2007:
Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noel! Happy Hanukkah! Glaedelig Jul! Vrolijk Kerstfest! Boas Festas! Hauskaa Joulua! Happy Festivus! Frohe Weihnachten! Natale Allegro! Christmas Alegre! Feliz Navidad! God Jul! Maligayang Pasko! Happy Kwanza! Merry Solstice! ...and to all a good night :o)
December 20 ~ Amazing Allison Crowe scores big - at home and away
"In a nation that prides itself on hockey to
the point of obsession, there is something else in which we can take
justifiable national pride, our young, female singer-songwriters. And
for my money Allison Crowe is the best of the bunch, certainly the
most versatile," says veteran Canadian journalist Bruce Mason.
Witnessing these past three weeks of Tidings concerts,
originals and covers, of rock, folk, jazz, pop, gospel, and blues,
settles the score - without need for overtime or shootout.
Many top talents have laced up their skates over the years. Supremely
rare, though, is Wayne Gretzky. Bobby Orr. And, so it is with music.
Allison Crowe is emerging as one of the true greats in her arena.
Not since a post-Schmorgs-pre-Poisoned Art Bergmann commanded the
stage of Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom has a young Canadian so purely
manifest the exuberant spirit of rock and roll. Like Bruce Springsteen
in his 1970s prime, Crowe delivers rock music as a religious
experience. Her talent is transcendent.
And the testifying grows with each performance and recording.
Ted and Jerry Gibson, fans who traveled 650 miles, from Boise, Idaho
to Victoria, B.C., for a December 8 concert were moved especially by
an epic rendition of Allison Crowe's song "Disease" -
noting: "We loved it, were amazed by it, were consumed by
it." Writing in the current issue of Boulevard magazine,
reviewer Robert Moyes says Crowe's live take on "I Never Loved a
Man", (from her album "This Little Bird"), "would
give Aretha Franklin goose-bumps."
Visceral North American reactions mirror those across the pond, where
Allison Crowe was most recently a sensation at the John Lennon
Northern Lights Festival in Durness, Scotland. Festival Director
Mike Merritt describes Crowe's performance as "awesome" and
"spine-tingling", adding: "Allison has put Canada well
and truly on the map here!"
In a BBC documentary about the event, crowned the UK's Best New
Festival, Merritt recounts bringing Allison Crowe together with
Carol Ann Duffy, the UK's most popular living poet, and Sir Peter
Maxwell Davies, the Queen's Master of Music, on the Lennon fest's
classical music night:
"I had a nightmare, I tell you, that day. I had a string quartet
coming. And, unfortunately, literally as they checked in, the cellist
was taken ill. As most people know you can't replace a cellist,
especially in Durness, at the last minute.
And, so, I was left with a dilemma - what do I do? And as I
mentioned earlier, everything that happened I thought went wrong,
happened for a reason to be better. And I brought in Allison
Crowe."
Merritt wondered how it'd work - a 26-year-old musician from Canada
bridging performances by Carol Ann Duffy, "arguably the world's
greatest poet", and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, "one of the
world's greatest-ever composers". The gamble paid off
magnificently. "My word, did that put hairs on the back of your
neck! (Crowe's performance) brought the house down."
Click to hear John
Lennon Festival Director Mike Merritt chatting with BBC Radio
Scotland's Iain Anderson and more
of the BBC documentary
European and U.S. tour dates are in planning for 2008. Folks in Canada
still have three opportunities to enjoy Allison Crowe in performance
this year. CHUM TV reports that all of its A Channel
stations across Canada - Victoria- Vancouver, Barrie - Toronto,
Ottawa, London, Windsor & Wingham + related satellite and digital
channels - StarChoice and Bell ExpressVu - will
broadcast "Allison Crowe: Tidings" on December 25, Christmas
Day, at 8 p.m. (local times). This one-hour holiday special taped
"Inside Pandora's Box" - produced by Doug Slack - features
chat and live performance of seasonal songs from Crowe's
"Tidings" album - all hosted by the ever-amiable Bruce
Williams.
Following this seasonal tradition, Allison Crowe flies from
Newfoundland to British Columbia for a pair of concerts in distinctly
different settings atop the mountain resort of Whistler, B.C. On
Thursday, December 27 at 8:00 p.m., REAL CANADIAN in Whistler presents
Crowe in concert at the Franz Wilhelmsen Performance Theatre, Maurice
Young Millenium Place. On Monday, December 31, at 8:30 p.m., on an
outdoor stage in the Village Square, Allison Crowe helps ring in the
New Year as part of Whistler's First Night 2008 Celebration of
the Arts. For more word on these events, please visit the Tour
page.
And, to wrap, here's a Christmas carol that emerged from another
mountain village, Mariapfarr in Austria, almost 200 years ago:
Silent
Night
Best wishes of the season. Peace on earth, goodwill toward all.
Click each date for earlier 2007 news:
12/20 - Amazing Allison Crowe scores big - at home and away
11/16 - Tidings: Music for
the season and all time
11/07 - An Artful Bid to Aid Kidney Research
11/07 - John Lennon Festival Shines On UK
Awards Night
10/26 - Help! Vote for the John Lennon
Northern Lights Festival
10/19 - Half a million strong: Allison
Crowe's music gets back to where we once belonged
10/09 ~ Happy Birthday, John!
10/02 ~ Imagine all the people... in Durness!
09/19 ~ Iconoclastic and Populist: Allison
Crowe & Audience Come Together - in Canada, Scotland, the World
08/28 ~ Money Can't Buy You Love: Music
Networks Tilt Scales Toward Talent
08/22 ~ Hallelujah Haggis: Allison Crowe's
Golden Age of Rock and Roll
07/11 ~ Love Is Real: John Lennon Northern
Lights Festival
06/23 ~ Riding a Wave With Great Lake
Swimmers, Emily Haines, Arcade Fire+
06/16 ~ No bucks. No bots. Plenty of people.
05/10 ~ "Best Songs of All Time"
Lists Northern Light Allison Crowe
05/04 ~ help save net radio
03/10 ~ shake your Movie Maker
02/14 ~ love of songs...
02/09 ~ Tickling Glenn Gould's Ivories, Alice
Cooper's Fancy...
01/22 ~ Slide-show season
01/01 ~ A gift of song
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