Author: Carey Rutherford

Swallowed by the mutual loves of words and music (but far too chicken-shit to perform them with a band), Carey’s writing career started slowly as a freelance writer in 2003, starved him nearly to personal bankruptcy until 2008, and changed directions while writing for FastForward, Beacon Calgary, GayCalgary, and Examiner magazines. With the death of many old-school periodicals, and the explosion of musical diversity in Calgary, the modern approach to writing about live music performance in the Calgary region presented uncluttered landscapes for the focussed passion that Carey’s conversations with musicians, drag queens, festival producers and small animals has uncapped. He was moulded by the brilliance of paper-based periodicals old and new (Life, rolling Stone, Swerve! and Adbusters etc.), and sees the info-verse as needing creative, empathetic, but clear-eyed Agents to communicate these performances.
CategoriesSound Art

Jimmy Peggie undone: What does a Sound Artist do?

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“Well, I don’t actually play any instruments!” Jimmy Peggie tells us.
A strange admission from someone to be telling a MUSICAlive! interviewer, but we are NOT surprised. When wandering through the farther edges of the things we listen to for pleasure/entertainment/empowerment/enlightenment, sometimes it’s no longer a 3 minute lyric about “girl meetsboy/loses boy/finds boy … Continue Reading >Jimmy Peggie undone: What does a Sound Artist do?

Categoriesclassical

The Honens Semifinals Pt. 1: 2 competitors, 2 viewpoints

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Élisabeth Pion is from Canada, but you’d never know it if you glanced through her resume: training in Italy AND the UK AND Montreal, and with a British phone prefix when we finally connect. MUSICAlive!, with an international subject matter that keeps us guessing what accent we will hear next, left it up to discovery: which is that this charming jewel is Quebecois … Continue Reading >The Honens Semifinals Pt. 1: 2 competitors, 2 viewpoints

Categoriesfolk

Are the Sour Patch Men . . . sour? No: Can bluegrass music be irreverent? Maybe!

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MUSICAlive! Magazine often publishes the opening commentary of our interviewee, which is literally from our interview soundcheck: the artist telling us what they’ve played on the most recent recording we’ve had access to. And sometimes the responses are a little unexpected . . . … Continue Reading >Are the Sour Patch Men . . . sour? No: Can bluegrass music be irreverent? Maybe!

Categoriesreggae

The Canadian Ska Orchestra: Musical professionals in a newly playful creation

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Johnathon May brings me my Cafe Mocha and raisin bran muffin while I set up the recording device for our interview in the National Music Centre coffeeshop. Not only does it seem like an appropriate place for such interviews (having been used to talk to Rielle most recently, amongst others … Continue Reading >The Canadian Ska Orchestra: Musical professionals in a newly playful creation

Categoriesrock

The girls of summer Pt. 1: The Truth Untold has some personal things to say, with a distortion pedal!

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After Rose and MUSICAlive! get through the naming of guitars and cats and other home furnishings (Shakespearean & Marvel Universe, to be exact), we finally settle down to actually talking about MUSIC (sometimes our conversations have to be reined in like a running mare who’s escaped from the pen). The good news is, to maintain the metaphor, this isn’t the songwriter’s first rodeo! … Continue Reading >The girls of summer Pt. 1: The Truth Untold has some personal things to say, with a distortion pedal!