| He discovered The Hip. Next up: Canadian Idol By Sarah Crosbie Monday, July 21, 2003 - 07:00 Local News - Jake Gold knows talent when he sees it � and hears it. Seventeen years ago, he was handed the demo tape of a little, unknown Canadian rock band. Gold got the boys a gig at a bar called Larry�s Hideaway in Toronto, opening for Rolling Stones wannabes. Almost two decades later, that once little unknown band has nine albums, countless hit songs and the adoration of music lovers from sea to sea. Who knew the members of The Tragically Hip were destined to become Canadian idols? Jake Gold knew. Instantly. Almost two decades after discovering one of the country�s most beloved bands, Gold is once again on the hunt for Canada�s next singing superstar � and once again, that superstar may have Limestone City roots. Along with singer Sass Jordan, concert promoter Farley Flex and producer and manager Zack Werner, Gold is one of the four judges on this summer�s hit television show, Canadian Idol. For the past few months, the judges have been on a national tour looking far and wide to find the next Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard or Clay Aiken. Gold steered The Hip for 17 years until this past June when their contract expired. He�s still in charge of Downie�s solo work and is president of The Management Trust, a Toronto artist management company. He was also named music manager of the year three times by the Canadian Music Industry in 1991, �93 and �94. He says he knew there was something special about The Hip the first time he saw them and it�s been the same for some of the Canadian Idol contestants. �The day I saw The Tragically Hip for the first time was the day the bar was set,� Gold told The Whig-Standard in an interview. �I remember to this day, Gord Downie opened his mouth and sang like three words, and I said, �Oh my God.� It was an involuntary reaction and the thing I still feel today. When something moves me like that, it�s greatness.� Fifteen thousand singing hopefuls auditioned across the country for Canadian Idol. The judges whittled that number down to 143 contestants and then to just 30 competitors. Now, the 30 vocalists are vying for a spot in the coveted Canadian Idol Top 10. Six contestants have already secured places. Tonight, 10 contestants will each have one minute to prove to Canada that they deserve three of the last four spots in the Top 10. (The 10th and final spot will be determined in a wild card show on July 28 when contestants are brought back for a final shot at the Top 10.) Kingston�s Ryan Malcolm, 23, hopes he�s the one and is using U2�s hit song One from the 1991 album Achtung Baby to try and win the hearts � and votes � of Canadians tonight when he sings on Idol on CTV at 8 p.m., channel 6 in Kingston. Does Malcolm have that same greatness that Gold spotted in The Hip? Will Gold be dining at The River Mill � his favourite local restaurant � with Malcolm one day soon, discussing that BMG record contract he�s won on Canadian Idol? �We all love Ryan,� Gold said, �but then, we love all the contestants.� Gold has to remain impartial during the competition but he said it�s common knowledge in Idol land that Malcolm has a little something special. �Ryan really has some talent,� Gold said. �The first time my wife saw Ryan on TV, she said, �Who�s that guy?� and I said, �Yeah, he�s really good.� He�s also got style � actually, he�s got a lot of things going for him.� Fans of the show know that the six contestants who�ve already made the Top 10 are quite diverse. There�s a hunk o� hunk of burning love from Alberta who loves Elvis, a soulful and offbeat Newfoundland gal who�s into Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen and a balding deli manager from Nova Scotia whose quirky personality has won over the judges and the Canadian public. Is there room in the Top 10 for a guy who�s a bit of a blast from the past? Malcolm sings with his family trio, A Bit of Nostalgia, works as a bartender at the family restaurant, Nostalgia Station, and claims Smoke Gets In Your Eyes as his favourite song. �When we sat down at the beginning, we said, �Who is going to be the Canadian Idol?� We all said, we are not interested in finding the next Britney Spears. Anybody can do that. We think Canada deserves better so we want to go out and find the real artist and hope that Canada buys into that with us,� Gold said. �We always based our pick on whether we were moved. Did they do something to us? Did they cause that involuntary reaction? We knew, at the end of the day, that�s what a long-term career is all about.� As for Canadian Idol critics who say real talent can�t be manufactured on reality TV, Gold says the music business is about being heard � whether it�s getting a demo tape from The Hip or seeing Malcolm audition on a television show. �The music business is mostly centred in Vancouver and Toronto � and mostly Toronto. If you don�t get here, we don�t see you. What�s really cool about what we�re doing, is we�re allowing people the opportunity to access an industry that in a lot of cases, they may not be able to access,� Gold said. �This isn�t the first time Ryan has sang for people and yet no one has discovered him yet.� Gold says he�d be really surprised if Kingston didn�t support Malcolm in the Canadian Idol competition. He says when The Hip played charity concerts at the Memorial Centre, Richardson Stadium and Fort Henry, Kingstonians always turned out to support the band. �Kingston has always supported its own � Luther Wright, Sarah Harmer, Hugh Dillon and The Tragically Hip,� he said. Whether Gold praises or cuts up Malcolm tonight after his performance, Gold says make no mistake � there is something hip about Kingston�s Idol contestant. �The criteria we were working with is: No. 1, can they sing? No. 2, Do they have a shot at winning this whole thing? If [the judges] couldn�t unanimously answer �yes� to both those questions, they didn�t make it into the Top 30,� Gold said. Malcolm and nine other contestants perform tonight. During each contestant�s performance, a toll-free phone number will be displayed on the screen. At the end of the program, Canadians have two hours to call in and vote for the contestant they�d like to see make the Canadian Idol Top 10. Voting is free by phone and costs 25 cents by text messaging. The results will be announced live tomorrow on CTV at 7:30 p.m. The show will also feature a performance of Burt Bacharach�s What the World Needs Now by some of American Idol�s top contestants including Studdard, Aiken, Kimberley Locke, Trenyce, Carmen Rasmusen, Kimberly Caldwell, Rickey Smith, Corey Clark and Julie DeMato. |
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