Busker busted for panhandling – Edmonton music scene erupts in outrage
The socials went mad today over news that an Edmonton musician was arrested and charged with “aggressive panhandling” in front of Rogers Place on Thursday night. Fiddler Jarret Gray was busking for the Oilers crowd, just as he and many other local musicians have done at almost every event since the new arena opened. This […]
End of the Earth
From a FAKE AD comes rumours of a personal nature in the new BIll Benson: The true dangers of A.I. explored in Bob the Angry Flower:
Col. Chris Hadfield to speak at Winspear Centre
Ground control to Colonel Hadfield – you’re going to need a bigger mothership to hold your fans in Edmonton. The Winspear Centre does sort of look like a spaceship, a fitting place for Canada’s beloved astronaut and science ambassador to speak. On Tuesday, April 30, Chris Hadfield will be hosting a live show called “Exploration: […]
End of a Comics Era: Happy Harbor closing
Happy Harbor wasn’t “just a store that sells comics,” as owner Jay Bardyla humbly puts it. It was a cultural institution in this town – and news of its closing has hit the local comics community hard. It’s a huge loss for Edmonton. Happy Harbor didn’t just sell comics. They nurtured new readers with a […]
What happened to VUE Weekly?
Stop the presses – for good. That may or may not be part of the last rites for VUE Weekly, the city’s venerable alternative newsweekly that lasted nearly a quarter-century. It drops its final issue on Nov. 29. In a city that used to support at least two rival publications until seven years ago, the […]
Justin Timberlake forced to postpone Edmonton shows
Fans of Justin Timberlake are encouraged to hang on to their tickets for the postponed shows in Edmonton this coming Sunday and Monday – because he fully expects his “bruised vocal cords” to heal up in time for make-up dates in early 2019. How do you even bruise your vocal cords, anyway? By singing too […]
Edmonton lights up with legal marijuana
So, like every media outlet in Edmonton, I go to cover the first day of cannabis being legal in Canada – and literally the first guy I run into is Ibrahim Shurie, a youth worker with the Somali Canadian Cultural Society of Edmonton. He wants to know why there’s such a big line-up in a […]
Vancouver brain drain Edmonton’s gain
Back in the day, artists left Edmonton in droves for the literally greener pastures of Vancouver – but now some of them are coming back. Two good examples, anyway. It counts extra if they’re women, right? “Yeah, of course it counts!” says stand-up comedian Kathleen McGee (above), who after four years living in Vancouver has […]
INTERVIEW: Grandson plays the rage card
The artist who calls himself Grandson is only 24 years old – and he’s already talking about the legacy he’s going to leave behind. As if it weren’t depressing enough to hear such fatalist talk from a millennial, listen to his music. Jordan Benjamin has already made a huge impact with his hit song Blood//Water. […]
EDMONTON RADIO: Are we losing our voices?
The sudden departure of Melissa Wright from K-97 after 20 years of service is not going to be another one of these Disgruntled Former Employee stories. “I don’t want to trash anybody,” she says. “I’m going to have to start looking for a job.” People in Edmonton radio get fired all the time – but […]
Does Edmonton need The Station?
Earlier this week it was announced that live music would finally be back on stage at the location of the former Needle Vinyl Tavern on Jasper Avenue, but under new owners – led by Greg Scott – and under a new brand – The Station on Jasper. Given the catastrophic and rapid demise of the […]
So a Geologist Walks Into a Creationist Museum …
Alberta is a land of opposites: Wide-open prairies set against foreboding mountains, liberal city centres and conservative countryside. Hell, even our winters and summers are like Jason Kenney and Rachel Notley. For me, as a geologist who’s worked for 10 years in Canada, the Middle East and the UK, the biggest contrast this province has […]
