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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]