The purchase of Muzak by Toronto-based company Mood Media in March seemed like a curious deal.

How could a company founded in 1934, best known for piping saccharine instrumental versions of pop hits into elevators everywhere, still be worth $345 million (U.S.) in 2011?

Well, some of the value must have been in the kitsch associated with the brand name, even if Muzak Holdings filed for bankruptcy two years before the sale.

Muzak recently sponsored an event held at the Manhattan retail store of fashion designer John Varvatos, strategically located in the Bowery district site made famous by legendary rock and punk nightclub CBGB.

Urge Overkill, the band whose biggest hit was the maudlin "Pulp Fiction" version of Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon," were the focus of a promotional appearance timed with  their new reunion album.

And, somehow, all of this tied back to the reinvention of Muzak.

The promotion was evidently designed to show that the name is no longer strictly about Read More »

While stories about retail expansions in Canada have been dominated by American stores like Target and Macy's, a few new names could be heading to a mall near you from a different direction.

A report from the Winnipeg Free Press revealed that Quebec fashion fixture La Maison Simons was all but confirmed to anchor The Elms retail development proposed for the site of the Canad Inns Stadium. But the project fell through due to soaring construction costs.

The popular Quebecois department store already secured its first location beyond the seven in its home province. West Edmonton Mall will house the first of a potential dozen new Simons outlets across Canada.

Naturally, there was room on that wish list for Winnipeg, especially with Creswin Properties developer David Asper's hope of rejuvenating the space around Polo Park with shops that were unique to the city.

Now that the stadium redevelopment has been taken over by the University of Manitoba and the Winnipeg Football Club, the high-end Read More »

Ontario has initiated the process of becoming the third province in Canada to offer online gambling.

More importantly, it hopes to get things right the first time.

Consultations formally started this week to determine how to safely introduce virtual bets by 2012.

Rod Phillips, appointed the new president and chief executive officer of the OLG last month, was handed the task of cutting $200 million in annual expenses while also introducing an Internet casino hoped to eventually bring in $100 million.

B.C. was the first province to offer a full gaming site last July as an expansion of the PlayNow online lottery that launched in 2004. Popular demand led the site to crash within a few hours.

The same gaming platform was brought to Quebec in November, under the name EspaceJeux, which eventually allowed for poker tournaments with players in B.C.

First Nation chiefs in Saskatchewan, who operate some physical casinos in the province, recently expressed a desire to bring their games to the Web Read More »

• Police Const. Glenn Weddell, who could not be positively identified by 11 colleagues during a probe into an officer who allegedly slammed a man with a riot shield and hit him with a baton during the G20 Summit last year, has been unmasked. (Toronto Star)

• Rogers Media will attempt to overcome the curse of countless other attempts at a Canadian sports magazine with the launch of a bi-weekly publication directly linked with its television, radio and online properties that also use the name Sportsnet. (Marketing)

• Dean McDermott, the husband and reality show co-star of Tori Spelling, is scheduled to show off his diaper-changing skills in a Toronto shopping mall next Thursday as part of a pre-Father's Day promotion to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pampers. (CNW)

One of the performers is so young, she wasn't even born when Prince William made his last visit to Canada in 1998.

Winnipeg's own mini-Lady Gaga, 10-year-old Maria Aragon, will be performing for Prince William and Princess Catherine alongside other big Canadian names such as Sam Roberts and Great Big Sea.

Aragon, who shot into the spotlight after singing a cover of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," has already performed with the pop superstar, as well as Prime Minister Stephen Harper. She has also appeared on local television shows and national American programs such as The Ellen Degeneres Show and Good Morning America, but this will be her first time in front of royalty.

In addition to Aragon, Parliament Hill will be showcasing coast-to-coast talent for the royal couple and the hundreds of thousands expected to attend the Read More »

Leanne Iskander, 16, tells Xtra that the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board prevented her group from displaying any rainbows at their information booth during an anti-homophobia event last week.

Iskander is the founder of the unofficial gay-straight alliance at St. Joseph Catholic School in Mississauga.

"We brought signs and posters with rainbows, and we were told we can't put them up," says Iskander to Xtra. "They said rainbows are associated with Pride. There's so many other things that a rainbow could be. It's ridiculous."

But this did not stop the group from showing a rainbow. They baked cupcakes with different colour icing and displayed them on the table so it resembled a rainbow. Better yet, when people bit into the cupcake, there was a rainbow of colours inside.

By selling the cupcakes at 50 cents each, the Read More »

Clinton, who possesses them in virtually every color of the rainbow, has made suits her fashion uniform of choice during her time in the public eye. And so prior to yesterday's state dinner, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is herself a pantsuit fan, poked some gentle fun at the Secretary of State's wardrobe, via an unusual gift -- taking care to tell Clinton that "you may take it in a playful mode."

When they met on Tuesday, Merkel presented Clinton with a framed copy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper featuring an Associated Press photo of the two leaders during the Secretary of State's visit to Germany this past April.

The photo was of Clinton and Merkel, in their signature pantsuits, captured from the waist down and featured the caption, "Which one is Merkel and which one is Clinton?" The following page of the paper revealed the full photo--which Merkel included on the back of the framed gift she presented to Clinton Read More »

The study released Wednesday by J.D. Power and Associates shows that customer satisfaction increased 10 points from last year to 683 for traditional carriers on a 1,000-point scale.

It may come as a major surprise to many Canadian travellers, but Air Canada finished second on the list out of traditional carriers, scoring 678 points, just two points behind leader Alaska Airlines.

Air Canada showed the largest overall improvement from last year after president Calvin Rovinescu vowed in the company's annual report to "meet and exceed customer satisfaction." Last year Air Canada only scored 636 points.

The lowest-rated traditional carrier is U.S. Airways, which scored 625 points.

However, what may be more surprising is that fliers seem to enjoy flying on low-cost carriers more than traditional ones. The low-cost carriers' average rating is Read More »