MUSIC PREVIEW: Walk Off the Earth on a Fast Run to the Top
Generally referred to as an “indie band,” Burlington, Ontario’s Walk Off the Earth finds influences and inspirations from all manners of music, with virtually no limits on what they might pull out of the musicsphere to craft their material – from more traditional guitars, bass, and drums, to banjos, glockenspiels, ukuleles, and even a theremin. […]
REVIEW: E-Day a frenzied political comedy – just in time for the real election!
In the political circus to the South and the attendant carnival in Canada, Edmonton’s adventurous independent company The Serial Collective has chosen to look backward at a time of political ferment in Alberta. E-Day is a comedy based on playwright Jason Chinn’s time as a volunteer with the NDP during those heady days of their […]
REVIEW: Baroness Bianka’s Bloodsongs a Delightfully Grisly Comedy
One always approaches Northern Light Theatre Artistic Director Trevor Schmidt’s new seasons with a sense of wonder. Where does he find these plays? He must spend a lot of time scouring dusty scripts from all over the world because he inevitably finds hidden treasures and spins them into theatrical gold. Perhaps it’s not the plays […]
GRETA IN EDMONTON: Counter protest? What counter protest?
When news broke that Greta Thunberg was coming to Alberta, and to Edmonton, social media exploded. On the one side were people excited that the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist superstar would be taking her message to the Oil Capital of Canada. On the other side were those who felt that Greta and her peers are […]
LISTEN HERE: Black Mastiff goes to space
Coincidentally, the subject of Black Mastiff’s new video for the song Star Base 77 is a French Mastiff named Babette – who is not black. She’s yellow. Via “Rotoscope” animation (the technique of tracing over real footage, made famous by Ralph Bakshi in his 1978 version of The Lord of the Rings), the rescue dog […]
Experimental reality show at the Citadel reveals our true selves – and it’s not pretty
It’s Fight Night – and we’ve been conditioned to expect what comes next. It’s a boxing match. There’s a ring. A pool of light. A mic drops down from the darkness and a droll soft-spoken dude in a suit and bow tie announces the battle to come. What follows seems to be a random series […]
6 Things You Need to Know about the Edmonton Comedy Festival
1. Festival producer Andrew Grose is the only festival producer in town who performs at his own festival. Could you imagine Terry Wickham playing fiddle at the folk fest? Cam Hayden singing the blues at the blues fest? Todd Crawshaw rockin’ out at the rockfest? Well, maybe – but they probably wouldn’t. Andrew Grose will […]
Bob the Angry Flower
You know it’s your time when it stops. NEXT COMIC: Guilt and forgiveness in End of the Earth: NEXT: Bill Benson wonders what oil the fuss is about:
SOCIAL MEDIA HAPPENINGS
Long and leaky NEXT COMIC: Bob the Angry Flower reminds everyone to check the batteries on their smoke detectors: NEXT: Someone has a new girlfriend in End of the Earth:
End of the Earth
Luck o’ the Irish! NEXT COMIC: Bill Benson ponders the Shape of Oil: NEXT: Bob the Angry Flower feels human!
IN IT FOR LOVE: Herb Alpert and Lani Hall Perform in Edmonton next Spring
Trumpeting legend Herb Alpert was the “A” in A&M Records, and when he and his partner Jerry Moss sold their company to PolyGram in 1992, they each wound up with several hundred million dollars. Then there’s the royalty and licensing fees for all that music by the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s, including that one […]
Scary Good Alice Cooper Returns to Edmonton in Spring 2020
Like all of us, the older Alice Cooper gets, the scarier he looks – which works out well for the original King of Shock Rock. Even if it’s more burlesque these days, as much laugh as scream, the 71-year-old rocker is still going strong – thanks to clean living in his senior years (a contrast […]
