INTERVIEW: Blue Rodeo careful with politics
Blue Rodeo might be too close to themselves to understand how interesting it is that they didn’t include their one-off protest song Stealin’ All Our Dreams on their new album, 1000 Arms. Maybe it’s a hidden secret bonus track? “It is?!” exclaims singer Jim Cuddy in a recent interview. No … what? It is? “No.” […]
PLAYBILL: Awkward encounters
A Muslim, a Jew, an African-American and a white person have a heated conversation over dinner in New York City. What could possibly go wrong? Didn’t you listen to your mother?! No sex, politics or religion at the dinner table! All the characters in Ayad Akhtar’s explosive drama break mom’s rules in a play that […]
Gender a moot point in powerful Henry V
Shakespeare’s Henry V is the most manly of kings. In his earlier play, Henry IV, the Bard gives us the wild, undisciplined wastrel known as “Prince Harry,” who together with his partner in excess Falstaff probes the depths of dissipation. But in Henry V we see a new man born. The former rake assumes the […]
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 […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Bye Bye Bunny
Everyone’s favorite year-end album list starts as a blank slate. Which way will the winds blow in 2017? Where will this year’s standouts come from? What genres will they play? It certainly seems like the most interesting local projects these days are those that blend a bunch of sounds into one, but isn’t that really […]
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 […]
NYE PREVIEW: The Secretaries play to type
As the year concludes, this weekend’s live music opportunities center around – no surprise – New Year’s Eve. There’s a bevy of options for everyone, from folk to rock to folk-rock, from electronic to pop, and lots in between. One of the best shows, and the best values, may be at Ritchie Community Hall, where […]