REVIEW: Robyn Hitchcock still surreal
If the name Robyn Hitchcock is mysterious to hit parade stalwarts, don’t worry – it’s not likely his rabid legion of followers quite “get” him, either. That didn’t stop some 70 devotees of the surrealistic singer-songwriter from trying to unravel the Matrix-like yarns he spun in song and banter on Sunday night in Sherwood Park’s […]
Cannabis Expo lights up the unenlightened
The stigma around marijuana is changing. Sure, some politicians still have no functional grasp of the subject of pot. Before voting on Canada’s Cannabis Act last week, Senator Nicole Eaton said that “five grams is about four tokes.” But the marijuana community isn’t allowing ignorance to stop them. In fact, it is emboldening them to […]
REVIEW: Hedley’s last stand
Thousands of fans filled Rogers Place in Edmonton for Hedley on Thursday night – despite allegations of sexual misconduct looming against frontman Jacob Hoggard. In the 13 years of Hedley, from the singer’s origins as the most interesting Canadian Idol contestant, Hoggard always presented himself as a pompous playboy. Yet in light of these accusations, […]
City of Angels a cynical work for young MacEwan cast
City of Angels is one of those Broadway shows that bubbles along just below the surface of the great ones. Sure, it’s no Sound of Music but it is a solid, ingenious and entertaining evening. First produced in 1989, the book by Larry Gelbart (M*A*S*H*, Tootsie) is a witty satire on Hollywood, a spoof with […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Time for 2000s nostalgia!
Two of Canada’s biggest alternative rock acts of the early 2000s have joined forces for two nights in Edmonton. Playing at the Jubilee Auditorium next Monday and Tuesday, Our Lady Peace and Matthew Good are in the midst of a 20-date co-headlining tour that spans the breadth of Canada, from St. John’s to Vancouver. Good […]
PLAYBILL: A real Cinderella story
There must be something compelling about the Cinderella story that it keeps being told again and again and in so many ways – more than 2,000 years after it was written. Following the first example of a tale of a slave girl who marries an Egyptian prince through a series of improbable events, Alberta Ballet […]
Emotional Poison lets the healing begin
A man and a woman sit in a bleak room under an unforgiving white light. Rain falls incessantly and thunder beats a distant tattoo. Their halting conversation begins painfully as they attempt to overcome the emotional residue of a relationship that ended a long time ago. The two are in a holding room in the […]
New Cat Walsh play full of dead ends and detours
Edmonton Playwright Cat Walsh writes in a Ray Bradbury-ish style of sci-fi: horror, creatures and the end of the world. She’s no horrormeister looking for a cheap scare, but fills her unsettling works in an ever growing suspense-filled environment acted upon by threatening exterior forces. She is more Hitchcock then George A. Romero. You may […]
Johnny Reid puts the soul in country
There was feeling of a Sunday church “revival” at the Jubilee Auditorium on Thursday night – and Johnny Reid was the preacher. It was obvious that this Scottish-Canadian country superstar was back in Edmonton to show his audience a good time. No expense was spared when it came to production of his Revival tour, named […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: The Heat is on!
There was a seminal moment in the annals of rock ‘n’ roll, in some garage somewhere, where rockabilly musicians decided to play punk rock – or maybe it was the other way around. There may have been a fist fight. Hey, what if I used this upright bass to play Black Flag songs? How dare […]