By Jeff Kubik
Making with the funny isn’t an easy task. Sure, we’d all love to be the next Tim Allen, spewing inane recycled bits driven straight out of the hackneyed ’80s, while snorting clouds of sweet cocaine, but who has the cajones to reach out and grab audiences until tears form?God bless you Patton Oswalt, you’re a… Continue reading Patton Oswalt
Josh Ritter is best known as the opening act for Sarah Harmer. His Hello Starling, may be in the same contemplative vein as Harmer, but Ritter rises above opening act status with his classic song writing skills. Every note of Ritter’s disarms with a bittersweet elegance. Hello Starling speaks on an intuitive level with a… Continue reading Josh Ritter
You’ve got to admire Elvis Costello. In the late ’70s and early ’80s he released a string of crucial albums, cementing himself as one of the most important voices to come out of the punk/new-wave explosion. Ever since, he’s done just about everything imaginable. Costello has released country albums, smoky barroom jazz songs, collaborations with… Continue reading Elvis Costello
By Falice Chin
The city of Halifax gave birth to some of Canada’s best hip-hop talents. Besides Buck 65 and Josh Martinez, one can’t forget Kunga 219 and DJ Gordski–collectively known as The Goods. With the release of their excellent third album, 4/Four, they bring us another inspiring work from the artists of Good Night Musics. The intro… Continue reading The Goods
By Paul Jarvey
This rich, fierce, and experimental union of voice and cello lies somewhere between the emotive lyricism of Tori Amos and a more aggressive, personal, and playful communique similar to Bjork and A Silver Mt. Zion. Jorane’s The You and the Now is this years third release for the Quebecoise songwriter as well as her first… Continue reading Jorane
By Jaime Burnet
With all of the dark synth, seductive vocals, drugs and sexuality of the ’80s, Mark Thomas Kluepfel’s new band, Action Action, is a trip back to the land of “Tainted Love” and hot pink Spandex. The band certainly not afraid of that connection, that hot pink sprayed all over Action Action’s debut, Don’t Cut Your… Continue reading Action Action
By Greg Clayton
Now that I got your attention, it only takes one night of drinking in the Students’ Union bar to realize that the Den is not like other bars and nightclubs in Calgary. Sure, we don’t serve 50 draft, you won’t be harassed by shooter girls every few minutes and you certainly won’t find any wet… Continue reading Always cheap beer
By Rob Scherf
There’s something intoxicating about the last week of September in this city. All at once the leaves start to change, the mornings start to crispen, and Calgary–much like Cinderella–realizes just for an instant that she, too, can be a world-class broad. Our little film festival is just one of many in Canada, and although its… Continue reading Calgary’s arts a blessing
Two actors playing fifteen characters on an almost bare stage seems like something you’d expect from a small, upstart theatre company working with a limited budget. So when the well-established Alberta Theatre Projects puts on a show like Marie Jones’s Stones in His Pockets, the set and large cast become noticeably absent, allowing audiences to… Continue reading Theatre Review: ATP’s latest has the stones in the right pocket
By Jeff Kubik
It’s good to know there are people able to ask life’s tough questions, to consider probing insights left untouched by a timid public. How has our society, for instance, allowed testicle shaving to wax into the mundane? Are midgets really optimal for the making of Sleepy Time tea? And, of course, what would happen if… Continue reading Spotlight: A whole lot of Patton, the funny kind