Juno where? Manitoba award winners share their storage solutions for prized musical trophy By: Jen Zoratti Posted: 3:50 PM CDT Friday, Mar. 22, 2024

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/03/2024 (946 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When it’s first presented to the winner, the Juno Award — the physical embodiment of Canada’s highest musical honour — is passed around, hoisted aloft and photographed incessantly.

But then what happens to it?

In anticipation of this weekend’s 2024 Juno Awards in Halifax, we asked seven past Manitoba winners where they keep their coveted prize.

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Al Simmons

Best Children’s Album, 1996

“My award-winning second recording was titled Celery Stalks at Midnight after a song by Will Bradley. I was presented my Juno award by Rompin’ Ronnie Hawkins in Hamilton, Ont., in 1996. That was the second time the awards were handed out somewhere other than Toronto. When I was ushered backstage, that Juno was taken away from me to be presented to the next recipient. I went into a back room where I lined up between Liona Boyd and Ben Heppner to have our photos taken holding yet another Juno that was passed from one of us to the other as we took our place in front of the camera.

“I flew home the next day and the Winnipeg Free Press met me at the airport. Fortunately Susan Aglukark’s manager lent me her Juno for the photo op.

“My Juno arrived in the mail a few weeks later. My wife and boys and I were pretty excited. Before too long we heard, ‘Take the Juno off the kitchen table, it’s time to eat’ and ‘Take the Juno off the coffee table we are trying to play cards’ and ‘Hey, I just tripped over the darn Juno.’

“The next day, I had an autograph session at a local record store (remember those?) and I decided to take the Juno with me. Everyone was extremely excited to see it and get their picture taken while holding it. The Juno never did go back into my house. It stayed in my case of props and costumes. I would announce on stage: ‘Most people keep their trophies on a mantle collecting dust; I travel with mine and pass it around in the audience to collect fingerprints.’ It became a prop and part of my act.

“Twenty years later, Jan Harding Jeanson, who sang on my award-winning album, jokingly asked when she would receive her Juno. I went over to her house when no one was home and made an elaborate display in her gazebo featuring my Juno, with a note saying she could borrow it for a few months.

“Within a week my storage building burned to the ground. Most of my 50-year collection of eccentric musical instruments, wacky props and inventive costumes went up in smoke.

“The Juno was safe and sound at Jan’s home. Whew!

“Two years later a pandemic put a stop to all my shows. I began to wonder if I had personally spread the disease. Perhaps my Juno was collecting fingerprints and COVID-19. I’m not sure if it is safe to pass it around again, but I’m going to at least have my freshly sanitized Juno in the lobby at all my shows.”

Steve Bell

Best Gospel Album, 1998 and 2001; Recording Package of the Year, 2015

“I keep my Junos on the top shelf of my book cabinet in my office at home, mostly because I wouldn’t know where else to keep them.

“The lovely thing about the statues themselves is that winners could buy as many as they want to gift to others, so when I won my first one in ‘98, my manager and I bought one for each of our parents, and then for a couple of industry friends who had been significant to our modest success, and then for a few retailers across the country who had gone out of their way to give my CDs prominent places in their stores, offered to sell concert tickets for local concerts, and enthusiastically participated in various promotional campaigns.

“As much as it is rewarding to see Junos on my shelf at home, it is lovelier yet to visit colleagues and supporters and see them on their mantels, and to know that my work has mattered to them as well.”

Jay Bodner of Eagle & Hawk

Best Music of Aboriginal Canada Recording, 2002

“I am humbled to have been nominated for five Juno Awards (three with Eagle & Hawk and two with Indian City) and won the very first time we were nominated. I didn’t attend that show because my wife and I had just welcomed our second child into the world and I wanted to stay married. But I was in attendance for the subsequent four losses.

“Before I tell you where I keep my Juno I’d like to share a story. As many good, impoverished musicians have been required to do, I had a part-time job as a health-care aide and clerk at Concordia Hospital in the emergency department.

“My ER friends asked if I would bring my Juno in to show it off. I packaged it up safely and brought it to my next shift with a grand unveiling at the nursing desk. There was much ‘oohs and ahhs’ from my pals. One of them was so excited she shouted, ‘Oh my God, he won an Emmy!’

“My beloved colleagues asked if they could hold it and I proudly passed it off, drinking in the adoration, when one of the patient call bells went off and my pals said. ‘Oh, Jay, Bed 3 needs to go to the bathroom.’ And my moment of adoration ended there, free falling back down to Earth without a parachute. That’s stayed with me as a reminder to stay humble.

“I keep my Juno in our basement rec room/music room. It’s on a glass shelf with a few other musical milestones. Sometimes I put it on the piano upstairs if new people are coming over and I’m trying to impress them. Just kidding.”

Keri Latimer of Nathan

Roots & Traditional Album of the Year, 2008

“Our Juno has had a bit of a rough life. It’s been loved, broken and duct-taped back together.

“When it first arrived, it naturally expected to be praised and lavished upon, but our son Oscar was born that week, so it may have felt neglected. I don’t think that’s why it jumped off the piano in the living room and injured itself, but we’ll never know for sure.

“Also, music awards are strange houseguests, aren’t they? You invite them over, but when they accept, you wonder if they made a mistake, and aren’t quite sure where to put them. Intuitively, you know your place is no better than your heroes and musical peers that were nominated alongside you, and you wish it could just visit everyone. It brings up a weird mixture of pride and imposter syndrome at the same time.

“Maybe that’s why we keep it on a shelf in the basement now, in our jam space/rumpus room with some friends, not hidden but not flaunted. It seems to like it there.”

Jesse Matthewson of KEN mode

Heavy Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year, 2012

“I keep my Juno on my parents’ piano, first and foremost because when we won it, we were basically living on the road, so it was the most stable place to display it. I may take it back some day, when I can set up a proper situation in a house that I own … but for now, this remains the most appropriate spot. Maybe if we win a second this year, my sentiments will change sooner.

“Or maybe I’ll just want to add a second Juno to the piano. It already has a pair of Western Canadian Music Awards (2013 and 2023) sitting next to it, so why not overload that piano? Crushed under the weight of niche music awards.”

Roberta and David Landreth

Recording Package of the Year, 2015 (Roberta)

Roots & Traditional Album of Year, 2015; Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, 2023 (David of the Bros. Landreth)

“They are in a window above our bookshelf. I really like symmetry as a designer, so Dave’s newest addition (the gold Juno in the middle) gives the shelf a nice balance. This Juno also broke our tie for awards — I was nominated for my second in 2022 but no statue; in 2023, he won. I always joke that my odds are waaaayyy better than his because I work on 15 to 20 albums a year where the Bros. Landreth really only put out an album every two years. When you look at it this way his award presence on this shelf is really impressive.”

Jocelyn Gould and Will Bonness

Jazz Album of the Year (Solo), 2021 (Gould)

Jazz Album of the Year (Solo), 2022 (Bonness)

“My Juno has had a couple of homes since it arrived in Manitoba in July 2021,” Gould says. “While I was on tour for most of 2021 and 2022, my dad asked if he could “take care of it” for me so it went to his place in St. Vital for about a year where he showed it off to anyone who came inside.

“When my partner Will Bonness won a Juno in the exact same category as me one year later in 2022 (making us a Juno power couple), we figured it was time to start an awards shelf. Our Junos now reside together on a shelf in our dining room along with Will’s Western Canadian Music Award and a couple others.”

jen.zoratti@winnipegfreepress.com