It's the JUNOS, and everyone's partying Heavy on the Right Coast

Judging by the Pink Mafia’s motto, “putting the F.U. back in FUN”, Heavy on the Right Coast is gonna be one hell of a party. Party planner extraordinaire, Anna Von Frances, and her über hot Pink Mafia femmes have taken on the task of throwing the Juno party hosted by breakout rapper Drake at the Majestic Theatre in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 17th, 2010. Team Canada DJs, Grahmzilla (Thunderheist), and DJs Starting from Scratch, Skratch Bastid, and Scratch from the Roots will be providing epic tunes at the party.  

The Vancouver Observer got a chance to talk to Anna, Don of the Pink Mafia, who dished on the big event, being a woman in a male-dominated industry, and her favourite east-coast comfort foods.

Left to right: Martina Sorbara (Dragonette), Anna Von Frances (Pink Mafia), and Riviera (who DJ'd the party) at the Rockstar Hotel for the Calgary Junos.

VO: Can you tell us a little about what kind of work Pink Mafia does, and some tips on throwing a big party like Heavy on the Right Coast?
Pink mafia is a promotion company and we run a blog and an all-female street team: we have quite a large viral network.  For this particular event, I'd say one of the key things is getting on it early, planning early.  It's not just me, it's Pink Mafia, Red Bull, Last Gang Entertainment and TMKO lawyers, and we're all known for throwing really great parties.  So this year we teamed up, which is a really key step in doing something fantastic, to get other fantastic people on board with you.  It's actually been pretty painless this year cause everybody's so good at what they do and has such great contacts and everyone that we've reached out to has been really excited about it.  St. John’s in 2002 is the reason why the Junos travel now, cause they did such a fantastic job.  I feel like we can't just go in and throw a run of the mill party, not that we ever would, but we really gotta come in with our A-game. 

VO: How do you deal with the fact that the entertainment industry is so male-dominated?  Is the "mafia don" branding a way to fit in with that?
I think one of the key elements of Pink Mafia is not really the woman-man thing, we're pretty tongue-in-cheek.  The mafia thing is tongue-in-cheek.  If there's a joke to be made, we're on it.  The way things are named constantly flip the switch on things in a humorous way, it's not political at all.  I mean, I have an online entertainment blog that does really, really well and it's all female writers, but it's not like we don't let guys in.  It's entertainment, it's totally male dominated, it's the music industry: but so's everything else, right?

Calgary Junos: Anna and Dave 1 (Chromeo) at "The Best Damn Junos Party in Cow Town" by Pink Mafia, Goodfoot, and Yahoo Music Canada.

VO: Do you ever feel the need to caricaturize your own celebrity in drawing attention to your business?
No, we don't have a problem attracting people to the company with quality.  I guess there's a lot of people that work with Pink Mafia that have big personalities, and they certainly don't create them for the work but being charming or smart of good at what you do sure helps. 

VO: What kind of history do you have with the Junos?
The first party I did was in Halifax, this will be the fourth year for me.  I didn't do Vancouver last year but Saskatoon, Calgary, Halifax and now St. John’s. St. John’s 2002 changed the way the Junos were gonna operate, because it was one of the most successful, and then they took it to different cities from there and that's why it's travelled since, so I'm pretty excited to get back to the spot where it all started in a sense.  But also Newfoundland is my home province, so I'm excited for all the Toronto industry to go out and experience some down home hospitality. 

Anna and Eon (Bedouin Soundclash) at the Rockstar Hotel, Calgary Junos.

VO: How does each different city's vibe shape the festivities of the Juno parties you throw?
I think that the cities play a really key role, and it's something that is a challenge but it's also one of the best parts about doing it.  Living in Toronto there's a lot of industry, and when you take it somewhere like Saskatoon and people are out of their element, people relax a bit but the locals are always the ones who are the most excited and then that excitement is infectious and everybody else gets excited.  With each city being so welcoming, you get out there and it's like a big celebration.  It's always really fun and the buzz is already huge.  Even just planning the event you have to work with a lot of companies in the host city, calling people on a daily basis, you find new accents, new ways of doing things and people are just really getting excited.

VO: What about St. John’s in particular is going to add some unique flavour to this party?
Well, being the "right coast" I think there's gonna be an intimate vibe for sure.  It's on the water, it's the North Atlantic, and there are so many people who never even get a chance to go that far who are gonna be blown away by how beautiful it is.  And it's gonna have that comfort food feeling.  At the same time, they're seasoned out there: George Street has more bars per capita than anywhere else in the country. We have to really come with a plan.  We're not gonna impress anybody just opening the doors and throwing a few musicians in there.  They're beyond that.  This year its multi-level: we took over the Franklin hotel for the artists who are playing the party. 

My company Pink Mafia with ION Magazine created a Hip Guide to St. John’s and that's gonna be in St. John’s leading up to the Junos but also sent out to industry travelling with invites to our event on Saturday.  It'll be available online on ionmagazine.com and pinkmafia.ca/blog leading up to the Junos.  We blew it out a lot bigger, we made it into more of a weekend.  I really want people to have a fabulous experience in St. John’s because I do feel like they're coming to my home province so we worked really hard to make sure that people know what the taxi numbers are, or where to go for vegetarian food and that kind of thing.  We want to get that excitement kick-started before they even go. 

Steele (Alexisonfire), Anna, and Pat (formerly of Bedouin Soundclash) at the "Down and Dirty" Saskatoon Junos. 

VO: What kinds of comfort food come to mind for people to try out while they're in St. John’s?
I don't know if you've ever had cod, it's a fantastic fish that I really, really like but when you cook it, it makes your clothes smell fishy. I remember so many times when I was a kid being, "no it's not me, my mom was cooking cod!" But the food that I miss is all that kind of stuff that my Grandma used to make.  Like touton: it's like a homemade white bread bun that they fry up in a frying pan with molasses.  It's a Newfie tradition.  When I was putting together the guide with ION, someone put me in touch with Rex Goudie from Canadian Idol, and he's from St. John’s so he recommended a place to eat after the bar, a place where you can get touton at 5 am and I almost fell out of my chair laughing.  Only a Newfie would suggest touton at 5am after the bar.  And the other stuff, you'll never eat better fish in your life than when you go to Newfoundland, fresh right out of the ocean.

VO: What would your dream party look like, unlimited budget?
I don't know about a dream party because already I'm thinking about logistical details, but I know there are some artists I'd love to impress, like Madonna.  I'm always really impressed when people use venues well and use their imaginations.  Not so much about the budget but what you do with it.  I went to a loft party last night with some fashion people but they had created, in the middle of the room with a disco ball and lights and fabric, a giant fort.  It was so dreamy and nice and really set the tone of the night. 

VO: Who are your favorites for artists who deserve a Juno this year?
There are a lot of really good people this year: Tegan and Sara are an amazing export and they don't get a ton of love at these sort of things so I'd love to see them win.  I think Billy Talent have worked their buns off and they did it a bit at a time and they really earned the success they have.  And of course Drake is the breakout hit of the year--that just came out of nowhere.  And I love that the biggest hip-hop star of North America is from our home turf.  He's coming out, hosting this party, is up for four awards… I already feel that he's excited to be doing this as part of the Junos.  The guy was up for Grammys before he even put an album out. Unbelievable. Legendary.

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About Pink Mafia:
Pink Mafia is a one-stop shop for musicians, clubs and lifestyle brands. From event coordination and planning, to promoting a band or event through their all- female street team, Picture Me Rollin’, or their viral network of approximately 20,000 members or on their entertainment blog, Knee Socks Beat Cleavage, Pink Mafia is the bridge between your brand and the public awareness of it. The only all-female event promotion company in the industry who incorporate guerrilla tactics to bring the word on the street into the business boardroom: www.pinkmafia.ca