THEATRE: Actor pretends to be a bastard in Private Lives
When I was very young, I wanted to be a fire truck. So, naturally, I pretended to be one. I didn’t realize it then, but I was acting. Acting is a solitary exercise. There are other actors on stage with you, and an audience watching, of course, but you’re on your own – pretending. Noel […]
TV: Sperm brings Even More Modern Family together in Seed
The war on maturity continues to rage hard on all fronts – and “Seed” is just the latest surge. This isn’t just some amusing Canadian sitcom about a charming slacker who sells his sperm and winds up meeting children he thought he’d never see after his sperm bank donor data gets hacked. No, it’s even […]
OPERA: A carnival named desire in Les Contes d’Hoffman
This Hoffman is one messed-up dude. First he falls for a chick who’s clearly a robot and only finds out when her arm comes off. Then he falls in love with a woman who’s so frail she sings herself to death, then with some floozy who leaves him for a cowboy the moment his back […]
WEEKEND MUSIC: Method to Madness to Muse
You’d be hard pressed to go almost anywhere nowadays without hearing “Madness.” At least the song. Muse’s new track from their most recent and sixth studio album, “The 2nd Law” is getting huge airplay in this city. The supporting world tour comes through Edmonton Sunday night, when the band will perform at Rexall Place. It’s […]
THE UNLIKELY COMIC: Craig Martell is his own punchline
Craig Martell doesn’t claim to be a real stand-up comedian – so does that make him a better stand-up comedian? It’s all so terribly confusing. He doesn’t fit the usual stand-up comedian profile. First of all, as co-owner and party captain of the Wunderbar Hofbrauhaus, he’s a pretty upbeat guy. “It seems like most comedians […]
THEATRE: Charles Ross the Weird Al of The Lord of the Rings
In the matter of using other people’s intellectual property as the basis for your own work, it has been said that it’s easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission – but the actor who’s bringing the “One Man Lord of the Rings” back to town can attest that this is not the case. “They’re scary […]
COMEDY: Kathleen McGee’s act is a life examined
Oprah’s truck balls, tweets of people’s genitals, Al Roker telling everyone he pooped his pants in the White House, Facebook status updates of breakfasts that look like poop – these are a few of our favourite things! We live in a world where the phrase “whoa, too much information!” is uttered by no one ever. […]
WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: RC Sindicate raps for Emergency Relief
If you ever plotted live gigs on a bell curve – you remember bell curves, right? – the peak would obviously be on Fridays and Saturdays. It’s just what everyone expects. Well, you probably also remember those rare tests that completely messed up the bell curve. This week is like that. With two incredible shows […]
Listeners react to CKUA changes: OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!
CKUA’s decision to axe its local news programming is troubling enough – but the cancellation of Folk Routes has caused a storm of outrage. Tom Coxworth, host of the popular weekly roots program and fixture of Alberta’s folk music scene, is in limbo. Social media erupted with protests following Monday’s announcement. Some listeners have even […]
Questions unasked and unanswered by Oprah Winfrey
Some attendees at Oprah Winfrey’s “inspirational evening event” at Rexall Place on Monday night were under the impression that select members of the audience would get that special chance to ask a question of the Queen of Talk. Wrong. Turns out that only George Strombolopolous got to talk to her on stage, after a 70-minute […]
Comely maidens tease, Mary Walsh rages at Canoe Theatre Festival
Burlesque has undergone an interesting renaissance. Once a form of theatrical entertainment that invited randy gentle-men to peep at comely lasses cavorting unbesleeved and naked ankles akimbo, the girly show eventually “evolved” into full nudity, away from the eyes of the up-standing citizenry and disconcerted clergy, and into the seedy domain of the strip club. […]
EDMONTON RADIO: Hotter AC fuels Fresh 92.5 FM launch
You can launch like a mighty rocket roaring into the sky, and everybody says “Wow!” Or you can do it like a balloon full of hot gas, until someone notices, “Hey, how’d that get up there?” In Radioland, this is the difference between a “hard” launch and a “soft” launch. The perfect example of the […]
