By Steve Newton As I’ve no doubt mentioned before, I really like Warren Zevon. I only got to interview him once before his cancer death in 2003, but that one […]
By Steve Newton I’ve said it before, and I’ll probly say it again: I wish I could have interviewed Warren Zevon more than once. But as the pesky fates would […]
By Steve Newton I only got to interview Warren Zevon once, back in 1992, when he was touring behind his Mr. Bad Example album. Man, I wish I could have […]
By Steve Newton As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, one of the coolest dudes I’ve ever interviewed was Warren Zevon. He was just so damn nice. And smart. And Warren […]
By Steve Newton As we enter a new year I find myself thinking: “Man, there aren’t many singer-songwriters like Warren Zevon around anymore.” That dude was one of a kind, […]
By Steve Newton So the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame did it again. Today the poorly-named musical dumping ground in Cleveland inducted six acts into its fold, including folkie […]
By Steve Newton Back in January of 1992 Warren Zevon called me up from a soundcheck in Alabama. I know what you’re thinkin’: how cool was that? Pretty damn cool. […]
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, FEB. 6, 1992 By Steve Newton Once upon a time, there were four young men who played in a band called Dawn Patrol. At […]
I scored a copy of the new Stephen King novel Doctor Sleep for Christmas, which was great as it continues the story of The Shining, one of my fave works–next to […]
kirk west photo By Steve Newton The spirit of southern rock was alive and well when I was a music-crazed teenager in the seventies. Skynyrd, Hatchet, Blackfoot, Outlaws, Allmans: I […]
By Steve Newton There some tunes that just grab you by the heart with their simple beauty and honesty and, if you’re lucky, maybe a wailing Les Paul guitar. “Soulshine” […]
By Steve Newton On April 2, 1989, southern-rock legend Dickey Betts brought his new band to Vancouver for a show at the 86 Street Music Hall. One of the coolest […]
By Steve Newton I did the second of my three interviews with American blues-rock guitar virtuoso Joe Bonamassa in December of 2011, when he was touring behind his Dust Bowl […]
By Steve Newton Tommy Emmanuel is one helluva guitarist; maybe the most amazing acoustic player I’ve ever seen live. I interviewed the Aussie picker back in May of 1994 when […]
By Steve Newton I did my last Tragically Hip interview in June of 1997, a month after the band had released its concert album Live Between Us. Lead guitarist Rob […]
By Steve Newton When I interviewed Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci back in June of 2010 his group was opening for Iron Maiden on it’s Final Frontier World Tour. So […]
By Steve Newton I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t know much about Frank Zappa’s music. One day I need to sit down and absorb some of that guy’s massive […]
By Steve Newton I’m a huge Stevie Ray fan. Got a ton of his albums, seen him in concert a buncha times, interviewed him twice, got his autograph, shook his […]
By Steve Newton I haven’t interviewed that many drummers over the years–mainly because I like talking to guitarists more–but when Van Hagar was heading to Vancouver for a show in […]
By Steve Newton As a hardcore fan of electric guitar music, I’ve managed to interview some of the top practitioners of the trade, Eric Johnson being one of them. When […]
By Steve Newton If you were reading the top guitar magazines back in the early ’80s you may have heard the buzz about this phenomenal British player named Allan Holdsworth. […]
By Steve Newton Some concerts experiences are just seared into memory–if you’re lucky–and one of the most unforgettable for me was seeing Kiss at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom in January of […]
By Steve Newton I did my first interview with Steve Vai when he was touring with Whitesnake in May of 1990, but I was more interested in talking about his […]
By Steve Newton I was crazy about Kiss when their first album dropped back in the Year of Our Lord, 1974. I was 16 at the time, which is all […]
By Steve Newton I freakin’ love guitar solos, where some talented artist carefully chooses the perfect notes and uses vibrato and tremolo and all that other technical shit to come […]
By Steve Newton I did my first interview with David Lee Roth in June of 1994, when he was promoting his Nile Rodgers-produced album Your Filthy Little Mouth. He called me from […]
By Steve Newton Since I got “temporarily” laid off from work yesterday–after 35 years with the Georgia Straight newspaper in Vancouver–I’ve been wondering which of my hundreds of old interviews […]
