Verb Issue R101 (Oct. 25-31, 2013)

Issue #101 – October 25 to October 31

arts

culture

music

regina

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VERY WE EE EK RE

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SK

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Films reviewed­

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Making a match Modern dating in SK Just Picture it Q+A with Picture the Ocean the councelor + axe giant: the wrath of paul bunyan

H READ & S

A

Photo: courtesy of the artist

contents

On the cover:

the sumner brothers

On experimentation. 10 / feature

Photo: courtesy of the artist

culture

NEWs + Opinion

entertainment

Q + A with picture the ocean Edmonton rockers tell all. 8 / Q + A

let’s be clear ... crystal clear Drag culture in SK. 3 / Local

Live Music listings Local music listings for October 25 through November 2. 14 / listings

the gold rush

Nightlife Photos

Sawa and the RSO take on Chaplin’s greatest film. 9 / Arts

We visit The Exchange.

the dj who gave too much information

the councelor + axe giant: the wrath of paul bunyan

Marrying art, music. 9 / Arts

15 / Nightlife

We review the latest movies. 16 / Film

making a match The ins and outs of modern dating.

4 / Local

For the love of God…

something old, something new

Our thoughts on civic prayer. 6 / Editorial

We visit Crave. 12 / Food + Drink

on the bus Weekly original comic illustrations

by Elaine M. Will. 18 / comics

comments

Music

Game + Horoscopes

Here’s what you had to say about prescription heroin injections. 7 / comments

July Talk, Aidan Knight + The Zolas.

Canadian criss-cross puzzle, weekly horoscopes and Sudoku. 19 / timeout

13 / music

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Business & Operations

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

Office Manager / Stephanie Lipsit account Manager / Thomas adair Marketing Manager / Vogeson Paley Financial Manager / Cody Lang

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

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ART & Production

advertise / advertise@verbnews.com / 306 979 2253

design Lead / andrew yanko Graphic designer / bryce kirk Contributing Photographers / marc messett, Maxton Priebe, Adam Hawboldt + MJ DESCHAMPS

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

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Let’s be clear ... Crystal Clear

The life and times of one of Saskatchewan’s most popular drag queens by ADAM HAWBOLDT

T

he transformation starts with a little Pan Stik foundation.

On days when Garnet Woloschuk is getting ready to perform, his metamorphosis into Crystal Clear — one of the most popular drag queens in Saskatchewan — begins when he applies the thick, creamy, skin-coloured foundation to his face and chest, covering up stubble and beard lines.

“It’s a process,” says Woloschuk, of transforming from a mild-mannered man into a flamboyant drag queen. “It takes about an hour and a half to two hours. And the further along in the process you get, the more you become the character, the easier it is to fall into the role.”

Prior to sitting down to do his face, Woloschuk spends most of the day leisurely getting ready. He showers and shaves, chooses an outfit and lines up all the make-up and accoutrements he needs. Then comes the Pan Stik, that’s the first step.

Or at least, that’s the first step for Woloschuk.

“A lot of other people start with the eyebrows,” he explains. “They use one of those yellow glue sticks, smooth out their brows, let it dry, put on foundation, smooth it out with glue again, and so on. Others use silly putty … but I took the easy route. I shaped my eyebrows to look more feminine. I’m okay with looking more feminine in public, so I don’t have to cover my brows.”

But for Woloschuk the brows come later in the process because after the Pan Stik is the baby powder, which helps keep the foundation in place when he sweats. Then another layer of powder to match the colour of his foundation.

And then it’s on to the eyes.

“The eyes take the longest,” says Woloschuk. “I have to darken and arch my eyebrows a bit more. Then you do the rest of the eyes. Most people go colour, black in the crease, white on top.

But I usually just use black and white because it looks more dramatic. Oh, and, of course, I need the biggest lashes you can find for that cow-eye look.”

Once the eyes are finished, Woloschuk does his lips (using a darker liner than lipstick) and tosses on some sparkles. Make-up finished.

He is closer now to Crystal Clear than he is to Garnet Woloschuk. But the transformation is far from complete. There’s still a matter of squeezing into the three or four pairs of pantyhose he wears, putting on three pairs of Spanx, and making his chest look more feminine.

“Some people shade their chest [to give the illusion of cleavage], some use duct tape,” says Woloschuck. With his left hand he points to the side of his pec and says, “They move their skin here and tape their chest muscle to help create cleavage. That’s too much work and too much pain for me. Sometimes using duct tape can leave you scarred.

So, because I’m a bigger person, I can just put my falsies in and push them to the side and it looks natural.”

With his face and body complete, it’s time for Woloshcuk to put on his dress, step into his high heels, and don the wig. And by the time he’s finished, he’s no longer the shy, somewhat reserved Garnet Wolsochuk his friends and family know and love.

No. Now he’s the sassy, large-andin-charge Crystal Clear. Ready to take the stage and wow audiences.

There’s a scene in the 1987 movie, Who’s That Girl, where Nikki Finn (played by Madonna) accompanies a guy named Louden to the hospital after he has a panic attack. A nurse asks Nikki what the guy’s name is, Louden what? Nikki, who doesn’t know the guy that well, tells the nurse his name is Louden Clear.

Louden Clear. Get it?

Garnet Woloschuk sure did. And when it came time for him to pick a drag queen persona, there was only one name for him.

“I thought to myself, ‘If Louden Clear had a wife, what would her name be?’” remembers Woloschuk.

“Naturally, it would be Crystal Clear.

And the persona I created for her

came from a number of different things. In my group of friends I’m the mother type, so I brought that to the character. Also, if I don’t like something or if I like something a lot, I make it pretty clear. So the name

I got involved,” he says. “When I started a lot of people were upset with me because they thought I was too good to be a drag queen. That it would be a detriment to me as an individual, that I was slightly above. Then there

Photo: courtesy of crystal clear

Crystal Clear seemed like the appropriate name to choose.”

That was 16 years ago. And in the beginning, it wasn’t easy for Woloschuk. His decision to become a drag queen didn’t always sit well with others.“There’s been a dramatic change in how drag is viewed since

were a lot of women in the community that thought we were making fun of women. But we weren’t. We were making fun of gender roles and social norms and values.”

And apparently Woloschuk was doing it quite well. As times began to change and perceptions shifted,

Woloshcuk kept on winning drag queen competitions. These days he’s a four-time Miss Diva’s Miss Gay Saskatoon, has been named entertainer of the year in Regina, as well as held the positions of duchess, princess and empress in Regina’s Imperial Sovereign Court of the Golden Wheat Sheaf Empire.

But performing in drag means more to Woloschuk than simply winning an armload of titles. When he’s out there performing — whether he’s vamping it up to a Barbra Streisand song or slinging witty, highly sexual, sometimes vulgar barbs at delighted audience members — there’s a certain peace that washes over him.

A peace that allows him to lower his inhibitions and take a break from day-to-day living.

“A lot of people don’t believe it,” says Woloschuk, “but I’m naturally a very shy person. A very introverted person. But Crystal Clear, she’s loud and brash. She says things that I’m surprised don’t get her in trouble. There’s not much she won’t say. That makes it easier to talk to people and socialize. It’s also allowed me to be more confident in myself. You know, I often talk about how Crystal Clear runs out into the street so that I can step off the sidewalk. That’s how it feels.”

But as the years pass, Woloschuk feels less and less like transforming into Crystal Clear and running out into that street. What was once a coupletimes-a-month thing has now become a few-times-a-year gig. Partly because he’s getting older and wants to watch the next generation of drag queens take over, partly because he enjoys going to the clubs as Garnet. And partly it’s because the confidence Crystal Clear has instilled in Woloschuk has grown roots and taken a firm hold in his everyday life.

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Making a match Modern matchmaking in Saskatchewan F

inding the right person to date can be tricky.

Sure, you may bump into Mr. or Ms. Right in the grocery store one day, or meet the person of your dreams in a bar. But chances are that’s not going to happen. And what if you’re shy? What if you’re tired of the bar scene or simply too busy — with work or school or whatever it is that eats your time — to actually go out and meet someone?

Put into a situation like this, many people turn to online dating.

It’s easy, convenient and you can do it from the comfort of your own home. A perfect solution, right?

turned out to be a middle-aged wife and mother.

This type of deception online isn’t a one-off thing, either. These days, there’s an emerging class of Internet predators who take to online dating sites, create fake or partially untrue profiles, and weasel their way into other’s lives romantically. What they’re after depends on the person. Some simply want love (but without telling the truth), some are out to scam money, some want your personal data, some are sexual predators. The list goes on.

Not a comforting thought, to say the least. So what’s a single person

Not always.

Yes, there is a bright side to online dating. There are some people out there who meet wonderful companions online and go on to develop long, healthy, lasting relationships with them. But there’s also a dark side.

Case in point: catfishing.

Anyone who saw the 2010 documentary Catfish knows exactly what that means. For those of you who didn’t, it’s the story about a guy named Nev Schulman who fell in love with a beautiful young woman online before graduating to talking to her on the phone. However, when he went to meet her she

to do? If you’re looking to find a suitable partner in these weird, technologically advanced times, what move do you make?

Enter professional matchmakers.

In a way, Julie Clitheroe always seemed destined to become a professional matchmaker.

“I’ve always had a great intuition about people,” she says.

“And my first instinct is to help find people something they need.

I’ve always been that person who wants to help people. So it was a natural fit.”

by ADAM HAWBOLDT

So when she first moved to the Okanagan and looked around and saw a bunch of fantastic single people who were having a hard time finding someone to date, she had an idea — to become a professional matchmaker.

“It seemed almost epidemic,” says Clitheroe. “It wasn’t just in Okanagan. It was in Regina, Saskatoon — everywhere you look, there are people having a hard time meeting someone.”

So she created Magnetix Matchmaking, a company which now helps singles find other, compatible singles in Saskatchewan and the rest of the Western provinces.

But don’t be mistaken. This isn’t some glorified online dating site or anything. Nor is it one of those matchmaking efforts where the customer does most of the work.

So what does a modern matchmaking service like Magnetix and others have to offer?

“Privacy, confidentiality, professional matches, pre-screening of what you’re looking for to ensure there’s a two-way match,” says Clithroe, rattling off the list as fast as you can listen. “We do all the heavy lifting. And do you know what? The number one reason you hear why people turn to professional matchmakers, why people come to us, is for safety. In this day and age, with so many people turning to online dating because they’re busy or disillusioned with the bar scene, there are a lot of incidents of people being absconded from their finances, even assaulted by people they meet. So we do a criminal background check to weed those people out.”

That’s not all they do. Here in Regina they also provide professional matchmakers who, if they don’t find anything for you in their database, will go out into the community and try to find the perfect person for you.

And apparently, there are a lot to chose from.

“According to the research I’ve done, in the Regina and surrounding area [which includes Moose Jaw

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and other places], there are almost 100,000 single people … In Saskatoon, there’s roughly 94,500.”

Matchmaking isn’t a new phenomenon. For centuries, in different cultures around the world, matchmakers have worked to help single people come together. In Japan you have the Nakodo. In the Jewish community there’s the Shadchan who arrange meetings called shidduch between prospective partners. In Hindu culture it was astrologers who relied on the stars to make matches.

As far as “professional” matchmakers go, the first “dating agencies” cropped up in 17th century

Britain. Back then these agencies were run by parish vicars, who tried

“Things that we look at at a high level are what age the person is,

It was in Regina, Saskatoon — everywhere you look, there are people having a hard time meeting someone. julie clitheroe

to match their parishioners according to class and social status.

Today, the subtle art of matchmaking is a little different. A lot more farreaching and comprehensive.

what age bracket they are looking for, “explains Clitheroe. “We also look at interests, what work they do, what their interests are, their passion, do they have or want children,

their future plans. Take someone in their early 30s, for example.

We wouldn’t necessarily have a discussion around retirement. But if someone is in their early 50s we would definitely have that discussion. There are a lot of people in that age bracket who want to be a snowbird, particularly in a place like Saskatchewan, where it’s very cold in the winter. They want to leave for warmer climates and they’re looking for a partner who has the ability and the desire to do that with them.”

All this sounds easy enough, but it often takes a skilled matchmaker to fit all the pieces together — the pieces that help form longlasting relationships.

“To be a good matchmaker you have to be able to ask good questions, the right questions. You also have to be empathetic to other people’s positions.

You also have to put your biases aside and do what’s best for your client,” says Clitheroe. “There’s no real set formula. But when you match somebody and they go on to have a happy relationship, they’re living together or getting married, there’s nothing more rewarding than that. This is a feelgood business, after all.”

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For the love of God…

Civic events should be kept secular, period

I

n case you missed it, there’s been a lot of talk in the news lately about civic prayer in our cities.

It all started back in the spring of 2012, when Ashu Solo, a member of Saskatoon’s cultural diversity and race relations committee, attended a civic banquet where a Christian prayer was recited. Offended and made to feel “like a second-class citizen,” Solo began pushing hard for the secularization of civic events.

Eventually he made a complaint to the Saskatchewan Human Rights

the latter, but the issue is still being mulled over.

In Regina, University of Regina religious studies professor Franz Volker Greifenhagen is urging his city to follow Saskatoon’s lead and wade into the civic prayer debate.

He suggests the best way to solve the problem is with a rotating prayer — having a Christian prayer one week, a prayer from an aboriginal elder the next, and so on and so forth.

Now, we respect all people’s opinions when it comes to these matters, but we can’t help but feel that all the time and energy being spent on this issue is a tad preposterous.

Look, it’s not that difficult to parse: acknowledging only a Christian perspective at city events — where obviously not everyone is a practising Christian — is ludicrous.

Our society has evolved and diversified, and we need to keep pace with those changes. If some people want

Commission. Naturally, this issue wormed its way into the public consciousness and, in recent weeks, has once again become a hot-button topic around our province.

At the moment, Saskatoon’s city council is busy debating whether or not there should be prayers held during civic events. The options they’re weighing are to remain neutral (neither promoting the religious nor the secular) or to try and come up with an inclusive plan that respects all cultures. Media reports have them veering towards

to pray before civic events, go for it!

But they can do that in their heads.

They can do it at home. They can do it in church or out in nature or anywhere they feel a personal connection with a higher force. There’s no need to force feed anyone’s religion on anyone else, whether it be by sticking with the current Christianprayer model or by having a rotating prayer, and particularly not at a secular city event.

To be perfectly clear, we support people’s ability to pursue any kind of religious relationship that is meaningful to them. That’s their choice and we encourage it, wholeheartedly.

Just don’t do it at civic events.

Because let’s be honest: squabbling over whether or not to say a Christian prayer at a secular, community event is an embarrassing waste of time and energy for our city council. There are far more important and salient issues that actually have a tangible impact

on our lives in this province that should be their focus, things like fixing our roads, decreasing the amount of STIs in our city, or our province’s issues with excessive drinking and driving, to name just a few. The list goes on.

There are times and places where it is appropriate to vocalize a prayer.

Events hosted by the city are not one of them. So let’s make the logical choice and let our city councils get back to focussing on the more pressing problems in our community.

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 prescribed heroin injections for chronic drug addicts. Here's what you had to say:

text yo thoughtsur to 881 ve r b 8372

– So what you’re trying to say is that giving a drug addict MORE DRUGS to CURE HIM is actually a smart move? How dumb are you? If you want to help a drug addict get off the drugs then you dont give him more you take them away. Come on!

insanely low recidivism rates) yet it’s helping drug addicts with drugs, so the Cons will never go for something like this. I wonder how many people will freak out without realizing the current treatment, methadone, is also a drug. So yeah definitely on board with this.

– Typical Leftie sentiment to try and advocate for an edgy treatment for a problem a person caused themselves. This has barely been tested and you should be ashamed for printing this.

OFF TOPIC

– Interesting perspective on prescribing heroin. I would like to read more about it, because it sounds kind of crazy. Can you tell me where you got your info?

– Prescription heroin injections as a form of therapy may or may not be a good idea for chronic addicts.

The spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases could be curbed since people won’t be sharing needles with each other. On the other end greater drug use might be encouraged among junkies thus making their addiction problems worse and their lives and perhaps the lives of others around them more miserable. :-\

– Slowly weaning people off their addictions is a logical solution. You look at everything from smoking to eating meat to breast feeding the cold turkey method is incredibly difficult so this seems viable.

– Prescription heroin injections has been demonstrated time and again to be effective at helping chronic addicts kick the habit (with

– Planking for an extended period of time and forgetting to get up is DOWNtown.

– Verb how come so many bar pictures? Some more articles to read would be nice.

– Experiencing d j vu several times a day is DOWNtown.

Next week: What do you think about civic prayer? 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

– Loved the feature about the brothel an interesting glimpse into one faction of sex workers. A positive and respectful piece about a topic many are quick to judge harshly Well done!

In response to “Selling Sex,” Local, #100 (October 18, 2013)

– I had no idea there was an operating brothel here. I was curious about security I know the article talked about the window you could look through but do they have a bouncer or something? And why didn’t you talk to one of the people who worked there? I’d like a follow-up please!

In response to “Selling Sex,” Local, #100 (October 18, 2013)

– While I don’t judge what people do for a living, I think it is inappropriate for The Verb to print a story about prostitution. Children read this and could see it. I’d suggest being more careful next time with your stories.

In response to “Selling Sex,” Local, #100 (October 18, 2013)

sound off – My mind was in the gutter all morning. I was cleaning out the leaves from the eavestrough.

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Picture the Ocean

Photos: courtesy of Megan Kemshead Photography

Edmonton rockers on reinventing themselves, their sound, and making the best record of their career by Alex J MacPherson

I

t has been a busy year for Jesse and Jacquie Dee, the couple at the heart of the Edmonton-based rock band Picture the Ocean. After cutting a pair of records and performing dozens of shows as a slinky rock duo, the pair decided to expand their sound. They added a bass player and a drummer, changed the name of the band, and made the best record of their career. The last album they made as a duo, Our Ghosts Will Fill These Walls, was edgy and raw, a collection of slithering rock tracks that said a lot with relatively little. Picture the Ocean, which was released in January 2012, is calmer and more expansive. The ragged rock edges have been smoothed, the pop sensibility heightened. The songs are tighter and more refined. But according to Jesse Dee, their latest record is more than anything else a foundation on which the band can build — the first to emerge after a period of great change. Now, the band is heading out on the road to play songs from their nota-debut debut and some new ones as well. I caught up with Jesse Dee to learn more.

Alex J MacPherson: You changed the name of the band to Picture the Ocean to reflect changes in the sound and an expanded lineup.

It’s a great name, but was changing it difficult?

Jesse Dee: Over the last year and a half since we changed the name I think people have told us that almost every night, how much they love the name, and I couldn’t be happier that we made the change.

But it’s really hard. It isn’t easy and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

I’m glad we did it but I wish we’d done it a little sooner.

whereas the songs on previous records were mostly just me and Jacquie playing the tunes as a duo. Those were written pretty much with the guitar in mind; this was more of a band record.

AJM: So tell me, what was making the record like?

JD: We made it really fast. We’d been touring the songs for about a year before we went into the studio. We did the record with a guy in Edmonton named Brad Smith, who we’d recorded a couple records with in the past. He’s a great friend and a fabulous producer, whose ideas of recording have really grown as our band has come together.

AJM: Picture the Ocean is also the title of your new record. Did you have plans to make a record that was more expansive, or did the larger lineup dictate a new approach?

It was kind of like a necessity to try and create something original… jesse dee

JD: I think it was more just what happened. I’ve been writing songs for a long time and I think I just reached the point where I wanted to write something different than what I’d been doing. We started playing a lot more with a full band arrangement around the time I started writing the songs for that record. I think that was in my mind a lot more during the writing process: how’s this going to sound with drums and bass and how’s that going to work?

They were written with that in mind,

Every time we’ve worked with him it’s been an advancement in techniques and stuff like that. We had this idea for this album that we would really, really try and get everything live off the floor as best we could and really take advantage of a nice big room.

AJM: Why was it important to play the songs live?

JD: I would say this album is like how we play them live. That’s how the

songs were developed, on the stage, so when it came time to record them it made sense to do it the same way.

AJM: Compared to your older material, Picture The Ocean is something of a leap for the band. Was the risk something you thought about while making it?

JD: It was kind of like a necessity to try and create something original, something different. I find a lot of the music I’m listening to, a lot of the stuff I’m searching for when I listen to music, is stuff that doesn’t sound like anything else. That’s kind of where the writing of that record started and where I’m definitely still at as a writer: heavily influenced by bands like Wilco, stuff like that, where every song is just different than the last one. I want to make the next album we’re working on where every song has nothing in common with the last one except maybe the fact that I wrote it. So I think yeah, the songs on that album are kind of like searching for an original approach.

AJM: The first track on the record, “Erehwon,” feels like a road song, and I think sort of sets the tone for a lot of what follows.

JD: Erehwon is actually the word “nowhere” spelled backwards. It’s obvious now that you know. But the track title was actually put on the song after I wrote it. A friend of my parents said the song reminded her of a place in New Zealand called Erehwon,

which is a region. Then she told me it was “nowhere” spelled backwards. I thought it was a great title for the song.

It’s a road song, the imagery of being in a car with everything flying by. It’s hard sometimes not to write a road song. But I think I got most of them out on that album. This next one’s not going to have so many road songs. It’ll be more about internal stuff … maybe it came from the road but I think it’s more complicated than that.

AJM: And then there’s the instrumental, “Russia?” Why the question mark?

JD: I wanted to try an instrumental. So we wrote one in the winter before we recorded the album. Why we called it “Russia?” I don’t know, but we have decided from here on in all instrumental tracks will have a question mark — and you can expect another one on the next album. It is challenging, but I quite enjoy them, though. Especially in the live performance they’re such a nice break in the middle of a set, to do something where you don’t have to sing. I went to jazz school and I like instrumental music.

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The Gold Rush

Victor Sawa and the R.S.O. take on Chaplin’s greatest film

T

he first screening of a “talkie” took place in 1923. Audiences accustomed to silent films were greeted with synchronized dialogue and music; the age of the silent motion picture was over. But it took a decade or so for the form to die out entirely. In that time, actors like Charlie Chaplin did some of their finest work. In 1925, Chaplin wrote, produced, directed, and starred in The Gold Rush.

Now, Chaplin’s masterpiece will be screened again, the soundtrack provided by Victor Sawa and the Regina Symphony Orchestra.

“The thrill of this event should be twofold,” Sawa says of the latest

by alex J MacPherson

installment of the RSO’s Shumiatcher Pops series. “First of all, this is one of the great Charlie Chaplin films. It’s one of the ones he wanted to be remembered for. And besides that, there’s the virtuosity and the dexterity of putting the score with the movie. My score is over 3,900 bars long, and to start with the movie and end with the movie is going to be some accomplishment.”

Sawa is not exaggerating. Accompanying a film requires clinical precision. The speed of the film is fixed, unchanging. One mistake can cause the entire performance to unravel, as the orchestra falls further and further behind. “You have to make sure that each of the cues aligns with the film,”

Sawa says with a laugh. “If the cues aren’t lining up, you have to speed up or slow down. And there are five hundred cues.”

This is not the first time the Regina Symphony Orchestra has accompanied a silent film. In 2011, Sawa conducted a performance of The General, Buster Keaton’s 1926 masterpiece. But that performance was led by an experienced piano player, the orchestra used for punctuation and colour.

The Gold Rush’s score is orchestral from start to finish, a much more demanding task for both Sawa and the musicians.

“There’s no stopping,” he says.

“There’s no recovery point. If you’re off

at one minute, you’re off for the whole movie. Or at least until intermission.”

But if everything works perfectly, if Sawa can keep the score aligned with the film onscreen, the result will be more than worthwhile. Even the greatest silent films are rarely shown, and opportunities to hear a silent film accompanied by a full orchestra are extremely rare. Sawa’s

love for films knows no bounds and he is determined to make The Gold Rush a special experience for everyone involved.

The Gold Rush November 2 @ Conexus Arts Centre $39+ ($13 for under 30 w/ Scotiabank Classically Hip program)

The DJ Who Gave Too Much Information

Performance art project makes connections between records, the stories behind them, and the people who love them

E

xperiencing art is, for the most part, a solitary pursuit. There is little to be gained from viewing a painting or a sculpture with other people. Films are meant to be seen in silence, galleries best visited when the crowds are elsewhere. But this is not the case with music. Music infiltrates every aspect of our society: it is the soundtrack to our lives, one that can be enjoyed alone or with others. These connections between songs and people form the basis for The DJ Who Gave Too Much Information, a performance art project by the Montreal group PME-ART.

“One of our thoughts was a stranger comes to your door and maybe you put on music and the music might make them feel more comfortable,” says Jacob Wren, who performs alongside Claudia Fancello and Caroline Dubois. “A lot of music is personal and we have stories about it that explain why this music is important to us or what it means to us in our lives, and telling these stories is a way to open up a conversation using music as the basis.”

The DJ Who Gave Too Much Information is the fifth project in a series about hospitality, the moment when two strangers meet and begin searching for common ground. The

performance is an elaborate game. It begins when one of the artists puts on a record and tells a story about it.

These stories are sometimes personal but more often related to the record itself. The next performer must then sift through the pile of records to find a song and a story that connects with the one preceding it. As the performance unfolds, it becomes clear that stories about making records are about more than recording music.

“As we continued to gather stories about the records we started to think that, in a way, you can have things about every aspect of life through these records,” Wren says.

“You can have things about work,

by alex J MacPherson

you can have things about love, you can have things about politics, you can have things about family. These records are kind of a window into every aspect of the world, and that’s also why there’s so many of them.”

Over the last five years, the members of PME-ART have performed The DJ Who Gave Too Much Information in cities across Canada and Europe.

Their record collections are always expanding, each addition a new trove of stories and ideas that can be explored in front of a live audience.

But thinking of The DJ Who Gave Too Much Information as a catalogue of stories, myths, and legends misses the point. The stories themselves are

only important because they represent moments in time that have transcended themselves to become connections. “I think real hospitality has to do with inviting people in,” Wren says, “but also giving them space to make their own experience.”

The DJ Who Gave Too Much Information Nov 1 @ 7:30pm; Nov 2 @ 2:30pm Central Gallery, Regina Public Library Free Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbRegina amacpherson@verbnews.com

9 Oct 25 – Oct 31 @verbregina

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I’ll be there tomor

The Sumner Brothers on their latest record and the timeless a

B

ob and Brian Sumner have been making music together for years. Their love of traditional music led them to start a band, a project that has carried them from their home in Vancouver to the furthest reaches of North America. Since 2006 they have released four albums, including a pair of hardscrabble garage recordings. The brothers’ songs evoke a time when the high gloss of commercial radio was decades away and the only things that mattered were strong melodies and compelling stories. Drawing on a range of influences, from outlaw country and early rock and roll to folk and bluegrass, the Sumner Brothers have spent the last ten years carving out a niche on the fringes of the roots music scene.

And they wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

The Sumner Brothers subscribe to the traditions that defined so much of the music they love. Their songs are simple yet effective, regardless of what form they take. And there are a lot of forms to choose from.

The group’s latest album, I’ll Be There Tomorrow, covers everything from blistering rock and roll and brooding country weepers to tender folk and delicate, almost ethereal gospel. The record opens with “Toughest Man In Prison Camp,” a searing rock cut as ragged and raw as the screaming guitar tones, before fading into a haunting country ballad called “Going Out West.” There are also a pair of covers: a tender interpretation of Townes Van Zandt’s “Colorado Girl” and a raucous punk-injected version of Arthur Crudup’s “It’s All Right.”

The Sumner Brothers have listened to nearly everything, and remembered most of it. But while their songs span the breadth of traditional roots music, they are linked by the brothers’ ragged voices and uncanny sense of melody and pacing. I’ll Be There Tomorrow is the strongest album they have ever made. It generated a slew of effusive reviews. It also earned them a tour with the Deep Dark Woods, the reigning kings of haunting folk-rock.

But when I spoke with Brian Sumner earlier this month, it became clear that I’ll Be There Tomorrow is only the beginning.

AJM: Do you and Bob write together or separately?

BS: We write on our own. It’s usually kind of a three-stage thing. Bob and I write our own songs, and then usually he and I will get together and we’ll start arranging it, coming up with ideas.

Then we’ll go to the band and they can put their stamp on it after that.

AJM: How do you differentiate between the two as far as songwriting is concerned?

BS: I think the stuff that doesn’t make it onto the quote unquote studio

…we experiment, and if it works, it works, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

Someone else can be the judge of that. brian sumner

Alex J MacPherson: You’ve made a couple of different types of records, these garage collections and then studio albums.

Brian Sumner: That’s what we’re doing and we plan on doing it for awhile.

The In The Garage stuff is kind of more for fun, but it kind of keeps us on our toes. We’re always jamming and having buddies over and recording everything and then we just sift through it and put out those records.

records — they’re not really done in studios — sometimes those songs don’t get arranged with the band, because maybe they’re not working live or we don’t think they’ll work live, and so they get an opportunity to be heard on those records.

AJM: Not quite in a studio? I know you made your 2008 debut in a cabin.

Is that what you did for I’ll Be There Tomorrow, too?

BS: It was also recorded in a cabin. It was up in Merritt, B.C. We were up behind Merritt, up in this mountainous

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appeal of outlaw country by Alex J MacPherson area. We had this cabin up there that we’d rented from my dad’s buddy, and it was very much the same process as the self-titled: we just got a keg of beer, locked ourselves up there. Merritt is a pretty small town so we didn’t have a whole lot of distractions, and we were an hour out of town anyways. Yeah, we just went for it. It’s a really good vibe because you start to feel a little detached from reality when you’re up there for eighteen days, and it allows you to focus on the work.

AJM: One of the things that really stands out is how diverse this record is. You guys can make a lot of dif-

songs sound the same — they’re not the same thing.

a go. That one just slipped on. I wasn’t entirely sure it should go on…

it works, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.

Someone else can be the judge of that.

BS: Yeah. People get mistaken about what makes something consistent. Like, if you listen to Harvest, Neil Young’s Harvest, it’s all over the map but it’s got a vibe and you can sense that. When we record in these cabins, I think that always helps tie everything together. All the reverb sounds the same, the mics are all the same, we’re all in about the same state of consciousness. If you try and put a record of all ballads together it might work, but on the other hand there might not be enough variety there to make the loud songs sound loud and the quiet songs sound quiet.

AJM: Looking at the other songs, there are obviously references to various genres and styles of roots music, but at the same time it feels like you’re trying to push forward a bit, too.

AJM: Since I’ll Be There Tomorrow is a year old, I should ask: what’s next for the Sumner Brothers?

BS: Yeah, absolutely. We don’t have any interest in preserving a certain kind of sound. If it comes across like that, hopefully it just does so naturally — maybe at that time that’s what worked for a particular song. But we’re all about pushing the envelope. Not for the purposes of pushing the envelope, but we experiment, and if it works,

BS: We’ve got a ton of stuff on the go, but it’s just a matter of getting it done. Then we’re going to pick nine, ten, eleven of our favourite covers and we’re going to turn that into an album and release it. Then after that I also have a solo record coming out. I recently went through a divorce and it’s all kind of based off of that. And then likely it would be the next studio or cabin record.

AJM: A lot to keep you busy.

BS: I think so, yeah. We’re happy.

It’s a tough business: there’s not a lot of money in it and it’s always a struggle. But we have lots of gratitude and we’re not weighed down by our expectations.

The Sumner Brothers November 5 @ The Exchange $20 @ Ticketedge Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbRegina amacpherson@verbnews.com

AJM: I like the two covers on the record, too. You make them your own.

ferent sounds. Is that something you worry about?

BS: No, we’re not worried at all about that on a song-to-song basis. The only thing that is challenging is whether it’s going to work in the context of a record. Hopefully it worked on that one, because I know we were kind of taking some chances and we weren’t sure. But on a song to song basis?

We’ll do anything, we don’t care. We’ll try anything.

AJM: I guess it’s easy to conflate a coherent record with one where all the

BS: It’s part of the sort of country music tradition, and if you come to see us live at any point there’s going to be two covers out of about twelve songs. We’re always messing around and it’s a good way to learn the songwriting process, learn from the greats.

AJM: How did you choose “Colorado Girl” and “It’s All Right”?

BS: There were some other songs that we’d recorded as well that were cover songs. “Colorado Girl” would obviously work, but we weren’t entirely sure about the song “I’m Alright.” But we were playing it a lot live at that time and we had a killer rhythm section up there and thought we’d give it

11 Oct 25 – Oct 31 /verbregina

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Photos courtesy of MJ Deschamps

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW Crave Kitchen + Wine Bar mixes the classic with the contemporary by MJ Deschamps

C

ontrary to the old adage, Crave Kitchen + Wine Bar might be one rare example of actually being able to ‘judge a book by its cover.’

Stationed in a grand-looking heritage building right in the heart of downtown Regina, Crave has done a spot-on job of capturing the very essence of its atmosphere and menu into the way that it looks.

Let me explain: nestled in a snug spot on Victoria Avenue, the front

Somehow, he has taken recipes that have been around for hundreds of years and found a way to make them new again, through a sophisticated and inspired mosaic of flavours.

“It’s really a lot of home cooking — it’s about using old techniques and traditional dishes,” said Thauberger.

“It’s nothing I invented — it’s just building on [tradition], tweaking things … and using high-quality produce to let the flavours shine.”

About 90% of the menu is made from scratch, he said — right down to house-made breads and meat preservations. Crave is also a big proponent of sourcing local, Saskatchewan products and produce, with purveyors such as Heliotrope Farms, Quill Creek Bison and Salay View Farms.

Probably one of the most wellknown French lunch items, the Mrs. Crunch , is what I started off my meal with — a classic croquemonsieur (or croque-madame, in this case), complete with bubbling cheese on top of house-made sourdough, egg-dipped ham, kimchi, pickled onions, mustard greens and Gravelbourg mustard. The kimchi adds a spicy kick to the traditional

doors of the charming old structure open up into a modern foyer and dining room, with dark upholstery, sleek lines and carefully placed pops of colour.

These complimentary parallels carry over to Crave’s menu, which consists largely of classic French staples like duck confit and steak tartare, and are really being taken up a notch by the talented and creative mind of executive chef Jonathan Thauberger.

let’s go drinkin’ Verb’s mixology guide FRENCH 75

Ingredients

Just like traditional French cooking, this classic cocktail has a long history — first created in 1915 in a Paris bar and later popularized in America, the combination of ingredients was said to have such a kick that it felt like being shelled with a French 75mm field gun .

Champagne 1 ounce gin ½ ounce lemon juice ½ ounce Cointreau orange liqueur

directions

Pour the lemon juice, gin and Cointreau over ice into a cocktail shaker.

Shake well and strain into a tall glass flute. Fill the rest of the flute with champagne.

grilled ham and cheese sandwich, and the seasonal greens and juicy local tomatoes in the accompanying house salad are so fresh, I wonder whether they were just pulled out of the ground.

The duck confit came next, with the good-sized leg juicy and crispy on the outside, and super succulent on the inside. It’s not overly salty, and comes with a sweet tarte flambée made with a buttery puff pastry, caramelized onions and topped with goat cheese. A little red wine jus and balsamic drizzle helps bring some acidity to the dish, and ties it all together.

For those who have never tried beef cheeks — well, you’re doing beef all wrong. Braised cheeks wrapped in thin, salty prosciutto was my main course, and oh my god, I don’t think I’ve ever had a more tender, fall apart cut of meat before. The cheeks sit on a thick, layered bed of potato pave, which offers a creamy, baked accent to the smoky beef, which is braised in local sour cherries.

Over the course of the summer, explained Thauberger, Crave processed around 300 pounds of local sour cherries to use as braise, which

help bring a bit of acidity and sweetness to traditional veal stock.

To complete the savoury French meal came a decadent Italian dessert — a traditional tiramisu, swimming in creamy mascarpone cheese and surrounded in accents of dark chocolate and fresh strawberry puree. The rich espresso seeps into the cakey centre to make it extra moist, and helps complete what I like to call the perfect trifecta of dessert elements — chocolate, coffee and fruit.

Overall, finding a perfect balance between old and new, high-end and home-cooked, and creative and classic is what Crave has really achieved — bringing a sophisticated sort of simplicity to the palates of Reginans without having to reinvent the wheel (or the veal).

Crave Kitchen + Wine Bar 1925 Victoria Ave. | (306) 525 8777

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbRegina mdeschamps@verbnews.com

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Next Week

coming up

July Talk

Aidan Knight

The Zolas

@ The Club (@ the Exchange) Tuesday, November 5 – $10+

@ Artesian on 13th Friday, November 8 – $20 (door);

@ The Exchange Friday, November 22nd – $15

$25 (advance)

Sometimes all it takes is one moment to forever change the trajectory of your life. Musician Peter Dreimanis had that moment a few years back. He was sitting in a candlelit bar in Toronto as a guitar was being passed around, not really paying attention. Then this woman, a stranger, grabbed the guitar, started to play and Dreimanis knew he’d found his musical soulmate. Her name was Leah Fray and soon the two formed a band called July Talk. If you haven’t heard them play or seen them live, you probably should. Playing whiskey-soaked songs that are a mix between Americana and indie-rock, this Toronto-based band have been busy since they formed. They’ll be in Regina the first week of November.

Advance tickets available at Vintage Vinyl and Madame Yes.

There was a time when Aidan Knight was a back-up guy. A guy who played in bands like Maurice and Vegan Holocaust. But in 2010 all that changed when the experimental folk artist from Victoria struck out on his own with his first solo album, Versicolour. In the same year he also helped found the Adventure Boys Club record label with Tyler Bancroft of Said the Whale. After touring and traveling the country, Knight got back into the studio and recorded his follow up album, Small Reveal, which was released in 2012. Now he’s back on the road, doing what he does best in front of audiences throughout Western Canada. You should probably check him out when he swings through Regina in early November. Advance tickets available at picatic.com.

Photos courtesy of: the artist/ truncata/ amanda ash

The Zolas aren’t the kind of band willing to sit back and rest on their laurels. Sure, their debut album, Tic Toc Tic, was outstanding and garnered them an almost cult-like following from coast to coast. But instead of keeping things status quo for their latest album — Ancient Mars, released in 2012 — The Zolas opted to experiment with their sound, pushing the boundaries of their already praise-worthy piano prog-pop sound. The result was a mature album with songs that range from 90s-esque summer jams to catchy avant-pop. Consisting of Zachary Gray and Tom Dobrzanski, The Zolas combine a raw, infectious sound with lyrics that are honest, relatable and nostalgic.

The result is one of the best musical acts working in Canada today. Tickets at ticketedge.ca.

– By Adam Hawboldt

Sask music Preview FACTOR has recently launched its largest program overhaul, and will be pairing with SaskMusic to provide an overview of what artists and companies must know about qualifying and applying for funding in 2013-2014.

FACTOR president Duncan McKie and Project Coordinator Derek Wilson will give a presentation and answer questions at the Saskatchewan Suite of Hotel Saskatchewan on November 6 from 7-9pm. Please pre-register by emailing info@saskmusic.org, or calling 306-347-0676 or 1-800-347-0676.

Keep up with Saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org

13 Oct 25 – Oct 31 @verbregina

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october 25 » november 2 The most complete live music listings for Regina.

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27 28 29 30 31

25 26 1

2

Friday 25

Bev Zizzy / Artful Dodger — Local musician playing black magic jazz. 8pm / Cover TBD Kevin Roy + Kristen Berkel / Creative City Centre — Folk and country. 7:30pm / $10 DJ Pat & DJ Kim / Habano’s — Top 40 hits.

9pm / $5 cover Big Chill Fridays / Lancaster — With DJ Fatbot. 10pm / Cover TBD Absofunkinlutely / McNally’s Tavern — It’s dance party weekend! 10pm / $5 The Valentinos / Pump — Country music with a bit of bite. 10pm / Cover TBD Albert / Pure — Doing his spinning thing.

10pm / $5 DJ Longhorn / Whiskey Saloon — Dropping hot country beats. 8pm / $10 Chris Henderson / Whiskey Saloon — Prairie country music. 9pm / $10

Saturday 26

David Pomeranz / Casino Regina — An intimate solo evening. 8pm / $25+ Tchaikovsky / Conexus — RSO’s Mosaic Masterworks. 8pm / $66.15 The Stillhouse Poets / Creative City Centre — With Danny Goertz. 7:30pm / $10 Feast of Screams / The Exchange — Featuring Bloodline + more. 8pm / $15 Grant Davidson / Lancaster — Folk/country straight out of Winnipeg. 10pm / No cover Absofunkinlutely / McNally’s Tavern — With Animal Parts! 10pm / $5 Drewski / Pure — Doing what he does best.

10pm / $5 cover The Valentinos / Pump — Country music with a bit of bite. 10pm / Cover TBD Chris Henderson / Whiskey Saloon — Prairie country music. 9pm / $10

Sunday 27

Songwriter Sunday / Creative City Centre — With Glenn Sutter + Lyn McGinnis, with an open mic to follow. 7:30pm / $10

Monday 28

Open Mic Night / Artful Dodger — Come down and jam! 8pm / No cover

Monday Night Jazz / Bushwakker — Featuring Uptown Jazz. 8pm / No cover

The Jump Off, Black Thunder, The Man and His Machine / The Club — Punk, stoner-rock and hardcore. 8pm / $5 Brass Buttons / Lancaster — Some downhome music to. 9pm / No cover Slow Motion Walter / McNally’s Tavern — A rock and roll party band with classic and current tunes. 10pm / $5

Tuesday 29

Troubadour Tuesdays / Bocados — Come out and jam! 8pm / No cover

Wednesday 30

Craig Moritz / Pump Roadhouse — Country music from Alberta. 10pm / Cover TBD Drewski / Pure Ultra Lounge — Doing what he does best, every Saturday night. Come on down and dance the night away with this local DJ. 10pm / $5 cover Kal Hourd / Whiskey Saloon — Melodic country music with gusto. 9pm / $10

Get listed Have a live show you'd like to promote? Let us know! layout@verbnews.com

Wednesday Night Folk / Bushwakker — Featuring Watershed. 9pm / No cover Matt Mays / The Exchange — High energy rock. 8pm / $20 Jam Night + Open Stage / McNally’s — Come enjoy local talent. 9pm / No cover

Thursday 31

Cyclone Halloween Bash / Artful Dodger — With DJ Verbal, E-Major + more. 8pm / $10+ The Tilted Kilts / Bushwakker — Celebrate with some live Celtic music. 8pm / $5 Good For Grapes, Laska / The Club — A night of folk and indie rock. 7:30pm Decibel Frequency / Gabbo’s Nightclub — A night of electronic fun. 10pm / Cover $5 PS Fresh / The Hookah Lounge — With DJ Ageless + DJ Drewski. 7pm / No cover Open Mic Night / King’s Head — Come out + play some tunes. 8pm / No cover Redbeard’s Caring for a Cause Cancer Fundraiser / McNally’s — Good tunes for a good cause. 8:30pm / $5 Craig Moritz / Pump Roadhouse — Country music from Alberta. 10pm / Cover TBD

Friday 1

Your Town Throwdown / Casino Regina — With Chad Brownlee + more. 8pm / $30+ David Essig / The Club — Canadian folk from a master. 8:30pm / $15 Day of the Zombie Cabaret / Exchange — With Opal Stone + more. 8pm / $15 DJ Pat & DJ Kim / Habano’s — Local DJs spin top 40 hits. 9pm / $5 cover Big Chill Fridays / Lancaster Taphouse — Come out and get your weekend started with DJ Fatbot. 10pm / Cover TBD Slow Motion Walter / McNally’s — A rock and roll party band. 10pm / $5 Craig Moritz / Pump Roadhouse — Country music from Alberta. 10pm / Cover TBD Albert / Pure — Appearing every Friday night. 10pm / $5 cover DJ Longhorn / Whiskey Saloon — One of Regina’s most interactive DJs. 8pm / $10 Kal Hourd / Whiskey Saloon — Melodic country music with gusto. 9pm / $10

Saturday 2

Charlie Chaplin: The Gold Rush / Conexus Arts Centre — Accompanied by the RSO. 8pm / $72.45

14 Oct 25 – Oct 31 entertainment

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tuesday, october 22 @

the exchange

The Cultural Exchange 2431 8th Avenue (306) 780 9494

Check out our Facebook page!

These photos will be uploaded to Facebook on Friday, November 1. facebook.com/verbregina

Photography by Marc Messett

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Photo: Courtesy of 20th century fox

Oh what could have been!

The Counselor doesn’t live up to expectations by adam hawboldt

T

he other day a friend of mine asked if I was excited to see The Counselor.

I shot her a look somewhere between “did you put crazy in your cereal this morning?” and “were you been dropped on your head as a child?” before telling her, “Hells yes, I’m excited! Any movie with Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz and Brad Pitt in

Turns out I was wrong.

Maybe it was the high expectations (McCarthy is one of my favourite writers, after all, and I have a small man-crush on Brad Pitt), maybe it was blind faith or lack of good judgment, I don’t know. But after it all I couldn’t shake the feeling that, even though all the pieces to a puzzle were visible and on the table, nobody could figure out how to put the damn thing together.

The Counselor Ridley Scott Starring Michael Fassbender, Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Cameron Diaz + Brad Pitt Directed by

111 minutes | 14A

cheetahs. Cut to … you know what?

Forget it. The first half of this movie cuts from one group to another to another so often that’ll it’ll leave some of you confused. Then there’s an act of violence and the movie takes off on a proper arc before fizzling again.

The whole thing is about a guy, the counselor, who (for reasons never really explained) is having money problems so he decides to set up a huge drug deal with Reiner and a middle man named Westray (Pitt) to solve his problems. And because this is Cormac McCarthy, the story its riddled with violence, existential conundrums and devastating pessimism. Which is a good thing. In fact, there’s a lot of good things about this movie. It’s stylishly shot, the acting

The Counselor lacks that … nuanced edge that made No Country so fantastic.

Adam Hawboldt

front of the camera, Ridley Scott behind it, and the incomparable Cormac McCarthy penning the whole damn thing, is destined to be a classic. Okay, maybe not a classic, but at least it’ll be good. Like, real good.”

The story begins with the unnamed lawyer (Fassbender) in bed with his fiancée, Laura (Cruz). Cut to druglord Reiner (Bardem) and his less-than-stable girlfriend Malkina (Diaz) hanging out with their pet

is solid and the dialogue is thoughtprovoking. Oh, and it also features one of the most creative killing devices in recent memory.

Yet for all that, there’s something missing. Unlike McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, which was adapted to screen brilliantly by the Coen brothers, The Counselor lacks that self-aware, nuanced edge that made No Country so fantastic.

It also lacks true depth. Sure, the dialogue is deep. Lines like “It is our faintness of heart that has driven us to the edge of ruin” and “truth has no temperature” are profound enough to get you thinking. But, to be completely honest, they don’t

carry any true weight. No gravitas to speak of. Just a bunch of talking.

When big moments of the movie arrive, instead of letting the action and emotion dictate the scene, all the characters do is opine and spew existential half-truths.

And that’s unfortunate. Because, on the surface, The Counselor had so much potential.

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbRegina ahawboldt@verbnews.com

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mythbusting

Axe Giant portrays Paul Bunyan like you’ve never seen him before by adam hawboldt

Photo: Courtesy of virgil films

P

aul Bunyan is a giant of American folklore.

Like, literally.

For those of you not familiar with this man of myth, Paul Bunyan was a fictional lumberjack, a gentle giant who roamed the U.S. with his faithful sidekick, Babe the Blue Ox .

Story goes, it took five storks to carry Paul to his parents’ house when he was born. When he was old enough to laugh and clap, the vibrations from that broke every window in the house.

Eventually Paul Bunyan grew up and

Yep, that Paul Bunyan was one heckuva guy. And nice too! People loved him. But not in Gary Jones’ new horror flick, Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan.

The movie starts with a prologue — set in 1894 and featuring Dan Haggerty (television’s Grizzly Adams) — that introduces Bunyan as a lunatic giant hellbent on butchering people who disturb his peace and quiet.

Cut to present-day Minnesota.

We are introduced to Sgt. Hoke (Tom Downey), a badass employed by the

Axe Giant is one of those B-movies that is so bad … some people will … like [it].

Adam Hawboldt

started wandering around America.

That’s when the fun stuff (read: creating the American landscape) started.

Bunyan dug the Grand Canyon while dragging his axe behind him, he created Mount Hood (the highest mountain in Oregon) by piling rocks on his campfire to put it out. Oh, and he made the Great Lakes as a watering hole for Babe, and Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes were formed in his footprints.

Department of Corrections. His task?

To take a group of people in the First Offenders Program into the woods for a rehabilitation bootcamp. The group consists of Zack (Jesse Kove), Rosa (Victoria Ramos), Marty (Clifton Williams), Trish (Jill Evyn) and C.B. (Amber Connor). None of them are thrilled to be there.

Anyway, one day, Zack finds a huge ox skeleton (Babe’s, of course),

Axe Giant: the Wrath of Paul Bunyan Directed by Gary Jones Starring Tom Downey, Amber Connor + Tim Lovelace 90 minutes | NR

and decides to take one of the horns as a souvenir.

Bad idea.

This irks the hell out of the menacing Paul Bunyan, who proceeds to kill the group one by one — classic horror style.

Okay. Now, if this story seems farfetched and a tad preposterous to you, there’s a reason for that. It is.

Not only is the premise of Axe Giant’s plot absurd, nearly everything in the movie is so out there, so dang terrible, that for many people watching this movie will make you a slightly worse person.

Notice I said “many people.” Sure, I’ve seen better acting in bad porno movies. And sure, the CGI is atrocious too. But Axe Giant is one of those B-movies that is so bad, so absurd, that some people will actually like its kitschiness. Some people will get an absolute thrill of watching Paul Bunyan (as you’ve never seen him before) kill petty criminals in the most gruesome and outlandish ways.

Sadly (or fortunately?), I’m not one of those people. So sitting through Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan was about as fun as getting a root canal. But maybe you have different tastes. Who knows?

Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan opens at Regina Public Library on October 31.

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

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17 Oct 25 – Oct 31 @verbregina

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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 28. Pod vegetable 29. You can play old maid with them 32. Appropriate 36. Three-toed bird 37. Period of history 39. Sticky substance 40. Improvised bed, in Britain 42. Ship built to withstand the Flood 43. Of unknown name: abbr.

44. Flag used to show nationality 46. Foolish 48. Extremely cold 49. ___-cochere 50. One-piece garment 51. Eyelid inflammation

A

1. Unwilling to be social 2. At the very least 3. Afternoon hour 4. Cruel use of power 5. Pole thrown in a Scottish Highland sport 6. Firefighter’s tool 7. Moon trench 8. Make shoes shine 9. Pass a rope through 11. Most common medium of exchange 12. Device used for capturing 14. Source of water 17. Purchased 20. One of the meanings of a word

21. Saws have them 24. Mom’s partner 26. Make a doily 28. Kinds of trucks 29. Surrender possession of 30. With many 31. Rough-skinned apple 32. On behalf of B 33. Set on fire 34. Loop with a running knot 35. Unable to be found 38. Animal that eats bamboo 41. Building beside a barn 43. Twisted to one side 45. Band booking 47. ‘Wayne’s World’ exclamation

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

1. Santa sometimes gets it on his suit 5. Find fault 9. Like some noses, sometimes 10. Self-evident truth 12. Bank employee 13. Shout in a loud and deep voice 15. Have confidence in 16. Historical epoch 18. Cover the inner surface of 19. Reverential salutation 20. Inhale cocaine 22. Salt, in Quebec 23. Hanging 25. Antiknock fluid 27. Slightest bit of

© walter D. Feener 2013

sudoku answer key

DOWN

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

ACROSS

Horoscopes october 25 – october 31 Aries March 21–April 19

Leo July 23–August 22

Sagittarius November 23–December 21

Getting fed up with things around you this week, Aries? Take a step back and a deep breath, and don’t let these things get you down.

You’re going to be full of energy this week, Leo, so you may find yourself working harder than usual. Put this to good use. You’ll be grateful you did.

If you’re feeling nostalgic this week, Sagittarius, take a long walk down Memory Lane. You’ll be surprised with what you see.

Taurus April 20–May 20

Virgo August 23–September 22

Capricorn December 22–January 19

You know that old saying “don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched?” Well, it applies to you this week, Taurus. Bide your time.

There may be some new responsibilities thrown your way this week, Virgo. Don’t take them lightly. A lot could be riding on this.

Change is in the air, Capricorn.

Embrace it, no matter how difficult that seems, and a whole new world could open up for you.

Gemini May 21–June 20

Libra September 23–October 23

Aquarius January 20–February 19

It isn’t your style to make grand gestures, Gemini, we know this.

But maybe make an exception this week.

It’s your time to shine!

Fantastic news is just around the corner, Libra. But you may have to traverse a rocky road before you reach said corner.

Be very careful not to over exert yourself this week, Aquarius. Your energy levels may be waning, so shore up your reserves for the time being.

Cancer June 21–July 22

Scorpio October 24–November 22

Pisces February 20–March 20

Have you been feeling overwhelmed lately, Cancer? If so, you’re in luck. Things will smooth out really soon.

You have a sharp mind and a thirst for knowledge, Scorpio. Put it to good use this week. You never know what you’ll uncover.

It’s time to hit the ground running this week, Pisces. Don’t hesitate or slack off, though. Doing so could come back to bite you later in the week.

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

crossword answer key

A

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

B

19 Oct 25 – Oct 31 /verbregina

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