Verb Issue S233 (Mar. 28-Apr. 4, 2013)

Issue #233 – March 28 to April 4

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ancient mars the zolas

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animated life Saskatchewan-born animator talks Family Guy piano man Q+A with Jeffery Straker olympus has fallen + A Glimpse inside the mind of charles swan III Films reviewed­

Photo: courtesy of Kirsten berlie

contents

NEWs + Opinion

entertainment

culture

Q + A with Jeffery Michael straker

listings Local music listings for March 28 through April 6. 18 / listings

On songs new and old. 12 / Q + A

animated living

We were lovers

How a local animator made it big in Hollywood. 4 / Local

Local pop rockers poised to release new record. 13 / Arts

Olympus has Fallen + A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III 20 / Film

I know you by heart

Nightlife Photos

Mendel exhibit features miniatures.

We visit JT’s Bar & Grill, and the Rook & Raven. 22-25 / Nightlife

13 / Arts

verbnews.com @verbsaskatoon facebook.com/verbsaskatoon

Editorial Publisher / Parity Publishing Editor in Chief / Ryan Allan Managing Editor / Jessica Patrucco staff Writers / Adam Hawboldt + Alex J MacPherson

ART & Production

Shifting sands

Design Lead / Roberta Barrington Design & Production / Brittney Graham Contributing Photographers / Patrick Carley, Adam Hawboldt + Ishtiaq Opal

The changing face of Saskatchewan’s book publishing industry. 6 / Local

Business & Operations

one for the road

somewhere to see

on the bus

Our thoughts on installing more highway cameras. 8 / Editorial

We visit Somewhere Else Pub & Grill.

Weekly original comic illustrations

by Elaine M. Will. 26 / comics

16 / Food + Drink

Office Manager / Stephanie Lipsit account Manager / nathan holowaty sales Manager / Vogeson Paley Financial Manager / Cody Lang

contact Comments / feedback@verbnews.com / 306 881 8372

On the cover:

The Zolas

Take a trip to Ancient Mars. 14 / cover

comments

Music

Games + Horoscopes

Your say about lowering Saskatchewan’s incarceration rates. 10 / comments

K-os, Rich Aucoin + Anberlin.

Canadian criss-cross puzzle, horoscopes, and Sudoku. 27 / timeout

17 / music

advertise / advertise@verbnews.com / 306 979 2253 design / layout@verbnews.com / 306 979 8474 General / info@verbnews.com / 306 979 2253

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Animated Living

Saskatchewan animator making good in Hollywood

by ADAM HAWBOLDT

H

ave you ever seen the “The Blind Side” episode of Family Guy? It’s the one where Brian starts dating a blind girl who hates dogs, and Lois replaces the old staircase because Stewie gets a splinter.

Anyway, early in that episode there’s a scene where Peter has trouble navigating the new stairs that are installed in his house.

The first time he goes down the stairs he takes a step and instantly falls down them, wildly crashing into the living room. Two seconds later he’s back at the top of the stairs, and boom — down he goes again. The third time, Peter wises up. He tip toes to the top of the stairs, sandpapers the soles of his shoes for traction, grabs the railings for balance, and whoosh! First step he takes, Peter goes arse over tea kettle down the stairs yet again, ending up in a broken, bloody heap at the bottom.

That’s a scene Bob Bowen, who directed the episode, looks back on with fondness.

“I do like watching Peter falling down the stairs three times in a row,” says the Saskatchewanian,

who now calls Los Angeles home. “I can really appreciate the scene now.”

But that wasn’t always the case.

See, back in 2011, when Bowen was directing “The Blind Side,” the episode lost its hilarity.

The episodes he directs always do.

“It’s a funny show, yeah. But are we constantly laughing? No,” explains Bowen. “Believe it or not, it’s work. At the table read there are always big laughs. But then you have to draw it out, watch it, respond, make changes, watch it again and again. You stare at things for so long, sadly, the humour gets lost. When you see a joke 50 times, you can appreciate that it’s working, but at the same time it’s not like we’re sitting around laughing over and over at it.”

But that’s not to say Bowen doesn’t like his job or thinks it’s boring. Heck, no. He loves directing hit animation shows.

And he knows just how lucky he is to be able to do that.

Growing up in the small prairie town of Rosetown, Saskatchewan,

Bowen spent a lot of his time drawing. In class, outside of class, it didn’t matter. But he never really took it seriously.

“It was more doodling than anything,” remembers Bowen.

“You see, growing up I wasn’t particularly driven. I could draw, but didn’t understand that, like everything else in life, if you practice it you get better.

I just thought people could either draw like professionals or they couldn’t. It was as simple as that.”

So instead of honing his gift, Bowen walked away from drawing and into a gig at SaskPower. That move lasted exactly three years.

“While I was working at SaskPower, on my lunch hours I’d be drawing jokes and cartoons of the guys at work, that kind of stuff. ” says Bowen.

“And the more I did it, the more I saw improvement.”

So much so that one day Bowen said to heck with it and applied to The Kubert School (formerly the Joe Kubert School) in New Jersey — the only accredited school in America devoted entirely to cartooning.

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It was there that Bowen found his true calling.

“When I discovered the art of storyboarding, something just clicked for me,” he says. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do, so I spent my second and third years at school learning all I could about it.”

Bowen learned so much and got so good at storyboarding, his talents eventually led him to Tinsel Town.

Bowen’s first gig as a storyboard artist in animation came at the turn of the millennium.

Prior to that, he’d been storyboarding for live action — com-

sites Lost,” which aired on January 21st, 2001.

“It was just meant to be temporary,” says Bowen of his initial venture into animation. “But I never really escaped, just kind of jumped from one show to the next as a storyboard artist.”

Those shows include: Futurama, Drawn Together, American Dad and Family Guy. Then, after being in the animation racket for just over half a decade, Bowen made the leap from a storyboard artist to parking himself in the director’s chair.

“As a story artist you’re always getting guidance from directors,

So one day I was hanging out with friends … and one of the people there was working with a show called Futurama. bob bowen

mercials, television, movies like Dungeons & Dragons. But a writers’ strike soon left him unemployed and searching for work.

“This is a small industry, you meet people through other people,” says Bowen. “So one day I was hanging out with friends, and friends of friends, and one of the people there was working with a show called Futurama.”

Bowen needed a job, there was an opening for a storyboard artist on the show, so he seized the opportunity and got to work organizing an episode called “Para-

and there comes a point, if you progress enough, there’s a natural leap into directing,” explains Bowen.

And since making the transition, first on American Dad and then on Family Guy, Bowen has been enjoying himself immensely.

“Oh, I definitely like directing better,” he admits. “I like the control. I like being able to say, ‘I have a written joke here. So here’s how we’ll lay it out, here’s how we’ll execute it’ and boom!

Away we go.”

But the going is much slower than you may think.

Stop for a second and take a guess at how long it takes for one episode of, say, Family Guy, to be made.

One week? One month?

Nope. The correct answer is about one year — sometimes longer.

“I just had an episode air on February 11th [called “Valentine’s Day in Quahog”],” says Bowen, “and I started that episode, oh, about a year and four months ago.”

Which begs the question: why the heck does it take so long to make a show? “Well, we have to read the script, storyboard it, do design, that kind of stuff,” explains Bowen.

Then the film is shipped off to Seoul, South Korea, for inbetweening (generating frames between two images, which conveys a sense of visual consistency). It stays there for roughly three and a half months before being returned to Los Angeles, where retakes, rewrites, final mixing, and more is done before the episode goes to air.

“In total, I have my hands on the show for about five months,” says Bowen. And while during those five months some of the jokes and funnier bits grow stale, the job never does.

“Success is about doing what makes you happy,” says Bowen.

And by all accounts, Bowen is one happy man.

Can you blame him?

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Shifting Sands

Photo: Courtesy of ben oh

Literary presses in Saskatchewan embrace change while staying true to their roots by adam hawboldt

A

fter reading his obituary in the New York Journal, author Mark Twain, ever the sharp wit, quipped: “The report of my death was an exaggeration.”

And you know what? If the Canadian book industry were a person, it would probably be saying the same thing right now. For years fears that the rise of the Internet would kill reading have circulated, worries that traditional publishing and the printed word are dinosaurs one step away from a literary La Brea tar pit were expounded.

“It seems like this happens every 20 years or so,” says Jackie Forrie, publishing and production manager at Thistledown Press in Saskatoon.

“People start talking about the death of printed literature and the decline of reading.”

As it turns out, these people are dead wrong. According to the last National Book Count, conducted during a week-long span in January 2012, reading is alive and well.

In fact, in a typical week in January nearly 1.2 million printed books were bought here in Canada.

Stop and think about that for a moment. There are 10,080 minutes in a week (or 604,800 seconds). If you take that number and divide it into the number of printed books sold, what you come up with is 1.9-something or other.

That means nearly two printed books are purchased every second.

Oh, and you know the other story, the one about how e-books are tak-

ing over the industry and will, perhaps, one day kill the printed word?

You can ignore that rumour, too.

“There’s perception and then there’s reality,” explains Paul Wilson, copublisher at Hagios Press in Regina.

“And the reality is, e-books aren’t as big a part of the market as people think.”

And he’s right. During the same week-long period in January, only 111,053 English e-books were sold.

Which, in case you’re wondering, only represents about 10% of all the books sold.

So what does all this data mean?

Well, for starters, it means you

no longer Canadian-owned, the dismantling of Douglas & McIntyre — these are all signs of changing times.”

And one of the driving forces behind that change was the economy.

“You can’t talk about this without talking about economic change,” explains Wilson. “I think the biggest impact on the market was the recession of 2008. It really did change the whole environment for publishing.”

Especially for the big presses, which have a lot of overhead, a lot of books out there in the market place, and rely heavily on the

…there’s no plans of stopping print books. That’s not going to happen.

Jackie Forrie

shouldn’t believe everything you hear. It also means the book publishing industry is hardly sounding its death rattle.

But it is definitely changing.

Like the newspaper business in the late ‘90s or the music industry in the 2000s, the sands of the book industry have seriously shifted.

“Here in Canada we’re very much in a transitional period,” says Wilson. “We’ve see the flagships of our publishing industry change entirely. McClelland and Stewart is

profits. The economic downturn really hit them hard and forced them to change. But what about the small presses that dot the literary landscape of Saskatchewan?

“It really didn’t affect us that much,” admits Forrie of the recession. “We’re a smaller company, we don’t have that much infrastructure, and we’re able to make changes very quickly. For us, the biggest changes are e-book production. We had to start converting all of our front lists and back lists to e-book.

That entails a lot of work and staff time and resources.”

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You see, just because e-books account for a minor percentage of all books sold in Canada that doesn’t mean small presses are ignoring them. Quiet the contrary. Forrie and the folks at Thistledown Press understand the importance of getting e-books into these changing markets.

So too does Wilson and the Hagios Press team. They’re just changing at a slightly different speed.

“For a small press like us, it’s taken a bit of time to wrap our heads around it,” says Wilson. “We’re moving into the e-book market slowly so we don’t get overcommitted in terms of resources. And, to start out, we’re going to concentrate on non-fiction e-book titles.”

Along with forcing small Saskatchewan presses into the real world of e-books, advances in technology are also changing the way they promote their products.

“At one point, we used to do a lot of print advertising,” says Forrie.

“Now, with blogs and social media we try to focus on that. Yes, we still take out advertising in trade and literary magazines, but we try to, more and more, promote our books on our social media pages.”

Authors too are often expected to do some self-promotion to help sell books in the ever-changing book industry. They’re encouraged, by literary presses in the province, to set up websites and to engage with audiences (and potential customers) on Facebook, and promote their product on Twitter.

And yet, no matter how swiftly the winds of change have blown, regardless of the differences that technology has impressed upon the book industry, many small presses like Thistledown and Hagios remain true to their original ethos.

“Yes, we need to have e-books out there and we need to promote our books differently,” says Forrie. “That’s all a part of adapting to change, but there’s no plans of stopping print books. That’s not going to happen.”

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Photo: Courtesy of Daniel Paquet

ONE FOR THE ROAD

Our province needs to dramatically increase its number of highway cameras

A

nyone who has driven in Saskatchewan in the winter knows how treacherous the highways can be.

And look, the province is doing what it can to help motorists out: they release traffic and weather reports, have a handful of tools online, including a Highway Hotline you can call for current updates, and manage four highway cameras that provide current images of our roads, and are conveniently refreshed every 30 seconds).

Sorry, what? In a province that boasts approximately 26,000 kilometres of highway, we have four — count ‘em! On one hand! — cameras to give drivers updated visuals on highway weather conditions? Doesn’t that seem just a tiny bit … insufficient?

After all, here’s the thing about winter driving around these parts:

we, the motorists, rarely have an idea of how bad the highways truly are. Sure, if someone we know has been out driving, they can tell us.

And sure, if you listen to the radio you’ll hear reports of how bad the

quickly the weather can change — and as a result many people hit the road anyway, assuming they’ll be fine.

Right now we have a handful of cameras dotted around the lower

As for B.C., they have more than 200 cameras watching the roads and showing the weather… verb magazine

conditions are, or you can hop online and see if the highways that snake around this fine province are open or not. But for the most part, you can never actually know bad it is out there — not to mention how

third of our province to combat the issue: two on Highway 11 between Davidson and Saskatoon, one on Highway 2 leading to La Ronge, and one near Lloydminster. But when you look to our neighbours to the west, Continued on next page »

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you’ll see how far behind Saskatchewan is when it comes to providing lives feeds of its roads. In Alberta there are more than 80 highway cameras (heck, there’s seven on the road between Edmonton and Calgary alone). As for B.C., they have more than 200 cameras watching the roads and showing the weather to the residents of that province.

And that’s why we think the government should put more cameras on our highways, then link the feed into the Saskatchewan Highways and Infrastructure website.

This way anyone who is curious can see what the roads and weather are like at any given time, in nearly any given part of the province. The live updates will ensure the availability of current information on highway conditions, and the prolific use of technology means this information can be accessed from pretty much anywhere — even on the go.

Now, we realize the government has pledged to add a few more cameras (up to five this year), then incrementally add some more as the years go on. But to be frank, that’s simply not enough. It’s time to up the number. And not just by a handful, but significantly. Say, by 50, or even 75. That way our motorists would be much safer, and have much more

information about the conditions they are about to face.

And while this won’t come cheap, the investment in highway safety will pay dividends. After all, according to the RCMP 2012 was one of the deadliest on record for Saskatchewan highways, with 162 fatalities. Poor weather conditions, along with speed and an increased number of motorists on the road, are among the factors that have contributed to that spike. Now, obviously installing cameras won’t magically eradicate all highway accidents, but giving drivers more information before they head out won’t harm anything.

But to the cost: according to Doug Wakabayashi, spokesman for Saskatchewan Highways and Infrastructure, each of the new cameras they’re installing has a price tag between $25,000 and $35,000. Yep, you read that right. And yes, that is a lot of lucre to be dropping on each camera.

But public safety should be a priority, and if these past couple weeks have demonstrated anything, it’s that knowing what it’s like out on the highways could save a lot of people a lot of trouble.

Saskatchewan drivers face a lot of challenges out on the road, as demonstrated by the dramatic increase we’ve seen in highway fatalities.

Clearly it’s time the government puts the pedal to the metal, so to speak, and increases the number of cameras on the highways.

These editorials are left unsigned because they represent the opinions of Verb magazine, not those of the individual writers.

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On Topic: Last week we asked what you thought about lowering Saskatchewan’s incarceration rates.

Here's what you had to say: – I think that is far some people don’t belong in jail just wasn’t thinking and did something stupid. But if the so it again then put them in jail. Being in jail doesn’t always help

– How is going to jail a punishment for crime when they get tv and get to hang out. This is supposed to teach them a lesson not reward them for what they did. What a stupid idea.

– I agree we need to focus more on rehabilitation for prisoners than just putting them in the jail and expecting that will miraculously fix everything. The Norway jail sounds a little extreme. Doubt anyone would want to fund it but we should explore other options.

– One hundred percent agree with both prongs on your approach.

Great article; with that said, I wonder how bad will it get before we allow our prison system and the laws which feed them to evolve?

-a (mostly) law-abiding citizen

– Suggesting a need to lower incarceration rates presupposes Judges are making mistakes and that Canadian Law is inappropriate - is this the Verb’s contention???

– Sask prisons are so overcrowded with too many non-violent offenders judges don’t give a crap though and are too harsh!

text yo thoughtsur to 881 ve r b 8372

OFF TOPIC – People need to see that anything other than a private jet is insecure because anyone can board a plane and as we have seen,bad guys sometimes do. But the big lie that people are safer because the government is forcing them to pay for “security” disguises the real agenda to train people to kowtow to the emperor. It starts at the airport,then the Court,government agencies,the Bank. Pretty soon you’ll need a passport to go to work in the morning. Internal security checks are coming.

In response to “Flight of Fancy,” Editorial page, #231 (March 15, 2013)

– I find your article on airport screeners highly offensive. If you disagree with the process or feel the employees are poorly trained maybe you should contact CATSA and let them know that the hour cut backs and subcontracting companies to hire screeners is not working. Not knowing the ins and outs of the job does not make your arrival accurate. Remember the shoe bomber? Underwear bomber? Things that matter are being caught. TSA actually let’s small knives through now. The screeners don’t make the rules!!! They enforce them. Who is to say your employee didnt pick the knife up somewhere between Canada and the states? I do my job the way I was taught how. I understand the process is not fun and may be flawed but we are just following orders from above. S.O In response to “Flight of Fancy,” Editorial page, #231 (March 15, 2013)

– It’s embarasing prison is the way it is, n we claim to take care of our own

– To the txtrs who were ripping into flight of fancy. Clearly lucid doesn’t mean what you think it Continued on next page »

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means. Also, knife incident was clearly in the US, and nowhere did it say it was years ago. And saying metal detectors kept us all safe so far is like pretending nothing terrible has ever happened in air travel. Critiquing something is one thing and the opinion was far from perfect but disregarding the actual statements in what you are ripping apart just makes you guys look foolish.

In response to “Flight of Fancy,” Editorial page, #231 (March 15, 2013)

SOUND OFF – What is wrong with The Blades??? They’re on the verge of being knocked out of the playoffs by a 4-0 sweep for the third year in a row. They kicked ass for the most part all year long. They had nice winning streak going just before the season ended. On paper they are excellent! So what is wrong with the playoffs? No wonder the average crowd is so low. Well at least they’ll get to play at least 3 games at the Memorial Cup in May. -ZJT

– So Atch thinks that the latest federal budget is like Christrmas. I guess his letter calling the recommendations for urban ridings divissive proved to the Haperites that Donnie is a good boy

– why saskatoon city can’t use some of the surplus money to start building heated bus stops around mayor city bus stop, at lest down bus stop please do something, Saskatoon is growing

– Next time you check into HMV take a look at the latest by Justin Timberlake and check out the blurred cover photo. Now who bears a more than passing resemblance? HINT -- it ain’t Stephen Harper.

– I’m so tired of people saying OMG. Just be quiet already you drama queens!

– the problem with the “social democrats” is that their wealth redistribution agenda reduces itself to a form of thuggery where those who want to achieve are compelled to pay for those who don’t and as the dependencies mount the Ponzi scheme collapses. Just look at the US owing 17 Trillion, Or Cyprus.

– Don’t know why you feel so threatened by God. It’s not about whose God is bigger. I sense your animosity. Let it go.

– The fact that we get blizzard like conditions during spring tells

me that we revolve around God’s schedule. Not the other way around.

Next week: What do you think about adding more highway cameras in Saskatchewan? Pick up a copy of Verb to get in on the conversation: We print your texts verbatim each week. Text in your thoughts and reactions to our stories and content, or anything else on your mind.

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The Piano Man

Photos: courtesy of Calvin Fehr Photography

Jeffery Straker on songs new and old by Alex J MacPherson

J

effery Straker didn’t plan to become a singersongwriter. After studying classical piano performance and plant biology, he stumbled upon the rich independent music scene in Toronto — a discovery that dramatically changed the course of his life.

And he hasn’t looked back. In a career spanning more than a decade, Straker has released five albums, and played hundreds of shows across Canada and as far abroad as Ghana. His latest record, Vagabond, which was released last year and made liberal use of Glenn Gould’s famous piano, spawned two of the longest tours he has ever undertaken. I caught up with Straker to talk about touring, writing, and famous pianos he’d like to play.

Alex J MacPherson: Since releasing Vagabond you’ve been touring a lot.

How’s life on the road?

Jeffery Straker: It’s been really good. I did a full tour in the fall.

I went Victoria to Ottawa, and I think there were about thirty shows. I think it was really well-received. The record was reviewed really well, and people read reviews for better or for worse, and the reception was so good that it kind of created a whole second tour, which I’m on now. Hopefully I have a little bit of sanity left at the end of that.

AJM: I know you’ve been working on new material. Do you road-test songs or keep them to yourself until they show up on a record?

JS: I’m in the middle. There are some songs I’ll certainly play a couple of times, if not for an audience than for trusted musical friends. There are some that there’s something about, that I just want to try in front of an audience, to make sure it’s up to snuff.

more. People who would listen to each of my last records, I think, would nod their heads and say, ‘Yeah, this is folkpop in some combination.’ Sometimes it’s been a bit more folk, sometimes it’s been a bit more pop. And the other thing is a string of classical or cabaret maybe sprinkled on top. All that stuff in varying combinations.

AJM: When it comes to writing and performing, are you torn between trying to replicate the things your fans liked and pushing the boundaries of what you can do as an artist?

AJM: I know you’re working on songs for a new record. Last time you played Glenn Gould’s piano. How are you going to top that?

JS: If people have liked what I’ve done to date, I do want to hopefully give them a bit more of that vein of stuff.

JS: It’s going to be hard to top that one! There are two that are coming to

…at the end of the day … there are not a lot of guys singing and playing the piano. jeffery straker

mind, and they’re very different. One is Oscar Peterson’s Bösendorfer. It’s a great instrument, and it was his. On the flipside, there’s a piano in Calgary — strangely enough — that was used by Elton John. He played it, and it was also in the album art for Madman Across The Water. That would be great, too.

That’s why they listened to me in the first place. But at the same time, I think my creative juices for whatever reason want me, subconsciously, to do something different each time.

AJM: Which is reflected in Vagabond and its predecessors. The corollary question is: what do you think links them together?

Jeffery Straker April 5 @ The Bassment $15/20

JS: Always at the middle are the piano and the vocals. And at the end of the day, in Canada, there are not a lot of guys singing and playing the piano, so that almost has an identity stamp of its own. And then I’m playing in the folk-pop world, so that narrows it even

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We were Lovers

Saskatoon dance pop band poised to release new record

W

e Were Lovers has gone through several incarnations. At one point, with eight musicians crowded onstage, it felt more like a sprawling collective than a tightly-coiled dance band.

But its essence, irreducible and pure, has always been the creative partnership between Elsa Gebremichael and Ash Lamothe.

“Ash and I have a very strong connection in every way, and it does radiate from the stage,” Gebremichael says with a laugh.

“It feels really good, whether we’re playing as just the two of us or with six backing members.”

Gebremicheal and Lamothe work well together because they are so different. Their sound documents the collision between Gebremichael’s ethereal soundscapes and reverb-drenched vocals, and Lamothe’s love of tight grooves and frenetic guitar riffs. After releasing their debut EP, a blast of stripped-down electro-pop, in 2010, the pair spent a year on the road before deciding to cut

by alex J MacPherson

something more substantial.

Pyramids, their first full-length record, is scheduled for release in June. But, Gebremichael explains, nothing is ever that simple. “Ash and I spent a year recording the album,” she says. “We actually mixed it ourselves. It was our first time recording ourselves, that whole process was a learning curve, but we came to a point where we were pretty happy with it. But now we have the opportunity to work with a producer.”

After releasing a reworked version of “Islands,” a dreamy romp through the annals of ‘80s dance pop that recalls elements of Grimes’s “Oblivion” and Toto’s “Africa,” the pair decided to crowd-fund the rest of the record.

Whether or not the project gets off the ground will be determined later this month, but Gebremichael sounds confident, in the fans as well as the music.

“Islands” is a departure for the band, the triumph of atmospherics over straightforward rock hooks, Gebremichael and Lamothe refuse to

Photo: courtesy of desiree Martin Photography

succumb to the tyranny of genre. “We don’t make a conscious effort to write a certain style of music,” she says.

“Our music comes out of us, and we like all kinds of genres. I don’t think there should be any boundaries.”

We Were Lovers April 6 @ Amigos Cantina Tickets at the door

I Know You By Heart

Miniatures at the Mendel

by alex J MacPherson

D

Photo: courtesy of the mendel art gallery

1. Anne McGillivray, née Easthope by Andrew Robertson, Library and Archives Canada, ca. 1838, e010933313.

ecades before cameras revolutionized the way people preserved and cherished their memories, even modest distances kept people apart. Portrait miniatures, small paintings meant for private use, flourished as a means of bridging great distances and keeping memories close.

I Know You By Heart, which was curated by Johanna Mizgala, features 35 portrait miniatures from the collection of Library and Archives Canada. The exhibition features representations of prominent Canadians like Mohawk Chief Major John Norton and General Lord William Howe, and other, lesser-known individuals.

“The selected portrait miniatures offer us an intimate look at individuals within the context of private lives of past generations,” Mizgala writes in an email. “Official portraits give us insight into individuals in terms of their role in society…Private portraits, such as miniatures, enhance our understanding of the person as we see them: bride, mother or child.”

Most forms of western art survived the rise of technology; portrait miniatures did not. Rendered obsolete by the camera, they vanished from the public consciousness. Today, miniatures are seen as an anachronistic reminder of social stratification in Canada in the 18th and 19th centuries. Mizgala disagrees. “[I]t is true that the wealthy

were primarily the ones who could afford to commission a painted portrait of themselves or a loved one,” she writes. “Yet some works in the exhibition defy this description.”

Pointing to a portrait by Lady Hamilton of Demasduit, the only known portrait of a Beothuk person created from life, Mizgala suggests that portrait miniatures have transcended art and moved into the realm of cultural object: “In this regard,” she writes, “her image takes on a tremendous significance as an icon of Canadian history.”

But all windows have frames, and though its scope is limited by the form it seeks to present, I Know You By Heart offers a compelling

portrait of a life unseen. “[T]hese small objects,” Mizgala writes, “carry with them the knowledge that they were part of an exchange between two individuals who had an intimate connection. They are a glimpse into another aspect of the many sides that we present to those we hold in deep regard: spouse, parent, child, lover, and friend.”

I Know You By Heart Through June 2 @ Mendel Art Gallery Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

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Ancient Mars

Photo: courtesy of kirsten Berlie

The Zolas explore time, memory on one of the best records of the year by Alex J MacPherson

É

mile Zola was a French novelist and political activist. He is best known for a sprawling series of twenty novels published in the last decades of the 19th century, and for writing “J’Accuse,” a fiery denunciation of the government and the bellwether of the movement to exonerate Alfred Dreyfus, who had been falsely accused of treason. When Vancouver musicians Zachary Gray and Tom Dobrzanski set out to start a new band, they knew little about Zola. But they needed a name.

“We recorded our first album just for the fun of it,” Gray writes in an e-mail, referring to Tic Toc Tic, which was released in 2009, “before the Zolas even existed and we still couldn’t agree on a name or an album title or album art. Tom and I never agree on anything.

Eventually our indecision was actually holding back the release date of the album.” To settle the matter, he and Dobrzanski went to an all-you-can-eat Indian restaurant. “We had a summit,” he recalls, “and drafted the no-compromise compromise. I named the band and Tom named the album and chose the artwork. Ironically, we both ended up liking the other’s choices.”

Although he claims they never agree, Gray and Dobrzanski have been friends for years. They met on a choir tour of the Netherlands. “Tom and I met when we were 14,” Gray writes.

“Then by fluke our voices broke at the

same time and we suddenly couldn’t sing anymore. We bonded over mutual puberty.” Dobrzanski was a talented piano player, and Gray taught himself a handful of guitar chords. They spent hours recording themselves on Gray’s father’s tape recorder.

“This sounds a lot cooler than it was,” Gray admits. “I only had an acoustic guitar so we were playing folky songs with cabaret-feeling piano and Nirvana-like chord structures. I can’t think of a more unappetizing description for music and I hesitate to

f**king them up, until the hooks have to fight to get out. “When we get together we naturally make pop rock music,” Gray writes, “but pop rock has been done to death so you have to mutate it with other kinds of music you like. The best pop songs always manage to trick you into thinking you’re hearing something new.”

Ancient Mars, which Gray and Dobrzanski released in October, sounds not unlike a pop rock record. The instrumentation and song structures will be familiar to even the most musically

I think about heydays a lot. How short they are … Entire worlds spark and evaporate every day. zachary gray

even mention Nirvana because that suggests some amount of edge. We’ve never had any edge.”

Gray and Dobrzanski eventually formed a band called Lotus Child, which later collapsed only to be reborn in a cheap Indian restaurant.

According to the band’s website, the basic premise of the Zolas involves writing classic pop songs and then

illiterate listeners. Gray’s guitar licks are simple and pleasing; Dobrzanski’s piano lines rise and fall like a heaving chest. But it isn’t exactly a pop record.

Ancient Mars is engaging because it is packed with surprises. Its straightforward pop songs are wreathed in unconventional sonics and subtle textures. From the cacophonous, vaguely detuned coda to “In Heaven” and the distorted vocals in “Knot In My Heart” to the Stevie Ray Vaughan-style Continued on next page »

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guitar lick that kicks off “Strange Girl” and the theatrical chorus of “Observatory,” the songs on Ancient Mars are familiar enough to draw in listeners, and interesting enough to make them want to stay.

Gray and Dobrzanski wrote the songs, but neither had any idea how the album would sound. “Once Tom and I had put together enough songs for an album we looked around at all our friends and just asked our favourite drummer and bassist if they were free,” Gray explains. Ancient Mars features Michael Jordan of Royal Canoe on bass, and drumming by Johnny Walsh, who contributes to several bands. Gray and Dobrzanski also asked Chuck Brody to produce the album, and he traveled to Vancouver for the sessions. “We all got together and started arranging the songs,” Gray recalls. “For us, the most exciting way to make an album is to work with our favourite people at each instrument and not try to micromanage anyone.

You don’t know exactly what it’ll sound like, but it’s a lot more fun.”

Ancient Mars is a record about time. Gray and Dobrzanski have a flair for the dramatic, and their songs weave common experience (“I bet she’s rail-thin like a heron / over the phone she talks and I just listen in”) and sweeping metaphor (“We’ll never meet until it’s just too late for us / you’re the Euphrates and I’m the Tigris”) into evocative yet relatable

Photo: courtesy of kirsten Berlie

stories. This fusion of raw emotion and epic myth reveals not only the band’s talent for capturing the stark contrast between abject isolation and faint hope, but also their fascination with the subtle dissonance produced by the collision of time and memory.

“I think about heydays a lot,” Gray writes, referring to the album’s lyrical content. “How short they are. How we don’t realize we’re having one until it’s on the decline, or until years later. How

a group of people can mean everything to you, and then two years later you run into each other at a grocery store and have nothing in common anymore. How friends you think will be in love forever still sometimes break up. Entire worlds spark and evaporate every day.”

Their references are never obvious, and it’s not clear whether the songs on Ancient Mars are drawn from experience or the darkest recesses of Gray’s mind. But the grand theme of the record is impossible to ignore. Gray and Dobrzanski are getting older, and their awareness of time and its passing becomes more acute each day. Ancient Mars is their attempt to extract meaning from the short sweep of the clock.

They acknowledge the scope of history (“Several billion golden years ago / I lost a planet that I loved to the cold”) without clinging to its lifeless reaches.

Instead of descending into nihilistic torpor, the Zolas use time to remind us that the moment is what matters (“Civilization blooms and then it erodes. And that’s it / Oh my ancient Mars”).

Gray is less philosophical. “I just write about what grabs me at the time and hope it makes sense when it’s all out together in an album,” he writes. “Usually it does. I think about the same things everyone else around my age thinks about, so it usually comes across like a good cross-section of life.”

In the years since the summit that birthed the band, Gray has read several works by Émile Zola. “Out of due diligence,” he writes. “I liked them, but not tremendously. [Zola] was this classic turn-of the-century artist, living with no money with other artists (Cézanne was his roommate) in sh**ty coldwater apartments in Paris.

He was doing something a bit revolutionary, though: writing stories about low-class people — prostitutes, grimy mining towns, etc. — and selling them to the upper classes. His books were considered pulpy and salacious and rich people scoffed at them publicly while secretly devouring a copy of Nana every night before bed. It was like the Teen Mom of the era.”

The public eventually discovered him. Today, his novels — and especially “J’Accuse” — are common in homes and on campuses across the world.

Gray yearns for this kind of success.

“Actually,” he admits, “we kind of expected to be this successful years ago.

It’s taken forever.” But everything takes time, and Ancient Mars is a quantum leap forward. It is a rallying cry, a call to abandon the normal and embrace the interesting, the offbeat, and the downright risky. To take classic pop songs and f**k them up until the hooks have to fight to get out. “I think the secret is to just stop caring and focus on the music,” Gray writes. “That’s pretty much all people care about in the end anyway. Just make a sound that the world needs to hear right now.”

The Zolas April 13 @ Amigos Cantina $10 @ ticketedge.ca Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@MacPhersonA amacpherson@verbnews.com

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Photo courtesy of Adam Hawboldt.

Somwhere you need to eat

Somewhere Else Pub & Grill has food that will keep you coming back by adam hawboldt

F

or every good neighbourhood, there’s a good neighbourhood bar.

Think about it. Beacon Hill in Boston has Cheers, Santa Monica has The Regal Beagle. In Springfield, it’s Moe’s Tavern; in Quahog you have The Drunken Clam.

And while I’ve only ever been to one of those establishments (mainly because the other three are fictional), I do know a thing or two about local bars. And the secret to a great neighbourhood drink establishment is simple. First, the

while-you’re-wasted good, either.

Heck no. I’m talking about the kind of food you crave. The kind of food

staff has to be friendly. Second, the bar has to have a certain cozy, comfortable feel. Third, alcohol

[The wings] are huge and crispy and doused in the perfect amount of sauce. adam hawboldt

you will go to the bar for even if you’re not in the mood for a bevy.

And the Somewhere Else Pub & Grill has that kind of food.

Don’t believe me? Go see for yourself. Located at the far south end Broadway, Somewhere Else Pub isn’t your average neighbourhood establishment serving your average pub food. Take, for instance, the wings.

Instead of being small and drowned in sauce (like at a lot of pubs), the wings at Somewhere Else xPub are huge and crispy and doused in the perfect amount of sauce. Oh, and there’s an excellent variety to choose from, too: Salt & Vinegar, Buffalo, Dill Pickle, Honey Garlic, Suicide, Hot & Sexy. You name it.

must be served (that’s a given!).

And fourth, the food has to be good. I’m not talking it-tastes-good-

let’s go drinkin’ Verb’s mixology guide Agent Orange

Ingredients

Next time you’re craving an orange-tasting alcoholic drink, skip the screwdriver and try this beauty instead. Loaded with alcohol and zippy orange flavour, an agent orange is a perfect drink on a hot summer’s (or spring’s) day.

1 shot of vodka 1/2 shot of Grand Marnier 1/2 shot of Cointreau 2 shots freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions

Start by squeezing the oranges. Next, add the orange juice, vodka, Grand Marnier and Cointreau to a shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Pour the concoction into a short glass. Add an orange wedge as garnish, and serve.

When I was there, I went with something called Sweet Heat, and it certainly lived up to its name. Both sweet and hot, these wings are some of the best I’ve had in Saskatoon. So big, so crispy, and oh so good.

If you’re a fan of wings, check out Somewhere Else Pub. But keep in mind that if it’s a Wednesday (their wing night), you’re going to want to get there early. There’s a line-up to get it.

Yep, the wings are that good.

While there, I also gave another pub staple — the BLT — a try.

Served on moist, fluffy focaccia bread, and lathered with delectable chipotle mayo, this isn’t your average, everyday BLT. Neither are the

fries it comes with. See, the fries I chose were yam fries and boy were they good. Sweet and crispy, these fries come with a chipotle dip that’s downright addictive.

So if you’re in the neighbourhood — heck, even if it’s a bit of a drive — give it a try. Maybe Somewhere Else Pub could end up being your very own Cheers.

Somewhere Else Pub & Grill 2605 Broadway Avenue | 306 652 3233 Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@AdamHawboldt ahawboldt@verbnews.com

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Next Week

coming up

K-oS

Rich Aucoin

Anberlin

@ Odeon Events Centre Thursday, April 11 – $24.50

@ Odeon Events Centre Thursday, April 11 – $24.50

@ Odeon Events Centre Thursday, April 25 – $26

What does Kevin Brereton’s stage name, k-os, stand for? Is it “knowledge of self” or “Kevin’s original sound?” The better question is, does it matter? At different times the Toronto rapper/singer/songwriter/producer has said his stage name means a few different things, but through it all one thing has remained constant — the infectious sound of the music k-os makes. Creating a brand of alternative hip hop all his own, this Canadian artist has won numerous awards, dropped platinum albums, won multitudes of fans, and, according to Billboard magazine, created “one of the finest hip-hop records Canada has ever produced” — that being his debut LP, Exit. k-os will be in town at the beginning of April; tickets will be available at www.theodeon.ca

After making a name for himself on the Halifax music scene, this symphonic-pop maestro has branched out and begun to take the country by storm. With a live show that’s simply electric, Aucoin has won fans from coast to coast and beyond. Should you attend a concert, you’ll find yourself singing and dancing to his music, drenched in confetti with a smile on your face.

That’s because Aucoin writes catchy music with an emphasis on digging the good things in life, the kind of music that encourages the breaking down of barriers between audience and performer. He’ll be taking the stage later this week, when he opens for k-os at the Odeon. For more information about times and tickets, visit www.theodeon.com

Some people have called Anberlin just another Christian rock band. And they’re right, but only insofar as their lead singer’s last name is Christian and they are a rock band. Fronted by Stephen Christian, Anberlin also features Joseph Milligan, Deon Rexroat, Nathan Young and Christian McAlhaney.

Together they make a light brand of altrock music that touches on Christian themes, but is by no means encapsulated by the genre. Their latest album, Vital, has songs covers topics from the revolt in Egypt to love and loss.

To help promote the album, Anberlin (which was formed at the turn of the millennium in Winter Haven, Florida) is currently in the middle of a North American tour. They’ll be rolling into Saskatoon later next month. Tickets are available at www.theodeon.com – By Adam Hawboldt

Photos courtesy of: the artist / the artist / Gil Riego Jr.

Sask music Preview SaskMusic presents Music, Money and Taxes! — an interactive and practical discussion of tax preparation specifically geared to artists and music professionals. The workshop is free for all SaskMusic members, or $20 for nonmembers; the workshop kicks off at 7pm on April 2, at The Two Twenty. Please pre-register by calling 1-800-347-0676, or email info@saskmusic.org

Keep up with Saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org

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March 28 » April 6 The most complete live music listings for Saskatoon.

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Thursday 28 Ray Stephanson / The Bassment — Feel like taking in some smooth jazz stylings?

4:30pm / No cover Hayden / The Bassment — Pared-down folk music that’s all kinds of good. 9pm / $20/25 Activist Maguire / Buds On Broadway — Come rock the night away. 9pm / $6 Quin, Aku, Fayde, A Dangerous Kemical Reaktion / Crown & Rok — Another Double Time Bassline event that is sure to please. 9pm / $5 cover Throwback Thursdays / Earls — Come experience the best in retro funk, soul, reggae and rock provided by Dr. J. 8pm / No cover Thunder Riot w/Conky Showpony / The Fez on Broadway — Come dance the night away as this local DJ plays the kind of music that’ll get your feet moving. 9pm / $5 DJ Kade / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover DJ Sugar Daddy / Jax Niteclub — Local DJ Sugar Daddy will be rocking the turntables to get you dancing on the dance floor! 8pm / $5; free cover with student ID before 11pm Take the Stage / Louis’ — Watch three bands compete for the Grand Prize. 8pm / Cover TBD

Cruzing Cabaret / Odeon Events Centre — Featuring April Wine, Alan Frew and The Diggers. 7pm / $34.50-54-50 (theodeon.ca) Mikey Dubz Birthday Bash / Tequila Nightclub — Featuring Chan-L, Mr. Suave, Mr. Mern, Mikey Dubz, and Mikey Two Kay. 6pm / $10 Continuum / Vangelis — Come get the weekend started early! 10pm / $5

Friday 29

House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs liven up the atmosphere at 6Twelve. 9pm / No cover Kay The Aquanaut / Amigos Cantina — Dope, indie hip hop that’ll make you bob your head. 10pm / Cover TBD Ray Stephanson / The Bassment — Feel like taking in some smooth jazz stylings?

4:30pm / No cover DJ Aash Money / Béily’s — DJ Aash Money throws down a high-energy top 40 dance party every Friday night. 9pm / $5 Screamer / Buds On Broadway — Highenergy classic rock. 9pm / $6 DJ Eclectic / The Hose & Hydrant — Local turntable whiz DJ Eclectic pumps snappy electronic beats. 8pm / No cover DJ Sugar Daddy / Jax Niteclub — Able to rock any party, this local crowd favourite has always been known to break the latest and greatest tracks in multiple genres. 9pm / $5 cover Plaid Tongued Devils / Lydia’s Pub — Ska gypsy rock that’ll make you move.

10pm / $5 Stars / Odeon Events Centre — Indie pop rock done right. 7pm / $25/29 (theodeon.ca) DJ Big Ayyy & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws — There’s no better country rock party around.

8pm / $5; ladies in free before 11pm DJ Albert + Dislexik / Spadina Freehouse — Two sweet DJs for your listening pleasure. 9pm / No cover

Jett Run / Stan’s Place — Come out for a night of rocking tunes. 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests, from Sinatra to Lady Gaga. 10pm / $5 Party Rock Fridays / Tequila Nightclub — Featuring DJ Dislexik. 9pm / Cover TBD Bend Sinister, Bleachers, Jeans Boots / Vangelis — What a way to celebrate Friday night! Come check it out.

10pm / $8

Saturday 30

House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover Slates / Amigos Cantina — Infectious punk rock out of Edmonton. 10pm / Tickets at the door Austen Roadz + DJ CTRL / Béily’s UltraLounge — Austen Roadz throws down a high-energy top 40 dance party along with DJ CTRL every Saturday night. 9pm / $5 Screamer / Buds On Broadway — Highenergy classic rock. 9pm / $6 Elixir Ensemble / Convocation Hall (UofS) — French music from the 1890s. 7:30pm / $10+ (available at elixirensemble.com or McNally Robinson) Snopitch / Crown and Rok — Come out for a rockin’ good time. 9pm / Cover TBD Johnny Don’t / Fez — A local pop/rock act that’s too good to miss. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Kade / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon’s own DJ lights it up with hot tunes.

8pm / No cover DJ Sugar Daddy / Jax Niteclub — Able to rock any party, this local crowd favourite has always been known to break the latest and greatest tracks in multiple genres. 9pm / $5 cover Lucero / Louis’ — A country-punk rock band all the way from Tennessee. 8pm / $ 26.75 (ticketmaster.ca)

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Plaid Tongued Devils / Lydia’s Pub — Ska gypsy rock that’ll make you move. 10pm / $5 cover DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman / Outlaws — Round up your friends ‘cause there’s no better country rock party around. 8pm / $5 The Forks / Prairie Ink — A folk/bluegrass trio. 8pm / No cover Charly Hustle / Spadina Freehouse — A local DJ doing his thing and doing it well.

9pm / No cover Jett Run/ Stan’s Place — Come out for a night of rocking tunes. 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests, from Sinatra to Lady Gaga. 10pm / $5 Sexy Saturdays / Tequila Nightclub — Featuring DJ Dislexik. 9pm / Cover TBD (ladies get free cover before 11pm) Express and Co. / Vangelis — A little bit of acoustic pop, swing, bluegrass and rock for ya. 10pm / $5

Sunday 31

Shout Out Out Out w/ Doldrums / Amigos Cantina — A dance punk/electro band from Edmonton. 10pm / $12 (ticketedge.ca) Industry Night / Béily’s UltraLounge — Hosted by DJ Sugar Daddy. 9pm / $4; no cover for industry staff DJ KADE / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up. 8pm / No cover Blues Jam / Vangelis — Great tunes from blues to rock and beyond. 7:30pm / No cover

Monday 1

Rock 102 Meltdown / Credit Union Centre — Featuring Volbeat, Danko Jones and Spoken. 7:30pm / $38.50-68.50 (ticketmaster.ca) Metal Mondays / Lydia’s Pub — If hard, heavy awesomeness is your thing, swing by. 9pm Synaptic / Vangelis — A great night of electronic fun. 10pm / No cover

Tuesday 2

Today Is The Day, Black Tusk, Ken Mode, Fight Amp / Amigos Cantina — It’s gonna get loud and heavy in here. 9:30pm / $15 (ticketedge.ca) DJ SUGAR DADDY / The Double Deuce — Able to rock any party, this crowd favourite has always been known to break the latest and greatest tracks in multiple genres.

9:30pm / $4 cover VERB PRESENTS OPEN STAGE / Lydia’s Pub — The open stage is a chance for bands, solo artists and even comedians to showcase original material. 9pm / No cover

Open Mic / The Somewhere Else Pub — Come out to show your talent. 7pm / No cover

Wednesday 3

HUMP WEDNESDAYS / 302 Lounge & Discotheque — Resident DJ Chris Knorr will be spinning all of your favourite songs and requests, every Wednesday night. 9pm / No cover until 10pm; $3 thereafter Two Hours Traffic w/Rah Rah / Amigos Cantina — Indie rock from PEI and Regina.

10pm / $10 (ticketedge.ca) The Avenue Recording Company presents Open Mic / The Fez — Hosted

by Chad Reynolds. 10pm / No cover DJ Kade / Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover Dr. J ‘Souled Out’ / Lydia’s Pub — Dr. J spins hot funk and soul every Wednesday night. 9pm / No cover WILD WEST WEDNESDAY / Outlaws Country Rock Bar — This is Saskatoon’s top industry night, hosted by DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman. 9pm / $4; no cover for industry staff Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests, from Sinatra to Lady Gaga. 10pm / No cover

Thursday 4

Yukon Blonde, Zeus, Grounders / Amigos Cantina — A night of sweet indie rock.10pm / $ 20 (ticketedge.ca) Jazz Jam: The Richard Haubrich Trio / The Bassment — If you sing or play an instrument, stop by. 8pm / $5 (jammers get in for free) Throwback Thursdays / Earls — Come experience the best in retro funk, soul, reggae and rock provided by Dr. J. 8pm / No cover Thunder Riot w/Conky Showpony / The Fez on Broadway — Come dance the night away as this local DJ plays the kind of music that’ll get your feet moving. 9pm / $5 DJ Kade / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover DJ Sugar Daddy / Jax Niteclub — Local DJ Sugar Daddy will be rocking the turntables to get you dancing on the dance floor! Every Thursday night will be filled with passion parties, pole dancing, shadow dancers and much more! 8pm / $5; free cover with student ID before 11pm Swollen Members / Odeon Events Centre — A Juno-winning hip hop group from Vancouver. 7pm / $25-60 (theodeon.ca) Randy Bachman / TCU Place — The one and only Randy Bachman of The Guess

Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive fame.

8pm / $25-59.50 (tcutickets.ca)

Friday 5

House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs liven up the atmosphere at 6Twelve. 9pm / No cover John Jerome and the Congregation, The Foggy Notions, Heat Rub / Amigos Cantina — Some funky, infectious rock for your soul. 10pm / Cover TBD Piano Fridays: David Fong / The Bassment — Come check out Fong tickle the ivories of the Kinsman Yamaha S6 grand piano. 4:30pm / No cover Piano Series: Jeffery Straker / The Bassment — Folk/pop/cabaret music done right. 9pm / $15/$20 Gong Show / Béily’s UltraLounge — The first Friday of the month. 9pm / $5 cover The Martyr Index, Vulture Kult, Dead Voices / Fez on Broadway — Hard-driving rock and roll. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Eclectic / The Hose — Local turntable whiz pumps snappy beats. 8pm / No cover DJ Sugar Daddy / Jax Niteclub — Able to rock any party, this local crowd favourite has always been known to break the latest and greatest tracks in multiple genres. 9pm / $5 cover DJ Big Ayyy & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws Country Rock Bar — There’s no better country rock party around. 8pm / $5; ladies in free before 11pm Red & the Fellas / Prairie Ink — Pop/jazz fusion music. 8pm / No cover Legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue / Somewhere Else Pub — Rhythm and Blues done with flare. 9pm / No cover Mitch / Stan’s Place — Come rock the night away. 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests.

10pm / $5 Party Rock Fridays / Tequila Nightclub — Featuring DJ Dislexik. 9pm / Cover TBD Hustle & Thrive / Vangelis — A local hip hop duo that’s all kind of good. 10pm / $5

Saturday 6

House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover We Were Lovers w/Friends Electric / Amigos Cantina — A pop group with an ethereal sound you can dance to. 10pm / Cover TBD The Cookers w/Ben Schenstead / The Bassment — A smooth jazz quintet from Toronto. 9pm / $15/20 Austen Roadz + DJ CTRL / Béily’s UltraLounge — Austen Roadz throws down a

high-energy top 40 dance party along with DJ CTRL. 9pm / $5 cover DJ Kade / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon’s own DJ lights it up. 8pm / No cover DJ Sugar Daddy / Jax Niteclub — A local crowd favourite. 9pm / $5 cover September Long / Lydia’s Pub — Infectious jam-rock music. 10pm / $5 Skylab / Lydia’s Upstairs Loft — A night of atmospheric tunes. 9pm / $5 Clutch / Odeon Events Centre — Come check out the Earth Rocker World Tour.

6:30pm / $32.50 (theodeon.ca) DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman / Outlaws — There’s no better country rock party around.

8pm / $5 Malusi Mabaleka / Prairie Ink — Acoustic alt-folk music. 8pm / No cover Mitch / Stan’s Place — Come rock the night away. 9pm / No cover

Legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue / Somewhere Else Pub — Rhythm and Blues done with flare. 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests, from Sinatra to Lady Gaga. 10pm / $5 Sexy Saturdays / Tequila Nightclub — Featuring DJ Dislexik. 9pm / Cover TBD (ladies get free cover before 11pm) Dumb Angel w/Mitch Greir / Vangelis — Laid-back acoustic music from a Montreal.10pm / $5

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In the line of die hard

Photo: Courtesy of Film District

Olympus Has Fallen is reminiscent of past action flicks by adam hawboldt

B

race yourself.

Sixteen-hundred Pennsylvania Avenue (known to us laypeople as the White House) is under attack. No, it’s not aliens, like in Independence Day. This time around, it’s those dastardly North Koreans.

Posing as South Korean diplomats, this cracker jack team of terrorists, led by a sadistic s.o.b. named Kang (Rick Yune), invade the White House, kill everybody they see, and take the President (Aaron Eckhart) and the Secretary of Defense (Melissa Leo) prisoner, holding them hostage in an underground War Room.

To make matters worse — at least for the President— his son is missing, and if the terrorists find the little tyke first they could very well use him as a bargaining chip to get what they want.

The situation seems hopeless. May as well have a glass of wine, watch the country go to hell and give the terrorists what they want, right?

is also the type of guy who likes kicking ass while taking names.

(Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the only reason Banning is working the Treasury Department is because

Wrong.

Because there’s one man still alive inside the White House who can save the day. His name is Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), a

…for people who enjoy movies with wildly high kill rates … Olympus Has Fallen will be thoroughly enjoyable.

Adam Hawboldt

he got demoted after an incident involving the President and the now-deceased First Lady).

Anyway, with Banning on the inside and the White House on lockdown by the terrorists, the scene is set for showdowns, heroism, and a whole heap of violence in an action film called Olympus Has Fallen.

guy who works a desk job at the Treasury Department.

But there’s a catch. Banning isn’t just some average desk jockey.

Hells to the no. He’s an ex-Secret Service agent who not only used to be chummy with the President, who not only was a mentor of sorts to the President’s young son, but who

And if all this sounds remotely familiar, well, that’s probably because it is.

Just think of Olympus Has Fallen as the bastard love-child that would be spawned if Die Hard and In the Line of Fire ever hopped on the good foot and did the naughty thing.

Depending on who you are that’s either a good thing or a bad thing.

If you’re not a fan of generic action movies, this one ain’t for you.

However, for people who enjoy movies with wildly high kill rates, cool explosions, a bit of tension and corny one-liners, Olympus Has Fallen will be thoroughly enjoyable.

No, they didn’t re-invent the action wheel with this one. They just followed a proven formula and hired a top notch cast (Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett, Ashley Judd, Dylan McDermott, Melissa Leo and Cole Hauser are all in it, too).

Oh and they gave it a twist ending, too. Just kidding. Chances are, if

Olympus has Fallen Antoine Fuqua Starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo + Ashley Judd Directed by

120 minutes | 14A

you’ve ever seen an action flick you know precisely how this one finishes up. But no matter.

Let’s just be thankful that Gerard Butler has put aside being Mr. RomCom long enough to do what he’s truly good at.

Let’s see how long that’ll last.

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@AdamHawboldt ahawboldt@verbnews.com

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A disjointed glimpse of something

New Charlie Sheen movie more of a series of scenes than a coherent story by adam hawboldt

M

aking a quirky, off-beat movie is no easy task.

There’s a certain balance you have to strike. Your actors must be able to pull off oddball roles while staying relatable. Your story (more often than not) should be low-key, but there has to be a certain energy to it that propels the narrative forward.

Then there’s cinematographic vision. If the cinematography and the look of the film aren’t just right, it’ll mess with the feel of the movie and throw everything out of whack.

See, no easy task at all.

But it is possible. Just look at movies like Lars and the Real Girl, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Raising Arizona, or nearly every movie Wes Anderson has ever made.

Unfortunately, director Roman Coppola’s new film, A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, isn’t one of those movies.

Yes, it’s quirky. Yes, it’s off-beat.

But unlike the best of the genre (if “quirky” can even be considered

Photo: Courtesy of A24

— not walk — to the theatre and watch it.

I mean, face it, the cast is incredible: Charlie Sheen, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Aubrey Plaza, Patricia Arquette. You couldn’t ask for better actors to play quirky characters.

Add to that the fact that Roman Coppola (yes, of THAT Coppola

…when you put [the scenes] all together you get a disjointed mess of a movie.

Adam Hawboldt

a genre), A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III missed the mark on a couple of key points and, as a result, falls flat.

But more on that in a minute.

Right now, I want to make a confession: when I first heard about this movie my gut instinct was to run

lineage) was a screenwriter for both The Darjeeling Limited and Moonrise Kingdom and, well, I was certain A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III was a can’t-miss indie hit.

Man, was I wrong.

Starring Charlie Sheen in the title role, the movie begins with

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III Directed by Roman Coppola Starring Charlie Sheen, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Aubrey Plaza + Patricia Arquette 86 minutes | N/A

his character, Charles Swan, caught in an emotional and professional tailspin. See, Charles, a successful graphic artist, is dumped by his girlfriend Ivana (Katheryn Winnick) after she finds a drawer full of naked pictures of women Swan has slept with.

Charles reacts the way, oh, say, Charlie Sheen might act in a situation like this: he goes on a bender from West Hell and ends up crashing his Cadillac in a pool before ending up in the hospital with what may or may not be a heart attack.

From there things get zanier. So as not to ruin the movie for anyone, let’s just say the rest of the story unfolds in fractured scenes and

scattered stories — some real, some imagined. There’s a dance number inside a cemetery, a scene with Bill Murray playing John Wayne, and a skit or something about the Secret Society of Ball Busters. And while some of these scenes are really good, in and of themselves, when you put them all together you get a disjointed mess of a movie. But hey! At least the cinematography is good.

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III is now playing at Roxy Theatre.

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21 Mar 28 – Apr 4 @verbsaskatoon

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saturday, march 23 @

JT’s bar & grill JT’s Bar & Grill 3929 8th Street East (306) 954 9393 Music vibe / Top 40 Featured deals / 29 cent wings,

Bud and Bud Light for $4.25, and triples for $9 Drink of Choice / Beer top eats / Wings coming up / Blue Jays fan club April 4

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Tuesday, march 26 @

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The Rook & Raven 154 2nd Avenue South (306) 655 2220 Music vibe / Various types

of rock Featured deals / Free cheese

platter with the order of a bottle of wine; changes weekly Drink of Choice / Grandmaster — Van Gogh Acai Blueberry vodka, fresh blueberries and lemonade top eats / Short ribs — served with veggies and mashed potatoes something new / Heineken on tap, and a new drink menu

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25 Mar 28 – Apr 4 @verbsaskatoon

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Š Elaine M. Will | blog.E2W-Illustration.com | Check onthebus.webcomic.ws/ for previous editions!

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crossword canadian criss-cross DOWN 1. Giving up 2. ‘Thanks ___!’

3. Attorney’s profession 4. ‘The Elephant Man’ director 5. Spendthrift 6. Fearful reverence 7. Long, angry complaint 8. Neglect 9. Juliet’s beloved 11. General tendency 12. Mount Olympus dwellers 14. Dispatched 17. Band-___ 20. Doubting Thomas 21. Mentally prepare

24. Accelerator pedal 26. Date regularly sudoku answer key 28. Takes out A 30. Bow-wows 31. About 28 grams 32. Looked impolitely 33. Took off 35. Landing place of Noah’s Ark 36. Number of deadly sins 37. At a time B 40. Calyx part 43. Lean and sinewy 45. Pea in French 47. Bakery offering 49. Eggs

3 8 6 7 2 1 5 9 4 2 9 7 3 4 5 6 8 1 5 4 1 6 9 8 7 3 2 1 3 2 4 5 7 9 6 8 8 6 9 1 3 2 4 5 7 7 5 4 9 8 6 2 1 3 9 7 8 2 6 3 1 4 5 4 1 3 5 7 9 8 2 6 6 2 5 8 1 4 3 7 9

29. Potassium hydroxide, e.g.

30. Personal papers 34. Do not continue 38. No longer fashionable 39. Don’t go together 41. Accelerate, for short 42. Chew, like a beaver 44. Compass heading 45. Cover with asphalt 46. Handwriting 48. More in need 50. Suggestive of the supernatural 51. Of birds 52. Changes colours 53. Have staying power

3 9 4 6 1 7 8 2 5 7 1 8 5 2 4 3 9 6 5 6 2 9 8 3 4 7 1 8 3 7 2 4 6 5 1 9 9 2 1 7 3 5 6 4 8 6 4 5 8 9 1 7 3 2 4 8 9 3 5 2 1 6 7 2 7 3 1 6 8 9 5 4 1 5 6 4 7 9 2 8 3

ACROSS 1. Communicate by telephone 5. Hospital division 9. Pass on 10. Be in store for 12. Descend to a lower level 13. Taste and touch, for two 15. Fail to include 16. Bird watcher 18. Adjust, as a radio 19. Comfortable room 20. Cricket sound 22. Daughter’s opposite 23. Like poorly baked bread 25. Final course 27. As a consequence © walter D. Feener 2012

Horoscopes March 28 – April 4 Aries March 21–April 19

Leo July 23–August 22

Sagittarius November 23–December 21

Remember when the Scorpions sung about the wind of change, Aries? Well, one is going to be blowing for you this week.

Leo, you have so many hidden talents that even you don’t know about. So do yourself a favor and try uncovering some of them this week.

Your life is about to take a turn for the better, Sagittarius. Possibilities and opportunities will pop up everywhere. Make the most of them.

Taurus April 20–May 20

Virgo August 23–September 22

Capricorn December 22–January 19

It’s a big world out there, Taurus.

Why don’t you do yourself a favour and make plans to see some of it.

You know, broaden your horizons.

When’s the last time you visited a museum, Virgo? If it’s been a while (or even if it hasn’t) why not go out and get cultured this week.

Dare to be different this week, Capricorn. No need marching to another drummer’s beat. Instead, grab the drumstick and bang out your own song.

Gemini May 21–June 20

Libra September 23–October 23

Aquarius January 20–February 19

A serious sense of urgency may strike you later in the week, Gemini.

If you feel it, don’t hesitate. Do whatever it is you have to do, and do it quickly.

Home will figure prominently in your life this week, Libra. Stick close to family and the homefront. It will be rewarding.

The past may rear its ugly head this week, Aquarius. Be patient and accepting. Whatever it is will pass, er, again.

Cancer June 21–July 22

Scorpio October 24–November 22

Pisces February 20–March 20

Try sharing one of your deepest, longest-held secrets with someone this week, Cancer. But make sure you trust them, or else you’re in for trouble.

Have you ever volunteered, Scorpio? If not, helping others could reap you untold rewards this week.

It might be worth a try.

You may dream about zombies this week, Pisces. But instead of running from them, you’ll be kissing them. Embrace the unexpected.

sudoku 3 4 6 1 5 7 8 3 6 9 3 4 8 7 5 1 2 7 5 4 6 9 1 2 4 8 3 5 2 7 9 1 6 9 2 8

crossword answer key

A

3 6 7 1 5 9 2 4 6 1 4 8 3 5 8 8 6 3 4 7 7 9 8 2 6 3 5 4 1 9 2 2 5 1 7 9

B

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