MUSIC PREVIEW: Cheap Trick class act
For all the complaining from members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they still get to stick “Member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” to their names – and that’s no cheap boast. Speaking of which, Cheap Trick – member of the Rock […]
REVIEW: 54-40 gets intimate
I guess I picked the right (if differently spelled) Osbourne to go see on Saturday night – Neil Osborne, that is, from 54-40, leading his band in an acoustic show at Festival Place. Black Sabbath, meanwhile, was forced to cancel its Saturday show in Edmonton, and also Calgary Feb. 1, because Ozzy is suffering from […]
ZZ Top at the River Cree in April
Like the days of the week of the weeks of the months of the year in Edmonton, it’s inevitable that ZZ Top should return. This time, the bearded Texans are at the River Cree Casino on Friday, April 1, no foolin’. Tickets are $59.50 to $89.50 and go on sale Friday. The pre-sales start Wednesday. […]
Paul Rodgers gives back to the blues
Speaking of cultural appropriation, privileged white rock musicians have been making a killing by ripping off poor black musicians long before anyone uttered the words “cultural appropriation.” Examples are numerous: From Elvis to the Beatles to Justin Timberlake to Madonna, they all “borrowed.” They had big hits and became rich and famous. Meanwhile, innovators like […]
Casinos a Classic Rockland Wonderland
Kim Mitchell was recently asked what he thought about the love affair between casinos and classic rock, and what it’s done for his career. He evades the question, “Did you know that the sound of all the slots singing and ringing away on most casino floors makes for a beautiful happy major chord? Root, third, […]
Weird Al brings Mandatory Fun to River Cree
That “Weird Al” Yankovic has a No. 1 album in Mandatory Fun – his first No. 1, and the first comedy album in half a century to hit No. 1 on Billboard – is either a testament to the pop parodist’s continued greatness, or a sign of a flabby record industry. Maybe it’s a little […]
Cheech and Chong and Gaye Delorme
Fans and friends remember Gaye Delorme as an incredible guitarist with a wicked sense of humour. He died of a heart attack in the summer of 2011 at the age of 64. He was frail and almost blind from diabetes in the last few years of his life, yet still capable of orchestrating the absurdity […]
WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: This Lund is your Lund
Pop quiz: Can you … Break a horse? Light a fire? Gut a fish? Read the sky? Track the deer? Dig the well? If you answered yes to at least four of the above, then you may just have a chance to be a lucky survivor when the oil runs out and there’s a “rip […]
EDMONTON COMEDY FESTIVAL: Stand-up harder than it looks
I have a new found respect for stand-up comedians after walking a mile in their shoes for the first time. It’s not as easy as it looks – and it looks hard enough to begin with. My three minutes of terror was part of the Edmonton Comedy Festival’s “Funniest Media Person” contest at the River […]
REVIEW: Frank Sinatra Jr. does it his way in baffling casino show
Is there anyone in the entertainment world who carries a moniker with greater baggage than Frank Sinatra Jr.? There are other giants of 20th century music whose sons have had successful careers – Bob Dylan’s son Jakob, John Lennon’s sons Sean and Julian – but they never had to carry around not just a famous […]
Sinatra sings Sinatra at the River Cree Casino
Now here’s one guy who has carried the “Junior” label with style and dignity – Frank Sinatra Jr. The son of the Chairman, a chip off the old block, the apple that didn’t fall far from the tree, will be singing the songs his dad made famous in Sinatra Sings Sinatra, an old school Vegas […]
