THEATRE: All for one and one for all!
So there’s this young sword-fighter named d’Artagnan who goes to 17th Century Paris to seek his fortune, only to get embroiled in a tale of intrigue involving an evil Cardinal, an adulterous French queen, a deceitful countess, various dukes, lords, cutpurses, whoresons, comely wenches, dashing swashbucklers and … to HELL with all this historical exposition! […]
GIGGLE CITY: Tim Koslo’s comic recovery
Tim Koslo once experienced a personal Fear and Loathing in Alberta wasted on alcohol, morphine, Ativan, Valium, Quaaludes and LSD. He remembers the list very clearly. On day three of the epic bender, he did a stand-up comedy show which audience members later described as “brilliant,” featuring material nobody had ever heard before or since. […]
Dominelli dominates Mayor’s Arts Awards
Awards are flying everywhere when you’re in the arts. Keep doing what you’re doing and if you’re reasonably good, sooner or later you’re going to catch one of them. But when the MAYOR himself gives you an award, well, now we’re talking. It’s like the key to the city. Local jazzman Sandro Dominelli was just […]
Colin James plays not-so-secret gig at the Mac
Colin James just came back to say hello – and now the secret is out. He performed Monday at the Hotel MacDonald. This was an invite-only, Fairmont Hotels-promotional sort of gig to hype Colin’s new greatest hits set “Take It From the Top,” featuring two new songs produced by Bob Rock. He’ll be performing for […]
THE WEEK AHEAD: Cheese, with a side of ham and corn
Ladies and gentlemen: Cheese. Ham and cheese. Ham and cheese with a side of corn. Great. Now we’re all hungry for Julio Iglesias, the man whose picture you see before you, whose pose was obviously contrived to pre-emptively make fun of Julio Iglesias. Yes: I fully admit I am often seen as a hokey old […]
BLUES: Sonny, Bettye and more
1-2-3-4 “I love the woman/ but she got cancer from smokin’ cigarettes “I love the woman/ but she got cancer from smokin’ cigarettes Don’t remember the next line, But Sonny Rhodes is your best bet. Friends, there are times in all our lives when the blues come down like rain, when the devil’s at yo’ […]
REVIEW: Pervert captures life in a porn shop
It turns out Stephen Massicotte and I share something in common: We both spent time working in a porno shop, hoping our experience would inspire a play out of us. However, while “Uncle Smiley’s House of Dirty Love” languishes half-written on one of my old hard drives, “Pervert” is a real concern, brought to you by […]
CELEBRITY DOPE: Bob Dylan fired as Voice of a Generation
Remember when Bob Dylan went on 60 Minutes and said he didn’t want to be the Voice of a Generation? Well, OK, Bob Dylan, you can have your wish: After your latest little stunt – dropping certain songs from your shows in China to avoid offending the repressive Chinese government and failing to speak out […]
ART: Emily Carr’s passion for nature at the AGA
There’s a languid grace and deep passion infusing Emily Carr’s thick brushstrokes and vivid re-creations of the Canadian west, her post-impressionism and post-cubist curves respecting the fluid lines of traditional aboriginal art. Perhaps we still find the Canadian painter so compelling for the same reason that we respect John Steinbeck’s literary work from the same […]
