Halifax Nova Scotia Canada

Avril Lavigne is embarking on a North American tour to promote her platinum-selling album The Best Damn Thing.

Paul Anka has two words for all you people wringing your hands about the imminent death of the CD, the transience of pop fame or anything that smacks of nostalgia for the good old days: construction and destruction.

The folks who create stuff for the stage have never felt greatly beholden to historical fact when it comes to spinning a good yarn, and when the fate of a real-life subject is as contentiously shrouded in mystery as that of Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, youngest daughter of Russia's last czar, it's more or less open season.

On Monday night in Halifax, Michel de Broin won the 2007 Sobey Art Award, a $50,000 prize for the top artist in Canada under the age of 40. Sobey's jury of independent curators recognized de Broin for a "highly individual, inventive and original" practice that "turns systems against themselves."

Michael Bublé is the rare big-band singer who swings so hard his music leaves bruises. But the British Columbia-born crooner is showing his softer side with a newly announced Canadian tour, partial proceeds of which will support family literacy programs in communities across the country.

The work would be gruelling if they didn't love it. The team behind the World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions tour for 11 months of the year, stopping in cities across Canada and the United States, including a scheduled appearance in Halifax on October 26 and 27.

If the popularity of a band can be gauged by the size of its touring entourage, Tegan and Sara are not the least bit in demand. And yet they totally are. The twin sisters from Calgary, who play in Edmonton tonight and Wednesday night, regard their tour crew and bandmates like family.

Willard Kitchener MacDonald wanted nothing to do with people. He terrified small children. Many townspeople regarded him with compassion; others with contempt. He became the first Canadian in history to receive a pension without having to sign for it. And now MacDonald's remarkable life is the subject of a documentary film opening in Halifax Sept. 16.

Almost 11 months after the release of World Container, the Tragically Hip are still praising Bob Rock. Produced by Rock, World Container achieved several things. It affirmed a turnaround the Kingston, Ont., band undertook in 2004 with its In Between Evolution album, it freshened the band's sound by subtly introducing such things as new wave-styled keyboards and, most importantly, returned them to the forefront of Canadian bands.

Making Hospital Music just about killed Matthew Good. Prior to recording the album, the opinionated art provocateur suffered through the worst year of his life: His lifelong struggle with mental illness climaxed after Good's marriage fell apart...

When the world was introduced to Canadian pop-punks Sum 41, they were a foursome of spiky-haired misfits fuelled by snottily rebellious attitudes, substance-enhanced mischief and lyrics about hangin' out and drinkin' in the back of an El Camino. Things have changed.

Forget the A.C. — you can have a cool summer just by cranking up the beats.

* After a gruelling audition phase, the top 20 contestants on So You Think You Can Dance put on spectacular solo performances tonight.