THEATRE: Chris Wynters plays John in Four Lads Who Shook the World
Chris Wynters – Captain Tractor dude, open stage maven and all around musical theatre-type guy – claims that for the first 12 years of his life he listened to nothing but the Beatles. All Beatles, all the time. And now he gets to be one of them for the next three months. How sweet is […]
TRUE TALES OF THE ROAD: Paul Bellows bonds with his fans
Edmonton folk musician Paul Bellows was on the road quite a bit before he made it big in the business world as the founder of the Yellow Pencil web design company. So no – he doesn’t NEED to promote his new CD, Shipwreck Looking Out for a Beach, released Friday at the Haven, the day […]
GIGGLE CITY: Debra DiGiovanni laughs at herself
Comedians teeing off on themselves is a time honoured tradition. Black guys talk about being black, fat guys talk about being fat, women talk about being women – know yourself, write what you know, right? Debra DiGiovanni has especially made a career of self-deprecation, sometimes to the point, she says, that audience members feel sorry […]
WHO NAMED THE BAND: Tzadeka gets ‘righteous’
There’s a collective of music makers in this town who sound like they’d be right at home at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. They’re from the now-defunct Eshod Ibn Wyza, a multi-racial, multi-genre hip hop group that had curious connections to the punk rock scene. Vocalist Maigan Vandergiessen used to perform under the name Solar […]
TONIGHT: Surf rocker Donavon Frankenreiter plays Open Sky Music Festival
No more festivals! The summer in Edmonton, such that it was, is just too packed. Well, OK, one more … The second annual Open Sky Music Festival, celebrating “surf rock” and its related genres, is set to go at Saturday and Sunday at Hawrelak Park’s Heritage Amphitheatre, which is at least a thousand miles from […]
GIGGLE CITY: It’s awesome being Howie Miller, says Howie Miller
Is it wrong for a white guy to laugh at a native stand-up comedian telling jokes that riff on native stereotypes? That’s a difficult question … so we won’t get into it here. Just say that Howie Miller’s career on stage, screen and film has come far beyond playing the race card, thanks to a […]
GIGGLE CITY: The Birdmann thinks outside the nest
To atone for banging on Australian street performers who ruin every summer festival in Edmonton (No. 4 on list of Eight Dumb Things About the Fringe), our special guest today is … an Australian street performer! The Birdmann (Trent Baumann) is actually working “inside” at this year’s Edmonton International Fringe Festival, even though his act […]
Eight dumb things about the Fringe
The Edmonton International Fringe Festival is the best festival in Edmonton. There. It had to be said. Seriously, you won’t find a higher concentration and variety of artistry in one spot at one time anywhere else in town any other time of the year, the folk fest being a distant second. The Fringe draws around […]
GIGGLE CITY: Martin Dockery’s Fringe hit The Surprise gets held over
If you talk to kindergarten kids in a museum, you’re a storyteller. If you’re recounting your latest Peruvian safari at the Explorer’s Club, you’re a raconteur. If you tell penis jokes to drunks in a bar, you’re a stand-up comedian. If you do this same thing in a theatre with no jokes, you’re a one-man […]
TRUE TALES: Sex with Janis and the Edmonton Rock Music Festival
The question must be asked: What was it like making love to Janis Joplin? Her one-time creative partner Sam Andrew replies, “Feathery, light and very feminine – way more feminine than I would’ve thought. I knew her really well. It wasn’t surprising, though. She was definitely all woman.” It was just the one night of […]
