Joni Mitchell

Emeli Sandé plays The Drake

Emeli Sande plays The Drake | Toronto Star Singer Emeli Sandé topped U.K. charts with her debut, Version of Our Events, and received the Critics’ Choice Brit Award.  HANDOUT PHOTO Emeli Sandé, who plays The Drake on Wednesday, is the next big thing from the U.K. Nick Krewen  Special to the Star Published on Tue Mar 06 2012 Looking for the Next Big Thing? You can find her Wednesday night onstage at…


Herbie Hancock gives it all a try

Herbie Hancock gives it all a try | Toronto Star Longtime Gershwin fan’s Massey Hall show just latest outlet for broad-minded creator.   Herbie Hancock at home with keyboards both acoustic and electronic … thanks to Miles Davis. Nick Krewen Special to the Star Published on Thu Oct 20 2011 Legendary jazz innovator Herbie Hancock might be considered something of a prodigy, but that doesn’t mean he’s taking his upcoming…


Toronto’s transit of venues (or, weep not for the bop)

Veteran rock writer Nick Krewen takes a tour through defunct Toronto concert venue history – from the ’60s in Yorkville, to the subsequent decades when the action was mostly around Yonge St., to the rise and apparent decline of Queen St. W.  Nick Krewen and Garnet Fraser Published on Sun Jan 03 2010 On Queen St. W., the concert scene is changing, and it’s leaving some fretful. Hard-rock hangout the Big…


The Book Of Secrets Revealed

PUBLISHED IN CANADIAN MUSICIAN     Nick Krewen   When it comes to exploring her Celtic ancestry, Loreena McKennitt leaves no stone unturned. She’s trekked to the far corners of the Earth following her muse, this one-woman dynamo on a mission of cultural renaissance. Her travels have taken her to London, Ireland, Athens, Istanbul, Sicily and even a ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway to inspire her latest masterpiece, The Book…


k.d. lang: Waiting to Exhale

PUBLISHED IN CANADIAN MUSICIAN IN OCTOBER ’97   k.d. lang: waiting to exhale     By Nick Krewen   On her latest album, k.d. lang is smoking. Literally. Drag, the eighth album to be exhaled from the talented larynx of the Ninth Wonder Of The World, is a collection of songs that share the common theme of smoking, a topic sure to raise the hackles of the politically virtuous and…