcony, Emma Entertainment, one of the organizers, said in a statement.

Clapton performs in Calgary on March 26. Western stars from Sir Elton John to the late James Brown and the Black Eyed Peas have played Shanghai in recent months. The Stones' concert was considered the most lavish and high-profile rock show ever staged in the communist state. Yet while such appearances point to Shanghai's increasingly affluent and cosmopolitan profile, they also underscore some enduring limitations. Most of the audience at the concerts have been expatriates because many Dallas Green's solo CD, under the name City and Colour, has gone platinum.

Green's career grows hotter Herald Archive, Associated Press Eric Clapton is set to play his first concert in China. Chinese remain unfamiliar with such or are unwilling to pay high ticket prices. Meanwhile, China's conservative culture czars still call the shots. They ordered the Rolling Stones to strike three songs from their set list due to sexual content and cancelled permission for an October concert by American rapper Jay-Z, citing a need to protect local hip-hop fans from nasty lyrics. if I ru v5vs fin? COsMtil Calgary Herald customers who subscribe to five, six Courtesy, Universal ment and a couple of them are hanging and a couple of them are sitting next to the wall because I don't know where to put them.

I guess it's a nice problem to have." There's also one potential bad problem. With two successful acts on the go three if you count his collaboration with Windsor's Neverending White Lights Green knows he runs the risk of burning out faster than Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan. Last summer, he lost his voice in the middle of Alexisonfire's Warped Tour and was forced to sit out a show or two. The 26-year-old hasn't had any troubles since but he's making sure to take a rest every so oftea He took his very first vacation just after Boxing Day. Green and his girlfriend went to Hawaii for a week where he sat on the balcony of his hotel room, stnunming on his acoustic guitar, while she caught some rays.

They've been dating for about a year so Green admits he's not in the mood to write any more songs about relationships gone wrong. (He doesn't want me to reveal her identity, but let's just say if they were living in the U.S., the paparazzi would be all over the couple.) "I will not be writing a fake heartbreak song. If just not in my blood, in my bones," he says. "I'm totally in the school of 'If you're not experiencing it, don't write about Green has written six new City and Colour songs, three of which he's currently performing. But he doesn't expect to release his second album until early 2008.

He'll be spending most of this year touring with Alexis including two U.S. tours, two European tours and a trip down under as well as retooling his own tunes. "I'm usually always happy with the guitar parts and melodies I come up with, it's the words that I always have to look at and redo," he says. Tve always had a problem with words. You know what you want to say, you just don't know how to write them down.

I wish I could." Even though he's avoiding the topic of heartache, Green says his new batch of songs are darker in tone and theme. "I think the new songs have to do more with myself than relationships, sort of analyzing myself as a person," he says. "I can't seem to write a (fictional) story. I always try to but then it turns back into something about myself. I guess it's selfish in a way but at the same time it's the only way I know I write.

Tm not the type of guy who can write an abstract song, something that's completely a mystery to everyone. I like people to know exactly what Tm singing about and I like to know exactly what Tm singing about" In other words, he wears his heart on bis sleeve. Just like his mom. or seven-day delivery can read the digital edition of the Calgary Herald online for FREE by 5:00 a.m. every morning.

Alexisonfire star's solo project an unexpected hit SANDRA SPEROUNES CanWest News Service Don't let Dallas Green's mom catch you talking trash about her son. She'll give it right back to you, as a jaded fan found out at one of Green's recent gigs with his screamo outfit, Alexisonfire. "I was thanking everyone in the crowd when we were on stage," says the guitarist and co-vocalist. "I guess a kid started saying I was egotistical My mom was there and she started getting into an argument with him. It was really funny.

She's my biggest fan." Green, who was recently named Chart magazine's Artist of the Year, is attracting more fans than detractors. Before Christmas, Alexisonfire performed six consecutive nights at several venues around Toronto and every single ticket was snapped up. Fans can't seem to get enough of his solo acoustic pro- PREVIEW ject, City and City and Colour Colour, either, performs Gigs have been Sunday at the selling out weeks in Jack Singer advance. Concert Hall. Green sells more The show is than just tickets sold out he's one of the few Canadian artists who moves a lot of records.

Alexisonfire's last two discs, 2004'sWatch Out! and 2006's Crisis, both went platinum, selling more than 100,000 copies in Canada. So did his City and Colour debut, Sometimes, which he released with few expectations in the fall of 2005. Two of his gleaming and autobiographical guitar ballads ended up becoming huge hits. Save Your Scissors, a song about resisting the advances of a girl who wants to change Green, was a rock radio staple. Comin' Home, a forlorn number about touring and missing his loved ones, was a MuchMoreMusic favourite.

Green still can't believe his good fortune. "I never thought Td have a year like this in my life," he says from his family's home in St Catharines, Ont "When the first Alexis record went gold, I sort of stopped caring about anything else. It was like, Holy crap, we have a gold record, I dont even know what that "Then, we got platinum records and if just this big thing that I dont understand. It's fantastic It's really crazy. Right now I live in my parents' base- Mew! Our entire daily newspaper is online with extraordinary features.

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