On Friday September 22, 2023, “299 Queen Street West” The MuchMusic Experience had its Canadian Premiere and I was invited to attend! The event was held at Roy Thomson Hall downtown, Toronto and of course notable Canadian media personalities were in attendance. This highly-anticipated documentary by Filmmaker and Director Sean Menard who also directed “The Carter Effect” (Vince Carter, Lebron James, Drake), brought the audience way back to a time during the rise of music videos in the 1980s when Canada launched MuchMusic! A network that started out with a low budget but made such an impact not only in Canada, but also North America and Internationally, America’s MTV wasn’t even doing anything like it at the time.
What I learned most from this documentary was how much of a trailblazing station MuchMusic is as the Video Jockeys (VJs) had no scripts and very little direction, meaning they had creative control of their segments; the network put full trust in these individuals that shaped our future. It also of course made for some very interesting and funny interviews! This premiere was truly a nostalgic moment and eye-opening as someone in the creative field.
Of course there was a Q&A period with some of our favourite VJs like…Erica Ehm, Rick Campanelli, Monika Deol, Sook-Yin Lee, Bill Welychka, Michael Williams and of course Media Mogul Denise Donlon. I was so glad the documentary also featured VJ icons such as Master T and Namnamugenyi Kiwanuka.
Check out a couple pics below from the documentary premiere, and a pic with my favourite VJ from the show Electric Circus…Monika Deol! It was awesome chatting with Monika and her amazing family 🙂
Lights, Camera, ACTION! 