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The Performer: Canadian musician and producer Daniel Lanois
Examine any list of the past quarter–century’s best rock albums and you’ll find Daniel Lanois’s fingerprints. A native of Hull, Que., and an acclaimed musician in his own right, he’s also one of music’s most sought–after producers. He’s been behind the sound board for the likes of Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, and worked on six albums for U2,...
The Performer: Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman
Acclaimed for her powerful, charismatic solo performances, Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman, 33, has been described as possessing what “may be one of the great voices of the 21st century.” Since launching her career in 1998, she has performed with some of the world’s top orchestras in the most prestigious venues in North American and Europe. Last year, she survived a brush...
Neil Young is forever Canadian
Every time Neil Young plays Winnipeg — he’s playing there tonight — it’s a big deal. While the legendary artist was born in Toronto and lived in Omemee, Ont., as kid, it was in the Peg where he spent his teenage years.
The city’s residents loves to claim Young as their own, and you can’t blame them — he played Winnipeg’s clubs, started his first band The Squires here, was friends...
Travel: St. John’s, Nfld
Compared to most of Canada’s major cities, St. John’s, Nfld., is tiny. And yet when the Juno Awards comes to town on April 15 to 18, visitors will be taken by the outsized personality of the place — not to mention the spectacular views of the Atlantic. Metric, Michael Bublé and tween hero Justin Bieber are set to perform at the event. But for pure entertainment, it’s hard to compete with...
Travel: Austin, Texas
From March 12 to 21, a huge crowd of bands, film nuts, movie execs and music lovers will converge in Austin, Texas, for the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) film and music festival. The event, now in its 27th year, is one of the city’s largest — more than 170,000 people pile into the growing desert locale to make deals, listen to copious amounts of music and explore this always-active college...
Last chance for Death Row Records
It won’t come as a surprise for you to know that I’ve never been to a Death Row Records party, but I can imagine what it would have been like. The venerable rap label, started by endlessly incarcerated Suge Knight and hip-hop legend Dr. Dre, played a major role, if not the biggest part, in gangsta rap’s popularity. It’s no secret that guns, drugs and dubious characters played a big role...
Olympic anthem doesn’t represent Canadian music
Three days before the Olympics began I had already lost count of how many times I heard I Believe.
The song, sung by 16-year-old Montreal phenom Nikki Yanofsky, must have been on three or four times a night, so you can understand, after 11 days of speed skating, hockey and skiing, just how deeply lodged that track (and its equally epic variations) is in my head.
We can debate whether or not the...
Joel Plaskett tops list of Canada’s finest of 2009
With just a couple weeks left in the year, every music fan is likely busy compiling a list of the decade’s best records. But we can’t forget how good 2009 has been. There was Sonic Youth’s infectious The Eternal, La Roux’s electro pop debut, Grizzly Bear’s harmony laden folk on Veckatimst and the list goes on. But five Canadian records really stood out. Not only are these better than many...
Bryan Borzykowski is a Toronto-based writer and editor working mainly for business publications. He writes for the New York Times, Canadian Business magazine, Globe and Mail, Bloomberg Businessweek Custom Publishing, Toronto Star, MoneySense and more. Bryan's the editor of Review magazine and is a senior editor with Connected for Business magazine. He's also a contributing writer with Hello! Canada and was once a weekly music columnist for Metro News. He's been nominated for several National Magazine Awards and he's co-authored