INTERVIEW: Brett Miles wants to do it all

Like several members of the remarkable Rollie Miles family, Brett Miles is driven to succeed. But there’s more to his feverishly eclectic arts career than good genes, or the privilege that comes from being the youngest child of the prominent Edmonton Eskimos champion, respected educator and pillar of the local community. It’s a sign you’ve […]

STERLING AWARDS: No hard feelings from shut out Lemoine

It’s certainly nothing to stop the presses over – or whatever has replaced presses – to report that the Citadel Theatre once again cleaned up at the annual Sterling Awards, held Monday night. Edmonton’s most popular theatre took away seven of the awards (named after the late Edmonton theatre impresario Elizabeth Sterling Haynes), including outstanding […]

WHAT’S SO FUNNY: Graham Neil honours brother with comedy

Don Neil loved stand-up comedy. He never missed a show by his brother – CTV Edmonton entertainment correspondent and sometime stand-up comic Graham Neil – and after he died of cancer three years ago, Graham and some comedy friends decided there was no better way to honour Don’s memory than with an annual comedy show. […]

SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: Stephen Harper the Julius Caesar of his time?

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 […]

Metric to bring sweet and crunchy sound to Rexall Place in November

A year and change after the band wowed the crowd at Sonic Boom 2011, Metric is returning to headline in its own right – inside the big building this time. At last. The band plays Thursday, Nov. 15 at Rexall Place, with Stars opening. Tickets go on sale Friday. On the strength of such killer […]

COMEDY: Sterling Scott to hit the next level with DVD taping

The allure of the professional stand-up comedy trade is powerful when you’ve become hooked on making people laugh. It can happen as early as childhood. Some call it a sickness, others an addiction, and there is no known cure, no comedic “methadone.” There is often nothing for it but to … become a professional stand-up […]

Sunday steampunk bike ride embraces apocalypse with style

Steampunk is first and foremost a literary genre, a 19th Century view of the future – steam powered, mechanical and pre-electronic. And everyone dresses well. “It’s like Mad Max meets Marie Antoinette,” explains Cory Richards, a salesperson at Sanctuary Curio Shoppe (10310 81 Avenue), which is hosting Edmonton’s first steampunk bicycle ride on Sunday, June […]

Roots rock weirdo Mike Plume finds the sweet life in Nashville

Mike Plume illustrates the dilemma of a lot of guys in his situation – as a recording artist who decides to retreat behind the scenes to make a living as a professional songwriter in Nashville. We’ve heard rumour of these songwriting factories down South that churn out bushels and pecks of radio ready hits for […]

WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: Shorter and bigger

From an apparent black gig hole last weekend comes a supernova of musical activity. Both the Edmonton International Jazz Festival and the Works Art and Design Festival, with its free live stage in Churchill Square, start Friday. Also playing on this night is the monster blues project the Tedeschi Trucks Band at the Jube and […]

WHAT’S SO FUNNY: Arena comics risk Nickelback syndrome

There’s something strange that happens in the course of a stand-up comedian’s rise to success. While moving up from nightclubs to theatres is celebrated, prompting pats on the backs and kudos all around, hitting the next level – arenas – seems to result in a wee bit of a backlash. Consider that racist puppet guy, […]

Summer Solstice offers world-class chamber music lineup

Three of the continent’s finest classical musicians will grace the lineup of the Edmonton Chamber Music Society’s 2012 Summer Solstice Festival, running Friday through Sunday at Convocation Hall in the Arts Building of the U of A. Joining the three-day event will be Edmonton-born violinist Jessica Linnebach, currently associate concertmaster of the National Arts Centre […]

TEDESCHI TRUCKS: Marriage like a band, band like a marriage

We’ve beaten to death this idea that being in a band is like a marriage – but what about a band that literally is a marriage? The Tedeschi Trucks Band – at the Jubilee Auditorium Friday night – is centred around Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, a power blues couple if there ever was one. […]