Corin Raymond’s Canadian Tire money campaign is sweeping the nation. Exclaim, Spinner, and Canadian Musician are all keeping up with the count which has now climbed up to more than $3600!
TORONTO SONGWRITER CORIN RAYMOND FUNDS NEW ALBUM WITH CANADIAN TIRE MONEY
By Alex Hudson
This just might be one of the most quintessentially Canadian stories we’ve ever heard. Like so many other indie musicians, Toronto songwriter Corin Raymond recently embarked on a fundraising campaign to pay for his new live album. The twist? He paid for the entire thing with Canadian Tire money.
Raymond has been campaigning to raise Canadian Tire money since January, and he’s been collecting it from fans while on tour across the country. Now, the Toronto Star reports that he’s raised an incredible $3,297.
He will use to money to pay producer James Paul of the Rogue Studios, who accepts Canadian Tire money at par in exchange for recording time.
“I started doing it because I realized we will always need coffee, or toilet paper, or light bulbs,” Paul told the Star.
Raymond has been giving updates of his progress over atDontSpendItHoney.com. He recently wrote, ”Funny thing is I still haven’t set foot in a Canadian Tire since all this ludicrousness began. I can’t remember the last time I was in one.”
As for the album itself, Raymond and his band the Sundowners recorded it over two nights at the Tranzac in Toronto. He wrote, “It’s a live album featuring songs by artists from across the land — great songs — being performed by me and my band the Sundowners. It won’t just be a joy to listen to and to hold in your hands, it’ll also lead you to writers and performers you haven’t discovered yet; it’ll be a secret history of Canadian roots music as it thrives and survives right now.”
Below, watch Raymond perform his Canadian Tire money anthem “Don’t Spend It Honey” while audience members shower him with bills.
http://exclaim.ca/News/toronto_songwriter_corin_raymond_funds_new_album_with_canadian_tire_money
TORONTO SINGER CORIN RAYMOND USES CANADIAN TIRE MONEY TO PAY FOR NEW ALBUM
By Jason MacNeil
It’s not exactly Monopoly money but Canadians have often used Canadian Tire money — the long-established hardware store chain’s reward cashback bucks — for beer,feeding puppies, or any number of other reasons. Now a Toronto singer-songwriter has used the five-cent and ten-cent coupon bills to fund recording a live studio album.
According to the Toronto Star, Corin Raymond announced in January he was on a mission to pay for studio time at the Rogue Studios in Toronto, which accepted Canadian Tire money.
Following a national tour, which made headlines for Raymond’s ingenuity in landing studio time, the musician raised over $3,000 after beginning in January with just $140 in Canadian Tire money.
Raymond told the publication the actual sum is “$3,297.10, and I’m bringing a half a knapsack worth of the stuff back. It looks like I robbed a bank.”
According to Raymond’s site he was hoping to raise the money by July, but things snowballed far more than he expected. A Feb. 27 blog post on the site showed just over $2,600 in “all the colours of the Canadian Tire rainbow” and taking up a sizable portion of a table stacked in huge bundles two and three piles high. He also wrote a song called “Canadian Tire Money” to help spread the word.
“Funny thing is I still haven’t set foot in a Canadian Tire since all this ludicrousness began,” Raymond said. “I’m not avoiding them, or anything, and it certainly warms my heart in a strangely conspiratorial way when I see that red triangle with the green maple leaf on it.”
In a humorous twist, the singer says the elastic bands holding the Canadian Tire money was purchased at Home Hardware, a rival chain of stores.
Raymond will perform Toronto dates later this month and in June as well as a free show at Yonge-Dundas Square on June 4.
The singer still has some work to do in comparison to Amanda Palmer‘s recent Kickstarter campaign. Originally hoping for around $100,000 to go towards a new album, Palmer recently eclipsed more than $700,000 U.S. in pledges.
http://www.spinner.ca/2012/05/18/corin-raymond-canadian-tire-money
Also check out Corin’s story as part of Canadian Musician’s big story on social media. Click on the link below and turn to page 42!
http://www.canadianmusician.com/online/
