Snow Globe Festival promises parent appeal with family entertainment
The secret to creating quality children’s entertainment might not be easy, but it is simple. Or is it the other way around? For comedy, mom or dad falling over is the funniest thing in the world – as Robert Munsch figured out long ago. For drama, simply get rid of mom or dad. Or both. […]
INTERVIEW: Ruben Studdard reflects on post-Idol life, Singing Christmas Tree
It’s not every day an American Idol winner turns up performing with a Singing Christmas Tree in Edmonton – but this is no ordinary Singing Christmas Tree. Nor is Ruben Studdard an ordinary American Idol winner. Here’s a funny twist: At the Jubilee Auditorium Friday through Sunday, this annual Christmas event (featuring a festively-garbed choir […]
COMEDY: Continually cancelled, Norm MacDonald rolls on dryly
It’s hard not to like a comedian with balls so large Andy Kaufman would have had trouble carrying them, but really, that’s what Norm MacDonald’s entire career has been. Unabashedly Canadian — that means he doesn’t bash Canadians, we think — he’s made a long and, we assume, healthy living out of dryly commenting on […]
Karaoke rules! Thanks a bunch, Japan
Many people pooh-pooh karaoke. Ironically, a lot of those people excel at Rock Band. Like Pearl Harbor and raw fish being passed off as fine dining, we can blame the Japanese for the fad that never went away. “Karaoke” comes from the Japanese words for “kara” – meaning “empty” – and “okesurtora” – meaning “orchestra.” […]
Jason Mewes gets real, comes clean in Jay and Silent Bob Get Old
Jay and Silent Bob have making “reality” shows for almost 20 years. It only seems like fiction that the truth is stranger than. According to actor Jason Mewes, “Jay” is real – at least “me from age 14 to 19,” he says. Partner-filmmaker Kevin Smith wrote the sex-crazed stoner character “straight up from who I […]
REVIEW: With Bells On is a Christmas comedy with balls
Here’s a jolly stat for this upcoming season of stat holidays: More suicides happen this time of year than any other. Perhaps it is because we are not all receiving our tidings of comfort and joy. All the lonely people: where do they all come from? Two of them can be found in Darrin Hagen’s […]
Don we now our gay apparel – in Darrin Hagen’s new comedy With Bells On
Most guys don’t start their day expecting to be trapped in an elevator with a giant transvestite – nor realize that he and “she” are not so different after all. That’s the premise of Darrin Hagen’s new play With Bells On, opening Tuesday at the Roxy Theatre. It’s based on a real life experience – […]
Lady Antebellum to Own the Night at Rexall March 27
The South lost, didn’t it? Maybe not. A little country group calling itself Lady Antebellum – its last name usually used as a reference to pre-Civil War southern U.S. during the era of slavery – is taking the world by storm. The Grammy-winning band will play Rexall Place on March 17 as part of its […]
Gordon Lightfoot keeps moving forward
When Gordon Lightfoot showed up at the Occupy movement in Toronto to support his protesting daughter, a lot of people jumped to interesting conclusions about the man. Internet boards were full of Canadians either decrying him as an aging hippie, or cheering him … as an aging hippie. It was selling the man a wee […]
Prepare for the Coming of Neil Diamond on July 16
Forever In Blue Jeans, Cherry Cherry, Sweet Caroline, Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, Red Red Wine, America – are we sensing a theme yet? You guessed it: All of the above are songs by the one and only Neil Diamond, who is mounting a huge Greatest Hits tour next […]
