Adams makes the best of it
Canadian pop icon to play hits for Halifax
By Stephen Cooke / Entertainment Reporter
Few names in Canadian pop music are as synonymous with the term "superstar" as Bryan Adams. In a career that spans two decades, he's rock's Gretzky, breaking most of the records out there, like being the first Canuck to sell one million records in his home and native land
Adams' formula for success is a simple one, in fact it's simplicity itself; write the catchiest melodies imaginable, make the lyrics so basic anyone can relate to them, and if you're going to get sentimental, don't be afraid to pour on the syrup. It's worked for rockers like Cuts Like a Knife and Run to You, and on heartstring-stroking ballads such as (Everything I Do) I Do it For You and Please Forgive Me.
Adams is in town tonight at the Halifax Metro Centre, touring in support of his recently released compilation CD The Best of Me, and he'll also make a rare appearance at Chapters bookstore in Bayers Lake Industrial Park this afternoon at 5 p.m., signing copies of Made In Canada. The new book is a collection of Adams' photographic portraits of well-known Canadian women - from Margaret Atwood to Sarah McLachlan - with proceeds going to breast cancer research.
Along with this unusually public encounter with his fans, Adams is also granting interviews with the press for the first time in ages, albeit through the magic of e-mail. What follows are a few of the queries answered by Adams from somewhere in cyberspace.
Bryan Adams dips into his
catalogue of hits tonight at the
Halifax Metro Centre at 7:30 p.m.
Q: You've chosen to kick off your latest tour here in Halifax. Is the city a good luck charm for you, especially considering the roaring response your last show here received?
A: "Of course! You forgot to mention we always come when it's winter!
"Actually I get a lot of flack for starting there and not in St. John's, Newfoundland."
Q: On a previous trip to Nova Scotia, you made your famous remarks about the whole Canadian content system of radio airplay, and as a result some badly needed changes got made.
Do you think the system has been properly reformed, or do you think there's still room for change there?
A: "Well it's been modified considerably since the good ol' days when I was crucified for working with an African producer. So at least out of all that nonsense something good happened that will benefit other artists wanting to work with foreign writers and producers.
"For all I know, Canadian content may become the last bastion for Canadian culture on radio after all the stations get bought up by American media groups and are programmed out of Dallas or somewhere. . .
Q: Regarding The Best of Me compilation, how did you set about selecting the songs? Was it more important what they meant to you or how they did on the charts?
A: "It was all about putting out a compilation that ended this decade for me and set up the next one. Charts are of course influential for a 'best of', although, some of the songs that were chart hits this decade are not on here, like my duet with Barbra Streisand. It just sounded out of context."
Q: There are some terrific images in Made in Canda. When did you start working seriously on photography?
A: "I started getting into it a couple of years ago, mostly because I was interested in experimenting with a different medium. I started doing various self-portraits and documenting the recording sessions and videos as they happened, then using the photos for my CD covers (On a Day Like Today in 1998 was the first).
"The theme of shooting a book of photos of Canadian women evolved from some pictures I had taken of model Linda Evangelista.
"The choice of personalities was fun to put together, although there were two people I really wanted to get and couldn't. Yvonne de Carlo and Fay Wray, they're in California somewhere."
Q: How does it feel to work in a different field, creatively?
A: "Brilliant. I never thought I'd get so into it, but it's been a great diversion creatively. I'm going to do more, it's all a matter of creating different projects to inspire."
Q: Just to end this on a slightly goofy note, I remember your first single Let Me Take You Dancing from when I was in junior high (I think I have the single with the picture sleeve somewhere). . .Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you performed it?
A: "I performed it in Japan when we played there last a few years ago. In fact it's the only time I have ever performed it. It will never be a staple of my show, but it was a laugh to do."
Q: How do you think you'll be remembered decades from now?
A: "As a Canadian dishwasher that could write a decent song."