Hip hop knowledge is power
The meeting attracts about 20 young men and women from all races and walks of life. They take turns telling stories, asking questions, airing complaints. Some get emotional. I keep expecting a guy to stand up and say, “Hi, my name is Dave and I’m addicted to hip hop!” Because this is not a support […]
Backstreet Boys are back! In Edmonton!
How many times do we have to say “Backstreet’s back” until we don’t have to say “Backstreet’s back” anymore? They never left, did they? Not counting the warm feeling they left in our hearts. Say it at least one more time, because the Backstreet Boys are returning to Edmonton, Saturday, May 17 at Rexall Place. […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Siiines of Spriiing
This weekend features a whole host of can’t-miss gigs – but once again, you won’t be able to see them all. A couple of local bands host always-exciting release parties; one of the city’s most exciting electro acts is performing; the Black Dog continues its legendary Saturday afternoon bill; and a pair of well-known American […]
Legend has it: John Legend in Edmonton this summer
Before Auto-Tune made legends of us all, there was John Legend – one of the finest voices on the modern R&B scene who has yet to get his due. The Ohio crooner, who had been signed by Kanye West’s label, won a pile of Grammys before most people had ever heard of him, on the […]
MUSIC: Ann Vriend the next big thing – or is she already?
Ann Vriend sounds like Loretta Lynn singing Aretha Franklin songs written by Marvin Gaye and produced by Mitchell Froom. It is that weird – and wonderful. The sound of the Edmonton singer’s new record, For the People in the Mean Time, owes a lot to her Italian producer Tino Zolfo, whose Froomish style with all […]
Queen + Adam Lambert better than no Queen at all
Of course it’s impossible to fill the shoes of the late, great Freddie Mercury – but the flambouyant Adam Lambert gets the ultimate endorsement from the surviving members of Queen: They’re touring together as Queen + Adam Lambert, playing Rexall Place on June 24. Tickets go on sale next Friday, March 14. The unlikely combo […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Wake Owl a hoot
To have Vancouver claim the great band Wake Owl as its own may be a little misleading – because its singer-songwriter Colyn Cameron seems to be from a lot of different places. Raised in Southern California, he went off to study organic agriculture in England, then worked on various farms in the UK, Germany, Chile, […]
SkirtsAfire to burn glass ceiling
Whatever you think of grouping artists by gender first and by their art second, consider the all-female SkirtsAfire “herArts” festival – playing March 6-9 at venues around Alberta Avenue – as “theatrical affirmative action.” The stats on theatrical sexual equality in Canada are “grim,” says festival director Annette Loiselle, citing a 2008 study done by […]
Nobility in Defeat: Where are they now?
Kerry Diotte has popped back up on the radar. The former Ward 11 councillor and failed mayoral candidate announced on his birthday – Feb. 26 – that he will seek the Conservative Party of Canada nomination in the new federal riding of Edmonton Griesbach. That’s right. He’s baaaaack. After Don Iveson surged into the Edmonton […]
COMEDY: Brent Butt ALMOST a movie star
The great thing about being a stand-up comic who gets a TV series is that you have a pretty sweet gig to fall back on once the series – inevitably – ends. A lot of comedy actors who try to be comedians after their television careers end aren’t so lucky. Ask Michael Richards. Brent Butt […]
MUSIC: Fools Tongue channels Peter Gabriel
What a world where musicians can make music as progressive as the proggiest of prog-rock – in an Edmonton basement. Fools Tongue’s new album “New World” sounds like Sting meets Peter Gabriel in, er … words fail, a home recording studio. Don’t get that every day around these parts. “That’s our world,” says singer Luke […]
