Artist Spotlight

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…


Bob Dylan – Jimmie Rodgers Revisited

An Octopus Exclusive!!!! © 1997, 2018 Octopus Media Ink. All rights reserved. BOB DYLAN on his album The Songs Of Jimmie Rodgers: A Tribute JIMMIE RODGERS REVISITED   Nick Krewen   The times may still be a-changin,’ but Bob Dylan has taken measures to ensure that the work of one musical icon won’t be forgotten anytime soon. The music of Jimmie Rodgers, the railroad brakeman from Meridian, Mississippi who is widely…


Bruce Cockburn: Fencing Fancies

PUBLISHED IN THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR ON AUGUST 7, 1997 TO ADVANCE CONCERT AT THE FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS, GAGE PARK,   BRUCE COCKBURN : FENCING FANCIES   By Nick Krewen     Songwriter Bruce Cockburn has rattled a lot of sabres over the years with his politically-driven music. So it should come as no surprise when he reveals that his most recent Hamilton visits involved a favorite pastime: fencing. “For a…


A Keen Observer

Published in The Kitchener Waterloo Record, July 24 1997, to advance a performance at Friday, July 25 at the Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ontario   A KEEN OBSERVER   By Nick Krewen We don’t have a picture of folk singer and songwriter Dan Bern to show you, and perhaps it’s just as well. The 31-year-old Iowa native, who headlines tomorrow (Friday) night at Guelph’s Hillside Festival, is concerned about retaining…


The Bird of Paradise returns

This feature appeared in The Toronto Star on March 30, 1997   NICK KREWEN     The Bird Of Paradise is back. TONY BIRD, the Malawi-born, Zimbabwe-raised singer and songwriter whose musical plumage offers feathers of blues, folk and country in his self-proclaimed “African folk rock,” returns to Toronto next week for two rare concert performances at The Rivoli on April 4 and The Water’s Edge Cafe on April 9….