LISTEN HERE: Clayton Congregation Comes Together
Clayton Bellamy has been several things to many people: A solo act, a member of the highly-decorated country-rock band The Road Hammers, a short-lived CISN Country radio announcer, and now the leader of “The Congregation” – new project he says “doesn’t have a sniff” of country. Take him at his word. It’s more like the […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Morrissey Shows Up in Edmonton
The joke here is that people were taking bets on when Morrissey would cancel his Edmonton show – again. This guy is George “No Show” Jones-famous for cancelling concerts. But no! Although he’d postponed the previously scheduled April show here, the Pope of Mope fulfilled his contract for the make-up date Thursday night in Edmonton, […]
LISTEN HERE: Obsessions Octet flying high on classical octane
He plays sax and is head of composition at MacEwan University’s music program. She plays violin for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. They make beautiful music together – literally. The Obsessions Octet is one of Edmonton’s more unusual bands. It’s basically a string quartet combined with a jazz band, in the tradition of Argentine composer Astor […]
COMIC Q&A: Tri-lingual Sugar Sammy focuses on writing
Sugar Sammy is from the right place at the right time: Montreal, home of the famed Just for Laughs Festival – a great place to hone his act, which was originally based on his experience as an English-speaking Indo-Canadian going to a French school. What could go wrong? Nothing! Now he’s one of Canada’s only […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Ghost brings Swedish spookypop to Edmonton on Death tour
For a band few people have ever heard of to suddenly appear in Edmonton’s biggest indoor concert venue is worth noting. The band Ghost plays Monday, Sept. 23 at Rogers Place. It’s a smaller-sized concert bowl, but still. Several thousand fans who already know this theatrical Swedish hard rock band are expected to turn up […]
LISTEN HERE: The Royal Foundry wants to WAKEUP from bad dream
EXCLUSIVE! Hear Edmonton band’s new single several hours before release! The counterintuitive trick about empathy and validation is that you do NOT want to comfort someone with the old tropes: “Don’t worry about it! Everything’s going to be fine! You can do this! Believe in yourself!” – because then you’re dismissing the feeling. Sometimes everything […]
Bill Nye the Science Guy comes to Edmonton
We should encourage scientists to become celebrities. Maybe then people will listen to them. Bill Nye is way ahead of the game. He’s already a household name in some households, inventor, TV host, comedian, educator, best-selling author, and above all, a SCIENTIST! Mechanical engineer, to be exact. He’s literally a rocket scientist. Now’s your chance […]
LISTEN HERE: Juliet Ruin serves up a fresh bitter cup of Spite
Rock singer Jess Fleming would rather not hang out with narcissists. “They’re kind of like energy vampires,” she says. “They suck all the life out of the room. They make everything about themselves, they’re faultless, they don’t take ownership about anything, and when there’s a problem, it’s you, not them.” Jess is not alone in […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Sonic all over the sonic map at Field Day
It’s just a little wish: Sonic 102.9 FM could be, you know, a little “heavier” – ‘cuz we’re a HEAVY town, man – but you have to admit they consistently play the widest variety of the new music, the alternative, the so-called “modern rock,” which is all over the map, sonically. Hence the name. Some […]
Cheech & Chong blow off Edmonton
Here we go again. Is it something we said? Something we didn’t buy enough of? Who knows – but yet another major Edmonton concert has been cancelled due to “an unforeseen scheduling conflict.” No further explanation was forthcoming from the Cheech & Chong camp – whose Oct. 7 “O Cannabis” show at the Jubilee Auditorium […]
LISTEN HERE: Everybody wants to be wanted in The Wanting, by Hewson Grey
Joe Paonessa sometimes switches out the pronouns in that song he sings about wanting love and never being satisfied. “It could be a guy looking for a guy, a girl looking for a girl. It doesn’t matter. It’s about people looking for that connection. Everybody wants something and everyone wants to be wanted,” he says. […]
FRINGE 2019 HAT LINE: Street performers deserve our applause – and our money
So that’s it for the 2019 Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival. One more day. We’ve seen the 250 plays, give or take a play, gossiped about two different yet strangely related scandals (long story), and sampled fare from least three different curry stands. Now can we give a little love to our underrated and often poorly-treated […]
