A COMIC IN ALL SERIOUSNESS: Kenny V in High River
Hack comics making jokes – too soon! – about it being “no wonder they call it High River” would not go over well with Edmonton stand-up comic Ken Valgardson. He’s in High River, living in a tent by the same river that flooded the town on June 20. He’s helping his cousin dispose of almost […]
FLOOD RELIEF: Albertans band together in adversity
The Calgary-Edmonton rivalry seems awfully silly – sillier than it already is, that is – in light of the devastating floods that swamped our sister city to the South. Sure, she may be a bit more of a looker, a bit more successful, better dressed and have a better head for business, and frankly we […]
COMMENT: How about an author on City Council?
You know what might be interesting to see on the next Edmonton City Council? Someone who can get to the heart of the story – who’s not a former newspaper reporter. Candas Jane Dorsey has been creating and collecting stories for decades. The award-winning novelist has thrown her hat into the ring for the upcoming […]
Friendly fairies frolic in fantastical Freewill festival
It weren’t for Shakespeare, Disney would look a lot different today. No Tinkerbell! Before the great playwright first produced A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1660, fairies were evil. They put death spells on people, stole their babies, spread disease, imparted loose morals upon comely maidens. In general, fairies were unpleasant manifestations of the public fear […]
REVIEW: Taylor Swift is THE drama queen
OK, Taylor Swift, we get it: We are never, ever getting back together. The pop superstar might as well have blazed those words across the stormy Edmonton sky in flaming letters as she sang them for her grand finale at Rexall Place on Tuesday night. Some 13,000 mainly young female fans sang along to every […]
After low key start, Jazz festival hits high gear
So much jazz, so little time – especially if it’s “free” jazz where “time” takes on a completely different meaning, as does “free,” because you still have to pay to see it. Hope that helps. It’s always hard to choose among so many acts at the Edmonton International Jazz Festival. It didn’t really have a […]
Dance and rock cultures mingle at Boonstock festival
“Are you a rocker or a raver?” the Bear announcer asked the caller looking forward to Boonstock 2013 this weekend. Amazingly, the caller replied that she’s a little of both. She will rock out to such rockers as the Headstones, Godsmack, Sebastian Bach and Slash from Guns N’ Roses, and then maybe paint herself blue […]
FESTIVAL GUY: Crowds not a problem at Works
If Toronto put on a street festival that referenced Henry David Thoreau’s dictum “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see” – the theme of this year’s Works Art & Design Festival – you’d have people clamouring to try to catch a glimpse of Rob Ford smoking crack. But this is […]
Promoters work to salvage flooded out Sled Island Festival
CALGARY – I woke up Friday morning to see downtown Calgary covered in brown water no more than a block from my vantage point at Hotel Arts, which was on evacuation order after power and water had been shut off. I’d spent the previous two nights getting soaked walking from venue to venue, trying to […]
JAZZ FEST: Nuela Charles finds her niche
The trouble with making music that’s different and unique is where to rack it. Nuela Charles, who earned a four year music degree from a bible college in Saskatchewan, initially had some luck in the Christian music scene, where style isn’t as important as content. In short, sing about Jesus and you’re in. “Everything I […]
