Polaris After-Party

09/30/08 3:42pm

by Steve McLean (CHARTattack)

After Caribou's Andorra was named the winner of this year's Polaris Music Prize, I hustled back to the office to write about it (one of the beers from the office fridge helped me get through typing while some of my cronies were socializing).

The Weakerthans didn't win like I hoped they would, since they were the only band of the 10 on the short list that I had included on my final five ballot. The others were The Sadies, Corb Lund, Born Ruffians and The Ramblin' Ambassadors (I think, or maybe it was Teenage Head with Marky Ramone). But The Weakerthans and Born Ruffians already won $25,000 each at last week's Verge Awards, so I don't feel too badly for either band.

After finishing my article, I got on the streetcar to go to the official Polaris after-party at The Drake. Upon arrival, Polaris founder Steve Jordan kindly put four drink tickets in my hand, while North By Northeast's Gillian Zulauf gave me another one since she was on her way out the door. XM's Jeff Leake bought me a pint for good measure.

One of the members of Polaris short list finalist Two Hours Traffic, who apparently only had three drinks but can't handle his liquor, was escorted out of the club. When his bandmates were told about it, they elected to leave him sitting on the curb instead of checking to see if he was okay. "He gets like that sometimes and has to learn a lesson" was the explanation.

Both the main floor lounge and the rooftop deck were crowded with folks who had made the trip west from the Phoenix Concert Theatre, and it was good to catch up with Leake, publicists Yvette Ray and Ken Beattie, Upper Class Recordings co-founder/Cansecos member Gareth Jones, and a handful of other people. I was also introduced to the Calgary Herald's Mike Bell, who was one of the 11 jurists who decided to give $20,000 to Caribou's Dan Snaith, and Polaris' Quebec publicist, Elise Casavant.

After last call passed, Sadies bassist Sean Dean invited me to an after-after-party farther west in Parkdale. It was tempting, but I decided to be responsible and declined the offer, so I made it home by 3 a.m. But anyone in and around Toronto should go see The Sadies at The Horseshoe on Friday or Saturday night. I've seen them more than any other current local band, and they never disappoint me.

Another Polaris has passed. Congratulations, and thanks, to Jordan and everyone else involved.

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