ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JAN. 30, 2003 By Steve Newton I was feeling just a tad hesitant when setting off to review the Wallflowers’ gig last Friday (January 17). For one thing, the American band’s latest CD, Red Letter Days, hadn’t thrilled me. I knew that chrome-domed guitar ace Michael Ward—who’d provided the fine fretwork on … Continue reading The Wallflowers fail to enthrall a sell-out crowd in Vancouver
Tag: 2003
Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano thinks Mick Ronson was a genius
Last year Concrete Blonde released a CD that reunited the original lineup of Johnette Napolitano, James Mankey, and Harry Rushakoff.
Steve Earle asks the hardest of questions in the darkest of times
Steve Earle garnered a lot of attention last year for a song that put him in the shoes of captured Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh.
The Trailer Park Boys’ Mike Smith says he’s quite a bit like Bubbles
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JAN. 23, 2003 By Steve Newton In Trailer Park Boys—Showcase TV’s low-budget mockumentary series about dope-smoking, foul-mouthed lowlifes inhabiting a rundown (is there any other kind?) trailer park—it’s the little things that make you laugh. Like Julian’s (John Paul Tremblay’s) ever-present glass of rum ’n’ Coke. Whether he’s hanging around the trailer … Continue reading The Trailer Park Boys’ Mike Smith says he’s quite a bit like Bubbles
Patterson Hood on the Drive-By Truckers’ Southern Rock Opera and the true meaning of Skynyrd
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JAN. 30, 2003 By Steve Newton It doesn’t seem likely in today’s musical climate that any band would record a 90-minute concept album about 1970s rock and southern U.S. culture, focusing on the legend of doomed Dixie rock act Lynyrd Skynyrd. It’s even more unlikely that such a CD would get critical … Continue reading Patterson Hood on the Drive-By Truckers’ Southern Rock Opera and the true meaning of Skynyrd
Guitar great Robben Ford on playing with George Harrison and his new Vancouver pal Long John Baldry
Blues fans planning to attend Long John Baldry’s annual birthday bash at the Commodore will get a little extra bang for their buck this year.
David Bowie’s A Reality Tour could have used some Aladdin Sane
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, FEB. 5, 2010 By Steve Newton The first time I saw David Bowie in concert was at the Pacific Coliseum in early ’76 on the Station to Station tour. While it was an entrancing show—all blinding white light and Earl Slick’s biting, feedback-laden guitar—the Thin White Duke’s performance was clinical and … Continue reading David Bowie’s A Reality Tour could have used some Aladdin Sane
Horror review: Alien–The Director’s Cut
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 30, 2003 By Steve Newton The first movie I can remember that set me on the road to becoming a lifelong horror fan was It! The Terror From Beyond Space. It was made on the cheap in 1958, and featured a guy in a hokey, zipper-up-the-back monster suit, but to my … Continue reading Horror review: Alien–The Director’s Cut
Texas Chainsaw Massacre is much more than just Jessica Biel in a tank top
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 16, 2003 By Steve Newton Let’s face it, Texas Chainsaw Massacre was brilliant. Not the 1974 film itself—although for its time it was quite groundbreaking—but the movie’s title. Has there ever been three words that so powerfully evoked the promise of celluloid carnage? Say it with me, slowly and with feeling: … Continue reading Texas Chainsaw Massacre is much more than just Jessica Biel in a tank top
House of the Dead is a tedious take on the popular arcade game
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 16, 2003 By Steve Newton One night a few years back, I was hanging with a few friends on Granville Mall, killing time before a concert, when we decided to saunter into a nearby arcade. After blowing a few bucks on the extreme road-race games, I found myself drawn to the … Continue reading House of the Dead is a tedious take on the popular arcade game
Horror review: Cold Creek Manor
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 25, 2003 I had high hopes for Cold Creek Manor being a decent suspense thriller. First off, the cast looked impressive. Sharon Stone, Dennis Quaid, Stephen Dorff, and Juliette Lewis have all done memorable work in the past. And Mike Figgis is no hack, having directed the Oscar-nominated … Continue reading Horror review: Cold Creek Manor
Horror review: Cabin Fever
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 18, 2002 By Steve Newton The promoters of Cabin Fever are using a quote from director Peter Jackson in print ads for their new horror flick. BRILLIANT! and FANTASTIC! are some of the adjectives attributed to the visionary filmmaker behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now, this … Continue reading Horror review: Cabin Fever
Heath Ledger is wasted in The Order, a silly exercise in satanic nonentertainment
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 11, 2003 By Steve Newton Writer-director-producer Brian Helgeland attempted to turn the medieval action film on its ear with 2001’s A Knight’s Tale, which was best known for incorporating ’70s rock music into its 17th-century tale of an underdog jouster (Heath Ledger) out for love and glory. With The Order, Helgeland … Continue reading Heath Ledger is wasted in The Order, a silly exercise in satanic nonentertainment