SARSTOCK 2003: The Untold Story of Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto

 ABOVE: Then Toronto-Danforth MP Dennis Mills — a self-propelled tour de force (pictured in 2003) organised Canada's largest concert ever to help Toronto recover from SARS. (Photo: Angelo Persichilli) By Dennis Mills It was the spring of 2003, typically a season of re-growth, colour and beauty. Yet, Toronto—its businesses and

There’s a lot of love in Lowertown thanks to The Shepherds of Good Hope

 ABOVE: Shepherds of Good Hope — David Gourlay with songstress Kathleen Edwards. Jack Heffernan was a kind-hearted man with a great sense of humour and a deep sense of community. He grew up in Montreal’s Saint-Henri neighbourhood where working-class francophone and Irish families lived in the shadow of Westmount. After

Album reviews: Kathleen Edwards, Kiesza, Helena Deland

 Kathleen Edwards  — Total Freedom (Ottawa) Following a time away from her music career, Kathleen Edwards latest music is charged with creative rawness and deeply personal stories. Her alt-country sound allows her to play out seemingly autobiographical tales with a bit of genre mystique to keep things feeling entrancing to

I taught myself to play so I could be where people danced — Jim Cuddy’s Countrywide Soul

 My favourite line from all the songs I know is, ‘I taught myself to play so I could be where people danced’. It’s from the song Rena, dedicated to Jim Cuddy’s wife, the actress Rena Polley, and is from Blue Rodeo’s 2005 album Are You Ready. ‘I look in through

Ottawa’s Top Concerts of 2017

 Photos by Renée Boucher Doiron, Kamara Morozuk, Sean Sisk, Dan Nawrocki and Andre Gagne As a live music junkie, 2017 in Ottawa was a near endless buffet slathered in awesome sauce! Along with the usual crop of fests and club shows, the city brought in even more concerts to celebrate the country's

BEST OF OTTAWA: Musicians

 With 20-years writing about Ottawa life we think we have a pretty good idea of the best of what this city has to offer. In this new weekly summer series we’ll share it with you. From our top picks of hotels, live music venues, local brews, bands and more, check,

Westfest All-Star Fundraiser Packs Orange Gallery With Music, Art and Support

 All photos by Andre Gagne “Don’t make me cry now,” said Elaina Martin, founder and producer of Westfest, as she took the stage in the Orange Gallery to thunderous applause from those gathered Sunday evening at what was touted as an All-Star Fundraiser for the summer festival. A sold out

Jim Bryson Returns Home

 “If it looks like I’ve seen a ghost I just want to go home” -Jim Bryson (Cigarette Thin) It’s 4 a.m. I am awoken by Jim Bryson’s voice singing about ghosts. Below me the snowploughs clatter in the street. Bryson’s new album, Somewhere We Will Find Our Place, has seemingly

Speaking the Language with Julie Corrigan

 Photo courtesy of Jen Squires Born and raised in Shawville, Quebec, to a family of musicians, it’s no surprise that Julie Corrigan took easily to strumming the guitar. With a fiddle-playing grandfather, a guitarist for a father and a mother who’s a natural on the piano and mandolin, music is in Julie’s