Kirby leaves Edmonton music scene a better place
The final story Kirby wrote for GigCity was an obituary on Doug Jenson. You can add “journalist” to the long list of things Kirby was good at. She did it because I asked her to, because she was the first person I thought of who would be able write a fitting tribute to such a […]
The Tea Party returns in December
The Tea Party is back. No, not the American political movement, which never left, but the Canadian power trio, which cut a swath through the Canadian rock fields in the mid-1990s, broke up, reformed and have since stuck to their guns and did NOT sell their Internet domain teaparty.com despite rumour of a giant offer […]
Neil Diamond in Edmonton in May
Say what you want about Neil Diamond. Better yet, don’t. Unless it’s nice – lest his fell legion of female fandom descend upon you and give you what for! Diamond, 73, has announced a slew of dates behind his upcoming album, Melody Road, including Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at Rexall Place in Edmonton. No ticket […]
INTERVIEW: Shannon Tweed on Hollywood
“Conquered Hollywood? It might have conquered me,” says the delightful Shannon Tweed on how she and countless other Canadians found success in American show business. The reality show star is just one subject in the new documentary Gone South: How Canada Invented Hollywood, along with people like Neve Campbell, Tommy Chong, Howie Mandel, Alan Thicke […]
Who needs Hollywood? Mark Meer on game fame
In his wildest geek dreams, Edmonton actor Mark Meer never imagined he’d grow up to be a video game action hero. “I’m pretty pleased things worked out,” he says. The voice of Commander Shepard from the Mass Effect video game series is one of stars at the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo in the Edmonton […]
Theory of a Deadman to rock Jube in November
What true Edmonton rock ‘n roll fan hasn’t thought: Theory of a Deadman, now THERE’s a band I’d like see in the Jubilee Auditorium! Your wish is granted. The band plays the acoustically superior Jube on Monday, November 17, with tickets going ON SALE Friday. Once tarred and feathered as a Nickelback clone, the B.C. […]
Grant Imahara on geeky delights at Edmonton Expo
Times have changed since Grant Imahara was a kid. The geeks discovered their power. That’s a big one. “Certainly being a geek when I was in high school in the late ‘80s, it was not a team of endearment,” says the former host of MythBusters who’s appearing this weekend at the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment […]
Africa meets Newfoundland in Dr. Zoo
In an economy as robust as ours, musicians have all sorts of crazy day jobs not to quit these days. By day, Dr. Randal Arsenault is a professor of biology at the University of Alberta, specializing in the fauna of Africa. And by night – specifically the night of Saturday, Sept. 20 at the Blue […]
(RERUN) NAME GAME: The 2nd coming of Big Wreck
Naming a band is like branding a cow. It screams and resists the process, but once the pain goes away, only the scar remains. The poor thing hardly notices its brand at all, which loses most of its original meaning beyond conferring identity and ownership. “It’s just the name of the band, man,” say band […]
MORE CONCERTS: Mother Mother, Black Label Society
Run for your lives! And your credit cards! Concert announcements are falling like cabinet ministers’ reputations! Just another two more today, and that should be it for the week: First, the Canadian alt-rock band so awesome they named it twice: Mother Mother, at the Shaw Conference Centre on Thursday, Dec. 4. And then the perfect […]
Sam Roberts Band at the Jube in November
Sam Roberts is a slippery fellow. Just when we thought he was turning into another one of these heartland hit machines like Bryan Adams, he zigs and zags and dips and turns until we don’t know what to call him anymore. A soulman in rock clothes? Or a rock ‘n’ roller with depth and groove? […]
Bryan Adams returns with the best years of his life
If Bryan Adams got his first real six-string in the summer of 1969, he would’ve been nine years old at the time. “Me and some guys from school had a band and we tried real hard,” he sings. “Jimmy quit, Jody got married. I should’ve known we’d never get far.” These events must’ve happened at […]
