Dar Embraces Folk Label

  Singer, Writer Can Cram Lots Into A Tiny Tune     NICK KREWEN Hamilton Spectator January 14, 1998     She plys her trade as a songwriting folksinger, but perhaps Dar Williams might consider an alternate career as an economist. You can choose virtually any song from the 30-year-old’s exceptional three album catalogue — say “When I Was A Boy,” her timeless paean to tomboyish innocence that kicks off…


Pop Progeny Enter Parents’ Spotlight

  Nick Krewen The Toronto Star January 14, 1998   Forget The Prodigy: the next big thing in music might very well be the progeny. As 1998 groans forward, there seems to be an unprecedented number of celebrated musical offspring preparing to cut the umbilical cord of their famous parents and springboard into their own careers. The kickoff unofficially begins this week on a few fronts. Martha Wainwright, the Montreal-based…


Tragically Hip – In Violent Light

PUBLISHED IN THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR Thursday, December 5, 1997 NEED TO KNOW: THE TRAGICALLY HIP with Rheostatics, Copps Coliseum, Wednesday, December 11. Sold Out.   BY NICK KREWEN   Suppose you gave a performance and nobody came? According to Rob Baker, guitarist for Canadian rock icons The Tragically Hip, a Hamilton strip-and-rock club was the host for just such an astonishing occasion, much to the band’s chagrin. The era was…


The Versatile Vanessa Williams

PUBLISHED IN THE TORONTO STAR MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1997 Beauty Queen recovers from Penthouse debacle to star on stage, screen Nick Krewen Today, some people might call her a multi-media performer, but the old-fashioned word entertainer fits Vanessa Williams just fine. Film? She held her own with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the action-packed thriller Eraser, received critical acclaim for her acting in Soul Food and just completed Shut Up And Dance, the…


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…