A Visit with the Puppet Master

A Visit with the Puppet Master

Some puppets broke the (local) internet recently in what appeared to be a professional television commercial for the Bear’s Worst Show Ever, starring puppet versions of Scott McCord and Yukon Jack. It turned out to be one amazing contest entry for the “Worst Ad Ever.” It didn’t win the $10,000 prize. Puppetsmith Trevor Duffy says […]

So a Geologist Walks Into a Creationist Museum …

So a Geologist Walks Into a Creationist Museum …

Alberta is a land of opposites: Wide-open prairies set against foreboding mountains, liberal city centres and conservative countryside. Hell, even our winters and summers are like Jason Kenney and Rachel Notley. For me, as a geologist who’s worked for 10 years in Canada, the Middle East and the UK, the biggest contrast this province has […]

FOOD: River City Revival House serves rock ‘n’ roll

FOOD: River City Revival House serves rock ‘n’ roll

Rage Against the Poutine made me angry. Instead of the expected cheese curds that squeak on your teeth (indicating freshness) was the surprise appearance from homemade Thanksgiving stuffing – which, like grandma on family holidays, dominated the otherwise perfectly-cooked house-punched French fries drizzled with rich bacon gravy, backed up by succulent flakes of pulled pork. […]

End of the Earth

End of the Earth

FOOD (SPOILER): Star Wars cuisine bites

FOOD (SPOILER): Star Wars cuisine bites

The roast porg Chewbacca cooks up in Star Wars: The Last Jedi is by far the most delicious food ever seen in a Star Wars movie – and the wookie can’t even bring himself to eat it. Most of the other characters sustain themselves with less appetizing fare: Swamp tentacle stew, alien walrus milk, pungent […]

End of the Earth

End of the Earth

Punk artist reveals deep roots

Punk artist reveals deep roots

The Blueberry Bluegrass & Country Music Festival is lucky to own the latest creations from Edmonton artist Spyder Yardley-Jones: a mandolin bigger than a bull fiddle, a towering acoustic guitar and a Brobdingnagian banjo. The fiddle next time. The heavy plywood sculptures will be paraded around Parkland County in an antique truck before being put […]

Theo Fleury doc turns victims to victors

Theo Fleury doc turns victims to victors

Northwestfest kicked off Friday at the Garneau Theatre with a screening of the documentary Victor Walk, following NHL star Theo Fleury on his 10 day walk from Toronto to Ottawa. He did it to raise awareness about sexual abuse, promote healing and to voice the need for stiffer laws against predators. It’s continuation of a […]

Rock opera dares to suggest Jesus human

Rock opera dares to suggest Jesus human

When Jesus Christ Superstar was released in 1970, it was condemned by many Christian groups because it dared to suggest that Christ was human and Judas was a tragic figure. At the time, lyricist Tim Rice observed, “It happens that we don’t see Christ as God, but simply the right man at the right time […]

Review of the Cat Cafe: HISSSSSSSSS!

Review of the Cat Cafe: HISSSSSSSSS!

FULL DISCLAWSURE: I grew up in a cat house. The rotating clowder of strays my mother took in numbered up to 16. I’d left home by this point, and moved in with a girl who had a cat. Then we split up and she moved out, and I kept the cat until it died. Another […]

Red Cannons unite band of brothers

Red Cannons unite band of brothers

There is evidence that brother bands are tighter than bands whose members are unrelated – in as many ways as you want “tight” to mean. There are exceptions, of course, but sometimes you can just tell. Hear the creative cohesion, for instance, on the Red Cannons’ new EP Always Something. The Spruce Grove band plays […]

Lord of the Logos: Black Metal AF

Lord of the Logos: Black Metal AF

Seriously, metal dudes – what’s the point of having such a beautiful logo when you can’t read the name of the damned band?! For an answer, we turn to the Lord of the Logos himself: Christophe Szpajdel, the prolific Belgian metalligrapher whose customers include Metallica, Rihanna and Foo Fighters, among an estimated 10,000 bands over […]