TONIGHT: Ke$ha to get $leazy at Rexall Place

Britney Spears is too robotic, Lady Gaga is too bizarre, Katy Perry is too bossy – but when it comes to pop tarts we love to hate and hate to love, Ke$ha is JUST right. Playing Wednesday night at Rexall Place on her Get $leazy Tour, this chick at least doesn’t take herself too seriously […]

TONIGHT: Rollie Miles’ grandson scores big gig at the Big Game

Jesse Lipscombe is scared out of his wits at the prospect of singing O Canada at Commonwealth Stadium on Friday – and that’s just the way he wants it. “Right now I am absolute fear mode,” he says, “but I’m excited about it. I’ve never walked away from that kind of fear. Fear excites me. […]

Metro Cinema returns with a week of camp

If the offerings  in a film series are, for the most part, of material available on  most decent cable packages, is it really a worthy film series? Or is it another excuse for like-minded folk to get together in this thing we call “community”? “Camp” would seem to be a theme in Metro Cinema’s grand […]

REVIEW: Cake takes the cake at Sonic Boom

When the End Times come, we’re going to need a house band – and that’s where Cake comes in. Imagine: all Cake, all the time. As it has been written somewhere: And the living shall envy the dead … Perhaps we’re making too much of this, but rarely has there been such a happy-sounding band […]

THEATRE: Chris Wynters plays John in Four Lads Who Shook the World

Chris Wynters – Captain Tractor dude, open stage maven and all around musical theatre-type guy – claims that for the first 12 years of his life he listened to nothing but the Beatles. All Beatles, all the time. And now he gets to be one of them for the next three months. How sweet is […]

DEJA BLUES – Johnny Winter and James Cotton return to Polish Hall Oct. 14

Great news for blues fans – if you can tear yourself away from the Beaumont Blues Festival for a moment – blues legends Johnny Winter and James Cotton are coming to play the Polish Hall on Oct. 14 and … hey, wait a minute! Didn’t we just do this? We sure did: The same bill […]

TODAY: Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at Symphony Under the Sky

It’s been said before and it will be said again: The average symphony orchestra “grooves” like a coal truck on a bad gravel road, which is to say it doesn’t. It’s generally much better at rendering Tchaikovsky than, say, Ellington. But this will be repeated, too: The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra is not your run-of-the-mill coal […]

TODAY: Edmonton’s Christian Hansen replaces Cee Lo Green at Sonic Boom 2011

Bad news, everyone – Cee Lo Green, one of the most anticipated acts at the Sonic Boom Festival at Northlands Expo Centre on Sunday, Sept. 4, has been forced to cancel, promoters announced today. The triple Grammy-winning soul singer is reportedly suffering from a herniated disc and can’t travel. The ensuing gap in the schedule […]

Live Music This Weekend – Sept. 2 – 5

A banner weekend in live music is highlighted by the Sonic Boom modern rock festival on Sunday, along with its attendant after-party at the Starlite Room. Friday Josh Groban (right) – Rexall Place hosts American singer-songwriter Josh Groban on Friday night, whose four solo albums have all gone multi-platinum, and now boasts over 24 million […]

TRUE TALES OF THE ROAD: Paul Bellows bonds with his fans

Edmonton folk musician Paul Bellows was on the road quite a bit before he made it big in the business world as the founder of the Yellow Pencil web design company. So no – he doesn’t NEED to promote his new CD, Shipwreck Looking Out for a Beach, released Friday at the Haven, the day […]

Godsmack wants to give Nikki Sixx a good smack

Time to dig up a rumour that the Godsmack song Cryin’ Like a Bitch is a shot at Motley Crue, specifically Nikki Sixx, in the wake of various alleged rock star unpleasantness suffered during the last Crue Fest tour. Apparently someone acted like a real jerk backstage. Imagine. No names are mentioned and singer Sully […]

TONIGHT: Edmonton’s Mass Choir diversifies the thump at release party

Back in February, Mass Choir main man Matthew Skopyk had already begun toiling for 40 hours a week on his band’s next record, on top of his full time job in the University of Alberta’s drama department. Seven months later, Circles is ready to hit the streets. Mass Choir will unleash its brand-new 15-track album […]