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Gordon Lightfoot’s Legacy Will Be Remembered

Gordon Lightfoot’s Legacy Will Be Remembered
By Keith Sharp Much has been written, televised, and praised online to eulogize the passing of Gordon Lightfoot, who died on Monday, May 2nd, at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital at the age of 84. But it should be pointed out that this Canadian music icon, along with Ian and Sylvia, helped create Canada’s first established music scene when the Orillia Ontario... Read More

The Big Top returns to the banks of Quidi Vidi from June 14th-24th! St John’s NL and the Iceberg Alley Performance Tent – Music Festival 2023

The Big Top returns to the banks of Quidi Vidi from June 14th-24th! St John’s NL and the Iceberg Alley Performance Tent – Music Festival 2023
By Keith Sharp The region of Newfoundland/Labrador is known for its scenic beauty and its friendly people (see Come From Away)…but music events are not so much. But then Steeles Hotel chain President John Steele had this revelation when seeing a huge entertainment tent resurrected in London, England and felt the same concept would work back in his native St... Read More

Amanda Marshall Survives Prolonged Legal Battle, Releases New Single, and a New Tour.

Amanda Marshall Survives Prolonged Legal Battle, Releases New Single, and a New Tour.
By Keith Sharp For those music fans who wondered whatever happened to Amanda Marshall, do not worry; Amanda is back with a bang, and a national tour Amanda Marshall – 25 & Counting: The Heavy Lifting Tour and presented by Live Nation. With a début single, “I Hope She Cheats,” already hitting the social media airwaves, Marshall is obviously thrilled... Read More

Triple Concert Chaos Under Control For 2023

Triple Concert Chaos Under Control For 2023
By Keith Sharp Understanding the chaos caused by the cancellation of one festival concert caused by the pandemic, you can imagine the effect of planning three festivals and having all three put on hold for the past two years. But that’s exactly what happened to the organizers of Dauphin’s Countryfest, Rockin The Fields Of Minnedosa and Thunder Bay’s Country In... Read More

Bluewater Bridge No Barrier to The Bluewater BorderFest

Bluewater Bridge No Barrier to The Bluewater BorderFest
By Keith Sharp The Bluewater Bridge spanning between Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan, as well as the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor with Detroit, represents the lifeblood of commerce to this South Western Ontario outpost. So when the COVID pandemic practically closed off access between the two cities, any major social events planned for Sarnia in 2020 and 2021... Read More

Lunchbox Promotion Draws Attention To Rare Americans launch.

Lunchbox Promotion Draws Attention To Rare Americans launch.
By Keith Sharp Launching yourself as a new band in the current social media environment is always a tricky business but Vancouver’s Rare Americans came up with a novel approach to debuting the self-titled album debut in August 2018. Original members James Priestner and guitarist Lubo Ivan designed about 300 lunch boxes emblazoned with their distinctive artwork style with contents... Read More

Colourful Junos Had Everything, Including Hockey Superstars And Topless Protesters

Colourful Junos Had Everything, Including Hockey Superstars And Topless Protesters
By Keith Sharp It’s virtually a standard practice for live broadcasts to feature the disclaimer, ”this show may contain scenes of nudity and coarse language.” But I am certain organizers of the 52nd Juno Awards staged at Edmonton’s Rogers Centre could not have possibly predicted such a warning would have come into play so early in Monday’s telecast. Yet as... Read More

The Many Faces Of Michelle Truman

The Many Faces Of Michelle Truman
By Keith Sharp Michelle Truman is a musical schizophrenic. Some nights she exhibits an aura of Stevie Nicks, other nights, she stars as one-quarter of her own ABBA tribute team or captures the spirit of Shania Twain, Joan Jett or Lita Ford. And more recently, she has assumed lead vocal in the band Toronto as a replacement for Holly (Annie) Woods,... Read More

McBowl Concert Series Has North American Appeal

McBowl Concert Series Has North American Appeal
Photo by Andrew Clowater By Keith Sharp The 6th Annual McBowl Concert, in support of Ronald McDonald House promoter Ed Sousa can usually tell how well his annual concert festival is doing by how many tickets are sold nationally and throughout the United States. “Last year, we sold tickets to 20 U.S. states and every province in Canada. So far... Read More

Big Sugar Revisits Classic Release With New Tour And Band Lineup

Big Sugar Revisits Classic Release With New Tour And Band Lineup
By Keith Sharp Big Sugar’s Gordie Johnson isn’t prepared to idly sit back and play out a pandemic. Even during an enforced two-year layoff, he was releasing his GJ SoundShack video series and was even able to execute a One Man Big Sugar Show. So as soon as he was able to get back on the road, Johnson jumped at... Read More

Coney Hatch’s UK Tour 40 Years In The Making

Coney Hatch’s UK Tour 40 Years In The Making
By Keith Sharp The invitation came right out of the blue. When Coney Hatch bassist Andy Curran touched base with Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris during his band’s Toronto and Hamilton dates (as part of Maiden’s global Legacy Of The Beast tour), Harris mentioned he would be taking his British Lions’ side project on a brief but intense 11 dates... Read More

Blakk Turns Traumatic Childhood Experience Into Moving Emotional Vignettes

Blakk Turns Traumatic Childhood Experience Into Moving Emotional Vignettes
By Keith Sharp Considering Forest Blakk’s traumatic childhood upbringing, it would have come as no surprise if his musical influences had been Thrash Metal or Gangsta Rap. Yet his third EP, ‘Every Little Detail’ contains eight emotional introspective compositions which rank highly on wedding musical theme lists, an image which belies his gruff, tattooed physique. Blakk grew up in Montreal,... Read More

Steve Norman Keeping Spandau Ballet’s Legacy Alive

Steve Norman Keeping Spandau Ballet’s Legacy Alive
By Keith Sharp When you are the co-founder of a supergroup, it’s hard to let the project go, especially when there have been serious reformation attempts throughout the years. So, Spandau Ballet tenor saxophonist Steve Norman continues the band’s legacy, performing band classics like “True,” “Gold,” and “Through The Barricades” which were staple hits during the band’s peak popularity in... Read More

Love Of Spaghetti Westerns Spawn Novel Single

Love Of Spaghetti Westerns Spawn Novel Single
By Keith Sharp On Saturday November 26th at Toronto’s El Mocambo Tavern and on Sunday November 27th at Mississauga’s Classic Bowl venue, Boys Don’t Cry will open for Spandau Ballet saxophonist Steve Norman. Most musicologists may not recognize the name Boys Don’t Cry or its principal member, Nick Richards but possibly the band’s debut 1986 single; “I Wanna Be A... Read More

Barney Bentall’s Cariboo Express Puts A New Twist On Fundraising

Barney Bentall’s Cariboo Express Puts A New Twist On Fundraising
By Keith Sharp It was one of those eureka moments. Barney Bentall and his son Dustin were watching a YouTube episode of The Grand Ole Opry when they heard the MC say, “and the next song by Mel Tillis is sponsored by Gillette.” Songs sponsored by corporations, what a novel concept! “It was 2006, we were planning on doing a... Read More

Bedouin Soundclash Returns To Their World Beat Roots With New Release ‘We Will Meet In A Hurricane’

Bedouin Soundclash Returns To Their World Beat Roots With New Release ‘We Will Meet In A Hurricane’
By Keith Sharp Like most musicians, the Bedouin Soundclash duo of Jay Malinowski and Eon Sinclair found themselves with time on their hands as they waited out the COVID pandemic, with Sinclair travelling to Malinowski’s Victoria B.C residence to see if they could recapture the World Beat spirit of previous releases. Their previous `Mass’ release in 2019 had seen Bedouin... Read More

Monster Truck’s Warriors Spearhead Arena Rock Revival

Monster Truck’s Warriors Spearhead Arena Rock Revival
Photo by James Heaslip Interview By Keith Sharp Suggest to Monster Truck bassist/guitarist Jon Harvey that classic arena rock music is virtually extinct, and he’ll invite you to listen to his band’s latest release titled `Warriors.’ At a time when Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Patient Number 9’ sits atop Billboard’s North American album charts and even Nickleback has released an incendiary new... Read More

“I Melt With You” Is Modern English’s Calling Card

“I Melt With You” Is Modern English’s Calling Card
By Keith Sharp Think of England’s Modern English band, and you inevitably get drawn to one song, “I Melt With You,” which is the featured track off their 1982 second album, ‘After The Snow.’ Band bassist Gary Conroy is well aware of that fact, and phoning in from New Jersey confirms that track has been a constant calling card for... Read More

Heart’s Ann Wilson Forges Her Own Legacy

Heart’s Ann Wilson Forges Her Own Legacy
By Keith Sharp The legacy of Heart may be well documented since the release of their classic debut album Dreamboat Annie in 1975, but lead vocalist Ann Wilson is now determined to establish her own legacy. With the album release of `Fierce Bliss’ earlier this year, Wilson has assembled a band of top-notch Muscle Shoals Studio musicians and has launched... Read More

Harlow’s PRiSM Quest To Keep Their Legacy Alive

Harlow’s PRiSM Quest To Keep Their Legacy Alive
Al Harlow of PRiSM – Photo by Debbie Albrough By Keith Sharp An examination of PRiSM’s personnel timeline on Wikipedia reveals that no less than 24 musicians have featured in the band since two other Vancouver-based bands; Seeds Of Time and Sunshyne, merged together in the early 1970s as a studio project producer Bruce Fairbairn was assembling, eventually developing into... Read More