D.M. Wells, originally from Ottawa, Ontario, is a freelance writer, radio host/announcer and former public servant who spent 20-very-odd years in Toronto before moving to Hamilton in 2001. She also spent a year in St. John�s, NL (2005). In July 2007, she returned to Ottawa.
Formerly a columnist with to-nite magazine, Ms. Wells has also been published in Toronto�s Globe and Mail, Sun, eye and Outreach Connection, the Washington Blues Society's Bluesletter (Seattle), Hamilton�s ARTSbeat, View and Hammered Out, St. John�s The Muse, The Telegram, The Measure, The Independent and The Newfoundland HERALD, and SW Blues (Dallas, TX). A complete listing of her published (hard copy) articles can be viewed by clicking on the link below.
Her reviews of CDs, books and live performances have been posted on numerous popular websites such as Blues on Stage, MusicMoz, Monkeybiz.ca, 701.com, Big Monkey Press, Amazon, CD Baby and CD Now. She has interviewed Tim (Too Slim) Langford, GM Paterson, Jack de Keyzer, Darrell Cooper, Paul James, Darren "Boobie" Browne, Dr. Jeff Healey, Russian ballet dancer/ instructor Max Ratevosian, Harrison Kennedy, Ret'd Capt. Wayne Norman, James Cotton, Dana Parsons and Wade Tarling (of New Found Jazz), Jeff Johnston, Jimi Bott (of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Rod Piazza), Colin James, Rick Gunn, Doug Inglis (of Goddo), Joan Sullivan and Brian Hennessey (actors/playwrights), Mike Chiarot, Tim Gibbons (Slingblade), Sonny Del Rio, Jack Pedler (drummer w/Teenage Head, Coyote Shivers), The Midnight Shift, Jasper Kujavsky (Music Hall of Fame), Chris Poolman, Lillian Studt (of Sedrick), Maureen Chaume (playwright), and Jessika Uhl (actor). Her reviews have appeared in the press kits of Terra Hazelton, Jeff Healey, Daniel Lanois and Too Slim and The Taildraggers.
Since 2000, she has provided not-for-profit promotion/publicity services for local, national and international artists of various genres via the Internet at "Rockin' the Blues from Canada". Also posted at this website were several self-authored narrative music journals: SEATTLE RATTLE, GREAT BIG ROCK JAM, HAMMER-JAM and T�OH-JAM. These journals reviewed and/or promoted live regional performances in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, St. John's, NL, and the Golden Horseshoe (Toronto-Hamilton-St. Catharines-Niagara Falls). She suspended publication of these journals in August 2005. Ms. Wells was nominated for two 2006 Hamilton Literary Awards.
In addition to her career as a writer, she has also trained and worked as a volunteer audio-book recorder and on-air radio announcer/DJ. Until May 2006, she produced and hosted "Patchwork Blues" (standard blues and fusions of same) at CFMU 93.3 FM in Hamilton, ON, and formerly at CHMR 93.5 FM in St. John�s, NL. She also produced and hosted fill-in segments for �The Herb Morrison Show� (top-40 retro hits show), �For Your Pleasure� (multi-genre), �Soundtrack� (film scores and soundtrack entries), �The Freewheelin� Folk Show� (roots-based singer-songwriters) and �Smokin� Bluegrass� (just that). From Sept. 2007 to Jan. 2009 she produced and hosted "Iron Maidens", a multi-genre women's music and arts show, at CKCU 93.1 FM in Ottawa, ON.
Ms. Wells has written a subversive memoir (not yet published) called Honky-Tonk Blues (in Canada), with nominal assistance from an Ontario Arts Council writers' reserve grant.
Contact info: [email protected]. |
