Friendly fairies frolic in fantastical Freewill festival
It weren’t for Shakespeare, Disney would look a lot different today. No Tinkerbell! Before the great playwright first produced A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1660, fairies were evil. They put death spells on people, stole their babies, spread disease, imparted loose morals upon comely maidens. In general, fairies were unpleasant manifestations of the public fear […]
Jr. Gone Wild embroiled in emblem imbroglio
Once a rebel, always a rebel. One of Alberta’s favourite rock bands is in trouble from the Province of Alberta for unauthorized use of Alberta’s official coat of arms. Jr. Gone Wild altered the Alberta shield for use as a logo for its recent reunion, unknowingly contravening the Emblems of Alberta act. Special permission is […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Something for everyone at Boonstock
The region’s musical focus turns to the North this weekend with Boonstock occurring just outside Gibbons for four amazing days of sound and fun in what’s looking to be the best weather of the year so far. Like many local festivals, they may not have the massive headliners that you’re used to seeing if you […]
REVIEW: Taylor Swift is THE drama queen
OK, Taylor Swift, we get it: We are never, ever getting back together. The pop superstar might as well have blazed those words across the stormy Edmonton sky in flaming letters as she sang them for her grand finale at Rexall Place on Tuesday night. Some 13,000 mainly young female fans sang along to every […]
New music festival to boost downtown Edmonton
Too many music festivals? Not enough music festivals! Adding to an already jam-packed slate of events in the area this year is a new one called Up+Downtown Music and Art Festival (UP+DT), happening Oct. 12-13 at venues around downtown Edmonton. Hence the name. That’s kind of a novel approach to a multi-venue event, but after […]
After low key start, Jazz festival hits high gear
So much jazz, so little time – especially if it’s “free” jazz where “time” takes on a completely different meaning, as does “free,” because you still have to pay to see it. Hope that helps. It’s always hard to choose among so many acts at the Edmonton International Jazz Festival. It didn’t really have a […]
Dance and rock cultures mingle at Boonstock festival
“Are you a rocker or a raver?” the Bear announcer asked the caller looking forward to Boonstock 2013 this weekend. Amazingly, the caller replied that she’s a little of both. She will rock out to such rockers as the Headstones, Godsmack, Sebastian Bach and Slash from Guns N’ Roses, and then maybe paint herself blue […]
FESTIVAL GUY: Crowds not a problem at Works
If Toronto put on a street festival that referenced Henry David Thoreau’s dictum “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see” – the theme of this year’s Works Art & Design Festival – you’d have people clamouring to try to catch a glimpse of Rob Ford smoking crack. But this is […]
Promoters work to salvage flooded out Sled Island Festival
CALGARY – I woke up Friday morning to see downtown Calgary covered in brown water no more than a block from my vantage point at Hotel Arts, which was on evacuation order after power and water had been shut off. I’d spent the previous two nights getting soaked walking from venue to venue, trying to […]
JAZZ FEST: Nuela Charles finds her niche
The trouble with making music that’s different and unique is where to rack it. Nuela Charles, who earned a four year music degree from a bible college in Saskatchewan, initially had some luck in the Christian music scene, where style isn’t as important as content. In short, sing about Jesus and you’re in. “Everything I […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Just a big list of cool stuff
There are some major events going on over the next week, including the Edmonton International Jazz Festival with bass-wielding urban-jazz Goddess Esperanza Spalding on Tuesday, June 25; and the one and only Herbie Hancock on June 27, both at the Winspear Centre. “Johnny Jazz Passes,” conferring free admission to a myriad of other jazz fest […]
