WHO NAMED THE BAND: The Sheepdogs a credit to their breed

Posted on December 14, 2011 By Mike Ross Front Slider, Music

Rock musicians always roll their eyes when asked for the 1,000th time where they got their band name, but we can learn a lot from the psychology of rock ‘n’ roll nomenclature. A band name can reveal much about the musicians who named it – personality, character, insanity – sometimes without them even being aware […]

INVESTIGATION: What the heck happened to U22 Productions?

Posted on December 13, 2011 By Mike Ross Culture, Music

The grown-ups involved in the rise and fall of U22 Productions have been made to look like angry parents in a fistfight at a Pee Wee hockey game. The youth talent agency that local singer-songwriter Rhea March founded four years ago has been put into limbo, ending the drama that has gripped pockets of Edmonton’s […]

EDMONTON RADIO: Yukon Jack’s Big Yap worse than his bite

Posted on December 12, 2011 By Mike Ross Culture, Front Slider, TV and Radio

No one is safe from Yukon Jack’s Big Yap – not even Yukon Jack. The Bear radio personality dropped several bombshells during a recent interview: He wasn’t born in Canada, he’s not into hockey, he’s in favour of gay marriage, he’d rather listen to gangsta rap than rock ‘n’ roll and – perhaps most damning […]

TRUE TALES: Close encounter of the Prince kind

Posted on December 10, 2011 By Mike Ross Music

I crashed the meet ‘n’ greet at the 2002 Prince concert in Edmonton – and couldn’t get a word in edgewise because my wife kept badgering him about birthdays. See, Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe in birthdays because birthdays are pagan rituals. Besides, they’re not going to die, so what’s the point? Too many candles on […]

WE THREE KINGS: Ben Sures, Paul Bellows and Mike McDonald

Posted on December 8, 2011 By Mike Ross Front Slider, Music

The teaming up of three of our top singer-songwriters inspires tantalizing visions of an Edmonton supergroup – Mike McDonald, Ben Sures and Paul Bellows – along the lines of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. They might even be convinced to wear some of those gay caballero costumes. Well, maybe not. The supergroup isn’t out of […]

Time twist tale a romantic tragedy in Hroses: An Affront to Reason

Posted on December 6, 2011 By Mike Ross The Latest, Theatre

Again with the magical realism: Start off with the impossible situation, get that out of the way first, and THEN have your characters react to it realistically. Only then can a writer achieve the goal of creating credible fantasy fiction. If you dig time twist stories, Hroses: An Affront to Reason might be right up […]

Bar owners fear Bill 26 – but the ‘damage’ has already been done

Posted on December 6, 2011 By Mike Ross Culture, Front Slider

It’s hard to believe, but driving drunk wasn’t always considered such a heinous offense against humanity. As Alberta legislators continue to debate tough the new drunk driving sanctions in Bill 26 – which some members of the hospitality industry are opposing because they think it might hurt the hospitality industry – it might be helpful […]

Letter from bar owner Jesse Kupina to Union Hall subscribers

Posted on December 5, 2011 By Mike Ross Music

Nov. 29, 2011 Dear [Subscriber]: I, Jesse “James” Kupina, CEO of Union Hall Nightclub and The Ranch Roadhouse, am writing to express my concerns about Bill 26, the Alberta Traffic Safety Amendment Act 2011. I feel strongly that the proposed bill will have a negative impact on our province, unfairly penalize law-abiding Albertans and does […]

Jason Mewes gets real, comes clean in Jay and Silent Bob Get Old

Posted on December 4, 2011 By Mike Ross Comedy, Film, The Latest, Theatre

Jay and Silent Bob have making “reality” shows for almost 20 years. It only seems like fiction that the truth is stranger than. According to actor Jason Mewes, “Jay” is real – at least “me from age 14 to 19,” he says. Partner-filmmaker Kevin Smith wrote the sex-crazed stoner character “straight up from who I […]

Memorial sculpture unveiled: Open the door to end homelessness

Posted on December 1, 2011 By Mike Ross Visual Arts

The hope to end homelessness is set in stone with the dedication of a $40,000 memorial sculpture in downtown Edmonton. Depicting a wretched figure huddling beneath a doorway, it’s there “to remind Edmontonians always about our shared responsibility to end homelessness,” says renowned local anti-poverty crusader Jim Gurnett, who spearheaded the project created by local […]

FILM: Ornery buffalo roam, tobacco tastes funny in A Legend of Whitey

Posted on November 30, 2011 By Mike Ross Culture, Film, The Latest

“You like FUBAR? How about a gay Western?” This is the offer from Dave Lawrence, who is perhaps better known as “Terry” in FUBAR and FUBAR II, on the release of his new film “A Legend of Whitey,” beginning a weeklong run at the Garneau Metro Cinema on Friday. It is his directorial debut. With […]

GIGGLE CITY: Mike Dambra plays Pickle

Posted on November 28, 2011 By Mike Ross Comedy

Edmonton comedians Mike Dambra and Drew Behm suffered minor injuries over the weekend when they were assaulted by two disgruntled hecklers in Rimbey. We can laugh about it now. Or is it … too soon? Mike Dambra doesn’t seem to think so. Doing the emcee gig at the Comic Strip this weekend (for headliner Daniel […]

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