Oprah returns to Edmonton in June
The last time Oprah Winfrey was in Edmonton someone gave her a “truck nuts” purse as a gift when she came on the stage. For those who don’t know: Truck nuts are known to locals as a decorative item you hang on your trailer hitch to resemble testicles. It’s a thing. Oprah, meanwhile, is one […]
THE TEMPEST: Shakespeare all shook up at the Citadel
Citadel Artistic Director Daryl Cloran promised us a “Reimagine Season” this year – and has largely validated that mandate. He is closing his year with an elemental, uncompromising, inventive staging of Shakespeare’s last great play, The Tempest – performed by hearing and deaf actors in both English and American Sign Language. It certainly demonstrates how […]
LISTEN HERE: Kevin Maimann makes House Calls
EXCLUSIVE Hear new music from local ‘post glam dirt pop’ duo Kevin Maimann’s been going hard for years – as a journalist, currently a hard-nosed news reporter for The Star Edmonton (and formerly Edmonton Sun, plus GigCity) – and by night a prolific rock musician. His latest band, with musician and actor Pete Morley, […]
Dweezil Zappa to play Zappa in Edmonton
The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree, as they say. The closest we will get to seeing Frank Zappa now is through his equally eccentric and talented son Dweezil, who has been proudly carrying the torch of his father’s music and unique worldview for years, with a quirky style evident in his own work, […]
Rockfest, Sonic Field Day reveal line-ups at Edmonton’s best outdoor venue
It looks like Hawrelak Park’s Heritage Amphitheatre is going to be Music Festival Central in Edmonton this summer. Two local music festivals revealed their line-ups on Monday – including Sonic Field Day, a newcomer to what many fans consider the city’s best outdoor venue. It’s not too big, not too small, great sightlines all around, […]
The Empress and the Prime Minister a gripping gay docu-drama
Darrin Hagen refuses to be catalogued. The actor, playwright, sound designer, composer and director has energized our theatre scene since his first play The Edmonton Queen premiered at the 1996 Fringe. Although he may be associated with gay theatre, his subject matters have ranged through a bewildering number of topics – and along the way […]
LIVE MUSIC: Metric system catching on
Metric brings their Art of Doubt tour to Edmonton this Sunday night at the Edmonton Convention Centre. The Toronto rockers, led by the incredible voice of Emily Haines, are no stranger to Edmonton of course, and it’s no surprise the itinerary for their newest release includes our fair city. The band have been regulars on […]
Dynamic doper duo Cheech & Chong bring O Cannabis to Edmonton
We never thought we’d live to see the day when freakin’ Tommy Chong would get to perform in his home province (he grew up in Calgary) – where weed would one day be legal! What a glorious time to be alive. He’s back with his American partner Cheech Marin for what is expected to be […]
REVIEW: Alan Parsons Live Project a mixed bag of magic in Edmonton
To be more famous for a throwaway joke in an Austin Powers movie than for recent music must be galling to such titans of progressive pop as … The Alan Parsons Project! Mwa, ha, ha, ha! Besides, it’s the Alan Parsons Live Project now – so named to distance itself from the original British 1980s […]
THEATRE PEOPLE: Darrin Hagen: ‘The man I am is because of the woman I was’
There was no Gay-Straight Alliance at Darrin Hagen’s high school in Rocky Mountain House in the late ‘70s – but there was a drama club. He was the only boy in the group. “It was no problem to find an all girl play and cast me in drag,” Hagen says. “Nobody seemed to mind – […]
REVIEW: Alice in Chains pleases several generations with grunge metal mayhem
You can’t argue the success that Alice In Chains has enjoyed of late – with the group’s latest album Rainier Fog earning a Grammy nomination, and summit positions on the Billboard and iTunes charts. But to more discerning ears, how a band that earned much of its notoriety in the grunge-fueled 1990s could still be […]
Morrissey postpones Edmonton to October
Local reaction was swift to Saturday’s announcement that Morrissey’s April 18 concert in at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton has been postponed to October – “WOW, didn’t see that coming!” And then sarcastic people felt bad – because this was actually due to a “medical emergency.” The promoter passed on this note: “Due to a […]
