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MTL’s Opus named Top Hotel Brand for business travelers as star-studded...
View of downtown Montreal from the OPUS Hotel's presidential suite It was one of those cool Montreal glamour moments: I first met Opus Hotel owner John deC. Evans at a cocktail party with Vancouver...
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Foo Fighters at the Grammys
Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters reacts to winning a Grammy award during the pre-telecast show at the Staples Center during the 54th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California, February 12, 2012....
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New “sanitized” Bob Marley film not “definitive” bio, says famed Marley...
The new documentary film Marley is being billed as the “definitive” life story of a global pop icon. But while the film is an intoxicating and passionate account of Bob Marley’s life – especially the...
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Prudish Grammys? Get Real!
Soooo, CBS is asking rockers — performers and presenters — to be careful about their choice of clothing at the Grammys on Sunday night. They want “buttocks and female breasts to be adequately covered,”...
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Montreal International Jazz Festival 2013: Vieux Farka Touré, at Club Soda,...
“Ça va? D’accord.” Vieux Farka Touré, the not-so-old son of the late, great Malian blues guitarist Ali Farka Touré, took to the steamy stage of Club Soda on Wednesday night a serene, contented man....
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Montreal International Jazz Festival: Vijay Iyer Trio (Vijay Iyer, Stephan...
At a jazz festival, it’s important to see at least one show where you can get close to the musicians. From a seat near the stage for a solo performance or duo or trio, you notice a lot of things: the...
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Bob Marley historian Roger Steffens previews all-star Montreal International...
Bob Marley (L) photographed by Roger Steffens, and Steffens (R). Photos courtesy Roger Steffens. Some years ago I gave world-renowned reggae historian Roger Steffens a never-played 1970s U.K. cassette...
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La Bohème! David Bowie! Restaurant Row! Sacre bleu – Toronto rocks!
Photo from the “David Bowie Is” exhibit at the AGO in Toronto. Album cover shoot for Aladdin Sane (1973), design by Brian Duffy and Celia Philo, make up by Pierre La Roche. (Photo courtesy AGO) Who...
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All those nights in Montreal with Gino Vannelli
The Montreal homecoming of Gino Vannelli Jazz, classical, pop music – Montreal homeboy Gino Vannelli plays it all. But the famed singer-songwriter originally aspired to be a drummer like his idols Gene...
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The Grammy Awards: It’s all a blur
I have a Grammy Awards hangover. I can’t really remember much of what happened. A couple of odd French guys with skidoo helmets won a bunch of awards, with Daft Punk taking home five trophies. And...
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Finally … a country-music radio station in Montreal
Being a country-music fan in Montreal isn’t easy, but it’s getting better. Montreal finally has its own country-music radio station now in 89.9 KIC Country Montreal. Ted Bird, who used to be on TSN...
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Legendary Motown diva Thelma Houston keeps the disco flame alive
“As long as I have a mic in my hand, I’m a happy woman!” Thelma Houston told me this week from her home in Los Angeles. And as long as Houston has a mic in her hand, I’m happy too! The last time I saw...
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Ronnie Spector, Suzanne Vega, Sheryl Crow headline Pop Montreal line-up
Seasoned femme artists are front and centre at the 13th edition of Pop Montreal, with an action-packed line-up that includes former Ronettes front-woman Ronnie Spector, folky singer-songwriter Suzanne...
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Fly Rasta! Ziggy Marley secures family business and spreads gospel of Bob on...
Six-time Grammy-winner Ziggy Marley’s father Bob never won a Grammy inhis lifetime (Photo by Malia James, courtesy Gong Communications) Ziggy Marley, the son of Bob, first performed in Montreal at the...
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Proud Kent Nagano conducts OSM in Bernstein’s queer opera “A Quiet Place”...
OSM Maestro Kent Nagano (Photo by Marco Campanozzi, courtesy OSM) It was two years after Grammy-winning Maestro Kent Nagano had signed on with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal in 2006 before he...
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Serge Fiori, Alex Nevsky big winners at ADISQ Gala
The 36th annual ADISQ Gala was a tale of two generations. Sunday night, the stars and power brokers of the Quebec music biz turned up at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts for the annual awards...
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Don't mind the gap
Roch Voisine knows the question is coming, but he still doesn’t have a satisfying answer as to why it has taken him 12 years to record a new English studio album. The New Brunswick-born singer — who...
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Taylor Swift turns to Twitter for solace
I met the multi-platinum, multi-Grammy-Award-winning pop star several weeks back, here in town to try to ensure that her latest long-player 1989 would sell as many millions as the other albums. There...
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Pat Metheny's never liked that 'jazz' label
Ever since he joined Gary Burton’s group at 19 in 1974, Pat Metheny has offered a fresh approach to guitar, and ambitions and ideas to match. Three gold records and 20 Grammy Awards later, Metheny...
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Majical Cloudz keeps it personal on tour with Lorde
My first experience with synth balladeers Majical Cloudz was different than most. It was 2012, and the local duo — singer Devon Welsh and accompanist Matthew Otto — were performing to 20 people in a...
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