Karaoke rules! Thanks a bunch, Japan

Many people pooh-pooh karaoke. Ironically, a lot of those people excel at Rock Band. Like Pearl Harbor and raw fish being passed off as fine dining, we can blame the Japanese for the fad that never went away. “Karaoke” comes from the Japanese words for “kara” – meaning “empty” – and “okesurtora” – meaning “orchestra.” […]

First Cats, now Puscifer – Maynard James Keenan’s new thing hits the Jube March 10

On the heels of the announcement of Cats at the Jubilee Auditorium comes news of another apparently feline-related act coming to that same building on Saturday, March 10 – Puscifer. What are the odds? And who named the band, you ask? It’s just Tool’s Maynard James Keenan up to some new tricks, that’s all. Puscifer […]

ANNOUNCED: Meow, hiss, here comes Cats

Here comes Bombalurina, following closely by Rumpleteazer and Mr. Mistoffelees! Aren’t they adorable? There lurks Grizabella while The Rum Tum Tugger stalks his prey. Mee-ow. And look! Skimbleshanks is rubbing his face against your leg. Aw, Mungojerrie is jealous. Hissss … If you have no idea what we’re talking about, consider yourself lucky. Or unlucky […]

Time twist tale a romantic tragedy in Hroses: An Affront to Reason

Again with the magical realism: Start off with the impossible situation, get that out of the way first, and THEN have your characters react to it realistically. Only then can a writer achieve the goal of creating credible fantasy fiction. If you dig time twist stories, Hroses: An Affront to Reason might be right up […]

Jason Mewes gets real, comes clean in Jay and Silent Bob Get Old

Jay and Silent Bob have making “reality” shows for almost 20 years. It only seems like fiction that the truth is stranger than. According to actor Jason Mewes, “Jay” is real – at least “me from age 14 to 19,” he says. Partner-filmmaker Kevin Smith wrote the sex-crazed stoner character “straight up from who I […]

GIGGLE CITY: Don’t tell Joan Rivers what’s funny

Can we talk? No! Because we never got an interview with Joan Rivers. But does that stop us from having the legendary 78-year-old comedienne as our special guest star in another fascinating Giggle City expose? It does not! Rivers, who proved her status as the queen of insult comedy at the Jubilee Auditorium on Tuesday, has […]

Dwight Yoakam to cool up the River Cree Casino Feb. 4

There is hot country and there is cool country – and Dwight Yoakam is definitely the latter. Still walkin’ that line between too cool for his own good and not hot enough to become the next Garth Brooks, Yoakam brings his high and lonesome cosmic California country sound to the River Cree Casino on Saturday, […]

REVIEW: With Bells On is a Christmas comedy with balls

Here’s a jolly stat for this upcoming season of stat holidays: More suicides happen this time of year than any other. Perhaps it is because we are not all receiving our tidings of comfort and joy. All the lonely people: where do they all come from? Two of them can be found in Darrin Hagen’s […]

REVIEW: Something wickedly funny this way comes in Wyrd Sisters

It’s not easy to successfully transform a fantasy novel for screen or stage, as the elements that create the fantastical world are often far more convincing in a reader’s mind. Add the reverence for the writer and you might just be setting yourself up for disaster. “Wyrd Sisters,” which runs through Dec. 12 at the […]

Memorial sculpture unveiled: Open the door to end homelessness

The hope to end homelessness is set in stone with the dedication of a $40,000 memorial sculpture in downtown Edmonton. Depicting a wretched figure huddling beneath a doorway, it’s there “to remind Edmontonians always about our shared responsibility to end homelessness,” says renowned local anti-poverty crusader Jim Gurnett, who spearheaded the project created by local […]

THEATRE: New couple cooped up in The Survival of Pigeons

Nothing tests a love affair like moving in together. Just ask the characters in Surreal Soreal Theatre’s new play “The Survival of Pigeons As Studied By Human Lovers,” opening Thursday at the Varscona Theatre. “The play really speaks to moving in with another person and the deepening of that relationship as you discover who they […]

FILM: Ornery buffalo roam, tobacco tastes funny in A Legend of Whitey

“You like FUBAR? How about a gay Western?” This is the offer from Dave Lawrence, who is perhaps better known as “Terry” in FUBAR and FUBAR II, on the release of his new film “A Legend of Whitey,” beginning a weeklong run at the Garneau Metro Cinema on Friday. It is his directorial debut. With […]