Tegan and Sara show their pop side
It’s been both inspiring and weird to witness the evolution of Tegan and Sara from folk-singing Calgary twins to the hippest Canadian indie darlings around to the electro-synth dance-pop group they are now. Weirder still is that they’re getting more radio airplay than ever – yet the draw doesn’t equal the high rotation. Barely 2,000 […]
Metal John carries Torch of Rebellion
There can be only one! We refer of course to the designated heavy metal guru at the mighty CJSR FM 88.5 university radio station. Where once was Metal Mike (Berry) in a previous millennium, the torch hath passed to Metal John (Kyle), who has bravely held his lonely post for the last 20 years, give […]
Sigmund Freud dissects the joke
In Sigmund Freud’s 1905 book Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious, the father of modern psychiatry claimed there are only seven jokes that have ever been written – and that includes dick jokes. Hey, it’s Freud. Of course he meant there are seven types of wit. The popular interpretation boils down to these: Absurdity, […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Dixie Chicks stick to their guns
Look on the bright side of a Donald Trump presidency – our music scene will get better because so many great American artists will move to Canada! Maybe we can welcome the Dixie Chicks, too – in Edmonton to play Rogers Place Thursday night. These Texas-bred country-bluegrass women Natalie Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Maguire […]
EXCLUSIVE: Carrie Fisher’s dog loves Milk Bones
Carrie Fisher isn’t doing any press for her appearance at the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo this weekend – but her dog Gary wasn’t so media shy. The adorable French bulldog who goes everywhere with the Star Wars actress even has his own Twitter account – with almost 10,000 followers! “Sniff, sniff, wag-wag-wag, lick-lick-lick,” he […]
INTERVIEW: Peaches reaches and teaches
In the art of exploring gender with bold musical statements, Peaches is way ahead of her time – but “that’s probably for other people to answer,” she says. So what say you, other people? There is a consensus. Peaches makes Lady Gaga look like Selena Gomez – and was doing her thing long before Lady […]
The price of fame at Edmonton Expo
There is one huge unwritten rule at the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo happening this weekend – bring money. Oh, sure, you could just stand around and gawk at all the cool nerds in their awesome costumes, but what fun is that? A lot of fun, actually … never mind. Fans spend college-tuition sums of […]
REVIEW: 5 Finger LIFE Punch
Five Finger Death Punch turns out to be more kind and sensitive than their name suggests. Oh, sure, they showed their hard side at their concert in Northlands Coliseum Saturday night. Their badassed side. They even brought a bunch of children on stage to take part in a rousing rendition of Burn MF. The former […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Country rockets launch Rogers Place
What we have here is a “perfect storm” of Big Gigs occurring on one weekend. Something’s gonna blow. Could Rogers Place have picked a better headliner for its opening concert on Friday night than Keith Urban? He’s a favourite in this market, and a hunka hunka burnin’ love to women the world over. Fun fact: […]
Culture Club comes to Coliseum
Of course we don’t want to hurt Boy George. The man’s made some mistakes here and there, but who hasn’t? Besides, he’s made some memorable music as the main driving force of Culture Club, a fixture of 1980s pop culture – and we’re glad he’s still going for it. Nostalgia among area fans will surely […]
David Crosby passes Canada test
A lot of American celebrities joke about moving to Canada if Donald Trump gets elected – but David Crosby sounds serious. The ‘60s survivor with the trademark silver skirted eggshell mentioned it a whole bunch of times during his beautiful but talky show at the Winspear Centre Monday night. He said he was checking out […]
The Lumineers turn Sonic Boom to folk
It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment where the mainstreaming of folk music reached maximum saturation and jumped the shark. Certainly that recent KIA commercial with Nathaniel Rateliff is very embarrassing. Some point to the X-Ambassadors having their lead single, Renegades, an otherwise fine song, permanently branded to the Jeep Renegade. Can’t hear it without […]
