COMMENT: Mayor’s race a gong show
Edmonton has become embroiled in cheap mayoral politics – which is ironic as hell. The idea that three incumbents from this council could do anything cheaply must’ve been a shock to all of us. The latest is a shot at Don Iveson for having written a joking “Workers of the World Unite”-style satire piece in […]
BUK STOPS HERE: Birds, bees put heat on Diotte
The liberal vote will get split between Don Iveson and Karen Leibovici, which means Kerry Diotte will be the next Mayor of Edmonton – but not if the fair food community has anything to say about it. Those who raise chickens and bees illegally within city limits maintain that the city government has no business […]
Does public art improve life for Edmonton’s homeless?
Answering a simple question – what do homeless people think of public art? – was fraught with difficult and humbling emotions. I recently interviewed a number of Edmonton street people who turned out to be so sharp that the question should’ve been: Why in God’s name are you homeless?! The stories vary: Poverty, alcoholism, mental […]
Foreign Musician Fee Fracas: It’s not the end of the world
What’s a guy gotta do to get an LMO exemption around here?! There’s a good pick up line next time you’re in your favourite local bar or coffee shop – where you probably be seeing a lot more true blue Canadian live music now that sneaky government fees on foreign workers have been imposed. Employers […]
Wildrose Man lost and out of place at Edmonton folk fest
Well, that was a big fat fail – wearing a Wildrose Party T-shirt at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival to get a rise out of the Lefties. Nobody cares! Plus there are so many layers of irony on everything nowadays that it’s hard to tell anything about anything anymore. What a waste of $25, which […]
HIPSTER: Even the word is annoying
Hipsters have been criticized from the start. At the beginning of the 20th century “hip” meant being informed on music and fashion that went against the norm. Once the suffix “–ster” was added – like “gang-ster” – you had something even edgier, but still hipsters were denounced as beatniks, hippies, stoners, punks and slackers who […]
FESTIVAL GUY: Heritage Days expensive, fattening
Is Canada becoming a melting pot? For all the hullabaloo about multiculturalism in Canada, this weekend’s Heritage Festival seemed pretty North American. The festival seemed to serve its product – overpriced food and irrelevant cultural offerings – in a homogenous, inoffensive, stale, typically Canadian package. Meaning: charge too much and make sure it’s deep fried. […]
426-5050, whatever happened to the Lydo?
Four-two-six, five-oh, five-oh, if you’re hungry, call the Lydo! Never had such crappy Chinese food gained such a huge local reputation – thanks to the little jingle written to go with their phone number that remains an Edmontonian brainworm 10 years after the place went bankrupt. A lot of people who ordered Lydo vowed never […]
Fred Larose was a ‘musician’s musician’
Fred Larose didn’t live to see his own name in lights, but he probably wouldn’t have wanted it there anyway. His legacy will be as a prince among sidemen – the unassuming, rock-steady, hard-working bass player who holds down the crucial bottom end and puts his gifts to the service of making others sound great. […]
Comic, sportscaster to fill Rutherford spot in CHED shuffle
Just a few weeks before 630 CHED’s Dave Rutherford was due to retire, he bit the hand that fed him: criticizing his Corus Radio bosses for what he felt was poor coverage of the Southern Alberta floods. He even suggested that listeners could go elsewhere for their information. Radio bosses tend to frown on that […]
MAIMANN ABROAD: Ultra Europe Festival how raves should be done
SPLIT, CROATIA – Picture Kim Jong-un dancing in the grass, donning a North Korean flag next to Barack Obama, who’s all smiles as he hammers out a deal with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over a vodka-Red Bull. Despite Electronic Dance Music’s staunch apolitical nature, a party like this year’s Ultra Europe Festival in Croatia could be just […]
KOMMENT: Kill K-Days, bring back the Klondike
There were korn dogs, ice kream and Karly Rae Jepsen at K-Days this year – but any evidence of the former Klondike was hidden behind the rustic fences of the park that bears its name. Northlands hasn’t done much with Klondike Park over the years. The place has been there since forever, overlooked by the […]
