Business

Are house concerts the next big thing?

Are house concerts the next big thing? | Toronto Star One Toronto family plays host to concerts — and they’re not alone.      Nick Krewen Special to the Star, Published on Sat Jan 01 2011 Next weekend, Joanne and Blair Sleightholm are bringing the Bluebird Café concept to their spacious Yonge and Eglinton-area home. Inspired by the tiny Nashville restaurant that launched the songwriting careers of thousands, the Sleightholms…


Sonic Greetings

Music hits the right note with the greeting card industry NICK KREWEN GRAMMYS MAY 15, 2017 GRAMMY.com When new age/pop artist Jim Brickman  wrote his latest single “Thank You,” he didn’t think of either radio or an album as potential outlets, but rather something less obvious: a greeting card. “It was developed as a card way before I even knew what shape it was going to take on the album, or…


Grey-haired headbangers pledge allegiance to ’80s rock

Entertainment / Music In rock bars on Toronto’s fringes, patrons live a dream in which an era of rock never lost its cachet. John Corabi ,formerley from Motley Crue plays at The Rockpile, a bar at Toronto’s west end dedicated to celebrating the rock of yesterday. Nick Krewen  Special to the Star Published on Sun Aug 08 2010 Their hair may be greying with time, their stomachs may be a little paunchier…


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 Sweet Smell of Success

The Sweet Smell Of Success October 22, 2009 Recording artists bottle their success GRAMMY.com Nick Krewen Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have not only experienced the sweet smell of success, they’ve bottled it. Country music’s first couple has a couple of new scents on the market — Faith Hill Parfums is her first and Southern Blend is his second — and they are just two of the music celebrities that…