Moving to Edmonton will get you into the Velvet Underground

Moving to Edmonton will get you into the Velvet Underground

Growing up in Beaumont, Alberta, a Francophone farming community of 14,000 located three kilometres South of Edmonton, Brazilian Money’s Garrett Johnson remembers listening to Velvet Underground for the first time. “I thought it was total garbage,” he says. So how did the Beaumont musician end up appreciating the context and musicality of Lou Reed’s legendary […]

Don’t cry for New City, Edmonton, it’s the cycle of life

Don’t cry for New City, Edmonton, it’s the cycle of life

If you go back about 25 years to remember Edmonton’s best live music bars, the landscape is unrecognizable: People’s Pub, the Grinder, Boiler Lounge, Sidetrack Café – all gone, their very names meaningless to younger folk perhaps more familiar with places like the Starlite Room or the Pawn Shop. Point being that the recent closing […]

WEEKEND MUSIC: Order from k-os

WEEKEND MUSIC: Order from k-os

With buzz from both urban and modern rock radio, k-os’s sold out show at the Avenue Theatre Friday night promises to be to be one hell of a party. Unlike many rappers, he prefers to perform with a live band – so that helps. The genre-crossing artist’s most recent single “The Dog Is Mine” can […]

WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: Depth behind Bend Sinister

WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: Depth behind Bend Sinister

Those of you who saw the disappointing Rihanna show on Wednesday can take solace in the fact that for the price of your one ticket, you can probably take at least half a dozen of your best friends to any of local show this weekend. Or maybe that doesn’t make you feel better. One of […]

FILM: Musicians under the influence of Reefer Madness

FILM: Musicians under the influence of Reefer Madness

You don’t have to be high to enjoy “Reefer Madness” ironically – but it helps. Or does it? There are a number of misconceptions about the famous 1936 anti-marijuana film, according to Edmonton musician Gene Kosowan, who has created a live “electro-acoustic” reinterpretation of the movie being presented at Wunderbar on Sunday night. “There’s something […]

WEEKEND MUSIC: Marilyn Manson show will go on!

WEEKEND MUSIC: Marilyn Manson show will go on!

There is no official statement yet, but it looks like Marilyn Manson is going to be OK following his collapse on stage in Saskatoon Wednesday night. Saturday’s show in Edmonton and all remaining shows “will be moving forward as scheduled,” according to the concert promoter. You know, it’s always fun and games until somebody loses […]

THE UNLIKELY COMIC: Craig Martell is his own punchline

THE UNLIKELY COMIC: Craig Martell is his own punchline

Craig Martell doesn’t claim to be a real stand-up comedian – so does that make him a better stand-up comedian? It’s all so terribly confusing. He doesn’t fit the usual stand-up comedian profile. First of all, as co-owner and party captain of the Wunderbar Hofbrauhaus, he’s a pretty upbeat guy. “It seems like most comedians […]

WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: This Lund is your Lund

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 […]

WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: Every day is Movember!

WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: Every day is Movember!

As Paul McCartney Week draws to a close, it behooves us to remember that he wasn’t the only seminal influence in modern pop music – just a very, very big one. This is true whether modern musicians even know it or admit or not. Burton Cummings knows. Playing Saturday night at the Winspear Centre, the […]

RAP MUSIC: Edmontosaurus stalks the Earth with smart new CD

RAP MUSIC: Edmontosaurus stalks the Earth with smart new CD

Omar Mouallem wrote a number of those “Top 40 Under 40” profiles for Avenue magazine in his former gig as associate editor – but he’s a worthy contender for the honour himself. Hell, he’s top 30 under 30. Yet the 27-year-old, recently married Edmonton native is humble, saying, “I have not chosen to fill out […]

WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: Too many CD releases? Not enough CD releases!

With such an eclectic sound, Less Than Jake has never found incredible success on any charts, but the Florida ska-punk act’s longevity is certainly proof enough that the concept can work, and perhaps even makes a case for sonic experimentation. Playing Sunday night the Edmonton Event Centre, the band has survived more or less intact […]

WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: Christian Hansen dumps Autistics, makes changes

It’s another homecoming for Christian Hansen and his band formerly known as The Autistics, as they play the Dinwoodie Lounge Thursday night, moving to the Elevation Room Friday and Saturday – and there have been a lot of changes beyond the band name. Having won the hearts of Edmonton in 2009 with the track “Cocaine […]