Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

There are at least two personas in the package known as Matthew Good. One is raging rock star, the cocky, charismatic frontman of one of Canada's brightest new bands. The other is unassuming product of the suburbs, a daydreamer from Coquitlam, B.C., who grew up street smart yet literate -- and mad about soccer, which he played throughout his youth. Although he's now 29, with a career that has him and his group crisscrossing the country and, soon, jetting around the globe, Good has never lost touch with his roots. Beautiful Midnight, his group's current, top-selling (nearly 200,000 copies) album, is filled with songs steeped in childhood and teenage memories and even includes a chant by the c...

It's a spectacular setting, even by Australia's breathtaking standards. Nestled in the Great Dividing Range, an hour's drive north of Sydney, lies Glenworth Valley. With its cloud-covered mountaintops, spring-fed creeks and lush, unspoiled woods and pastures, it resembles an impossibly idyllic scene from the movie Jurassic Park. More surreal was the sight of a rock festival there in late December. The two-day event, featuring more than 40 bands on five stages, proved a real success for the promoters and the 5,000 in attendance. Even an afternoon downpour on the second day failed to dampen spirits, as mud-splattered dancers moved to blues, techno and an Aussie brand of thrashing country music...

She is the newest cover girl for "alternative" rock, a populist answer to Courtney Love. Fans and critics throughout North America have embraced Ottawa native Alanis Morissette as rock's second coming--and this year's best coming-of-age story. Some observers are still scratching their heads over the transformation of the former bubblegum-pop princess into the queen of ultra-hip music. But for the sold-out crowd that packed Toronto's Warehouse club last week, there was no such bewilderment. The more than 2,000 fans cheered on Morissette's every move--every melodramatic toss of her luxurious mane--and seemed to know the words to every song. When she snarled her way through "You Oughta Know," h...

It is the August holiday weekend, but there is no rest for Shania Twain. New country music's hottest new sensation is busy paying her dues to the industry that has helped to make her one of its fastest-rising stars. Under the glare of spotlights, Twain finishes a day-long photo shoot in a Toronto studio, posing for a series of portraits to be used on billboards, bus shelters and posters. She had spent most of the day before at Canada's Wonderland, a theme park north of Toronto, co-hosting a music festival sponsored by a country radio station. There, fans hooted and hollered for her to perform her current hit, Any Man of Mine--without the benefit of a backing band. She complied, and it turned...

The morning after her triumph at the Juno Awards, Jann Arden was sitting on a Canadian Airlines flight, bound for Calgary. It was her birthday, and the 33-year-old performer was looking forward to a quiet trip home before celebrating with family and a close circle of friends. But word about her presence travelled quickly through the aircraft. Several passengers offered congratulations on her Juno success. Then a flight attendant came and asked for an autograph. The pilot, a professed fan, even invited Arden to the cockpit, where he gave her a demonstration of the controls. Just when it seemed that she might be able to relax for the final leg of the journey, an announcement came over the spea...

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...

Roberto Occhipinti is diversity personified. He’s won awards and acclaim as a musician, composer and record producer. Throughout his career, the Toronto-born bassist has performed in classical orchestras, jazz ensembles, Latin groups, rhythm & blues outfits and rock bands. He has worked in theatre and opera, written for radio and television, played on film soundtracks and done more recording session jobs than he can remember. To call the hard-working musician versatile would be the height of understatement. “I’ve always had very catholic tastes about my musical endeavors,” admits Occhipinti. “I don’t wait for the phone to ring. I’d rather make a call than hang around. I get involved with...

It may be the perfect partnership. As husband and wife, Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, while raising three happy, rambunctious young sons. But Kreviazuk and Maida are also successfully married in songwriting, an alliance that has benefited their respective careers and made them Canada’s go-to power couple for American stars like Gwen Stefani, Kelly Clarkson and Pink and such Canadian artists as Avril Lavigne, Rex Goudie and Eva Avila. It all began in 1996 when Winnipeg-born Kreviazuk, who had just released her debut album, Under These Rocks and Stones, met Maida, frontman of Juno Award winning rockers Our Lady Peace, backstage at a Pearl J...

A long-haired figure sat alone onstage in a plaid shirt, blue jeans and construction boots. With just an acoustic guitar and, occasionally, a piano, he sang 18 songs—many of them brand new—to an adoring, sold-out audience. There was magic in the air. When Neil Young played Massey Hall on January 19, 1971, it was a triumphant homecoming for the Toronto-born troubadour, who’d left five years earlier to find fame in California. The concert proved to be a watershed event, forever sealing Young’s reputation as a formidable artist and a national icon. Last year, Luminato celebrated Canada’s best songsmiths, including Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Gordon Lightfoot. This year, the arts festival i...

Tours can take their toll on the most experienced rock musician. But if you’re a suddenly hot young singer from England, and you find yourself catapulted into a seemingly endless series of concerts, interviews and promotional appearances across the North American continent, it can be downright dizzying. That was the state Lily Allen was in this past April. The pint-sized pop star was at her wit’s end on the tail end of a three-month tour that had seen her perform more than 60 shows, make dozens of TV appearances and conduct literally hundreds of interviews. The morning after a sold-out appearance at Toronto’s Phoenix Theatre spoke to Inside E, and the fatigue in her voice was palpable. Touri...