P!nk comes to Edmonton in October

P!nk comes to Edmonton in October

What did we say about 2013 being the Year of Young Women following 2012 being the Year of Old Men? That it would be the Year of Young Women, er … that’s what we said. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Anyway, P!nk has been on our wish list for a long time, […]

WEEKEND MUSIC: Monsters of musical history

WEEKEND MUSIC: Monsters of musical history

Wishbone Ash is a band known more for its influence on others than its own music, the Mudhoney of its day – holding a place in music history in the vanguard of the progressive rock movement that developed in the late ‘60s. In short, right place, right time. Luck was with these lads. When the […]

WHO NAMED THE BAND: Captain Tractor sails 20 years

WHO NAMED THE BAND: Captain Tractor sails 20 years

It’s hard to be taken seriously when your band name is a joke. “Captain Tractor” was coined 20 years ago by an actual comedian, one Neil Grahn, current TV guy and former member of Edmonton’s legendary comedy troupe Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie. He was playing on the “superhero” idea for his friends, a […]

Boonstock 2013: From Limp Bizkit to Benny Benassi

Boonstock 2013: From Limp Bizkit to Benny Benassi

Boonstock 2013 has finally announced its line-up! It’s going to be That Band All Over the Radio, ‘80s Band With One Member Left, Generic Folk Band and Two Dudes with a Macbook, plus many more. It will take place at the Three Hottest Days of Summer in a Really Inconvenient Location. Tickets go on sale […]

GIGGLE CITY: Jeremy Hotz keeps it short and sweet

GIGGLE CITY: Jeremy Hotz keeps it short and sweet

When we started the unfortunately named Giggle City feature – asking the same set of dumb questions and expecting smart answers from any stand-up comedian who happened to be in range – we were hoping for a detailed, in-depth exploration of the modern comic mind. Sure, we learned a lot, like how female hecklers are […]

Mike Plume performs tribute at Stompin’ Tom memorial

Mike Plume performs tribute at Stompin’ Tom memorial

Last Wednesday, Canada lost the great Stompin’ Tom Connors, King of Canadiana, everyman chronicler of Canadian history and life, the Johnny Cash of his country. A nation mourns. On Thursday morning down in Nashville, former Edmontonian Mike Plume was lamenting the loss of what he called a “father” figure when he was struck by a […]

Who killed the friendly neighbourhood mall?

Who killed the friendly neighbourhood mall?

Capilano area blades remain dull because no one at the local mall sharpens knives anymore. The coffee shop is long gone, so is the hobby store, plus the shoe store. The funky little curio shoppe run by the guy with the messed up face is a distant memory. Capilano Mall is the saddest mall in […]

Race to digitize past going strong in Edmonton

Race to digitize past going strong in Edmonton

The campaign is well underway to digitize Edmonton history – music, films, photos, news-paper clippings, you name it. As you read this, someone, somewhere in town is busy scanning, burning or posting area lore on the Internet, and at this rate the sum of human knowledge in the entirety of recorded history will be catalogued […]

WEEKEND MUSIC: Imagine Dragons, Heart on Big Monday

WEEKEND MUSIC: Imagine Dragons, Heart on Big Monday

Whichever era of Heart you’re a fan of (assuming you’re a fan to begin with), the fabulous Wilson sisters will undoubtedly perform songs that you’ll love at the Jubilee Auditorium on Monday night – part of our extended long weekend of Big Shows. What’s not to love? This concert is sold out. Heart is an […]

MUSIC: 100 Mile House in the vanguard of folk trend

MUSIC: 100 Mile House in the vanguard of folk trend

You read it here first: Folk is the latest trend in pop music. All over the radio we are hearing furiously strumming banjos and mandolins, whomping floor toms, lusty male vocals and rousing drink-along sea chanties writ large, from the likes of Mumford and Sons, the Lumineers and, OK, yes, fun. To that list, on […]

ART: Medium inspires message in Giuseppe Albi abstracts

ART: Medium inspires message in Giuseppe Albi abstracts

As soon as you come through the door of the Peter Robertson Gallery, a big, lustrous, luminous abstract painting jumps off the canvas as though backlit. Broad strokes of blue and green glide across the surface adjacent to a vertical bar that first appears to be a deep rose – but then, it magically changes […]

DISASTER DOCS: Who needs Towering Inferno?

DISASTER DOCS: Who needs Towering Inferno?

There was no shortage of disaster movies at this year’s Global Visions Film Festival, which wrapped on March 3 after screenings of more than 45 documentaries from around the world. Thing is, these were real disasters. Who needs Irwin Allen? Who needs Towering Inferno when you have Twin Towering Inferno? The festival people haven’t crunched […]