Posted on April 24, 2013
By Mike Ross
Entertainment, entertainment, Front Slider, Music, music
Another fledgling Edmonton festival is taking a hiatus – at least for one year. Producers of the Open Sky Music Festival have announced the postponement of this year’s event, originally scheduled for June 7-9 at Hawrelak Park’s Heritage Amphitheatre. Nathan Richards, who founded the festival in 2010 to showcase bands of the reggae, “surf rock” […]
Posted on April 9, 2013
By Mike Ross
Entertainment, entertainment, Front Slider, Music, music
The stakes in the Great Edmonton Summer Festival Poker Game just went up. The table is getting crowded. This year’s Edmonton Rock Music Festival happens on the same weekend as the Edmonton Folk Music Festival – and everyone is crossing their fingers that the crossover between classic rock and folk music isn’t too huge. The […]
Posted on March 4, 2013
By Mike Ross
Entertainment, Front Slider, Music, music
One of the hottest new rock bands on the continent is coming to Edmonton this summer. Alabama Shakes has been announced as one of the headliners for the second annual Interstellar Rodeo, taking place July 26-28 at Hawrelak Park. The full line-up and ticket on sale details will be announced later this month. Distinguished by […]
Posted on August 29, 2012
By Mike Ross
Front Slider, Music
Like rock ‘n’ roll, classical music is measured by weight: Heavy or light. Unlike rock ‘n’ roll, almost all classical musicians aspire to perform the heaviest music they can get their hands on and still get paid for it. That’s what all that training and sacrifice was for – to play the heavyweights. Mainstream classical […]
Posted on August 23, 2012
By LH Thomson
Front Slider, Music
In yesterday’s lecture on The Neuroscience of the Blues, we touched on the distinction between DEEP blues and FUN blues, though they sound very similar. Put simply, DEEP blues is about real suffering: from oppression, racism, poverty, addiction, disease, mental illness, heartbreak, desperation or despair – or all of the above. FUN blues is, well, […]
Posted on August 22, 2012
By LH Thomson
Front Slider, Music
Muddy Waters famously sang that the blues had a baby, and they named it rock ‘n’ roll. Of course, that was a hell of a long time ago. His last hit CD, “Hard Again,” was back in ‘77 and Muddy died in ’84. Things have changed a bit. As we prepare for Edmonton Blues Festival […]
Posted on August 16, 2012
By Michael Senchuk
Music
It’s Metallica weekend in Edmonton! The near-mythological metal band from California plays two sold-out shows at Rexall, Friday and Saturday nights. Everything else musical this weekend plays second fiddle, like it or not. The only major competition is the Edmonton Rock Music Festival at Hawrelak Park, with headliners like Prism, Blue Oyster Cult and April […]
Posted on August 4, 2012
By Mike Ross
Dining, Family, Front Slider
The Servus Heritage Festival, Edmonton’s most delicious festival, is going hot and heavy at Hawrelak Park all weekend – and judging from the madding crowds on opening day Saturday, this could be a record breaker. Attendees are advised to bring: – More money than you think you need, which is converted into “Heritage Euros,” better […]
Posted on August 1, 2012
By Maurice Tougas
Dining, Family, Front Slider, Music
Jack Little has a lot on his plate right about now. He’s getting ready to host a party, which requires food and drink, some music and a whole lot of dancing. This is no backyard BBQ. Little is the executive director of the much-loved Edmonton institution, the Servus Heritage Festival. If the weather holds, he’s […]
Posted on June 25, 2012
By Mike Ross
The Latest, Theatre
Et tu, Ignatieff? Well, they don’t stab kings anymore. They just assassinate their character. But politics has changed little since politics was invented. Actor Kevin Sutley – who plays the titular character in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar at the Freewill Shakespeare Festival – puts it like this, “This play is incredibly political, and it’s about […]
Posted on June 10, 2012
By Robin Schroffel
Music
The skies sure opened wide Saturday evening at the Open Sky Music Festival – but that didn’t stop the revelry at Hawrelak Park’s Heritage Amphitheatre. Girls danced in the downpour, teenagers wrapped themselves up like ghosts in soaking sleeping bags, and dreadlocked students made friendly conversation while the weather howled through the festival grounds and […]
Posted on June 8, 2012
By Mike Ross
Music
You don’t have to smoke marijuana to play reggae properly – but it helps. “God knows!” declares Barrington Brown, aka Koolant, the new lead singer for the Wailers – who, at the age of 27, hasn’t been alive as long as Bob Marley has been dead. Koolant is nonetheless a stone-cold, real-deal Jamaican Rasta-man who […]
