Category: Uncategorized

On the Vancouver set of Highlander: The Series with star Adrian Paul and rocker Joan Jett

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 10, 1992 By Steve Newton The Seymour Watershed is a long way from the green rolling hills of Scotland, where Connor MacLeod (played by Christopher Lambert) learned the swordfighting tricks of the immortal's trade from his mentor (Sean Connery) in the movie Highlander. But, five miles up a North Vancouver mountain … Continue reading On the Vancouver set of Highlander: The Series with star Adrian Paul and rocker Joan Jett

Steve-O steals the show from the other fearless idiots in the poo-heavy Jackass 3D

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 15, 2010 By Steve Newton Johnny Knoxville and his merry band of twisted prankster freaks are back in the third feature-length spinoff of their now-defunct MTV series, with the wonders of 3-D adding to the shit-splattered fun. And I do mean shit-splattered. The stunt that caused the loudest groans of disbelief … Continue reading Steve-O steals the show from the other fearless idiots in the poo-heavy Jackass 3D

Vancouver Symphony music director Otto Tausk says he’s more Beatles than Stones

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 8, 2021 By Steve Newton There's a whole lot of guitar heroes in the world. Beck, Page, Van Halen, Vaughan, Hendrix, Slash, Clapton—the list goes on and on. What about violin heroes, though? They're a lot harder to come by, but Otto Tausk has one. And as he explains on a call from … Continue reading Vancouver Symphony music director Otto Tausk says he’s more Beatles than Stones

Earwax-induced hearing loss amplifies music lover’s appreciation for sounds

By Steve Newton I did a really dumb thing last week: I went crazy with the Q-tips. There's a jar of them on our bathroom counter, and I thought I'd try one out to see how my earwax situation was. I knew that cleaning the inside of your ears with those cotton swabs was frowned … Continue reading Earwax-induced hearing loss amplifies music lover’s appreciation for sounds

Trio’s Stephan Remmler on Trio and Error and the creation of the weird worldwide hit “Da Da Da”

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DEC. 16, 1983 By Steve Newton About this same time last year, creeping up a heat duct from the basement suite below me, would come a tune so queer and bouncy--and sung with such downright foolishness--that I started to wonder if some madman hadn't holed himself up down there and decided to … Continue reading Trio’s Stephan Remmler on Trio and Error and the creation of the weird worldwide hit “Da Da Da”

The Chinese spy balloon gets me thinking about that time I asked Nena if her new “99 Red Balloons” was an anti-war song

By Steve Newton I interviewed one-named German pop singer Nena on the phone from Berlin back in May of 1984. That was one month after her band released its 99 Luftballoons compilation album, which featured both English- and German-language versions of the title track ("99 Red Balloons"), which had been a huge hit in Europe the … Continue reading The Chinese spy balloon gets me thinking about that time I asked Nena if her new “99 Red Balloons” was an anti-war song

Newt’s top 10 things to do in Vancouver this week

king gizzard & the lizard wizard plays the pne forum on wednesday By Steve Newton American garage-rock duo the Black Keys plays Rogers Arena on their Dropout Boogie Tour on Monday, with guests Band of Horses. Australian boogie-rockers Airbourne play the Commodore Ballroom on Monday, with guests the Native Howl and Steel V. MRG Live … Continue reading Newt’s top 10 things to do in Vancouver this week

Newt’s Top 10 things to do in Vancouver this weekend

stewart copeland joins the VSO Friday and Saturday By Steve Newton Canadian blues-rocker Colin James plays the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Friday, with guests the Ally Venable Band. Japanese psych-rock quintet Kikagaku Moyo plays a SOLD OUT show at the Rickshaw on Friday, with guest Yu Su. The B.C. Lions take on the Ottawa Redblacks in CFL action at … Continue reading Newt’s Top 10 things to do in Vancouver this weekend

Rock and Roll Damnation: the heavy-metal concert review as post-secondary writing exercise

By Steve Newton There's a comedic reading series running in Vancouver called Teen Angst Night, where people read embarrassing things they wrote as a youth. This is kinda like that. When I was taking English 304 at UBC one of the assignments was to write something where each sentence started with a different letter of … Continue reading Rock and Roll Damnation: the heavy-metal concert review as post-secondary writing exercise

You can tell a book by its covers: The Georgia Straight–A 50th Anniversary Celebration

By Steve Newton FULL DISCLOSURE: I've worked at the Georgia Straight since '82 so, yeah, I could be a little biased. I didn't grow up in Vancouver. I hail from the small Fraser Valley community of Chilliwack, best known for ice storms in the winter, Cultus Lake in the summer, and the rock band Chilliwack … Continue reading You can tell a book by its covers: The Georgia Straight–A 50th Anniversary Celebration

That time Circus Magazine’s editorial department sent me a rejection letter :(

By Steve Newton Back on July 10, 1981, somebody at Circus Magazine sent me a rejection letter. They could have at least signed it. Back in the seventies I devoured Circus. It was a total fanzine, but it really covered the bands I was interested in. On any given issue you'd see capitalized band names like … Continue reading That time Circus Magazine’s editorial department sent me a rejection letter 🙁