Clik here to view.
Osheaga 2011: Elvis Costello and the Imposters
In the end, it’s the surfeit of song. At the outset, it was the paucity of fan. Elvis Costello headlines the central night of Osheaga 2011, and there is moonlight on the ground between the stagefront...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“You will hear a Nile Rodgers song today. It will make you happy.” Thoughts...
Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco, and Destiny by Nile Rodgers bears a dust-flap whose copy begins with the confident claim quoted above. Typically excessive dust-flap hyperbole, you...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Hunger Games: Suzanne Collins’ phenom survives, and thrives, in the...
The Hunger Games juggernaut–the books and, as of last week, the movie too–doesn’t exactly need my business, but it has it now anyway. And it’s been money and time well spent. What kept me from checking...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The mighty Pogues get the book they deserve with James Fearnley’s Here Comes...
Here Comes Everybody: The Story of the Pogues is–I won’t waffle around with my verdict here–one of the three best books by a musician that I’ve ever read.* Which makes it almost certainly the best book...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Montréal en lumière 2013: Diana Krall at Place des Arts, Feb. 26, 2013
Diana Krall (with bassist Dennis Crouch in background) performs at Place des Arts, Feb. 26, 2013 (photo by Victor Diaz Lamich, courtesy of Montréal en lumière) By the time Diana Krall completed her...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New music review: Wise Up Ghost, Elvis Costello and the Roots (Blue Note/...
This is Elvis in his by-now-standard 3-D mode: dark, dense and dissonant. Groove and repetition are the ordre du jour here, rather than the impenetrable, heavily-laboured song structures that have been...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Montreal International Jazz Festival 2014: Elvis Costello at the Maison...
Photograph by John Kenney/ The Gazette. Click here for more of John’s photos from the show and other shots from the 35th annual Montreal International Jazz Festival. Perhaps the best way to approach...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Gazette’s photos of the week: June 29 – July 5, 2014
Hundreds of mourners participate in a candlelight march following a midnight mass in Lac-Mégantic, Sunday, July , 2014. The march was done as part of weekend activities to mark the first anniversary of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Montreal International Jazz Festival ready for its 2014 closeup
MONTREAL – We’re long past the days when the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal / Montreal International Jazz Festival could knock us out with its sheer scale. Two million in attendance? Been...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jazz festival: Five notable shows Sunday, June 29, 2014
MONTREAL – A quick look at five noteworthy shows Sunday at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, which continues until July 6. Pink Martini with the Von Trapps (3 p.m. and 8 p.m., Théâtre...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photos: Diana Krall and Elvis Costello
Diana Krall and Elvis Costello perform at the Montreal International Jazz Festival on Sunday, June 29, 2014.
View ArticleClik here to view.
Krall owns the night, and Montreal
The summer wind came blowin’ in Under darkness, the world’s most popular jazz artist took her seat at the piano. It lingered there to touch your hair And walk with 100,000-plus on a sultry, sweltering...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Video: Elvis Costello at the Montreal International Jazz Festival
Video: Elvis Costello at the Montreal International Jazz Festival
View ArticleClik here to view.
A more vulnerable Diana Krall emerges with Wallflower
“I only have a Diet Coke when absolutely necessary,” Diana Krall said, to no one in particular, leaning over the refreshments table on the fourth floor of the Ritz Carlton last week. Apparently, it was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In a strong year for non-fiction, you had to read Ta-Nehisi Coates
Regular readers of this space will have noticed a predilection for works of fiction, with an accent on the local. The selection below, meant to represent the riches of a very full year without...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Brendan Kelly: There are limits to freedom of expression
Let’s get a grip here. Mike Ward is not exactly Nelson Mandela. During the past few days, there has been much outrage expressed about the fact that a skit featuring Ward and fellow standup comic Guy...
View Article