Music | Silver Magazine

Cover Story

Elvis Costello – Still Going After All These Years

Elvis Costello turned 70 in August. “I didn’t panic,” says the newly septuagenarian punk. “As I get older, my main reaction is surprise that I’ve made it this far.” Drummer Pete Thomas, who has played with Costello since 1977, turned 70 that same month. “Pete is three weeks older than me, and he was a little blue about it. I said, ‘Do you know what’s worse than having a birthday? Not having a birthday.’ Think about all the folks we’ve known who are not around, people we love, not just the parental generation but our generation. So how could you be anything other than pleased about another birthday, you know?” Costello is in typically loquacious form, peering at me through prescription sunglasses, words spilling a mile a minute, hands gesturing, head bobbing. He is speaking via Zoom from Vancouver, where he lives with jazz pianist wife Diana Krall and their

Staff December 8, 2024

Nostalgia

From Walkman to Wireless

How personal music changed our lives The boombox was ready, a fresh new cassette tape loaded you’d bought that afternoon. You’d just got the boombox for your 14th birthday last week. Now you’d be able to record the top songs you loved on tonight’s top 40! You just hoped the DJ wouldn’t talk over the start of the song or the end! Today you can access millions of songs on your phone, portable MP3 player, laptop, tablet, and even stream from your car. Oh and you don’t own any of that music, you just rent it today. Although people still buy CDs and there’s a niche market of vinyl records and record players. There was something special about those days of recording songs off the radio. The excitement of going to the record store and buying a 45 to build your collection. How maybe you even decorated some of your

Giles Crouch December 2, 2024

Longevity

Who is the real Jann Arden?

Singer-songwriter, musician, writer, environmentalist, social activist, nature lover, citizen of the world. That’s “real Jann.” Then there’s “TV JANN.” Can one woman really play all these roles? Well, yes. One reason we admire entertainers is that they get to play roles. They put on masks and explore different sides of themselves. Canadian icon Jann Arden has been writing and performing songs for decades. Now she is the co-developer and star of her own CTV series, JANN, loosely based on her own life. “TV Jann,” as she calls this alter ego, is a pampered disorganized diva. Real Jann lives in the country, but within Calgary city limits. COVID has isolated her from people, but she still writes songs, makes her TV show, and tries to get along with animals. She is passionate about the health of people and the planet. In some ways “TV Jann” is not at all like the

David Holt November 4, 2021

Longevity

Ronnie Wood: Second chances

This is the companion article to the cover Q&A article in the latest Silver Magazine. In his 60s and 70s, musician Ronnie Wood finally kicked the cigarettes, booze and drugs, and beat cancer. He had twins. Cautionary note: Don’t try this at home Ronnie Wood, the guitarist for the Rolling Stones and a host of other groups, lives on the edge. The question is: which edge? As a school boy in England he ran cross country, relishing the fresh air and the natural high. Then he discovered cigarettes, booze, drugs, sex – and music, R&B, the blues. This was his life for the next half century. Late in life, when the addictions and full-tilt lifestyle could have taken him down, he slowly righted the ship. In 2018, Wood told Rolling Stone magazine that sobriety prepared him for some key life events, including the birth of his twins Alice and Gracie

David Holt April 21, 2021