Issue #235 – April 12 to April 18
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The Barr Brothers making mythologies
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slam on Bringing poetry slams to Saskatchewan ever after Q+A with Marianas Trench 42 + the gatekeepers Films reviewedÂ
Photo: courtesy of andre Guerette
NEWs + Opinion
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slam on, you crazy diamond Poetry slams in Saskatchewan. 4 / Local
winter’s delight The life and times of a sled dog racer. 6 / Local
public-private partnerships On the cover:
the barr brothers
Making mythologies. 12 / cover
Our thoughts on P3s. 8 / Editorial
comments Here’s what you had to say about tool libraries. 10 / comments
Photo: courtesy of Joeseph Yarmush
culture
Q + A with marianas trench On their biggest gamble. 12 / Q + A
Anami Vice mixes pop and hip hop.
It’s getting hot in here
13 / Arts
We visit the Hose. 16 / Food + Drink
man in the middle
returning
Music
Jason Baerg looks to the past and to the future. 13 / Arts
JD Edwards Band, Library Voices + Pink. 17 / music
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listings Local music listings for April 12 through April 20. 18 / listings
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Publisher / Parity Publishing Editor in Chief / Ryan Allan Managing Editor / Jessica Patrucco staff Writers / Adam Hawboldt + Alex J MacPherson
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42 + The Gatekeppers
on the bus
The latest movie reviews. 20 / Film
Weekly original comic illustrations by Elaine M. Will. 26 / comics
Nightlife Photos
Games + Horoscopes Canadian criss-cross puzzle, horoscopes, and Sudoku. 27 / timeout
ART & Production
Comments / feedback@verbnews.com / 306 881 8372
We visit Uncle Barley’s and Diva’s.
Design Lead / Roberta Barrington Design & Production / Brittney Graham Contributing Photographers / Patrick Carley, Adam Hawboldt + Ishtiaq Opal
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Slam on, you crazy diamond
A look at poetry slams to help celebrate National Poetry Week by ADAM HAWBOLDT
Photo: Courtesy of thom heard
A
ll around him the audience sits in anticipation. Sipping their beers and vodka sodas in dark corners, on wooden seats, at wooden tables, they talk amongst themselves and wait. Music plays soft and low in the background. Charles Hamilton steps onto the low, almost floor-level stage, but he doesn’t look out at the audience. Not yet, anyway. With easy, comfortable movements he grabs the microphone with his right hand. With his other hand, he begins twisting knobs, adjusting the stand, going through his esoteric routine. There was a time, not so long ago, when this would have involved him taking off his shoes and performing in socked feet, a quirk he employed to help him feel grounded. When the microphone is set to the right height and angle, Hamilton (who has taken to wearing shoes on stage again) turns his back to the audience. Facing the wall, he rests his face gently in his hands. And under his breath, Hamilton is mumbling the first line of the poem he is about to recite. A poem that, if it’s new, he has recited and edited over and over and over again in
the days and weeks leading up to a slam. “Most of my poems tend to start with one line,” explains Hamilton, who helped bring poetry slams to Saskatoon. “A lot of people sit down to write and say, ‘I’m going to make this
“There’s a lot of editing involved. Once I get the poem on paper I come back to it, add lines here, take out lines there. Add some words, get rid of others.” But the editing doesn’t just happen on the page. Whether he’s
When traditionalists slag on slam, saying we’re bastardizing the art form because of competition, they’re missing the point. charles hamilton
point and I’m going to go at it like this,’ but for me, I’m a one-line-at-a-time kind of guy.” Eventually, line after line, a poem is born. And for Hamilton, this first-draft writing process doesn’t take long. “I can usually spit out a poem onto a page in one go,” he explains. But it’s after the initial draft is finished, though, when the real work begins. “The stuff I’m doing now takes me months to produce,” says Hamilton.
at home in the shower or out walking his dog, Hamilton is always reciting his poem out loud — memorizing it, honing it. Polishing it until it glistens. Until it’s ready for competition.
Poetry slams began in Chicago, back in the mid-1980s, when a construction worker and poet named Marc Smith wanted to breathe new life into the open-mic poetry Continued on next page »
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traditional poets out there, there always exists a modicum of competition. Awards, critical acclaim, you name it.
Photo: Courtesy of william marlow
scene. What he did was come up with a new kind of format, one that involved competition, judges and prizes for the winners. At the time, the idea existed way outside the traditional poetry box, but it was electric and fresh and fun, and soon poetry slam series started springing up in cities like Ann Arbor and San Francisco. Flash forward a few decades, and poetry slams have spread around the world. From its beginnings in Chicago, the movement now has roots in cities all around North America, in Europe, in the form of Tonight It’s Poetry, held at Lydia’s Pub. And as the slams spread far and wide, so too did the diversity and range of the poetry. These days, there are poets whose delivery isn’t too far away from the realm of hip hop. There are modern bards who recite free verse or narrative poems. There are ironic hipsters, hip drifters, pseudo-comedians, mystical punks, high school teachers, journalists, wizened street prophets and more, all vying for top spot on the poetry slam food chain. And while that might sound hip and gritty and cool to some, the very idea of poetry slams is anathema to others. Some traditionalists claim it’s a base form of poetry that’s mean to appeal to the commonest denominator, while other detractors argue that the idea of putting competition and art together cheapens the work.
And, in an infamous interview with the Paris Review, American literary critic Harold Bloom once went so far as to say that poetry slams were the “death of art.” Hamilton couldn’t disagree more. “When traditionalists slag on slam, saying we’re bastardizing the art form because of competition, they’re missing the point,” says Hamilton. “It’s not about the points. The poetry is the point. And for the show I run, we average around 100 people a week. You can say what you want about slam, but people are coming out to see it. And the thing is: the quality of poetry isn’t diminished at slams. If anything, the competition aspect has led to better poetry than a lot of the spoken word stuff and readings that was being performed around here before.” What Hamilton doesn’t talk about — at least in no greater depth than in passing — is the fact that for many
Back on stage at Lydia’s, in that dark room filled with poetry fans, Charles Hamilton is ready. He takes a deep breath, turns to face the crowd, and slowly walks to the microphone. Then he begins his poem. The words trip off his tongue in a gentle, rhythmic cadence. Some are extended for effect, others jammed close together to give that section a sense of energy. Every now and then a phrase or two is enunciated in clear, crisp, deliberate syllables. Most of the words don’t rhyme. “There’s a natural rhythm to my poems,” says Hamilton. “I’m always trying to capture a certain type of sound, sounds from different poems I like and perform, then break that sound and do different things with it.” Whatever Hamilton is doing is working, because on most nights, when his poem draws to a close, the audience — which snaps its fingers instead of clapping during performances — explodes into a round of energetic applause. And in that moment, after the tension and thrill of a performance has ebbed, Hamilton feels at home. “After it’s over,” he admits, “it feels so damn good. It’s kind of addictive.” Addictive for performer and audience alike.
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Photos: courtesy of gerry walker
Photos: courtesy of heather morrison
Photos: courtesy of Troy B. Johnson
Winter’s Delight
Sled dog racing and the great outdoors by ADAM HAWBOLDT
B
eing a sled dog racer is no easy gig. Out there, zipping along the snowy tundra, alone with your thoughts and your dogs, you will face any number of hardships. One of your dogs can pull up lame, forcing you to lose time — or worse. Something can go wrong with your sled that you may have to stop and fix. The snow on the trail might be too deep in places, and slow everything down. Oh, and don’t forget the challenge weather presents. Snowstorms, blizzards, ice fog: chances are, if you can name it, a sled dog racer has experienced it during a race. And kept on going. Then there’s the temperature. If it’s too cold, not only will the temperature affect the performance of your dog team, but as the mercury dips below, say, minus-50, it can also aversely affect the musher.
On the other hand, if things get too warm out on the trail, your dogs can overheat and slow down. “The perfect temperature is in the minus-15 to minus-20 range,” says Gerry Walker. “That’s when the dogs perform the best.”
Not only endured, actually, but succeeded. Of the ten Canadian Challenge Sled Dog Races — the longest race in the country — Walker has entered, he’s won three times, most recently in 2012. He has also won the Neck-
The better you take care of your dogs and the happier you keep them, the better you’re going to do. gerry walker
And Walker should know. With more than 10 years of sled dog racing under his fur-lined belt, the musher from Pierceland, Saskatchewan has faced and endured nearly everything a sled dog race can throw at you.
bone Sled Dog Race in La Ronge more than a handful of times. So that begs the question: outside of being able to overcome the temperatures and other conditions, what makes for a successful sled dog racer? Continued on next page »
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“Well it’s not just luck,” chuckles Walker. “But, you know, it never hurts. I guess bad luck can hurt, for sure. But good luck is always welcome.” Walker pauses for a moment, further considers the question, and says, “I think the biggest thing, if you’re going to be successful, is dog care. That’s where it starts. The better you take care of your dogs and the happier you keep them, the better you’re going to do.” To that end, Walker feeds his dogs high-protein, high-fat kibble to get the most out of his team. If it’s really cold he supplements the kibble with some fatty beef. He also makes sure to get his dogs into a routine. “If you run them four or five hours, then rest them for the same, they fall into a cycle that’s really good for them,” explains Walker. “They give you a good performance when they get to know there’s a nice rest at the end of every run.” But taking care of your dogs and establishing a routine isn’t the only factor that leads to success. No, you must pay attention to every little detail before, during, and after a race. You also need to be passionate about it. You need to love the outdoors, the dogs, the whole experience. And then there’s the dedication.
What people don’t realize is sled dog racing doesn’t begin and end with winter. Save for a few weeks in the spring, when the snows have melted and the ground is muddy, it’s a year-round affair. “Right now the trails are melting out and the season is over,” says Walker, “so what we’re doing is training our yearlings.” Because of the length of our winter this year, training of Walker’s one-year-old pups, up to the point, has consisted of a lot of sled work. Soon, though, when the snow is gone and the trails are dry, Walker will hook his yearlings up to his four wheeler and work with them until the weather gets too warm.
“What we do is put a couple of old dogs up front,” says Walker. “The yearlings see them up there and want to get up next to them. They’re pulling like crazy, just having a riot.” But because the pups are so full of energy, having so much fun, Walker has to restrain them. He holds them back, controlling their speed so they don’t top out at much more than seven or eight miles an hour. “We also stop real often,” he says. “Every quarter mile or so. We have snacks with us, little frozen pieces of meat. We give them those as a reward and we water them.” When the pups start yelping and barking it’s time to get going again. This dry-land training lasts until the warm weather of June, July and August hits. When those months arrive, Walker lets his dogs out loose on his 10-acre piece of property that’s fenced in with page wire. “You should see them” says Walker. “When we turn them loose they go crazy. They’ll really make you laugh. They’re jumping everywhere, running around. When you get 40 dogs running in a pen like that, in every direction, it’s really something to see. When there’s a T-bone collision coming up, these dogs, instead of ramming into one another, will leap and glide over the top of each other. There’s a lot of pentup energy in the pen.” That’s because the dogs miss the winter, and the exercise that comes from long runs across the crisp, white earth. Kind of like their owner, who whiles away the summer months longing to be back out on the silent, snowy trails. Listening to the swish of the sled and the panting of his team. That’s where he’s the happiest. That’s where they’re all the happiest.
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Public-private partnerships
P3 projects a good move for the province
Photo: Courtesy of Daryl Mitchell
L
earn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” Though that quote was originally said by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt over 50 years ago, it could just as easily apply today to the new Regina Southeast Bypass. The structure, according to people in the know, could very well become one of the largest infrastructure projects our province has ever seen. It’s so large, in fact, that in the recent provincial budget, six million dollars were allocated to do preparatory work to determine whether the construction of the bypass (along with schools and a hospital in North Battleford) should move ahead as P3 projects. What’s a P3 project, you ask? Well, according to PPP Canada, public-private partnerships, or P3s, offer a performance-based approach for building “public
infrastructure where the private sector assumes a major share of the responsibility in terms of risk and financing for the delivery and the performance of the infrastructure.” So why, exactly, are we talking about this? Well, this is where the whole “learn from the mistakes of others” maxim comes into play.
province of Saskatchewan, and the federal government. The problem is, though, that here we are, more than three years later, and the bridge still isn’t complete (though officials claim the project is still on budget). Three years! To put that into perspective, it only took a little more than four
…going the P3 route has a lot of benefits, the foremost of which is the time-saving nature of the approach. Verb magazine
See, back in 2010, major construction began on the Circle Drive South Bridge in Saskatoon. The estimated $300 million cost of the project was shared by the public sector — the city of Saskatoon, the
years to build the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, one of the longest suspension bridges in the world. Sure, the weather is a little easier to work in down there, but Continued on next page »
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three years to build a small bridge, like the one on Circle Drive, seems a little ridiculous. That’s why we feel that the city of Regina could learn from Saskatoon’s mistakes, ditch the public funding route, and move the Southeast Bypass forward as a P3 project — provided the risk is less than the reward. You see, going the P3 route has a lot of benefits, the foremost of which is the time-saving nature of the approach. As a rule, P3 projects tend to have less delays and, thus, get completed in a shorter time span. Which is a good thing, because when you’re talking about bypasses and bridges and the like (where getting them finished ASAP is advantageous), P3s will greatly reduce traffic and traffic jams while allowing people to travel more fluidly about the city. Oh, and if you live near a big project like this, your ears and sleeping patterns will be thankful the project wraps as quickly as possible. But that’s not the only advantage. P3 projects have also been known to save millions of dollars — in fact, our neighbours directly to the east are extending the Chief Peguis Trail using a P3 model, which PPP Canada estimates will save roughly $31 million over a traditional procurement. And along with money-saving comes a host of other benefits: a greater return
of investment, better infrastructure solutions, a reduction in government budget deficits, higher quality standards for projects, a reduction of tax payments for users, and more. Now, look: we fully realize P3s aren’t suitable for every project. And we think it’s great that the city of Regina is looking into making the bypass a P3 project — it sure seems like a prime candidate to us. And if it turns out to be cost-effective and feasible, they should ensure the P3 project they undertake dictates a fixed price and a fixed completion date. That way, by learning from the mistakes of others and embracing a cost-effective alternative to traditional construction approaches, the city of Regina may very well save its denizens from the inconvenience and headaches the people of Saskatoon continue to experience over the Circle Drive South Project. 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 tool libraries. Here's what you had to say:
– The idea of tool library for the city is great BUT will Canadian Tire still have sales???
– Tool library sounds like a great idea!!! I would love it if I could rent some space for a couple hours (live in apartment no garage or nothing)
supposed to make a living? You should research what these did to tool lenders in other towns before you say we should do it.
Text yo thoughtsur to 881 vE R B 8372
– Tool libraries would be totally brilliant I support bringin one to the city. Especially good for people who can’t afford the high cost of renting for a certain length of time or buying. Workshops and everything would be amazing!
and then have access to know how of staff and other people there and to tools and stuff. When does it open?
– Tool library an amazing idea that provides service to the community as well as encouraging a sense of community. Can’t believe these
– Tool libraries will take business away from small business owners who already rent tools how are we
haven’t taken off more in Canada only 4??
– I would love to volunteer at somethin like this! You could get high school kids out to learn things or make it like a program for people who are transitioning or have to do community service. This will be great for the city. Good job
– Tool library is a wonderful idea. For virtually no cost, it brings so much into our community, not to mention provides a creative means of solving an issue faced by many people.
OFF TOPIC – Adding highway cameras for photo radar? This might help. A higher police presence on the highways would be more helpful to deter speeders. In response to “One for the road,” Editorial page, #233 (March 28, 2013
sound off – Taxi drivers need to be more courteous to other drivers.
– S g i need’s competition. No fault is open season on bikers getting hit by car’s.
– Obesity will make the lifespan of the next generation shorter. The hardest tobacco using generation in history will also be the longest lived.
– Shoot a family dog for no good reason other than cowardice Punk Ass! Then hide from the due judgment and backlash Double Punk Ass! Children not men!
– Monday, April 8th city council will decide whether to narrow the commercial-to-residential tax ratio. Bets on who gets the sweet deal and who gets the additional cost?? After their goofy vote on residential snow removal city council should be wary of how they vote on this issue.
– CTV news at 6pm revealed that Atch would not go on camera about city streets. Do you think it’s cause he wrecked his front end on ruts or potholes and couln’t get to the interview?? OR some other reason…
– You’re all the same! Political parties hate hearing that but they can’t help themselves. They all do the same things, think the same way. Tight budget environment and social spending get axed first.
Continued on next page »
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Need a bit more raise the liquor and tobacco taxes. They all do it. Without a second thought or moment’s pause. They are all the same! Remarkably vanilla bland in thought and action.
– It’s funny when people are at Costco they say there are so many people here and the lineups are ridiculous. Be quiet already! It would be less ridiculous if you hadn’t shown up!
– Too much advertising in The Verb??? Isn’t that what makes the price of the paper 0???
– Verb has to pay the bills somehow. How do you expect a newspaper without ads?
– I would rather have texts that make a person think or debate than to cause no mental stimulation whatsoever.
– Selling uranium to India very very very bad idea. India Pakistan the Baltic states the Arab world North Africa that whole region is on the verge of WW III. Sask uranium is going to kill a whole bunch of people in that region dirty bombs U ammo. Those brown people don’t
matter when white people here want money!
– Aliens may have had a virtual reality shoot ‘em up video game on our streets while we are asleep. It could explain our streets poor state of disrepair.
– time to spend alittle bit of money to fix the roads mr mayor!!! WH
– The police need to focus more on bus and cab drivers who use cell phones while driving
– My generation of men became the cooks for a lot of families in this city. Now shop talk includes things like “I tried to make pure corn flour dumplings. They didn’t bind. I think too starchy and not enough protein. Might try adding eggs or milk.” Buddy will reply “Yeah I find starchy flours like corn and rice fry or deep fry crisper. If they do bind its brittle. They also absorb less water than high protein flours like wheat. Wheat flour gives you a more elastic product.” Guy talk tech talk is in the kitchen now too.
– Good comments on the justice system this past winter.
– Just because you drive a 4X4 doesn’t mean that you’re indestructible.
Next week: What do you think about publicprivate partnerships? 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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Ever After
Photos: courtesy of 604 records
Josh Ramsay on Marianas Trench’s biggest gamble by Alex J MacPherson
J
osh Ramsay is a few years away from his thirtieth birthday, but he has already ascended to the summit of Canadian rock and roll. His band, the splendidly-named Marianas Trench, recently released their third album, a sprawling collection of catchy pop songs presented as an unbroken symphony of crunchy guitars and soaring vocals, and picked up three Juno Award nominations for their trouble. Ever After is by far the most ambitious project Ramsay and his bandmates have ever tackled. I caught up with Ramsay to talk about making the record, breaking into the United States, and taking risks. Alex J MacPherson: The first thing most people will notice about Ever After is that there are no breaks, that it’s one long song. Did you have any idea how it would turn out when you sat down to write?
JR: Never. You can’t look at it that way; you have to just sit down and try and write the best song you can. Especially because stuff like awards shows can never be what drives you. That’s cool, but at the end of the day it’s like trying to compare colours. How can you compare different creative things by different
JR: To me, the people that I look up to musically were all huge risk-takers, so I’ve never even considered being anything other than someone who is willing to take some pretty big risks also. It’s like wanting to make your heroes proud, even though you’re probably never going to meet them.
…the people that I look up to musically were all huge risk-takers… Josh Ramsay
AJM: Your band is well-known for writing sharp, concise, catchy pop songs. Did you find it difficult to balance that against this sprawling narrative arc?
Josh Ramsay: I had the idea of doing a whole album with no stops when I was, like, 13, and I just had to wait until I was a good enough writer to be able to even attempt such a ridiculous idea. Before we started seriously doing the album, in a couple of interviews I said, ‘Yeah, it’s kind of like a symphony. The whole thing’s just going to be one long song.’ I said that before I’d actually written anything, because I knew it would force me to follow through.
JR: When I was growing up, I used to only attempt to write these really artistic, crazy sorts of songs, and I was like, ‘Screw pop music.’ Then I started to learn about some of the guys who I view as real pop geniuses. There’s a guy named Max Martin, who has written pretty much the biggest song of the year for the last 15 years. I looked into what he did and was like, ‘There’s a real craft to that, too.’ You need those songs to get on the radio, and you need to be on the radio to get fans and to sell records and make a career, but in doing so that can afford you the space to do all the artistic songs you want to do. Ever After was me being like, ‘Why can’t you just do both?’
AJM: Ever After was unquestionably a huge risk. Did you approach it like that, or worry about it?
AJM: I should ask about the Junos. Was there a moment when you realized Ever After was going to do really well?
people? It’s like being, ‘Red is better than green.’ AJM: You just signed a deal in the States. Is starting over with Ever After nerve-wracking? JR: I’m not apprehensive. I think if people like it, they like it, and if they don’t, they don’t. I’m proud of that record. After I’ve written it and recorded it, it’s kind of out of my hands, you know what I mean? It’s the best I could do at the time, and that’s the way it is. But we worked our way up in Canada, and I don’t see why we can’t do that in another country. Marianas Trench April 19 @ Credit Union Centre $39.25+ @ Ticketmaster Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372
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arts
Man in the middle
Anami Vice’s strange hybrid of rap and pop
A
nami Vice is a man in the middle. His music exists somewhere between the glittering ramparts of slick commercial pop and the self-reflexive obsessiveness of contemporary hip hop. Even his rapping is disjointed. Vice, whose real name is Anami Vakil, produces prodigious quantities of languid barbs, pithy observations, and hackneyed bro-isms. He struggles to describe his sound, and often speaks in generalizations, but he knows what he wants to achieve. “I want my songs to be anthemic,” he muses. “There are these big songs, and it doesn’t matter if they were done in the ‘90s or the 2000s, that when you put them on in the club, everybody knows them and starts to sing along. Biggie’s “Juicy” is a great example of that. I want people, when the song comes in, to stop and start rapping along with it.” Vice, who represents a handful of artists responsible for obscuring the line between hip hop and mainstream cultures, released his first record late last year. Are You Serious
by alex J MacPherson
feels experimental, more like an attempt to establish a consistent sound and less like the scattered musings of a young artist, and while there are missteps, it also shows off Vice’s talent for crafting beer- and weed-fueled party rock. He is at his best on tracks like “This Ain’t A Party” and “Make Me Wanna Drink,” simple yet energetic songs featuring thundering drumbeats and thick layers of synthesizers and fuzzed-out guitars. “I listened back to the record, and it sounded like a party record to me,” he says. “That wasn’t necessarily intentional, but I definitely want people to feel that.” “A lot of my songs,” he adds, “are drinking songs.” Vice, who is currently touring across Canada with Marianas Trench and Down With Webster, has embraced the aesthetics of commercially viable pop — slick production values, extreme volume –—without turning his back on the mixtape culture that has positioned hip hop at the forefront of a changing industry. His laptop is a fountain of new music.
Photo: courtesy of 604 Records
“From my perspective, I still really want to hear a cool album,” he says. “I think what’ll happen is you’ll still have projects like albums that get put out at the same rate. The album is really the quality project that everybody is looking forward to, but in the meantime you’ve got to keep people interested.” Anami Vice April 19 @ Credit Union Centre $39.25+ @ Ticketmaster
Returning
Jason Baerg looks to the past and to the future
J
ason Baerg is caught between two worlds. His art explores the desire to repair historical wrongs and the yearning for a harmonious future, and his techniques explore the gulf between old practices and new media. Baerg has dedicated his art to making sense of these poles. His latest exhibition, Returning, consists of two major works and several smaller canvases. “Relations” draws on the seamy underbelly of popular history, while “Returning” serves as a potent reminder that the passage of time can be as refreshing as it is devastating. “Technology has really been informing my aesthetics,” says Baerg, who studied painting and drawing
by alex J MacPherson
before moving on to investigate the intricacies of new digital media. “I’m really looking to softwares and technologies to assist in driving sensibilities forward.” This approach is evident in “Relations,” a series of heavily-contoured circular paintings, known as tondos, presented alongside a dynamic video installation. Both explore indigenous knowledge and the passage of time, and the fusion of technology speaks to a missing link in the history of art. “These knowledges and these understandings, they’re powerful, they’re established, and they should be acknowledged,” Baerg says, referring to the medicine wheel and, broadly, the co-optation of indigenous art. “Picasso was leveraging African
sculptures in his Cubism. All those sensibilities echo from somewhere.” Just as “Relations” challenges painting by layering indigenous tradition and American Abstraction, “Nomadic Bounce” pushes the boundaries of sculpture and envisions a future without oppression. An energetic agglomeration of laser-cut canvases splashed in riotous colour, “Nomadic Bounce” captures and directs the diversity of the human experience to a common goal. “It’s actually configured as a speed train,” Baerg says. “The speed train is meant to be a vehicle into the future that we can take, we can direct. It’s really about solutions.” Society progresses one funeral at a time, but Baerg prefers to think that “new beautiful babies are born all the
time.” Returning is about more than a pristine future, however. Baerg’s exhibition is an epitaph for countless thousands of people, indigenous or otherwise, whose future was wiped out. “We have to continue to move forward,” he says. “And I do think that we have to stand up. It’s a call to greater society to stand with us.”
Jason Baerg: Returning Through June 2 @ Mendel Art Gallery
Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372
@MacPhersonA amacpherson@verbnews.com
13 Apr 12 – Apr 18 @verbsaskatoon
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Photo: courtesy of joseph yarmush
Making Mythologies
The Barr Brothers find meaning in musicality by Alex J MacPherson
T
he story of the Barr Brothers began with a nightclub fire and a new apartment. The band released its eponymous debut in 2011, but the chain of events that spawned it was set in motion almost a decade earlier. It was 2004. Andrew and Brad Barr were on tour with the Slip, their experimental rock trio. The band was playing an exuberant set in a small Montreal club when flames erupted backstage. Fans and musicians flooded into the street. As the venue was consumed by fire, Andrew handed his jacket to a waitress shivering in the rain. She gave him her phone number. Within a year, the brothers were living in Montreal. Andrew tracked down the waitress, who later became his wife and one of the band’s managers. Brad moved into a new apartment. He soon met Sarah Page, the classically trained harp player who lived next door. “I didn’t really have any ambitions to start any music,” Brad recalls. “I was working on a lot of classical stuff. Solo guitar pieces on a nylonstring guitar … At the time I met her, I had this repertoire of songs that were written in this instrumental vein, from a quieter place.” Brad and Page started playing together. “We found that we had a sort of common appreciation for instrumental music.” Brad soon discovered that the harp was more than just a classical instrument. “I remember when it dawned on me that the harp can be used as this cool melodic, percussive instrument,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be this
beautiful angelic sound all the time; you can really get down and make a heavy trance rhythm.” That’s when the Barr Brothers was born.
Earlier this year, The Barr Brothers was nominated for a Juno Award. Brad was surprised because it was already more than a year old. It had been nominated for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize and carried the band to New York, where they performed on the Late Show with
real conception. They were being tracked how any album should be: for the creator’s own amusement and learning process.” It was a fortuitous blueprint. The musicians plugged Page’s harp into an Ampeg and turned the gain up, just to see what happened. “There were no parameters,” Brad explains. “Not worrying about how much we were spending because we really weren’t spending anything gave us a lot of freedom to try whatever we wanted to.”
I think it’s always our intention to be as forward-thinking — musically, instrumentally, sonically — as we can be. Brad Barr
David Letterman. “I thought our album had gotten all of the attention that it was going to,” he muses. “We’ve been so focused lately on recording the next record that I was sort of pleasantly surprised to hear that this one still had a little bit of mojo left in it.” He was even more surprised because the band, which also includes Andrew and multi-instrumentalist Andres Vial, never intended to put out a record. “Pretty much all the tracks were recorded in the process of setting up the studio, and learning about some of the mics and gear we bought,” he says. “There was no
The Barr Brothers emerged as a twisting, turning, and deeply unpredictable examination of folk music. Although the song structures are familiar, the sonics are not. Drawing on influences as diverse as west African rhythms and Mississippi Delta Blues, the album sounds like it was designed to eradicate the lines between genre and style. “Beggar In the Morning” trains the spotlight on a simple acoustic guitar lick, while “Give The Devil Back His Heart” ventures into rock and roll. “Let There Be Horses,” which closes the record, recalls the heroin ballads that defined rock music in the 1970s. Continued on next page »
14 Apr 12 – Apr 18 culture
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Photo: courtesy of andre guerette
The album feels cohesive, yet unrestrained. The record is held together by the thread of an idea: to push the boundaries of folk music as far as possible. “I think it’s always our intention to be as forward-thinking — musically, instrumentally, sonically — as we can be,” Brad says, adding that this impulse drives most modern music. Michael Jackson’s Thriller, he says, after insist-
Photo: courtesy of Thien V
ing that he is not comparing his band to the King of Pop, blended compelling songs and new sounds. “I guess that’s always the underlying intention: to get the songwriting to where we all feel really confident in it … to take these elements that are great and combine it with something completely original.” Listening to The Barr Brothers is a dizzying experience. From the aching strains of “Beggars in the Morning” and the manic slide guitar work that animates “Lord, I Just Can’t Keep From Crying” (a Blind Willie Johnson cover) to the rolling thunder of “Old Mythologies,” the album rises and
falls in perfect time. The pacing, Brad explains, is the result of the band’s desire to create balanced songs. “Even though we were making the songs on this record without the intention of having it get nominated for a Juno,” he laughs, “there’s still that commitment to making sure that these songs are still setting a graceful place. That they’re all economical and expressive. That when they need to be fiery, they’re fiery; and when they need to cool out, they’re cool.”
To think of the Barr Brothers as a sonics band is to overlook their songwriting. In an era dominated by saccharine cliché, it is perhaps their strongest asset. Brad likes to write about big ideas. His songs draw on themes from nature and morality, and extract meaning from the poles that shape our view of the world. “I never like to say these songs are about this or about that,” he admits, “because it’s nice to know someone can listen to them and find their own meaning, their own way of interpreting what this lyric means.” But, he adds after a short pause, “there’s some dichotomies that exist in the world, whether it’s these things in nature — sun and moon, night and day — or these archetypes, like heaven and hell or ideas of wrong and right. And these things are necessary to keep the world going, and they are also
necessary to dwell in each person.” The Barr Brothers is about reconciling these expansive ideas. And, he adds, “never underestimate a small notion, whether it’s something that you’re playing on an instrument or a thought or a lyric. Never underestimate or discredit or write off a moment of inspiration, because they’re rare enough in this world. All of the songs on that record started as very casual lyrical or harmonic, rhythmic or melodic notions. Little offhand notions.” Notions that swell over time to become mythologies. Like the fire and the apartment, our mythologies are woven into the fabric of life. The Barr Brothers April 20 @ Artesian on 13th (Junofest) $20 Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372
@MacPhersonA amacpherson@verbnews.com
15 Apr 12 – Apr 18 /verbsaskatoon
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It’s getting hot in here
Photos courtesy of Adam Hawboldt.
Hose and Hydrant revamps its menu by adam hawboldt
T
here are lots of adjectives to describe the Hose and Hydrant, but “unique” is probably the best and most accurate of the bunch. Located just off Broadway in a heritage fire station, it’s a pub with character. A quirky, cool and comfortable establishment, the Hose and Hydrant is full of fire fighting paraphernalia: fire engines, old signs, pictures, you name it. And for a guy like me — who grew up racing around, exploring the bowels of a small-town fire station — it really hit a soft, nostalgic spot. Needless to say, when I sat down to eat there the other day I was feeling quite good about things. Those feelings got better when I started talking to the manager about the Hose’s new menu.
store-bought pickle spears. They are huge. Like, chicken finger huge, in a batter that’s thick, light, crispy and tasty. Oh, and the best part? They come with a delicious spicy chipotle sauce. Pickle spears devoured, I decided to keep things spicy with the Firecracker Burger. A halfpound burger topped with cheddar cheese, spicy sautéed onions, jalapeños, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, a chipotle sauce and more, the Firecracker is huge, messy, has a kick, and (best of all) is downright delectable. For a side I went with a half-and-half — half fries, half salad — with a dollop of pasta salad on the side. To finish the meal (and to put out the fire in my mouth), I ordered the Hose and Hydrant’s new dessert — hot apple crumble. Good idea. The ice cream on top cooled my palate and the sweet but not too sweet apple crumble beneath it hit the spot. Methinks I’ll be visiting the Hose and Hydrant again. Soon.
See, the Hose and Hydrant did what a lot of great restaurants around town do. They took a long look at the food they served, took the advice from customers about what to get rid of and what to keep, and tailored a menu that’s sure to please both regulars and first-time visitors alike. This latest iteration includes about 10 or 15 new dishes, as well as a load of meal options that weren’t available before. I wanted to try one of the new items, so for a starter I ordered the beer battered pickle spears. Originally a part of Hose and Hydrant’s special St. Paddy’s Day fare, the appies were such a hit they decided to make them a permanent part of the new menu. And for good reason: these aren’t your average,
let’s go drinkin’ Verb’s mixology guide CENTRAL PARK
Ingredients
Keeping with the hot-as-heck theme, here’s a recipe that’s sure to set your taste buds on fire. Oh, and it’s also excellent for hangover Sundays.
2 oz gin 3 drops of vanilla extract 4 oz tomato juice 1 oz lime juice pinch of cayenne pepper vanilla bean for garnish cherry tomato for garnish
Hose & Hydrant 612 11th St E | 477 3473
Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372
Directions
Combine the gin, vanilla extract and tomato (or Clamato, if you like) juice in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Pour the concoction into a highball glass. Garnish with cherry tomato and vanilla bean. Enjoy.
@AdamHawboldt ahawboldt@verbnews.com
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music
Persephone Theatre Next Week
coming up
JD Edwards Band
Library Voices
Pink
@ Gillian Snider’s House Friday, April 19 – $10 (advance); $15 (door)
@ Amigos Cantina Friday, April 19 – $15
@ Credit Union Centre Thursday, october 24 – $ 37.25+
If you’re looking for a band that fits neatly into a category or subscribes to a certain genre, then you better look elsewhere. But if you want a band that can jump from Mumford and Sons-style folk rock to pared-down acoustic to groovy rock tunes, well, the JD Edwards Band is an act you should check out. Why? Because this six-piece from Winnipeg can play in a variety of styles, and play them well. Oh, and the band — consisting of JD Edwards (lead vocals/guitar), Mike Ormonde (guitar/ vocals), Jesse Ives (bass), Matt Robins (guitar/vocals), Jake Bell (drums) and Alex Campbell (organ/keys/harmonica) — puts on one heckuva live show that’s full of energy and musical electricity. For ticket information visit www.gilliansnider.com
A lot of collective bands don’t work because, to put it plainly, they sound convoluted — too many competing voices and sounds, not enough cohesion. That isn’t the case with Regina’s Library Voices, whose smoothly edited music full of sweeping guitars, upbeat keyboards and catchy melodies is harmonic. Originally a 10-piece, these days Library Voices have scaled things back a bit, to Carl Johnson, Eoin Hickey-Cameron, Michael Dawson, Amanda Scandrett, Mike Thievin, Paul Gutheil, and Brennan Ross. But their sound hasn’t suffered at all. In fact, some might say it’s getting better, and their album, Summer of Lust, has too many good songs to list here. They’ll be in town next week; see ticketedge.ca for more info.
Here’s a question: do you know Pink’s real name? If you said Alecia Beth Moore, take your right hand, reach around and pat yourself on the back. Born in Pennsylvania, this singer/songwriter rose to fame at the turn of the millennium with the release of her poppy R&B debut album, Can’t Take Me Home — which went double platinum in the U.S. From there, not wanting to be a cookie cutter pop act, the songstress with soaring vocals broke ranks and began making the type of music she wanted to make, critics be damned. What followed has been a career that many feel changed the face and scope of modern pop music. Pink will be in town in the fall, so be sure to get your tickets early. And speaking of tickets, they are available at Ticketmaster. – By Adam Hawboldt
Photos courtesy of: the artist / the artist / the artist
Sask music Preview Early bird tickets for Moso Conference and MoSoFest (June 1215) are now available @ www.mosoconf.com. MoSo Conference is a multi-subject tech conference that will feature speakers such as Hootsuite’s Ambrosia Humphrey and Dropbox’s Sean Lynch, while MoSoFest will boast the talents of Rah Rah, Close Talker, The Deep Dark Woods, and more.
Keep up with Saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org
17 Apr 12 – Apr 18 @verbsaskatoon
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April 12 » April 20 The most complete live music listings for Saskatoon. S
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Friday 12 House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge. 9pm / No cover CFCR Membership Drive / Amigos Cantina — Featuring The Wizards, The Seahags and The Triplophonics. 10pm / $5
Piano Fridays: Ross Nykiforuk / The Bassment — Nykiforuk plays the Kinsman Yamaha S6 grand piano. 4:30pm / No cover High School Big Band Night / The Bassment — Featuring Holy Rosary, North Battleford’s Comprehensive, and Prairie Spirit SD. 7:30pm / $7/10 DJ Aash Money / Béily’s — DJ Aash Money throws it down. 9pm / $5 cover The Nightrain / Buds on Broadway — A Guns n’ Roses tribute band. 10pm / $6 Band Wars IX / Fez on Broadway — Featuring The Faps, Comments and Concern, Agony Spawn, Destrier and Korrusk. 9:30pm / No cover before 9pm DJ Eclectic / The Hose — Turntable whiz DJ Eclectic pumps snappy beats. 8pm DJ Sugar Daddy / Jax Niteclub — This local crowd favourite is sure to have you on the dance floor in no time. 9pm / $5 cover
Pernell Reichert Band / Lydia’s — A Vancouver-based three-piece. 10pm / $5 DJ Audio / Odeon Events Centre — It’s time for the Black Out Party. 9pm / $15 DJ Big Ayyy & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws — There’s no better country rock party around. 8pm / $5; ladies in free before 11pm Thunder Rose / Piggy’s — Playing country rock hits. 9:30pm / No cover The Standards Trio / Prairie Ink — Pop/ jazz fusion music. 8pm / No cover Aaron Adair / The Refinery — Come check out the AANALOG release party. 7:30pm / $20 (picatic.com) The Mules / Somewhere Else Pub — Come rock the night away. 9pm / No cover The Gaff / Spadina Freehouse — A night of beats that’ll move your feet. 9pm / No cover Urban Outlaws / Stan’s Place — Rock to get your weekend started. 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 Saskatoon’s Children’s Choir / Third Avenue United Church — Performing music by Bach, Verdi, and more. 7:30pm / $25
Saturday 13
House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin soulful tunes all night. 9pm / No cover The Dudes / Amigos Cantina — Also appearing is The Zolas. 10pm / $10 Piano Series: Don Griffith Live by Request / The Bassment — A talented local pianist playing songs at your request. 9pm / $15/20
DJ CTRL / Béily’s — CTRL throws it down every Saturday night. 9pm / $5 cover Dosci / Broadway Theatre — A night of Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi singing and dancing. 7pm / $12 The Nightrain / Buds on Broadway — A Guns n’ Roses tribute band. 10pm / $6 DJ Kade / The Hose — Saskatoon’s own DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover DJ Sugar Daddy / Jax Niteclub — This local crowd favourite rocks. 9pm / $5 cover Bluessmyth / Lydia’s Pub — Some heavy blues for your listening pleasure. 10pm / $5 Bass Charger / Lydia’s Loft — Dust off the dancing shoes. 10pm / $10 DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman / Outlaws — There’s no better country party. 8pm / $5 Thunder Rose / Piggy’s — Playing country rock hits. 9:30pm / No cover No Hurry Trio / Prairie Ink — Easy listening and classic rock. 8pm / No cover The Mules / Somewhere Else Pub — Sweet rock for your weekend. 9pm / No cover Funktion Saturday / Spadina Freehouse — Featuring Chris Astro and Conrad Devine. 9pm / No cover Urban Outlaws / Stan’s Place — Come rock the night away. 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Featuring Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King. 10pm / $5 SSO: Disney in Concert / TCU Place — Magical music from your favourite Disney movies. 7:30pm / $40-75 (tcutickets.ca) Sexy Saturdays / Tequila Nightclub — Featuring DJ Dislexik. 9pm / Cover TBD Bass Invaders / Vangelis — Some funky bass for your face. 10pm / $5
Sunday 14
Roots Series: The Steel Wheels / The Bassment — Bluegrass from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. 8pm / $18/23 Industry Night / Béily’s UltraLounge — Hosted by DJ Sugar Daddy. 9pm / $4; no cover for industry staff Connie Kaldor / Broadway Theatre — A Juno-winning folk singer. 7pm / $35 Classical Variety Night / Grosvenor Park United Church — Featuring a host of local musicians. 7:30pm / By donation DJ KADE / The Hose — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover Ness Creek Auditions / Lydia’s Pub — Come out and show your stuff! 2pm Blues Jam / Vangelis Tavern — Offering great tunes from blues to rock and beyond. 7:30pm / No cover
Monday 15
The Men / Amigos — Serious punk music out of Brooklyn. 10pm / $15 (ticketedge.ca)
18 Apr 12 – Apr 18 entertainment
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The Rabid Whole / Fez on Broadway — Come check out this Toronto band’s Short Circuit Tour. 8pm / $10 Metal Mondays / Lydia’s Pub — Listen to some killer music. 9pm
Acres of Lions, Old Time Machine, Fisticuffs / Vangelis — A night filled with good tunes and good times. 10pm / $5
Tuesday 16
House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs. 9pm / No cover Library Voices / Amigos — Indie pop from the Queen City. 10pm / $15 (ticketedge.ca) Piano Fridays: Sheldon Corbett / The Bassment — Corbett plays the Kinsman Yamaha S6 grand piano. 4:30pm / No cover Roots Series: Rosie and the Riveters / The Bassment — Folk to bluegrass and more. 9pm / $12/16 DJ Aash Money / Béily’s — DJ Aash Money throws it down. 9pm / $5 cover One Bad Son / Buds — Saskatoon’s own return home. 10pm / Cover TBD Marianas Trench, Down With Webster, Anami Vice / Credit Union Centre — A line up too good to resist. 7pm /$39.2554.75 (ticketmaster.ca) Spring Fever Cabaret / Fez on Broadway — Featuring George Leach. 9pm / $10 JD Edwards / Gillian Snider’s House — A talented roots/folk musician from Winnipeg. 8pm / $10 (advance), $15 (door) DJ Eclectic / The Hose — Local turntable whiz pumps snappy beats. 8pm / No cover DJ Sugar Daddy / Jax Niteclub — This local crowd favourite rocks. 9pm / $5 cover Sean Burns Trio / Lydia’s Pub — An excellent singer/songwriter from Ontario. 10pm / $5 Classified / Odeon Events Centre — One of the dopest rappers in the nation. 7pm / $25-45 (theodeon.ca) DJ Big Ayyy & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws — There’s no better country rock party around. 8pm / $5; ladies in free before 11pm BC Read Trio / Piggy’s — Blues for the soul. 9:30pm / No cover Neil Roston / Prairie Ink — A blues/folk duo. 8pm / No cover Peter Katz and Emma Lee / The Refinery — Two immense talents out. 8pm / $15 (advance), $20 (the door) The 11th Octave / Somewhere Else Pub — Things are going to get funky. 9pm Collected by Fuse Collective / Spadina Freehouse — Featuring Flatland Funk, DJ Noor and more. 9pm / No cover Rusty Men / Stan’s Place — Rock to get your weekend started. 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Featuring Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King. 10pm / $5 D!ggy the DJ / Tequila Nightclub — Hit up the Down With Webster after-party. $5 Mnozil / Third Avenue Centre — An Austrian brass band. 7:30pm / $10 (McNally
In My Coma / Buds on Broadway — An alt rock trio from the Big Smoke. 10pm / $6 DJ SUGAR DADDY / The Double Deuce — This crowd favourite rocks. 9:30pm / $4 OPEN STAGE / Lydia’s — The open stage at Lydia’s has hosted many of Saskatoon’s finest performers. 9pm / No cover Open Mic / Somewhere Else Pub — Come out to show your talent. 7pm / No cover
Wednesday 17
HUMP WEDNESDAYS / 302 Lounge & Discotheque — Featuring DJ Chris Knorr. 9pm / No cover until 10pm; $3 thereafter The Casualties / Amigos — These NYC punks have been keeping it real for decades. 10pm / $12 (ticketedge.ca) In My Coma / Buds on Broadway — An alt rock trio from the Big Smoke. 10pm / $6 The Avenue Recording Company presents Open Mic / The Fez — Hosted by Chad Reynolds. 10pm / No cover DJ Kade / The Hose — 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 — Hosted by DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman. Come ride the mechanical bull! 9pm / $4 CJWW Karaoke / Stan’s Place — Your talent, aired on the radio! 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Featuring Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King. 10pm / No cover Lauren Mann / Vangelis — Folk indie pop form Alberta.10pm / $5
Thursday 18
Roots Series: Rosie and the Riveters / The Bassment — Folk to bluegrass and more. 8pm / $12/16 Slypstreme / Buds on Broadway — A fresh, local indie rock band. 10pm / $6 Throwback Thursdays / Earls — Featuring Dr. J. 8pm / No cover Thunder Riot / The Fez — Featuring Conky Showpony. 9pm / $5 DJ Kade / The Hose — 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! 8pm / $5; free with student ID before 11pm Triple Up Thursdays / Tequila Nightclub — Featuring DJ Stikman. 9pm / Cover TBD
Friday 19
Robinson, St. John’s Music, Long and McQuade)
Saturday 20
House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover Mo’ Marley / Amigos — Come out for the Mo’ Marley 4/20 Party! 10pm / Cover TBD The Worst Pop Band Ever / The Bassment — A sweet, soothing combination of jazz and pop. 9pm / $15/20 Record Store Day / Beaumont Film + Record — Featuring Ride ‘til Dawn, Haunted Soles, The Faps. 6pm DJ CTRL / Béily’s — DJ CTRL throws it down every Saturday night. 9pm / $5 cover Riff Raff / Buds on Broadway — A local hard rock band.10pm / $6 Spring Fever Cabaret / Fez on Broadway — Featuring Black Rain. 9pm / $10 DJ Kade / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon’s own DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover DJ Sugar Daddy / Jax Niteclub — This local crowd favourite rocks. 9pm / $5 cover Johnny Don’t / Lydia’s Pub — Come rock the night away. 10pm / $5 Rated R with Aprhodite / Odeon — A show you don’t want to miss. 7pm / $30+ DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman / Outlaws — There’s no better country rock party around. 8pm / $5 BC Read Trio / Piggy’s — Blues for the soul. 9:30pm / No cover Simon Walls / Prairie Ink — A talented folk/pop/rock artist. 8pm / No cover The 11th Octave / Somewhere Else Pub and Grill — Things are going to get funky up in here. 9pm / No cover Charly Hustle / Spadina Freehouse — A local DJ who gets the party started. 9pm / No cover Rusty Men / Stan’s Place — Rock to get your weekend started. 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Featuring Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King. 10pm / $5 Sexy Saturdays / Tequila Nightclub — Featuring DJ Dislexik. 9pm / Cover TBD Prairie Brass Band Grand Finale / Third Avenue Centre — Featuring bands from Saskatoon, Edmonton, Regina and beyond. 7:30pm / $10 (McNally Robinson, St. John’s Music, Long and McQuade) Steve Brockley Band / Vangelis — Folk music isn’t usually this greasy. 10pm / $5
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19 Apr 12 – Apr 18 /verbsaskatoon
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Remembering Robinson
Photo: Courtesy of warner bros. pictures
42, a biopic about legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson, is well worth a watch by adam hawboldt
M
y all-time, top-five favourite baseball films in order are: 1. Bull Durham; 2. Major League; 3. Moneyball; 4. Bang the Drum Slowly; and 5. The Natural. If you pushed the issue and forced me to rate the new baseball biopic, 42, I’d hem and haw and probably put it just outside my top-10. Somewhere just below the original Bad News Bears, but miles above films like Fever Pitch and The Rookie.
Which means 42 is a really good film, and a worthy addition to the baseball movie canon. But it’s not quite on the “classic” level. For those of you who are wondering why the film is called 42, well, that’s easy. That was the number Jackie Robinson wore when he played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Oh, and in case you’re not a baseball fan, that’s important because Mr. Robinson was kind of a big deal. See, from the late 19th century until 1946, Major League Baseball
was all-white. Then, in 1947, along came a courageous young African-
ever changed the game of baseball. His name was Jackie Robinson. And 42 is his story. Directed by Brian Helgeland (who wrote L.A. Confidential and Mystic River), 42 begins in the wake of the Second World War, when Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) decided it was time for baseball to be integrated. His reasoning was simple. If thousands of African-Americans were good enough to go overseas and fight for their country, they sure as hell were good enough to play baseball for his team. Rickey searched high and low for the right player. Notice I didn’t say best. Because Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman), while one heckuva ball player, was by no means the best player in the Negro Leagues. But he was a man of character. A man of quiet courage, restraint and firm resolve. And that’s exactly what Rickey was looking for. And while Robinson was the perfect person to shatter MLB’s colour barrier, his path from the
[42] does an excellent job in recreating an era in American history that was plagued by racism and segregation.
42 Brian Helgeland Harrison Ford, Chadwick Boseman, Alan Tudyk + Lucas Black Directed by Starring
129 minutes | PG
bigoted potholes. The film does an excellent job in showing these trials and tribulations. It also does an excellent job in recreating an era in American history that was plagued by racism and segregation. Oh, and the on-field action is pretty darn good, too. In fact, my only qualm with the film is that, at times, it’s a little too earnest, a little too righteous, a little too hero-worshipping. Other than that, 42 is a fine film. It will make you jeer at Philadelphia Phillies manager Ben Chapman (Alan Tudyk), a guy who gives Nazi salutes to Jewish players and hurls horrible insults at Robinson. It will make you cheer when you see Jackie’s teammate, shortstop Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black), as he puts his arm around Robinson’s shoulder when Robinson is being verbally abused by fans. Heck, it may even make you shed a tear when Robinson’s teammates finally accept him. It’s that kind of movie.
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Adam Hawboldt
American from Georgia who broke through the colour barrier and for-
Negro Leagues to the Majors was littered with prejudiced bumps and
@AdamHawboldt ahawboldt@verbnews.com
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Inside Israel’s Shin Bet
New documentary, The Gatekeepers, sheds an interesting light on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by adam hawboldt
I
magine having access to inside information from the CIA or FBI. Imagine former directors of those agencies sitting down, on camera, and talking candidly about the assassinations they’ve ordered. About the covert operations they’ve helmed and all the borderline illegal things they’ve done. Imagine all you want: that would never happen. People in such positions of power, those near the control centre, rarely give the inside scoop to outsiders. And that’s what makes Dror Moreh’s new documentary, The Gatekeepers, so damn impressive. See, what Moreh has somehow managed to do is get six former heads of Shin Bet, Israel’s uber-secret counterterrorism/spy agency, to sit down and talk frankly about state-sanctioned assassinations, about bombing terror suspects, torture, and killing innocent Palestinians — or as they call it, “collateral damage.” The result is something that is honest, eye-opening, and extraordinary. The six former Shin Bet bosses (Ami Ayalon, Avi Dichter, Yuval Diskin, Carmi Gillon, Yaakov Peri and Avraham
Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
ning with the Six-Day War in 1967 and continuing into the present. Sometimes intellectual and philosophical, at other times savage and visceral, The Gatekeepers gives a new and, some might say, startling perspective on the situation. Why startling? Well, because these six men, who know more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than nearly anyone, all come to the same conclusion: Israel is not in the right. Nor is Palestine. As Yuval Diskin, director of Shin Bet from 2005-2011, puts it, “As a commander I found myself in situations that are different shades of gray.” The rest of the former heads of Shin Bet agree.
[The Gatekeepers] is honest, eye-opening, and extraordinary. Adam Hawboldt
Shalom) pull no punches. And, in doing so, offer incredible insight into the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The documentary — which mixes talking-head interviews with 3D models, still photographs and handheld camera shots — chronicles the bloody and brutal history of animosity between Israel and Palestine, begin-
Not only do they agree, they also shed light on a situation that many people around the world view primarily from a black-or-white perspective. Nearly all these men feel that Palestine’s anger towards the Israelis is not only understandable, but at times downright justified. What’s more, all six of them don’t see the state of
The Gatekeepers Dror Moreh Starring Ami Ayalon, Avi Dichter, Yuval Diskin, Carmi Gillon, Yaakov Peri + Avraham Shalom Directed by
95 minutes | PG
Palestine as the problem. According to them, the real problem are the Israeli politicians and ultra-right orthodox militants. It’s not as though they’re condoning Palestinian terrorism or anything. No, they know the far right in Palestine are equally to blame, but what really bothers them, the reason they feel the situation in that region is so damn bleak, is because very few of the power brokers involved are willing to seriously consider the common sense approach and create ongoing, constructive dialogue between the two warring states. All of that, of course, is paraphrased. If you want to get the real inside scoop, watch The Gatekeepers. It’s well worth it. The Gatekeepers is currently being screened at Roxy Theatre.
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Friday, April 5 @
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Uncle Barley’s 924 Northumberland Avenue (306) 934 4224 Music vibe / An eclectic mix
of everything Featured deals / Pints for $3.75,
Aunty Barley shooters (X-Rated and gin) for $3.75, and steak for $10.75 Drink of Choice / White rum top eats / Steak coming up / Cinco de Mayo on May 3, pool league on Wednesdays, and DJ Werdbird on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays
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Check out our Facebook page! These photos will be uploaded to Facebook on Friday, April 19. facebook.com/verbsaskatoon
Photography by Patrick Carley
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friday, April 5 @
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Diva’s Nightclub 110-220 3rd Avenue South (306) 665 0100 Music vibe / Hip hop, R&B Featured deals / Vodka or
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on April 13
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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 26. Winery containers 28. Check-up 30. Explosion 33. Be made up of 37. Ignited 38. Tight closure 40. About to make a discovery 41. Social insects 43. Whipped cream serving 45. Calendar abbreviation 46. Good looks 48. Person born in that country 50. Get rid of 51. Clear the blackboard 52. Held in reserve 53. It begins on Ash Wednesday
DOWN 1. Lollipop 2. Illustrative material 3. Interweave yarn into a fabric 4. Made a getaway 5. Basic article of bedding 6. You may have one in your purse 7. Wears away 8. Prepares for painting 9. Attack from all sides 11. Inebriated 12. Nickname of the Canadiens 14. They’re hunted for on Easter 17. Play with songs 20. Eyeglass frames
22. Brief perusal 25. Four-legged friends 27. Furthermore sudoku answer key 29. Military rank A 30. Tell secrets 31. What actors memorize 32. Use weapons on 34. Not take no for an answer 35. Barrel part 36. Carry 39. Place with pyramids B 42. Unquestionable 44. Unadorned 47. Spigot 49. Go brown
5 7 6 2 1 3 4 8 9 4 3 2 6 9 8 5 1 7 1 9 8 4 7 5 6 3 2 2 4 3 7 5 6 1 9 8 8 5 7 9 2 1 3 4 6 9 6 1 8 3 4 7 2 5 3 2 9 1 6 7 8 5 4 7 1 4 5 8 2 9 6 3 6 8 5 3 4 9 2 7 1
ACROSS 1. Japanese rice wine 5. Ladder rung 9. Sets on fire 10. Detected sound with the ears 12. Constantly busy and hurried 13. In one piece 15. Make a request 16. Not frightened of people 18. Self-satisfied 19. Beverage brewed from malt 21. Places in position 23. Former Canadian television drama 24. Bands of colour
3 1 2 7 4 5 8 9 6 5 7 6 8 3 9 2 1 4 9 8 4 6 1 2 7 5 3 7 6 5 4 8 1 3 2 9 1 9 3 2 5 6 4 7 8 4 2 8 3 9 7 1 6 5 8 5 9 1 7 3 6 4 2 6 4 1 5 2 8 9 3 7 2 3 7 9 6 4 5 8 1
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© walter D. Feener 2012
Horoscopes April 12 – April 18 Aries March 21–April 19
Leo July 23–August 22
Sagittarius November 23–December 21
Don’t overreact this week, Aries. I repeat: Do. Not. Overreact. If you do, the repercussions will be swift and unfavourable, so take a deep breath and chill.
This is a week to get things done, Leo. Tune the rest of the world out and focus on the task at hand. The end is near.
Have you been dwelling on something lately, Sagittarius? If so, it’s time to leave it in the past and move on with your life.
Taurus April 20–May 20
Virgo August 23–September 22
Capricorn December 22–January 19
You may have a conversation that will change your world this week, Taurus. The problem is, you may not realize at the time which conversation it is.
The answers are out there, Virgo. All you have to do is put in the effort this week and try to find them. Happy hunting!
Ever get the feeling you’re chasing after something you’ll never catch, Capricorn? Don’t let it get to you. You may not catch it, but don’t quit chasing.
Gemini May 21–June 20
Libra September 23–October 23
Aquarius January 20–February 19
If you have strong feelings this week, Gemini, don’t squirrel them away. Emote. And don’t care what others may say or think.
Things and people are going to get on your very last nerve this week, Libra. Try not to explode or make a scene.
It’s spring, Aquarius. Time to start things fresh. So take this week and get rid of all the excess garbage in your life. You’ll be glad you did.
Cancer June 21–July 22
Scorpio October 24–November 22
Pisces February 20–March 20
Try to strike a balance between being wild and being polite this week, Cancer. Between fun and professional. If you can, good things await.
Oh dear, your energy levels threaten to be sky high this week, Scorpio. Which is great, if you have things to do. If not, expect to be antsy.
Don’t be a Nagatha Christie this week, Pisces. You’ll drive the people around you bonkers. And that’s not good for anybody.
sudoku 1 7 9 5 7 6 8 9 2 4 6 3 7 5 4 8 3 3 6 4 9 1 6 5 8 5 1 3 2 1 2 9 7 2 4 8
crossword answer key
A
5 7 1 9 3 2 8 5 7 5 6 2 8 5 1 3 4 6 9 6 1 8 3 4 2 9 4 7 8 6 3 4 9 2 7 1
B
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