INSIDE Edmonton’s Avant-garde
There may have been as many performers as there were audience members at the gig – but it didn’t matter. This was ART. A man named SkruntSkrunt rendered space sounds through a speaker box that was duct-taped to a didgeridoo. The Japanese performer Himiko wore a scary face mask as she played oddly consonant chords […]
PLAYBILL: Bang Stomp Bang
Shif-shif-shif-shif, ca-klap, baDOOM, a-boom, a-boom, a-boom, shif-shif, baDOOM! CLANG CLANG CLANG, baDOOM, ka-shif-shif-shif … ZZk ZZk ZZk ZZk, CLANG! baDOOM, crash, ow! Look out! Aieeeee! Been there, dented that – and still this Cirque du Percussionista show continues to merrily bang along. For those who haven’t seen the Robot Chicken sketch, Stomp! is 90-minutes of […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Rollins the Raj of Rage
Just over a year ago on late night television, Stephen Colbert asked Henry Rollins what makes him angry. He replied, “Anything where humans could be better, where they could treat each other and themselves better.” Colbert cut in, “Isn’t being angry the sort of thing we should stop? Aren’t you part of the problem, Henry […]
Lord of the Logos: Black Metal AF
Seriously, metal dudes – what’s the point of having such a beautiful logo when you can’t read the name of the damned band?! For an answer, we turn to the Lord of the Logos himself: Christophe Szpajdel, the prolific Belgian metalligrapher whose customers include Metallica, Rihanna and Foo Fighters, among an estimated 10,000 bands over […]
Alan Thicke plays against type in last film
Alan Thicke died of a ruptured aorta on Dec. 13 after playing hockey with his 19-year-old son Carter – who happens to have a bit part in the last feature film his father starred in, It’s Not My Fault and I Don’t Care Anyway, shot in Edmonton. They did a lot together. “You could tell […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: A visit from Cadence
The cat came back. They all come back, sooner or later, these former Edmonton artists who moved to greener pastures. Even if it’s just a family visit at Christmastime. Performing a homecoming show Friday at the Needle Vinyl Tavern, Cadence Weapon may be thriving out East, but the rapper born Rollie Pemberton was raised in […]
PLAYBILL: Christmas wholesomeness
‘Twas the night before wombat and all through the snerse, not a weeful was starping, not even a cherse. The weppels were hung by the stabbage with hair, in the clam that snat eelix would carter the snare. And nox in her keppitch, and meal in my lap, was flopping and keeling like mice in […]
PLAYBILL: Burning Bluebeard: Too soon?
Why is OK to make light of the Titanic and not 9-11? What about a deadly fire in a crowded Chicago theatre that happened more than 120 years ago? Such questions are set aside for the new production of Burning Bluebeard, at The Roxy on Gateway Dec. 13-24. Jay Torrence’s 2011 play is based on […]
Mother Mother gets intimate in Edmonton
Big band, small club – now this is the way to experience live music. If you’re lucky enough. Like some 300 Sonic 102.9 radio listeners who won a chance to see Mother Mother at the Needle Vinyl Tavern Saturday night. The band will probably be playing to about 10 times that number at the (cavernous, […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Waxing Half Moon Run
One of the finest bands from the so-called “Montreal scene” is returning to Edmonton. Half Moon Run is the perfect group to take advantage of the subtle acoustics of the Winspear Centre on Wednesday, Dec. 14, being unconventional multi-instrumentalists with a special fondness for percussion. The “everybody gets a drum” rule is one of the […]
Double Lunch launches new Edmonton music
It’s inevitable that Craig Martell would eventually launch a record label to uncover new talent. The man’s had both hands and feet in the Edmonton music scene since he was lured here by the Alberta oil boom less than 10 years ago. He comes from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where he went to university and […]
PLAYBILL: The Nutcracker is nuts
How in God’s name did we ever wind up with a Christmas tradition called The Nutcracker? And what’s The Nutcracker all about, anyway? Cracking nuts? Nope – no nuts are harmed in this fever dreamy ballet that’s become such a crucial part of our Christmas entertainment appetite. Presented by the Alberta Ballet and the Edmonton […]
