Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Published online at Exclaim.ca on January 11, 2011.
By Amanda Ash
Jenn Grant’s music has always mirrored her emotions. Orchestra for the Moon, the Halifax, NS-based singer-songwriter’s debut, showed us her spunky, wide-eyed naivety. Then, her 2009 release,Echoes, brought us to a heavy place filled with heartbreak, loneliness and mourning. Now, with Honeymoon Punch, Grant is ready to pull us out of the depression that Echoes left us in and show us the goofy, happy friskiness associated with cuddling a loved one on a couch. Yup, this whimsical sweetheart is totally drunk on cupid’s scotch. The record kicks things off with the groovy, up-tempo “Oh My Heart”; you can tell by the growl in her voice that she’s smitten. The jazzy, sultry, bold woman she unleashes via her playful lyricism is completely contagious, tickling every mischievous bone in your body. “How I Met You” and “Walk Away” toy with synthesizers, marking a departure for the folk artist, but they work beautifully with each song’s get-up-and-dance attitude. This lovebird’s real portrait is painted by “Getcha Good,” where she kicks off her boots and wraps herself in her favourite patchwork quilt while smiling coyly at her significant other: “I’m your lady/I’m your fire/Catch me if you can/I’m wild for you.” Rawr.
How would you sum up the time that’s passed since you releasedEchoes two years ago?
Making [Echoes] was a very personal journey and I think that after that was completed, I wanted to move on and make something that would really lend [itself] to a fun live show. Since then, I basically feel like I’ve been doing the regular thing like touring, but also I got engaged, bought a house, got a dog and I went to Egypt for a month. I was kind of doing a lot of things.
(Continued)
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Photo courtesy of the Vancouver Sun
Published in the Vancouver Sun on December 16, 2010.
BY AMANDA ASH, SPECIAL TO THE SUN
The masses couldn’t have picked a more worthy winner when they crowned Carrie Underwood as the 2005 American Idol.
In just five short years, the country starlet has not only lived up to her title but charged ahead full speed with it, thanks to her honest and catchy songs about one-night stands, Casanova cowboys and the bitter taste of heartbreak.
Underwood has chalked up an impressive Billboard legacy, which includes making the Top Artists of the Year Chart in 2009 and 2010, and the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Year Chart in 2005. And that’s only the beginning. Her resume also boasts numerous Grammy Awards, American Music Awards, People’s Choice Awards, CMT Music Awards and Academy of Country Music Awards.
In short, she’s lapped every other American Idol in the success department except for Kelly Clarkson—and even then, she’s outdone Clarkson in album sales.
Continue reading at www.vancouversun.com.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Published in the Vancouver Sun on December 1, 2010.
BY AMANDA ASH, SPECIAL TO THE SUN
Photo: Handout
Vitaly Beckman doesn’t just pull furry rabbits out of top hats. Magic is an art for the Vancouver-based illusionist, and his brand of tricks are more akin to experiencing The Nutcracker than something you’d see at a five-year-old’s birthday party.
“It’s the art of illusion in a theatrical context,” Beckman, the Sensation Of Magic, says of his shows that can be considered a performing art like dance, music and drama. “Some of my tricks tend to be more artistic, some tend to be more fun and entertaining, and some have a message behind them. The idea behind the show is to deliver the message that dreams can come true, and that something that looks impossible really isn’t impossible.”
While most magic tricks and illusions are pigeonholed as pure hocus pocus, consisting of scantily clad women being cut in half and men wearing funny velvet robes, Beckman stresses the symbolism, emotional communication and intellectual stimulation that emerge from his shows.
Continue reading at www.vancouversun.com
Monday, November 15, 2010
Published in the Vancouver Sun on November 15, 2010.
Photo courtesy of the Vancouver Sun
BY AMANDA ASH, SPECIAL TO THE SUN
After decades of ingesting a cornucopia of narcotics and slinging back buckets of booze, the so-called Prince of Darkness is alive and kicking.
Sure, Ozzy Osbourne (who turns 62 in December) is no longer at his physical or musical peak. He isn’t the same metal magician that first rose to fame as the front man of ’70s British hard rock band Black Sabbath.
But let’s view the bat blood-filled glass as half full: You have to admit how phenomenal the English singer’s vitality is. The guy may wear his age and hardship on the sleeves of his black trench coat, yet once on stage he’s willing to roll up those suckers to give audiences the full Ozzy experience.
Can he still spit profanities and scream like a banshee? You bet. Just like the good ‘ol days.
Read more at www.vancouversun.com.
Published in the Vancouver Sun on November 5, 2010.
Photo courtesy of the Vancouver Sun.
BY AMANDA ASH, SPECIAL TO THE SUN
If the Stone Temple Pilots had a reality TV show, they could easily give Intervention, The Hills and Jersey Shore a run for their money.
But from what fans at the Pacific Coliseum could tell Thursday night, the San Diego grunge-rock quartet weren’t about to pick up where their dramatic history left off.
Not yet, at least.
Stone Temple Pilots, often referred to as STP, have been plagued with on-again, off-again relationship woes over the past 18 years, not to mention a nasty legal battle with their label Atlantic Records and lead vocalist Scott Weiland’s publicly aired laundry list of drug-related incidents.
Continue reading at www.vancouversun.com.
Published in the Vancouver Sun on October 29, 2010.
Photo courtesy of the Vancouver Sun
BY AMANDA ASH, SPECIAL TO THE SUN
Sufjan Stevens has become his own subject of lyrical analysis.
The 35-year-old singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist looked inward Thursday night, revealing his many different faces to a sold-out crowd at the Orpheum Theatre.
Stevens’ latest 11-track record The Age Of Adz (pronounced “odds”) proved to be the focus for the evening, and for good reason: it’s a personal and psychological blueprint.
Unlike previous works in which he plays a bard of the past, The Age Of Adz turns the Brooklyn musician’s highly observant eye toward himself, resulting in 11 very honest perspectives on the indie-pop Picasso we’ve come to love over the years.
Continue reading at www.vancouversun.com.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Us Weekly cover story, Issue 821, November 8, 2010. Features reporting by myself. 
Justin Timberlake cheated on Jessica Biel with actress Olivia Munn during a three-day fling this past September, reports the new Us Weekly (on newsstands now).
Timberlake, 29, and Munn, 30, a Daily Show correspondent who stars in the upcoming NBC series Perfect Couples, first met at a Sept. 26 MySpace event.
After exchanging numbers, he “started chasing her immediately,” says an insider.
Munn resisted his advances, telling him it was a no-go if he was still with Biel, 28, the source tells Us Weekly. But Timberlake “has been telling people it’s over with Jessica, even though “the reality is he’s just doing it behind her back.”
Continue reading at www.usmagazine.com.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Article printed in Us Weekly, week of October 20, 2010. Features reporting by myself.
NOTE: There is a correction. Article should read the incident took place in Richmond, BC.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Photo courtesy of the Vancouver Sun
Printed in the Vancouver Sun on October 19, 2010.
Article was also posted on Justin Bieber’s Facebook page on October 19, 2010: http://www.facebook.com/JustinBieber
BY AMANDA ASH, VANCOUVER SUN
“If there was a Justin Bieber school, we could teach there,” Lyndsey Gavin says matter-of-factly. “It’s crazy. We know what he orders at Tim Hortons.”
Gavin, a 16-year-old high school student from North Vancouver, looks to her best friend Ali Joyce, also 16, who is nodding in agreement.
According to the two girls, the world’s biggest music sensation likes Tim Hortons’ chocolate chip muffins and iced cappuccinos.
He doesn’t like pickles on his Big Mac.
And he’ll scarf down a bag of Sour Patch Kids any day.
The teenagers rattle off their Bieber trivia as if they’re at an academic conference, explaining the fascinating behavioural patterns of some foreign, shaggy-haired creature.
Read more at www.vancouversun.com.
Published online at Exclaim.ca on January 11, 2011. 
