Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

For 40 years, this Canadian musical legend has been capturing in song the essence of human experience

One of Canada’s finest artists, Bruce Cockburn has enjoyed an illustrious career shaped by politics, spirituality and musical diversity. His remarkable journey has seen him embrace folk, jazz, rock and worldbeat styles while traveling to far-flung places like Guatemala, Mali, Mozambique and Nepal and writing memorable songs about his ever-expanding world of wonders. “My job,” he explains, “is to try and trap the spirit of things in the scratches of pen on paper and the pulling of notes out of metal.”

That scratching and pulling has earned Cockburn high praise as an exceptional songwriter and a revered guitarist. His songs of romance, protest and spiritual discovery are among the best to have emerged from Canada over the last 40 years. His guitar playing, both acoustic and electric, has placed him in the company of the world’s top instrumentalists. And he remains deeply respected for his activism on issues from native rights and land mines to the

Polaris Music Prize 2010Here are my Short List choices for this year's prize, in alphabetical order:* Bahamas - Pink Strat (Toronto)  website Bahamas * Amelia Curran - Hunter Hunter (Halifax) website Amelia Curran * Radio Radio - Belmundo Regal (Montreal) website Radio Radio* The Sadies - Darker Circles (Toronto) website The Sadies* Yukon Blonde - Yukon Blonde (Vancouver) website Yukon BlondeAll of these candidates are excellent albums--check them out. The Short List finalists will be announced July 6 and this year's winner will be proclaimed at the Polaris gala on September 20. Look for a new Polaris Music Prize Player on this site soon.    

Canadian music passes a milestone this year as the Juno Awards turn 25. To celebrate the occasion, this year's event (CBC TV, Sunday, March 10) features the induction of five rock legends into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Zal Yanovsky (The Lovin' Spoonful), Denny Doherty (The Mamas and the Papas), John Kay (Steppenwolf), David Clayton-Thomas (Blood, Sweat & Tears) and Domenic Troiano (Mandala, James Gang) all started their careers in Canada and pursued them south of the border. Yanovsky, Doherty and Troiano have since moved back, and Kay and Clayton-Thomas still have close ties to the country where they first got the beat. ZAL YANOVSKYThere is not a trace of The Lovin' Spoonful ...

Well after midnight, on a cold stretch of highway somewhere in British Columbia's Cascade Mountains, a party is in progress. It's mid-November, and members of the Tragically Hip, fresh off a successful tour opening in Vancouver, are celebrating as their bus whisks them northeastward overnight towards the Okanagan Valley. The air is thick with smoke. "Pass me a beer?" asks drummer Johnny Fay, slipping a CD by the Asian Dub Foundation into the stereo system. As heavy rhythms flood out, heads nod appreciatively. The hypnotic instrumental number suits quiet conversation or zoning out. Several beers and too much David Bowie later, guitarist Robby Baker puts a more eclectic spin on things, playing...

On the Sunday before he died, Paul Quarrington was doing what he’d spent the last seven months doing: as much as possible. Whether it was writing, performing, recording, travelling, fishing, watching his beloved Leafs or partying with family and friends, Paul was packing it in, squeezing the juice out of everything before taking his leave.On this particular Sunday, Paul was in the studio laying down one more track for his solo album, in this case a part for his brother Joel, an accomplished classical double bassist. I wanted to witness this session featuring two talented individuals who’d been in my life since childhood.Back then, I was best friends with Joel and knew Paul as his shy and ins...

What do you think was the best album of 2009?Troubadour - K'naan  35.7% other   21.4% Glasvegas - Glasvegas   7.1% It's Not Me, It's You - Lily Allen   7.1% Together Through Life - Bob Dylan   7.1% Wilco (the album) - Wilco   7.1% Humbug - Arctic Monkeys   7.1% Three - Joel Plaskett   7.1% What do you think was the best single of 2009? The Fear - Lily Allen   30.8% Pulling on a Line - Great Lake Swimmers   23.1% other   15.4% Wavin' Flag - K'naan   15.4% Use Somebody - Kings of Leon   7.7% Warm Heart of Africa - The Very Best feat. Ezra Koenig   7.7%

Folksinger Kate McGarrigle left a deep musical legacy both in recordings with her older sister Anna McGarrigle and in her two children, singer-songwriters Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright. Kate and Anna McGarrigle were revered for their heavenly harmonies and sensitive love songs, made famous by the likes of Linda Ronstadt and Maria Muldaur. Lavish praise greeted the Montreal duo's arrival in the mid-1970s, with the British and American press citing the intimacy of their voices and honesty of their songs. Along with critically lauded albums, the McGarrigle sisters each gave birth to musically talented offspring. Kate McGarrigle grew up bilingual, but, in many ways, music was her first ...

The following were my picks for this year's 19th annual eye weekly music critics poll: BEST ALBUMS OF 20091: Joel Plaskett/Three (MapleMusic)2: K'naan/Troubadour (A&M/Octone)3: Arctic Monkeys/Humbug (Domino)4: Lily Allen/It's Not Me, It's You (EMI)5: Neko Case/Middle Cyclone (Anti)6: Wilco/Wilco (the album) (Nonesuch)7: Great Lake Swimmers/Lost Channels (Nettwerk)8: Bob Dylan/Together Through Life (Sony)9: Junior Boys/Begone Dull Care (Domino)10: Glasvegas/Glasvegas (Columbia) BEST SINGLES OF 20091: The Very Best feat. Ezra Koenig/"Warm Heart of Africa" (Green Owl)2: K'naan/"Wavin' Flag" (A&M/Octone)3: Metric/"Help I'm Alive" (Last Gang)4: Lily Allen/"The Fear" (EMI)5: Great Lak...

This Beat Goes On tells the story of Canadian music in the 1970s, a ground-breaking era of great sounds, from glam and progressive rock to punk and reggae. Set in the formative years of Canada’s music industry, This Beat Goes On offers a jukebox full of chart-topping songs from, from Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” and Burton Cummings’ “Stand Tall” to Trooper’s “Raise a Little Hell” and Loverboy’s “Turn Me Loose.” Mixing archival footage with candid interviews, the documentary features proven hitmakers like Anne Murray, Neil Young and The Guess Who as well as a wealth of new folksingers, blues artists and mullet-rockers. Solo artists like Joni Mitchell and progressive rockers Rush still rule, b...

Rise Up looks at the digital age of Canadian music in the 1980s, a visual era of big hair and shoulder pads, when music videos helped homegrown artists to take off internationally. America’s MTV and Canada’s MuchMusic provide launching pads for artists as varied as Triumph, Bruce Cockburn, Chilliwack, Jane Siberry, Men Without Hats and Bryan Adams. Blending illuminating interviews with thrilling concert footage and videos, including Rush’s “Tom Sawyer,” 54-40’s “I Go Blind,” Blue Rodeo’s “Try” and k.d. lang’s “Hanky Panky,” Rise Up takes viewers on a thrilling ride into the decade’s pop stratosphere. Along with such telegenic performers as Gowan and Dalbello, the hit-filled documentary inclu...