It didn’t take long for me to change the channel. After a couple half hearted ticket give-aways by Canadian Idol judges, interviews with bands who seemed to think they were too cool to be there, and a truly cringe-worthy introduction of “Russell Simmons” (the man’s name is Russell Peters) by Ben Mulroney I couldn’t take any more. I switched back once to see Feist take pop album of the year and again in time to view the back half of Finger Eleven’s performance of Paralyzer with the Calgary Youth Orchestra which was interesting enough, if not plagued by sub-par sound.

But I didn’t have to watch to know that Feist was going to clean house – 5 Junos in total. With American endorsement in the form of iPod commercials and Saturday Night Live appearances, aside from the fact that the accolades were much deserved, we needed to re-claim Canada’s Indie Darling as ours.