O Canada, Bonnie Ste. Croix records for thee

Bonnie Ste-Croix’s passion for Canada runs deep. The singer/songwriter loves her home country so much, she named her latest album Canadian Girl and recorded every song in the collection in a different Canadian town. Which makes it a little bewildering that after a solid 15 years of touring, her Saturday gig was her first time […]

WHO NAMED THE WAIF: Feist and the marketing of music

After a hot summer of hot pop divas, a wave of winter waifs is upon us. Define waif? These are not rocker girls, nor pure folk singers. There are the kind of female singers whose poppy yet genre-bending songs do not generally contain references to alcohol consumption, explicit sexual acts or pleas for the DJ […]

Stephen Colbert wades into Keystone XL debate

Hey, who cares what that Obama guy thinks: America’s political right now has Stephen Colbert on the Keystone XL Pipeline case. Colbert waded into the debate over the line, which would ship Bitumen from Alberta’s oil sands more than 2,500 kilometres to be processed and sold in the U.S. President Barack Obama delayed approval of […]

Hyper-real surreal takes the stage in Falling: A Wake

The great thing about magical realism is that you get the magic out of the way first. Then you get to enjoy real characters behaving realistically in a really unbelievable situation. This sort of work-out for the imagination is what Wishbone Theatre, a new Edmonton company, has been going for – that and the acting […]

Roger Waters adds second Edmonton show for The Wall

There sure are a lot of Pink Floyd fans in Edmonton. Due to popular demand, as they say, a second Roger Waters date has been added: Tuesday, May 29 at Rexall Place. The first show on Monday, May 28 has sold out. Tickets start at $45 and end at $225 and will go on sale […]

Johnny Reid to belt it out at Rexall Place April 19

Finally Johnny Reid gets the idea. Why do four shows in the Jube when you can do one at Rexall Place? And don’t give us this guff about wanting to get “intimate” with the audience. That’s four shows! Just put four times the energy into one show – hell, twice would be more than enough […]

INTERVIEW: Matthew Good tackles the Great North American Bummer

To answer the burning question of the day – why does everybody seem so depressed? – we turn to a prominent Canadian rock singer who suffers from bipolar disorder. Mental illness doesn’t necessarily make Matthew Good an expert on depression, but as fans can tell you from his music, he’s put some deep thought into […]

TRUE TALES OF THE ART: Juan Martin plays Picasso

Pablo Picasso gave the young guitar player a wink – the only reward for an unusual performance at the great painter’s 90th birthday party. The 16-year-old Juan Martin had been asked to ditch his prepared music and “improvise the paintings on the wall, just look at the paintings and interpret them.” He says he thought […]

INTERVIEW: There is life after suicide for Emerson Drive

Suicide is not painless, not for friends left behind. It’s been four years since Emerson Drive’s bass player Patrick Bourque took his own life, and only now can Brad Mates bring himself to talk about it so openly. The singer was interviewed recently to promote the band’s show Saturday night at the Edmonton Expo Centre […]

CONCERT REVIEW: Les McKeown keeps Rollermania alive

He may look a little less svelte in his tartan-accented custom leisure suit than he did on the cover of “Dedication,” but Les McKeown and his group of faux-Bay City Rollers proved Thursday night why Rollermania should not be forgotten. The Century Casino was packed with overgrown teenage girls who rushed to the front of […]

GIGGLE CITY: The riffs of T.J. Miller

By the time that Comedy Central special finally comes to the paradoxically less funny Canadian counterpart, the Comedy Network, it’s already old. It’s over. It’s ready for the History Channel. Not this time. This time, up-and-coming comedy star T.J. Miller is bringing a bootleg copy of his new Comedy Central special to screen for patrons […]

WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: One long, long weekend of greatness

Long weekends tend to spread the good gigs out – so we bring you a special five day weekend music update. Your lawn does’t need any more mowing, it’s too early to worry about Christmas lights, so get out and support live music in Edmonton! Best bets: Alex Vissa (Thursday); Peter Katz and the Barr […]