WHO NAMED THE BAND: Marianas Trench teaches kids about geography
Posted on October 26, 2012 By Mike Ross Front Slider, Music
Some bands are born to weird band names. Others have weird band names thrust upon them. Marianas Trench fits both cases. The Vancouver pop-not-punk group – headlining Monday at Rexall Place – had actually been renamed from its early days as Ramsay Fiction, after singer and founder Josh Ramsay. But while the guy tends to […]
Bon Jovi to play Edmonton in April – ‘Because We Can’
Posted on October 25, 2012 By Mike Ross Front Slider, Music
Bon Jovi doesn’t need a reason to tour – “Because We Can” is the name of the band’s latest jaunt around the globe. The band will hit Edmonton’s Rexall Place on April 3, one of six Canadian dates announced by the band this week. Pre-sale tickets go on sale Friday; the public on-sale is expected […]
Play me a memory: CBC’s Bosendorfer sold to the ESO
Posted on October 23, 2012 By Rob Drinkwater Culture, Front Slider, Music, TV and Radio
Some have called it Edmonton’s most-recorded piano, and as CBC Edmonton’s house keyboard for close to 30 years, the claim may have some merit. But when the broadcaster announced earlier this year that it was axing its local recording unit, it realized there wasn’t much point in keeping its magnificent seven-foot Bosendorfer that had been […]
CAN-CON CONCERTS: Great Big Sea, Burton Cummings announced
Posted on October 22, 2012 By Mike Ross Front Slider, Music
Here’s another Canadian band whose continued existence has caused its Generation X-aged fans to exclaim, “Oh, my gosh, we’re 40!” – Great Big Sea. Yes, it has been 20 years since we first fell in love with these guys in college, and everyone’s favourite Newfoundland Celtic pirate-rock band is hitting the road to celebrate passing […]
Local writers get generous time at Edmonton’s LitFest
Posted on October 17, 2012 By Wayne Arthurson Front Slider, Lit
Literary festivals in Canada aren’t usually known for great local representation. Edmonton’s LitFest – opening today and running through Oct. 28 at venues around town – is the exception. The ratio between visiting writers and local ones is a lot higher than one would find at any of the other major literary festivals in the […]
Bounty hunter turned opera singer Carl Tanner to sing Aida in Edmonton
Posted on October 17, 2012 By Mike Ross Front Slider, Music, Theatre
How opera singer Carl Tanner didn’t wind up as a country star is anyone’s guess. He’s from Virginia. He grew up with country music. His dad worked as the custodian at the church his family went to every Sunday, and where young Carl sang church music with a big, booming voice more mature than his […]
You don’t need gore to make a great horror film at Dedfest 2012
Posted on October 16, 2012 By Barry Hammond Film, Front Slider
Who’d have thought eating an olive could be so fraught with contradictory emotions? There’s a scene in a creepy new film called “Berberian Sound Studio” where actor Toby Jones is forced to eat an olive, pit and all, and his face conveys so many different thoughts, feelings, and possibilities that it has to rank as […]
CONCERTS: The Tragically Hip returns to Edmonton in January
Posted on October 15, 2012 By Mike Ross Front Slider, Music
The Tragically Hip will be returning to Edmonton in the new year. The band is set to play Wednesday, Jan 23 at Rexall Place, it was announced Monday, part of yet another extensive cross-Canada tour that doesn’t seem to include Calgary. Oh, Calgary! First you get mistaken for Edmonton by Justin Bieber, and now this. […]
VERY A-MUSE-ING: Scalpers thwarted by paperless tickets
Posted on October 13, 2012 By Mike Ross Culture, Front Slider, Music
There is still joy in Mudville, for Muse has not sold out – failing to leave scores of disappointed fans, who were not crying that they got buggered by the scalpers yet again. Not this time – thanks to “paperless tickets.” Screw you, scalpers. After seats to the British trio’s Feb. 3 show at Rexall […]
Heavy metal poet bridges modern with medieval in new book
Posted on October 10, 2012 By Wayne Arthurson Features, Front Slider, Lit, Music
Death metal and poetry don’t usually hang out together – except in the personage of former Edmontonian Catherine Owen. She’s not only an award-winning Canadian poet, well respected by many – which is an accomplishment in the fractured world of Canadian poetry – she’s also a heavy metal goddess who’s played bass in bands such […]
WAR ON GRAFFITI: Tagger’s distinctive style leads to charges
Posted on October 9, 2012 By Rob Drinkwater Culture, Front Slider, Visual Arts
Edmonton police used information seized during a June raid at the Paint Spot art gallery to get a warrant to search a graffiti suspect’s home. According to the public court document used to get the warrant submitted by Const. Ryan Katchur, who identifies himself as the Northeast division graffiti resource officer, investigators appear to have […]
CKUA begins big move with $5 million Alberta Culture boost
Posted on October 6, 2012 By Mike Ross Culture, Front Slider, TV and Radio
Not since Fort Edmonton picked up stakes has there been such a fuss over a simple change of address. CKUA’s big move has begun! Celebrating the station being transplanted six blocks East from the decrepit Alberta Block to the smashing new refurbished Alberta Hotel, a 1963 Lincoln convertible packed with dignitaries arrived with great fanfare […]