Co-creating an EP with God and community
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Co-creating an EP with God and community

What does community look like for creatives in the church? We asked Ruth Chan, a Toronto singer-songwriter musician and artist. Chan’s artist name is “Heather is Growing,” and she is releasing her first EP, Heather is Growing on April 28th. Christian Courier talked to Chan about her songwriting journey ahead of the EP release.  Chan:…

Leonard Cohen’s legacy: Common grace marches on
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Leonard Cohen’s legacy: Common grace marches on

It took Cohen’s long-time backup singer, Jennifer Warnes’ often eerie, haunting, sometimes reverential 1986 tribute album, Famous Blue Raincoat to draw me into Cohen’s fold. Even then, though, I remained comfortably on its margins. Then came Ten New Songs in 2001, co-written and produced by Sharon Robinson. That was the first pure Cohen CD I bought – but not till 2004. I was hooked, gaffed, pulled up on deck and captured alive for the next 13 years.

A crack in everything

A crack in everything

By the early 80s, Cohen was exploring more spiritual themes – both in his life and in his writing. It’s here where Cohen starts to get really interesting – his observations about life are no longer from the perspective of the young man on the prowl, but an older and wiser man who is starting to lift his eyes upward.

This is our life

This is our life

There’ve been a good number of think pieces about The Hip over the past few months; pieces that have attempted to capture what this band means to Canadians, why this band never caught on below the 49th, how the band does or doesn’t challenge the thornier issues of Canadian identity.