Middle Eastern musician finds muse in Edmonton
Mohsin Zaman lived most of his life in Dubai, United Arab Emirates – and only when he came to Edmonton did he start seriously making music. Now he sounds “Albertan.” Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. The 29-year-old singer-songwriter says he had a “strict upbringing” from his hard-working Pakistani parents, who moved to Dubai in 1978. The […]
Beyonce slays rainy night in Edmonton
Of course Beyonce’s Formation tour began with the song called Formation – she and her dancers entered the stage at Commonwealth Stadium on Friday night draped head to toe in sparkly black with tall felt pilgrim hats and Beyoncé warming the crowd up by getting people screaming, “I SLAY!” And slay, Queen B did. The […]
REVIEW: Who’s converting who in The Conversion?
The Conversion is a powerful new play from Edmonton’s small but feisty theatre troupe, “Kill Your Television.” The company has only produced about one play a year in its 15 years, but has won an astonishing number of Sterling Awards (seven so far). Past successes have included Eric Bogosian’s SubUrbia and the gothic Fringe hit, […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Is Edmonton a Beyonce kinda town?
Is Beyonce any bigger a draw than she was in 2007 or 2009? Because she played Edmonton those years, and neither show sold out. That was in Rexall Place – and now she’s at Commonwealth Stadium on Friday. Tickets are still available. Granted, this is only one of two dates in Canada on her Formation […]
Selena Gomez a star above her music
In a world of love songs about love and dance songs about dancing, Selena Gomez is a pop star about being a pop star. They spent a lot of money and energy making her look great at Rexall Place Monday night – more effort than was spent on the songs themselves, so great was the […]
NDP MLA puts music to public service
The list of professional musicians elected to government office is very short indeed. In fact, David Shepherd – MLA for Edmonton-Centre – seems to be the only example in Alberta history. He performs Thursday at the Needle Vinyl Tavern: “Shepapalooza” – also featuring White Lightning and Ben Spencer – which turns out to be a […]
Moby Dick comes alive in brilliant Studio Theatre play
Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick; or, The Whale was published in 1851. It may have flopped then, but we have not escaped this watery tale of Captain Ahab’s obsessive quest for the white whale since. There have been many movies, television shows, adaptations, plays, college English essays – even Orson Wells became obsessed with it, but that’s […]
Harpdog Brown gets real
If Harpdog Brown has been faking it all these years, he deserves an Oscar – in addition to his two consecutive Maple Blues Awards for the best blues harmonica player in Canada, plus the Juno nomination. He’s too convincing for it to be an affectation. By now, more than 35 years after he started with […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Hedleyheads heart Hedley
It’s always both a blessing and a curse when your favourite band plays a show at Rexall Place. On the one hand, you get to share the experience with a lot of other people. On the other hand, you’re going to have to pay arena concert prices to see them, and pray to the gods […]
THEATRE: Gordon the bleakest of black comedy
Director Bradley Moss’ production of Morris Panych’s play Gordon is billed as a black comedy – but might be called a bleak comedy because they don’t get much bleaker. Gordon is not for the faint of heart. It’s full of violence, both implied and real, awash in profanity with sudden death just a faltering heartbeat […]
