The other day, word dropped of Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize and almost immediately Twitter lit up. Either Dylan deserved it because he’s great or he didn’t because he’s overrated. But a third option was the…
When you think about it, Bruce Springsteen is kind of the person you want a rock star to be. He’s been making music for a good 45 years now and still seems as earnest and…
Last weekend Margaret Atwood was a special guest at Fan Expo Canada. Yes, that Margaret Atwood. The celebrated Canadian novelist has been more open to “geek culture” in the last few years and the massive…
Few bands, if any, can lay claim to as colourful a history as Fleetwood Mac. Their founding guitarist went off the deep end, another quit to join a cult. Marriages splintered and relationships crumbled. And,…
I think every music fan has a band or two they loved who didn’t quite make it. Maybe their big single didn’t get enough airplay, maybe they had problems with distribution or maybe the band…
Deep in the bowels of my paperback copy of The Penguin Guide to Jazz, there’s a short section on Mezz Mezzrow. At the time my copy was published, only a few recordings of his were…
Relatively speaking, rock criticism is still new. Pitchfork’s been around for less than two decades; Rolling Stone is nearing 50. And most of the first wave of rock critics have either moved on to other…
Back some 40-odd years ago, The Who were the loudest rock band in the biz and one of the best. They were four highly talented musicians, taking some of the most introspective and well-crafted songs…
There isn’t anyone really quite like Patti Smith out there. As a musician, she’s almost without peer: by the sheer power of her ambition and ability, she was one of the few women to rise…
