If you weren't there... here's what you missed

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JUST A PRETTY FACE ... What do the words articulate, eloquent, polished and professional all have in common? They are all words that would not be used to describe Adam Beach's presentation performance at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards in Toronto on Nov. 25. Beach (Smoke Signals, Windtalkers) accompanied Much More Music's Richard Cazeau (The Loop) onto the stage of the John Bassett Theatre to present the award for Best Fiddle Album.

Beach stared blankly at Cazeau when the videographer asked the name of the movie the actor had just shot with Academy Award winning director Clint Eastwood. Further attempts to engage Beach in conversation were greeted with the actor's trademark wide smile and a look of terror in his eyes as though he had just been asked to explain quantum physics.

"Don't worry Adam. I still love you," was the shout out by one woman in the audience. Beach responded to the back-handed compliment by lifting his thumb and pinky-finger to his face and mouthing the words 'Call me.'

Beach made an equally compelling appearance the night before when he co-hosted a gala Native fashion show with Jennifer Podemski. Beyond some public lecherous overtures made to the actress, Beach didn't have much to contribute there either.

NORTHERN CANDOR ... Media training might be in the future of Inuit throat-singer Tagaq. After her win in the Best Female Artist category at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, and the stand-out performance that received a standing ovation from a very eclectic audience, the press, of course, were drawn to the woman. When Wally Desjarlais of Alberta's CFWE, The Native Perspective radio caught up with Tagaq at the awards after-party he tried to draw the singer out to discuss her music, her performance and her first CD, Sinaa, produced in about a week in Spain, she said.

When Desjarlais asked what took Tagaq to Spain to record, she said "I got knocked up by a Spanish man." When asked what her plans were for the future, she responded "I'm going to sing some more and maybe get knocked up again."

Well, now we know what causes it.

MISSING IN ACTION ... Music Industry Award winner Brian Wright-McLeod is a laid-back kind of guy. The syndicated radio host and author of the Encyclopedia of Native Music is so laid back, in fact, that he missed the announcement of his Canadian Aboriginal Music Award and had to be brought on stage later in the program to make his acceptance speech. "Talk about your invisible minority," he said, dry as toast, before accepting, belatedly, the special honor.

Wright-McLeod wasn't the only no-show at the podium for his moment in the sun. Alberta's Asani was MIA when they won in the Best Female Traditional Roots Album category for their CD Rattle & Drum. Presenter Ron Jamieson said he would accept the award on Asani's behalf because they were unable to attend the ceremony, which confused the audience a bit because Asani had already performed twice during the gala event. Apparently the group was off somewhere rehearsing the final number, the new theme song of future award galas that was being rolled out that night. Now that's dedication for you.

POWWOW FAUX PAS ... On the day that Toronto was burying its latest victim of gang violence-a young man gunned down in a church during the funeral of a co-hort-Assembly of First Nation regional chief for Alberta, Jason Goodstriker, was inviting gang members to join in the grand entry at the Toronto International powwow.

The flip comment left his lips when Goodstriker was moonlighting as commentator of Saturday's 7 p.m. demonstration of colors, encouraging dancers to gather. He called on First Nations leaders, municipal leaders and gang leaders to join the grand entry.

And if that comment wasn't enough, he continued to joke, over the loud speaker resonating through the Rogers Centre, that a member of one of the visiting drum groups was part of a notorious Manitoba Indian gang.

One of reasons the annual powwow in TO is hld is to introduce non-Native people to the beauty of Aboriginal custom, so the bleachers in the famed stadium where the Toronto Blue Jays play were taken up by scores of locals interested in how a powwow operates. Goodstriker's remarks, considering the purpose of the powwow and the sadness of the day on which the comments were made, seemed wildly inappropriate.