Voting has started in SiriusXM鈥檚 sixth annual Top of the Country contest, involving 性视界传媒鈥檚 Tony Stevens among the eight semifinalists.

Voting done on will give Stevens a chance to win $25,000, a songwriting trip to Nashville and other prizes. A contest winner will be crowned in September.

The contest website showcases Stevens鈥� catchy, power chord-crunching song, 鈥淒ays Like This,鈥� and video of him performing with a band.

鈥� RELATED: Near-death accident in his wake, 性视界传媒 musician aims for Top of Country crown.

Stevens, 39, is one of two B.C. contestants in SiriusXM鈥檚 contest, along with Vernon resident Zach McPhee. The other six semifinalists are from Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba. They鈥檝e all recorded an original track to be shared with the public, in hopes of collecting enough online votes to advance to the next round of the contest.

If he wins, Stevens would follow in the footsteps of fellow 性视界传媒 musician Tyler Joe Miller, who won the 2021 SiriusXM Top of the Country contest.

鈥楤OMB鈥� AT BULLY鈥橲

Talk about a blast from the past.

Local band explodes with the 鈥�90s sounds of Rage Against the Machine, featuring Niko Condonopolous on the mic, Johnny Peralta on guitar, Mike Greene, bass, and Victor Escoto, drums. The quartet rocked April 6 at in New Westminster as openers for the good grunge of Nirvana tribute (the band name is an obscure lyric from 鈥淎ll Apologies鈥�).

Rob Leishman鈥檚 evolving, renovated studio is a great space for such gigs. Several others are on the calendar this month including original music (April 23 featuring Vampires and Leeches, Blackmarket Fossible, Growlix and Knox) and more tributes (Our Name is Mud, playing bass-driven Primus on April 25). Check out the latest on .

鈥� RELATED: Morello memories: 性视界传媒 musician鈥檚 story about autographed guitar is all the Rage.

Appropriately, Calm Like a Bomb鈥檚 cool baseball T-shirts feature a photo of Che Guevara. 性视界传媒鈥檚 Peralta designed the price tag like only he could, in the Costco style. The 鈥減roduct number鈥� is 110392, a clever nod to the release date of Rage Against the Machine鈥檚 killer debut album back on Nov. 3, 1992 (with 鈥淜illing in the Name,鈥� etc.).

鈥楯UMP鈥� BACK

On the rainy, miserable Monday night of April 8, we drove all the way to Mission to catch a , and hell yeah, it was worth the hour-long drive.

Rob Warwick鈥檚 booked the Toledo, Ohio-based foursome at the 702-seat Clarke Theatre, located in a school (not unlike 性视界传媒鈥檚 Bell Performing Arts Centre).

Jump鈥檚 singer screams David Lee Roth circa 1984, with all the high kicks, leaps off the drum riser, sword play and yelps aplenty. At age 30 he鈥檚 the oldest in a band of players, youngest among them a 19-year-old drummer. They鈥檙e touring the world, having a blast and making Van Halen fans happy to hear the ol鈥� classics in concert. Gotta love it.

C鈥檓on Rob, give us a break and book Jump at a 性视界传媒-area venue soon.

JAZZ STORIES

Boasting 605 pages, Chris Wong鈥檚 weighty new book chronicles 30 jazz lives in Vancouver, including 性视界传媒-raised musicians Jodi Proznick and Amanda Tosoff, who united in 2022 to form as a showcase for top female jazzers. Both were schooled at Semiahmoo Secondary and are from incredibly musical families.

Wong鈥檚 book, self-published with , features stories of jazz musicians both known and not so. Among others I was drawn to the adventures of sax legend Ornette Coleman (鈥渢he man with the plastic saxophone鈥�) and 鈥渁ngry man鈥� bassist Charles Mingus, who confronted a few B.C. Lions football players at the original Cellar jazz club on a cold night in 1961.

Also look for chapters about Hugh Fraser, Langley-raised Brad Turner, Kate Hammett-Vaughan, Cory Weeds (鈥渢he hardest working man in jazz business,鈥� in two chapters), Dr. Lonnie Smith and many others.

Writes Wong, self-described 鈥渓ifelong music nerd,鈥� in the book鈥檚 intro: 鈥淲hat I didn鈥檛 know (when starting to research and write the book): I would become full-on, hopelessly obsessed with finding out every arcane detail about the artists gathered in these pages, whether they are living or long gone. Those myriad facts are puzzle pieces that 鈥� even though some pieces are missing 鈥� form portraits of extraordinary people with a hunger for jazz and other creative artforms, a determination to overcome struggles, and a deep joy for creating profound expression.鈥�