Prepare for the Coming of Neil Diamond on July 16

Forever In Blue Jeans, Cherry Cherry, Sweet Caroline, Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon, You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, Red Red Wine, America – are we sensing a theme yet? You guessed it: All of the above are songs by the one and only Neil Diamond, who is mounting a huge Greatest Hits tour next […]

GIGGLE CITY: Jon Lajoie brings viral comedy to the stage

Jon Lajoie is admittedly a “little hungover” when reached on the phone for an interview one recent morning. Some kind of late-breaking Halloween party, apparently. We’re trying to get him to explain how it is that some guy with a viral YouTube video suddenly becomes one of the hottest new comic performers in Canada – […]

Jann Arden, queen of all media, to play Jube on Feb. 27

It has been said that the only antidote to the concentrated sadness of Jann Arden’s music is the devastating wit she displays between songs – which is why at the end of her shows there isn’t a dry eye in the house in more ways than one. Singer, songwriter, author, TV star and raconteur, Arden […]

EDMONTON RADIO: Awkward Travis mocks the shock jocks

Awkward Travis has asked spelling questions to drunk people on Whyte Avenue, accosted Oilers fans to talk about Twilight and tried to get women to give him their bras at the mall. He got his nickname one day when he approached people sitting by themselves in a coffee shop and said, “Hey, you look lonely. […]

TONIGHT: Austra or Feist, take your pick of one-named sirens

This weekend featured back-to-back reunion shows at the Edmonton Event Centre: The Tea Party Friday and the hotly-anticipated Death From Above 1979 Saturday. Tonight there are also two effervescent one-named ladies gracing us with their presence: Austra and Feist are both in town. Good things come in twos. Friday Ruby Jane – The Full Moon […]

Wunderbar tackles the Taxman in fundraising concert

“We hate this.” Those were the very first words in Wunderbar’s announcement for Saturday’s fundraiser for itself, the owners’ reaction to an unexpectedly large payment due at the end of November. The event is called Wunderbar vs, The Taxman, so you can probably guess what kind of payment it is. This venue has an exceptional […]

ARTY PARTY: AGA Refinery a Monster ball

Anything living “Up North” is tougher, stronger, larger, hairier and able to drink more than their Southern counterparts. It’s survival of the fittest in the harshest realm on Earth. Edmonton “is already halfway there,” says local artist Fish Griwkowsky, who was tasked to convey the “Up North” spirit in the Art Gallery of Alberta’s Refinery […]

WHO NAMED THE BAND: Bruce Conte gladly wears Tower of Power albatross

  There will be no horns on Bruce Conte’s stage – nor will he be playing any Tower of Power songs. Wait a minute – what?! Yes. Truth in advertising. He’s moved on. He played Friday at Festival Place. The original guitar player on What Is Hip? and all those other great songs points out […]

The Tea Party returns: No politics, just music and maybe a lot of money

The Tea Party reunited just in time to get into an unwelcome mix-up with the American political movement of the same name – which prompted a stir about the band and its Internet domain, teaparty.com. Estimates floating around on the value of the name have hovered around a million bucks. While drummer Jeff Burrows admits […]

GIGGLE CITY: Gavin Stephens avoids the race card

Gavin Stephens is half black and half Portuguese – “which means at some point in history, I might’ve owned myself.” He doesn’t do that joke anymore. There’s a lot of “let’s talk about my race” material he could do, but chooses not to. Of course it’s a swell way for a young comic to get […]

WHO NAMED THE WAIF: Feist and the marketing of music

After a hot summer of hot pop divas, a wave of winter waifs is upon us. Define waif? These are not rocker girls, nor pure folk singers. There are the kind of female singers whose poppy yet genre-bending songs do not generally contain references to alcohol consumption, explicit sexual acts or pleas for the DJ […]

Hyper-real surreal takes the stage in Falling: A Wake

The great thing about magical realism is that you get the magic out of the way first. Then you get to enjoy real characters behaving realistically in a really unbelievable situation. This sort of work-out for the imagination is what Wishbone Theatre, a new Edmonton company, has been going for – that and the acting […]