PUBLISHED IN THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR Thursday, August 17, 1996 NICK KREWEN There’s good news in the Van Halen camp: Namesake guitar wizard Eddie Van Halen won’t be wailing — in pain, that is — because his bad hip is giving him minimal trouble. “He’s jumping around again, and playing better than ever,” reports bassist Michael Anthony, 41, from a recent sound check in Boston, where the band played last week…
NICK KREWEN Hamilton Spectator May 25, 1996 For almost 26 years, Ian Anderson has sung loudly and carried a big flute as frontman for British progressive rock group Jethro Tull. A few years ago, however, the 47-year-old made a shocking discovery: after playing the wind instrument on 28 Jethro Tull albums, he’d been using the wrong technique. “I’d say 80 percent of my fingering was incorrect,” says the…
As appeared in the late, lamented on-line magazine Magnet, 1996 Stardust, Baked Beans, Orgasms and The Meaning Of Life NICK KREWEN The Bowery Boy of blue-eyed soul is back, and man is he stylin’. Although the only reason Mick Hucknall, singer and architect of Simply Red, Britain’s most astoundingly successful R&B export at 26 million records sold and counting, is in Toronto in the first place is…
PUBLISHED IN THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR ON THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1996 to advance shows at Toronto’s Opera House (April 14) and Kitchener’s Volcano (April 15) BY NICK KREWEN Is David Lowery the most misunderstood writer in American pop? He thinks it’s possible. “I’ve developed a little bit of a reputation for being a very cynical, sarcastic person,” says the lead singer for Cracker, his deep baritone resonating over the…
PUBLISHED IN THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR ON Thursday, March 28 1996 to promote a Tracy Bonham performance at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern THE BURDENS OF BEING TRACY BONHAM NICK KREWEN The Hamilton Spectator March 28, 1996 Tracy Bonham is standing inside a phone booth somewhere in the Southwestern United States, talking about her first album, The Burdens Of Being Upright, and thankful that she didn’t opt for a career in…
