JUDGES
We had some amazing judges come in to complete the over-the-top Vegas experience.
Jake Gold
Jake Gold is one of Canada’s most successful artist managers. He is the co-owner of Kindling Music, an independent record label distributed by Warner Music Canada, and of The Management Trust, through which he is best known for his role in establishing and transforming The Tragically Hip into a national icon. Gold currently directs the careers of Sass Jordan, Lily Frost, Crash Karma and Oliver Pigott as well as music producers Moe Berg, Russell Broom, Douglas Romanow and Laurence Currie.
Gold has been recognized by the annual Canadian Music Industry Awards as Manager of the Year in 1991, 1993 and 1994. He has been a member of the JUNO Awards Television and Talent committee since the 2003 awards broadcast in Ottawa-Gatineau.
In 2009, Gold was elected to the board of CIMA (CIRPA). He is also a board member for the MMF (Music Managers Forum), and sits on the advisory board of the OMDC.
Additionally, Gold is in demand for his industry expertise and has been either moderator or panelist at Australia’s Pacific Music Conference, Pollstar’s Concert Industry Consortium, Vancouver’s NewMusicWest, SXSW and both Canadian Music Week and North By Northeast in Toronto. He has also been a keynote speaker at the Canadian Organization of Campus Activities conference and was the co-chair of Canadian Music Week for 2008.
Gold’s devotion to music and art is matched by a strong focus on charity events and organizations. He is responsible for producing the War Child concert in Winnipeg, which drew crowds upwards of 100,000 people and raised over $400,000 for War Child Canada. He continues to donate his time to War Child and other various charities.
Gold grew up in Toronto, where he sang in Top 40 bands in his teens. From 1979 to 1981, he lived in Los Angeles, doing lighting design for the Variety Arts Centre. After receiving a call from a friend, he returned to Toronto to become a tour manager and lighting guy for Hot Tip. That same year, the band reformed as mod-pop group The Purple Hearts and asked Gold to manage it.
“I’ve been a manager ever since,” said Gold.
Drew Hasselback
Drew Hasselback is Legal Post Editor with the National Post. He has been with the paper since it was founded in 1998. Before that, he worked for several newspapers, including The Toronto Star, The London Free Press, and The Prince Albert Daily Herald. He began his newspaper career at age 16 as high school reporter for The Times-Advocate in his hometown, Exeter, Ontario. In the musical realm, Drew has played guitar for about 30 years. More than 1.6 million people have watched the scratchy YouTube videos he’s made in his backyard and basement. Drew holds a law degree from the University of Western Ontario. He won no academic prizes, but his law school group, Seeds of Revolution, did capture Western’s Battle of the Bands for 1994. His most important musical achievement came in 1986 when he played guitar on White Wonder, a song about Exeter’s unique white squirrel population.
Mike Levine
Mike Levine was the bassist and keyboardist for the Canadian power trio, Triumph. Triumph was a Canadian hard rock power band popular in the 70′s and 80′s. Eight of the band’s albums were certified gold or higher, and Triumph was nominated for multiple Juno awards, including Group of the Year in four years. The band was formed by Toronto music veterans Gil Moore, Mike Levine and Rik Emmett. In addition to playing base and keyboard, Mike was also a songwriter and a producer of much of the band’s work.
