Beyond Bjork: Edmonton Iceland love affair EXPOSED
It’s high time we got to the bottom of this torrid love affair this city seems to be having with Iceland. For the love of Odin, why? Why go to a place even more frozen and isolated than Edmonton? It can’t just be volcanoes and Bjork. Observers credit Iceland’s recent massive tourism campaign, bouncing back […]
Colleen Brown: The Joni Mitchell of Edmonton
Colleen Brown has been compared to Joni Mitchell so many times that she isn’t even bugged by it anymore. Colleen, not Joni. It doesn’t help that the Edmonton singer-songwriter sings Joni Mitchell songs rather well, and even was part of a tribute show in Toronto in March. Brown recalls she was a little nervous after […]
Lucinda Williams plays Winspear Centre in July
It’s not enough we get an embarrassment of folk music riches during the folk fest proper. Now they have to spill over to big ticket folk shows all year long. Lucinda Williams is the latest in a series of “Live at the Winspear” concerts. She plays the downtown concert hall on Tuesday, July 28 in […]
Rise Against to play Edmonton in August
It has not been established what exactly is to be risen against from the band Rise Against – but it’s no secret these guys have become a dependable big hall headliner in the field of hardcore punk rock. That’s no mean feat. The band returns to a favourite Canadian market for a show at the […]
CONCERTS: Sign of the Gipsy Kings
Their lively flamenco rhythms have provided the soundtrack to countless love affairs negotiated in coffee shops around the world. They bewitch the unwary listener with a splendor of Latin guitar goodness from ear to shining ear. They have been called the sound of “pure Corinthian leather.” Of course we’re talking about the Gipsy Kings, who […]
REVIEW: Future is grim for Marilyn Manson
For those mystified why Marilyn Manson is still doing his shtick after all these years, it’s not that difficult to understand. Just imagine April Wine, oh, about 20 odd years ago, trying desperately to stay relevant, but needing to trade on past glories to pay the bills, while playing for long time fans in their […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Marilyn Manson causes nightmares
How appropriate for the impending Easter Weekend that we have the one and only Marilyn Manson coming to Edmonton, playing at the Shaw Conference on Thursday night, the day before Good Friday. What can be said about Marilyn Manson that hasn’t already been said? That he’s an aging goth who’s putting on an 18-plus show […]
To be an April Fool in the Age of Bulls***
Edmontonians of a Certain Age can still remember an April Fool’s Day joke played by 630 CHED in the early 1970s. It was reported that the phone company, Ed-Tel, was going to blow all the dust out of the phone lines at precisely 7:30 am on April 1, so citizens were advised to put plastic […]
The Decemberists to come in July
You know how some British bands don’t sound British when they’re singing? The Decemberists are the opposite. These Oregonian indie rockers sound British – or imagine if the Byrds were British. REM, too. In any case, the Decemberists are one of the hottest “indie” folk-rock bands on the planet at the moment, so much that […]
REVIEW: The Book of Mormon a sacrilegious joy
In a world of the ridiculous, satire is king. The Book of Mormon proves it. There are a million ways to describe this big production musical, playing at the Jubilee Auditorium through March 29. You could call it a lampooning of a religion. You could call it a story on the power of metaphorical belief. You […]
