Verb Issue R90 (Aug. 9-15, 2013)

ISSUE #90 – AUGUST 9 TO AUGUST 15

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CULTURE

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PHOTO: COURTESY OF KAID ASHTON

SMOKING SALVIA Exploring what a legal hallucinogen is all about FOUR YEARS ON Q+A with Andy Shauf ELYSIUM + I’M SO EXCITED

Film reviews

PHOTO: COURTESY OF KAID ASHTON

CONTENTS

ON THE COVER:

FACTOR

On his latest album. 10 / FEATURE PHOTO: COURTESY OF KAID ASHTON

CULTURE

NEWS + OPINION

ENTERTAINMENT

Q + A WITH ANDY SHAUF

LIVE MUSIC LISTINGS

New album worth the wait. 8 / Q + A

Local music listings for August 9 through August 17. 14 / LISTINGS

SMOKING SALVIA

RSO UNDER THE SKY

NIGHTLIFE PHOTOS

A breakdown of this legal hallucinogen. 3 / LOCAL

The Symphony celebrates the start of the season. 9 / ARTS

We visit Earls.

HEY, LADY Local band drops wicked debut.

ELYSIUM + I’M SO EXCITED

9 / ARTS

We review the latest movies. 16 / FILM

15 / NIGHTLIFE

CROSSFIT CULTURE Inside the workout phenomenon that’s gone worldwide. 4 / LOCAL

VERBNEWS.COM @VERBREGINA FACEBOOK.COM/VERBREGINA

EDITORIAL

PLATE FULL O’ LOVE

ON THE BUS

Our thoughts on using cell phones to pay for parking. 6 / EDITORIAL

This week we visit Flip Eatery & Drink. 12 / FOOD + DRINK

Weekly original comic illustrations

by Elaine M. Will. 18 / COMICS

COMMENTS

MUSIC

GAME + HOROSCOPES

Here’s what you had to say about Internet censorship. 7 / COMMENTS

Big & Rich, Partycat + Indigo Joseph.

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

13 / MUSIC

EDITORIAL

ART & PRODUCTION

BUSINESS & OPERATIONS

CONTACT

PUBLISHER / PARITY PUBLISHING EDITOR IN CHIEF / RYAN ALLAN MANAGING EDITOR / JESSICA PATRUCCO STAFF WRITERS / ADAM HAWBOLDT + ALEX J MACPHERSON CONTRIBUTING WRITERS / VICTORIA ABRAHAM, R.A. PARKER + JEFF WILSON

DESIGN LEAD / ANDREW YANKO GRAPHIC DESIGNER / BRANTIN FIX CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS / BAILY EBERLE, MAXTON PRIEBE + ADAM HAWBOLDT

OFFICE MANAGER / STEPHANIE LIPSIT ACCOUNT MANAGER / KERRI SENKOW MARKETING MANAGER / VOGESON PALEY FINANCIAL MANAGER / CODY LANG

COMMENTS / FEEDBACK@VERBNEWS.COM / 306 881 8372 ADVERTISE / ADVERTISE@VERBNEWS.COM / 306 979 2253 DESIGN / LAYOUT@VERBNEWS.COM / 306 979 8474 GENERAL / INFO@VERBNEWS.COM / 306 979 2253

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2 AUG 9 – AUG 15 VERB MAGAZINE

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LOCAL

SMOKING SALVIA Unmasking a legal hallucinogen BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

T

here’s an uneasiness bubbling in my chest as I put the pipe to my lips.

What the hell am I thinking? Is this a good idea? What if I end up with the trip from hell?

Thirty minutes ago I was at a smoke shop buying a gram of 10X salvia from a friendly young girl with red hair and a green shirt. “Make sure you do it in a comfortable environment,” she said.

“Put on some music and enjoy the trip.”

Before I left the red-headed girl also said, “It helps if you have a friend there. You never know what kind of experience you’re going to have.”

Sound advice, especially for someone who has never smoked salvia before. But here I am, alone. Pipe to my lips, sitting on the edge of my bed with Bob Marley playing in the background.

An iPhone is propped up on my desk, taping the whole strange scene.

Here goes nothing. With a small yellow lighter I set the salvia on fire.

Blue smoke curls around my knuckles.

I inhale deep and hold. One Mississippi … two Mississippi …

When I get to 20 Mississippi I exhale a savage cloud of smoke. A numb sensation spreads from my head to my feet, lightheadedness kicks in. The edges of everything sharpen.

But where are the hallucinations?

Salvia is supposed to be one of the wildest hallucinogenic drugs on the market. Anxious, I pack another bowl.

Light it. Inhale. One Mississippi … two Mississippi … three Mississippi — I lose track of the count. Time and space collapse all around me like a dying star. Then it hits me, as though I’d just jumped off the back of a speeding motorcycle into the side of

a brick building. Reality hiccups and ceases to exist.

The scientific name for salvia is Salvia Divinorum. It’s also called Seer’s Sage or Ska María Pastora, and is native to the Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca, Mexico. A member of the mint family, salvia has long been used by Mazatec shamans to induce visionary states of consciousness. They use it in healing sessions, to see the future, to get in touch with the spirit world and answer questions they have about the universe.

Thanks to the Internet, salvia has migrated from Mexico into most of the modern world. It’s legal in Canada, it’s legal in the U.K., it’s even legal in many anti-drug American states. But this legality hasn’t stood without opposition. Many media outlets have written stories about salvia, the inherent dangers of the drug and, in a roundabout way, questioned why a hallucinogen of this magnitude is legal.

I was wondering the same thing.

But instead of interviewing a bunch of people, asking them about their “horror” trips and whatnot, I figured the best plan of action was to smoke salvia and see what happened. So that’s what I did.

I researched the hell out of salvia.

I learned all about its chemical makeup, its levels of toxicity, it’s addictive qualities (the latter two being rather low). Then I learned about the six stages of salvia, denoted by the acronym SALVIA. There’s the (S)ubtle stage, where relaxation is king. There’s the (A)ltered perception stage, where colour and textures get distorted. The

(L)ight visionary stage results in eyesclosed visuals, the (V)ivid visionary stage is like a dreamlike state where you hallucinate. (I)mmaterial existence is when you become completely involved in your inner existence, and in (A)mnesic effects state you can lose consciousness.

Please don’t let me go there.

Bob Marley is still playing in the background as the walls of the room start tearing apart, becoming fractured and gaping. Some sort of force that isn’t quite gravity pulls me back onto the bed. I close my eyes. And that’s when the hallucinations begin.

It’s as though my body has been split into a million little pieces and being torpedoed through a winding tunnel. At first everything is dark. Then tiny blasts of light start to zip by my peripheral. The lights take shape. Turns out they’re not lights at all. Just shiny door knobs. Door knobs with sculpted faces of famous authors on them.

There’s Hemingway and his noble beard, Nelson Algren with his receding hairline, Fitzgerald’s feminine profile.

Next thing I know there’s a blast of light, and I’m standing at the foot of a great silver pyramid. It tastes like bullets. And that’s the rub with a drug like salvia. It morphs colours into tastes, voices into words, texture into emotion. You’re living a different life outside space, time, reality. You exist in a life and a place beyond anything you’ve ever known. Ever dreamed of.

And standing there, looking at that silver pyramid, tasting it, the only thing I know is that the colours are brighter in this place, the shadows

darker. There’s a huge statue of Hunter S. Thompson next to the entrance. But not the real guy — it’s Thompson the way Ralph Steadman painted him. All angular and dripping and creepy.

The statue extends a long, bony, undulating hand, and in a soft, rumbling voice it says, “Get in there you miscreant, they’ve been waiting for you!”

I laugh out loud. Then I melt into the pyramid, whizz past spider webs, over skeleton bones, blast through a fake stone wall, and I’m in the main chamber. The ceiling in this place goes up. Way, way up. At the top, where the silver apex of this pyramid should be, it’s open. Bright, baby-blue stars drip down from the heavens in the black of night. In front of me there’s a ferris wheel. In each seat there’s a box. All different colours, all different tastes.

And from behind me Hunter S. Thompson’s voice booms, “Choose a box, you degenerate. The right one will set you free.”

Set me free? Panic closes in. What if I choose wrong? What if — Statues of gladiators emerge from the four corners of the room. They brandish their wooden rudis. Terror slides up the back of my throat. I flee as images start to blur. I try to hold on to the trip, extend it, see where this is going. But after a while I realize it’s just me forcing my imagination to work overtime. My eyes snap open.

No more terror, no more authors, no more pyramids. Just me on a bed, sweating, heart beating a thousand miles an hour. And the iPhone is still recording.

Verb recommends that you do not smoke salvia, ever.

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbRegina ahawboldt@verbnews.com

3 AUG 9 – AUG 15 /VERBREGINA

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LOCAL

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ARTS

FEATURE

FOOD + DRINK

MUSIC

LISTINGS

NIGHTLIFE

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TIMEOUT

NEWS + OPINION

LOCAL

PHOTO: COURTESY OF REEBOK CROSSFIT 306

CROSSFIT CULTURE

The workout phenomenon that’s gone worldwide BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

I

t’s all in the hip,” says coach Rebecca Winterhalt. “Use your momentum to drive your body up.”

Nearby, a stocky man with slightly cauliflowered ears hangs from a black, metal pull-up rig, muscles rippling beneath his T-shirt. Using his hips, the man swings his legs out, pulls himself up. Chin over the bar. Then he lowers himself down, then up again.

Again and again. Faster and faster.

A normal person’s muscles would ache just from watching this. Chances are, a normal person would be spent and exhausted after exploding through so many pull-ups.

But not this guy. He’s just getting warmed up. After all, there’s a full, fast-paced, uber-intense workout coming up in under three minutes.

Welcome to the world of CrossFit! The gym where CrossFit athletes train isn’t like any gym you’ve ever been in before. There are no mirrors, no treadmills, no ellipticals, no machines that isolate muscles.

Just a big, open, spartan-like room called a box with free weights and medicine balls and a pull-up

rig carefully placed around the perimeter. The floor is rubber, the ceiling high with lengths of ropes and gymnastic rings hanging from it.

A buzzer blasts through the box, music blares, and the stocky guy from before bends down, picks up a bar with weights on it and starts doing overhead squats. Up and down he goes in smooth, controlled motions. Fast as he can. Blasting up, then easing himself back down.

Bar held high over his head the entire time. When he’s finished, he moves over to the pull-up rig, uses his hips, yanks his chin over the bar. Rinse and repeat. Then back to overhead squats. Back to pull-ups.

Back to squats, then pull-ups again.

When he’s finished, the man is a mass of panting, sweating, shredded muscle. But the workout isn’t over yet. Still one more exercise to go.

As legend has it, the father of CrossFit, Greg Glassman, was tired of the two ideals of fitness: the vain gym rat and the cardio-obsessed Iron Man. So what he did was develop a beast of a workout program that mixes power lifting with

Olympic weightlifting, plyometrics, gymnastics, calisthenics and much, much more.

The result has been a worldwide phenomenon.

With more than 6,000 gyms around the world (most having opened after 2004), CrossFit is easily one of the most popular workout regimes going. From Regina to Saskatoon, North America to Australia people walk into these spartan gyms and put their bodies through sheer hell.

Everywhere you look, after exercises are complete, people are grunting and panting, doubled over on their knees gasping for breath.

It’s the kind of workout that will push you as far as you can go, then push you some more, all the while testing your mind, heart and body.

Why do people willingly subject themselves to something like this?

“Because it works,” says the stocky guy, who is now sitting on a bench under a digital timer. He isn’t just any guy, though. His name is Jason Cain — a former competitive wrestler, champion of the 2011 Canada East CrossFit Regionals and, along with Rebecca Winterfall CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE »

4 AUG 9 – AUG 15 NEWS + OPINION

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(who just so happens to be his wife), the owner of CrossFit Reebok 306.

Listening to Cain speak, you’d also think he was a professor of CrossFit. Once he’s slightly recovered from his WOD (CrossFit lingo for workout), Cain stands up and starts writing on a whiteboard with a red marker.

“The first thing about CrossFit is it focuses on fully functional movement.” He writes FF on the board. “We’re not machines. When in your life has anyone ever held your arm down and said lift it?

Never. But you have been asked to put something on a top shelf, lift a suitcase off the ground … all those movements require your joint to be moving at the same time. That’s what we focus on here.”

Cain writes CV on the white board and continues, “Constantly varied. We never do the same thing.

We change it up every day. That makes you well rounded, and allows your body the ability to train multiple days in a row.”

Next Cain writes the letters HI. “High intensity,” he says, then scrawls the equation P=W/T on the board. “Power equals work over time. It’s Grade 11 physics. What we try to do is get you to do more work in the least amount of time.

The more power you generate the worse it feels on your body — in the moment.”

And if Cain’s workout is any indication (he ripped through the pull-ups and overhead squats in

about three minutes, then blasted through the final exercise — max 500 rows — in 90 seconds) his body probably feels worse than anyone else’s in the gym.

But that’s okay. The worse his

body feels now, the better the results.

Mention CrossFit to most people and the first word that comes to mind is “cult.” They envision men and women, muscle-bound and shredded, posting pictures of themselves on Facebook doing handstand pushups and flipping giant tractor tires.

But spend some time in a CrossFit gym and you’ll see there’s nothing cultish about it. If anything, it’s more like a culture or a family. Or a highly efficient team.

“It’s not so much a gym as it is a sport organization,” says Cain. “We have coaches, athletes. We all train together, we all support each other.

Classes start together and finish

them on, shout encouragements, because we all know how hard it is

What we try to do is get you to do more work in the least amount of time.

JASON CAIN

together. If you finish you don’t just put things away and wait. You go over and you support the people who haven’t finished yet. You cheer

to finish [an exercise] when there’s nothing left in the tank.”

And like any sports organization, there people like Cain who

take it very seriously, push themselves to the limit and like it when it feels as though their hearts are going to explode.

Then there the others: 65-yearold women, 16-year-old teens, or people like Whitehalt, who are just looking for a workout that works.

People who simply want to walk into a gym, turn their brains off for a bit, and forget about the flotsam and jetsam of their lives.

“Sure, some people want CrossFit as a sport and they’ll gravitate to the people in the gym that are competitive,” says Whitehalt. “But

others just want to come here for a good workout, work hard, and go home. These days people have so much going on — work, kids, everything else — that it’s nice to just walk in somewhere and be able to let it all go.”

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

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5 AUG 9 – AUG 15 @VERBREGINA

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EDITORIAL

PHOTO: COURTESY OF INCASE

PARKING POWER

Let’s make parking meters smart phone-compatible

T

he future is here, and it’s paying for parking meters with a smartphone Ok, well not here totally, at least not yet. But the future has arrived in numerous other cities across Canada and beyond, where smartphones have modernized the way people are paying for parking. The result is a more user-friendly experience of the oft-aggravating ordeal of finding, paying for, and then returning to top up an available metered spot. After all, Regina is a vibrant city with a dynamic downtown full of parking meters. And that’s why we think it’s high time the city gets on board and brings smartphone parking capabilities to our city’s metered parking stalls.

And if you don’t own a smartphone, never fear: the meters will still retain their quaint, quarter-eating capabilities. So if you haven’t quite made the leap to using apps, you can still make use of any of these parking stalls (just make sure you keep enough change on hand!)

But back to the future: smartphone enabled meters make paying for parking as simple as downloading and using a simple app, which allows you to use a credit card to pay for your parking spot. Heck, you can already do this at the

University of Saskatchewan, so we don’t see any reason it wouldn’t work here.

And while the bonus of not having to dig through your car for enough change to feed the everhungry meter is a significant one, it doesn’t stop there. Say you’re in a meeting that takes longer than you expect, and your meter’s about to run out (assuming you’re one of those people who actually pays attention to when your meter is about to expire). Rather than sending out a desperate plea to the cosmos to not get a ticket (or sprinting out to your vehicle to frantically repeat the search for change), you could simply receive a notification on your phone 15 minutes before your time runs out. Then you can simply fire up the app and add some more time to your meter, preventing a possible ticket. Easy? You bet!

And aside from consumer convenience, paying for metered parking downtown with your smartphone provides a host of other benefits, too. You can view and print parking receipts online.

You can pay in smaller increments of time and simply top up (to the maximum time allowed) when you receive your warning text. And while it’s always a bonus to pull into a stall and see a few minutes

left on the meter, it’s more of a bonus to only pay for the time you need, rather than dropping in three bucks and then leaving after 20 minutes.

Taking it one step further, we would also like to see mobile technology come to Regina that would help you find available parking stalls. Already available in cities like San Francisco or LA, Parker is one such app. Using information received from sensors in parking spaces, the app shows users the number of available parking spots on any given street using Google maps. A time saver, indeed, but one with a green hue: not circling the block for ages looking for that elusive available spot to park your car cuts down on gas used and reduces traffic congestion.

According to the city’s website, Regina operates its parking meters from 8am until 6pm Monday to Friday, at a charge of $1 per hour.

We are a vibrant and dynamic city, and making our downtown parking situation more user (and consumer) friendly only serves to benefit us all.

In The High Cost of Free Parking, Douglas Kolozsvari and Donald Shoup discuss the 85 percent ideal occupancy of any downtown parking area: busy enough that it generates enough foot traffic to keep

shop owners happy, with enough available stalls so people looking for a spot have a chance without endlessly circling the block, at a relatively competitive price that’s low enough to keep people coming yet high enough to encourage turnover. We all know the reasons metered parking in this city can be aggravating: high cost, lack of open spots and having to constantly top up the meter.

Using technology to address these concerns ­— paying only for the time you use, being able to see open spots on your phone, and being able to top up a meter remotely — would go a long way to keeping drivers happy, with the

side benefits of easing traffic and reducing emissions.

So what are we waiting for; let’s get with the program and start letting people pay for parking meters with their phones!

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

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbRegina feedback@verbnews.com

6 AUG 9 – AUG 15 NEWS + OPINION

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COMMENTS

ON TOPIC: Last week we asked what you thought about Internet censorship. Here’s what you had to say:

– I agree wholeheartedly that Internet censorship is a very slippery slope. All those countries mentioned are the most repressive governments in the world so why is Mr. Cameron even considering this?

– The government for centuries has used the line “for the good of the people”. Censoring the internet is far too much power for the government. We by no means live in a free society as we are led to believe. The government has been trying to keep the masses under their control ever since governments were put on this earth. When is enough enough people? When will we truly wake up and realize their is no such thing as a “free society”? We have to continue to fight hard for every single “right” we say we have. Lets shout from the rooftops “I am mad as hell and I man to going to take this anymore!”. Then watch how the government will step in and continue to try and control us “for our own good.”

– Proposing to censor the internet for the good of our children is a horrible roundabout way to push a terrifying political agenda.

The second a country like Britain (wealthy, developed, etc) starts advancing policy like this, we should all be very, very concerned. As the article points out, there are many ways parents can monitor/control what their children see online. It’s far more important to teach kids right from wrong than leave parenting up to the government. This is setting dangerous precedent, and rile up everyone.

Text yo thoughtsur to 881 VE R B 8372

and can’t view as long as you’re an adult it’s up to you what you view on the net.

– I would support the monarchy but if pm cameron gets what he wants I would support cutting our ties with britain

OFF TOPIC – I am replying to the “Wanting to be Heard” article. I appreciated many points in the interview and I am glad she stepped forward; however I am even more disappointed she spoke so eloquently yet completely missed the point with the posters - they did not encourage progressive discussion but just ended up enraging people.

Not to mention I looked at the site she listed and instead of a social discussion on equality it was nothing more than misogynist banter.

She needs to work on her media!

In response to “Wanting to be heard,” Local, #89 (August 2, 2013)

– Loving people freaking out over your voice for men article. Read it pretty carefully, and didn’t see any sign that you endorsed the movement or advocated for that position, but people sure think you did. Lol read carefulley.

– I appreciated the story about A Voice for Men not because I like the group (their views are despicable and mysoginistic and horrendously offensive) but because I hadn’t heard what their side was, and the more you know about the enemy the better you can destroy their ideas and re fute their policies. I suspect that’s why you run the story.

ers, and one of them only covers music so it’s not hard to figure out who wrote this article and who’s thoughts and opinions they are. ( the camera on the police artile$

In response to “Wanting to be heard,” Local,

– They used to boast “The sun never sets on the British Empire!”

Now the sun has set for good on the British Empire!

#89 (August 2, 2013)

In response to “Wanting to be heard,” Local, #89 (August 2, 2013)

– I was appalled to read the interview with A Voice for Men. You should be ashamed of giving someone like that a platform to spread her vile message. How awful it was.

– Your article “wanting to be heard” is very true. Having stayed at homeless for the last year and half I have heard many stories of men mistreated by women. #89 (August 2, 2013)

– Your “newspaper”, using that term loosely, only has two writ

#89 (August 2, 2013)

rial, #88 (July 26, 2013)

SOUND OFF

– Slamming a 15-pack at a red light is DOWNtown.

NEXT WEEK: What do you think of making parking meters smart phone compatible? Pick up Verb to get in on the conversation:

In response to “Wanting to be heard,” Local,

In response to “Wanting to be heard,” Local,

– Censoring the net is a bad idea it’s telling people what they can

In response to “Policing the Police,” Edito-

– Pets go missing many a times,particularly dogs. Why not print qr codes of pet owner’s fb profile on the neckband locket of the dog. One who finds the pet can scan it and reach the owner. This way our dogs will never be lost and always found :)

– You know you’re DOWNtown when you have nothing better to do than read texts about DOWNtown.

We print your texts verbatim each week. Text in your thoughts and reactions to our stories and content, or anything else on your mind.

7 AUG 9 – AUG 15 /VERBREGINA

CONTENTS

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FOOD + DRINK

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Q+A

THE BEARER OF BAD NEWS

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF CHRIS GRAHAM

Four years in the making, Andy Shauf’s new album is well worth the wait BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

A

ndy Shauf spent four years making The Bearer of Bad News, his first full-length record since 2008’s Darker Days. The investment was worth the reward. The Bearer of Bad News features the strongest songs Shauf has ever written. Radiating outward from “Wendell Walker,” a devastating ballad about adultery and revenge that serves as the album’s centrepiece, the songs on The Bearer of Bad News feature a cast of characters who conceal their brokenness behind a thin veneer of normalcy. Shauf’s brilliance emerges when characters we identify with do strange and terrible things.

Cast against a series of delicate yet profound soundscapes, these songs capture the essence of what Shauf has achieved, both as a songwriter and his own engineer and producer.

The Bearer of Bad News is one of the strongest albums ever to emerge from this province. I caught up with Shauf to learn a little more about the record and the man behind it.

Alex J MacPherson: You recorded The Bearer of Bad News by yourself. Why? Andy Shauf : That’s kind of how I’ve always operated, I guess.

I started in high school with a mic plugged into my mic input, and I would record songs. That’s just how I always did it,

and that’s how I wanted to do this one as well.

Some of them are not like me, but there are aspects of them…

AJM: A lot of the characters on this record seem broken in some fundamental way. What attracts you to these stories?

AJM: Could it be that many of the characters in these songs take matters into their own hands?

AS: I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it that way. But I guess maybe that reflects on me. I recorded my album and mixed it, played everything. Maybe I’m just a control freak.

[Laughs.] Just kidding.

AS: I don’t really know. Some of the songs I didn’t really have a story for until I started trying to sing stuff with the music. It would just shape itself, mood-wise. There’s a lot of pretty sad stuff, things that make you think about things that make you uncomfortable.

AJM: There’s a line in “The Man On Stage” that feels like a rare glimpse

There’s a lot of pretty sad stuff, things that make you think…

ANDY SHAUF

AJM: Which brings me to the idea that the album feels split between story songs and these other more nebulous songs.

AJM: I guess the characters don’t seem all that different from most people. They’re just plunged into an extraordinary situation, where their brokenness is revealed.

of you, without the shield of a character,” and that’s, “I am not a poet, I’m a broken heart.” Does that sort of sum up the way you think about your role?

AS: Totally. Stories are always semi-normal people, depending who writes them. You always put yourself in that position, in a way.

I think probably every character I’ve written about is some sort of extension of myself or projection of myself in extreme circumstances.

AS: Yeah. I think I wrote that one in 2008. At the time, I felt like it really described how I was writing music, or my place in writing songs and stuff. It’s pretty old. It’s hard to remember what I was thinking when I wrote that. I was writing more about emotions and stuff back then. Feelings.

AS: Over the four years I was writing for the album I probably had, like, a hundred or so songs to choose from.

Lots of them were pretty bad, but most of the songs that actually made it onto the record came in the last year of writing for it, as I figured out what I was going for and what was going to work together. Originally, the album was going to be an eighteen-song double album. Nine and nine. There were a lot

more from the earlier years of writing for it that made it onto the double album, but then I decided to cut it down to a single. I just realized my writing style had changed quite a bit.

Andy Shauf August 24 @ The Club $TBD Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbRegina amacpherson@verbnews.com

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SYMPHONY UNDER THE SKY

Maestro Victor Sawa on the RSO’s annual outdoor concert event BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

N

ot as well known as the titanic Fifth or the intellectually dense Ninth, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 nevertheless ranks among the most beautiful pieces of music ever composed. Known to aficionados as Pastoral, it is an ode to the unparalleled beauty of the Austrian countryside, where Beethoven enjoyed long walks and hearty meals of chicken and rough wine; it is about the raw pleasure of leaving the city behind. Which is why, Victor Sawa explains, the first movement was a natural choice for the Regina Symphony Orchestra’s annual outdoor music festival.

“He actually wrote the thing on one of his walks into the country,” Sawa says of the Sixth, which is as clear and fresh today as it was in 1808, when it was completed and first performed. “It’s not like he wrote it in some dusty room; it

was outdoors. He would walk up to Grinzing and all these little villages outside of Vienna.”

When he first moved to Regina to take the reins of the RSO, Sawa used Beethoven’s Sixth as an example of why the city needed an outdoor orchestra performance. In the beginning, he explains, the festival was quite small. People spent the afternoon sitting on the grass and drinking smuggled bottles of wine. “Now,” he says with a laugh, “they have beer tents.”

Symphony Under The Sky, which has evolved from a single performance into an all-day affair featuring a wide array of bands and entertainment, reflects more than just Sawa’s love of music, however; it also captures his egalitarian view of music. “There’s a mystique about a concert hall, and it’s unfortunate,” he says. “The music itself is phenomenal, and all that we’re doing

is taking the music out of the concert hall.”

For this reason, Sawa chose music that appeals to as wide an audience as possible. For the 2013 edition, he selected the score from Peter Jackson’s An Unexpected Journey, the first of three films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s magisterial 1812 Overture.

The latter is a favourite, he says with a chuckle, because it includes a part written for a battery of field artillery.

And while Sawa concedes that performing outdoors can lead to complications with the weather, Symphony Under the Sky is the crown jewel of the orchestra’s season because it gives everybody a chance to hear some of the greatest pieces of music in the world. “It reaches thousands,” he says.

Symphony Under The Sky August 18, 2013

PROLOGUE

A promising start for Regina band Hello, Lady BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

D

o not make the mistake of confusing Hello, Lady with their American counterparts. Hello, Lady is a four-piece band from Regina specializing in airy rock songs composed of delicate guitar hooks and deft, jazz-inspired rhythms; the similarly named Hey Lady is a B-52s tribute band from Boulder, Colorado. Lea Arngrimson, whose gossamer voice drives each Hello, Lady song, thinks this is hilarious.

“I’ll have to tell Kolby to check them out because he loves eighties music,” she cackles, referring to Kolby Kostyniuk, whose spare drumming style keeps the band on course through a sea of swirling guitars and haunting melodies. “That’s really funny.” It is not surprising that one of the members of Hello, Lady is a fan

of the B-52s. The band is composed of musicians with diverse tastes and musical backgrounds, and this diversity is reflected in the group’s sound, which moves from limpid rock to dark and allegorical pop and back again.

Arngrimson, who previously recorded an album of straightforward folk-pop songs under the name Hello, Lady, met Kostyniuk and bassist Kyle Westberg through MakeShift Studios, the recording studio she used to operate. Guitarist Dieter Desmet fell into the group’s orbit after moving from his native Belgium to Regina. “We fell in love with each other — platonically, of course,” she says, explaining that the group likes to experiment with new and unusual ideas. “We pushed out that EP within a month and a few weeks.”

Prologue, which was released in April, sounds ragged and raw. “A Beautiful Thing” unfolds into a delicate assemblage of parts, a pair of entwined guitars encircling Arngrimson’s tortured voice. “The Monsters” is dark and menacing, a nod to the band’s heavier influences as well as an exploration of dynamics. At one point, the band builds to a crescendo before falling back into silence, leaving Arngrimson’s voice suspended in space.

But Prologue is just the beginning. Because Hello, Lady is such a young band, their sound is still in flux. Fans of the group’s debut can be sure that whatever Arngrimson and her bandmates come up with next will reflect the diversity of their tastes. (Apparently the four band members agree on Feist and Modest Mouse, and little else). And because the band was formed as

PHOTO: COURTESY OF JORDAN BRASS

nothing more than an opportunity for four friends to play music together, there are no rules. For Hello, Lady, anything is possible.

Hello, Lady August 16 @ Regina Performing Arts Centre $8/10 @ RPAC or 306 779 2277

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbRegina amacpherson@verbnews.com

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WOKE UP ALONE

PHOTO: COURTESY OF KAID ASHTON

Factor and friends explore death, despair on his most ambitious project to date BY ALEX J MACPHERSON

G

raham Murawsky, who produces and performs under the name Factor, is sitting in a Saskatoon café, drinking a cup of coffee and talking about his latest project. A sprawling concept album featuring ten of his closest musical associates and a live band, Woke Up Alone is his first solo record since 2010’s Lawson Graham. It is also the most ambitious project he has ever undertaken. Conceived as an exploration of the blackest depths of despair and desperation, Woke Up Alone traces the story of a man struggling to accept and understand his wife’s death. The album, which was released just a

few hours before our conversation, positions Murawsky as one of the most innovative produc-

desire to expand beyond the lines of genre and style have made the music industry more democratic

The one thing I’ve been really lucky with is being able to collaborate with people all over the world…

GRAHAM MURAWSKY

ers in the country. It is also an example of how hip hop is growing and evolving. Technological advancements and a collective

than ever before; Factor is on the leading edge of these changes because he refuses to be limited by convention or tradi CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE »

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tion. He acknowledges his place in the evolution of the hip hop he loves, but is unafraid to bend the rules. In the end, Woke Up Alone is the product of a world where the only thing that matters is raw creativity.

“I think it’s very important to find yourself, have your own sound, define your sound,” Murawsky says between sips of coffee, the relentless buzz of his iPhone the only reminder that Woke Up Alone is creating a stir across the country. “It might seem like a little bit longer road at the start because it might be easier to just sound like someone else and get the ball rolling, you know? But in the long run, I think having your own thing is so important.” Murawsky began experimenting with samples and hip hop beats in 1998; within a few years, he was collaborating with rappers from across North America and shaping his sound into a rich collection of punchy drums, luscious sonics, and an unmistakable soul sensibility. Although he has spent the last decade working flat out, producing albums by other artists and refining his craft, late last year he decided to make another album for himself. But instead of calling a bunch of his favourite rappers and releasing a compilation, he decided to try something much more ambitious — a fusion of hip hop convention, sample-free performances by live musicians, and a strong narrative arc.

Woke Up Alone emerged as a play in five acts. Murawsky came up with the idea while thinking about the things most people try hard to avoid — life and death,

PHOTO: COURTESY OF KAID ASHTON

faith and magic, redemption and despair. After settling on the basic idea, a man’s unwillingness to part with his wife, he realized he could

define the structure of the record by moving through the five stages of grief, as proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in On Death And Dying.

This was the catalyst. As the concept began to emerge, Murawsky set about casting the roles. Kirby Dominant, who is based in Oakland and previously collaborated with Factor, was an obvious choice for the unnamed protagonist. “Me and Kirby have been doing songs together since 2001,” Murawsky says, referring to their side project Paranoid Castle. “We’ve known each other for twelve years and he’s one of my best friends. He even lived at my house for a month.” After casting Dominant in the leading role, Murawsky began searching for other characters.

“I had to pick people I knew well enough and felt fit the part,” he says, pointing out that the characters are defined only by an identity like “False Prophet,” “Devil,” and “Voice of Reason.” Because he asked each performer to write lyrics that touched on one aspect of the story, it was crucial that he picked people whose creative vision jived with his own. “The one thing I’ve been really lucky with is being able to collaborate with people all over the world and get to know them on a personal level.”

The list of artists who contributed to the project is extremely diverse and includes Astronautalis, Ceschi, Nomad, Myka 9, Open Mike Eagle, and Evil Ebenezer. Murawsky also recruited Jeans Boots, the nom de guerre of Saskatoon-based artist Jeanette Stewart, to play the wife’s ghost. “I’ve been working with Jeans quite a bit, and I really like her,” he says. “She’s one of my Saskatoon favourites.”

Murawsky’s decision to include Jeans Boots is a reflection of how his musical ideas have grown and evolved. He rose to prominence in the early part of the last decade, when underground hip hop was still underground and the overwhelming majority of beats were constructed from samples — audio tracks extracted from one context and levered into another. In 2011, he released a sample-free album called Factor & The Chandeliers, which featured performances

by bassist Enver Hampton and guitarist Lévi Soulodre. It was his first experiment with sample-free production and inspired many of the sounds on Woke Up Alone, much of which was constructed around live instruments played by Hampton and Soulodre. “I’m trying to go away from samples a bit,” he muses. “I mean, I still love samples.

I love the way they sound and I love the dust and the air on records.

The texture of the music when it’s sampled off vinyl.”

Virtually all Factor productions hint at the hidden relationship between hip hop and other styles of music, from folk and pop to rock and funk, and Murawsky recognizes that he is on the cutting edge of this movement. His decision to include live bass and guitar parts, as well as plenty of live synthesizers, allows Woke Up Alone to capture the gritty sound of the basement recordings he loves without sacrificing the sonic depth and clarity of a mainstream production. The album also benefits from its use of familiar structures — verses, choruses, bridges — which allow each song to stand on its own or form part of the greater narrative arc. And from the opening notes of the title track, it is clear that Woke Up Alone is an extraordinary achievement — both a synthesis of two different worlds and the culmination of everything Factor has spent his career working toward.

The story begins with “The Empire Has Fallen,” on which Kirby Dominant explains his life with and separation from his wife before falling into a vicious cycle of doubt and despair. After a short interlude, various sinister characters offer necromantic solutions to the problem and send Dominant’s protagonist spinning out of control.

The listener is left feeling helpless as a series of tragic events sends the protagonist marching toward his own demise, further and further away from the warm embrace of reality. There is a certain restlessness to the album, a tension that flirts with resolution without ever settling into predictability or normalcy, that makes listening to Woke Up Alone a visceral as well as a philosophical experience.

Murawsky spent a year making Woke Up Alone. Today, on the day of its release, he is proud to have achieved so much yet eager to accomplish even more. “It was by far the most ambitious record,” he says. “At any moment it could have derailed.” After a pause he laughs and says, “When I finished it I was like, I’m never making another concept album. But it was worth it. It was what I wanted it to be. And I’m happy it came out.” Over the course of his career, which began more than a decade ago, Murawsky has worked tirelessly to perfect his art.

He has collaborated with dozens of artists from around the world. He has produced records for Myka 9 and Moka Only, and worked closely

with Def 3. Woke Up Alone is better than anything he has ever done, yet he has a novel way of looking at it.

“I still think there’s so much further to go,” he says, leaning forward, his eyes lighting up. “I’m barely starting out right now. I feel like this record is definitely the start of something else.”

Factor August 30 @ O’Hanlon’s Pub Free

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

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Photos courtesy of Maxton Priebe

NOT JUST A PRETTY PLATE Flip Eatery & Drink feeds the life in people BY VICTORIA ABRAHAM

F

lip Eatery & Drink takes a holistic approach to food that goes beyond just being passionate about great, local ingredients and flavours. They also care about the way the food looks on the plate.

“Plating is a big thing with us.

Presentation is just as important as flavour is,” said sous-chef in training Chris Torjusen. It’s about layering the food on the plate in such a way as to allow the customer to

taste all the layers with one forkful, he explained.

pretty to eat. Luckily, the fact that everything is made in-house, the

Finally, I tried the belly & scallops, which stole the show…

VICTORIA ABRAHAM

In fact, their food looks so great on the plate that it’s almost too

delicious ingredients and the delectable aromas make diving in irresistible.

I had the spiked shrimp, which has been on the menu since the very beginning. Juicy, succulent prawns, crispy bacon, pickled in-house jalapeños, white wine sauce and house-made potato herb bread make it obvious why this delicately spicy dish is an iconic crowd favourite. Then I had the spicy, flavourful, dense Salt original Italian sausage with mustard.

The appetizers were followed up with the gluten-free catfish tacos with Creole chili flavoured catfish, Pico de Gallo, and chili lime sour cream, all on hand-pressed home-made corn tortillas. Served with the creamy house soup full of hearty root vegetables, this dish was amazing. The tacos were delicious and light, with the soft,

LET’S GO DRINKIN’ VERB’S MIXOLOGY GUIDE CORPSE REVIVER NO. 2

INGREDIENTS

This delightfully titled Flip cocktail is great way to start of a night to remember. My only question is where is no. 1?

Gin Orange Liqueur Lillet Blanc Lemon Dash of absinthe (totals 2 ounces)

DIRECTIONS

Compile all ingredients into a martini shaker. Give a gentle shake, and pour into martini glass. Or, better yet, head to Flip and have them do it for you!

subtly-flavoured tortillas resembling flap jacks.

Finally, I tried the belly & scallops, which stole the show: big, sweet seared scallops, arranged artfully on top of fingerling potatoes and mushrooms, alongside a braised pork belly seared on the flattop, then topped with green beans and lemon vinaigrette. The depth and variety of flavour and texture in this dish serves as the perfect justification for Flip’s no substitutions policy.

The policy is guided by a belief that the food is going to taste best when it is the way the chefs intended it to be served.

“The dishes are made with a reason, all the flavours go together.

We try to encourage our customers

to try the dishes the way they were made to be tasted,” said manager Patrick Rafter. “The chefs are really passionate about the food they create.”

With a menu that changes three times a year and chef Murray Macdonald taking over the head chef title from Dave Straub, one can only expect more tasty dishes to entice the palettes of restaurantgoing Reginans.

Flip Eatery & Drink 1970 Hamilton Street | (306) 205 8345 Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbRegina vabraham@verbnews.com

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MUSIC

NEXT WEEK

COMING UP

INDIGO JOSEPH PARTYCAT

BIG & RICH

@ REGINA PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE FRIDAY, AUGUST 16 – $8+

@ THE CLUB THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 – $TBD

@ BRANDT CENTRE SATURDAY NOVEMBER 23 – $51+

Indigo Joseph will be joining forces with the Dead South and Hello, Lady to raise funds to repair the roof at the Regina Performing Arts Centre. This four-piece offers up high-energy prairie rock and roll infused with engaging lyrics and live performances that blend dance, rock and sweet tunes — what more could you ask for? Performing in both English and French, Indigo Joseph synthesizes a range of styles, paying tribute to the traditions of the past while forging ahead with new and innovative sounds. Making good music with good friends is their mantra, and it shows — head on down to the Regina Performing Arts Centre for a good cause and a great show. You’ll be sorry if you miss it.

A five-piece from Toronto with a pretty radical name, Partycat offers up a healthy dose of hardcore and rock that will get your asses up and out of your seats. Steve Sapienza (guitarist), Josh Cottreau (vocals), Patty Kosak (guitarist), Mike Butcha (bass) and Davin Crawford (drummer) came together in 2009, and in the short time since these musicians — who list Alexisonfire and Dead and Divine among their influences — have made astonishing progress.

Devoid of any form of pretension, Partycat is a fun band, and seeing their live show is like hanging out with old friends. Their follow-up to The Horror Story, 2012’s 9 Lives is catchy and shows immense promise.

Partycat will be playing the Club next week; tickets at the door.

These country superstars will be hitting up the Queen City as part of the Grey Cup Festival Series. This duo — comprised of songwriters, vocalists and guitarists Big Kenny and John Rich —released their first studio album, Horse of a Different Color, in 2004, and their single “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” shot them to the national spotlight. Since then the pair have released individual solo records, collaborated with everyone from Martina McBride and Cowboy Troy, and released three more albums. Currently working on their fifth studio endeavour, Big & Rich are busy touring, setting the stage on fire at every stop with their catchy songs and impressive shows. Catch them at the Brandt Centre at the end of November. Tickets available through Ticketmaster.

– By Jeff Wilson

PHOTOS COURTESY OF: THE ARTIST / BERRY PHOTOGRAPHY / THE ARTIST

SASK MUSIC PREVIEW

PHOTO: COURTESY OF STEPHEN WOLFE

The Symphony Under the Sky is back! This annual event celebrates our symphony while previewing music that will be appearing in the Regina Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming season — all for free! Pre-Symphony entertainment includes Sylvia Chave, Alex Runions, Keiffer and the Curiosity Club, and Vudu Hounds. The event also offers kids’ activities, art workshops, a musical petting zoo, and more. Come and celebrate with the RSO on August 18, from 11am -7pm, in Regina’s Wascana Park.

Keep up with Saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org

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AUGUST 9 » AUGUST 17 The most complete live music listings for Regina.

S

M

T

W

T

9

10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

FRIDAY 9

BUNCHOF***INGOOFS / The Club — Toronto hardcore group will be stirring up trouble at the Exchange. Also appearing Regina punk band Bats Out. 8pm / $10 cover DJ JUAN LOPEZ / Envy Nightclub — This DJ loves requests. 10pm / $5

DJ PAT & DJ KIM / Habano’s Martini & Cocktail Club — Local DJs spin top 40 hits every Friday night that are sure to get you on the dance floor. 9pm / $5 cover BIG CHILL FRIDAYS / Lancaster Taphouse — Come out and get your weekend started with DJ Fatbot, who’ll be doing his spinning thing every Friday night. 10pm / Cover TBD METHOD 2 MADNESS / McNally’s Tavern — Great rock ‘n roll classics all night long.

10pm / $5 ALBERT / Pure Ultra Lounge — Appearing every Friday night, come listen to Albert as he does his spinning thing.

10pm / $5 cover REUBEN AND THE DARK / Victoria Park — Hit up the Sunlit Stage 3 to check out Calgary’s Reuben Bullock and his ensemble.

12pm / Free

FEIST, NOMADIC MASSIVE, MAN MAN + MORE / Victoria Park — Come on down for Regina’s Folk Fest! 7pm / $55.65+ DJ LONGHORN / Whiskey Saloon — Come check out one of Regina’s most interactive DJs as he drops some of the best country beats around. 8pm / Cover TBD TIM ROMANSON / Whiskey Saloon — Some toe-tapping country tunes to get you moving. 9pm / $10

SATURDAY 10

NONE SHALL SLEEP TONIGHT / The Club — Regina’s industrial hip hop crew. Also appearing will be Dystopian Wasteland, Tyler Gilbert, The Jump Off and The Screaming Daisies. It’s NSST’s Thunderhawk’s CD release show! 7pm DJ JUAN LOPEZ / Envy Nightclub — This DJ loves requests, nothing is off limits.

10pm / $5 METHOD 2 MADNESS / McNally’s Tavern — Great rock ‘n roll classics all night long.

10pm / $5 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 TIM ROMANSON / Whiskey Saloon — Some toe-tapping country tunes to get you moving. 9pm / $10 CLOSE TALKER, AMELIA CURRAN + MORE / Victoria Park — Check out some sweet tunes. 11:30am onwards / Free LOREENA MCKENNITT, BAHAMAS, CALYPSO ROSE + MORE / Victoria Park — Come on down for Regina’s Folk Fest! 6pm onwards / $55.65+

SUNDAY 11

MISERY SIGNALS, THE COLOR MORALE / The Exchange — Independent metal core and Illinois post-hardcore. Also appearing is Elitist and The Kindred. 7pm / $20 advance, $25 at the door RETRO DANCE PARTY / McNally’s Tavern — DJ Baby Daddy plays ‘70s hits. 10pm / Cover TBD YANA + MORE / Victoria Park — Check out the Sunlit Stage 1 for some sweet tunes.

11:30am onwards / Free NEKO CASE + MORE / Victoria Park — Come on down for Regina’s Folk Fest! 6pm onwards / $55.65+

MONDAY 12

OPEN MIC NIGHT / The Artful Dodger — Come down and jam! 8pm / No cover MONDAY NIGHT JAZZ / Bushwakker Brewpub — Featuring The Stillhouse Poets.

8pm / No cover

COLLIN RAYE / Casino Regina — A multiplatinum recording artist. 8pm / $30+ THE SWORD, CASTLE, AMERICAN SHARKS / The Exchange — Texas heavy metallers.

7:30pm / $23

TUESDAY 13

FAYE BLAIS / Artful Dodger — Indie folk music coming at you from Sudbury. 8pm / Cover TBD TROUBADOUR TUESDAYS / Bocados — Check out some local talent. 8pm / No cover KALLE MATTSON / Creative City Centre — Indie folk to soothe your soul.

7:30pm / $12

WEDNESDAY 14

WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOLK / Bushwakker Brewpub — Featuring Sarah Burton + Darcy Windover. 9pm / No cover NO PROBLEM + MORE / The Club — Some badass punk. 8:30pm / $10 JAM NIGHT AND OPEN STAGE / McNally’s Tavern — Come on down and enjoy some local talent. 9pm / No cover CRAIG MORITZ / The Pump — A country recording artist that shines. 9pm

THURSDAY 15

TENILLE ARTS / Casino Regina Summer Stage — Rocking out at the F.W. Hill Mall on your lunch break. 12pm / Free TROLLBAND / The Club — West Coast folk metal rockers for you. 8:30pm / $10 DECIBEL FREQUENCY / Gabbo’s — A night of electronic fun. 10pm / Cover $5 PS FRESH / The Hookah Lounge — With DJ Ageless and DJ Drewski started in Saskatoon. They both landed in Regina and have come together to sling some bomb beats.

7pm / No cover OPEN MIC NIGHT / King’s Head Tavern — Come out, play some tunes, sing some songs, and show Regina what you got. 8pm / No cover THE ACCOMPLICE / McNally’s Tavern — Harmonies that’ll catch your ear. Also appearing is the Snake Oil Salesman. 8:30pm / Cover TBD CRAIG MORITZ / The Pump — A country recording artist that shines. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ LONGHORN / Whiskey Saloon — Come check out one of Regina’s most interactive DJs as he drops some of the best country beats around. 8pm / Cover TBD ALEX RUNIONS / Whiskey Saloon — An old favourite will wow you, so come on down!

9pm / $5 cover

FRIDAY 16 POWDER BLUE / Artful Dodger — A little shoegaze and psych for your listening pleasure. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ JUAN LOPEZ / Envy Nightclub — This DJ loves requests, nothing is off limits.

10pm / $5 DJ PAT & DJ KIM / Habano’s Martini & Cocktail Club — Local DJs spin top 40 hits every Friday night that are sure to get you on the dance floor. 9pm / $5 cover BIG CHILL FRIDAYS / Lancaster Taphouse — Come out and get your weekend started with DJ Fatbot, who’ll be doing his spinning thing every Friday night. 10pm / Cover TBD WHAT EVER / McNally’s Tavern — It’s Locals’ night at Saskatoon. 10pm / $5 CRAIG MORITZ / The Pump — A country recording artist that shines. 9pm / Cover TBD ALBERT / Pure Ultra Lounge — Appearing every Friday night, come listen to Albert as he does his spinning thing. 10pm / $5 cover INDIGO JOSEPH, THE DEAD SOUTH, HELLO, LADY / Regina Performing Arts Centre.

All proceeds go to roof repairs! 8pm / $8 advance, $10 door DJ LONGHORN / Whiskey Saloon — Come check out one of Regina’s most interactive DJs as he drops some of the best country beats around. 8pm / Cover TBD ALEX RUNIONS / Whiskey Saloon — An old favourite will wow you, so come on down!

9pm / $10 cover

SATURDAY 17

DJ JUAN LOPEZ / Envy Nightclub — This DJ loves requests, nothing is off limits.

10pm / $5 THE REBELLION / McNally’s Tavern — Also appearing will be Misterfire, in this Saskatoon doubleheader. 9:30pm / Cover TBD CRAIG MORITZ / The Pump — A country recording artist that shines. 9pm / 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 ALEX RUNIONS / Whiskey Saloon — An old favourite will wow you, so come on down!

9pm / $10 cover

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

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NIGHTLIFE

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 @

EARLS

Earls South 2606 28th Avenue (306) 584 7733

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Photography by Bebzphoto

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HANGING BY A THREAD

Life and death in Blomkamp’s dystopian thriller.

BY R.A. PARKER

T

he year is 2154 and Earth is a smoking ruin.

Coated in grime and overflowing with trash, Los Angeles is the epicenter of a decaying planet, kept alive by little more than the demands of a massive prison industrial complex. The wealthy have fled. They live in orbit, safe in their own private Elysium, a gleaming space station aboard which luxury is a way of life. This is the premise of Elysium, a film by Neill Blomkamp, the current enfant terrible of dystopian science fiction.

Elysium is a film about the most basic instinct of all. The action opens when Max DeCosta (a compact and depilated Matt Damon) becomes the victim of an industrial accident while trying to abandon a life of crime. He is left with a noxious cancer and an emotionless warning from the medical robot: five days to live.

Like most people, DeCosta wants to live. Unlike most people, DeCosta is prepared to enlist the services of Spider (Wagner Moura), an unsavoury gangster, to help him sneak aboard Elysium, where advanced medical techniques can save his life. The plan is to kidnap his former boss and hijack his identity. He acquires a powerful exoskeleton and many guns to help him. But he is on a collision course with a pair of villains desperate to preserve their sanctuary.

Jodie Foster, who is delightfully awful, plays Delacourt, Elysium’s

unscrupulous head of security. The heavy work is done by an equally ruthless agent named Kruger (played

by Sharlto Copley, who also appeared in Blomkamp’s debut feature, District 9). Think of DeCosta as an exoskeletonclad John McClane, Delacourt and Kruger as two versions of Hans Gruber, and you won’t be far off the mark.

Elysium is laden with stunning visuals, and the world it presents is rarely gratuitous. It is closer to a bleak portrait of the future that most people care to admit. But do not be gulled into thinking it is a political screed cloaked in explosions and gunplay and images of an extraordinary orbiting paradise.

ELYSIUM Neill Blomkamp Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Alice Braga + Sharito Copley DIRECTED BY STARRING

109 MINUTES | 14A

number of flashbacks, most of which are unnecessary and detract from the simplicity of DeCosta’s mission.

Don’t see Elysium if you’re desperate to have your political agenda reinforced by Hollywood. But do see it if you want to be entertained. See it if you want further evidence that nasty, brutish, and short is a bad way to live.

See it if you want to watch another

…at its core, Elysium is a story of life and death…

R.A. PARKER

DeCosta is not some political crusader; he’s just a guy who doesn’t want to die.

And Elysium is a film about class only in the loosest sense; at its core, Elysium is a story of life and death, and why living is important.

Regrettably, the purity of this idea is polluted by problems. The script feels forced, as if Blomkamp overlooked the weight of man’s desire to live in his quest to inject the film with epic qualities. And the action is interrupted by a

great film from Blomkamp, who is fast becoming the brightest light in bigbudget sci-fi.

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I WAS SO EXCITED…

… but no more. I’m So Excited misses the mark

BY ADAM HAWBOLDT

PHOTO: COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

I

f you’ve never heard of director Pedro Almodóvar, you should look him up.

Give his movies a watch.

In the early going, his films were highly stylized romps about cultural and sexual freedom. Full of colour and élan, these early comedies were funny and racy and made Almodóvar the toast of Spanish cinema.

of Passions. Then things took a turn for the darker.

When he put out The Skin I Live In and Broken Embraces, many Almodóvar fans sat straight up in their seats and thought, “What the hell is happening here?”

To understand it in more North American terms, it’d be like John Waters doing a PG comedy or

There are one or two genuinely funny parts in the film [and] [t]he acting is okay…

ADAM HAWBOLDT

Rightfully so.

Anyone who has ever seen his first film (Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón) knows what I’m talking about. The scene featuring a golden shower during a knitting session alone is enough to warrant the director a cult following.

He followed that up with the hilarious, screw-ball movie Labyrinth

Quentin Tarantino putting out a romantic comedy.

And that’s not to say Almodóvar's darker films were bad. They weren’t.

In fact, they were damn fine movies.

All of them. But when it was announced that his new film, I’m So Excited, was a return to his old, screwball, sex-farce ways, Almodóvar fans had high hopes.

I’M SO EXCITED Pedro Almodóvar STARRING Javier Camara, Antonio de la Torre, Raul Arevalo + Hugo Silva DIRECTED BY

90 MINUTES | NR

Too bad I’m So Excited didn’t live up to them.

Sure, there are parts of the movie that work. The premise of the thing is that a plane, traveling from Madrid to Mexico City, gets its landing gear stuck and must circle round and round the airport. The crew and business class folk talk of sex and corruption after the coach passengers on the plane have been drugged to sleep. That, in an of itself, is a splendid allegory for Spain’s economy these days. So that works. So too does the film as a somewhat-serious meditation on life and death.

But other than the big, overarching aspects of I’m So Excited, everything else falls flat. It’s too full of camp. Too light and clichéd and full of stock, one-dimensional characters to be good.

There’s the three flamingly gay flight attendants, the movie star, the

dominatrix, the virgin psychic, the embezzler, the Mexican dude with the glorious moustache. There’s a bag of mescaline someone has stashed you know where, there’s the flight attendant (Javier Camara) who drinks too much tequila, there’s a pilot, a wife, and a homosexual affair.

Yep, I’m So Excited is that kind of movie. Think Airplane! … but in Spanish, and nowhere nearly as hilarious.

But let’s not be too harsh. There are one or two genuinely funny parts in the film. The acting is okay and, as with almost all Almodóvar movies, the sets are loud , glamorous, and eye-catching. Yet, when you sit down to watch this, and the words “Everything in this film is fantasy, and bears

no relation to reality” show up on the screen, take them seriously. There’s nothing real about this movie. It’s just a light-hearted romp created by a director who aimed for something and didn’t quite hit the mark.

I’m So Excited will open at the Regina Public Library on August 15; see reginalibrary.ca for show times and more information.

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TIMEOUT

CROSSWORD CANADIAN CRISS-CROSS

© WALTER D. FEENER 2013

27. Very old 29. Height of a human 32. Brief but vigorous fight 36. Set of parts for assembling 37. Woman’s handbag 39. Gun the engine 40. Monopoly token 42. Soap ingredient 43. Giving off a strong unpleasant smell 44. Contradiction 46. Poor person 48. Do the foxtrot 49. Like a gymnast 50. Unpleasant look 51. Without others

SUDOKU

HOROSCOPES AUGUST 9 – AUGUST 15 ARIES March 21–April 19

LIBRA September 23–October 23

An unexpected turn of events could land you in hot water. If you keep your cool, though, you’ll be able to escape unscathed.

A new adventure could have you visiting never-before-seen shores.

Take this opportunity while you can, Libra. Fun abounds!

TAURUS April 20–May 20

SCORPIO October 24–November 22

A new arrival in your life could yield a hilarious outcome. Get ready to laugh, Taurus. Who knows how this will end up?

There’s something you’ve been wanting to get off your chest. The time is now, Scorpio. Speak your mind, and enjoy your peace.

GEMINI May 21–June 20

SAGITTARIUS November 23–December 21

Appearances can be deceiving, Gemini. Reserve judgement until you are in possession of all the information.

You may be required to step up and be the hero (or heroine) this week, Sagittarius. Don’t doubt in your abilities.

You can make this happen.

CANCER June 21–July 22

CAPRICORN December 22–January 19

Love is in the air, Cancer. If you’ve got it, enjoy. If you don’t, keep your eyes open. Things could get very romantic, very soon.

Your good luck is unstoppable this week, Capricorn. Chase whatever dreams you want — things are comin’ up Millhouse for you. You got this!

LEO July 23–August 22

AQUARIUS January 20–February 19

You could be asked to take on an outrageous task, Leo. You’ve got what it takes to succeed, so put your mind to it.

Your creative energies will be consuming you this week, Aquarius.

Might as well go with it, cuz you’re not gonna get anything else done.

VIRGO August 23–September 22

PISCES February 20–March 20

Being alone has its benefits, Virgo.

Take the freedom of solitude, and really think things through. Then plan your next move.

A long-overdue reunion will yield an unexpected outcome. If it seems overwhelming at first blush, just chill.

Things are never as dire as they seem.

A 21. Good judgment 24. Corrode 26. Had a meal 28. It’s like a doughnut 29. Lose traction 30. No longer interested 31. Having no key, in music B 33. Multiply by three 34. Conical tent 35. All through 38. Calyx part 41. Baseball team 43. Damage beyond repair 45. Pass perfectly 47. Before the present time

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

1. Gravy dish 5. The majority 9. Drum played with the fingers 10. Clear the cribbage board 12. Lobster claw 13. Experienced sailor 15. Church part 16. Female animal 18. Deep mud 19. Pod vegetable 20. Carrots and turnips 22. Canada’s neighbour: abbr.

23. French farewell 25. Soft-shell clam

SUDOKU ANSWER KEY

DOWN 1. Art of growing miniature trees 2. As soon as 3. Geological period 4. Upper body 5. French bagpipe 6. Joined together 7. Unwanted e-mail 8. Boring quality 9. Two-legged animal 11. Spiny bush 12. Code word for P 14. Paraphernalia 17. Socks, stockings, and tights collectively 20. Hoist a flag on a flagpole

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

ACROSS

CROSSWORD ANSWER KEY

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

A

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

B

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