Cosy with Kreviazuk
Chanteuse Chantal sings and carols for contest winners

CHANTAL KREVIAZUK
Alley Catz Piano Bar, Winnipeg

Chantal Kreviazuk got intimate and interactive with a cosy hometown crowd last night, playing a private concert for more than 200 fans at the newly opened Alley Catz piano bar on Regent Avenue.

The gig for winners of a Q-94 FM radio/Winnipeg Sun contest coincided with a visit with her family for Christmas and Kreviazuk was in the spirit -- although she wasn't into spirits, asking waiters in the bar to stop serving drinks for the duration of her 55-minute show.

''Because I'm really into this up here,'' she explained, adding the clinking of glasses was a distraction.

But if they were thirsty, the fans weren't complaining and they seemed more than happy to be rewarded in other ways. Kreviazuk performed several songs from her 1997 debut album Under These Rocks and Stones and from her new album Colour, Moving and Still, including Before You, which she wrote for her husband of one year, Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida.

Request line opens
And she opened the floor to seasonal requests.

''And so this is Christmas and I happen to really like Christmas carols so I'll do something different, I think,'' she said, offering the crowd three songs to choose from.

By applause, Oh, Holy Night won out and Kreviazuk delivered the holiday goods with a soulful version of the classic. She followed up with Leavin' on a Jet Plane, which she sang for the soundtrack of the 1998 movie blockbuster Armageddon -- she also sings the theme for NBC series Providence, a cover of the Beatles' In My Life -- and tossed in a few new songs, including G.I. Joe, which she performed at the War Child conference concert at The Forks in September.

''My brother hates me right now because I'm here and he's not. My friend won tickets,'' said longtime fan Christina Pankiw said during the performance.

Pankiw, 23, says her brother introduced her to Kreviazuk's music and so far she's only missed one local concert.

''Before she was even on the radio, we had her songs, and we were really into her."

Kreviazuk, 27, returns to Toronto where she's lived since 1996 to perform in a theatrical production The Vagina Monologues Dec. 26-31. She returns to Winnipeg for a public concert Feb. 26 during a 12-city Canadian tour.

She's also set to star in a movie titled Century Hotel with Maida. She plays a hotel maid and an aspiring singer/songwriter in the film.

Kreviazuk won two Juno awards this year for best female artist and best pop/adult album for Colour, Moving and Still.

By: Sun Staff