Brad Fraser to premiere new play in Edmonton
There’s a long list of gifted artists that Edmonton has lost that we still mourn. They’re not dead – they just moved away to greater success in Toronto where the hopelessly hipster citizens imagine that all Westerners hang hitch balls on their pick-up trucks. And they hardly ever write. How dare they?! But then there […]
Holdovers methadone for Fringeheads
To ease the crushing existential pain from Post Traumatic Fringe Disorder (PTFD), three Fringe venues are presenting holdovers of hits through this last, precious week before school starts. It’s hard to go cold turkey from 10 days of more than 200 plays in what turns out to be the most successful edition of the Edmonton […]
Fringe festival stuck with star system
Fringe artists hate the star rating system – and they love the star rating system. Is it time to get rid of it? Fringe artists recently replied, “Yes … but no!” Rest assured that any thespian bestowed a four or five-star review from one of the area print publications will be out there at the […]
Fringing in the French Quarter
Rapide! Dispatch one accordion player, one mime and more wine to La Cite Francophone immediately! Mon Dieu, those poor tourists have nothing to do while they’re waiting for their plays at the Fringe! So polite. Some people out East actually can’t believe that Edmonton has a French Quarter – but there it is, just a […]
Eight rules to Fringe by
You think by now people would be hip to the “turn off your cellphone” rule at the Fringe, but apparently there are holdovers. Here’s a thought: make your ringtone a big wet fart. It will be offensive when it goes off, so you might as well get a laugh out of it. Just trying to […]
Ben Folds to rock ESO a second time
Maybe we can make Ben Folds playing with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra a biennial event. The pop piano-meister will be back to wow his local fans a second time on Wednesday, May 21, 2014, at the Winspear Centre – less than two years after he came to Edmonton for the first time. Tickets ($69 or […]
Wildrose Man lost and out of place at Edmonton folk fest
Well, that was a big fat fail – wearing a Wildrose Party T-shirt at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival to get a rise out of the Lefties. Nobody cares! Plus there are so many layers of irony on everything nowadays that it’s hard to tell anything about anything anymore. What a waste of $25, which […]
Less old folk at the folk fest?
Not only are there a number of hip headliners that should appeal to a “youthful” audience at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival this year, the overall crowd may look a bit more fresh-faced, too. On top of the the 13,000 or so daily paid tickets that sold out lickety split, 1,000 were set aside for […]
Zombie Apocalypse at the Fringe!
They may have plopped a James Bond theme onto this year’s Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival – running Aug. 15-25 – but given the number of plays about zombies or death or the End of the World or all of the above, we’re sensing a theme here. Such a vast gathering of theatrical doom and […]
COOL UKE: Can we have a little guitar in the mix?
Sometimes a little guitar can lead to big things. The artist who calls herself “LP” might not be where she is today had she not adopted the humble ukulele – and there’s your joke. But it was no joke, according to the singer who wowed the crowd at Sonic Boom 2012 – a modern rock […]
426-5050, whatever happened to the Lydo?
Four-two-six, five-oh, five-oh, if you’re hungry, call the Lydo! Never had such crappy Chinese food gained such a huge local reputation – thanks to the little jingle written to go with their phone number that remains an Edmontonian brainworm 10 years after the place went bankrupt. A lot of people who ordered Lydo vowed never […]
Fred Larose was a ‘musician’s musician’
Fred Larose didn’t live to see his own name in lights, but he probably wouldn’t have wanted it there anyway. His legacy will be as a prince among sidemen – the unassuming, rock-steady, hard-working bass player who holds down the crucial bottom end and puts his gifts to the service of making others sound great. […]
