Some of the highlights from the September update:

• The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) recently announced a new national ocean technology initiative to be based in St. John’s.
• Bit Trap Studios, a start-up developer of online games, is establishing a studio in St. John’s and developing a new product with the assistance of $300,000 from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
• A recent survey says St. John’s has the lowest vacancy rate for both office and industrial space and the highest rental rates in Atlantic Canada.
• The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for St. John’s metro decreased by 0.9 points to 7.4% in February 2010.

View the complete newsletter on-line at: http://www.stjohns.ca/business/pdfs/Sept10-newsletter.pdf

Dancing, trumpets, pop music, a sparkly blue dress, high fives and tall, slender redheaded men were all part of the scene at the Ship pub this past weekend.

On August 27^th and 28^th the Windsor, Ontario quartet Michou preformed at the Ship. This was the last leg of a month long tour for the band, and technically the farthest they have ever played from their hometown. According to lead singer Mike Hargreaves, the band was in rough shape when they first arrived on The Rock.

“We took the three hour drive to get to Corner Brook and we were all feeling pretty down in our health and spirits, it’s been a really long tour, but we had a blast there. We played this really cool venue called the Bar Room. The drive so far has also been pretty incredible.”

I spoke with Hargreaves on Saturday evening. Despite his positive outlook, all that talk of long, albeit scenic, drives and exhaustion left me wondering how their show at The Ship was going to play out that night. Fortunately, I would soon get my answer.

Michou formed around four years ago but have been their most active over the last two years. Their biography attributes the band’s formation to a mad scientist (hinted at being current manager Michael ‘Teenwolf’ Fox) inseminating multiple women and then transporting the resulting children back to the future. Those four kids grew up to become the band Michou, with mad scientist man collecting a percentage of their labour’s profits.

“It is pretty surprising how many times that biography has been printed in leaflets in festivals we’ve played in,” says Hargreaves of their origin story.

The name Michou comes from Hargreaves’ childhood. “It’s what my mom called me as a kid… kind of a combination of Michael, in French, and  ‘ma petite chou’, my little cabbage.”

The self proclaimed “cleanest non-smelliest band ever” released their first album, Myshkin, in 2008, and their follow up, Cardona earlier this year, putting them on a heavy touring schedule for the last two years. Surprisingly, they came to Newfoundland before they hit up the west coast, which is, noting the financial risk in touring the island, a tad flattering.

On Saturday night, Michou were prefaced by the Pre-Raphaelites and Repartee. I missed the Pre-Raphealites because I was busy shooting beer at my kitchen table, but arrived in time to see Repartee preform their consistently lively and upbeat show. Dancing and twirling engulfed the floor before them with many a high five was sent lead vocalist Meg Warren’s way.

Her blue sparkly dress was also pretty rad.

Between acts the dance floor had emptied so that when Michou began to play people were standing at a hesitant distance. That was until keys/trumpet/mini xylophone/tambourine player Sasha Appler ecstatically ran into the crowd, laying down push ups and dancing with patrons. With that the dance party began.

Much to my delight, the band were cheery and high energy, which worked well with their sanguine pop melodies.

The highlight of the night occurred towards the end of the set as the band invited their new friend local flutist Rozalind Macphail to preform with them. Rozalind hopped on the stage with her candy stripped socks, whipped out her flute, and played along as if they’d been jamming together for years. She even managed to pull off an impromptu solo. It was a lovely ending of the bouncy, lighthearted show.

Earlier in the night while I was photographing Repartee, a young man kindly stepped back to let me move forward in the crowd. He looked exactly like Michou’s lead singer, Mike Hargreaves, who I had interviewed earlier that evening. Both were tall, slim gingers wearing poly-cotton American Apparel t-shirts (though different colours), with a similar tossed look to their hairdos.

Hargreaves confided in me earlier that he only wears these particular t-shirts on tour because they don’t wrinkle, so when I saw the young man with the similar appearance and wardrobe I greeted him enthusiastically and gave his t-shirt a tug saying “you’ve changed your wrinkle free shirt!”, or something equally as retarded.

He looked at me like I was a crazed hobo gnawing at his leg.

It turns out Dylan Varner-Hartley’s friends had made the same mistake earlier, approaching Hargreaves in a similar fashion.

The doppelgangers met at the end of the show and gladly posed for a bizzaro photo-op.

I don’t know about you, but when I need to hunker down and really get work done there are specific albums or artists I’ll queue up in iTunes.

Today I got to thinking about just that as I popped by lowercased‘s office (a.k.a Darrell Edwards) to grab some snaps he’d done for me. Immediately I was hit with the solid vibes that are “A Tribe Called Quest” (TCQ).

I’m not sure how much work I’d get done with TCQ bumping out of my speakers, though. In fact I can almost guarantee that save for their song “Electric Relaxation”, none of their music would inspire me to focus on the task at hand. I’d end up in “listen-mode”: eyes closed with a subtle nodding of the head, in 100% agreement with every word and beat.

Me personally, I rock a lot of progressive house, drum-n-bass and trance when I need to block out life and get the job done. I’m talking Deadmau5, Pryda, Underworld, Amon Tobin and “Essential Selection” shows from days gone by.

That, combined with caffeine, usually gets the job done.

Have any music suggestions for getting job done? I’d love to hear ‘em.

Join us as we take a leisurely look back at some of the sights we encountered over the past seven days in St. John’s, won’t you?

In this, our first installment of the series, we’ve got free parking, urban art, sexy triangles and more!

Did you know there’s a bunch of free parking behind Wool Trends on Hamilton Avenue? Not very often you see a sign like that.

Does anyone else detect a hint of disdain in this signage? I guess you’d be pissed, too, if your front window got smashed in. I know the good people at Model Citizens didn’t appreciate it when it happened to them last week, either. Not to mention the laptop and merchandise that was stolen in the process.

None of which matters to these two, who are having a rest in the early hours of the morning before their world becomes bombarded with sticky-fingered children and their guardians. And in case you were wondering, the corn maze at Lester’s is in full effect.

At one point last week it appeared as though the sun had exploded shortly after a diesel-fueled rocket flew by overhead. Though as far as I know, neither of those things actually happened.

Art works like the one you see pictured here have been popping up throughout downtown all summer long. From a beautiful message about love to a garment-clad mask to what appears to be a screen print depicting Maurice Moss from The IT Crowd (played by Richard Ayoade, previously seen on The Mighty Boosh and Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place, both of which are brilliant.), these works don’t last long but are a much welcomed addition to the cityscape.

The old T.I. Brother Murphy Centre got a fresh lick over the weekend. Rumour has it a posh new restaurant is moving in. Here’s hoping it helps push this under-utilized end of Water Street towards becoming just as bustling as its more westward stretch. By rights there should be steady foot traffic from Harbourside Park to Colossal Pizza, where I only recently learned you can get chicken shawarma. Tell your friends.

And Junctions is being rebranded as Headquarters according to these equilateral flyers circulated around downtown last week. With the Junctions name having been synonymous with so many different kinds of clubbing experiences over the years, from candy-coated beats to blood-soaked metal, I can understand the need for a refresh. The flyers, on the other hand, mostly just left me feeling confused. And possibly violated.

If you happen to snap a photo in the coming days of this week and feel it’s captured something jeux ne sait St. John’s, send it our way!

Michou, a band who’s members were born in the past by a man from the future then travelled in time to the present, are in town promoting their sophomore album, Cardona. They played The Ship last night and are set to do it all again tonight.

This time around we’ve got free tickets and a signed copy of Cardona to give away to one lucky Signal reader.

Simply leave a comment below telling us which one of the Back to the Future movies was your fave, and you’ll be entered into our 6pm draw.

That’s soon! So enter now!

Then watch these two rather fantastic music videos of theirs and get yourself in the mood for Michou.

The last time the Beach B’ys played at The Levee, which also just happens to be the first time they’d played anywhere outside their jam space, a loosely assembled bar crowd quickly transformed into a tightly packed audience of adoring fans. Hoots, hollers and high praise rang out between songs as the B’ys laid down one beautifully articulated classic after another.

It was a sight and sound to behold.

The Beach B’ys are back at The Levee tonight, taking the stage at a very sharp 11pm. You really don’t want to miss this.

Below, a scene from Canada Day when the Beach B’ys gave a special private performance for band member Jordan Young’s family gathering.

If you’ve ever stepped foot inside Distortion for Musique Non Stop, you know it’s an infectious experience. The music, the people, the dance floor, it’s all unlike anything else you’ll find on George Street.

Tonight Musique Non Stop is bidding its countless fans a fond, albeit temporary farewell. Benjy and co. are taking a break for a while, and deservedly so. This will be the 23rd instalment of the electrically eclectic, always free dance party at Distortion.

Perhaps in a bid to try and hide the tears in everyone’s eyes, the theme for tonight’s Musique Non Stop is sunglasses at night. Best glasses win a prize!

Featuring Dee Jay Benjy and Little Dan, Musique Non Stop 23, the last for some time, gets underway at 11pm and goes late.

UPDATE 2: Congratulations to the winner of this week’s QV draw, Kieran Smith! Enjoy those beers and that tour, Kieran!

UPDATE: QV are upping the ante for this week’s draw! The prize now includes:

• Two dozen of your favourite QV beer!
• A gift cerifticate for a tour of the brewery for you and 5 of your friends! This includes a sampling of all of their brands, a complimentary beer of your choice, and a tour of the brewery!

Remember, all you have to do to enter is leave a comment below telling us what your favourite QV beer is!

So, who wants to win the most awesome QV prize pack ever?

Every Friday from 430pm to 8pm it’s happy hour at Quidi Vidi Brewery. They’ve got drink specials, live music, and for one lucky Signal reader a free case of their favourite QV beer!

Every week, all summer long we’re giving you the chance to win.

All you have to do to enter is answer this skill testing question: what is your favourite QV beer?

Leave your answer as a comment here and you’ll be entered into today’s 4pm draw.

It’s that simple.

Photo via Lyndon Keating's flickr stream. Thanks Lyndon!

Note: all comments must be accompanied by a valid e-mail address (we don’t collect that stuff in any way, but it helps keep the number of repeat entries down to a minimum, which is only fair).

The points below outline some of the issues highlighted in the city’s State of the Economy report.

There is a lot of good news contained within the report, but also a lot of bad and ugly, view the full report from the City of St. John’s by clicking here

• Our population is ageing and the working age population is expected to decline.
• Our natural population growth (births minus deaths) has slowed.
• In-migration will be key to our future population growth.
• Migration to St. John’s is increasing, especially from other provinces.
• We are not realizing our full potential to attract international migrants.
• There is a shortage of available office space.
• Skyrocketing housing prices are creating pressures on affordable housing.
• There is a severe shortage of rental units (housing).
• The near term economy is positive, driven largely by oil and gas.
• Reliance on a single industry necessitates economic diversification.

He may well be the hardest working musician in the province.

Jerry Stamp entered a contest a while back, as did many a musician from across the great continent of North America. Fan voting distilled the contestants down to a top 50, of which Jerry was one.

A panel of judges then applied their wisdom and narrowed the group down to five. And still there was Jerry.

Now it’s up to you to decide the winner.

What’s on the line for the person with the most votes here is recording time at Tainted Blue Studios in New York and an official sponsorship from Taylor Guitars and Elixir Strings. Kind of a big deal.

What you’re being asked to vote on is your favourite video made by each contestant showing them play the Taylor Guitar with Elixir Strings each of them was sent.

Quite fittingly, Jerry produced his video with help from his fans. He played a bunch of gigs and asked his fans to record him with whatever video capable devices they had and then hand him over the footage. From that he cut together what is now his entry into the final stage of this contest.

You can see the video and vote for it by clicking here.

You can vote once per day per e-mail address, meaning if for some quirky 21st century reason you have more than one e-mail address you can vote more than once per day. Just sayin’.

Jerry is currently holding tight in second place. With your help he can surely make it to first.

So, if you happen to think he deserves it, why not go ahead and give him your vote now?

Then be sure to head down to the Bull and Barrel and see him play with special guest Ian Foster tonight!