Promoters work to salvage flooded out Sled Island Festival
CALGARY – I woke up Friday morning to see downtown Calgary covered in brown water no more than a block from my vantage point at Hotel Arts, which was on evacuation order after power and water had been shut off. I’d spent the previous two nights getting soaked walking from venue to venue, trying to […]
Mark Meer tops list of Canadian Comedy Awards nominations
With so many Canadians being funny in America, that must make Canada the funniest country in the world, and with so many Edmontonians being funny across Canada, that must make Edmonton the funniest city in the world. Ha-ha funny, not “funny” funny. Proof is in the pudding, whatever that means, as the nominations for the […]
REVIEW: Marathon reunion show proves Jr. Gone Wild must go on
It’s as if Jr. Gone Wild stepped out of a time capsule – its honky-tonky, punky good-time Alberta country music perfectly preserved all this time to be revived with a vengeance by four rock ‘n’ roll Rip Van Winkles. Rock ‘n’ roll seems to be hard-wired to celebrate the past in 20 year cycles, and […]
Jerry Seinfeld returns to Edmonton in August
What’s the deal with Jerry Seinfeld? The guy was a huge TV star. He’s multimillionaire. He doesn’t need to work. And now he’s back humping his jokes around on the road like some Yuk Yuk’s comic, playing places like Edmonton. Must be something about stand-up comedy that keeps people coming back. Seinfeld performs at the […]
THEATRE: Parts fit the actors in new Lemoine
There are many ways we can try to describe rebel playwright Stewart Lemoine – as a modern Noel Coward, for his witty dialogue; or as Edmonton’s theatrical Christopher Guest, for using almost the same set of actors again and again in one quirky comedy after another. Occasionally, a new actor is invited into the fold. […]
JR. GONE WILD: Dumb enough to quit, smart enough to start over
Hate to burst your bubble, but the Jr. Gone Wild reunion was motivated by money. Give thanks to local promoter Frank Klemen, a longtime Jr. fan who felt it was so important that his favourite Edmonton alt-country band get back together that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “It was up to me,” he […]
Big top goes up as Cirque du Soleil takes over Edmonton
Local media were recently given a sneak peek of an amazing demonstration of strength, grace and agility as more than 80 people gave their all in the service of the popular human circus Cirque du Soleil – and that was just the construction crew raising the big top at Northlands on Thursday. The actual show […]
Jewish film asks awkward question: What DID grandpa do in the war?
You’d be upset, too, if you discovered that your Jewish grandparents partied with Nazis – an astounding example of “temporary mutual interest.” Playing at the Edmonton Jewish Film Festival that runs May 26-29, The Flat starts with a very ordinary scene familiar to everyone of a certain age, and not at first something you’d think […]
Queens of the Stone Age return to Edmonton in August
Every generation gets the prog rock band it deserves – or needs. Which is why there is great rejoicing among members of the so-called “Generation X” that Queens of the Stone age is returning to Edmonton – playing Wednesday, Aug. 7 in the Shaw Conference Centre; tickets go on sale Friday. This trippy California band […]
Brad Paisley, Accidental Racist, plays Edmonton in October
Oh, man, we’re going to have some fun with Brad Paisley when he comes to Edmonton this fall on his “Beat the Summer” tour. The proudly redneck country singer – a mean guitarist and clever songwriter who knows how to push people’s buttons – plays Saturday, Oct. 26 at Rexall Place. Tickets go on sale […]
Surviving punters assemble first and last Joe Bird album
If you believe in life after death, you could imagine Joe Bird in heaven laughing at his friends left to deal with all the recordings he made before he died suddenly in 2009 – music that was never released. His good friend Jason Kodie knows what he’d say: “I think Joe’s laughing. He’s pissing himself […]
Fringe festival to tee off on James Bond
And the Fringe theme of the year is … Bond, James Bond. Doesn’t “From Fringe With Love” open a whole can of fun and adorable worms – the classic Bond film from 1963, made at the height of the Cold War. Fringe themes rarely coincide with actual content of the plays – but the fact […]
