MUSIC PREVIEW: Nextfest best bet
Posted on June 6, 2013 By Michael Senchuk Entertainment, Front Slider, Music
Edmonton’s first major arts festival of the season – Nextfest – takes over the city for the next week and a half, featuring almost every art form you could imagine, from theatre to dance, from visual arts to film, and of course music. The most interesting option amongst its many offerings may be a combination […]
PRIDE: The Picture of Happiness more than just a gay story
Posted on June 5, 2013 By Mike Ross Entertainment, Front Slider, Theatre
“The Picture of Happiness” wasn’t initially meant to be part of the Edmonton Pride Festival. The play is “much bigger than gay story,” says its piano player and collaborator Patti Loach, who will accompany Toronto actor Brad Hampton in his personal one-man musical. “It’s a story about a grandson’s intention to honour his grandfather, to […]
End of the Earth, by Chad Huculak
Posted on June 4, 2013 By Staff Comedy, Entertainment, Front Slider, Visual Arts
EXPLORERS: Jom Comyn is of the land
Posted on June 3, 2013 By Jared Majeski Entertainment, Front Slider, Music
Our province, and all the modern society we see today, was built on immigrants, explorers, intrepids and everyone good and bad in between. Farmers and ranchers weren’t merely farmers and ranchers. They were teachers, they were carpenters, they were welders, tradesmen, jacks-of-all-trades – all at the same time. They had to be. Likewise with Edmonton […]
REVIEW: Marathon reunion show proves Jr. Gone Wild must go on
Posted on June 1, 2013 By Mike Ross Entertainment, entertainment, Front Slider, Music, music
It’s as if Jr. Gone Wild stepped out of a time capsule – its honky-tonky, punky good-time Alberta country music perfectly preserved all this time to be revived with a vengeance by four rock ‘n’ roll Rip Van Winkles. Rock ‘n’ roll seems to be hard-wired to celebrate the past in 20 year cycles, and […]
Colleen Brown to reveal alter ego at Rip Roarin’ Refinery
Posted on May 30, 2013 By Mike Ross Entertainment, Front Slider, Life, Music, Visual Arts
Singer-songwriter Colleen Brown has long relished the idea of creating an alter-ego – and now, as the creative director of the Art Gallery of Alberta’s “Rip Roarin’ Refinery” party happening Saturday, June 1, she gets her chance. “Gilda Brass” will be making her stage debut at the arty party celebrating AGA’s new exhibit The Piano. […]
Don’t be afraid of Death Toll Rising – be very afraid
Posted on May 29, 2013 By Kevin Maimann Entertainment, Front Slider, Music, music
Things can get a little awkward when you try to explain to someone why your band’s last album was called “Defecation Suffocation.” Of course, for those well versed in extreme metal, such titles are par for the course. Edmonton band Death Toll Rising, which dropped the aforementioned album in 2010, doesn’t expect anyone to take […]
FOLK FEST: Free passes for seniors are history
Posted on May 29, 2013 By Mike Ross Entertainment, Front Slider, Music
No more free folk fest tickets for senior citizens, consarnit! Apparently there are more old timers than ever, so now to avoid overcrowding, they’ll have to pay like everybody else. At least the blow is being softened. When tickets for the 34th annual Edmonton Folk Music Festival go on sale June 1, senior day passes […]
Jerry Seinfeld returns to Edmonton in August
Posted on May 29, 2013 By Mike Ross Comedy, Entertainment, entertainment, Front Slider, TV and Radio, tv and radio
What’s the deal with Jerry Seinfeld? The guy was a huge TV star. He’s multimillionaire. He doesn’t need to work. And now he’s back humping his jokes around on the road like some Yuk Yuk’s comic, playing places like Edmonton. Must be something about stand-up comedy that keeps people coming back. Seinfeld performs at the […]
THEATRE: Parts fit the actors in new Lemoine
Posted on May 28, 2013 By Mike Ross Entertainment, entertainment, Front Slider, Theatre
There are many ways we can try to describe rebel playwright Stewart Lemoine – as a modern Noel Coward, for his witty dialogue; or as Edmonton’s theatrical Christopher Guest, for using almost the same set of actors again and again in one quirky comedy after another. Occasionally, a new actor is invited into the fold. […]
JR. GONE WILD: Dumb enough to quit, smart enough to start over
Posted on May 28, 2013 By Mike Ross Entertainment, entertainment, Front Slider, Music, music
Hate to burst your bubble, but the Jr. Gone Wild reunion was motivated by money. Give thanks to local promoter Frank Klemen, a longtime Jr. fan who felt it was so important that his favourite Edmonton alt-country band get back together that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “It was up to me,” he […]
End of the Earth, by Chad Huculak
Posted on May 27, 2013 By Staff Comedy, Entertainment, Front Slider, Visual Arts