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Plundering the past with Phil Collins

Plundering the past with Phil Collins | Toronto Star A mature pop titan becomes a covers act for the first time.  Nick Krewen Special to the Star Published on Fri Oct 08 2010 “I just bought a second cannon.” Not exactly the words you expect to hear flowing from the mouth of Phil Collins. But the 59-year-old’s chief passion these days is no longer music, but collecting 1820-1840 era Texas…


Ageless Paul McCartney charms crowd with inspirational performance

Entertainment / Music He may have recently turned 68, but Paul McCartney performed like a man one-quarter of his age before an adoring Toronto crowd. Paul McCartney performs during the first of two nights in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre on Aug. 8, 2010. Nick Krewen Special to the Star Published on Mon Aug 09 2010     Baby, we’re amazed! He may have recently turned 68, but Paul McCartney performed…


Canadian musicians rise to challenge of Lilith’s return

Entertainment / Music Despite a disappointing lineup, Mary J. Blige, Sarah McLachlan and many smaller musicians played to an approving audience     Nick Krewen Special To The Star Published on Sun Jul 25 2010 When opportunity knocked, Canadian women answered. The departure of several headliners from the Lilith tour — Kelly Clarkson and Norah Jones among them — meant that space had opened up for several domestic acts to demonstrate their…


Eternal Damnednation: Vanian Talks

       DAMNED AS THEY DO   By Nick Krewen     Damned Damned Damned. Whatever else fate has in store for London’s The Damned, the quartet’s 1977 Nick Lowe-produced LP for Stiff Records will be remembered in the history books as the inaugural British punk album to hit the streets. Although their popularity was quickly overshadowed by The Sex Pistols, The Clash, and let’s face it, practically every other punk band…


Right Kind of Garbage

  Wisconsin alt-rockers glad making fresh and innovative pop   Nick Krewen Special to the KW Record Thursday, November 5, 1998     In the video for the new Garbage single “Special,” guitarist Duke Erikson says the three boys in the band get into an cyber-animated airplane dogfight with their Scottish singer Shirley Manson. Who wins? “Guess,” laughs Erikson, as if to suggest the feisty Edinburgh-based Manson would have it…