My Darkest Days to rock against breast cancer on Nickelback tour
“If there were no boobs, we wouldn’t have music videos,” declares Sal Costa, lead guitarist for My Darkest Days, which opens for Nickelback at Rexall Place Tuesday night. It sounds so crass. Yet it is absolutely true – if you’re making the kind of music videos that My Darkest Days (and also Nickelback) seem to […]
These are the Boomers in your neighbourhood: The legacy of Rockin’ Rick
Rick Shermack, better known as Rockin’ Rick, will go down in history as the man who invented Alberta’s most famous shooter. That’s right, China White was a rock band before it was a drink. It happened in St. Paul, Alberta, early ‘80s, Rick recalls during a recent interview in his office at Axe Music, where […]
REVIEW: The Black Keys get trippy at Rexall
It’s almost a shame the Black Keys took this long to become known to the universe. The band had a total of five albums before the last pair – “Brothers” and “El Camino” – shot them into the stratosphere. Where have you been all this time? For 11,000 fans at Rexall Place Saturday night, the […]
Hayloft Acres a little patch of heaven for area musical farmer
Well, said the Musical Farmer, thumbs in his armpits, it’s plantin’ time again, time again to sow the seeds of lifelong ambition and grow another healthy organic crop of positive musical vibes to reap a bountiful harvest of good gigs – and high time to take this farming metaphor behind the barn and kill it […]
WHAT’S SO FUNNY: Lily Tomlin a character in more ways than one
You want to know who really runs Hollywood? It’s not the Jews. It’s the old ladies! A veritable matriarchy of mirth has seized a stranglehold upon the North American zeitgeist, fastened a feisty grip on the collective you-know-whats of the unsuspecting populace at the hands of power grandmas like Betty White, Joan Rivers and – […]
LIT UP: WordCrawl to be a slam on the bus
Edmonton literary fans will soon have the chance to participate in the city’s first ever WordCrawl. Remember the Stroll of Poets from the ’90s? It’s like that, except on a bus. “It’s the love child of an orgy between a literary reading, a poetry slam, a songwriting showcase, and a pub crawl. On speed!” explains […]
Elton John comes full circle for area ballet star in Love Lies Bleeding
Consider the Six Degrees of Elton John in Alberta Ballet’s production of Love Lies Bleeding, at the Jubilee Auditorium Thursday through Saturday. The ballet is based upon the life and music of Elton John, who is being played by dancer Kelley McKinlay, who grew up in Fort Saskatchewan, where he did not hang out with […]
Tony Bennett, daughter, perform at Winspear Centre Aug. 25
If there were to be a King of the Great American Songbook, it would have to be Tony Bennett. For unlike lesser crooners, Michael Buble, say, Tony performs without a shred of either schtick or irony, treating his music with the wisdom of his 85 years and the passion of a man half, nay, a […]
k.d. lang, Leonard Cohen in imaginary Edmonton poetry slam standoff
k.d. lang vs Leonard Cohen in a no-holds barred poetry slam. Well, that WOULD be something, wouldn’t it? It’s not going to happen, but it would be something. With the great man here on Nov. 18 at Rexall and lang here Sept. 12 at the Jubilee Auditorium with her Siss Boom Bang band, this is […]
