Each day, Rich Terfry and Radio 2 Drive wraps up your day with music and stories about the interesting things going on in the world.

NEW ON TUESDAY: Blind Melon return with a deluxe vinyl reissue of the group's self titled 1992 album.

REAR-VIEW MIRROR:

Every week, Rich Terfry looks back in our Rear-view Mirror at a great song from the good ol’ days. This week, The Band with "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

When Robbie Robertson first traveled to the American south, he was struck by an expression he heard people use again and again: "the south will rise again."

The expression is a reference to the U.S. Civil War and implies that one day the southern United States will return to its former glory. Robertson thought it was funny the first time he heard it. But after hearing it several times, he said he was touched. He said he became aware of a subtle sadness that pervades the south.

This experience gave Robertson the spark he needed for a melody that had been haunting him. It had been in his head for some time, but he didn't know what to do with it. Now he knew he would write a song about the Civil War. When he mentioned the idea to bandmate Levon Helm, Levon insisted, as a southerner himself, that Robertson, a Canadian, do some thorough research before he sit down to write. He dragged Robertson to the library and selected some books for him saying it was important that the South, or Dixie, as it's referred to, and Confederate General Robert E. Lee be, quote, "paid all due respect."

The song Robertson wrote was about the last days of the war and the suffering the South endured.

It was recorded in the Los Angeles home of entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. with Levon Helm singing lead. Although the song wasn't a hit, it was the centerpiece of The Band's self-titled 1969 album and became one of the songs, along with "The Weight," with which the band is most identified.

After The Band's 1976 farewell concert, The Last Waltz, Levon Helm refused to ever perform the song again.

When the song it was released, it was reviewed in Rolling Stone magazine by Ralph J. Gleason who said, "nothing I have read … has brought home the overwhelming human sense of history that this song does." He went on to express what many felt when they first heard it, that he couldn't believe that it wasn't a 100 year-old folk song passed down from one generation to the next.

Here's The Band's 1969 classic, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."



Here are some other great editions of Rear-view Mirror:

Fleetwood Mac/Go Your Own Way

The Animals/House of the Rising Sun

Ian and Sylvia/Four Strong Winds

James Brown/Please Please Please

Leonard Cohen/Suzanne

The Ramones/I Wanna Be Sedated

Blue Rodeo/Try

The Guess Who/American Woman

U2/I Still Have't Found What I'm Looking For

Janis Joplin/Me and Bobby McGee

Gordon Lightfoot "If You Could Read My Mind"

The Byrds "Eight Miles High"

Simon and Garfunkel "The Sound of Silence"

Bill Haley and his Comets "Rock Around The Clock"

The Velvet Underground "I'm Waiting For The Man"

Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison Blues"

Bobby Fuller "I Fought The Law"

Big Star "September Gurls"

The Hollies "Bus Stop"

Joy Division "Love Will Tear Us Apart"

Booker T and the MGs "Green Onions"

Jimi Hendrix "Hey Joe"

Neil Young "Rockin' in the Free World"

Dolly Parton "Jolene"

The Left Banke "Walk Away Renee"

Lou Reed "Walk On The Wild Side"

James Taylor "Fire And Rain"

The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"

Marvin Gaye "Sexual Healing"

Radiohead "Paranoid Android"

M.I.A. "Paper Planes"

The Animals "We Gotta Get Out of this Place"

Dusty Springfield "Son of a Preacher Man"

Screamin' Jay Hawkins "I Put A Spell On You"

Cheap Trick "Surrender"

Mott The Hoople "All the Young Dudes"

Beach Boys "Sloop John B"

Amy Winehouse "Rehab"

New York Dolls "Personality Crisis"

Modern Lovers "Roadrunner"

George Jones "He Stopped Loving Her Today"

Bruce Springsteen "Born in the USA"

The Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends"

Rolling Stones 'Miss You'

The Coasters 'Run Red Run'

Elvis Costello, 'Alison'

James Brown, 'Hot (I Need to be loved loved loved)'

Inner Circle, 'Tenement Yard'

Ray Charles, 'I Don't Need No Doctor'

Curtis Mayfield, 'Freddy's Dead'

Gang Starr, 'Beyond Comprehension'

Bo Diddley, 'Bo Diddley'

Aretha Franklin, 'Rocksteady'

CCR, 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain'

Howlin' Wolf, 'Smokestack Lightning'

Bobby Womack, 'Across 110th Street'

Roy Orbison, 'In Dreams'

Foggy Hogtown Boys, 'Man of Constant Sorrow'

Pink Floyd, 'Wish You Were Here'

Neil Young, 'Cortez The Killer'

Bob Dylan, 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'

Little Eva, 'Loco-Motion'

Elvis Costello, 'Watching the Detectives'

Jimmy Cliff, 'The Harder They Come'

The Verve, 'Bittersweet Symphony'

Roberta Flack, 'Killing Me Softly with his Song'

R.E.M., 'Radio Free Europe'

Radiohead, 'No Surprises'

Led Zeppelin, 'Ramble On'

Glen Campbell, 'Wichita Lineman'

Rolling Stones, 'Beast of Burden'

John Cougar Mellencamp, 'Pink Houses'

JUNK IN THE TRUNK:

Shortest rainstorm in history: 

Winter's last hurrah: 

Itchy animals: 

RICH'S PICK: "El Paso" by Marty Robbins:

MARK'S PICK: Walter Becker "Down at the Bottom"

In the tennis world, players are known for being fast on their feet.

But on the eve of the French Open this weekend, two professional tennis players thrilled the sold-out crowd with speedy skills of a different sort: a dance battle.

French pro Gaël Monfils and younger opponent Laurent Lokoli went toe-to-toe for charity at the annual kids' day as French DJ Bob Sinclar provided the soundtrack — and it turns out they have some serious moves.

Check it out:

Music trends have always come and gone quickly, with some acts rocketing to fame in a matter of weeks or months — but now Billboard and Twitter have joined forces to track trending music by the minute.

On Tuesday morning, Billboard debuted their Twitter Real-Time Charts, four interactive music charts that will rank songs based on how often they are mentioned in Tweets across the United States.

The ranking system marks a new strategy for Twitter, which shut down its short-lived Twitter #Music app when it failed to get attention in an already crowded online music market. 

So what's trending today? Check out the Trending 140 chart here. And if you'd prefer something a little more cutting edge, check out the Emerging Artists chart here.

Danish songstress MØ made her Canadian debut at Toronto's Wrongbar last night. Here are seven things you missed.

1. The mind-blowingly excellent post-R&B of Swedish singer Erik Hassle

Erik Hassle had his first hit in Sweden in 2008, then found success in the U.K. after touring with Mika. In the last couple years, though, he's kept a low profile, to both work on himself and retool his sound. The result is a body of work that is beautiful on record and capable of pulling you into a deep cave of emotion when performed live. Hassle has a voice like Robin Thicke, minus the creep factor, crossed with the Weeknd, minus the crushing ennui. It's all layered over haunting, witch house-y beats.

2. Hassle getting massive, massive applause as he walked offstage

It's really rare to see an opening act get any sort of love at all, let alone the massive pop the crowd gave Hassle. As stoked as everyone was for MØ, you felt like Hassle could have played for another 20 minutes and people would have been happy about it.

3. Confirmation on how you pronounce MØ's name

That Scandinavian o-slash is really hard for English speakers to wrap our heads, and lips, around, but according to Hassle it's pronounced "Meu," like the French word "feu," but with an "M." (MØ's stage name mean's "virgin" in Old Norse. It's also MØ's middle and last initial. Her real name is Karen Marie Ørsted.)

4. MØ fans losing their minds from the moment she came onstage

Commenting on crowd enthusiasm seems a little superfluous at times. Of course the audience is enthusiastic; they paid money to be there. Or at least that's how it should be. In reality though, we've seen too many audiences that look like they'd rather be somewhere else. This was not the crowd at MØ.

Mostly female, mostly in their early 20s and almost entirely dressed like extras from the original version of Beverly Hills 90210, they went into absolute screaming, dancing, foot-stomping rapturous joy from the moment MØ stepped onstage. They knew every word, which is pretty impressive, considering that she'd never come to Canada before, and that two years ago, no one had ever heard of her.

5. MØ joining the "makes more sense live" club

A few weeks ago, we wrote a list of "bands you have to see live to get." In spite of the fact she's a solo artist, MØ should very much be counted as a member of that club. Recorded, she is really, really likeable. She makes clever synth-pop, and you get the comparison to Grimes. Live, though, she's a different animal. Her voice is bigger, with more range that goes from having a very R&B quality to an almost Kate Bushian lilt and back again. Performing with a live band — drummer, guitarist, synth and sequencer player — she's less synth-poppy and more danceable rock. That, and she's a remarkably kinetic performer. She doesn't so much dance as hop, gyrate, flail, shadowbox and occasionally roll around on the floor.

6. An ever increasing level of audience interaction

Halfway through her set, MØ took advantage of the low stage by sort of casually wandering out into the crowd. Later on, she ran out again, stood on a table at one side of the bar, and sang from there. By the time she wrapped up her set, she was singing while being crowdsurfed to the back of the room.

7. A Spice Girls cover to start the encore

Actually, her version of "Say You'll Be There" is way better than the original.

Musicians and airline officials have had their share of disagreements and dust-ups, but on Monday, classical violinists Zach de Pue and Nick Kendall of the string trio Time for Three were actually left behind after a U.S. Airways flight captain told them their violins were not allowed on the plane.

The pair were at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, on their way to meet bandmate Ranaan Meyer at the Artosphere Arts and Nature Festival in Arkansas, when they were told their instruments couldn't come with them — even though the Federal Aviation Administration allows instruments on airplanes.

But instead of just packing up and heading out of the airport, the pair shot a video right on the tarmac. Check it out:

As hard as it is to believe, Sled Island — which, over the past few years, has grown to become one of the biggest and best music festivals in the country — is less than a month away.

Today, the festival announced this year's schedule, which will undoubtedly lead to people frantically putting concert dates into their phones and trying to figure out how to get across town in 15 minutes or less.

This year's edition of the festival features the likes of St. Vincent, Killer Mike, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Mission of Burma, Dan Deacon and AraabMuzik.

If you haven't bought your pass yet, or just want to see the lineup in its entirety, click here.

The internet is full of bad advice. Why, just the other day a former Twitter follower suggested I take myself for a lover.

WikiHow has quickly become ground zero for online advice, good and bad. It's a site featuring thousands of user-submitted articles on everything from installing a toilet to removing a toilet. All of the how-to advice is presented with step-by-step instructions and visual aids.

There are plenty music-related how-to articles, and some of that advice is just plain bonkers like "How to Avoid Groupies" and "How to Change a Fake Emo into a Real One." Check them out in the gallery above.

Last week, we announced that the CBC Beetle Roadtrip Sessions are coming back this summer for even more interviews and live performances with some of your favourite bands from across Canada — and man, are we psyched.

To recap: Radio 3's own Grant Lawrence will be hopping into a 2014 Volkswagen Beetle in St. John's, N.L., driving all the way to Toronto June 16-30 and continuing on to Vancouver July 11-25.

Thanks to your interest and engagement, we're thrilled to announce that Grant will be taking the CBC Beetle Roadtrip Sessions through all 10 provinces, making this year's jaunt a true cross-country journey!

But to make it a truly memorable adventure, we need to put together a sweet itinerary full of unique roadside stops and attractions. We asked for suggestions, and you answered with some wicked ideas: check out some of your top tips for #CBCBeetle roadside stops in the photo gallery above.

Are there any must-sees we missed? You can still help us plan the Beetle roadtrip by sending over suggestions via Twitter or Instagram using the #CBCBeetle hashtag. We'll keep collecting them through to when Grant hits the road on June 15!

Follow @grantlawrence on Twitter.

Each day, Rich Terfry and Radio 2 Drive wraps up your day with music and stories about the interesting things going on in the world.

REAR VIEW MIRROR: 

Every week, Rich Terfry looks back in our Rear-view Mirror at a great song from the good ol’ days. This week, Bruce Cockburn and "Lovers In A Dangerous Time."

In 1955, a high school teacher from Jacksonville, Florida vowed to write Elvis Presley's first hit, and she did just that.

Mae Boren Axton was working as an English teacher at Dupont High in Jacksonville when she went to see Nova Scotian country star Hank Snow in concert. Supporting Snow that night was Elvis Presley. Axton was very impressed by what she saw and decided that night that she would write Elvis' first hit song.

Around the same time, there was a story in Florida newspapers about a man who committed suicide by jumping from the window of a hotel room. He left a note with a single line that read, "I walk a lonely street." Axton was stunned when she read the story and decided to use it for inspiration for the song she'd write for Elvis. It took her one hour to write "Heartbreak Hotel".

Determined to get her song to Elvis, she found him at a hotel in Tennessee, where he was attending a music conference. When she played the demo for him, Elvis said, "Hot dog, Mae! Play that again!" He made Axton play the song for him ten times, until he had it memorized. Axton offered him the song and a third of royalties and a deal was made.

Elvis had just signed a big record deal with RCA and executive there hated the song. They wanted more upbeat rockabilly material like he recorded with his previous label, Sun Records. One executive called the song "a morbid mess" and another recommended the label not release it at all.

Well, it turned out that the brass at RCA was wrong about "Heartbreak Hotel". It shot to number one of the charts in January of 1956 and stayed there for seven weeks, becoming Elvis' first big hit. Mae Boren Axton went on to write songs for Willie Nelson, Tanya Tucker, Eddy Arnold and others.

Here's the song written by a Florida high school teacher who vowed to make Elvis Presley a star - this is "Heartbreak Hotel" on Rear View Mirror. 

Here are some other great editions of Rear-view Mirror:

Bruce Cockburn/Lovers In A Dangerous Time

The Doors - Light My Fire

Bob Dylan & Jimi Hendrix/All Along The Watchtower 

The Clash/London Calling

Phil Spector and the Ronnettes/Be My Baby

Os Mutantes/Ando Meio Desligado

The Diamonds/Little Darlin

Captain Beefheart/Yellow Brick Road

Elton John/Bennie and the Jets

Hank Williams/Long Gone Lonesome Blues

R.E.M./What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

Tom Waits/Jockey Full of Bourbon

Neil Diamond/Sweet Caroline

The Who/Pinball Wizard

Buffalo Springfield/For What It's Worth

Five Man Electrical Band/Signs

Band Aid/Do They Know It's Christmas

John Lennon/Imagine

The Ugly Ducklings/Nothin

Bob Dylan/Tangled Up In Blue

The Beatles/Norwegian Wood

The Pursuit of Happiness/I'm An Adult Now

Bruce Springsteen/Born To Run

Arcade Fire/Wake Up

Gnarls Barkley/Crazy

Big Joe Turner/Shake Rattle and Roll

Martha and the Muffins/Echo Beach

Wilson Pickett/In The Midnight Hour

The Band/The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Fleetwood Mac/Go Your Own Way

The Animals/House of the Rising Sun

Ian and Sylvia/Four Strong Winds

James Brown/Please Please Please

John Cougar Mellencamp, 'Pink Houses'

Leonard Cohen/Suzanne

The Ramones/I Wanna Be Sedated

Blue Rodeo/Try

The Guess Who/American Woman

U2/I Still Have't Found What I'm Looking For

Janis Joplin/Me and Bobby McGee

Gordon Lightfoot "If You Could Read My Mind"

The Byrds "Eight Miles High"

Simon and Garfunkel "The Sound of Silence"

Bill Haley and his Comets "Rock Around The Clock"

The Velvet Underground "I'm Waiting For The Man"

Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison Blues"

Bobby Fuller "I Fought The Law"

Big Star "September Gurls"

The Hollies "Bus Stop"

Joy Division "Love Will Tear Us Apart"

Booker T and the MGs "Green Onions"

Jimi Hendrix "Hey Joe"

Neil Young "Rockin' in the Free World"

Dolly Parton "Jolene"

The Left Banke "Walk Away Renee"

Lou Reed "Walk On The Wild Side"

James Taylor "Fire And Rain"

The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"

Marvin Gaye "Sexual Healing"

Radiohead "Paranoid Android"

M.I.A. "Paper Planes"

The Animals "We Gotta Get Out of this Place"

Dusty Springfield "Son of a Preacher Man"

Screamin' Jay Hawkins "I Put A Spell On You"

Cheap Trick "Surrender"

Mott The Hoople "All the Young Dudes"

Beach Boys "Sloop John B"

Amy Winehouse "Rehab"

New York Dolls "Personality Crisis"

Modern Lovers "Roadrunner"

George Jones "He Stopped Loving Her Today"

Bruce Springsteen "Born in the USA"

The Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends"

Rolling Stones 'Miss You'

The Coasters 'Run Red Run'

Elvis Costello, 'Alison'

James Brown, 'Hot (I Need to be loved loved loved)'

Inner Circle, 'Tenement Yard'

Ray Charles, 'I Don't Need No Doctor'

Curtis Mayfield, 'Freddy's Dead'

Gang Starr, 'Beyond Comprehension'

Bo Diddley, 'Bo Diddley'

Aretha Franklin, 'Rocksteady'

CCR, 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain'

Howlin' Wolf, 'Smokestack Lightning'

Bobby Womack, 'Across 110th Street'

Roy Orbison, 'In Dreams'

Foggy Hogtown Boys, 'Man of Constant Sorrow'

Pink Floyd, 'Wish You Were Here'

Neil Young, 'Cortez The Killer'

Bob Dylan, 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'

Little Eva, 'Loco-Motion'

Elvis Costello, 'Watching the Detectives'

Jimmy Cliff, 'The Harder They Come'

The Verve, 'Bittersweet Symphony'

Roberta Flack, 'Killing Me Softly with his Song'

R.E.M., 'Radio Free Europe'

Radiohead, 'No Surprises'

Led Zeppelin, 'Ramble On'

Rolling Stones, 'Beast of Burden'

Glen Campbell, 'Wichita Lineman'

JUNK IN THE TRUNK:

Rodents on turntables: 

An ode to simple pleasures: 

Discover Vancouver: 

RICH'S PICK: "Soul Makossa" by Manu Dibango:

MARK`S PICK: Van Halen with `Runnin with the Devil`

Every week, Rich Terfry looks back in our Rear-view Mirror at a great song from the good ol’ days. This week, Bruce Cockburn and "Lovers In A Dangerous Time."

In 1955, a high school teacher from Jacksonville, Florida vowed to write Elvis Presley's first hit, and she did just that.

Mae Boren Axton was working as an English teacher at Dupont High in Jacksonville when she went to see Nova Scotian country star Hank Snow in concert. Supporting Snow that night was Elvis Presley. Axton was very impressed by what she saw and decided that night that she would write Elvis' first hit song.

Around the same time, there was a story in Florida newspapers about a man who committed suicide by jumping from the window of a hotel room. He left a note with a single line that read, "I walk a lonely street." Axton was stunned when she read the story and decided to use it for inspiration for the song she'd write for Elvis. It took her one hour to write "Heartbreak Hotel".

Determined to get her song to Elvis, she found him at a hotel in Tennessee, where he was attending a music conference. When she played the demo for him, Elvis said, "Hot dog, Mae! Play that again!" He made Axton play the song for him ten times, until he had it memorized. Axton offered him the song and a third of royalties and a deal was made.

Elvis had just signed a big record deal with RCA and executive there hated the song. They wanted more upbeat rockabilly material like he recorded with his previous label, Sun Records. One executive called the song "a morbid mess" and another recommended the label not release it at all.

Well, it turned out that the brass at RCA was wrong about "Heartbreak Hotel". It shot to number one of the charts in January of 1956 and stayed there for seven weeks, becoming Elvis' first big hit. Mae Boren Axton went on to write songs for Willie Nelson, Tanya Tucker, Eddy Arnold and others.

Here's the song written by a Florida high school teacher who vowed to make Elvis Presley a star - this is "Heartbreak Hotel" on Rear View Mirror. 

Here are some other great editions of Rear-view Mirror:

Bruce Cockburn/Lovers In A Dangerous Time

The Doors - Light My Fire

Bob Dylan & Jimi Hendrix/All Along The Watchtower 

The Clash/London Calling

Phil Spector and the Ronnettes/Be My Baby

Os Mutantes/Ando Meio Desligado

The Diamonds/Little Darlin

Captain Beefheart/Yellow Brick Road

Elton John/Bennie and the Jets

Hank Williams/Long Gone Lonesome Blues

R.E.M./What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

Tom Waits/Jockey Full of Bourbon

Neil Diamond/Sweet Caroline

The Who/Pinball Wizard

Buffalo Springfield/For What It's Worth

Five Man Electrical Band/Signs

Band Aid/Do They Know It's Christmas

John Lennon/Imagine

The Ugly Ducklings/Nothin

Bob Dylan/Tangled Up In Blue

The Beatles/Norwegian Wood

The Pursuit of Happiness/I'm An Adult Now

Bruce Springsteen/Born To Run

Arcade Fire/Wake Up

Gnarls Barkley/Crazy

Big Joe Turner/Shake Rattle and Roll

Martha and the Muffins/Echo Beach

Wilson Pickett/In The Midnight Hour

The Band/The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Fleetwood Mac/Go Your Own Way

The Animals/House of the Rising Sun

Ian and Sylvia/Four Strong Winds

James Brown/Please Please Please

John Cougar Mellencamp, 'Pink Houses'

Leonard Cohen/Suzanne

The Ramones/I Wanna Be Sedated

Blue Rodeo/Try

The Guess Who/American Woman

U2/I Still Have't Found What I'm Looking For

Janis Joplin/Me and Bobby McGee

Gordon Lightfoot "If You Could Read My Mind"

The Byrds "Eight Miles High"

Simon and Garfunkel "The Sound of Silence"

Bill Haley and his Comets "Rock Around The Clock"

The Velvet Underground "I'm Waiting For The Man"

Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison Blues"

Bobby Fuller "I Fought The Law"

Big Star "September Gurls"

The Hollies "Bus Stop"

Joy Division "Love Will Tear Us Apart"

Booker T and the MGs "Green Onions"

Jimi Hendrix "Hey Joe"

Neil Young "Rockin' in the Free World"

Dolly Parton "Jolene"

The Left Banke "Walk Away Renee"

Lou Reed "Walk On The Wild Side"

James Taylor "Fire And Rain"

The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"

Marvin Gaye "Sexual Healing"

Radiohead "Paranoid Android"

M.I.A. "Paper Planes"

The Animals "We Gotta Get Out of this Place"

Dusty Springfield "Son of a Preacher Man"

Screamin' Jay Hawkins "I Put A Spell On You"

Cheap Trick "Surrender"

Mott The Hoople "All the Young Dudes"

Beach Boys "Sloop John B"

Amy Winehouse "Rehab"

New York Dolls "Personality Crisis"

Modern Lovers "Roadrunner"

George Jones "He Stopped Loving Her Today"

Bruce Springsteen "Born in the USA"

The Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends"

Rolling Stones 'Miss You'

The Coasters 'Run Red Run'

Elvis Costello, 'Alison'

James Brown, 'Hot (I Need to be loved loved loved)'

Inner Circle, 'Tenement Yard'

Ray Charles, 'I Don't Need No Doctor'

Curtis Mayfield, 'Freddy's Dead'

Gang Starr, 'Beyond Comprehension'

Bo Diddley, 'Bo Diddley'

Aretha Franklin, 'Rocksteady'

CCR, 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain'

Howlin' Wolf, 'Smokestack Lightning'

Bobby Womack, 'Across 110th Street'

Roy Orbison, 'In Dreams'

Foggy Hogtown Boys, 'Man of Constant Sorrow'

Pink Floyd, 'Wish You Were Here'

Neil Young, 'Cortez The Killer'

Bob Dylan, 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'

Little Eva, 'Loco-Motion'

Elvis Costello, 'Watching the Detectives'

Jimmy Cliff, 'The Harder They Come'

The Verve, 'Bittersweet Symphony'

Roberta Flack, 'Killing Me Softly with his Song'

R.E.M., 'Radio Free Europe'

Radiohead, 'No Surprises'

Led Zeppelin, 'Ramble On'

Rolling Stones, 'Beast of Burden'

Glen Campbell, 'Wichita Lineman'

This week rapper 50 Cent was embarrassed after flubbing the ceremonial first pitch at a New York Mets game (GIFed below).

The pitch was so far off that the catcher didn't have a chance, and it almost hit several cameramen who were filming from the side.

The throw was quickly dubbed "one of the worst first pitches of all time." But was it really? We found a few more musicians' pitches that are definite contenders.



Here's Carly Rae Jepsen, who clearly has some power in her pitch — she just forgets to let go of the ball.



Then there's Mariah Carey with a pitch that wins, hands down, for Wimpiest Throw Ever.

  

Clearly Tiffany Hwang, of South Korean group Girls' Generation, took her task very seriously, but almost took out a cameraman with a pitch that packed a deeply misguided punch.

 

Jessica Jung, also of Girls' Generation, wins big bonus points for throwing the ball in the right direction. She just forgets that the batter is more than five feet away.

 

After his terrible pitch on Tuesday, 50 Cent tweeted, “I’m a hustler not a Damn ball player. LMAO #smsaudio #animalambition."

And he's got a point there.

So we thought it was only fair to include a few major league ball players trying to sing. Here are just a few of the doozies we found.

Several players from the New York Mets singing (if you can call it that?) a beloved Christmas carol:

Former MLB player and commentator Deion Sanders trying to rap:

The Blue Jays singing "This Land is Your Land":

"Back In The World," the lead single from David Gray's 10th studio album, Mutineers, sees the English singer-songwriter reflecting on his place in the world and on the things that bring him joy. "If it's love lifts us up from the dark, is it God by another name?" he asks at one point.  

Now "Back In The World" has an appropriately ethereal music video to match the uplifting tone of the song, which we're premiering below. 

Mutineersis available June 17.

In her new song "Trouble's Lament," legendary singer-songwriter Tori Amos personifies trouble as a woman who has left her lover Satan.

But in her wicked new video, she transposes that idea onto three women who happen upon each other in a pool hall, and get tangled up with sketchy-seeming men.

The song comes from Amos' new album Unrepentant Geraldines.

So how does it all turn out?

Watch:

On Thursday, May 29, at 12:40 a.m. ET in Montreal, the names of the 12 semifinalists in the 2014 Montreal International Musical Competition were announced by jury president André Bourbeau. Open the gallery above and find out which young pianists made it through, and when each is scheduled to perform. (If you don't see the photo gallery, click here.)

Listen live.

The semifinal round will stream live right here on CBC Music, May 30 and 31 from 2 to 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 to 10 p.m. ET. While you're listening you can also hang out on Twitter with @CBCclassical for competition chat, photos and more. Recordings of each recital will also be posted online for one year — so no need to worry about missing anything.

Follow Scott Tresham on Twitter: @tresham 

Summer is the best time to be a classical music fan in Canada. Festivals large and small offer casual (and often scenic) atmospheres where top musicians give performances for audiences often dressed in shorts and sandals.

To help plan your summer adventures, CBC Music has compiled the best of Canada's summer classical music festivals from coast to coast.

Hit "open gallery" above for a look at Canada's top 15 summer classical music festivals, and tips on what to do once you get there.

Canada's classical music summer festivals

Considering a road trip? Here is a list of festivals taking place this summer, arranged from Atlantic to Pacific.

Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival: Aug. 4-17, St. John's, N.L.

Opera on the Avalon: May 19 to June 22, St. John's N.L.

Gros Morne Summer Music: July 22-25, Corner Brook, N.L.

Indian River Festival: June 22 to Sept. 19, Indian River, P.E.I.

Scotia Festival of Music: May 25 to June 8, Halifax, N.S.

New Brunswick Summer Music Festival: Aug. 11-23, Fredericton, N.B.

Domaine Forget: June 21 to Aug 24, Saint-Irénée, Que.

Musique de chambre à Sainte-Pétronille: June 26 to August 21, Sainte-Pétronille, Que.

Orford Festival: June 28 to Aug 17, Orford, Que.

Lanaudière Festival: July 8 to Aug. 10, Joliette, Que.

Cool Classical Spree Festival (La Virée classique de l’OSM): Aug. 15-16, Montreal, Que.

Montreal Chamber Music Festival: May 8-31, Montreal, Que.

Montreal Baroque Festival: June 19-22, Montreal, Que.

Music and Beyond: July 5-17, Ottawa, Ont.

Chamberfest: July 24 to Aug. 7, Ottawa, Ont.

Prince Edward County Music Festival: Sept. 19-28, Picton, Ont.

Toronto Summer Music: July 22 to Aug. 12, Toronto, Ont.

Luminato Festival: June 6 to 15, Toronto, Ont.

Brott Music Festival: June 19 to Aug. 14, Hamilton, Ont.

Festival of the Sound: July 18 to Aug 10, Parry Sound, Ont.

Elora Festival: July 11-27, Elora, Ont.

Stratford Summer Music: July 14 to Aug. 24, Stratford, Ont.

International Cello Festival of Canada: June 18-22, Winnipeg, Man.

Clear Lake Chamber Music Festival: July 31 to Aug. 4, Brandon, Man.

Summer Solstice Music Festival: June 20-22, Edmonton, Alta.

Opera NUOVA Vocal Arts Festival: May 10 to June 29, Edmonton, Alta.

Opera in the Village: Aug. 14-23, Calgary, Alta.

Morningside Music Bridge: July 2 to Aug. 1, Calgary, Alta.

Banff Summer Arts Festival: June 14-July 12, Banff, Alta.

Vancouver Early Music Festival: July 25 to Aug. 9, Vancouver, B.C.

Quadra Island Festival of Chamber Music: July 23-27, Quadra Island, B.C.

International Choral Kathaumixw: July 1-5, Powell River, B.C.

Victoria Summer Music Festival: July 22 to Aug. 5, Victoria, B.C.

Music by the Sea: July 5-13, Bamfield, B.C.

Do you have a favourite Canadian summer classical music festival that isn't on this list? Let us know by emailing classical@cbc.ca.

Follow Michael Morreale on Twitter: @18mrm

While some people regard it as a plight that has hinted at America’s imminent destruction for years, others (namely tweens or pre-pubescent totalitarians/cultural tastemakers) know the real truth: boy bands are everything. To everyone. Forever.

But Canada has, well, some trouble in this area. And though it’s difficult to even write these words, admitting we have a problem is the first step. Boy bands are Canada’s secret shame. We love’ em, we love ’em so hard, but we don’t know the first thing about fostering one that’s not a national embarrassment on some level. Sorry, Moffatts; not sorry, Identically Different. It’s the truth.

In the gallery above, CBC Music examines Canada’s history of homegrown boy bands and tries to figure out where we went wrong.

Come hang out with me on Twitter: @_AndreaWarner





With a new album from F--ked Up next week, we're reminded of the band names we're not allowed to write out in full. 

(Design by Heather Collett/CBC Music)

Retired Canadian Musician, definition: someone who spent years in a band and mostly loved it, but now chooses to no longer actively tour, sleep on people's floors, sling merch, and live in a van.

Maybe they never had the huge breakthrough hit, or maybe they just simply got sick of the view through a bug splattered windshield.

The Canadian music landscape is filled with artists who made incredible records, had awesome careers while it lasted, and built up devoted international fan bases, but for whatever reason, chose to move on to a new career. Some of those choices have kept their Fluevogs firmly planted in music, others not.

So where are all those Canadian musicians who made such an indelible impression on you?

From controller.controller to hHead, the Deadly Snakes, Pluto, the Gruesomes, Plumtree, Two Hours Traffic and more, check out our gallery of retired Canadian musicians then and now, and find out where they are and what they're doing. 

Which musicians do you often find yourself wondering "where are they now?" Let us know if the comments below or tweet us @cbcradio3. 

Thanks to Andrea Gin, Catherine "C-Stock" Stockhausen, and Mike Carver for their help with this post.

Related:

90's week: Canadian indie rockers then and now

It's a little hard to believe, but Kelp Records is turning 20 this year. The label, considered a cornerstone of the Ottawa music scene, is holding two anniversary concerts this week to celebrate.

To mark this occasion, we've asked label founder Jon Bartlett to walk us through his 20 highlights from the past 20 years. Check it out in the gallery above.

Bartlett says that when he started the label in Fredericton in 1994, he didn't envision the multi-pronged company it has become today. 

"I know I imagined building a catalogue that would live long term," he says, "but I don't think I ever expected that I'd end up being a manager/label guy as a full-time thing." 

The concerts are happening in Toronto at the Horseshoe Tavern on May 29 and Ottawa at St. Alban's Church on May 31. Both shows will feature performances from the Acorn, Jim Bryson, Andrew Vincent, Evening Hymns, Chris Page, Andy Swan, Rhume, and more.

Kelp is also putting out some reissues to celebrate, including vinyl versions of Andrew Vincent and the Pirates' 2003 release I Love the Modern Way and Andy Swan's 2007 album Ottawa. Both are available for pre-order now. 

You can also hear a retrospective mixtape of their releases on SoundCloud.

Watch Bryson talk about the label and play "Firewatch" from his first Kelp release, Where the Bungalows Roam, below. 

What is your favourite Kelp Records release? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @CBCRadio3.

Each day, Rich Terfry and Radio 2 Drive wraps up your day with music and stories about the interesting things going on in the world.

REAR VIEW MIRROR: 

Every week, Rich Terfry looks back in our Rear-view Mirror at a great song from the good ol’ days. This week, Bruce Cockburn and "Lovers In A Dangerous Time."

In 1955, a high school teacher from Jacksonville, Florida vowed to write Elvis Presley's first hit, and she did just that.

Mae Boren Axton was working as an English teacher at Dupont High in Jacksonville when she went to see Nova Scotian country star Hank Snow in concert. Supporting Snow that night was Elvis Presley. Axton was very impressed by what she saw and decided that night that she would write Elvis' first hit song.

Around the same time, there was a story in Florida newspapers about a man who committed suicide by jumping from the window of a hotel room. He left a note with a single line that read, "I walk a lonely street." Axton was stunned when she read the story and decided to use it for inspiration for the song she'd write for Elvis. It took her one hour to write "Heartbreak Hotel".

Determined to get her song to Elvis, she found him at a hotel in Tennessee, where he was attending a music conference. When she played the demo for him, Elvis said, "Hot dog, Mae! Play that again!" He made Axton play the song for him ten times, until he had it memorized. Axton offered him the song and a third of royalties and a deal was made.

Elvis had just signed a big record deal with RCA and executive there hated the song. They wanted more upbeat rockabilly material like he recorded with his previous label, Sun Records. One executive called the song "a morbid mess" and another recommended the label not release it at all.

Well, it turned out that the brass at RCA was wrong about "Heartbreak Hotel". It shot to number one of the charts in January of 1956 and stayed there for seven weeks, becoming Elvis' first big hit. Mae Boren Axton went on to write songs for Willie Nelson, Tanya Tucker, Eddy Arnold and others.

Here's the song written by a Florida high school teacher who vowed to make Elvis Presley a star - this is "Heartbreak Hotel" on Rear View Mirror. 

Here are some other great editions of Rear-view Mirror:

Bruce Cockburn/Lovers In A Dangerous Time

The Doors - Light My Fire

Bob Dylan & Jimi Hendrix/All Along The Watchtower 

The Clash/London Calling

Phil Spector and the Ronnettes/Be My Baby

Os Mutantes/Ando Meio Desligado

The Diamonds/Little Darlin

Captain Beefheart/Yellow Brick Road

Elton John/Bennie and the Jets

Hank Williams/Long Gone Lonesome Blues

R.E.M./What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

Tom Waits/Jockey Full of Bourbon

Neil Diamond/Sweet Caroline

The Who/Pinball Wizard

Buffalo Springfield/For What It's Worth

Five Man Electrical Band/Signs

Band Aid/Do They Know It's Christmas

John Lennon/Imagine

The Ugly Ducklings/Nothin

Bob Dylan/Tangled Up In Blue

The Beatles/Norwegian Wood

The Pursuit of Happiness/I'm An Adult Now

Bruce Springsteen/Born To Run

Arcade Fire/Wake Up

Gnarls Barkley/Crazy

Big Joe Turner/Shake Rattle and Roll

Martha and the Muffins/Echo Beach

Wilson Pickett/In The Midnight Hour

The Band/The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Fleetwood Mac/Go Your Own Way

The Animals/House of the Rising Sun

Ian and Sylvia/Four Strong Winds

James Brown/Please Please Please

John Cougar Mellencamp, 'Pink Houses'

Leonard Cohen/Suzanne

The Ramones/I Wanna Be Sedated

Blue Rodeo/Try

The Guess Who/American Woman

U2/I Still Have't Found What I'm Looking For

Janis Joplin/Me and Bobby McGee

Gordon Lightfoot "If You Could Read My Mind"

The Byrds "Eight Miles High"

Simon and Garfunkel "The Sound of Silence"

Bill Haley and his Comets "Rock Around The Clock"

The Velvet Underground "I'm Waiting For The Man"

Johnny Cash "Folsom Prison Blues"

Bobby Fuller "I Fought The Law"

Big Star "September Gurls"

The Hollies "Bus Stop"

Joy Division "Love Will Tear Us Apart"

Booker T and the MGs "Green Onions"

Jimi Hendrix "Hey Joe"

Neil Young "Rockin' in the Free World"

Dolly Parton "Jolene"

The Left Banke "Walk Away Renee"

Lou Reed "Walk On The Wild Side"

James Taylor "Fire And Rain"

The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"

Marvin Gaye "Sexual Healing"

Radiohead "Paranoid Android"

M.I.A. "Paper Planes"

The Animals "We Gotta Get Out of this Place"

Dusty Springfield "Son of a Preacher Man"

Screamin' Jay Hawkins "I Put A Spell On You"

Cheap Trick "Surrender"

Mott The Hoople "All the Young Dudes"

Beach Boys "Sloop John B"

Amy Winehouse "Rehab"

New York Dolls "Personality Crisis"

Modern Lovers "Roadrunner"

George Jones "He Stopped Loving Her Today"

Bruce Springsteen "Born in the USA"

The Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends"

Rolling Stones 'Miss You'

The Coasters 'Run Red Run'

Elvis Costello, 'Alison'

James Brown, 'Hot (I Need to be loved loved loved)'

Inner Circle, 'Tenement Yard'

Ray Charles, 'I Don't Need No Doctor'

Curtis Mayfield, 'Freddy's Dead'

Gang Starr, 'Beyond Comprehension'

Bo Diddley, 'Bo Diddley'

Aretha Franklin, 'Rocksteady'

CCR, 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain'

Howlin' Wolf, 'Smokestack Lightning'

Bobby Womack, 'Across 110th Street'

Roy Orbison, 'In Dreams'

Foggy Hogtown Boys, 'Man of Constant Sorrow'

Pink Floyd, 'Wish You Were Here'

Neil Young, 'Cortez The Killer'

Bob Dylan, 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'

Little Eva, 'Loco-Motion'

Elvis Costello, 'Watching the Detectives'

Jimmy Cliff, 'The Harder They Come'

The Verve, 'Bittersweet Symphony'

Roberta Flack, 'Killing Me Softly with his Song'

R.E.M., 'Radio Free Europe'

Radiohead, 'No Surprises'

Led Zeppelin, 'Ramble On'

Rolling Stones, 'Beast of Burden'

Glen Campbell, 'Wichita Lineman'

JUNK IN THE TRUNK:

Marriage advice from Bill Murray: 

Musical otters: 

A conversation with a group of lambs: 

RICH'S PICK: "Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho" by Mahalia Jackson:

MARK'S PICK: Kenny Rogers with "The Gambler"