FRINGE REVIEW: Mac Attack bombs
Imagine going to McDonald’s, ordering a Big Mac and being given a Filet o’ Fish. Any reasonable response would be to say “Yuck, I didn’t order this” and hand it back. No such luxury is afforded audience members at Fringe plays that turn out to be something completely different than advertised. You just have to […]
Eight rules to Fringe by
You think by now people would be hip to the “turn off your cellphone” rule at the Fringe, but apparently there are holdovers. Here’s a thought: make your ringtone a big wet fart. It will be offensive when it goes off, so you might as well get a laugh out of it. Just trying to […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Intercontinental mojo at blues fest
The Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival has taken over the city, absorbing any and all of the performing arts in its path. Nothing is safe, theatre, comedy, dance, not even music. A number of favorite local music venues have even been converted into what are known as “Bring Your Own Venue” theatres for the duration […]
Ben Folds to rock ESO a second time
Maybe we can make Ben Folds playing with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra a biennial event. The pop piano-meister will be back to wow his local fans a second time on Wednesday, May 21, 2014, at the Winspear Centre – less than two years after he came to Edmonton for the first time. Tickets ($69 or […]
Wildrose Man lost and out of place at Edmonton folk fest
Well, that was a big fat fail – wearing a Wildrose Party T-shirt at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival to get a rise out of the Lefties. Nobody cares! Plus there are so many layers of irony on everything nowadays that it’s hard to tell anything about anything anymore. What a waste of $25, which […]
REVIEW: Big league fun at Edmonton rock fest
If there is one thing classic rock fans know how to do – apart from drinking beer – it’s how to enjoy themselves. It’s hard to imagine people at the folk fest having any more fun than the joyful fans down at Heritage Amphitheatre on Friday Night for the 2013 edition of the Edmonton Rock […]
HIPSTER: Even the word is annoying
Hipsters have been criticized from the start. At the beginning of the 20th century “hip” meant being informed on music and fashion that went against the norm. Once the suffix “–ster” was added – like “gang-ster” – you had something even edgier, but still hipsters were denounced as beatniks, hippies, stoners, punks and slackers who […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Folk fest earns indie cred
The best action isn’t always on the main stage at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. Take, for example, Carolina Chocolate Drops. They performed at Interstellar Rodeo last year, and received rave reviews from everyone. The old-time string band from North Carolina, who perform with banjos, jugs, kazoos, bones, quills, a cello and a beatbox, perform […]
Zombie Apocalypse at the Fringe!
They may have plopped a James Bond theme onto this year’s Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival – running Aug. 15-25 – but given the number of plays about zombies or death or the End of the World or all of the above, we’re sensing a theme here. Such a vast gathering of theatrical doom and […]
FESTIVAL GUY: Heritage Days expensive, fattening
Is Canada becoming a melting pot? For all the hullabaloo about multiculturalism in Canada, this weekend’s Heritage Festival seemed pretty North American. The festival seemed to serve its product – overpriced food and irrelevant cultural offerings – in a homogenous, inoffensive, stale, typically Canadian package. Meaning: charge too much and make sure it’s deep fried. […]
