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FYI

Early Days When Cowboys Found KD Lang A Bit Too Strange

Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC wasn't always the perfect singer and the toast of Music City. In fact, in her backyard in early days she was a force to reckon with, and some of the forces she had to reckon with weren't warm to her punked-up hillbilly persona. Ross Perlmutter explains.

Early Days When Cowboys Found KD Lang A Bit Too Strange

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Ross Perlmutter Facebook


“I have a very special board tape of kd getting fired, by the crowd, onstage at the Ranchman’s in Calgary.

The short story is that Neil McGonnigal and I booked her into the Ranchman’s for her Calgary debut. The place was packed with cowboys and local music people, and the first set went swimmingly. Halfway through the second set, some drunk cowboys thought: ‘Hey, waitaminute. This woman is a gawdamn punk rocker, and she’s making fun of our music!’ And they approached the stage. On the tape, you can clearly hear them say ‘you have to leave!’, and kd responds by saying ‘OK, we’ll just finish this set...’

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‘No, NOW!’

“Kd apologized with an ‘OK, buckaroos and buckarettes’ and that was it. We pulled her from the Ranchman’s and booked her right next door at another club called Longhorns, and that was the start of her rise to fame. That tape remains one of my most prized possessions.”

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‘CFNY: The Spirit of Radio’ Documentary Captures the Essence of Influential Ontario Rock Station
Media

‘CFNY: The Spirit of Radio’ Documentary Captures the Essence of Influential Ontario Rock Station

Now streaming for free via TVO Docs, the documentary focuses on the alternative spirit of the GTA station that made waves in the '80s and '90s before being rebranded as 102.1 The Edge. There are interviews with Rush’s Geddy Lee, Metric's Emily Haines, Sum 41's Deryck Whibley and more.

A new documentary is unpacking the rise of CFNY, the influential radio station born in the suburbs just outside Toronto.

CFNY: The Spirit of Radio focuses on the “golden age of radio in Canada," known as one of the first modern rock radio stations to have a major impact on the airwaves. After being acquired by TVO Docs, the documentary premiered in Canada on Jan. 6 and is also streaming for free via TVO and on YouTube (below).

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