MUSIC PREVIEW: Magnetic Mangan
The audiophiles’ favorite venue, the Winspear Centre, hosts an act who can definitely use all of its offerings – as alt-folk artist extraordinaire Dan Mangan performs there Friday night. His precision guitar work and crooning voice and poignant lyrics should use the space to its utmost. Mangan is touring to support his newest album from […]
Trombonist wins $10,000 Edmonton Music Prize
There shall be no further disparagement of humble slide trombone – for one of its top local players has just won the Edmonton Music Prize. Audrey Ochoa takes the grand prize of $10,000, chosen from a short list of 10. “This sort of encouragement – award winning – is some nice feedback,” she says, “as […]
WHO NAMED THE BAND: King of Foxes fierce and fragile
Olivia Street decided to come up with a band name rather than use her own as a way to “protect the art” – and also to avoid the stigma of the singer-songwriter. It’s there. Sorry about that. King of Foxes is a good band name. It works on many levels. “Fox” is slang for a […]
PLAYBOT: Polar Vortex of Chinook theatre
Now here is a hollow mockery: The biggest winter theatre festival in Edmonton is called The Chinook Series – named for the meteorological miracle of a blessed hot wind that’s nowhere in sight. With dozens of performances taking place Feb. 7-17 in the ATB Financial Arts Barns’ theatres and other area venues, the sked for […]
Guitar loving Slash returns to Edmonton
For his reputation as the mad hatter of rock ‘n’ roll, the one thing that Slash loves to do best is obvious – he loves to play guitar. He played with Guns N’ Roses, and on his own, and with practically anybody and everybody you can name. He’s one of these guys you’d meet at […]
LISTEN HERE: Stony Plain cowboy tryin’ something different
EXCLUSIVE: Hear Steve Newsome’s new single one day before it goes to radio! Yes, he’s an actual Alberta cowboy, living the life of Red Dead Redemption, minus the killing – but Stony Plain’s Steve Newsome has lately been busier with country music than wrangling cattle. The 44-year-old singer’s latest song is a slick country […]
REVIEW: Arkells open Rally Cry tour with a bang in Edmonton, at home in Oil Country
It was hard not to feel empathy for Arkells – who chose frigid Edmonton as the launching point of their current 11-city Canadian tour. But it made sense, given that the Steeltown stereotype of the band’s Hamilton origins is a match for the blue-collar reputation that’s worn on the sleeves of hardy Edmontonians. More significantly, […]
LISTEN HERE: MarketForces tackle Fake News!
EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK New video by Edmonton rock quartet All Made Up will be released worldwide on Friday, Feb. 1 John Tidswell, whose 1980s band NeoA4 earned Canada-wide radio airplay, recently popped up in a band called MarketForces, along with another ‘80s alum Jeff Schmidt (Darkroom, Famous Blue Raincoat). They’ve released three albums, and […]
Let’s Talk about Alessia Cara: Coming to Edmonton in May
One day after “Let’s Talk Day” comes a concert announcement for an artist who’s done a lot more to benefit mental health than Bell – and that’s a lot. The company raised $7.2 million yesterday. Alessia Cara, meanwhile, has reached millions of people with her honest and heartfelt music. How many times have you heard […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Paul Brandt shares his Journey
When word came that Paul Brandt was going to play the local hockey arena as part of his “Journey” tour, we thought, man, these country guys will cover anybody! But no, the Calgary country star will not be doing Journey songs at Rogers Place on Saturday night – wouldn’t that have been something? The tour […]
PLAYBOT: I see dead people – Citadel Theatre unveils new season
One of the biggest shockers in today’s announcement of the 2019/2020 Citadel Theatre season is the addition of an annual summer musical. Like why didn’t they do this before? It starts this summer with Ring of Fire, based on the life and music of the late, great Johnny Cash. He died in 2003, leaving a […]
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: […]
