REVIEW: Brian Wilson ‘reimagines’ Gershwin, Beach Boys
Posted on June 27, 2011 By Mike McDonald Front Slider, Music
I’ve read the books and reviews that say Brian Wilson is a weird guy, but Sunday night at the Jubilee Auditorium, he wasn’t any weirder than anyone I know. Here is a man who is quite comfortable calling his own material good without seeming arrogant or like a braggart. It’s just a fact. He seemed […]
Brian Wilson brings Gershwin to the Jube
Posted on June 26, 2011 By LH Thomson Front Slider, Music
At his Regina show on Friday night, legendary Beach Boys impresario Brian Wilson – he who once lay in bed for three years — reportedly took to the stage in sweatpants and a dress shirt. He played, he talked, he rambled and mumbled a bit disconnectedly. Fans loved it. But that’s the nature of fandom. […]
FESTIVAL SUMMER BEGINS: The Works ‘one with everything’
Posted on June 25, 2011 By Mike Ross Front Slider, Music, Visual Arts
If you didn’t know that the Works Art and Design Festival was going on, you might not know there was a festival at all. This is a good thing. Thanks to events like the Works, downtown Edmonton in the summer has become a non-stop riot of audio-visual happenings whose various festival organizers are indistinguishable from […]
Madeleine Peyroux will be smoking at the Edmonton jazz festival!
Posted on June 23, 2011 By Mike Ross Front Slider, Music
American jazz singer and smoker Madeleine Peyroux has temporarily switched to du Maurier Light because the Lucky Strikes she asked for aren’t available in Canada. Coincidence? We think not! It’s a Big Tobacco Conspiracy! Jazz festivals in Canada wouldn’t be where they are today – or where they aren’t, depending on how you look at […]
Rajas bring heavy prog sound to Sled Island, YEG
Posted on June 22, 2011 By Chad Huculak Front Slider, Music
Multitalented musician Ben Sherazi picked a good time for an Alberta homecoming. His Los Angeles-based prog-rock band Rajas hits Alberta for its first time this week, playing the Sled Island Festival Thursday in his hometown Calgary. The band then heads north to Edmonton for a Sled Island showcase with local openers The Equation at Brixx […]
Rihanna’s hidden message: Never hit a woman
Posted on June 21, 2011 By Mike Ross Front Slider, Music
It’s interesting to examine Rihanna’s musical trajectory since she was beaten up by her boyfriend Chris Brown in 2009. You have to wonder if things might be different if it had never happened. She performs tonight (Wednesday, June 22) at Rexall Place (buy). Maybe S&M wouldn’t have become such a massive hit, its sexy video […]
Edmonton rapper to open for Eminem this fall
Posted on June 20, 2011 By Albert Smith Front Slider, Music
Edmonton rapper Doug Crawford has an unlikely organization to thank for getting to open for Eminem on D12’s American tour this fall – Canada Customs. If it weren’t for our polite and efficient border patrol, who obviously didn’t like the look of this posse of Detroit rappers when they came to entertain the good folks […]
GIGGLE CITY: Matt Lisac ‘leaves them laughing’ – and thinking
Posted on June 18, 2011 By Mike Ross Comedy, Culture, Front Slider
Matt Lisac has attacked Edmonton’s comedy scene by stealth. He did a one-man show at the 2010 Fringe, innocuously called “A New Canadian Century,” for which he appeared on stage as a kindly, bearded Christian with guitar and a story to tell. About one minute into his opening number, it became obvious that this performer […]
Utopia Music Festival to be happy, shiny experience – even in the rain
Posted on June 17, 2011 By Mike Ross Front Slider, Music
Rarely have the words “THE SHOW MUST GO ON” meant so much as they do for the promoter of the Utopia Music Festival. Dale Plourde, after working on this weekend’s Edmonton Pride Festival event for the past year, suffered a mild heart attack three days ago. Friends quickly revived him and he was rushed to […]
NEW MUSIC WEST: Edmonton picks up what Vancouver dropped
Posted on June 15, 2011 By Mike Ross Culture, Front Slider, Music
If Vancouver didn’t want it or need it anymore, why would Edmonton have any better luck hosting New Music West? “We’ve got to try, right?” says Dave Johnston of Union Events, which is handling the band showcase portion of the festival, happening July 21-23 at venues around Edmonton. “It’s an experiment. If it works, great, […]
Live to improvise, improvise to live at Improvaganza
Posted on June 15, 2011 By Albert Smith Comedy, Front Slider, Theatre
To be willing to “fail happily” is one of the foundations of comedy improv – and also a happy life. When you truly shed your ego in the manner of the Buddhists, even death becomes OK. Cue the sound of one hand clapping. This may all seem too deep for Rapidfire Theatre’s Improvaganza festival, running […]
Heart repaired, an Edmonton musician finds hope in shaken Japan
Posted on June 15, 2011 By Chad Huculak Culture, Front Slider, Music
When Tokyo-via-Edmonton musician Laurier Tiernan was preparing a gift to send his family back home three years ago, he had no idea he was about to stumble onto something big. “In 2008, (my wife) Eiko and I, instead of sending Christmas presents home to Canada, we decided that we were going to write a Christmas […]
