From now until the end of summer, the RMOW will host the Whistler Presents Concert series. This weekend, reggae-tinged singer-songwriter Jason Mraz will perform alongside percussionist Toca Rivera on Friday, followed by pop-punkstress Bif Naked on Saturday. Since none of these performers were available for interviews, here's all the biographical information we could muster.
Jason Mraz, FRIDAY, AUG. 5, 7:30 P.M.
Born: Beth Torbert, June 23, 1977, Mechanicsville, VA
Target audience: Women aged 14-25 who like Jack Johnson but don't want to listen to him anymore; mothers who are looking for a younger man to have a crush on; very sensitive men.
Most recent album: We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. , released 2008. Earlier this month, Mraz confirmed via Twitter that a new album will be released in early 2012.
Best known for: The 2008 single, "I'm Yours," which topped American radio charts; the track "Greek in Pink," popularized by an American Idol contestant Chris Richardson in 2007, catapulting the song to mass recognition instantly.
Betcha didn't know: Although he is not homosexual, he has stated he will not get married until gay marriage is legalized. He owns an avocado farm in California. His surname is Czech for "frost." He once played Joseph in the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In 2005, he opened for Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill Acoustic Tour. He first teamed up with Toca Rivera for a sold-out performance at the 2006 Mosaic Music Festival in Singapore.
Bif Naked: SATURDAY, AUG. 6, 7 P.M.
Born: June 15, 1971, New Delhi, India
Target audience: Men who like women who rock; women who like women who rock; everyone looking for a decent mosh pit, now that mosh pits are virtually extinct.
Most recent album: The Promise , released in 2008. According to a blog post on her website earlier this year, she will be releasing her first acoustic album in 2011. No other details have been confirmed.
Best known for: The crossover radio hit, "Spaceman," which earned her mass recognition across Canada.
Betcha didn't know: Bif Naked is a nickname she's had since the eighth grade, when someone mispronounced her real name, Beth. She was born to teenage parents attending private school in New Delhi. She was later adopted by American missionaries and spent a part of her childhood in Lexington, Kentucky before her family moved to Winnipeg. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. In 2007, she married Vancouver Sun sports writer Ian Walker. She is a comic cartoonist, a published poet and an actress.
