Saturday night, Chad is headlining the Canada Day concert on the Hill as the frontman for Nickelback, while James brings his own band to Queen's Landing on the waterfront for the inaugural Halifax Summerfest.

"I don't remember what I wrote, but obviously it worked," laughs James, acknowledging the huge success Chad Kroeger and Nickelback are now enjoying all over the world.

It's a rocking weekend as Nova Scotians get ready to celebrate the 136th birthday of the nation. In a gesture of national unity, the big acts are all from Vancouver, including Nickelback, Default, Colin James and Bif Naked. Prairie boy Tom Cochrane is playing The Casino. This coast is well represented, too, with performances on the Hill by Crush and The Trews, and on the Halifax waterfront by local DJs Skratch Bastid, The Goods, IV, EMC and Shinook and popular folk-pop band Blueberry Grunt.

Hopefully, the bounty of bands won't thin the audience too much.

Colin James is taking the long road to his waterfront gig. The Saskatoon-raised singer and guitarist has been in New England this past week on family business, but flies back to Vancouver to grab his guitar and his band, and then jets cross-country again to the Nova Scotia gig.

"Oh well, I'll be getting the airmiles," laughs James.

He's been spending a lot of time in California over the past months, recording a new album with producer Mark Howard, who recently helmed Lucinda Williams's terrific World Without Tears, and projects by U2, Dylan, Daniel Lanois and others. James settled into Howard's elegant Paramour studio (built in a 1923 mansion overlooking downtown L.A.) to work on the tracks.

Most nights, it was just James and his musicians there, and Fiona Apple who was recording. "We'd bump into each other at 2 in the morning on the way to the kitchen."

Things got a bit more lively one night, when the Paramour mansion/studio hosted a pre-Oscar party with some of Hollywood's biggest stars dropping by.

"I've been around a while and met some famous people," says James, "but I've never seen anything like this."

The six-time Juno winner played a set in the main room of the mansion for guests including Brad Pitt, Courtney Cox-Arquette, Sheryl Crow, Robbie Robertson, Daniel Lanois, Jon Voight, David Spade, David Arquette and his sister Rosanna.

"People were mumbling away," says James, "so at one point Rosanna Arquette stood up and shouted 'everybody shut up.' It was one of those parties where you think this is how the other half lives." The still-unnamed album is due to drop in early September. But fans on the waterfront will get a sneak earful on Saturday night.

On Monday night, Vancouver's punk queen Bif Naked headlines the Summerfest. From her early days in Winnipeg's punk scene to her Purge album which garnered a Juno nomination last year for best rock album, Naked has gained mainstream acceptance for her edgy heavy-pop sound.

Monday night's show is an all-ages affair, but Naked isn't planning to rein in her onstage enthusiasm.

"We don't censor ourselves,' says the singer, "but it's just rock 'n' roll."

For ticket information for Halifax Summerfest, call 423-6044 or check out www.halifaxsummerfest.ca.

© Copyright 2003 The Daily News

Rating: 3 & 1/2 out of 5