Juno Gala Awards: Feist Prefers Elmo Over Junos

The Saturday night Juno gala and awards show was a flurry of activity. This is the event where the bulk of the Juno Awards are traditionally handed out in various categories, while a few of the flashy trophies get saved for the televised show on Sunday. Media swarmed the Telus Convention Centre to grab quotes from the winners, but some may have left a little disappointed.

Shortly after arriving, we found out that Feist wasn't going to come by the press room even though the former Calgarian was named best artist and best songwriter — two of the eventual five awards she would win over the weekend. It seemed she was a little preoccupied with furry puppet creatures. In fact, she ranked them above the Junos.

"'1234' brought me two days ago to Sesame Street, and it was the Muppets and it was the best day of my life," exclaimed the flustered chanteuse from the stage after receiving her songwriter Juno from legendarily moustached former hockey player Lanny McDonald. "I'm sorry Junos, but the Muppets trump everything."

When host Measha Brueggergosman finally took the stage 20 minutes after the gala was supposed to start, she awkwardly admitted it was due to a zipper malfunction on her dress. The Juno-nominated opera singer served as an entertaining and charismatic host, cracking jokes about Calgary, Russell Peters and the not-so for-the-public nature of the Saturday awards.

Despite no Feist appearance, the winners flooded the media room all night. After winning the award for adult alternative album of the year, Blue Rodeo were asked to explain why the category exists and what it means.

"I think a lot of the records in the album of the year category became sales-based," explained Jim Cuddy. "What they were missing each year was a lot of artistic records that were not going to sell the same as these gigantic artists.

"I think what they wanted to do was create a category in which you can acknowledge artists like Ron Sexsmith, or I guess even ourselves, that are not huge blockbuster artists, but still have some artistic merit."

Another highlight came when Serena Ryder dedicated her new artist of the year award to her late manager, Bonnie O'Donnell, who passed away in January.

"It's even more significant for me that she's not here in three-dimension because I feel like she's here in an even bigger way," said the Toronto native. "I'm all the more proud that she was in my life."

Musical highlights included IllScarlett, who rocked the stage with hits "Nothing Special" and "Life Of A Soldier," and artist of the year nominee Pascale Picard, who performed a song from Me, Myself & Us.

It was a fun night that served as a teaser before the televised awards the following night. The free booze didn't hurt either.