With Jann Arden, the jokes are as good as the songs

Entertainment / Music Celebrity bitch-fight, eh Jann? Jann Arden performs at Massey Hall on Jan. 27, 2010. Nick Krewen  Special to the Star, Published on Thu Jan 28 2010 Celebrity bitch-fight, eh Jann? It was during the Q&A portion of her opening four-night residency at Massey Hall when someone in the audience asked Alberta songbird Jann Arden if she would be appearing on this year’s revival of Lilith Fair, the all-female concert…


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…


John Mayer wages a shock and awe battle

John Mayer stepped on the Sound Academy stage last night secure in the knowledge that Battle Studies , his first full-fledged studio album since 2006’s Continuum , will be the No.1 when the Billboard charts are updated on Thursday on the strength of over 300,000 copies sold in the U.S. Nick Krewen  Special To The Star, Wed Nov 25 2009 John Mayer stepped on the Sound Academy stage last night…


Jay-Z: King of the No. 1 album

Judged solely on his string of No. 1 albums, Jay-Z has accomplished the unexpected: he’s become bigger than Elvis.        Nick Krewen Special to the Star, Published on Fri Oct 30 2009 Judged solely on his string of No. 1 albums, Jay-Z has accomplished the unexpected: he’s become bigger than Elvis. With the Sept. 11 arrival of The Blueprint 3, Brooklyn-born rapper Shawn Carter scored his 11th straight chart-topper…


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…