Alt. Rock, Avant-garde, Electronic, Experimental, Residents, Rock, San Francisco, United States February 13, 2010

The Residents take on death

Entertainment / Music If you think the TV series Lost is cryptic and enigmatic, get a load of The Residents.     Nick Krewen Special To The Star,  Published on Sat Feb 13 2010 If you think the TV series Lost is cryptic and enigmatic, get a load of The Residents. For 38 years, the avant-garde California-based performance art collective – they’re most familiar to the masses as eyeballs dressed in top hats and…

Adult Contemporary, Alberta, Canada, Concert reviews, Folk, JUNO, Pop, Songwriter, Voice January 28, 2010

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…

Alice Cooper, B.B. King, Business, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Gordon Lightfoot, Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, KISS, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Ron Sexsmith, Rush, The Band, The Tragically Hip January 3, 2010

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…

Alt. Rock, Beatles, Concert reviews, Connecticut, Events, Grammy, Guitar, Indie pop, Jazz, John Mayer, Producer, Rock, Songwriter, United States, Voice November 25, 2009

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…

Beatles, Elton John, Grammy, Hip-Hop, New York, Producer, Rolling Stones, Shawn "Jay Z" Carter, Songwriter, United States, Voice October 30, 2009

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…