Bust hits close to home for Theatre Network
For a company dedicated to presenting local productions, it’s hard to imagine a more Albertan show than Theatre Network’s current offering, Bust. At the Roxy on Gateway until Feb. 26, Matthew MacKenzie’s play takes place in Fort McMurray just after the great fire in May of 2016. It features two couples trying to cope with […]
AGLC lifts ban on underage musicians
Coming soon to a bar near you – younger bands. The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission announced on Friday that the regulation prohibiting minors from performing in licensed taverns has been removed, effective immediately – and after only 10 years of being the biggest pain-in-the ass rule for musicians not old enough to drink but […]
Red Cannons unite band of brothers
There is evidence that brother bands are tighter than bands whose members are unrelated – in as many ways as you want “tight” to mean. There are exceptions, of course, but sometimes you can just tell. Hear the creative cohesion, for instance, on the Red Cannons’ new EP Always Something. The Spruce Grove band plays […]
Weird town to be less weird without weird artist
To mangle a line from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Planet Edmonton will be a very great deal less weird without Philip Alexander Jagger. The performance artist, experimental musician, filmmaker, actor, poet and distant cousin of Mick Jagger has spent 30 years Making Something Strange in Edmonton, but will soon be moving to an […]
INTERVIEW: Peaches reaches and teaches
In the art of exploring gender with bold musical statements, Peaches is way ahead of her time – but “that’s probably for other people to answer,” she says. So what say you, other people? There is a consensus. Peaches makes Lady Gaga look like Selena Gomez – and was doing her thing long before Lady […]
The Tragically Hip’s heartbreaking goodbye
Gord Downie is wrong about one thing: Courage does matter, and it couldn’t come at a better time. Without courage, he could never have mounted what may well be the last Tragically Hip tour ever – in the face of a devastating diagnosis of terminal brain cancer. The 52-year-old singer is obviously feeling well enough […]
Edmonton Radio a flippers free for all
Don’t take free radio for granted. It remains an easy connection to an exciting world of music and culture outside your own. You might even imagine the person speaking on the radio is your only friend in the world, that he or she is talking directly to YOU, selecting good songs they think you might […]
Harpdog Brown gets real
If Harpdog Brown has been faking it all these years, he deserves an Oscar – in addition to his two consecutive Maple Blues Awards for the best blues harmonica player in Canada, plus the Juno nomination. He’s too convincing for it to be an affectation. By now, more than 35 years after he started with […]
Eagles of Death Metal: The Rock Must Go On
At the Eagles of Death Metal concert in Edmonton Thursday night, frontman Jesse Hughes didn’t say much about the Paris terrorist attacks that killed 90 of the band’s fans in November of 2015. Their merchandise man Nick Alexander was among the victims. “It’s been a weird couple of months – and we needed you tonight!” […]
Fuzz Kings rock Dad Punk
What happens to punk rockers when they reproduce? We get more punks, maybe. There are a number of other answers to be found right here in Edmonton. Some punk-parents add hyphens to their names, become singer-songwriters, country-folk musicians. Many look forward to the day they can take their kids to see the bands they once […]
Loudon clear on daddy issues
Loudon Wainwright III does not care to get into a discussion of his children’s songs about him. His son Rufus wrote one called Dinner at Eight that deals with the age-old struggle between fathers and sons. “So put up your fists and I’ll put up mine, no running away from the scene of the crime,” […]
Theo Fleury scores – with country music
Theoren “Theo” Fleury has found a new outlet to express his feelings about a life so filled with distress that he nearly ended it – country music. It’s a natural fit. On his first-ever tour (with a band), the 47-year-old hockey legend sings at the Century Casino in Edmonton on Friday, March 4. He’s got […]
