Live! MUSICA Stories

The Magnettes attract: They’re like a Punk Pop experiment

The Magnettes sing about Go’ing Ugly, but their press photos are cutesy-psycho. does it work? It worked for Alice Cooper: though he used less cutesy in his psycho, it would reappear occasionally. The gendered difference between a man whisking these together and 2 women doing it are obvious upon listening, but we think they serve the same purpose. MUSICAlive! spoke with the founders, first Sanna and then … Continue Reading >The Magnettes attract: They’re like a Punk Pop experiment

Blackie and The Rodeo Kings stretch the Roots rock envelope: They and their guitars sing ‘blood on blood’

Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Summary for Policymakers:
A Borrowed Planet – Inherited from our ancestors. On loan from our children … Continue Reading >Blackie and The Rodeo Kings stretch the Roots rock envelope: They and their guitars sing ‘blood on blood’

Sled Island returns to Calgary: A cornucopia of musical flavours!

Really, it’s not “Sled Island in Calgary” so much as “Calgary at Sled Island”. Because we are, finally (at Sled Island again), and there are (Calgarians listening and performing here), ecstatically! We’re happy to be talking to new Calgary musical adventures, as further proof of the fertility of the local musical garden; not just a reaction to our pandemic isolation, but a result of the cross-fertilization that we’ve somehow achieved out here on the prairies. … Continue Reading >Sled Island returns to Calgary: A cornucopia of musical flavours!

Crystal Shawanda isn’t bigger than the blues, but her voice might get close!!

Crystal Shawanda is driving fearlessly across Michigan while we speak: unlike earlier less-pragmatic musicians we’ve spoken with (I’m looking at you, Ms. Hou!) she’s a passenger in the Shawanda travelling revue, and the simple fact that this exists following the Dark Ages of the Covid Times is a delight! … Continue Reading >Crystal Shawanda isn’t bigger than the blues, but her voice might get close!!

John & I: These Rutherfords got the blues

On October 19th, 2021, after potentially crossing each other’s music trails since about 1985, John Rutherford and I sat down to have only the 2nd conversation we’ve ever had. the first was on the night of the 44th Canadian federal election a month ago, as I left the scrolling numbers to listen to his set in the hallowed Blues Can, and was finally able to break our dialogic silence. … Continue Reading >John & I: These Rutherfords got the blues

Kurt Loewen and Folk friends: A human touch despite social distancing

Kurt Loewen has been to Calgary before: in fact, his parents still live here, as evidenced by them sitting just behind us when he and other locals performed at an outdoor concert in Ramsay in mid-September. It was a very folky, friendly, family event with other young adults and some parents and acquaintances wandering through the shared 2-yard space. … Continue Reading >Kurt Loewen and Folk friends: A human touch despite social distancing

Keep the fire Burning Part 4: In front of an audience with the Mountain View Festival!

We start complaining about our insistent cat, and how she’s determined to have her own opinions shared during our interview with the Mountain View Festival Artistic Director, and her dog very quickly decides to voice his own remonstrations for the recording as well. … Continue Reading >Keep the fire Burning Part 4: In front of an audience with the Mountain View Festival!

Keep the fire Burning Part 3: When pop met jazz at the proArts Society

When MUSICAlive! first gets Mark Limacher on the phone after listening to his most recent collection of piano improvisations, Things That Seemed Important At The Time, we were left wondering how this interesting assemblage of “quiet, slow, boring” works related to the boundary between pop and jazz music of the 1910’s that he would present online Wednesday. … Continue Reading >Keep the fire Burning Part 3: When pop met jazz at the proArts Society