(RERUN): What do homeless people think of public art?
Homeless people might have more important things to worry about than what they think of public art in Edmonton, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have opinions about it, or that their opinions aren’t as valid someone who isn’t homeless. Besides, they see it every day. They live here. During three days in the summer [...]
MUSIC PREVIEW: K stands for koncerts
Edmonton’s premiere summer exhibition gets underway on Thursday. Whether they call it K-Days, or Klondike Days, or Capital Ex, or whatever, it doesn’t really matter when you consider so much great music to be had throughout the city as part of the celebration, in particular on the K-Days grounds, and at Winston Churchill Square for [...]
TALES OF THE WEED RUNNER: Snoop needs high grade Canadian (RERUN)
Better call the Weed Runner – Snopp Dogg is coming to Edmonton. Recently reggaefied and re-sanctified as “Snoop Lion,” the laid-back rap legend is said to be a bigger pothead than ever. He claims he smokes “81 blunts a day.” He plays two sold-out nights at Union Hall, Monday and Tuesday, so assuming one gram [...]
Rock camp releases new blood on local scene
Rita McDade is churning out rock musicians in dozens as the rock ‘n’ roll counselor of Garage Band, wrapping up the second annual round of intensive weeklong bootcamps with a show Friday night at Festival Place. Admission is free. Selections will include tunes by Pink Floyd, the Doors, Def Leppard, the Arctic Monkeys and a rendition [...]
(RERUN): Parking Meter Fairy’s days numbered
The breathless Parking Meter Fairy runs to catch a parking enforcement officer about to ticket an illegally parked car. “Am I too late to save him?!” The officer stops writing and mutters, “You could.” Oh, thank you, Parking Patrol Officer. Clink, clink, clink, clink go four quarters into the expired meter – good for 20 [...]
WICKED: Are you a good witch or a bad witch?
Which witch is which? Which witch is wicked? And which wicked witch switched with which witch’s wicked sister? Say that five times fast. These are difficult questions posed in the Broadway musical Wicked, the touring show coming to the Jubilee Auditorium July 2-20. This is the story behind the story in The Wizard of Oz. [...]
Mac DeMarco: ‘Might as well try something weird’
It was the strangest thing: A boiling mosh pit in a crowded, stinking, sweaty bar packed with millennials (what we’re calling “the kids today”) – not for punk, not for death metal, but for the sort of breezy easy listening music you’d be more likely to hear at that surf festival they used to have [...]
Melissa Etheridge to test ‘This Is Me’ in Edmonton
Just a little late for the folk fest, a Melissa Etheridge “solo” show would’ve been perfect – and it still is expected to be a breath of fresh air when the 53-year-old rock icon takes it intimate and unplugged for a tour she calls “This is ME Solo,” coming to Edmonton’s Jubilee Auditorium on Wednesday, [...]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Most awesome bush party ever
It begins. Legions of undead shall rise and swarm across the land, feeding their insatiable craving for BRAINS … and summer festival fun! Most of the so-called “hippies,” not to mention a whole lot of local indie bands, will be out of town at the North Country Fair starting Friday on the shores of the [...]
Scott Wicken sees the forest for the trees
It’s perfectly legal to make stuff up, but all the best songwriters seem to stick closely to the old saying “write what you know.” Who’s going to believe you otherwise? For more evidence, one can’t doubt that Scott Wicken is indeed an “Old Treeplanter,” which happens to be the title of his new record, hot [...]
Bobby McFerrin more than a happy song he wrote
A remarkable thing happened when Bobby McFerrin did an audience participation bit at the Arden Theatre about 20 years ago – and it had nothing to do with “Don’t Worry, By Happy,” the smash hit song he released in 1988 that defined this unassuming jazz singer forever, for good or ill. Singalongs aren’t remarkable, of [...]
MUSIC PREVIEW: More new records than ever!
Do people even get excited about CD release events anymore? No, they do not. Seems like there’s at least two a week around these parts. Apparently now anyone can make a CD on those fancy home contraptions. What a world. You know, back in the day – said the old man yelling at the kids [...]