Posted on July 18, 2011
By Rob Drinkwater
Culture, Music
Two years ago a firestorm erupted in the concert ticket business when complaints alleged that Ticketmaster, which had recently purchased the online ticket reselling business TicketsNow, was automatically diverting customers from its own website to the scalping one. The outrage over the perceived conflict of interest grew so loud that new legislation was drafted in […]
Posted on July 13, 2011
By Mike Ross
Culture, Music
Now this is fortuitous. We were just having a friendly debate about government arts funding and along comes Living With Lions to play the Pawn Shop on Friday night. This is the Vancouver punk band at the centre of the storm of controversy surrounding its new CD, “Holy Shit” and its allegedly blasphemous artwork, which […]
Posted on July 13, 2011
By Chad Huculak
Culture, Music
It was surreal. Rain had poured relentlessly through Wanda Jackson’s outdoor set at a stage nestled in the heart of Quebec City last Sunday during the massive 11-day Festival D’ete. And then, as the 73-year-old legend broke out her fiery 1958 hit Let’s Have a Party, the downpour ceased almost simultaneously. Umbrellas closed one by […]
Posted on July 12, 2011
By Albert Smith
Comedy, Culture, Front Slider, Theatre
Aside from props, the only difference between stand-up comedians and street performers is that one works inside and the other works outside. What could possibly go wrong? Rick Kunst is spending his summer outdoors. At the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival through July 17, the Florida-born comedian and his Canadian partner Dana Fadkin have an […]
Posted on July 12, 2011
By Mike Ross
Culture, Front Slider, Music
There was only one downside to a band name like Idyl Tea – no one could spell it right. Idol T, Idle Tee, Idyll Twee, the permutations and combinations of nomenclatural mangling were numerous, if not endless, as was a low-level confusion among Canadian rock fans at the time thinking they were going to see […]
Posted on July 12, 2011
By LH Thomson
Culture, The Latest, Visual Arts
There is a risk of ovexpectation inherent to greatness, but whether you think the new Art Gallery of Alberta is great or aren’t the fan of post-modern L.A. architecture, there’s no denying that so far, the new AGA has impressed. Edmonton is a great arts town even when the building isn’t the centre piece; there’s […]
Posted on July 10, 2011
By Mike Ross
Comedy, Culture, TV and Radio
And the funniest morning radio show in Edmonton is … (drum roll, hush from audience) The Pepper & Dylan Show on Virgin Radio 104.9 FM! (Cough, wind blowing) Surprised? Me, too. I thought Garner Andrews from Sonic 102.9 FM would win, or maybe Terry, Bill and Steve from K-97, but nope, it’s THOSE two guys […]
Posted on July 9, 2011
By Albert Smith
Comedy, Culture
Mankind is Jerry Seinfeld’s business. His mission is to explore tiny human stupidities, leaving the larger idiocies to other comedians. His tool is a microscope. His result is universal humour. EVERYBODY’S done the dumb little things he talks about, we’re all guilty of the trivial human mistakes he’s built a career on – even Jerry […]
Posted on July 8, 2011
By Mike Ross
Culture, Front Slider, Music, TV and Radio
Well, this is awkward. I’m at a fancy dinner party for the Royal Newlyweds and I’ve got Ezra Levant sitting to the left of me and and Colleen Brown to the right. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Ezra is a Sun TV commentator who criticizes government arts funding. Colleen is a local recording […]
Posted on July 6, 2011
By Mike Ross
Comedy, Culture, Family, Front Slider, Theatre
Jugglers! Tricksters! Clowns! Fools! But enough about the Harper government – the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival opens tomorrow! By fantastic coincidence, Cirque du Soleil’s Dralion plays through Sunday (July 10) at Rexall Place. This is the famous French-Canadian acrobatic circus that was started by – you guessed it – a street performer. What are […]
Posted on July 5, 2011
By Mike Ross
Culture, Front Slider, Lit, Theatre
New York in the ’50s, Switzerland in the ’30s, Monte Carlo in the ’20s, tea with a vaudeville star, champagne with the ambassador, a conga line at a wedding, a murder mystery at the symphony, a discussion of green peppers during a cocktail party – don’t ever accuse Stewart Lemoine of being stuck in the […]
Posted on July 3, 2011
By Michael Senchuk
Culture, Music
This weeks’ reviews focus on a couple of ultra-beautiful vocalists, with impeccable arrangements and precision guitar work – with the fifth studio album from The Rosebuds, a husband-and-wife duo who just divorced; and a debut album, from The Vaccines. The Rosebuds, fresh off a divorce of founding members Ivan Howard (also of “supergroup” GAYNGS) and […]
