The Scope issue 116

THE SCOPE | st. john’s arts and entertainment magazine | MARCH 2011 | Volume 7, Number 2 | Issue 116 | www.thescope.ca

G I W HED MONEY WALKS STAGE—AGAIN TO LIFE ON AL IC S MU ROCK ER-BENDING S THE GEND BRING E R T C2C THEA

WHAT IS CROWD FUNDING

L A V I V R U S WINTER

SANE. HT JUST KEEP YOU E IDEAS THAT MIG . BUT WE HAVE SOM IT'S NOT OVER YET

AND HO W CROWD ED IS TH E

LOCAL F UNDING

POOL?

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RANT FARM Got an opinion? Need to vent? We want to hear from you. Submit your anonymous accusation or confession at thescope.ca/rant.

Submissions may be edited for length, grammar, spelling, legal, or obscenity reasons. One submission will be printed each month, but more submissions to Rant Farm can be found at thescope.ca/rant.

slummin' it

Whats up with crappy landlords in St. John’s? Every apartment I’ve heard about that's rented from a maintenance company have horror stories. They don't care about the apartment at all. Why do homeowners let these management places take over? When I did the walk-through before I moved into my apartment, everything looked perfectly fine. Now I have to bleach my bathroom ceiling on a regular basis to keep the mold at bay. I bet if I had an air quality test done in my apartment it would fail with flying colours. The windows in my apartment are extremely drafty (how was I to know in summer when I checked it?) and I’m pretty sure I’m heating half of downtown . All this but my landlord can’t be bothered to care. ARGH! Shouldn’t apartment inspections of big management companies be mandatory by the tenants board or something?

— Anonymous

hot tickets MARCH 2011

Some of our picks for the month.

music

Joel Plaskett Emergency March 4

Ever since Thrush Hermit formed in 1992, Nova Scotia’s Joel Plaskett has been one of the godfathers of Canadian indie rockdom. Two decades on, his boyish tenor has graced nine albums, including 1999’s classic In Need of Medical Attention.

Bringing his catchy brand of intimate, earnest songwriting, Plaskett and his backing band The Emergency will play the Breezeway on March 4 at 8pm.

Tickets are $20 in advance for students, and $25 at the door. For everyone else, it’s $30. NATHAN DOWNEY STORYTELLING

The Jack Ring Cycle March 15 illustration by RICKY KING

All distinct cultures have oral traditions that help define them, groups of folk tales that come from that a people's struggle to survive. Some have honed these oral traditions into national epics, like the Finnish Kalevala or the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh. Newfoundland’s answer to these may well be Jack.

The Jack Tales are folk stories depicting five centuries of Newfoundland culture, the virtues and follies of the people here.

As part of the 7th-annual St. John’s Storytelling Festival, a group of tale-tellers, thinkers, and historians will compare the Jack Tales to Newfoundland’s actual history in the hopes of mapping out a folk epic of our very own.

Featuring stories by Andy Jones, Anita Best, Marc Cormier, Ford Elms and Mary Fearon, and talks by Richard Cashin, Marjorie Doyle, Ryan Cleary, and John Fitzgerald, the Jack Ring Cycle takes place at The Ship March 15, starting at 5:30pm. Entrance is $5 and includes a Jack snack.

We're not quite sure what that means. NATHAN DOWNEY Visual Art

Goya: The Disasters of War and Los Caprichos Opening reception March 4

Francisco Goya ranks as one of Spain’s most celebrated painters, as a true master of the romantic era. His work earned him celebrity during his own time and a lucrative gig as court painter to the Spanish royal family. He also happened to live during an especially tumultuous period of war on the Iberian peninsula.

Being openly critical of the monarchy’s actions would have cost him far more than his cushy job as a royal portrait painter, Goya nevertheless produced a series of 82 prints in secret entitled “The Disasters of War” in response to the violence he witnessed.

They are stark images of the horror and fallout of war—brutal scenes of violence, disease, and starvation. Critics regard the series as some of the finest examples of anti-war art ever produced.

Presented by the National Gallery of Canada, all 82 prints, plus a bonus folio of satirical prints called “Los Caprichos”, will be on display at The Rooms, kicking off with an opening reception March 4 at 7:30pm. NATHAN DOWNEY

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thescope March 2010

issue 117, volume 7, number 2 Online www.thescope.ca E-mail inbox@thescope.ca Listings listings@thescope.ca Mail The Scope PO Box 1044, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5M3 Phone 709-726-8466

Publisher Bryhanna Greenough publisher@thescope.ca Editor Elling Lien editor@thescope.ca Listings Editor Nathan Downey listings@thescope.ca Staff contributor Sarah Smellie Advertising Sales Elaine Pond (709) 699-7299 elaine@thescope.ca

Contributors Sarah Smellie, Ryan Davis, Andrew Harvey, Adam Clarke, Nathan Downey, Lisa Cook, Elaine Pond, Natrix Ma, Mark Callanan, Taryn Sheppard, Sarah Smellie, Ricky King, Andrew Wickens, and Rob Brezsny. And more!

The Scope is St. John’s arts and entertainment newspaper, published by Scope Media Inc. 22,000 copies of The Scope are printed monthly and distributed throughout the metro area. The Scope seeks to publish a newspaper that will entertain, inform, and foster cultural development in the St. John’s metropolitan area. The Scope claims absolutely no responsibility for any lyin' that happens because of too much Lambs this March. All rights reserved. © 2010 Proudly independent and locally owned. Founded way back in 2006.

thescope.ca

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Advertising Sales Lisa Cook (709) 693-5028 lisa@thescope.ca

COVER ART

Original photo by Ian Vardy (www.ianvardy.com) with additional manipulation by Elling Lien.

Back feed

torn from the electronic pages of thescope.ca

Why is there no snowclearing by-law?

Snowclearing and clogged sidewalks have been a major source of debate on our site these days, especially at Rant Farm. Here's one that really got people going: Rant by Do Your Part: Why doesn’t this city have any snow clearing by-laws?

Most cities I have lived in have one. You are required to clear side walks around property you own with in 24 hours of snow fall, or be fined. If someone doesn’t you report them.

It works. Yes this city has horrible snow removal, which is quite laughable for a city that’s always had snow in the winter. But if people would shovel that little piece of side walk in front of the house it would make it that much easier for everyone.

Comment by rabbittown: Yeah, let's leave the responsibility to the eldery for public safety! I’d vote for you for office… Not. Maybe we can run up our health care costs too for broken hips and bad backs because a 60 year old women can’t afford the fine of not shoveling her sidewalk. Mmmm, lovely idea.

Comment by Momo: 60 is elderly? Since when?

Comment by GC: Yeah, my dad is 60 and he clears snow in his small town for a living.

Comment by eep: Seeing as many major cities do have a by-law, you think they might have already had to deal with the issue of people who physically can’t remove snow from their property. Of course you're not going to fine a person who can’t feasibly do what you are asking. You're going to find a solution. Or you could be a good neighbour and do it for them. And don’t you think these elderly people would like to be able to walk down to the corner store with out fearing the same hip-breaking injury?

Comment by Frank: It's because—I don’t know if you noticed—but St. John’s gets a lot more snow than those other cities.

Snowfall accumulation, yearly, in cm: St. John’s: 322 [www.goo.gl/2ll7z] Halifax: 151 [www.goo.gl/7P0Ka] Calgary: 127 [www.goo.gl/rhlVk] I couldn’t find T.O. or Montreal, but you get the idea.

Comment by GC: If the local inept government spent its money more wisely it could

certainly be done. St. John’s has gotten less accumulation this year than most places in Atlantic Canada and Ontario. If a hole like Charlottetown can clear its sidewalks, then St. John’s can too.

Comment by Cotter: While Frank has summed it up, I’ll add one more thing: It’s clear you’ve never tried doing this yourself.

Good luck trying to keep your sidewalks clear when the plow’s pushed three or four feet of snow up there. And when they come past with the snowblowers and it’s piled-up about eight feet, that’ll sure be fun.

Comment by eep: I do and have shoveled the sidewalks around my property for most my life, when I was young my parents made me do it then help the neighbours, now I do it because it's socially responsible not to make people walk in traffic because you're too lazy to do it (and if your offended now, read the first paragraph again and calm down). Also I have a big driveway on a four lane major roadway with one side walk on my side of the street. So, yes, I know about the massive pileup of snow from street clearing.

Besides, it's good exercise and it gets you outside in the fresh, clean air. Also the people walking past your property won’t think you're a douche every time they go by.

Comment by HBeez: Why is there no snowclearing by-law? Because people would rather sit on the internet and bitch and moan about snow clearing rather than take a proactive approach.

Comment by JB: Proactive? How about the fact that some people already have several hours of shoveling to do every time it snows.

I’m sure there are some that could handle it, but there are a lot where that would just be ridiculously unreasonable. When your walkway and driveway are filled with three- or four-foot drifts, and you have to be somewhere, there’s just no time to be “proactive” and shovel a sidwalk piled higher than your driveway with snow, sand, and rocks.

If I had to shovel sidewalks as well as the driveway, I would literally be shoveling from 7:30 am until 7 or 8 at night.

Throw your shovel into the ring at www.goo.gl/sOoV2

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people thescope.ca/people

a relaxed personality that could take a little poking and prodding? Or are they the type of person who, if I were to light a spark under them, would blow up? There's a fine line because if you get someone too outgoing, they might take over the show and while sometimes that's great, their grandstanding can also take attention away and the energy of the show goes down. It all has to do with timing and energy.

You must be very connected with your audience.

It is very intimate. I call it a cross between guerrilla theatre and folk drama. I do get to touch people and be touched by them.

You can't do this without being touched by people. Not by everybody of course. With some people you'd prefer they didn't touch you! [laughs] Not everyone is in favour of the Screech-In. What would you say to them?

Some people say that it's a misrepresentation of our culture. My response is that yes, I am presenting the Newfoundland stereotype.

That's kind of the whole point. But I take the stereotypes and turn them on their ear.

This is not what Newfoundland is all about.

I don't think anyone seriously believes it. I am presenting a negative stereotype, but I'm also working to disabuse people from that stereotype. I'm fully aware of the objections that come with what I do. My father warned me before I ever got into it. And it was something that I questioned deeply on a moral level. Am I selling my culture out? Am I betraying my province? I've looked myself in the mirror and I've asked myself all those questions and I can say deep down in my heart, no, I am not. Some might misinterpret what I'm presenting and maybe I'm not doing it in the best way possible. But my heart is in the right place.

KEITH VOKEY Master Screecher Keith Vokey, resident screecher at Christian's Pub on George Street, estimates he's screeched-in between 30-35,000 people over the past 17 years. While the origins of the screech-in are a bit hazy, his father, Merle Vokey, is considered to be a major player in the invention of the tradition. At age 16, Keith met Rush at a screech-in and there's been no looking back ever since.

How did you get your start with the screechins?

My first time seeing a screech-in, it was done by my father out at Grenfell College one summer at a teacher's conference. I was about seven or eight years old. I thought he was kind of dorky. But he made everybody laugh and they seemed to like him, so that was cool.

Saw a few more throughout the years. It was

shortly after meeting Rush when I realized by doing this screech-in thing, maybe I'd meet my heroes as they came through town too. So it became a past time hobby that was also an occasional job.

After 17 years of screech-ins, you must have the routine down.

It comes pretty easily now. What I do

concentrate on these days is where I'm going and how I'm going to get to the next part.

That's the fun in it for me. It's an interactive show that has forced reactions. I ask people to perform in specific ways, so I'm always looking for the right person to offer up the best reaction. So when I'm singing a song, I'm also sizing up the room and sifting through the people for good candidates. Do they have

CHALLENGE 2011 Hundreds of Newfoundland and Labradorians signed up to record a full album in the month of February. Check out the music made here in the month of February.

Why do you keep doing it?

I love meeting people. Especially when you talk to those who have travelled from far away and have something very insightful or heartfelt to say about where they're from or how they perceive things or how their culture is different. There are countless stories like that. I feel like I've almost met the world in this 200 square foot space. I'm very blessed by what I saw growing up and how I came to do this. There was no plan to do it, but boy am I glad to be here and do what I do. It's something very special.

Interview and photo by Ryan Davis

THREE ways to HEAR LOCAL RPM ALBUMS: LISTENING PARTY Saturday April 2 CBTG's (9pm–3am) & The Levee (9pm–11pm)

INTERNET RADIO

thescope.ca/rpmradio

ARTIST PAGES

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storefront

Local small business news. Read more at www.thescope.ca/storefront

DREAMS GONE AWRY

ROX meets hard place

If you tuned in to Doyle a bit early on February 9, chances are you caught wouldbe local entrepreneurs Benjy Kean and Greg Ryan pitching their game ROX on CBC-TV's Dragon’s Den. Kean and Ryan’s pitch failed to impress the curmudgeonly multi-millionaires, but their well-coiffed appearance and earnest salesmanship certainly made for an entertaining few minutes of television.

So what exactly were they selling? ROX is ostensibly a game of finesse, requiring players to bounce pieces of coloured glass off a backboard onto a playing surface divided into numbered squares. The highest-scoring player wins.

Though the producers of Dragon’s Den seemed to think ROX was a drinking game, Kean insists it’s a game for all ages, focusing on math skills and, of course, the time honoured tradition of chucking rocks.

Undeterred by the frosty reaction, ROX’s creators plan on building a large-scale version of the game.

Whatever the game’s future holds, Kean and Ryan’s few minutes in the national spotlight is growing into something of a local legend.

If you missed it the first time around, you can see the whole clip at www.addictedtorox.com.

NATHAN DOWNEY

RESTAURANTS

Mexicali Closa’s

What can you say about Mexicali Rosa’s?

Perhaps their food was more about absorbing the liquor in their two-for-one marguaritas than it was for gastronomic pleasure, but there always was a lot of absorbing going on in there. Though their St. John’s location on George Street has closed, Canada’s largest Mexican food chain lives on in other capital cities. SARAH SMELLIE GROCERIES

WHICH NANNY?

When the owner of Auntie Crae’s announced she was retiring, Judy Whitten, buyer at the specialty grocery store for the thirty-four years, had a moment of panic.

“I was like, oh my God, what am I gonna do now?” Whitten says.

She decided to do what she knows.

In mid-February, Judy Whitten opened Fat Nanny’s in the former Cod Jigger spot on Duckworth Street. Her patrons can expect many of the same type of products that made Auntie Crae’s popular, like specialty oils, honeys, seasonings, ajvar vegetable spread, and Auntie Crae’s coffee and jams. She also has plans on bringing in special items direct from England, like chocolate, Walker’s chips, biscuits, and Cherry Coke.

But what about the name?

“When all the kids were growing up, they had two grandmothers, both their last names were Maher, and one was very small and one was very big,” chuckles Judy Whitten. “They

used to say, ‘What nanny’s are we going to?

Small nanny Maher’s or big fat nanny Maher’s?’ So I said we should call it Fat Nanny’s, like the kids used to call her.’”

“She grew up in the Battery and she played the accordion,” Whitten continues. “She taught her son how to play the accordion, who grew up to be the famous musician Frank Maher. And that’s my dad.” SARAH SMELLIE RESTAURANTS

B&B BACK

Have you been sad and wedgeless since midNovember, when B&B Snacks closed their doors? Well, dry your tears, deep-fried potato lovers! Because the snack shop at 27 Blackmarsh Road is back. For a while, anyways.

“The business is up for sale,” says owner Gordon Follett. “We’re looking for a career change.” He says he’s reopened because he figures he’d have an easier time finalizing a sale if the buyer could see it as the viable business that it is. SARAH SMELLIE

GROCERIES

ROCKET TO WATER

Ballistics and baked goods don’t ideally have too much to do with each other, but that’s about to change in downtown St. John’s.

Rocket Bakery & Fresh Food will open in the old Auntie Crae’s space at 272 Water Street with a March 1 target date.

Rocket’s mission control is a consortium of five people, including Living Planet’s Dave Hopley and Johnny Ruth’s Kim Winsor. It will feature similar offerings to its predecessor with a full-scale bakery and fresh food items available for take-out, but with more emphasis on the lunchtime crowd. Coffees sourced both locally and from Ontario will be also be available.

Rocket will carry gourmet grocery items aimed at the foodie set–such as specialty oils and imported biscuits–and will accommodate customer requests.

“We’re basically trying to cater to people who like to cook,” Hopley explained. “We’re trying to develop a food community.”

He says this community outreach will eventually include cooking classes and nutrition information sessions.

As for rocking out at Rocket, they will operate the common room and third-floor space as venues for music and performance.

Hopley hopes to continue the musical session Auntie Crae’s hosted on Tuesdays, as well as a Sunday afternoon folk jam. The third floor can also be rented out for catered events.

Rocket Bakery & Fresh Food may be a new addition to the downtown scene, but the building itself is over a century old. Its heritage includes a nearly 100-year stint as a hardware store.

“The overall tone of the building won’t be substantially changed,” Hopley said. “We’d like to maintain the atmosphere that the building currently has.” NATHAN DOWNEY

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your city

NO PUBLIC TENDER? NO PROBLEM.

Feeling a little blue?

Try a little green!

Sassy Grass Local, Organic Wheatgrass www.Organic Newfoundland.ca

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It seems if you dangle a concept drawing of a big condo in front of council and ask for some public land on the sly, you can convince six of them to sell it to you. Without placing it up for public tender.

Proof of this came to light at the February 14th meeting of St. John's city council. The issue at hand was the potential sale of the former East End Fire Department at 90 Duckworth Street. These days 20 city employees use this building for office space.

By the time the council sat on Monday, a decision Andrew to sell it to a particular Harvey andrew@thescope.ca developer had already been made at a special meeting January 31st. The meeting was “special” meaning it was held behind closed doors, away from the prying eyes of the public and troublesome live bloggers. The decision was to give two potential developers an option to purchase the land for $556,000, providing they can satisfy several conditions, including successful re-zoning of the land.

At the public city council meeting, DeputyMayor Shannie Duff made a motion to rescind the decision to sell the property. Her motion failed in a tight 5-6 vote, with Hanlon, Tilley, Breen, Hann, Hickman, and O'Keefe opposed.

Which means the offer stands.

Those who voted against the motion to rescind said the city had no legal obligation to have a public process to offload “surplus” land, and that this kind of thing has happened before. The former Animal Services building was sold by the city to Loblaws, and the Blackmarsh Dominion now rests on that spot.

Ward 4 Councillor Debbie Hanlon stressed that what the city agreed to is simply an option, not a sale, and that “nothing will go there without public input.”

I refer to the “potential” developers, because the two individuals who met with the city brought a concept drawing for the property, but didn't ever formally submit a proposal. The concept involves upper-scale condominiums for 83 Duckworth. The land they want from the city would see two levels of retail and two levels of parking. Hanlon, who has 18 years experience in real estate says that she has done her own analysis of the property valuation of $556,000, and says the price is “spot on.”

But those opposed to the potential sale seem to be against how the whole thing is going down. Deputy-Mayor Duff says that the sale of public land occurring behind closed doors is “bad public policy” as it is neither fair nor transparent. She also argued that the land sold to Loblaws for the Dominion was not the same situation. In that case, the land had no frontage on a street, and could not have been developed by anyone else except Loblaws, who owned the property between it and Blackmarsh Road.

Councillor Gerry Colbert said the concept for the proposal is good, but “can't see why council can't wait.” He also thinks that the city needs “to see if it makes sense for the city, for the taxpayers, who, by the way, own the building.”

Now, short of a scene like Tahrir Square, the re-zoning of the land will almost certainly go ahead, the sale will be made, and a precedent will have been set.

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CULTURE thescope.ca/culture

Friend benefits Sarah Smellie looks at the phenomenon of crowdfunding.

S

o you’ve got a great idea for an arts project—a brilliant photography project, a novel, a short film, whatever. How do you find the money to put it together?

A few local filmmakers have turned to their social networks for the answer.

Traditionally, you’d pay for it yourself and/or you’d fill out multi-page applications to institutions like the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council (NLAC). Those applications would be vetted by a small group of authorities and, if your project suits their fancy or your reputation guarantees that it’d suit someone else’s fancy, you’d get a cheque.

But what if you didn’t get a cheque? Or what if it isn’t enough?

More and more these days, this is where crowdfunding comes in. It’s an old practice, relying on the idea that small contributions from large numbers of people add up. Think of a Salvation Army Santa collecting coins at Christmas. A modern incarnation is at the top of Wikipedia’s “Crowdfunding” page, where founder Jimmy Wales appeals to readers for a donation of any amount. Got $20? He’ll take it, via PayPal. Your $20, along with tens of thousands of other readers’ dollar bills, keeps the site financed.

Charities do it, political campaigns do it, and now artists are doing it.

Allison White is looking for your twenty bucks to help support the making of her short film, Decoloured. She won the Michelle Jackson Emerging Filmmaker Award, which came with an appreciable sum of money, but she needed a bit more cash for the film. So she set up a page for Decoloured on Indiegogo. com, a popular crowdfunding site for arts projects, where people can donate anything from $10 to $1,000 to her project. Each amount netted a perk for the donor: Ten bucks got them a hug and a nod of thanks, a thousand made them a producer.

“With a feature film,” she says, “you could approach someone and say 'hey, would you like to invest a bunch of money in my film and be an executive producer?' It might make money, and there might be a return for the

investor. But not with a short film.”

Instead, the Indiegogo approach let her solicit small contributions from a large group of people—her social network—and give them small returns, like their name in the credits.

“People could decide on their own if they wanted to give money,” she says, “and they didn’t feel pressure to give a large amount.

Even $10 makes a difference.”

As an added bonus, each donor will probably check out the result, especially if their name is on it.

She applied for a grant, and considered a fundraising show with a few bands. “But if I did a show, I might make $1,000,” she says. And a show could only attract so many attendees. A website, on the other hand, can reach all her Facebook friends, and it won’t go offline after last call.

She emailed Decoloured’s Indiegogo page to her friends, and posted it on her Facebook page. It got reposted and reposted, and, eventually, she racked up $3,760 in donations. That’s more than a new artist can ask for from an NLAC Project Grant.

G

eorge Murray has a lot to say about the phenomenon. He's a poet and Executive Director of the Association for Cultural Industries—an organization which, in part, helps artists get access to funding.

“I think it’s a great idea,” says Murray.

“It’s hard to get a certain level of funding that you need when you don’t have a certain track record. And you’re saving time on all the applications that you’re required to write, which can be onerous.”

A successful crowdfunding campaign might even help with securing grant money in the future.

“If a project has community support, then

the government is justified in spending money on it,” says Murray. “200 people donating ten bucks shows that 200 members of the general public support the project. And a neat corollary is that it involves the community in the production, which might not be otherwise involved.”

Of course, peer review is a large part of securing any grant, and harvesting your social network for funds effectively deletes that component.

Chad Pelley is an author and a $25 donor to White’s film. He says he donated because he saw that White was passionate and thoughtful about her work. That, says Pelley, is a kind of peer review.

“Traditional peer review for, say, a government grant, has its merits,” he says.

“Like quality control and ensuring a variety of projects are being funded. But things like Indiegogo will reduce the influence of bias and popularity. Instead of a jury of two or three people, thousands of individuals get to choose what they would like to see and hear.

The collective taste might favour a certain kind of movie or novel, but there's more hope for the obscure artists finding some funding this way.”

George Murray doesn’t think it’s much of a concern, either. “Good art,” he says, “will always find an audience. If good work is being held up by red tape around funding then this is a viable alternative.”

S

ince White started her Indiegogo campaign, a number of others have cropped up: Jordan Canning set up a page for her short, Oliver Bump’s Birthday; Krissy Holmes and Joel Thomas Hynes are looking to you to support their film, Clipper Gold; Elsa Morena’s film, The Goblin Market, is pulling in donations; and Corner Brook artist Philip Robbins is using a similar site, rockethub.com, to help his photography project along.

Is this a revolution in arts funding?

Murray doesn’t think so. And he doesn’t think successful crowdfunding campaigns will dissuade governments from investing in the arts, either. “I doubt it’ll ever take off to that level,” he says.

In fact, the real problem for the crowdfunding approach might be the crowd itself. “We’re a small community,” says White. “The novelty will wear off. There are a number of other films doing this now, and there must be an overlap in the people they’re asking.”

But if the project is right, she’d do it again.

“I think you have to carefully select the projects. It depends on how much money you need to raise, and if there are a lot of other people asking. It worked for me because I had this award.”

“I would have made the film, regardless,” she adds. “This will just make it a lot easier.

I’ll be able to do it exactly the way I want.”

Comment on this article online at thescope.ca

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GEAR

A day spent outside when you’re dressed properly will change your perception of winter completely. So it’s better to overdress than underdress. Here's some stuff we recommend:

Waterproof pants They'll also be windproof and come in handy year-round given St. John’s wet and whirly climate. They’re less cumbersome and visually don’t stand out as much as padded snow pants.

Ski Goggles Imagine no wind, no cold, and the sensation of a television screen shielding eyes and face from

WINTER'S LAST GASP

the elements, with a supernatural tint. (Mine are pink.) You don’t have to be a skier to justify getting a pair and they’ll increase your ability to endure a hostile (or even mildly hostile) environment. Combined with a hat and scarf, your entire face will be protected from seething cold or stinging ice pellets!

Layers, layers, layers They'll extend your time outside on a cold, damp day. Avoid cotton socks, they’ll make your feet cold when you sweat.

RENTALS

How to keep sane in the months of winter still ahead.

Sure, you can huddle under a blanket in your apartment all you want but there's still another month of real winter left to go.

At this point, you might hardly be able to bring yourself to shovel the front walk, let alone jump into a pair of skis. But face it, although the worst of winter is over, it’s bound to snow some more, it's probably going to stay cold, and pining for spring isn’t going to squeeze the tulips out of the ground any earlier. So if you haven't already, you might as well embrace it. You may even find that once you set foot outside, winter in the city isn't as bad as it seems.

Butter Pot Provincial Park (Daily Rates for Non-Members) Cross Country Skis $30 Skate Skis $30

The Outfitters 579-4453 (Daily Rates) Cross Country Skis $25 Skate Skis $25 Snowshoes $15

By Bryhanna Greenough. Icons by Hemmo de Jonge.

Pippy Park 737-3651 (Hourly & Daily Rates)

GO ON A Winter Storm Walk

A blizzard outside? Don’t wait until the snow has stopped, go out in the worst of it.

With few cars on the streets and the paths all blanketed in snow you may feel like the last person on Earth. You don’t have to be an outdoor ninja to do this. It’s not about breaking trail for three hours straight in an attempt to make up for all those nights spent on the couch with a bowl of chips. Go for a wander and test out your gear. Bundle up so warmly you could imagine surviving three days in the cold. Bring a video camera to film the snowmen you meet, headphones, lip balm and maybe some Fireball. Keep it fun.

Take a Winter Storm Joy Ride

This is pretty much a variation on the Storm Walk. Head to Cape Spear during a blizzard to experience an incredible amount of wild energy in the form of smashing waves and snow flying every direction. Bring some take out pizza to eat in the back seat, your arsenal of winter gear, plus flashlights and headlamps. If you’re the only car in the parking lot it can take on the creepiness of a vampire hunting ground. Your adrenalin may

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begin to surge just from the thrill of being there.

Recommend all wheeldrive, winter tires, and go very slowly when the road conditions are bad.

Go Downhill Skiing OR SNOWBOARDING AT Clarenville

Throwing yourself down the side of a mountain and managing to make it down alive is an accomplishment best rewarded by going back up the chairlift with friends and doing it all over again. If you're smart about it, it's probably not as expensive as you think.

Carpool with friends, split hotel rooms, and ask around for ski-and-stay deals. Bring cash to the hill to get into the fast line for rentals and lift tickets. White Hills resort is near Clarenville, and is about a two hour drive from town. There’s a single slow moving chairlift which services about 20 runs, and a Magic Carpet escalator for the bunny hill.

After a day on the hill, Tai-Hong Restaurant offers a great Chinese buffet.

BUild a Booze Fort

Back in 2007 The Scope did a feature on a fellow named Marty B and his famous creation, affectionately known as the Booze Fort. It consisted of a chamber dug out from a huge pile of snow measuring about 25 feet wide by 15 feet high, boasting an interior so spacious it could comfortably fit eight people on chairs. Built-in drink and candle holders made it Marty B’s “snowy island getaway,” perfect for partying through the storm. This year we’ve heard rumours of a completely independent "Fort Hammered" which was decorated with spray paint and became a successful address for pizza delivery. Maybe someone could dig out the snow pile in the Avalon Mall parking lot for a snow hotel. Let's make it happen.

Go Cross Country Skiing

Whether the snow is gently falling, or the sun is shining high in the bluebird sky, gliding over winter’s white carpet on skis is possibly one of the most affirmative things you can do to get yourself through the season. Butter Pot and Pippy Park both have free groomed trails suitable for classic cross country skiing and skate skiing, plus several kilometers of wild trails. Head out for an hour after a lazy weekend brunch,

Cross Country Skis $4/$12 Snowshoes $4/$12

Useful links and numbers • Avalon Nordic Ski Club (Based out of Butter Pot): www.avalonnordic.ca • Avalon Nordic Ski Tours: 722-2394 Butter Pot Provincial Park: Winter camping hotline 1-709-685-1853 • My Newfoundland Adventures (Snow Kiting) 763-7433. www.snowkite.ca

LATER

Saunas, hot tubs, and steam rooms open to the public. Fees apply.

HGR Mews Centre 576-8499 Pool, steam room and sauna.

Sheraton Hotel Newfoundland 726-4980. Pool, hot-tub and sauna. $7.

The Aquarena

864-3798. Pool, waterslide, hot tub and saunas.

Delta Hotel 570-1614 Pool, hot-tub and sauna.

Spa at the Monastary 754-5800

Hot, warm mineral and cold plunge tubs, and sauna. $50.

Wedgewood Park Community Centre 576-8631: Pool

i could

really go for a sandwich

right now

thescope.ca/Scoff

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or go for the day. Rentals are available. The Avalon Nordic Ski Club organizes guided tours into areas such as Bauline, Torbay, Pouch Cove, Avalon Wilderness Area on a regular basis.

HAVE A Night Adventure at Pippy Park

The lights are on all night, every night at Pippy Park, illuminating three kilometers of groomed snow suitable for cross-country skiing, skate skiing and snowshoeing.

Although it may be covered in snow, there’s a picnic table area as well. Equipment rentals are only available on Fridays from 6pm-10pm, though, but think about the possibilities.

Morning Winter Walk

Of course, there doesn't have to be a storm to enjoy a walk. And it’s a totally different experience to roam around for fun in the morning instead of doing errands or commuting. Take in the hustle and bustle and not be a part of it. Set your alarm an hour early and meet a friend on the harbourfront or in a park for a walk. Get in a visit and some fresh air. Bring your travel mugs and grab a coffee to go. It doesn’t have to be long excursion, just enough to get the blood pumping. My friend and I have been doing this about once a week, and we try to climb a few hills.

Go Snowshoeing

CHALLENGE 2011 Hundreds of Newfoundland and Labradorians signed up to record a full album in the month of February. Check out the music made here in the month of February.

GO Snow Kiting

THREE ways to HEAR LOCAL RPM ALBUMS:

LISTENING PARTY Saturday April 2 CBTG's (9pm–3am) & The Levee (9pm–11pm)

INTERNET RADIO

thescope.ca/rpmradio

ARTIST PAGES

thescope.ca/rpm2011

thescope.ca/rpm

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MARCH 2011

If you can walk, you can snowshoe. Although it lacks the grace of skis, you can access a greater variety of terrain, whether it be up the side of a mountain, or through a stumbly forest trail. A hike up Butter Pot Mountain is recommended. If using groomed trails be sure to stay to the side and not on the ski tracks.

The East Coast Trail is lovely, but also very exposed and windy in many parts. Stiles Cove the new trail which opened in 2009 linking Pouch Cove and Flatrock has been recommended as a good place to go. The Outfitters offers group expeditions to The Spout, which transforms into an ice cone in winter. The seven hour expedition is dependent on weather and conditions and costs $80 per person. Three hour guided twilight expeditions complete with hot chocolate are also available. I sometimes get sore from the wide stance forced by snowshoes but have been told using poles can help.

Snow kiting involves jumping into a pair of skis or snowboard and holding onto a kite string and letting the wind propel you over a snowy field or frozen pond. And it sounds awesome. These special kites can also be used in summer months with kayaks, rollerblades, or surfboard but the best time to learn the basics is in the winter. Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night learn to snow kite at the Pippy Park golf course with My Newfoundland Adventures company. Group lessons including kite rental are available for $89. Bring your snowboard or downhill skis, or rent them for a bit extra.

Have an Outdoor Picnic

Bring a rug or wool blanket, and some tea lights set in jars.

Combine with some activity like back country sledding so the blood flows warm and you work up an appetite. From your backpack unload a thermos of steaming hot chowder and crusty bread. A roast potato, or apple dumpling wrapped in foil then newspaper will stay warm for hours and can be eaten without even taking off your mitts. A paired down version might just be a themos of hot cider or gourmet coffee. Head somewhere with a view, whether it be a local park or pond.

Go Camping

Sleeping overnight in a tent in the winter may not be for everyone, but its worth experiencing at least once in a lifetime, maybe even just to see the stars, which shine brighter in winter. By March the days are longer and weather less extreme so this is a good time to go.

Butter Pot Park is open for winter camping and provides firewood and outhouses. You will need some gear for this. A four season tent is best, but a good quality three season tent will do provided its strong enough to withstand the weight of falling snow. Bring multiple ground tarps, a substantial mattress to insulate your body from the cold below, warm sleeping bags and a broom to dust snow off before entering the tent. One of my favourite tricks learned while treeplanting is to stuff hot campfire rocks inside wool socks and bury them in the bottom of my sleeping bag. But as we all know nothing beats the body heat generated from zipping two bags together.

BEAT UP A snowmAn

Maybe all this activity has worn you down.

Maybe you need to let out some pent-up aggression that comes from not being able to walk on the sidewalk without pulling a Brian Boitano. Let Mother Nature know you’ve had it up to here with her abuse and drop-kick every snowman, snow buddha or snow venus you encounter. Or you can pee on a snow angel or two.

FREEZE some Snowballs for summer

Finally, there's nothing quite like stocking your freezer with snowballs for July. Put them in plastic baggies in case your freezer loses power, and you can sleep easy knowing you already have something special planned to do in July.

Any other suggestions or tips on staying active in March? Comment at thescope.ca

full tilt

The Marine Lab (aka the Ocean Sciences Centre) at Logy Bay. Photo by Taryn Sheppard.

Devious designs

What’s the connection between Bond villains and Modernist architecture?

O

ut on the Red Cliff path near the end of the trail, one can see all the way down to Logy Bay, where the Marine Lab is. And from this vantage point, you can get a great view of this really interesting modern building. The thought has occurred to me before that the Marine Lab (also known as the Ocean Sciences Centre) looks like it could be the home-base of some kind of eccentric super-villain.

I wonder about this apparent connection between Modernism and villainy that I have subconsciously made. Modernism and its philosophy is often criticised by New Urbanists and contemporary architecture critics. They consider the buildings to be culturally sterile. Void of identity.

TARYN Super-villains, on SHEPPARD the other hand—who taryn@thescope.ca generally seem to have the most impeccable taste in architecture and design—appear to be great fans of Modernism. The Modernist dwellings of Bond villains are a case-in-point. Maybe it was just the era in which the films emerged that made for such great architecture, but there was something about the huge scale, stylishness, and sheer improbability of the cold-war-era villain dwelling that propelled it to archetypal status.

Many of these set designs were heavily inspired by prominent Modernist architects like Le Corbusier, Mies van de Rohe and Walter Gropius. Some exemplary pieces of Modernist architecture were even used as sets, like the Elrod House by John Lautner. The villian’s lair always had most exquisite materials: marble, exotic hardwoods, precious metals. It would be nestled into a mountainside or other spectacular location with panoramic glass walls, vast open rooms with spaces divided by sculptural ceilings and in-floor water features.

Film and architecture critics have noted before now that the Bond villain and the Modernist architect are, in many ways, one in the same. Radical schemes to change the world for an indeterminable good or bad have been common themes amongst architects. Modernists like Le Corbusier dreamt of eradicating the existing chaos of our planet - having a clean slate upon which to build an idealized, rationalized utopian world. Le Corbusier (born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret) himself was

the perfect template for Ian Fleming's villains.

He gave himself a new name, he ruthlessly castigated his adversaries, and he had a mission that sounded eerily like world domination.

While Modernist architects probably weren’t seeking actual global domination, the result of their work did produce a kind of global style. The work of famous Modernist architects like Mies Van de Rohe was defined partially by a desire to transcend regional and national identity, and to speak the material language of international business and politics. This philosophy translated into buildings that rejected local characteristics, but celebrated the essence of materials and structural functions. The absence of any contextualizing feature makes it such that the building belongs nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Even though frequently seen as outsiders—especially in places like Newfoundland—Modernist buildings can be picked up and placed in any location and still make sense.

In fact, recently I learned that the Arts and Culture Centre in Grand Falls Windsor started its life as the Czech Pavilion at the ‘67 expo in Montreal. The building, designed by Czech architects Repa and Pycha, was purchased from the Czechoslovakian government by Smallwood in 1967 for 230,000 Czech crowns.

The pavilion was actually brought over in pieces and reassembled in Grand Falls. This was easy, as it was a prefabricated modular building, designed specifically for assembly and reassembly. It houses a 400-seat theatre, an art gallery and a public library. It’s a truly fascinating building and I was surprised that its story is not as celebrated as it could be.

I wonder what this relationship between high Modernism and villainy says about Modernism in reality. Is there perhaps a Bondvillain effect that taints our perception of Modernist design? Examples of Modernism in Newfoundland are sparse, and our collective definition of important historical architecture is selective and excludes the instances of great Modernist buildings that we do have.

Even though these buildings might be a part of something bigger, something other than our regional architectural identity, it doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t fit in somehow and be a rich cultural contribution that makes this island interesting.

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weekend music listings

Music events on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. For more, go to thescope.ca/events

Thursday MAR 3 Carl Peters & Bob Taylor (7pm), Middle Tickle (11pm), Shamrock City Pub Count Down the Clock: With DJ NuRock, The Breezeway Crack The Foundation, Chrome Cabot, The Coffee Dates, 9pm, $5, Distortion Craig Young (solo acoustic) no cover, Fat Cat Blues Bar

Sexual Saturdays: DJ JayCee, Turkey Joe’s

Mick Davis & The Skinny Jims, Fat Cat Blues Bar

The Insiders, Club One

Molt, Swords, Endearing Perversion, 10pm, $6, Distortion

The Zone is Going Mobile!

With VJ Eric and DJ Fabian, 11pm, $10, Bella Vista

The Burning Hell, The Subtitles, 10pm, Ship Pub

Todd Scott & Jeremy Dicks, Green Sleeves Pub

Des Gambin, 7pm, Turkey Joe’s

The Need w/friends, 10pm, The Levee

DJ Big Frank, Konfusion

Tight & Bright Electro Party 2: featuring The Tapedeck Bros., DJ Kellen Short, DJ NuRock, and The Poolside Gangster, 11pm, Rock House

DJ Mark Power, 11pm, Martini Bar Downstairs Mix Up, Hosted

by Steve Abbott, CBTGs Farewell, Brothers Lloyd, Navigator Black & The Indieghost, 9pm, The Levee Fergus O’Byrne (7pm); Acoustic Punters (10:30pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

Traditional Music Session, 8:30pm, Erin’s Pub

Saturday MAR 5

Thursday MAR 10 Black Molly & Friends, 9pm, The Levee Carl Peters & Bob Taylor (7pm), Middle Tickle (11pm), Shamrock City Pub Count Down the Clock: With DJ NuRock, The Breezeway Craig Young (solo acoustic) no cover, Fat Cat Blues Bar Dave Panting, Erin’s Pub Des Gambin, 7pm, Turkey Joe’s DJ Big Frank, Konfusion

Karaoke, West Side Charlie's-Torbay Rd

All Ages Show: Give Up The Grudge Anti-Bullying fundraiser with Greenlight, Stand Your Ground, Shorthanded, RocketshipRocketship, 3pm, $5, Headquarters

Karaoke, 10pm, Karaoke Kops Party Bar

All-Request: DJ RocketBoy, Lottie’s Place

Noise Terror, 10pm, $5, Headquarters

Downstairs Mix Up, Hosted

by Steve Abbott, CBTGs

Brazilian Carnival Night: featuring samba, bossa nova, tropicalismo performed by a live band, 10pm, Ship Pub

Fergus O’Byrne (7pm); Acoustic Punters (10:30pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

Julia Whitten, 10:30pm, Trinity Pub

Open House: Open mic with Jason LaCour, 9pm, Brimstone Public House Open Mic, 9pm, The Levee Sherry Ryan & Allan Ricketts, 8:30pm, $10, Ship Pub Tara Davidson Group, 8pm, $23/$15, Petro-Canada Hall Tino Borges & The Incident, 10:30pm, no cover, Martini Bar Unlisted, Green Sleeves Pub Yung Dumb 15, Headquarters

Friday MAR 4 Aaron McBreiarty, 10:30pm, Trinity Pub All-Request: DJ RocketBoy, Lottie’s Place Basskleph, Dr Drake, 10pm, $10, Club V Bedouin Soundclash, Matthew Hornell & The Diamond Minds, 9:30pm, $20, Club One Bright Lights Neon Party: DJ Green Arrow and X Fade, 7pm, Headquarters Chris Hennessey (5pm); Bill Kelly (8pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub Damian Follett, 6:30pm, Todd Scott & Jeremy Dicks, Green Sleeves Pub DJ Fox, 11pm, Evolve DJ Fox, 2am, Liquid Night Club DJ Nu Rock, Martini Bar DJ Scrappy, Turkey Joe’s DJ Sina, Konfusion Dr. Drake, no cover before midnight/$5, Club V Into The Spotlight (MUN

David Langmead, 10:30pm, Trinity Pub DJ Big Frank, Konfusion DJ Yellow, Martini Bar Dr Drake, no cover before midnight/$5, Club V Electronic Saturdays: DJ Fox, DJ Trip, no cover, Evolve Greenlight, RocketshipRocketship, The Brothers Lloyd, The Living Daylights, 10pm, $5, Headquarters Hugh Scott (5pm); Bob Taylor, Carl Peters & Pat Moran (8pm) Shamrock City Pub Jolly Roger, $5, Fat Cat Blues Bar Karaoke, Karaoke Kops Party Bar

Chris Hennessey (5pm); Bill Kelly (8pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub D’arcy Broderick & Ron Kelly (5pm), Barry Kenny, Glen Harvey & Sonny Hogan (8pm), Shamrock City Pub Damian Follett, 6:30pm, Carl Peters & Dave White, Green Sleeves Pub Dj Fox, 11pm, Evolve DJ Fox, 2am, Liquid Night Club DJ Nu Rock, Martini Bar

Aaron Collis & Anthony MacDonald, Erin’s Pub

Jerry Stamp, midnight, no cover, Bull & Barrel

MARCH 2011

Karaoke, Karaoke Kops Party Bar

The Joel Plaskett Emergency, The Breezeway

DJ JayCee, Turkey Joe’s

thescope

fundraiser) featuring Texas Chainsaw, The Pathological Lovers, The Subtitles & Striped White, 9pm, $10 suggested donation, Rock House

Dave Panting, Erin’s Pub

DJ Illz, Loft 709

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Music) featuring trumpeter Aaron Hodgson, trombonish Jim Tranquilla, and tubist Karen Bulmer, 8pm, $15/$10, DF Cook Recital Hall

DJ Illz, Loft 709 DJ JayCee, Turkey Joe’s

Dr Drake, no cover before midnight/$5, Club V Future The Prince, Dusk Ultra Lounge hedwig and the angry inch (c2c theatre) rock and roll musical, Two shows: 9pm & 12am, $20, Rock House Jamie Dart Band, Fat Cat Blues Bar Janeil Lynch, 10:30pm, Trinity Pub Karaoke, Karaoke Kops Party Bar NQ Arbuckle, Ship Pub Pathological Lovers, Repartee, $10, Headquarters The 8-Track Favorites, Club One Traditional Music Session, 8:30pm, Erin’s Pub

DJ Mark Power, 11pm, Martini Bar

Jerry Stamp, midnight, no cover, Bull & Barrel hedwig and the angry inch (c2c theatre) rock and roll musical, 9pm, $20, Rock House Karaoke, West Side Charlie's-Torbay Rd Karaoke, 10pm, Karaoke Kops Party Bar Mike Hanrahan & Glen Hiscock (6pm), Blacky O’Leary & Joe Tompkins (9:30pm), Kelly’s Pub Nayburz with Flavor Productions hip hop night: Darrell Cooper (saucy blues), RN Wagner (radical folk-hop), Leslie Wagner (apple core), 10pm, Distortion

Saturday MAR 12 All-Request: DJ RocketBoy, Lottie’s Place Anthony McDonald (2pm), Blacky O’Leary (5:30pm), Anthony McDonald & Guest (7:30pm), Blacky O’Leary & Joe Tompkins (9:30pm), Kelly’s Pub Beethoven Festival (NSO) Concerto No. 1, C Major, Choral Fantasy with NSO Philharmonic Choir, Concerto No. 5 'Emperor' with Anton Kuerti on piano, 8pm, $24, Arts & Culture Centre Carl Peters & Dave White, Green Sleeves Pub DJ Big Frank, Konfusion DJ Yellow, Martini Bar Dr Drake, no cover before midnight/$5, Club V

Noise Terror, 10pm, $5, Headquarters

Electronic Saturdays: DJ Fox, DJ Trip, no cover, Evolve

Open House: Open mic with Jason LaCour, 9pm, Brimstone Public House

Hugh Scott (5pm), Bob Taylor, Carl Peters & Pat Moran (8pm), Shamrock City Pub

Melissa Etheridge & Serena Ryder, 7pm, $69.50/$64.50, Mile One Centre

Open Mic, 9pm, The Levee

Jamie Dart Band, Fat Cat Blues Bar

Melissa Etheridge Women’s Afterdance, $10, Rocket

Unlisted, Green Sleeves Pub

Karaoke, hosted by Murf, Darnell’s Pub Lazy Rich, 10pm, $10/$15, Evolve

Mike Cake & Friends, 10pm, Distortion Never Lie Down, 10:30pm, Rack & Roll Lounge Pat Braden, 2pm, $20, Basement Theatre — Arts & Culture Centre Pete Mills, Jordan Coaker & Curtis Harding, 10pm, The Levee Rob Cook (4:30pm); Fergus O’Byrne (8pm); XXX (11:30pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub Rock & Roll For The Kids (Daybreak Centre playground

Tino Borges & The Incident, 10:30pm, no cover, Martini Bar

Friday MAR 11 All-Request: DJ RocketBoy, Lottie’s Place Beethoven Festival (NSO) Concerto No. 2, B-flat Major; Concerto No. 3, C minor; Concerto No. 4, G Major with Anton Kuerti on piano, 8pm, $24, Arts & Culture Centre Blacky O’Leary (6pm), Anthony McDonald & Guest (9:30), Kelly’s Pub

Karaoke, Karaoke Kops Party Bar Karaoke, hosted by Murf, Darnell’s Pub Kill The Shepherd (hardcore), Dodgeband (alternative), One Day in February (punk), 10pm, The Levee Lucky Date, DJ Fox, 10pm, $10/$15, Evolve NQ Arbuckle, Ship Pub Rob Cook (4:30pm), Fergus O’Byrne (8pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub Sexual Saturdays: DJ JayCee, Turkey Joe’s

Thursday MAR 17

Club

AAMP CD release: featuring Grant Kingston, Rick Lambe Band, Patrick Molloy & The Manifest, 9:30pm, $6, The Levee

DJ Starting From Scratch, Dusk Ultra Lounge

Anthony McDonald (2pm), Blacky O’Leary & Joe Tompkins (5:30pm), Anthony McDonald & Guest (7:30pm), Blacky O’Leary (9:30pm), Kelly’s Pub

DJ Nu Rock, Martini Bar DJ Sina, Konfusion

Dr Drake, no cover before midnight/$5, Club V Endometrium (metal) & Friends, 9pm, The Levee Karaoke, Karaoke Kops Party Bar Kilkenny Krew, Club One

Brass Menagerie: MUN Brass Ensemble present music inspired by the animal kingdom, 8pm, $10/$15, DF Cook Recital Hall

Romantic Vienna (MUN Music) Violinist Jennifer Johnson, cellist Nathan Cook & pianist Philip Roberts present Schubert & Brahms, 8pm, $10/$15, DF Cook Recital Hall

Carl Peters & Bob Taylor (7pm), Middle Tickle (11pm), Shamrock City Pub

Ron Hynes Band, 10:30pm, Fat Cat Blues Bar

Celtic Connection, Club One Count Down the Clock: With DJ NuRock, The Breezeway Dave Panting, Erin’s Pub Des Gambin, 7pm, Turkey Joe’s

The Beach B’ys, 8pm, (Adv. tickets available at MUN Copy Centre, Fred's Records) $20, MUN Reid Theatre Todd Scott, 10:30pm, Trinity Pub Traditional Music Session, 8:30pm, Erin’s Pub

DJ Big Frank, Konfusion DJ Illz, Loft 709 DJ JayCee, Turkey Joe’s DJ Mark Power, 11pm, Martini Bar Downstairs Mix Up, Hosted

by Steve Abbott, CBTGs Drunken Lullabies: DJ Illz, 10pm, $5, Loft 709 Duncan Cameron, 10:30pm, Trinity Pub Fergus O’Byrne (7pm), Acoustic Punters (10:30pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub Jerry Stamp, midnight, no cover, Bull & Barrel Karaoke, West Side Charlie's-Torbay Rd Karaoke, 10pm, Karaoke Kops Party Bar Magic & Funny: Benefit for the Autism Society, Arts & Culture Centre Night Music #95 with Spanner, 9:30pm, $5, Ship Pub Noise Terror, 10pm, $5, Headquarters Open House: Open mic with Jason LaCour, 9pm, Brimstone Public House Open Mic, 9pm, The Levee St Patrick’s Day Celebrations, Green Sleeves Pub The Navigators, At Ships End, $5, Trapper John’s Pub

Saturday MAR 19 All-Request: DJ RocketBoy, Lottie’s Place Breaking New Ground featuring the Scruncheons Percussion Ensemble, 8pm, $15/$10, DF Cook Recital Hall DJ Big Frank, Konfusion DJ Yellow, Martini Bar Dr Drake, no cover before midnight/$5, Club V Electronic Saturdays: DJ Fox, DJ Trip, no cover, Evolve Hugh Scott (5pm), Bob Taylor, Carl Peters & Pat Moran (8pm), Shamrock City Pub Karaoke, Karaoke Kops Party Bar Karaoke, hosted by Murf, Darnell’s Pub Kilkenny Krew, Club One Live cassette DJ, M-Fresh 300,000, CBTGs Nothing Fancy, Green Sleeves Pub Ron Hynes Band, 10:30pm, Fat Cat Blues Bar Sean Hoyles, 10:30pm, Trinity Pub Sexual Saturdays: DJ JayCee, Turkey Joe’s

Unlisted, Green Sleeves Pub

The Gaping Lotus Experience (Tool tribute), Blown Wide Open (Big Wreck tribute), Lost Dog (Pearl Jam tribute), 10pm, $10, Distortion

Friday MAR 18

Thursday MAR 24

Actors & Architects (progrock, Halifax), The Living Daylights, 10pm, The Levee

Carl Peters & Bob Taylor (7pm), Middle Tickle (11pm), Shamrock City Pub

All-Request: DJ RocketBoy, Lottie’s Place

Count Down the Clock: With DJ NuRock, The Breezeway

Tino Borges & The Incident, 10:30pm, no cover, Martini Bar

Chris Hennessey (5pm), Bill Kelly (8pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub Damian Follett, 6:30pm, Nothing Fancy, Green Sleeves Pub DJ Fox, 11pm, Evolve DJ Fox, 2am, Liquid Night

Craig Young (solo acoustic) no cover, Fat Cat Blues Bar Dave Panting, Erin’s Pub Des Gambin, 7pm, Turkey Joe’s DJ Big Frank, Konfusion

MARCH 2011

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DJ Illz, Loft 709 DJ JayCee, Turkey Joe’s DJ Mark Power, 11pm, Martini Bar Downstairs Mix Up, Hosted

by Steve Abbott, CBTGs Fergus O’Byrne (7pm), Acoustic Punters (10:30pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub Jerry Stamp, midnight, no cover, Bull & Barrel

Clocked-In (hardcore), 10pm, The Levee Des & Gary Gambin, Green Sleeves Pub DJ Big Frank, Konfusion Dr Drake, no cover before midnight/$5, Club V Electronic Saturdays: DJ Fox, DJ Trip, no cover, Evolve

Karaoke, Westside Charlies - Torbay Rd

Hugh Scott (5pm), Bob Taylor, Carl Peters & Pat Moran (8pm), Shamrock City Pub

Karaoke, 10pm, Karaoke Kops Party Bar

Karaoke, Karaoke Kops Party Bar

Noise Terror, 10pm, $5, Headquarters

Karaoke, hosted by Murf, Darnell’s Pub

Open House: Open mic with Jason LaCour, 9pm, Brimstone Public House

Operas in One, 7:30pm, DF Cook Recital Hall

Open Mic, 9pm, The Levee Ordinary Spokes: bike movie Breaking Away w/ Veneers, Boil Order, Nightmen, 9pm, $10/$5, Distortion Quartetto Gelato, 8pm, $30/$24, Arts & Culture Centre Tino Borges & The Incident, 10:30pm, no cover, Martini Bar Totally Toxic: DJ Fox, 12am, $5, Liquid Night Club

Rob Cook (4:30pm), Fergus O’Byrne (8pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub Sexual Saturdays: DJ JayCee, Turkey Joe’s Steve Davis, 10:30pm, Trinity Pub The Motorleague, Rocketrocketship, 10pm, Distortion The Worst Kind, Fat Cat Blues Bar Yukon Blonde (indie), 10:30pm, $10, Ship Pub

Unlisted, Green Sleeves Pub

Friday MAR 25

Thursday MAR 31 Carl Peters & Bob Taylor (7pm), Middle Tickle (11pm), Shamrock City Pub

All-Request: DJ RocketBoy, Lottie’s Place

Count Down the Clock: With DJ NuRock, The Breezeway

Billy & The Bruisers, Fat Cat Blues Bar

Craig Young (solo acoustic) no cover, Fat Cat Blues Bar

Chris Hennessey (5pm), Bill Kelly (8pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub

Dave Panting, Erin’s Pub

Damian Follett, 6:30pm, Des & Gary Gambin, Green Sleeves Pub

DJ Big Frank, Konfusion DJ Fox, 12am-5am, Liquid Night Club

DJ Fox, 11pm, Evolve

DJ Illz, Loft 709

DJ Fox, 2am, Liquid Night Club

DJ JayCee, Turkey Joe’s

709, Club One

DJ Nu Rock, Martini Bar DJ Sina, Konfusion DJ Yellow, Martini Bar Dr Drake, no cover before midnight/$5, Club V Greg King, 10:30pm, Trinity Pub Karaoke, Karaoke Kops Party Bar The Long-Distance Runners (indie), The Living Daylights, The Levee The Motorleague, The Black Bags, 10pm, Distortion Traditional Music Session, 8:30pm, Erin’s Pub Yukon Blonde (indie), 10:30pm, $10, Ship Pub

Saturday MAR 26 709, Club One All Ages Show: Stand Your Ground, Knockout, Rocket Rocketship, The Motorleague, 4pm, Distortion All-Request: DJ RocketBoy, Lottie’s Place

Des Gambin, 7pm, Turkey Joe’s

DJ Mark Power, 11pm, Martini Bar Downstairs Mix Up, Hosted

by Steve Abbott, CBTGs Fergus O’Byrne (7pm), Acoustic Punters (10:30pm), O’Reilly’s Irish Pub Jerry Stamp, midnight, no cover, Bull & Barrel Karaoke, Westside Charlies - Torbay Rd Karaoke, 10pm, Karaoke Kops Party Bar Maggie Meyer & Neil Conway (songwriters’ showcase), 10pm, $7, Ship Pub Noise Terror, 10pm, $5, Headquarters Open House: Open mic with Jason LaCour, 9pm, Brimstone Public House Open Mic, 9pm, The Levee Tino Borges & The Incident, 10:30pm, no cover, Martini Bar Totally Toxic: DJ Fox, 12am, $5, Liquid Night Club Unlisted, Green Sleeves Pub

FIND MANY more listings online at thescope.CA

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B

ack in 2009, local the atre company c2c mounted their version of the cult musical about a rock and roll band fronted by an Eas t German transgender sin ger. And this month they're doing it again.

It's a strange kind of the atre show. It's held in a bar.

The actors stay on sta ge for the entire set. Th ey play loud rock and roll. Yet , somehow, they manag e to make it work like a pie ce of theatre. But don 't let that scare you.

Elling Lien got a chance to talk with Brad Hodd er, who plays the character of Hedwig.

ON BECOMING HEDWIG ...I heard from someone that as you get the wig on and start putting your costume on backstage, you start turning into a real diva.

How do you get into your character? How do you find your Hedwig?

[laughter] The costume definitely completes the character. I would rehearse in jogging pants and a T-shirt, because I wanted to be able to move, but the minute I put on that stuff... It’s pretty restrictive... It’s pretty tight.

And the fake nails go on. And the hair is crazy. You have to give yourself over to it.

Normally I bite my nails, so I don’t have nails, but then all of sudden you put on these long nails and that, as ridiculous as it sounds, that actually means I have to pick things up differently. There’s something about that, now that I think of it, the nails really do something. They force me to interact with the things and the people around me a lot more daintily because I don’t want to break a nail.

Seriously. Because we’ve only got so many of them.

Put on some press-on nails and see how it changes you. Put on nails and try and do up your shoes. Seriously. Try and tie your shoes, or take a beer cap off a beer. You can still do it, but it’s a completely different way of interacting with the world. And that's just the hands. Just the fingers. It changes everything.

ON TRICKING THE AUDIENCE INTO SEEING A PLAY

...How does this show relate to other kinds of theatre you've done? Because it seems like a real hybrid. An actual rock gig and a theatre show in one...

Yeah, I think this one’s kind of different. It has a built-in cult following because of the movie adaptation [from 2001], so you’ve got people who have seen that. It speaks to a community.

Charlie Thomlinson [the director of the show] he talked about this last year. With this show you are tricking people into coming to a play. They think they’re going to a rock show and then you trick them. You hit them with a few monologues here and there and then ha ha ha! It’s a play. [laugh] There are metaphors! There's character development!

Yeah, there’s all kinds of stuff. And because a stage production is different from a movie, and most people here who went knew it from

SDREUGXS& ROCK

&ROLL

the movie only.

What we found last year is we had a lot of people who came once and they came back again the next night. The word-of-mouth was really great. We put a lot of work into it and we were really happy with how it turned out.

We were pretty proud of it.

I think what really made a difference is it’s in a bar. You can buy a drink. You can even get loaded while you watch the show, which can be fun.

I guess that’s the thing. The Rock House is a perfect spot for that show, but I’d like to try this once in a theatre too just to see how it works there. It’s definitely a play, but there’s a lot of interplay with the audience, because the premise is you’re at a live Hedwig gig, and whatever happens, happens. Some people in the audience react to things and we riff off that.

I was just looking at the photos from last year and there was a sequence of two photos where someone from the audience was feeding you gummi bears. That wasn't a plant, was it?

Hedwig talks about the gummi bears, but that wasn’t a plant. That just happened. Closing night last time we even had a bunch of people show up with Hedwig-style styrofoam wig cut-outs on their heads.

At that point you know you have a phenomenon on your hands. [laugh] It helps too that we have a great band. Janet Cull can sing the crap out of anything. You know, I like to rock and roll and pretend I’m a rock star, that’s fun. And when you know you’ve got Janet Cull there to pick up where I waiver, it's go great. She just comes in and saves the day.

Yeah, it's a show that has been taken up.

Last time we did a few appearances before opening, and I guess that got some word out.

PART}

But it really rallied beyond what we expected. It seemed to me like it got the regular theatre audience out, but it also rallied a whole other kind of community out for it as well.

Lots of people took ownership of it. For me, on a purely selfish level, it’s the closest thing I will ever have to feeling like a rock star. Which feels so great.

The music for the show is so great. When you do the show you're given that gift. I mean, the text is great. The story’s fantastic.

You have interplay with the audience. But then on top of all that you get these songs that are just…

You'd do it a disservice to call it musical theatre, because they’re real rock and roll songs.

They wrote a tribute to rock and roll. There are so many influences there, in the text and in the music.

Photo by Ian Vardy

ROCK SHOW THEATRE SHOW MAN WOMAN

H E D W I G & THE ANGRY IN

I read that when they were getting that show ready for the first time in New York City, they were playing covers in bars—like glam era David Bowie—and changing the lyrics to fit the story. Later they wrote the music.

Yeah, mostly music by the people referred to in the show as “crypto-homo rockers.”[laugh] Yeah, from what I know of the show, they spent a lot of time playing around with it, playing it in dingy bars and trying different venues for it. Messing around with it with no real, conscious idea that it was their workshop period. It just took on it’s own life and it worked, because it's still going over 20 years later.

ON AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

...I really enjoyed the audience participation when I saw the show last time. The singalong especially.

Thanks. There’s this moment in the show where it's kind of like storytime. Charlie wanted us to treat it like story time as an experiment.

"Maybe we’d get people to sit down at this point." And sure enough, when Hedwig goes, “all right everybody, storytime,” we watched 90 per cent of the audience sit down on the scuzzy floor of the Rock House. Like, holy crap! It’s moments like that, and moments like the singalong where people actually do sing along, and moments where people give you the gummi bears, that you realize that this is a different experience.

CH

With this show, I don't know how else to describe it except there was a real sense that, in some way, the show wasn’t ours any more. Ten minutes into the first performance last time there was a sense that this show wasn’t just ours. For whatever reason, it belonged to everybody in that room. That sounds a little flighty, but I don’t know how else to describe it. It really did become this thing that had all of those wonderful elements of live performance. We are all here, right now, for this next hour.

This is special, this is unique, and this is ours, and it’s only going to happen here.

ON MOM&DAD

...I heard your parents went to see it last time. What do they think of it all?

You know, when they heard we were remounting it, mom and dad couldn't stop telling everyone about Hedwig. It was so weird hearing my dad at the table at Christmas time telling my uncles, "so in this show Brad plays this character who had a sex change and now he has no penis and no vagina. It really is an excellent show." [laugh] Dad came to the opening night, and then they came back again for another show. And my parents, they don’t do that usually. But they really liked this one. On some level, I think this show is really fringe and bizarre.

But there seems to be a truth to it that lots of people can identify with.

Ultimately it’s someone trying to find themselves. And that’s something everybody does.

We spend our whole lives doing that. Hedwig has such a rough go of it, but then you can watch her on stage finding herself, in some way. c2c's production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, directed by Charlie Tomlinson, will be at the Rock House on Thursday, March 10 at 9pm and Friday, March 11 at 9pm and 12am. Tickets are $20 and available at Model Citizens or at the door. 19+ only. Rock on.

MARCH 2011

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19

reader restaurant reviews Reviews submitted online at thescope.ca/scoff

Raymonds Restaurant 95 Water Street, 579-5800

 Reviewed by ryano88

RESTAURANTS & CAFES Best Cafe Best New Restaurant Best Overall Restaurant Best Restaurant (Downtown St John's) Best Restaurant (Beyond Downtown) Best Restaurant (Mount Pearl) Best Restaurant (Paradise) Best Restaurant (Portugal Cove-St. Philips/ Torbay/Bell Island) Best Restaurant (CBS) Best Restaurant Chain FOOD Best All Day Breakfast Best Brunch Best Fish & Chips Best Fishcakes Best Mussels Best Seafood Best Place to Buy Fresh Fish Best Bakery (Breads) Best Bakery (Sweets) Best Butcher Best Restaurant for Carnivores Best Burger Best Sandwich Best Turkey Sandwich Best Chicken Wings Best Chinese Best Pizza Pie Best Pizza Slice Best Salad Best Place To Feed A Sweet Tooth Best Dessert Best Indian Best Sushi Best Pasta Best International Food Best Veggie Burger Best Vegetarian Option at a Non Vegetarian Restaurant Best Buffet

Best Quick Lunch Best Lunch Specials Best Campus Eats Best Pub Grub Best Delivery or Take Out Best Late Night DRINKS Best Coffee (Espresso-based) Best Coffee (Regular) Best Hot Chocolate Best Milkshake Best Restaurant Wine List Best Beer Selection Best Local Beer Best After Work Drinking Best Cheap Drinks Best Cocktails Best Martini

SERVICES & SPECIAL FEATURES Best Chef Best Service Best Place for a Large Group Best Patio Best Restaurant Washroom Best Kid-Friendly Restaurant Best Place to Take Out-of-Towners Best Value Best Restaurant When Someone Else Is Paying Best Community Fundraising Dinner Best Restaurant for Cheap Eats Best Restaurant For A First Date Best Intimate Dining Best Special-Occasion Dinner Best Atmosphere Best Farmers' Market Vendor (Produce) Best Farmers' Market Vendor (Prepared) Best Place You Have Yet to Try

HELP CELEBRATE the best FOOD & DRINK THE St. John's metro area has to offer

survey online monday march 7

Had Raymond’s for the first time last night and it more than lived up to its reputation as the finest fine dining in the city.

Every teensy little detail was presented to perfection: our server was great, the whole place is beautiful, ambience was just perfect, and we got lots of TLC from Jeremy B. But that food… mmm-Mmmm! Made me feel like the food critic guy in Ratatouille, how every single bite would just zoom me away to a happy place. This is food whose taste will get stuck in your memory for ages to come.

An experience not to be missed.

Go now before the summer madness hits (I think this place is going to be BUSY)!

11 out of 10, for sure.

Avg rating

 (based on 6 reviews)

Chinched Bistro 7 Queen’s Street, 722-3100

 Reviewed by Clare

My boyfriend and I ate at Chinched for an early Valentine’s Day treat. We ordered a few things off the bar menu at first: I had the gnocchi, pig’s tongue and pork belly. I also had the calamari, which was a special. They were all delicious. There are also some less adventurous items as well. The staff were friendly and attentive and we had a great evening. The chocolate pudding dessert was to die for. My only issue was the the beer was a little more expensive than I thought it would be.

Avg rating

½ (based on 11 reviews)

wing 'n it

5 Bates Hill, 709-237-9464

 Reviewed by Rosco

I was really excited to see a new wing place, being a bit of a wing nut myself. The food was great and the service was awesome. It will take a while to taste them all, but there are so many flavours you will find something you like.

I was disappointed there were no buffalo wings, but was told they would perhaps offer some soon. Try the BBQ pineapple curry. You will be impressed.

This has the potential to be a popular place in the downtown area.

Avg rating

 (based on 6 reviews)

Take part in our first annual Best of Food & Drink Readers' Survey! Results will be published in a special Food & Drink issue in June By taking part, you’ll automatically be entered in a prize draw to win one of five gift certificates for Paderno KitchenWear valued at $100 each. A minimum of 10 questions must be completed to qualify. Fasten your taste buds.

www.thescope.ca/food 20

thescope

MARCH 2011

Disagree? Write your own damn reviews at

thescope.ca/scoff

on display visual art museums

GALLERIES Openings Crafting Paradox: Cal Lane, John Goodyear and Jason Holley explore a common paradox resulting from the tension between material and technique, form and content, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Opening reception Fri Mar 4 at 7:30pm) Goya—The Disasters of War and Los Caprichos: Goya’s remarkable series of prints, The Disasters of War, details the brutality and horror of the 19th century Peninsula War in Spain, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Opening reception Fri Mar 4 at 7:30pm) International Women’s Day Exhibition: Artists Goody-B Wiseman and JoAnne Balcaen explore popular music, fandom, and the commercialization of desire in two multi-media installations, “Superlovestarpower 2: The Album Project” and “The Longer I Wait, the Better it Feels”, Eastern Edge Gallery-72 Harbour Dr (Opening reception Sat Mar 5 from 3pm to 5pm) Interrelationships – Land, Sea & Sky: Exhibition of paintings by artist Sylvia Bendsza, Red Ochre Gallery-96 Duckworth St 726 6422 (Opening reception Fri

Mar 4 from 5pm-8pm; Ends Mar 26)

James Rosen Solo Exhibit: An Homage to the Capable Observer, Leyton Gallery of Fine Art-Clift Baird’s Cove 722-7177 (Opening reception Sat Mar 12 from 3pm to 5pm) Passages: Exhibition of paintings by artist George Horan, Red Ochre Gallery-96 Duckworth St 726 6422 (Opening reception Fri Mar 4 from 5pm to 8pm; Ends Mar 26) Rare Reflections – The Art of Hilary Rice: Through the manipulation of heat-treated synthetics and an experimental use of natural fibres these textile works seek to evoke an awareness of the sacred, Craft Council Gallery-59 Duckworth St (Opening reception Sat Mar 19 from 2pm to 4pm) Rare Reflections – The Art of Wesley Harris: Hand wrought hollowware and pendants in precious metals and rare gems capture the fragile beauty of nature, Craft Council Gallery-59 Duckworth St (Opening reception Sat Mar 19 from 2pm-4pm) Robert Sinclair-Fluidity: Robert Sinclair was a participant in The Rooms and Parks Canada Artist in Residence Program. Removed from his usual environment of the Rockies, Sinclair found Gros Morne demanded a new approach. In Fluidity, Sinclair illustrates how he explored

this challenge, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Opening reception Fri Mar 4 at 7:30pm)

Sojourner Truth Parsons Exhibition, A1C Gallery, 8 Baird’s Cove (Opening reception Sat Mar 5 at 8pm; Ends Mar 26) The Sensuality of the Maturing Woman: Celebrating the Art of Aging Well: An exhibition of oil paintings by Tina Dolter, Christina Parker Gallery-7 Plank Rd Opening reception Fri Mar 4 from 5pm8pm; Ends Mar 25)

Continuing Exhibitions Coastal Women in Pre-Confederation Newfoundland & Labrador: Documents women’s experiences in outport communities prior to 1949 by interweaving archival photographs & documents, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 Fantastic Sea Monsters: Stories of ocean and lake ‘monsters’ have fascinated us since the dawn of time; seafarers were convinced that the oceans were the devil’s kingdom – a place of terrifying monsters eager for shipwrecks, the home of sirens, krakens, whales, sea serpents, and giant sharks, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 Inner Works: Selections

from the People’s Collection: Featuring artists such as Anne Meredith Barry, Peter Bell, David Blackwood, Christopher Pratt, Mary Pratt, Helen Parsons Shepherd, Reginald Shepherd, Gerald Squires & Don Wright, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000

Metis Carver: Ancient Stories in Stone and Bone – ongoing exhibit by Albert Biles, Wild Things-124 Water St New Works: By Gerald Squires, Esther Squires, George Horan, Julia Pickard, Sharon Puddester, Gerald Squires Gallery-52 Prescott St 722-2207 Recent Releases, Richard Steele Gallery-63 Harvey Rd 754-6741

Last Chance Campbell Tinning: The Newfoundland Series: George Campbell Tinning, a Canadian war artist from Saskatoon traveled to Newfoundland in 1949 and painted a series of watercolours reflecting the province’s landscapes and rural communities, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Ends Mar 27) Lori Doody: Sing, Sing, Sing: In her exhibition, Lori Doody creates an intimate encounter with nature in an urban setting. Sing, Sing, Sing, is comprised of small-scale intaglio prints of starlings perched upon wires, hung from black

wires with bamboo clips, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Ends Mar 27)

SHHH!: An exhibition of textiles and titillation by Stephanie Barry, Craft Council-59 Duckworth St 7532749 (Ends Mar 6) Witness: An exhibition of figurative sculpture in bronze, burlap and wax by Heather Reeves and Po Chun Lau, Craft Council-59 Duckworth St 7532749 (Ends Mar 6)

MUSEUMS

A Tour de Fort: Interpretive panels tell the story of Fort Townsend, the 18th century symbol of England’s domination over the fishery, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 Admiralty House Museum: 1915 navy wireless station now communications museum, 23 Old Placentia Rd-Mt Pearl 748-1124

and memories shared by people who live here. At each location there is a sign with a telephone number and a 3-digit code.

Johnson Geo Centre & Park: See Signal Hill’s 550 million year old geology & specimens of NF rocks, minerals & botanical park, 175 Signal Hill Rd 737-7880 MUN Botanical Garden: Trails, gift shop & tearoom, 306 Mt Scio Rd 737-8590 Railway Coastal Museum: St. John’s Dockyard exhibit of model ship hulls, shipbuilding, dockyard history plus the story of Newfoundland's railway boat service & 1940's train diorama, 495 Water St W 724-5929 Signal Hill National Historic Site: Military & communications history, meet Signalman, watch film, interactive exhibits, Visitor Centre 772-5367

Connections: This Place and Its Early Peoples: Polar bears on tundra, carnivorous plants in a bog, seabirds, sea mammals, sea life plus the people who made their lives here, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000

The Fluvarium: A panoramic water view under the surface of Nagle's Hill Brook. Spot fish, insects & plants in natural habitat plus interactive exhibits, 5 Nagle's Place 754-3474

East Rider Motorcycle Museum: Two floors of bikes, memorabilia and biker culture, 205 New Gower St 738-3278

Send press releases to listings@thescope.ca

[here]say: A story map of Water Street: Stories

MARCH 2011

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21

community

community events lectures & forums kids & teens meetings & classes

COMMUNITY EVENTS A Mile In These Shoes (Coalition Against Violence) An evening of food, music, and entertainment in support of violence prevention.

Featuring Mary Walsh, Berni Stapleton, Amy House & Mark “The Illusionist” Webber, $20, Masonic Temple-6 Cathedral St 757-0137 (Sun Mar 6 - Fri Mar 11 from 7pm to 9pm) Heaven=Art + Beer: Midwinter event featuring a silent art auction of small works, Irish stew (an ode to St. Patrick's Day) and of course many an artist's favorite beverage, beer. Eastern Edge Gallery-72 Harbour Dr 7391882 (Thu Mar 17 at 7pm) Pancake Breakfast (CBC & NLHHN) Raise awareness for homelessness in the province.

Celebrity servers and live entertainment at various locations, $5 suggested donation, visit cbc.ca/nl for locations and details (Tue Mar 8 from 6am to 9am) Tapas & Tango: Fundraiser for The Autism Society of Newfoundland & Labrador, $100, Sheraton Hotel 7222803 (Sat Mar 26 at 6:30pm)

LECTURES & FORUMS Crafting Paradox: Join guest curator Denis Longchamps for a discussion of the influence of craft on art and art on craft, as he speaks on the exhibition Crafting Paradox, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Sun Mar 6 at 2pm) Goya – An Art History Gallery Tour: Tour the great artworks of 18th-century romantic painter Francisco Goya. Learn why his work was so controversial when it was created and how it has remained poignant today, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Thu Mar at 2:30pm) Hearing Lecture (CHHA-NL) Dr. Neil Bauman discusses tinnitus, Meniere’s disease, phantom sounds, and hearing loss, choice of two sessions, free but must register, Capital Hotel-208 Kenmount Rd 753-3224 (Thu Mar 10 at 2pm & 7pm)

thescope

MARCH 2011

Philosophy Winter Colloquium: Dr Christopher Martin (MUN Medicine) speaks on Recognition and the Body, MUN C-4036 (Tue Mar 1 at 2pm) Philosophy Winter Colloquium: German Legislation and Culture in Post-War Reality with Deborah Scatena, MUN A-1049 (Fri Mar 4 at 1pm) Philosophy Winter Colloquium: Jay Foster speaks on Salt, Water and Jade: Rigid Designation and Scientific Realism, MUN C-4036 (Tue Mar 8 at 2pm) Philosophy Winter Colloquium: Stephen Gardner speaks on Identity, the Body and the Self, MUN C-4036 (Tue Mar 15 at 2pm) Philosophy Winter Colloquium: Kierkegaard to Derrida: The Beginning of Post-Structuralism with Rebekkah Lash, MUN A-1049 (Fri Mar 18 at 1pm) Philosophy Winter Colloquium: Darren Hynes speaks on Foucault's Philosophical History of Anatomy, MUN C-4036 (Tue Mar 22 at 2pm) Philosophy Winter Colloquium: Stephen Crocker speaks on Body and Gesture: Vitalism after Bergson, MUN C-4036 (Tue Mar 29 at 2pm) Public Lecture in Philosophy: Elements of Magic(k): Esotericism, Illusionism, and Philosophy by Peter Duchemin, free, The Ship-265 Duckworth St (Tue Mar 29 at 8:30pm) Public Theology Lecture: The Church in the Public Square with Rev’d David Torraville, Bishop of the Diocese of Central Newfoundland, Anglican Church of Canada, MUN Theology QC-3005 (Mon Mar 7 at 1pm) Public Theology Lecture: Liturgy as Public Theology with Gerard Whitty, Queen's College, MUN QC-3005 (Mon Mar 14 at 1pm) Public Theology Lecture: Speaking Tongues to the World: A Pentecostal Approach to Public Theology with Rev'd Garry Milley, Park Ave Pentecostal Church, MUN QC-3005 (Mon Mar 28 at 1pm)

Then and Now with Sister Elizabeth Davis, Hampton Hall-Marine Institute (Wed Mar 9 at 8pm)

Women's Studies Lecture: Feeding: Troubling Breasts, Bottles and the Mother-Child Bond with Kira Petersson Martin, MUN SN-4087 (Mon Mar 21 at 12pm) Women's Studies Lecture:The Making of the Teenage Mother: A Discursive Analysis of Adolescent Childbearing and Social Exclusion with Sandy May, MUN SN4087 (Mon Mar 28 12pm) Your City, Your Future (Happy City) Join this unique format to discuss how to prepare St. John's for the future, free, Masonic Temple-6 Cathedral St (Sat Mar 26 from 10am to 2pm)

KIDS & TEENS A Whale of a Good Time: Want to see a giant sperm whale’s tooth? And find out what they eat? Join Julie Huntington for activities all about the ocean’s biggest creatures, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Sun Mar 6 from 2pm-4pm) Max & Ruby: $30/$25, Holy Heart Theatre-55 Bonaventure Ave 579-4424 (Sat Mar 26 at 12:30pm & 3:30pm) Pippy Park Winterfest: Winter family fun in Pippy Park. Activities include slid-

St Patrick’s Day Celebration (St. John’s Storytelling Festival) Featuring highenergy tales of wonder from acclaimed Irish storyteller Clare Muireann Murphy, free, AC Hunter Library-Arts & Culture Centre 737-3953 (Fri Mar 11 at 3:30pm) The Art of Crafts: Traditional crafts were often created out of necessity from leftovers to create practical, but carefully constructed pieces of functioning art. In this workshop learn how to flip some of our trash into treasure, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Sun Mar 13 from 2pm-4pm) Wake Up! We can just start to see nature getting reading for spring. But who is waking up, who is still asleep? Who is building nests, who is hunting again? Discover who is on the move despite the snow, free, The Fluvarium-5 Nagles Pl (Saturdays & Sundays at 1:30pm) Weekly Tots Program: Big Fun for Little People, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Tuesdays from 10:30am-11:30am) Young Musicians, Open mic at Shamrock City Pub (Sundays at 2pm)

February 2011

TOP 5 based on web VIEWS

bridge ian Leth

by Dam

NUMBER ONE I DON'T WANT TO PLAY MY GUITAR VICKEE LOO Vic may be best known as front-man of local rock phenomenon Kujo, but on his own he has a diverse body of work. Last year he delivered a one-two sucker punch of highly danceable synth-pop and clever 80’s throwbacks with his 2010 RPM album The New Depression. www.myspace.com/victorlewis

Seafaring Women: Following a screening of a 30 minute movie, Meaghan Walker and Julia Stryker will facilitate a discussion on issues it raises about women’s experience of going to sea in the past and the present, MUN SN-2000 (Wed Mar 2 at 1pm)

Music, Media & Place: Jane Gosine presents “The Effect of Distinct Social and Physical Environments on the Compositions of MarcAntoine Charpentier”, free, MMaP Gallery-Arts & Culture Centre 729-3900 (Mon Mar 8 at 7:30pm)

The Giant Squid – Legend and Reality: Anna Guigne will use a variety of media to survey stories of the giant squid from the time of Homer up to the 21st century, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Thu Mar 3 at 2:30pm)

NUMBER TWO

Philosophy Society's Student Colloquium: Productivity, Drugs and Consciousness with Joe Kennedy, MUN A-1049 (Fri Mar 11 at 1pm)

The Hungry Month of March: Stories Within Stories in the Archives Division of the Rooms with Larry Dohey (manager of Collections & Projects, Provincial Archives), MUN A-2071 (Wed Mar 16 at 1pm)

NUMBER FOUR

Wessex Society Lecture: The Sisters of Mercy Story,

ing, skiing, snowshoeing, snow games for the kids, hot chocolate and lots of fun, free, Long Pond Sliding Hill & North Bank Lodge (Sun Mar 20 from 2pm-4pm)

tratchke ofday

MUN Geography Lecture: Mapping in the 21st Century: New Horizons, New Challenges with Rodolphe Devillers, Johnson Geo Centre-175 Signall Hill Rd 737-7880 (Tue Mar 22 at 7:30pm)

Philosophy Society's Student Colloquium: An Exploration of Life: The Ancient Theory of Aristotle Versus the

22

Current Theory of Biology by Melanie Hurley, MUN A-1049 (Fri Mar 25 at 1pm)

THE BLOSSOMS GLOW www.myspace.com/blossomsnl

NUMBER THREE OTHER PEOPLE WIND UP ROBOTS www.myspace.com/otherpeoplenl

PATRICK CANNING & THE SUFFERING MOTHERS HOPE IS FLEETING www.patrickcanning.ca

NUMBER FIVE MARK BRAGG YOUR BOYS HOME (UNRELEASED DEMO) www.markbragg.com

MEETINGS & CLASSES

Clubs, Groups, Free Classes & Workshops

offers instruction in meditation for all young adults aged 15-35, free but must register, Gower St United Church-99 Queen’s Rd 722-8848 (Thursdays from 2pm-3pm)

Alzheimer Family Support : Group meeting for family members of people with Alzheimer’s disease, 685 Water St (Third Thursday of month at 7pm)

Nar-Anon Family Group: Weekly meetings for those who know or have known a feeling of desperation due to the addiction problem of someone close to them, 726-6191

Avalon Wesleyan Church: Weekly meet up in a casual atmosphere with coffee & contemporary music, free, Rabbittown Theatre-106 Freshwater Rd 576-6937 (Sundays at 10am) Bike Build Pizza Eat: Help build roadworthy bikes for the spring demand from a stock of donations, with homemade pizza, Ordinary Spokes Community Bikeshop-157 Prowse Ave Ext (Sat Mar 19 from 6pm-9pm) Break Down Comic Book Jam: Learn more about cartooning, develop drawing skills, show off your work and get feedback, free, Anna Templeton Centre-278 Duckworth St (Fri Mar 4 from 7pm-9pm) Breastfeeding Support Group (La Leche League) The topic of discussion will be The Art of Breastfeeding and Avoiding Common Difficulties, babies welcome, free, Sobey's-Torbay Rd 722-5815 (Mon Mar 14 at 7pm) Capital Toastmasters: Improve self-confidence and overall leadership abilities for career and life, free, MUN Inco Centre-2014 687-1031 Caregiver Conversations: Support group for unpaid caregivers 726-2370 (Every third Monday) Channal: A peer support group for people with mental illness. We focus on recovery, 284 LeMarchant Rd 753-7710 (Tuesdays at 7pm & Wednesdays at 2pm) Critical Mass: A mass bike ride around downtown to assert cyclists' right to the roads and spread cycling awareness, Colonial Building-Military Rd (Fri Mar 25 at 6pm) Free Arts Studio (For the Love of Learning) Offering space, materials and advice.

Free workshops, art exhibits, a newspaper and writing anthologies, stage plays and short films, Gower St United Church-basement 722-8848 (Weekdays from 12pm5:30pm) Green Drinks: An informal get together for those who work, volunteer or have an interest in environment & conservation related issues, 7pm-9pm, no cover, The Ship (Last Wednesday of month) Kaleidoscope Real World Video Challenge: Info session, film screening & pizza party for national online video contest which aims to engage young Canadians and support them in becoming responsible and active global citizens, For the Love of Learning at Gower St United Church-basement 722-8848 (Fri Mar 25 from 3:30pm5pm) Knit Wits: An opportunity to meet other knitters, to get help with a knitting project, or to show off your latest creation; individuals who crochet are also welcome, free, Anna Templeton Centre-278 Duckworth St (Sun Mar 27 from 7pm-9pm)

Newfoundland Horticultural Society: Monthly meet up, St David's Church Hall-Elizabeth Ave (First Tuesday of month at 8pm) Overeaters Anonymous: Help is available and it’s free, no strings attached. Weekly meetings in the metro area, 738-1742 Solid Rock (Avalon Wesleyan Church) Free supper, video by Nicky Gumbel & discussion. Open to everyone, even if you don't believe in God but want to know what Christians believe in, 111 Park Ave-Mt Pearl 240-0333 (Wednesdays until Mar 23) Shambhala Meditation Group: Free introduction to meditation, Billy Rahl Fieldhouse-rear Elizabeth Towers 576-4727 (Wednesdays 7:30pm & Sundays 10am) Sing Barbershop: The Anchormen Chorus is seeking new members, Arts & Culture Centre-Rm B rick_e_young@ hotmail.com (Mondays at 7pm) St John’s City Council Meeting: Refer to Council Agenda at www.stjohns.ca (posted Friday afternoon), Public welcome, City HallCouncil Chambers, 4th fl (Mondays at 4:30pm) Stay in NL Career Fair: Presented by Northeast Avalon YMCA-YWCA, Holiday Inn 757-2665 (Tue Mar 15 from 10am to 4pm) Stitch ‘n Bitch: MUN Graduate Students’ Union invites people to gather their yarn balls and other crafty items and craft the cold winter nights away. Bring your own yarn, GSU Boardroom above Bitters (Mon Mar 14 & 28 at 7pm) Tenacious String Orchestra: Amateur community orchestra welcomes new members motivated by the pure enjoyment of playing together alison@ nf.sympatico.ca The Pottle Centre: A social & recreation centre for consumers of mental health services, 323 Hamilton Ave 753-2143 The Rooms: Free admission, 9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Wednesdays 6pm-9pm) Trivia Night: Rose & Thistle on Tuesdays; Bitters on Thursdays at 8pm Women's Accordion Circle: Women of all ages can perform, experiment & share stories about making music, Arts & Culture Centre2nd Fl, Old Gallery 746-2399 (Mondays at 7:30pm) World Day of Prayer: First United Church will be hosting a World Day of Prayer service entitled "How Many Loaves Have You?", written by the women of Chile, First United Church-221 Park Ave Mt Pearl (Fri Mar 4 at 7pm) Send press releases to listings@thescope.ca

Mindfulness Meditation Workshops: Andrew Safer

MARCH 2011

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23

on stage

theatre dance & Performance spoken & written comedy

ON STAGE CALENDAR Send press releases to listings@thescope.ca

Theatre ABBA: Got To Get The Scoop: Offbeat comedic musical revue featuring the music of ABBA, Masonic Temple-6 Cathedral St 579-3023 (Fri Mar 4 / Sat Mar 12 / Wed Mar 19) Dr. Horrible’s Great SingAlong Blog: The time has come for a new regime and Dr. Horrible intends to lead the change. He explains his motivation as “destroying the status quo because the status is not quo. The world is a mess and I just need to rule it.“ Directed by Darren Hann and featuring starring Kevin Woolridge and Jacob Brown, $20, Rabbittown Theatre-106 Freshwater Rd 739-8220 (Fri Mar 4 at 8pm & Sat Mar 5 at 2pm & 8pm) Eli & The Death Curse (RCA, Bare Boards Theatre & Bold Moves Productions) This family friendly story centers around a young boy, Eli, who is afflicted by the most tragic of spells - the Death Curse.

Written by Phillip Goodridge and directed by Nicole Rousseau, $15/$20, LSPU Hall-3 Victoria St 753-4531 (Thu Mar 3 & Fri Mar 4 at 8pm; Sat Mar 5 at 2pm & 8pm) Hedwig & The Angry Inch (c2c Theatre) Don't miss the story of Hedwig's life, from her humble beginnings as Hansel, a young boy born on the wrong side of the Berlin wall, to her reincarnation as an internationally ignored songstress. Join her for a night of sex, drag and rock n' roll. Directed by Charlie Tomlinson, featuring Brad Hodder & Janet Cull, $20, Rock House-George St (Thu Mar 10 at 9pm; Fri Mar 11 at 9pm & 12am) Jake’s Gift: A drama about a Canadian World War II veteran who reluctantly returns to Normandy, France, for the 60th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Written and performed by Julia Mackey, $24/$27, LSPU Hall-3 Victoria St 753-4531 (Wed Mar 9 - Sat Mar 12 at 8pm) Oh Canada!...More Than Just Beavers: A musical revue and dinner featuring the songs of some of Canada’s best

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songwriters, starring Sheila Williams and Dana Parsons, $59.50, Masonic Temple-6 Cathedral St 579-3023 (Fri Mar 11 & Sat Mar 26 at 6:30pm)

storyteller and songwriter Pat Braden for a glimpse of Northern life, $20, Basement Theatre-Arts & Culture Centre 729-3900 (Sat Mar 5 at 2pm)

novel The Artificial Newfoundlander, A.C Hunter Adult Library-St. John’s Arts and Culture Centre (Wed Mar 16 from 7pm to 8:30pm)

Dance & Performance

The Blue Castle: Conversations on Women, Culture, and the Spaces of the Imagination presents a dramatic reading of Lorena Gale's powerful dramatic monologue, "Je me souviens: Memories of an expatriate Anglophone Montréalaise Québecoise exiled in Canada," The Ship Pub-265 Duckworth St (Tue Mar 8 at 8pm)

Stockholm (Women’s Works Festival) Written by Meghan Greeley. Read by Allison Moira Kelly, Megan Coles & Jody Richardson, by donation, Eastern Edge Gallery-72 Harbour Dr (Tue Mar 8 at 7pm)

A Night of Desire (Burlesque Show) Come down and see some absolutely astounding performances from some pretty gorgeous ladies, $10, Headquarters-208 Water St (Fri Mar 11 from 7:30pm10pm) Just To Love (Engine Productions) Original dance theatre piece exploring various aspects of love, written and choreographed by Laura Huckle.

Featuring performances by Kimberley Drake, Jenn Brown, Mitch McGee Herritt, Ciaran Dyke, Clare Hewlett, Shawn Walsh, Stephen Quinlan, Dylan Brenton, Allison Kelly & Joshua Druken, $10, LSPU Hall-3 Victoria St 753-4531 (Fri Mar 25 at 8pm; Sat Mar 26 at 2pm & 8pm) Latin Tuesdays: Dance to a mixture of Latin rhythms, 8pm-11pm, no cover, Bella Vista Legend City Wrestling: Featuring Wildman Gary Williams, Mr Fantastic & Kowboy Mike Hughes, $12/$15, Club One-George St 753-7877 (Sun Mar 6 at 10pm) Miss Teen Newfoundland & Labrador Pageant: $24/$20, Arts & Culture Centre 729-3900 (Sun Mar 20) Red/Green Milonga: Tango on the Edge presents an Argentine dance party with folk dancing, Quidi Vidi Brewery-15 Barrow’s Rd (Fri Mar 4 at 8:30pm) Tango On The Edge: A social gathering to dance Argentine Tango, $5, RCA Club-10 Bennett Ave 579-5752 (Thursdays at 8:30pm)

Spoken & Written 5-Minute Story Slam (St John’s Storytelling Festival) With host Ruthanne Edward and music by Stan Pickett, a Story Slam is a contest of words; imagine a poetry slam format meets Canadian Idol, with a storytelling twist, $5, The Ship Pub-265 Duckworth (Wed Mar 9 at 9:30pm) A Place to Call Home: Join

Five Minute Friday (St John’s Storytelling Festival) A cabaret of short tales and ballads with Delf Hohmann, Anita Best, Carol Dwyer, Ruthanne Edward, Didi Gillard-Rowlings, Gary Green, Dave Paddon, Dave Penny & Ellen Power, $10, Gower St United Church Hall-99 Queen’s Rd (Fri Mar 11 at 8pm) Heels of the Hound (St John's Storytelling Festival) Irish storyteller Clare Murphy presents a dark and ferocious journey where warriors leap with blinding frenzy, one-eyed monsters hunt the shores, and shape-shifters blur the line between this world and the Otherworld, free, The Rooms-9 Bonaventure Ave 757-8000 (Wed Mar 9 at 7pm) The Jack Ring Cycle (St. John’s Storytelling Festival) Hosted by Chris Brookes and featuring storytellers Anita Best, Andy Jones, Marc Cormier, Mary Fearon and Ford Elms with speakers Richard Cashin, John Fitzgerald, Marjorie Doyle and Ryan Cleary, The Ship Pub-265 Duckworth St (Fri Mar 15 from 5pm to 12am) Melancholy Murder (Women’s Works Festival) Screenplay by Kay Anonsen.

Read by Ruth Lawrence, Des Walsh, Monica Walsh, Paul Rowe, Norm Karlik & Mary Lynn Bernard, $5, LSPU Hall Second Space-3 Victoria St 753-4531 (Sun Mar 6 at 2pm) Ms Right Now (Women’s Works Festival) Written by Natasha MacLellan (NS). Read by Emily Bridger, Monica Walsh, Katie Butler, Brad Hodder, Mark White & Wendi Smallwood, by donation, Eastern Edge Gallery-72 Harbour Dr (Mon Mar 7 at 7pm) NL Author Reading: Larry Mathews will read from his

Stories from Here & Away (St. John’s Storytelling Festival) A cabaret of short tales and ballads with Delf Hohmann, Anita Best, Carol Dwyer, Ruthanne Edward, Didi Gillard-Rowlings, Gary Green, Dave Paddon, Dave Penny & Ellen Power, $10, Gower St United Church Hall-99 Queen’s Rd (Sat Mar 12 at 8pm) War Time Stories (St. John’s Storytelling Festival) Stories from times of war, to inspire peace with Petronella van Dijk, $3, The Crow’s Nest Officer’s Club-Water St (Thu Mar 10 from 8pm to 9pm) Words in Edgewise: Featuring Janna Rosales, Justin Osmond, and more, pay what you can, Eastern Edge Gallery-72 Harbour Drive (Thu Mar 8 at 8pm)

Comedy Eddie Della Siepe: Stand up comedy, Yuk Yuk's-193 Kenmount Rd 726-9857 (Fri Mar 4 & Sat Mar 5 at 9:30pm) Garrett Clark: Stand up comedy, Yuk Yuk's-193 Kenmount Rd 726-9857 (Fri Mar 18 & Sat Mar 19 at 9:30pm) Local Great Canadian Laugh Off: Amateurs at 8pm & Pros at 9:30pm, Yuk Yuk's-193 Kenmount Rd 7269857 (Semi-Finals Thu Mar 3; Finals Thu Mar 10) Peter White: Stand up comedy, Yuk Yuk's-193 Kenmount Rd 726-9857 (Fri Mar 25 & Sat Mar 26 at 9:30pm) Pro/Am Comedy Slam: Amateurs at 8pm & Pros at 9:30pm, Yuk Yuk's-193 Kenmount Rd 726-9857 (Thu Mar 17 & 24) Richard Lett: Stand up comedy, Yuk Yuk's-193 Kenmount Rd 726-9857 (Fri Mar 11 & Sat Mar 12 at 9:30pm) Send press releases to listings@thescope.ca

books

I’se the B’y

I

Mark Callanan reviews Larry Matthews' The Artificial Newfoundlander. former colleague, ex-lover, and author of n Newfoundland literature it’s almost Liza Speaks Her Mind—a poetry collection legendary how the Burning Rock Colcomprising monologues in the voice of the lective, a writing group made famous character Liza from the song “I’se the B’y.” by the most famous of its members, The Liza collection is Maureen’s attempt grew out of a creative writing course to portray “the nineteenth-century Newtaught by author and academic Larry foundland woman from a serious feminist Mathews. While most of the attention has perspective.” Each poem, as Norman puts gone to stylistic pyrotechnicians Michael it, has Liza “describing some incident from Winter and Lisa Moore, Mathews’ 2003 daily life glossed with appropriate feminist short story collection, The Sandblasting Hall commonplaces.” And while the satire here is of Fame, has gained some small (if inadnot very effective, on account of its descripequate) recognition. In a Canadian Encyclotive vagueness (what exactly is an “appropedia entry on the Collective, Mathews’ first priate feminist commonplace”?), there is a book is identified as being among the best funny parody of Margaret Atwood’s heavily short story collections to have been proanthologized hook and eye poem. duced by the BRC writers.

Elsewhere, Mathews skewers the world And, truth be told, it is a solid collecof academe, at one point describing an tion: comically adept, but also capable of “eminently acceptable” Ph. D. thesis as serious and piercing insights into the human “the standard combinacondition. Describing its tion of sophistication and characters on the jacket tunnel-visioned gullibility copy, Mathews calls them that passes for intellectual “Clowns [...] that see the achievement, the whole Fall of Man whenever they enterprise surrounded by an slip on a banana peel.” But aura of not-really-matter“They’re pilgrims too, aling.” Departmental politics ways looking for something also come in for a drubbing, they usually think they’ve with Mathews subtly mockfound.” The narrator of ing the internal workings of Mathews’ first novel, The workplace societies, in the Artificial Newfoundlander, university’s ivory tower and pilgrim though he may be, beyond. has no such illusions about As the novel progresses, having already found what Norman (somewhat unwithe seeks; Hugh Norman, a tingly) comes closer and fifty-eight-year-old divorced closer to uncovering the professor of English, seems circumstances surrounding to have no idea what he is the Oblate novelist’s apparlooking for.

The Artificial Newfoundlander ent death, he and Maureen At the start of the novel, Larry Mathews slowly rebuild the intimacy Norman’s daughter EmBreakwater Books, 2010 of their former romance, ily has left her husband, 235 pages; $18.95 Emily is further implicated Terry Foley, and taken her in the aforementioned west coast crime, and children from Vancouver to St. John’s, to Foley generally makes an ass of himself. live with Norman until she finds her feet.

Throughout, Norman remains caustically Foley, Norman’s former student and “somehumorous, endearingly self-deprecating, time drinking buddy,” follows Emily to St. and often painfully introspective. (He John’s, apparently intending to use Norman seems doomed to remain an outsider in his as a go-between in his quest to reconcile.

Soon, however, it becomes apparent that the adopted province, despite the fact he has lived there for eighteen years.) Mathews circumstances around Emily’s leaving have makes him say some pretty funny things in less to do with Foley’s marital infidelities, service of comedy, but he is also capable of and more to do with an unresolved crime creating the kind of touching moment that that Emily may or may not have committed results when, for instance, Norman observes back home in Vancouver. his grandson playing soccer rather badly, Norman’s academic obsession is the writ“his skinny legs pumping ludicrously in the ing of an obscure Oblate priest, Alphonsus general direction of manhood.”

Ignatius Cleary, who, having published four It is moments like these that push The novels “which could never make it onto a Artificial Newfoundlander beyond light satire university syllabus [...] because they can’t and into deeper cultural commentary, but be used to illustrate some grand Canadian on the whole, the book comes up short in theme or other,” disappeared in 1985 “unthat respect. It’s a funny and highly enterder suspicious circumstances.” His body was taining novel, but it doesn’t quite manage never found. Cleary’s greatest distinction the trick of Mathews’ short stories, whose (aside from being almost universally uncharacters manage to be both clowns and, read) is to have been “that rarest of species, almost in spite of themselves, seers. a Newfoundlander who loathed Newfoundland and chose to live elsewhere.”

Added to this is the subplot of a burgeon- Comment on this review online at thescope.ca ing romance between Norman and Maureen,

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on screen

Find more reviews and movie times at thescope.ca/onscreen

The cast of Homicide

Watching the Detectives Adam Clarke flashes back to the 90s TV detective drama Homicide: Life on the Street.

W

ith Republic of Doyle recently renewed for a third season, the continued success of the CSI franchise and The Wire's cult blossoming into a full-scale religion, there's no denying detective stories and police procedurals are still in vogue.

This gives you all the more reason for me to tell you to watch Homicide: Life On The Street, all of which has been collected as a DVD megaset.

The show ran on NBC from '93 to '99 and was one of TV's masterpieces. Sidestepping cop clichés in favour of rat-tat-tat dialogue where detectives offered endless musings on topics ranging from religion, sex, television and anything else that struck them as they wandered the streets. Each of the main characters of Homicide had distinct opinions, philosophies and voices. The squad's banter made you want to spend time with them even though they were self-absorbed, controlling, bitter and/or semi-functional alcoholics.

Here was a cop show for people who hated cop shows. It wore its heart on its sleeve and was full of humanity in a genre known for easy answers and cheap thrills. In Homicide's first season, we never saw a murder, only the detectives before and after the fact. Each scene is filmed documentary-style on handheld cameras with colours so muted that the show is practically in black and white.

Boasting some incredible scripts from David Simon (The Wire), Tom Fontana (Oz), Paul Attanasio (Quiz Show) and the theninnovative use of hand-helds, jump-cuts and song montages, Homicide's strength was its ensemble. It was at its best in the first season, which featured Yaphet Kotto (Monkey Hustle), Andre Braugher (Men Of A Certain Age), Coen Bros veteran Jon Polito, Kyle Secor (Veronica Mars), Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Clark Johnson (The Wire) and Richard Belzer.

Belzer's Det. John Munch has since become a ubiquitous figure in the television landscape,

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with in-character appearances on The X-Files, Arrested Development and various iterations of Law & Order (including the short-lived, but gripping Law & Order: Parking Meters Unit).

The entire first season cast is perfect. Even Daniel Baldwin, who did well for himself as a fat Alec Baldwin before 30 Rock made fat Alec Baldwins fashionable.

With each successive season, Homicide's writers dealt with network notes to try to improve ratings. The second season turned up the colour, while subsequent seasons would add Law & Order crossovers and add a few sexier/blander cast members to the mix. Despite this, many of the story arcs in later seasons would prove compelling, such as Bayliss' (Secor) repression and Pembleton's (Braugher) lapsed Catholicism. Most affecting of all was the suicide of the avuncular Crosetti (Polito), which would haunt and mystify the detectives for the rest of the series. The episode in which Crosetti's body is found is one of the most beautiful and sad hours to have ever aired on television. The moment when Crosetti's partner, Lewis (Johnson), realizes that he never noticed all of the signs that his friend was suffering, achieves an honest, cathartic aching that TV seldom tries these days.

Not all Homicide is perfect. Its final two seasons are uneven and the 2000 telemovie coda to the series is beyond terrible (even worse than the Family Matters finale). Also, a show that wears its heart on its sleeve still should have known better than to end an episode with a montage set to “What If God Was One Of Us.” But the series deserves credit for its wit, earnestness and sobriety, for these elements are just as rare to see on TV now as they were in the nineties.

Recommended episodes: “Gone For Goode,” “Three Men And Adena,” “Crosetti,” “Stakeout,” “Have A Conscience.”

Comment on this review online at thescope.ca

MOVIE DESCRIPTIONS LIMITED RUN Wednesday Mar 2 at 11am Hall Pass (Reel Babies): Owen Wilson brings you the chuckle-filled world of adultery after he's given permission to cheat on his wife for a week. Empire TheatresAvalon Mall ThurSDAY Mar 3 at 7pm Somewhere (MUN Cinema): Bad boy actor reconnects with his 11 year old daughter who may be the key to solving his inner turmoil. Directed by Sofia Coppola (USA 2010), Empire Theatres-Avalon Mall Monday Mar 7 at 8pm Spirit of the Marathon ScreeninG: Athletics NorthEAST Running Club, cash-only fundraiser in support of MUN X-Country program, $10, Inco Innovation Centre-MUN 746-3470 Tuesday Mar 8 at 7pm Scene and Heard: St John's International Women's Film Festival presents a two-day festival celebration of International Women’s Day featuring short films including Swallowed (Stephen Dunn), Rhonda’s Party (Ashley McKenzie), Four Sisters (Dana Warren), Touch (Jen McGowan), Unearthing the Pen (Carol Salter), Flawed (Andrea Dorfman), Knock Off (Rosanne Flynn), About Bieito’s Death (Xudit Casas), Not Over Easy (Jordan Canning), MUN Inco Theatre 754-3141 Thursday Mar 10 at 7pm Incendies (MUN Cinema): Based on the award-winning play “Scorched” by Wajdi Mouawad, Incendies follows two women searching for the truth about their mother in war-torn Lebanon. Directed

by Denis Villeneuve (CAN 2010), Empire TheatresAvalon Mall Thursday Mar 17 at 7pm Made in Dagenham (MUN Cinema): In the words of philosopher and Jingle All The Way star, Sinbad, women be different than men.

Dagenham shows how female Ford workers conquered this prejudice and earned equal pay. Directed by Nigel Cole (UK 2010), Empire TheatresAvalon Mall Sunday Mar 20 at 2pm Second Space Sundays (NIFCO): Short films by local independent up and coming filmmakers, $5, LSPU Hall-3 Victoria St 753-4531 Thursday Mar 24 at 7pm Nowhere Boy: (MUN Cinema) Biopic of John Lennon as he takes his first steps to stardom. Have you heard the original Quarrymen tapes?

They're like The Beatles before they sold out, man.

Directed by Sam Taylor-Wood (UK/CAN 2009), Empire Theatres-Avalon Mall

Woodsy Owl would be proud of this level of not-polluting.

Directed by Lucy Walker, Karen Harley and João Jardim (Brazil/UK 2010), Empire Theatres-Avalon Mall

DAILY SHOWINGS Call or check online for times and prices.

Avalon mall empire studios 12: 722-5775 Mount pearl empire cinemas: 722-5775 www.empiretheatres.com

Beastly: After dissing a witch, a handsome teen is transformed into a tattooed Billy Corgan—and he will remain that way until he finds true love. A sequel, entitled Shrieky, is currently in preproduction. (Mar 4) Rango: Johnny Depp returns to the screen in the role he was born to play: A bug-eyed lizard in a Hawaiian shirt who becomes the sheriff of a small Western town. (Mar 4) Mars Needs Moms: Using the Uncanny Valley effect to its fullest, this cartoon has aliens kidnapping women of a certain age to do laundry. Not much Steinem read on that planet I guess. (Mar 11) Red Riding Hood: Amanda Seyfried is just a small-town girl living in a lonely world.

When a werewolf strikes, she becomes a major suspect despite her red riding hood and red herring boyfriend.

(Mar 11) Limitless: Brad Cooper takes a pill that Flowers his Algernon, giving him supreme mental capabilities. Sadly, Cooper didn't realize that the effects were for a limited time, (like McDonald's collector's cups.) (Mar 18) Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 – Rodrick Rules: Wimpy Greg returns and is forced to bond with his older brother, Rodrick. Good thing Rodrick rules, you know, like how the music of Rush rules.

(Mar 25) Sucker Punch: When a young girl is placed in an insane asylum, her fellow inmates convince her that she's sane by whisking her away to a magical land to fight dragons. (Mar 25) Hobo with a Shotgun: Got any change? Rutger Hauer plays a crusty, avenging hobo determined to fight organized crime. His first targets?

Ricky from Trailer Park Boys and Brian “Total Education” Downey! (Mar 25) Capsule descriptions by Adam Clarke.

Thursday March 31 at 7pm Waste Land (MUN Cinema): Documentary about garbagepickers in Brazil and their encounters with Vik Muniz, an artist who creates sculptures out of recyclable material.

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free will astrology by rob brezsny

for march 2011

∫

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 20)

If I were you, Pisces, I'd make interesting fun your official meme for now.

According to my reading of the astrological omens, you will be fully justified in making that your modus operandi and your raison d'etre. For best results, you should put a priority on pursuing experiences that both amuse you and captivate your imagination. As you consider whether to accept any invitation or seize any opportunity, make sure it will teach you something you don't already know and also transport you into a positive emotional state that gets your endorphins flowing.

†

ARIES (Mar 21 – Apr 19)

"The most fundamental form of human stupidity is forgetting what we were trying to do in the first place," said Friedrich Nietzsche. So for instance, if

you're the United States government and you invade and occupy Afghanistan in order to wipe out al-Qaeda, it's not too bright to continue fighting and dying and spending obscene amounts of money long after the al-Qaeda presence there has been eliminated. (There are now fewer than 100 al-Qaeda fighters in that country: tinyurl.com/ forgetwhy.) What's the equivalent in your personal life, Aries? What noble aspiration propelled you down a winding path that led to entanglements having nothing to do with your original aspiration? It's time to correct the mistake.

‡

TAURUS (Apr 20 – May 20)

Let this be your official notice that you have received a cosmic clearance – a kind of poetic license granted by life itself – to seek new levels of mastery in the art of partying. Of all the signs of the zodiac, you're the one that is most in need of and most deserving

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of getting immersed in rowdy festivities that lead to maximum release and relief. To get you in the right mood, read these thoughts from literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin. He said a celebration like this is a "temporary liberation from the prevailing truth and from the established order," and encourages "the suspension of all hierarchical rank, privileges, norms, and prohibitions."

Ω

GEMINI (May 21 – Jun 20)

When Bob Dylan first heard the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts

Club Band, he only made it through the first few tunes. "Turn that s--- off!" he said. "It's too good!" He was afraid his own creative process might get intimidated, maybe even blocked, if he allowed himself to listen to the entire masterpiece. I suspect the exact opposite will be true for you in the coming weeks, Gemini. As you expose yourself to excellence in your chosen field, you'll feel a growing motivation to express excellence yourself. The inspiration that will be unleashed in you by your competitors will trump any of the potentially deflating effects of your professional jealousy.

≤

CANCER (Jun 21 – Jul 22)

Jungian storyteller Clarissa Pinkola Estes says one of her main influences is the Curanderisma healing tradition from Mexico and Central America. "In this tradition a

story is 'holy,' and it is used as medicine," she told Radiance magazine. "The story is not told to lift you up, to make you feel better, or to entertain you, although all those things can be true. The story is meant to take the spirit into a descent to find something that is lost or missing and to bring it back to consciousness again." You need stories like this, Cancerian, and you need them now. It's

high time to recover parts of your soul that you have neglected or misplaced or been separated from.

™

LEO (Jul 23 – Aug 22)

You've been pretty smart lately, but I think you could get even smarter.

You have spied secrets in the dark, and teased out answers from unlikely sources, and untangled knots that no one else has had the patience to mess with – and yet I suspect there are even greater glories possible for you. For inspiration, Leo, memorize this haiku-like poem by Geraldine C. Little: "The white spider / whiter still / in the lightning's flash."

‘

VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sep 22)

I wouldn't try to stop you, Virgo, if you wanted to go around singing the Stone Roses' song "I Wanna Be Adored." I wouldn't be embarrassed for you if you turned your head up to the night sky and serenaded the stars with a chant of "I wanna be adored, I deserve to be adored, I demand to be adored." And I might even be willing to predict that your wish will be fulfilled – on one condition, which is that you also express your artful adoration for some worthy creature.

µ

LIBRA (Sep 23 – Oct 22)

"The difference between the right word and the almost right word," said Mark Twain, "is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." Because the difference between the right word and the almost right word will be so crucial for you in the coming days, Libra, I urge you to maintain extra vigilance towards the sounds that come out of your mouth. But don't be tense and repressed about it. Loose, graceful vigilance will actually work better. By the way, the distinction between right and almost right will be equally important in other areas of your life as well. Be adroitly discerning.

≠

SCORPIO (Oct 23 - Nov 21)

"Dear Rob: In your horoscopes you often write about how we Scorpios will encounter interesting opportunities, invitations to be powerful, and creative breakthroughs. But you rarely discuss the deceptions, selfish deeds, and ugliness of the human heart that might be coming our way – especially in regards to what we are capable of ourselves. Why do you do this?

My main concern is not in dealing with what's going right, but rather on persevering through difficulty. –Scorpio in the Shadows."

Dear Scorpio: You have more than enough influences in your life that encourage you to be fascinated with darkness. I may be the only one that's committed to helping you cultivate the more undeveloped side of your soul: the part that thrives on beauty and goodness and joy.

∑

SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec 21)

Acupuncturists identify an energetic point in the ear called the spirit gate. If it's stuck closed, the spirit is locked in; if it's stuck open, the spirit is always coming and going, restless and unsettled. What's ideal, of course, is that the spirit gate is not stuck in any position. Then the spirit can come and go as it needs to, and also have the option of retreating and protecting itself. I'd like you to imagine that right now a skilled acupuncturist is inserting a needle in the top of your left ear, where it will remain for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, visualize your spirit gate being in that state of harmonious health I described.

‹

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19)

In his parody music video, "Sickest Buddhist," comedian Arj Barker invokes a hip hop sensibility as he brags about his spiritual prowess. Noting how skilled

he is when it comes to mastering his teacher's instructions, he says, "The instructor just told us to do a 45-minute meditation / but I nailed it in 10." I expect you will have a similar facility

in the coming weeks, Capricorn: Tasks that might be challenging for others may seem like child's play to you. I bet you'll be able to sort quickly through complications that might normally take days to untangle. (See the NSFW video here: tinyurl.com/illBuddhist.)

π

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18)

The sixth astronaut to walk on the moon was engineer Edgar Mitchell.

He asserts that extraterrestrials have visited Earth and that governments are covering up that fact. The second astronaut to do a moonwalk was engineer Buzz Aldrin. He says that there is unquestionably an artificial structure built on Phobos, a moon of Mars. Some scientists dispute the claims of these experts, insisting that aliens are myths.

Who should we believe? Personally, I lean towards Mitchell and Aldrin. Having been raised by an engineer father, I know how unlikely it is for people with that mindset to make extraordinary claims. If you have to choose between competing authorities any time soon, Aquarius, I recommend that like me, you opt for the smart mavericks instead of the smart purveyors of conventional wisdom.

Birthdays this month Nikki Guy, Victoria Ward, Seamus Heffernan, Soren Sigurdsson, Justin Guzzwell, Emily Hunter Rowe, Lee Pitts, Angus Woodman, Simon Lono, Andrew Draskóy, Mark Johnson, Natrix Ma, and Chris Harnett.

Send birthday info to birthday@thescope.ca

Homework What is the best gift you could give your best friend right now? Testify at

http://FreeWillAstrology.com

wha? thescope.ca/answers

A place where people ask questions, share experience and gather information about life in St. John's

Recording an album This February at thescope.ca we had our readers ask our special guest experts P ­ atrick Canning (SUPERGOD!), Damian Lethbridge (AM/FM Dreams), Rebecca Cohoe (Pet Legs), Andrew Wickens (The Blossoms) and Elling Lien any questions they had about finding musical inspiration, overcoming technical hurdles, and anything else related to the RPM Challenge.

Below are some of the questions and answers.

David O’Shea ASKED: What’s the best way to come up with subjects/topics to write songs about?

PATRICK: If you have the music written and all else fails try recording yourself singing/mumbling the first few things that pops into your head and/or out of your mouth. It might take a few tries but eventually a line or two will stick, then it’s a matter of reverse engineering some lyrics to get you to that point in song.

I find lyrics work best if the music informs the subject matter, but not in the obvious way. Say your writing a sad-assed blues song; instead of writing about the typical “woman left me…I’m broke…I don’t have any drugs blah blah blah” write about how you’re sad that the sun exploded because the drug orgy you hosted fell on the Syzygial and summoned Cthulhu who brought about a million years of unspeakable madness to the universe.

ANDREW: Obviously taking ideas from personal experiences is a great way to start a song.

However I find real life is boring sometimes.

I think a good way to come up with ideas is to think about subjects that you are interested in but don’t necessarily have any experience with…or don’t even necessarily exist. Write about hypothetical situations and characters.

ELLING: Not to pimp thescope.ca too much, but I was wracking my brain for lyric ideas the other day and wandered onto the I Saw You section, and it’s a goldmine. There are lots of little snapshot moments and emotions.

Plenty of lyrical inspiration.

JOHN ASKED: How do you fill in the musical blanks on your RPM Challenge album? I have a few songs recorded, but I’m starting to get nervous now that the first half of the month has gone!

Gimme the filler!!

DAMIAN: The best songs usually come from stuff thats you’ve experienced. But if your life is boring like mine, you can also get inspiraELLING: Soundscapes… 30 minute jams… tion from books, movies, documentaries. I telephone recordings… heavy breathing… watched a documentary on Henry Darger There are lots of ways to fill the requirements which inspired two songs on our new RPM without actually working that hard. album. Another song was inspired by watching old Popeye cartoons. The news can also ANDREW: An easy way to come up with a be great creative fuel as well. Sometimes I’ve quick song is to start simple. Start with a even taken random words from the dictionary single note or maybe two notes and tried to write a song where I repeating and just build from can fit them all together in some TOPIC NEXT MONTH: there. Layer it with different context. I also keep scraps of painstruments or sounds. per with little phrases I’ve heard or things people say that strike me DAMIAN: I had an idea one time to so that when I’m writing a song turn on the tv and record a couple and I’m stuck for a line I’ll just pull em out and see what fits. Hope this helps. minutes of 10 random channels... then write songs based on those sound bytes… then have respective TV track playing in the background REBECCA: I keep an ongoing list of ideas/ of the song it inspired. It’s worth a try if phrases on my phone. Anytime something you’re stuck for tracks. interesting comes to mind as I’m walking to get groceries or what-not, in it goes.

JUSTIN: Pick a song style and try to imitate it!

Some of them eventually become lyrics, Figure out what kind of sections are typical of others don’t. It’s fun because I tend to forget the style and start building! what’s in there and sometimes get a good surprise once I crack it open.

OUTDOOR WINTER ACTIVITIES

MARCH 2011

thescope

29

100% local

COMICS FROM EARTH by Ricky King

Bleak by Alexander Evan Bridger

Rhymes With Understand by Emily Deming

behold!! by P.N. Grata

Mr. Pickles by Quinn Whalen

meantoons by John Meaney sourpuss65.blogspot.com

Perfect Sunday by Michael Butler localfavorite.blogspot.com

30

thescope

MARCH 2011

Nothing Special About Words by Michael Young