With Grammy Award-winning polka kings, legendary rockers and sensational homegrown songwriters, the 18th SOCAN Awards gala at Toronto's Carlu was an affair to remember for more than just boozing and schmoozing.
During the pre-awards reception, Ronnie Hawkins posed for a picture with polka god Walter Ostanek, joking that it would appear in the National Enquirer. Ostanek, an avid photo and autograph collector, said that getting his picture taken with "The Hawk" made his night. It's apropos these two men met, as they were later honoured with two of the night's biggest awards for special and lifetime achievements respectively.
Hawkins' hearty laugh was heard throughout the evening as he delivered his famous one-liners and sometimes ribald tales. During a media conference earlier in the evening, Hawkins said he was the "luckiest man alive… I'm a landed immigrant, first-class!"
Shaye's Damhnait Doyle and Kim Stockwood were co-MCs of the event, offering witty banter and jokes between handing out awards. Doyle was also joined by fellow Maritime singer/songwriter Gordie Sampson to sing "Northwest Passage" and pay a musical tribute to the late Stan Rogers, whose wife was in attendance to accept the National Achievement Award on the folk artist's behalf.
Abdominal performed his award-winning hit "Pedal Pusher" and sounded like a throwback to Rob Base. While CBC Radio host and former Moxy Fruvous frontman Jian Ghomeshi bopped in his head to the beats, many members of the tuxedo- and gown-clad audience were taken aback by the hip-hop act.
When Stockwood and Doyle presented Hawkins with the Special Achievement Award, he said, "I would have these two girls sing in my band even if they were mutes."
Aside from the achievement awards for Hawkins, Ostanek and Rogers, Nickelback received the International Achievement Award.
Awards recognizing the greatest number of performances of songs on Canadian radio in various genres in 2006 were also recognized.
The pop winners were Tomi Swick's "A Night Like This;" Stabilo's "Flawed Design" (written by Jesse Dryfhout, Christopher Moerman and Kevin Kadish); and Kelly Clarkson's "Walk Away" (written by Chantal Kreviazuk, Raine Maida, Clarkson and Kara Dioguardi).
Nickelback's "Savin' Me" (written by Chad Kroeger, Daniel Adair, Michael Kroeger and Ryan Peake) took the rock award. Nelly Furtado and Timbaland's "Promiscuous" (written by Furtado, Timothy Clayton, Floyd Hills and Timothy Mosley) won the urban award.
Champion's "No Heaven" (written by Maxime Morin) was the dance champion and Corb Lund's "Hair In My Eyes Like a Highland Steer" was given the roots/folk prize.
The following Canadian songs received SOCAN Classic Awards for achieving the 100,000-airplay mark on domestic radio: Murray McLauchlan's "Try Walkin' Away;" Amanda Marshall's "Dark Horse" (written by Marshall, Dean McTaggart and David Tyson) and "Trust Me (This Is Love)" (written by McTaggart and Tyson); Loreena McKennitt's "Mummer's Dance;" Sky's "Some Kinda Wonderful" and "Love Song" (both written by Antoine Sicotte and Jimmy Renald); Bryan Adams "Cuts Like A Knife," "I'm Ready," "It's Only Love" and "This Time" (all written by Jim Vallance and Adams); Loverboy's "Turn Me Loose" (written by Paul Dean and Mike Reno), "Working For The Weekend" (written by Dean, Reno and Matthew Frenette) and "Heaven In Your Eyes" (written by Dean, Reno, John Dexter and Mae Moore).
The award winners in other categories can be found on the SOCAN website.