It was reported back in March that the city of Brampton, Ontario had nominated five local artists to join the city’s Arts Walk of Fame in 2016. On March 9th, Brampton City Council decided that the following individuals will be recognized for their achievements in the visual and performing arts:

• Lee Aaron - Performing Arts, Vocalist
• Trey Anthony - Performing Arts, Playwright, Producer, Actor, Comedienne
• Andy Donato - Visual Arts, Cartoonist
• Othalie Graham - Performing Arts, Opera Singer
• Exco Levi (né Wayne Ford Levy) - Performing Arts, Singer, Songwriter

Lee Aaron recently posted the following news:

"A letter from the mayor? I guess I'm getting a star on the Brampton Arts Walk of Fame! Gee..how cool is that!"

The 2016 nominees will be celebrated at an induction ceremony on September 24th, 2016.

The Brampton Arts Walk of Fame has honoured 11 inductees since its inception in 2014. The program is intended to celebrate local artists by recognizing those who have had distinguished careers in the arts, winning national or international awards. Nominations are accepted year-round from the public in the following categories: Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Media Arts and New Media, Literature and Creative Arts. For nomination details, visit this location.

The new video below features behind-the-scenes footage of Lee Aaron and her band during pre-production and laying down tracks in the studio for the new album, Fire And Gasoline. The clip includes interviews with Sean Kelly, Dave Reimer and John Cody, as well as Lee's take on the writing and recording process and more.

BraveWords scribe Carl Begai recently spoke with Lee, who released Fire And Gasoline on March 25th. Following is an excerpt from the interview that does not appear in the feature story.

"Sometimes I think it's a miracle I haven't lost my voice after all these years in rock n' roll and having bad monitors," says Lee. "I finally caved about a month ago and bought myself a set of in-ear monitors. I used them for the first time on a weekend away in Saskatoon and Regina, and it was like 'Where have you been all my life?' (laughs). It's so nice because with music that has powerful guitars, a lot of the time I wasn't hearing the nuances in my vocalizations. No with the in-ears it's like 'Man, this is amazing...' The funny thing is I always stay after the show to sign autographs or take pictures with the fans - meeting the fans is one of my favourite parts of performing - and at those two shows I received extra comments on how good the vocals sounded. I'm so glad I took the plunge."

"There's no guessing. When you're in a rock band the guitar player starts turning up a little bit two thirds into the set, the drummer plays louder, the bassist turns up, the whole sound system gets turned up, and before you know it your ears are shutting down. There have been some nights where I've been guessing and really hoping I'm actually hitting the notes, so the in-ears are a nice thing to have."

Go to this location to check out the BraveWords feature story.

About the album she says: "Fire And Gasoline is a rock n' roll record, and I think it would have been a huge mistake to make an album that sounds like something I did before."

“Fire And Gasoline” video:

“Tomboy” video: