charles campbell photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MARCH 4, 1988 By Steve Newton An acoustic concert can be quite a scary thing to those people, like myself, who thrive on raunchy […]
Jack (left) and Jorma still chuckle about the mellow good times they had at Altamont back in ’69. Good news for ’70s-rock fans who might feel like taking a quick […]
By Steve Newton Twenty years ago tomorrow–on Sunday, November 28, 1993–Bon Jovi played the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of the Jersey band, but I […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, FEB. 6, 2011 The guitar world is in mourning today as the news of Gary Moore’s death travels around the globe. The Irish musician—best known for […]
By Steve Newton Blues legends don’t get much more legendary than Blind Willie Johnson, whose recordings in the 1920s of songs like “John the Revelator”, “It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine”, […]
By Steve Newton You had to be there. Abraxas: Santana (“Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen”, “Oye Coma Va”, “Samba Pa Ti”) 1970 A Day at the Races: Queen (“Tie Your Mother Down”, “Somebody […]
The spirit of ’76 will never falter because that’s the year Thin Lizzy put out two LPs instead of just one. Albums listed in alphabetical order according to title, otherwise Jailbreak would be […]
Ah, 1975. The year I graduated high school. Talk about dazed and confused. Albums listed alphabetically by title, including three choice tracks from each one to help you remember how […]
1972 was a year when I got introduced to a number of bands that would become all-time faves, including Blue Oyster Cult, Mott the Hoople, and Steely Dan. And as […]
All in all, 1971 wasn’t one of the greatest years for rock in the seventies. But it was a pretty great one for Alice Cooper, Rory Gallagher, and Yes, who […]
Last year I decided to turn the clock back four decades and put together a list of my 30 fave albums of 1973, because, for one thing, that was the […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, NOV. 29, 2006 By Steve Newton As the story goes, Jerry Garcia had only been experimenting on pedal-steel guitar for two weeks when he played it […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, DEC. 4, 2011 By Steve Newton I just learned via a tweet from Hot Tuna guitarist Jorma Kaukonen that blues guitar great Hubert Sumlin passed away […]
So, yeah, I’ve reviewed a few shows over the years. ROGER WATERS at Rogers Arena, Oct. 28, 2017 GUNS N’ ROSES at BC Place Stadium, Sept. 1, 2017 THE AGE OF […]
kevin statham photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 5, 1988 By Steve Newton About 40,000 people paid $38.50 (Cdn) to see the marathon Monsters of Rock show […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JULY 1, 1988 By Steve Newton Patrick Swayze may be one of the sexiest movie stars around today, but he can’t play mean blues […]
By Steve Newton The last time yours truly interviewed American blues-rocker Tinsley Ellis was 10 years ago, when he called the Georgia Straight in advance of a gig at the Yale Hotel, […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, FEB. 27, 2003 By Steve Newton You don’t fuck with the Ramones. And one of the best ways to not fuck with them is […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 7, 2002 By Steve Newton Two songs into the new Carlos Santana CD, Shaman, I couldn’t decide whether I loved the album or […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 21, 1997 By Steve Newton Strolling around the Mexican resort town of Cabo San Lucas last year, I stumbled across a bar called […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JULY 17, 1997 By Steve Newton To me, John Fogerty is the ultimate rock ’n’ roller. His songwriting—as evidenced by a myriad of deathless […]
By Steve Newton As most in-the-know horror-movie freaks are no doubt aware, the latest entry in the Saw franchise, Jigsaw, opens this Friday (October 27). Not one to miss out […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JUNE 17, 1993 By Steve Newton I always thought that the opening riff of Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla” was one of the […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 29, 1996 By Steve Newton If you were a rock-loving teenager in the ’70s, you probably have some kind of Kiss story to […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 7, 1991 By Steve Newton “Where do you get your ideas from?” Horror director Wes Craven must have heard that question a thousand […]
By Steve Newton I feel extremely fortunate to have interviewed J.J. Cale a couple of times during the legendary songwriter’s lifetime. The first time was back in 1990, when he […]
chris cameron photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 26, 1986 By Steve Newton Huey Lewis has a great rock and roll voice, he writes fairly catchy tunes, and his […]
chris cameron photo ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 19, 1986 By Steve Newton There are two kinds of songs that Lionel Richie can perform as well, if not […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MAY 9, 1986 By Steve Newton When word gets around in the recording industry that so-and-so is a hot session player, the demand for […]
By Steve Newton Tim Curry’s performance as Pennywise, the evil clown in Stephen King’s It, has long been hailed as a major achievement in the realm of horror. Curry nailed […]
By Steve Newton When Booker T. Jones answers the phone at his Lake Tahoe home he sounds cool, calm, and collected. Mostly cool. That’s no surprise, as Jones has been […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 6, 1985 By Steve Newton When Kate Bush was 15 years old, she thought it would be nice if she could get some […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, NOV. 29, 1985 By Steve Newton One of the wildest rock and roll sounds to come up from Down Under recently is that of […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, OCT. 30, 2015 By Steve Newton These days you can barely swing a chainsaw without hitting a zombie-based movie or TV show, but Scouts Guide to the […]
By Steve Newton Back in 1997 I did a set-visit piece for Fangoria on the local filming of Peter Benchley’s Creature, a TV-movie based on theJaws author’s 1994 novel, White Shark. The sea-beast in question […]
By Steve Newton 1975 was a very good year for rock n roll. Maybe even the best. That’s the year of Aerosmiith‘s Toys in the Attic, Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti, and […]
By Steve Newton Back in 2000 I got assigned by Fangoria magazine to cover the Vancouver filming of Sole Survivor, a TV-movie based on a Dean Koontz novel. After covering awful […]
By Steve Newton Back in ’97 I got assigned by Fangoria magazine to cover the filming of a FOX-TV miniseries called Intensity. Normally I wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about a FOX-TV miniseries, […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, MAY 25, 1990 By Steve Newton The liner notes to Squeeze’s new live album, A Round and a Bout, contain a precise itinerary of […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, APRIL 18, 2015 By Steve Newton You’ve gotta give Blumhouse Productions credit: they sure know how to make big bucks off cheaply made horror flicks. The […]
photo by Kevin Statham. All other less-impressive photos by the Newt By Steve Newton Four of the seven Lynyrd Skynyrd members pictured on the cover of the band’s phenomenal first […]
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, MARCH 18, 2015 By Steve Newton Horror movies featuring actors who are also pop stars are often nothing to scream about. J.Lo in Anaconda and the mostly naked […]
photo by Markus Hagner Savoy Brown was one of the top British blues-rock acts of the early seventies, making a mark with such albums as Raw Sienna (1970), Looking In (’70), […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, APRIL 3, 2003 Tom Cochrane had his biggest hit, “Life Is a Highway”, two years after splitting up with long-time guitarist Kenny Greer and […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, JAN. 23, 2003 By Steve Newton Steve Earle garnered a lot of attention last year for “John Walker’s Blues”, a song that put the […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, OCT. 3, 2002 By Steve Newton Buddy Guy spent a good portion of his concert at the Commodore last Friday (September 27) paying tribute […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 20, 2001 The first musician I interviewed after terrorists committed those atrocious acts in the U.S. last week was American blues veteran Sonny […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, AUG. 2, 2001 By Steve Newton Most red-blooded Canuck-rock fans over 40 have memories of their favourite Guess Who tune. Some prefer the riff-driven […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, APRIL 26, 2001 One of the best perks of being a Media Slut From Hell—I mean, music journalist—is getting backstage to pose for photos […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, APRIL 5, 2001 When I hear the name Jay Geils nowadays, I remember how I used to whip over to an old Chilliwack High […]
