By Steve Newton Yesterday the Pacific National Exhibition announced the lineup for its Summer Night Concerts series at the Pacific Coliseum, and when I saw that Bachman-Turner Overdrive was booked to play on August 20, I had an old-school PNE flashback. Way back in the summer of 1975 a teenaged me had driven in from … Continue reading BTO booking at the PNE sets off search for ’70s-rock souvenir
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JUNE 5, 2008 By Steve Newton New Guitar Summit is an ongoing jazz project featuring guitarists Duke Robillard, Gerry Beaudoin, and Jay Geils, who some may remember as the guitarist for a kick-ass ’70s blues-rock band out of Detroit that turned lame in the ’80s and made hit records … Continue reading Album review: Robillard/Beaudoin/Geils, New Guitar Summit (2008)
Matt Andersen plays the Hollywood By Steve Newton Matt Andersen: blues-roots singer-songwriter and guitarist from the Maritimes plays two shows with his band the Big Bottle of Joy, with guests the Hello Darlins. April 5 and 6 at the Hollywood Theatre. Big Sugar: Toronto blues-rock band led by singer-guitarist Gordie Johnson. April 15 at the … Continue reading Newt’s top 10 Metro Vancouver concerts in April
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JULY 30, 2009 By Steve Newton I saw the original Jeff Healey Band play numerous times in the ’80s at Vancouver venues like the Yale and the 86 Street Music Hall. While always blown away by the searing talent of the young blind dude with the Strat on his … Continue reading Album review: Jeff Healey, Songs from the Road (2009)
Little Richard: I Am Everything screens at VIFF Centre By Steve Newton FRIDAY: legendary L.A. punk-rockers Fear, featuring frontman Lee Ving, play the Vogue Theatre, with guests Dayglo Abortions and the Vicious Cycles. FRIDAY: the City of Delta and Vancouver Chamber Music Society present New York City’s Zodiac Trio–clarinetist Kliment Krylovskiy, pianist Riko Higuma, and … Continue reading Newt’s top 10 (or 12) things to do in Metro Vancouver this weekend, April 21 to 23
Paul Pigat and Kevin Breit play Blue Frog Studios By Steve Newton MONDAY: screening at the Rio Theatre of director Ari Aster’s deeply disturbing 2018 horror flick Hereditary, about an American family suffering a nightmarish breakdown. TUESDAY: rootsy Vancouver folk-rock band Just a Season, featuring singer-songwriter and guitarist Scott Smith from Terminal Station, plays tunes … Continue reading Newt’s top 10 (or 15) things to do in Metro Vancouver this week, April 17 to 21
By Steve Newton As I mentioned yesterday, since the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has just announced its seven inductees for the Class of 2023, my own little institution located in the wilds of British Columbia–Newt’s Rock Hall–is gonna counter with seven different inductees of its own. And of course mine will be better. … Continue reading Newt’s Rock Hall inducts Dick Dale, Soundgarden, the Guess Who, the Replacements, Bad Company, Mahogany Rush, the Edgar Winter Group, and the Stray Cats
By Steve Newton Canadian rock legend Randy Bachman has accomplished a helluva lot in his musical career. For one thing, how many musicians can say that they’ve reached the top in two different bands? Before Bachman-Turner Overdrive was ruling the airwaves in the mid-seventies, he’d already hit the big time with the Guess Who, whose … Continue reading That time Randy Bachman told me what it felt like when the Guess Who’s “American Woman” hit number one
By Steve Newton Canada doesn’t seem to have an overabundance of rock-guitar heroes. Sure, you’ve got your Lenny Breau when it comes to jazz, and your Jeff Healey if you’re talkin’ blues. But when it comes to Canadian rock-guitar heroes, I can’t think of tons. Alex Lifeson, Kim Mitchell… Obviously Neil Young, but isn’t he … Continue reading That time Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman told me about creating the riff for “American Woman”
lauren marshall photo By Steve Newton I’ve interviewed at least two guitar legends who liked touring with Joe Cocker. Back in 1990 I talked to Stevie Ray Vaughan about his coheadlining tour with Cocker, and he was right into it. Then in 2001 the Guess Who was sharing a bill with the gravelly voiced Brit, … Continue reading That time I called up the Guess Who’s Randy Bachman and he raved about touring with Joe Cocker
By Steve Newton Everybody has their favourite Guess Who tune, I reckon. Some go for the riff-driven rocker “American Woman”. Others might appreciate the piano-based ballad “These Eyes”. Me, I’m an “Undun” kinda guy. When I interviewed Guess Who guitarist Randy Bachman back in 2001 I told him that his jazz-tinged 1969 B-side was tops … Continue reading That time I told Randy Bachman that my fave Guess Who song was “Undun”
By Steve Newton I did the third of my three interviews with Jon Bon Jovi in June of 1987, when his band was touring behind its massively successful third album, Slippery When Wet, which went on to sell over 12-million copies in the U.S. alone. A year earlier the group had barely caused a stir … Continue reading That time Jon Bon Jovi told me that his band’s new Slippery When Wet album was just meant to be a fun summertime album
By Steve Newton I’m a little show on the uptake sometimes. For example, just yesterday I was typing up my old interview from 1987 with Rick Richards of the Georgia Satellites, giving the article new life on the internet after being trapped on yellowing newspaper and stashed in a banker’s box for decades. In the … Continue reading 36 years later I finally got turned on to the rockin’ glory of Warren Zevon’s “Even a Dog Can Shake Hands”
