EDMONTON RADIO: Awkward Travis mocks the shock jocks

Awkward Travis has asked spelling questions to drunk people on Whyte Avenue, accosted Oilers fans to talk about Twilight and tried to get women to give him their bras at the mall. He got his nickname one day when he approached people sitting by themselves in a coffee shop and said, “Hey, you look lonely. […]

ARTY PARTY: AGA Refinery a Monster ball

Anything living “Up North” is tougher, stronger, larger, hairier and able to drink more than their Southern counterparts. It’s survival of the fittest in the harshest realm on Earth. Edmonton “is already halfway there,” says local artist Fish Griwkowsky, who was tasked to convey the “Up North” spirit in the Art Gallery of Alberta’s Refinery […]

The Tea Party returns: No politics, just music and maybe a lot of money

The Tea Party reunited just in time to get into an unwelcome mix-up with the American political movement of the same name – which prompted a stir about the band and its Internet domain, teaparty.com. Estimates floating around on the value of the name have hovered around a million bucks. While drummer Jeff Burrows admits […]

O Canada, Bonnie Ste. Croix records for thee

Bonnie Ste-Croix’s passion for Canada runs deep. The singer/songwriter loves her home country so much, she named her latest album Canadian Girl and recorded every song in the collection in a different Canadian town. Which makes it a little bewildering that after a solid 15 years of touring, her Saturday gig was her first time […]

Stephen Colbert wades into Keystone XL debate

Hey, who cares what that Obama guy thinks: America’s political right now has Stephen Colbert on the Keystone XL Pipeline case. Colbert waded into the debate over the line, which would ship Bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands more than 2,500 kilometres to be processed and sold in the U.S. President Barack Obama delayed approval of […]

Hyper-real surreal takes the stage in Falling: A Wake

The great thing about magical realism is that you get the magic out of the way first. Then you get to enjoy real characters behaving realistically in a really unbelievable situation. This sort of work-out for the imagination is what Wishbone Theatre, a new Edmonton company, has been going for – that and the acting […]

Johnny Reid to belt it out at Rexall Place April 19

Finally Johnny Reid gets the idea. Why do four shows in the Jube when you can do one at Rexall Place? And don’t give us this guff about wanting to get “intimate” with the audience. That’s four shows! Just put four times the energy into one show – hell, twice would be more than enough […]

CONCERT REVIEW: Les McKeown keeps Rollermania alive

He may look a little less svelte in his tartan-accented custom leisure suit than he did on the cover of “Dedication,” but Les McKeown and his group of faux-Bay City Rollers proved Thursday night why Rollermania should not be forgotten. The Century Casino was packed with overgrown teenage girls who rushed to the front of […]

GIGGLE CITY: The riffs of T.J. Miller

By the time that Comedy Central special finally comes to the paradoxically less funny Canadian counterpart, the Comedy Network, it’s already old. It’s over. It’s ready for the History Channel. Not this time. This time, up-and-coming comedy star T.J. Miller is bringing a bootleg copy of his new Comedy Central special to screen for patrons […]

WHO NAMED THE SINGER: Q-Benjamin establishes her brand

They let her keep her sneakers. This is just one small perk among many for the newly minted Q-Benjamin, a.k.a. Quanteisha Benjamin, in her new record deal with Warner Music Canada- but it’s an important one. “I love my sneakers,” she says. “I’m in my element and I’m very comfortable. I’m doing what I’ve always […]

The Devil Wears Prada loves the messengers, hates the message

The cover of The Devil Wears Prada’s latest album Dead Throne looks positively evil. If you were to judge by the jagged upside-down skull bathed in an eerie glow, you would probably guess they’re a metal band … and you’d be correct. But you might not guess they’re a Christian band. “Metal and God can […]

Josh Groban times four: Il Divo returns to Rexall Place July 28

Watching classical crossover quartet Il Divo perform, one has to marvel at the strict choreography necessary for these four perfect specimens of singing man-candy – each of whom is a Josh Grobin or one-quarter Luciano Pavarotti in his own right – to stroll slowly around a giant stage while crooning Bridge Over Troubled Water as […]