Stephen Colbert wades into Keystone XL debate

Hey, who cares what that Obama guy thinks: America’s political right now has Stephen Colbert on the Keystone XL Pipeline case. Colbert waded into the debate over the line, which would ship Bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands more than 2,500 kilometres to be processed and sold in the U.S. President Barack Obama delayed approval of […]

INTERVIEW: Matthew Good tackles the Great North American Bummer

To answer the burning question of the day – why does everybody seem so depressed? – we turn to a prominent Canadian rock singer who suffers from bipolar disorder. Mental illness doesn’t necessarily make Matthew Good an expert on depression, but as fans can tell you from his music, he’s put some deep thought into […]

Nov. 11: The debt that every artist owes

In Flanders Fields The Poppies blow Between the Crosses, Row on Row In 1933, one of the first political moves Adolf Hitler took to solidify his control over the population of Germany was to control the media. He nationalized newspapers so that he could sow propaganda , then begin a pogrom against the Jewish community, […]

Defending Nickelback: They’re not that bad, are they?

Enough with the Nickelback bashing. The latest is that some Detroit Lions fan started an online petition to prevent the band from playing the halftime show at the Nov. 24 Thanksgiving Day game. It reportedly attracted nearly 40,000 signatures. Didn’t work, of course. Online petitions aren’t worth the paper they aren’t printed on. Nickelback played […]

Playwright David Belke takes love of film to the stage in Bless You Billy Wilder

For a guy who loves movies so much, you’d think David Belke would be itching to make one –  but no, he’s content keep writing plays ABOUT movies. “I’ve certainly thought about making a movie,” he says, “but I must admit my first love is theatre. There’s something about the energy, the life, the connection […]

REVIEW: Ridiculous can be fun in The Rocky Horror Show

Latex glove. Playing cards. Toilet paper. Flashlight. Confetti. The contents of the audience participation kit seemed a little intimidating at first glance, especially for someone whose only previous experience with The Rocky Horror (Picture) Show took place one Halloween 13 years ago under the influence of pink lemonade-vodka cocktails. I was ready to believe the […]

Locals raise stubble, money for cancer research

Let’s talk frankly for a minute about the moustache, the ol’ lip bear, the handlebar, the Tom Selleck, the nose whiskers. Moustaches get little to no respect these days. Long-relegated to late-night repeats of 80s detective shows like Matt Houston and Simon and Simon (in which Rick also sported mutton chops) and 70s porn movies […]

EDMONTON RADIO: K-97 billboard banned for ‘gratuitous’ use of breasts

All the racy billboards K-97 has gotten away with over the years and “Pray for More Rain” is the one that gets banned?! That’s the scoop from Advertising Standards Canada (ASC), which has deemed the image of a large-breasted, fully-clothed woman as “offensive” and “gratuitous” and in violations of clauses 14C and D – heh, […]

TAG! YOU’RE IT! Fear and Loathing at the Anti Graffiti Symposium

Outside the meeting rooms at the Westin Hotel where the Anti Graffiti Symposium (TAGS) was held in Edmonton this past week, two large canvases were set up and a box with spray paint and colourful markers was placed beside them. Over the course of the two-day conference, the delegates, many of whom were police officers […]

Bohemia Cafe reopens with big Noise

The Bohemia Cafe is probably the only place in Edmonton you can hear “Noise.” Not noise, but Noise – a peculiar and tiny genre of music more free than free jazz, crazier than thrash metal. Some call it “experimental sound art,” because “music” doesn’t quite fit. Someone even made a documentary about Noise, featuring the […]

Laughtoberfest Week in Edmonton – from comedy fest to William Shatner

There’s something funny going on here. The Edmonton Comedy Festival with Joe Flaherty, a new comedy-Western feature film set in Alberta, the Deaner from FUBAR (right) performing with his band, Emo Phillips appearing at Yuk Yuk’s, Jon Dore at the Comic Strip and Sir William Shatner at the Shaw Conference Centre on Sunday adds up […]

SURREAL SATURDAY: Organic produce, protest rally in downtown Edmonton

Finally, a good use for City Hall – a farmer’s market. That’s the obvious joke after attending the City Market’s winter season opening inside our city’s headquarters. The next step will be to use all that space and natural light for a hydroponic greenhouse to raise money for the new arena. Home grown. Open markets […]