Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

The Trans-Canada Highwaymen is a supergroup made up of members of Barenaked Ladies (Steven Page), The Odds (Craig Northey), Sloan (Chris Murphy) and The Pursuit of Happiness (Moe Berg), singing classic Canadian songs by the likes of Pagliaro, Lighthouse, Andy Kim, April Wine and The Guess Who. They’ve already released Explosive Hits Vol. 1, their recordings of 14 of those chart-toppers. But the beauty of the TCH concept when performed live is that it adds a whole other dimension of Canadiana with the biggest hits by the members’ own bands.  So, last night at Toronto’s venerable Horseshoe Tavern, the four horsemen of the K-Tel generation, treated the sold-out crowd to note-perfect c...

Of all the Canadian music autobiographies published in recent years, no two could be more different than Anti Diva and Takin' Care of Business. The former, by Carole Pope, is a titillating walk on the wild side with the former Rough Trade vocalist who once sang “she makes me cream my jeans when she comes my way.” By contrast, Randy Bachman’s account of his life is like a sober family history with all the spicy stories about drunken aunts and rakish uncles left out to protect 1 innocent ears. In that respect, both books accurately reflect their subjects: Pope is a lesbian trailblazer and pop provocateur who has revelled in sex and drugs, while Bachman, the burly guitarist with ...

My friend Peter and I missed out on Woodstock. In the summer of ʼ69, we were simply too young to make the trek. But we did get to go to an all-Canadian version of that historic festival. Held in a campground near Orangeville, Ontario, over the Labour Day weekend, the Freak Out at Rockhill Park featured no fewer than twenty-one of Canadaʼs best bands on three stages, including one on a small lake. My parents drove us up from Toronto, actually right into the campground, which proved to be both a curse and a blessing. On the one hand, as sixteen-year-olds, we were mortified that we needed a parental escort at all, when most people had driven themselves or hitchhiked. On the other, being in the ...

They are one of rock’s most on-again/off-again partnerships, a pair of icons whose relationship was once described as the longest running soap opera in Canadian history. Although they have much in common, such as their Winnipeg birthplace and each taking turns at different times as members of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band, myriad differences have kept Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings apart, including friction caused by Cummings buying the publishing rights to the Guess Who songs he’d co-written with Bachman. But on July 18, the two Canadian rock legends will reunite for a one-time charity fundraiser for Canada’s Walk of Fame at Toronto’s Casa Loma. Billed as “Music Under the City Stars,” the...

One of Canada's most successful bands is enjoying a new vogue -- and hitting the road once again  On an early May afternoon, on the eastern outskirts of Winnipeg, a spring ritual is under way. Like bears emerging from hibernation, some grey-haired men step out to play their first round of golf of the year. Teeing off under a warm sun, the golfers are oblivious to another ritual taking place nearby. Inside the Transcona Country Club, members of the Canadian rock legend the Guess Who are running through the familiar chords of such classic songs as Undun and American Woman. The original lineup of the group -- middle-aged and reunited for the first time in 17 years for a national tour that ...