Like all chronic advertising people, Steven has no idea what he wants to do if he grows up. But he has hobbies if not fallback plans. In 2008, through his association with Daily XY, he began the unlikely task of writing weekly car reviews for site content. Soon he was writing for other media outlets. After several years of driving free cars, partaking of boozy press trips, attending flashy media launches and earning dozens of dollars a week, he was invited to join the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Today he plays in the AJAC band at their annual Testfest. Speaking of which, see below for play-by-play Testfest reportage.
Please don’t read this on your phone. This article was the first I was commissioned upon returning to Canada, after a dream near-year in Italy. It’s about distracted driving; what I learned was utterly horrifying but I tried to put as much smile (and honesty) into the article as possible. People Are STUPID!
Recording at a Legendary Studio; Driving a Legendary Brand. I and one other Canada were invited with a passel of American hobbyist musicians to Muscle Shoals, Alabama by GM USA to record our thoughts on the Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid and record a song at Fame Studios. Pinch me.
2013 Cadillac ATS. I was at the American launch on Clint Eastwood’s golf course (about a week before he interviewed the chair) but wrote this piece 6 weeks later, following the Canadian launch. Click to read: Cadillac ATS
Top 10 City Cars. Most auto journalists live in the country or suburbs so they can have a bigger garage. (The younger ones live in the parents’ basement. Thees no get-reech-kweek scam.) My column’s been called The Urban Driver and I tend to review autos from a frustrated city dweller’s POV. My misery is your entertainment. Top 10 City Cars
How Traffic ‘Works’ in the GTA. This is a breakdown (double entendre ‘intendred’) of how the city and province regulate the flow of traffic. It features an in-depth interview with media and traffic legend, Cam Woolley, formerly of the Ontario Provincial Police. How Traffic ‘Works’ in the GTA
Teaching Our Kids to Drive. The first of three pieces, co-written with Vancouver auto editor Simon Hill, this lightheartedly looks at the bond between father and child when the child 16-years old and piloting the family vehicle into rush hour traffic. Hello grey hair! Teen Driving Chronicles Part 1
Part 2 or Teaching Our Kids to Drive. Which is more about teaching ourselves to breathe. I met Simon Hill, my co-author on this series a few months after this was published and we got on like a house on fire. It was courtesy of this baptism thereof. Teen Driving Chronicles Part 2
BMW X1 xDrive35i. One of the first pieces in a weekly series of auto reviews and feature articles for autos.ca. BMW X1
The following were all published on Daily XY:
TestFest 2013 Part1 Testfest Part2 Testfest Part 3