Music Archives - Keith Shields

Comedian

Some songs are so good it is almost irreverent to interpret the lyrics. Steve Taylor says that he worked twenty years on one of the songs on his Goliath album. There was not a week went by when he was not rolling this one around in his mind and coming up with better ways to say…

The Greatest Showman

The Greatest Showman (2017) (Directed by Michael Gracey; written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon) (Spoiler alert: if you want to be completely surprised by the themes contained in this film, see the movie before reading this blog.) Those who regularly read this blog will not be surprised to hear that I enjoyed another musical. The…

Salieri and Mozart

In Timothy Keller’s book, Every Good Endeavor, he writes about the story of Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as told in Peter Shaffer’s play, Amadeus. Keller recounts how Antonio Salieri was a court composer to the Hapsburg emperor in Vienna and wrote many successful operas. He had wealth and position but sensed that his…

Great Moments 2

Merry Clayton is one of the best known non-stars in the music industry. In 1969, as she was far from home, pregnant, and in a bad relationship, she was called by her manager. Her manager said, “We have some guys from England in the studio, the ‘Rolling somebodies.’ Can you come down and sing a…

Great Moments in Music History

Great Moments in Music History If I were a music DJ (does such a thing still exist?) I would curate a show that focussed on some of the greatest moments in music and radio history. There would be plenty of room to talk about first radio transmissions and music innovations, but I would also address…

Lazarus Heart

Randy Stonehill, has been a pioneer of Contemporary Christian Music since the 1970s and his signature album, Welcome to Paradise will always be the definitive collection that changed Christian music. Randy Stonehill continues to make great music and his 2011 album, Spirit Walk, is one of his best ever. Today, I want to honour the…

La La Land

Spoiler Alert: This blog will give you some general knowledge of the basic plot line of the movie La La Land. This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends…

Blue Rodeo

Last Sunday night my wife and I went to see Blue Rodeo in concert at the Calgary Jubilee Auditorium. It was a great show filled with new music from the 1000 Arms album and old music from just about every one of their 15 studio albums. This is a band that has been playing since…

The Power of a Family

I witnessed a powerful act of family on the weekend. Most families are made up of a diverse collection of genetic and non-genetic relationships and our Westwood/Smith family reunion on the weekend was a great example of this. The glue that holds this family together is the patriarch Albert Edward Westwood who was my grandmother’s…

Frog Song

Key of Zed has been back in the studio. Always seeking to be innovative, and never shying away from new genres, the duo decided to try writing a children’s song. Three year old Clayton K. Smith helped out with some of the lyrics so we are pretty sure it will be a number one hit…