Verb Issue S248 (July 12-18, 2013)

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Issue #248 – July 12 to July 18

Elliott Brood ten years on

regarding henry Henry Woolf talks plays, pals + Pinter please stare Video installation billboards challenge perception pacific rim + love is all you need Films reviewed­

Photo: courtesy of vanessa heins

NEWs + Opinion

contents

regarding henry The legendary Henry Woolf. 4 / Local

jockeying for first The dangers and delight of professional horse racing. 6 / Local

a bright idea

On the cover:

Our thoughts on smart meters.

elliott brood

8 / Editorial

comments

Reflects on the past decade. 14 / cover

Here’s what you had to say about vaccinating children. 10 / comments

Photo: courtesy of Vanessa Heins

culture

Q + A with abstract artform MC releases powerful album. 12 / Q + A

please stare Billboard video installations question purpose of art. 13 / Arts

anti-inflammatory is pro-taste buds We visit Leyda’s. 16 / Food + Drink

tough cookie

Music

Samantha Savage Smith takes no prisoners. 13 / Arts

Chilliwak, Sweatshop Union + Young Galaxy. 17 / music

entertainment

listings Local music listings for July 12 through July 20. 18 / listings

pacific rim + love is all you need The latest movie reviews. 20 / Film

verbnews.com @verbsaskatoon facebook.com/verbsaskatoon

on the bus Weekly original comic illustrations

by Elaine M. Will. 26 / comics

Nightlife Photos

Games + Horoscopes

We visited Hudson’s and Rook & Raven. 22-25 / Nightlife

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

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

Design Lead / andrew yanko Designer / Brantin fix Contributing Photographers / Patrick Carley, christian cortez, Adam Hawboldt + alex J Macpherson

Office Manager / Stephanie Lipsit account Manager / nathan holowaty sales 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 /

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regarding henry

Photo: Courtesy of adam hawboldt / verb magazine

Henry Woolf talks about his famous friends, the theatre and the Second World War by ADAM HAWBOLDT

A

sk Henry Woolf about when his interest in the theatre began, and chances are he’ll tell you it all started when he left his native England in 1956 to be an exchange student in America.

He’ll tell you about American hospitality and about how the phone was always ringing, invitations to social events always being extended his way.

“I was never alone,” he’ll say.

“Then I discovered that on the stage the phone can’t ring, people can’t ask you to go places. It’s the most marvelous thing. It’s like being a secret agent

old,” remembers Woolf, “and I went to the theatre during a heavy air raid with my parents to see a performance of Arms and the Man. These 2,000-pound bombs were exploding outside and the theatre was shaking. Plaster was falling from the walls.”

Woolf pauses for a moment, sways his arms languidly in front of him, and says, “There was a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling and it was swinging, back and forth.” Whenever a bomb would explode, rattling the theatre, the chandelier would swing and the great Sir Laurence Olivier — who was on stage playing the part of

I’m 83…but that doesn’t slow you down … as long as you can remember your lines. henry woolf

in your own life. You’re in the bubble.

It was wonderful.” But talk to Henry Woolf long enough, and a new starting point eventually emerges.

He’ll jump through space and time, to back before he became an icon of avant-garde theatre in Britain, back before he meet his wife or his dear friend Harold Pinter (the Nobel Prize-winning playwright) to a cold evening in February of 1945.

It was the twilight of the Second World War. The Nazi army, in its death throes, were hammering English cities with V-1 flying bombs. “I was 15 years

Sergius Saranoff — would pause and wait for the explosions to subside.

Then Olivier, in his unmistakable voice, would reiterate one of Sergius’ famous lines — “I never apologize” — before picking up where the play had left off.

“Maybe it’s because of Olivier I went into the theatre,” admits Woolf. “It was so much more exciting and magical than real life.

It was all the good bits. It really stayed with me. Coriolanus got it right: the world is elsewhere.”

The world is elsewhere. A profound concept and, whether intentional or Continued on next page »

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not, a motif that has governed most of Woolf’s professional life.

“Would you like a wine gummy?” asks Woolf as I sit down at a table in his living room. Behind him, on the windowsill, miniature tea cups are arranged in orderly fashion. The walls of the room are lined with paintings. Outside the sun is shining, and a lady is walking her dog down the street past Woolf’s quaint Saskatchewan abode.

Reaching across the table, Woolf hands me a shot glass filled with wine gummies and asks, “So what do you want to know?”

Excellent question. Before I sat down to chat with Woolf, here’s what I knew about him: he was born in England; he taught drama at the U of S; he was the artistic director of Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan; he was the childhood friend and long-time collaborator of Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter; he directed Pinter’s first play, The Room; and he has appeared in movies and on stage alongside the likes of Peter O’Toole, Richard Pryor, Anthony Hopkins, Katharine Hepburn, Orson Welles and, yes, even Sir Laurence Olivier.

That was it. When chatting with a man who has seen and done so much, the tendency is to want to know everything. So I ask broad, unpointed questions. Woolf responds with long, articulate, stimulating stories. Stories about America’s pre-civil war cotton industry, about the Education Act of 1944 and the ensuing shift in British culture, about Big Brother and Franz Kafka.

Woolf also talks about the famous people he’s worked with.

On Peter O’Toole: “I was cast in The Lion in Winter because I knew Peter. He used to invent these jobs for his friends.

I was only there to keep him company.”

On Orson Welles, with whom he acted in the Chimes at Midnight: “He was a real genius. He said to me one day, ‘If all the theatres in the world closed tomorrow, Henry, not only would nobody care, but nobody would notice.’ He was a brilliant, brilliant fellow.”

And then there are the stories about Pinter. The two met while attending the Hackney Downs School. They became friends and ended up collaborating on Pinter’s plays for the next 60 years.

“When Pinter’s first full-length play came out the critics tore it apart,” remembers Woolf. “They wanted to destroy him because he introduced a new theatrical language. A language that didn’t bother to explain itself. One person called it ‘comedy of menace.’

And they’re right. Harold’s plays were funny and menacing. They were all set indoors and you’re always wondering: who is on the other side of that wall? ” As if on cue, footsteps come from somewhere in the house behind me.

“People really had it out for Harold,” Woolf continues, “and he said ‘f**k them’ and kept writing his plays.”

And while Woolf doesn’t mind talking about his famous friends and colleagues, his real interest lies in discussing the theatre.

scene. Earlier this year, in fact, he starred as Davies in a staging of Pinter’s play The Caretaker.

“I’m 83 years old, but that doesn’t slow you down … as long as you can remember your lines” jokes Woolf.

“You’re much more employable at 83.

At 23, there are thousands of people out for your job. By the time you’re my age, most of your competition is dead.”

Woolf’s voice boils over with passion. When he talks about cutting his acting chops in the avant-garde theatre of the ‘60s, performing shows everywhere from attics to basements to theatres, a sparkle dances in Woolf’s eye.

“I was terribly lucky to be involved in that type of theatre, in new theatre,” he beams. “We weren’t afraid to experiment, to illuminate old text. When we did Shakespeare we attempted to rediscover him or reinterpret or refresh his works. It’s no good doing it the way it’s always been done.”

From behind me, the footsteps approach the living room again, and Woolf is saying, “The world actors live in isn’t necessarily the literal world.

That’s one of the issues for people who inhabit both worlds. The theatre differentiates you, sets you apart.”

This is the way Woolf has lived most of his life. One foot in the real world, the other in the world of the stage. For a large part of his existence his life truly has been elsewhere.

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Now an octogenarian, Henry Woolf is still active in the Saskatchewan theatre

@VerbSaskatoon ahawboldt@verbnews.com

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photo courtesy of krista CARIGNAN

Jockeying for position

Saskatchewan jockey Krista Carignan is no stranger to injury ... or winning by Adam hawboldt

M

arquis Downs is quiet.

It’s race day morning, 9:30 a.m. The stands are empty.

No screaming gamblers, no last minute bets. Just the sound of horses neighing and a warm breeze wafting through the air. Over by the stalls, the odd trainer or handler mills around, going about their race-day routine.

Horses walk around in circles tied to a yellow merry-go-round contraption, what people in the business call

a hot walker. It’s been around five hours since the horses have been fed, three and a half since the first jockeys arrived.

Well, most jockeys.

Unlike the others, Krista Carignan shows up late on race days.

Her daughter goes to day care, so instead of showing up at 6 a.m. she arrives at the track around 8 a.m, then goes through her routine. She checks on the people she’s riding for, tries to organize things so she

ends up with the horses best suited for her and the races they’re running. When this is settled, Carignan familiarizes herself with the horses she’ll be riding — she jogs some, gallops others. Just to get a feel.

In less than 12 hours time, this will come in handy.

The gates crack open and the horses take off like a shot. Hooves pound the ground, wet dirt spits up from under Continued on next page »

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their weight. Any jockey worth their salt will tell you this is one of the most important parts of the race. Beforehand, before you even get on the horse, you have to look at the racing form to check out the competition, horses and jockeys. Know which horse does what, guess how a certain jockey is going to ride.

“Then, when the gate opens, you’re using your peripheral vision,” says Carignan. “You want to know who is going where. You’re thinking: should I be in front of this horse?

How’s my horse running? Can I get up to that spot fast enough to get in a good position?”

In Carignan’s first race of the night, the horse she’s riding — a filly out of Kentucky by the name of Northern Brandy — comes out of the gates strong. She’s running second.

But it’s only a matter of seconds before she pulls away and starts setting the pace. Around the turn they go.

Northern Brandy is running smooth and fast, Carignan is crouched in a squat above the horse’s withers, up on the balls of her feet, her weight balanced on her inside three toes.

At the halfway point she’s ahead by two lengths. She maintains her lead down the straight and finishes well clear of the rest of the pack — four-and-a-half lengths ahead of the field.

It’s Carignan’s fourth win of the season, which puts her fourth on the Marquis Downs’ money list to date.

But make no mistakes about it.

Even though Carignan makes it look easy on this given evening, getting to the winner’s circle is no easy task.

In horse racing, getting injured is an inevitability.

“In 2010 I got on a real good injury streak,” says Carignan, who

was racing in Ontario at the time. “I broke my foot, sprained my ankle real, real bad. But I rode with it. If you’re injured and you can keep riding, you do it. As long as you’re not jeopardizing anybody you don’t want people to know you’re hurt.”

That same year, Carignan broke her nose and snapped her collarbone. “The collarbone happened in Toronto,” she says, the scar from the accident still visible near her right shoulder. “A lot of times older horses will pull up if they hurt themselves in a race because they can feel it,

for a run to get the rest of it off before her first weigh-in. If that didn’t work she’d sit in a sauna for 20 minutes to lose the last little bit.

These days she doesn’t have to worry about that, though. Since having her daughter she has focused on eating healthy and getting back into shape. She runs, she skips, she goes through routines she learned from a personal trainer. Some days, she does a CrossFit workout.

“A lot of the guys don’t have to do that. They just have to run to maintain their weight and leg strength,”

The two-year-old I was riding was running so hard her leg literally flew off. krista carignan

whereas younger horses have more adrenaline, they’re more inexperienced, so they just keep running.

The two-year-old I was riding was running so hard her leg literally flew off. We were in front by eight, which was good, because everyone could see and just ran around us.”

Back then, back before Carginan took a break from racing to give birth to her daughter, injuries weren’t the only thing she had to contend with.

“I used to have to worry about my weight, too,” says Carignan. “I was a good five to 10 pounds heavier than I am now, so I’d have to cut.

On some days I’d only have a half a cup of black coffee in the morning.

If I didn’t have to lose too much, maybe I’d have a bit of oatmeal or a hard-boiled egg.”

Then Carignan would bundle up and get on the horses in the morning.

She could sweat out about two-anda-half pounds that way. Then she’d go

says Carignan. “But as a girl you sort of have to work harder to be as strong as the other riders. If your legs and core aren’t strong enough you’re going to look sloppy and that will affect how your horse runs.”

Yet for all the hard work Carignan does to compete with the rest of the field, she can’t win every race.

And as the racing at Marquis Downs comes to a close, she finishes fourth in the last race of the evening atop a horse named Money Baron.

No matter, though.

By the time next weekend rolls around, Carignan will have put this race out of her mind and be ready to go again. Racing towards the winner’s circle. ( ( ) 881 Feedback?

Feedback?Text Textit!it!306 306) 8818372 8372 @VerbSaskatoon ahawboldt@verbnews.com

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A bright idea Switching to smart meters makes environmental and economical sense

G

o outside and take a look at the electrical meter on the side of your house. Chances are it’ll be one of the old-fashioned analog meters found on most residences in these parts.

But it looks like all that’s soon going to change.

You see, SaskPower and SaskEnergy are looking to replace approximately 500,000 of these devices around the province with new smart meters. The Advanced Metering Infrastructure project is moving ahead in Regina and there’s been talk about the same happening in Saskatoon. And while opponents of smart meters have been pretty vocal recently about alleged health and safety issues associated with the devices, we believe that a usage-based system of monitoring energy consumption is a great idea that offers both economic and environmental benefits.

What’s a smart meter, you ask? Well, it’s a device that records, in numerous intervals throughout the day, your consumption of electricity. This information is then sent back to the utility company, where it’s monitored and billed. Instead of having your meters read every three months, thus having most of your bills be guesses at your usage (with the occasional ‘correction’ for better or worse), smart meters provide an accurate reading of the amount of power you’ve actually used, allowing for equally accurate utility bills.

And while we think paying for the energy you actually use is a great thing, not everyone agrees. In fact, many people in British Columbia and Quebec (two of the provinces that use smart meters) are unhappy with these new devices.

Some are also opposed to installing the devices over concerns of them starting fires, though that theory was also debunked. Len Garis, fire chief of Surrey, BC, and Joseph Clare, an analyst for the Surrey Fire Service, compared the number of fires in the year before smart meters were installed, and the two years after, and found that there was no increase at all.

Smart meters are safe, and thanks to their more accurate readings, these devices have the potential to be both economically and environmentally beneficial. Smart meters can allow you to use your power resources more efficiently by adjusting your power-usage habits to lower your electrical bills as you see fit. With the old metering system, you really have no way of knowing whether that new air conditioner

So what are some of their primary concerns? Well, in both places residents claim that the new meters are a serious health risk because they emit a dangerous radio frequency, which detractors claim have been making people sick.

But you know what? Those fears are unfounded. Health Canada even conducted a study and found that: “The amount of energy absorbed depends largely on how close your body is to a smart meter. Unlike cellular phones, where the transmitter is held close to the head … RF energy from smart meters is typically transmitted at a much greater distance from the human body.

This results in very low RF exposure levels … much like exposure to AM or FM radio broadcast signals.”

And just in case that wasn’t clear enough, Rob Stirling, an engineer in

Smart meters can allow you to use your power resources more efficiently… verb magazine

you just bought is a real energy hog, for example. With the new devices, you can actually pay attention to the numbers and use them to make realitybased decisions about your own power use. And this can have real-world economic benefits. You see, one of the first smart meter rollouts occurred between 2001 and 2006 in Italy, resulting in an estimated 40 million smart meters being put into use in the country. Enel, an Italian utility company, estimates that customers with smart meters are saving up to 50% on their energy bills.

B.C., conducted an experiment to see if Health Canada was telling the truth.

At the request of the CBC, he went to a busy street in downtown Vancouver to test the levels of RF emissions, which he compared to a bank of smart meters on full blast. The results: the smart meters gave off no more RF emissions than what a person would be exposed to walking down the street.

Though the imagined health effects of radio frequency emissions seem to be the main concern opponents of smart meters have, it isn’t the only one.

Consumers can also save a little cash by working their energy usage around peak use times. You see, power companies can charge less for using power when it’s not in high demand (like overnight). So by modifying a few habits — like running your dishwasher or dryer overnight rather than during the day — consumers can save money without even changing the total amount of power they use or making any huge sacrifices in lifestyle.

And using less energy offers a green bonus as well. In fact, in 2009 a Minnesota cooperative utility, Connexus Energy, used information from smart meters to provide its customers with monthly data on how much energy they used in comparison to their neigh-

bours. The result: over the course of a year consumers reduced their overall energy consumption by 2%, an annual savings to the consumer of around $30.

Whatever your motivation, smart meters provide you with the tools to be more in control of the energy you use, and are the way to a greener, and more cost-effective, future.

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 immunizing children. Here's what you had to say:

– Conspiracy theorists have been blindly ignoring the information you provided about vaccines for years and doubt you’l change their mind but good point.

text yo thoughtsur to 881 vE R B 8372

one it would freak me out so much.

But maybe that would pass In response to “Passing into nothingness,” Local, #247 (July 5, 2013)

sound off – Exactly: vaccinations don’t just protect the kids that get them but the other people they’re around. Why this is something that even needs to be said in 2013 is beyond me.

Ignorance and jenny mccarthy are to blame i guess. Wake up people!

– How dare you suggest that a parent’s personal choice for their children’s health be up to you/any one else to decide. We have no idea of all the ingredients in a vaccine nor their long term effects. You should not be promoting such a position unless you are a doctor and know what your talking about.

– Excellent point on vaccination.

These have been proven, time and again, to be an effective and safe method of protection. It’s disgusting that there are instances of these diseases that we can actually control, popping up again. Irresponsible people!

– Vaccines for kids is a good and responsible thing to do, that the medical community strongly strongly recommends. Shouldn’t even be a question at this point.

– Vaccine your kids it’s stupid and irresponsible not to.

OFF TOPIC – Those float tanks sound terrifying I don’t know if I could get in

– If i hear one more person complain about the hot weather/rainy weather/mosquitos/bad drivers etc I’m gona lose my mind its Saskatchewan deal

– People! DO NOT leave your animals in your cars in this hot weather! Even 20 minutes can be too much. If you see an animal in a locked car call the SPCA or animal control asap you could save a life

– LETS GO RIDERS BLEEDIN GREEN YAH :D:D:D

– What do you think happens to us when we die? Stardust? Kind of cool.

– If you can’t use a freaking turn signal how the f*@! did you get a licence? It’s so basic just drive like not an idiot.

– Praying for those in Quebec affected by the train blast. What a horrible, senseless accident.

Shouldn’t be focussing on big oil, etc at a time like this: let’s look to the victims and their families before we start screaming about Big Oil have some respect

– CRAVEN WOOOOT WOOOOT! Can’t wait to see y’all there and to see the dixie Chicks eeeeee! Lol

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Powered by the crew at moga mobile

– Craven is going to be amazing this year so many great shows to see. Love goin country!

– JayZ’s new album is AMAZING he is a true genius best guy in the game these days

– Climbing up out of the most difficult thing I’ve ever been through and achieving amazing new goals.

Life is good :) Hope you’re having an amazing day!

– With all the grabass in the Rider locker room you’d think they’d Catch a football

– Why aren’t there more ice cream trucks rolling around I remember there being tons when I was a kid and now when I want one theres none to be found.

– Nothin better than hanging out in a park with the family on a hot summer’s day, and a group of wasted teens sits right beside you, smoking weed and being obnoxious and then you realize you were them at one point and you feel old and lame.

– Massive flooding out there makes roads super dangerous. Be careful everyone! Driving (trying to)through Southern Alberta is devastating

– To everyone impacted by the rail accident in Lac-Megantic our thoughts and prayers are with you.

What an absolute devastation

– Maybe if we stopped relying so much on oil then they wouldn’t be carting it across this freaking country by train.

– Why do birds fly south for the winter? It’s too far to walk!

– Tried to come up with a DOWNtown but terrible at it. DOWNtown guy: we need you back!

– I HATE the sound of air conditioners running so annoying.

Next week: What do you think of installing smart meters on homes in Saskatchewan? Pick up Verb to get in on the conversation: We print your texts verbatim each week. Text in your thoughts and reactions to our stories and content, or anything else on your mind.

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abstract artform Photos: courtesy of mark alberto + david lewis

Winnipeg MC releases his most powerful and personal album to date by Alex J MacPherson

S

hea Malcolmson, who performs as Abstract Artform, wasn’t sure if making a deeply personal album was the right choice. But As The Crow Flies, which welds grungy soul and fraying country wailing to Malcolmson’s punchy vocals, is the best record he has ever released.

I caught up with the man behind Abstract Artform to talk about the album and the opening of a whole new chapter in his life.

Alex J MacPherson: Did you anticipate that As The Crow Flies would come out as a deeply personal record?

Shea Malcolmson: It was my third record, and I knew I’d started to develop a sound and I knew that my prairie background, the country funky background, was there. I was always trying to make myself really stand out in that sense, to sample and use slide guitar — something people didn’t use very much in hip hop. With this record, I just felt like I was that much more knowing what I wanted to hear, knowing the sounds I wanted to hear.

AJM: And from the very first track, it’s clear that you’re bringing a whole new palette of sounds into your hip hop.

SM: That’s key for me, that’s what makes me stand out. Out of every rapper in Canada you could probably count on one hand how many artists are doing what I’m doing. It’s what I call back porch rap: the type of music

months. That was really difficult. And once you finish a record, it becomes a snapshot of the moment you lived in. It’s just weird to sit back and think about those things sometimes, and it’s hard to put out there.

that I felt we would be sitting and freestyling on the back porch, just hanging out, listening to blues and all sorts of different stuff. That’s where it came from for me.

AJM: Based on the lyrics, this record feels like you coming to grips with the past, and then leaving it behind.

AJM: Ultimately, I think that’s why people can identify with this record. Your

The funny thing is I didn’t like a lot of hip hop growing up. shea malcolmson

SM: The first two records were me kind of figuring out what I was doing, learning to get better with beats. On this third one I was very much focused on just making exactly what I wanted.

I wanted it to be very much focused on myself, make an introverted record, a record where I talk about all the things I don’t normally talk about. I’m not saying the record isn’t fun, but there’s more depth to it.

experiences resonate, and you don’t pull any punches — it’s all there.

SM: The funny thing is I didn’t like a lot of hip hop growing up. The artists that I were listening to at the time weren’t the artists that other people were. When people were into Dr. Dre and Snoop and stuff, I was listening to completely different rap music. I never related to a lot of that, so I found hip hop that I related to — and then realized that’s how I had to write my hip hop. It may be a niche market, but it’s not a fad.

AJM: Did you find that writing tracks that were so personal and so specific was a much greater challenge for you, both as a writer and as a performer?

Abstract Artform July 24 @ Rock Bottom $TBD

SM: As a writer it wasn’t harder to write deeper. It was harder to put it out. People write some deep, sincere stuff in their journals, their diaries. It isn’t hard to write the truth out, but it’s showing people that — it’s like opening up your diary and showing the world what you thought in the last six

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arts

please stare

Video installations on billboards question the meaning and purpose of art

by alex J MacPherson

I

n 2007 the Washington Post asked Joshua Bell, one of the finest violinists in the world, to busk in a subway station. The newspaper wondered whether passers-by could separate the extraordinary from the ordinary.

A disguised Bell made just $32; most people didn’t spare a second glance for the man playing Bach’s “Chaconne.”

This idea forms the heart of Please Stare, an exhibition of video art across Saskatoon and Regina.

John G. Hampton, an artist and curator from Regina, has been thinking about subversive public art since display monitors appeared on the University of Regina campus. “I remember a lot of people I know being pretty upset with that,” he recalls. “At some time, just as an offhand comment, I said, ‘Why not put video art up on those and take advantage of them?’”

Please Stare features video installations by seven Canadian artists, including Jon Sasaki, Lee Henderson, and Dana Claxton.

Displayed on video billboards across Regina and Saskatoon, the works are interspersed with advertisements. And because they

Photos: courtesy of John g. hampton

are removed from the context of a gallery, the relationships between artist, viewer, the space, and the work itself are unclear.

“The idea is to hopefully alter the billboard space, to give a different outlook on the ads that are surrounding these pieces,” explains Hampton, who organized the exhibition with Regina’s Neutral Ground and Saskatoon’s AKA Gallery. “Because they’re not identified as artworks, the people who aren’t aware that Please Stare is even going on see these pieces amongst the general rotation. It maybe doesn’t register for awhile — and then they start to wonder what’s going on, why it’s there.”

1. Hadley + Maxwell, Please Stare.

Please Stare raises important questions about the capitalist system in which most art is created and displayed. But it is also an examination of the way we see the world. By inserting unusual works of art into the normal cycle of advertisements, Hampton hopes to disrupt routine. Please Stare is meant to subvert our ambivalence to advertisements, and create a moment of consciousness in a stream of passivity.

Please Stare Through Aug 9 @ various locations More info @ neutralground.sk.ca

tough cookie

Samantha Savage Smith on her highly-anticipated second album

I

n 2011, Samantha Savage Smith released her debut album, Tough Cookie. An engaging mix of ornate pop constructions, slinky guitars, and soaring vocals, the album put the young singer from Calgary on the national map. Since its release, Smith has been bombarded with questions about her forthcoming sophomore album. Today, almost three years later, she is putting the finishing touches on the new record — and is reluctant to reveal any details.

“The new one? It’s quite a bit different from Tough Cookie,” Smith

says, her coy laugh as captivating on the telephone as it is on the stage. “It’s a bit more poppy, I guess.

Not like pop pop music. I’ve been playing with my band for a long time, and all the songs have been worked out with my band over the past couple of years, as I started writing them.”

There is an old adage that musicians have their whole lives to write their first record, and just a few years to finish their second.

Smith wrote Tough Cookie before she had plans to cut an album. Each song on the record, from the frac-

by alex J MacPherson

tious rock aria “Nobody Loves Me But My Own Kind” to the devastating ode to love lost “You Always Come To Mind,” feels open and raw — a reflection of the earnestness with which they were written.

But success breeds pressure, and Smith was forced to write her new record in the shadow of expectation. But instead of writing the record people wanted to hear, she headed in a completely new direction. “Before, I was just writing songs and it turned out I could make a record,” she laughs.

“I guess that’s what changed. I was

starting to write songs with the intention of putting them on an album. I wouldn’t say I was at any point catering to people. If anything, I haven’t done that. What I’m doing now, I think it’s quite a bit different.”

Just how different remains to be seen. Smith has been playing her new batch of songs on the road for the best part of a year, often excluding most of the songs on Tough Cookie from her setlist, and those reverb-soaked arrangements offer few hints at the contents of her new record.

But it is certain that Smith’s voice, an aural confection as brittle as it is sugary, will be more assured, more confident, and stronger than ever before.

Samantha Savage Smith July 20 @ Amigos Tickets at the door

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon amacpherson@verbnews.com

13 July 12 – July 18 @verbsaskatoon

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ten years of elliott brood

Toronto alt-country heroes reissue their first album, hit the road a

I

n early 2004, an unknown band from Toronto called Elliott Brood released a sixsong EP titled Tin Type. Drawing on elements of folk, country, and early rock and roll, the album emerged as a twenty-minute blast of raucous acoustic guitars, rollicking banjos, and whiskey-soaked vocals.

Because it was recorded in just two days, and because the band were on fire after a string of rowdy shows in small bars, Tin Type sounded fractious and raw — a reflection of the band’s boisterous live performances rather than a polished studio album. None of the members of Elliott Brood — Mark Sasso, Stephen Pitkin, and Casey Laforet — expected much from the record; they certainly didn’t think it would change the course of their lives. But today, almost ten years later, they are preparing to reissue Tin Type, along with several new recordings of songs from the same period. Over the last decade, Elliott Brood has played hundreds of shows, toured the country more than thirty times, earned a place on the Polaris Music Prize shortlist, and won a Juno Award — all because of Tin Type.

“It was such a special record for us because we kind of did it as a demo,” explains Casey Laforet, who plays guitar and trades vocal duties with Sasso.

“The original purpose was to try and get shows. We sent them out initially just to get shows around Toronto, to

get a bit of work and to develop our sound.” After releasing Tin Type, each copy of which was packaged in a handmade paper bag, luck intervened.

Phil Klygo, co-founder of the independent folk label Weewerk, heard the record. “He was the first guy to jump on board and really send it out to people,” Laforet recalls, “and it got us on tour.

‘Oh, Alberta’ is on that record, and that was definitely the first song that put us on the map with people.”

Perhaps because “Oh, Alberta” figured prominently into the arc of the

it was the first-born,” Laforet says of Tin Type. “It got us on the road and we never looked back.”

Since releasing Tin Type, Elliott Brood has become an integral part of the Canadian music scene. Fans across the country count on them to release engaging albums and deliver enthusiastic live performances. In 2011, the band released their fourth studio record, Days Into Years. Inspired by a trip to the Étaples Military Cemetery, the record addressed the prospect of growing old, and the

In the early days, we had a lot of fun.

We had a lot of whiskey and we played to our friends.

Casey Laforet

album, but more likely because Tin Type was an extremely strong debut, the band started finding venues in the west. The first club to book them was in Lethbridge, a daunting two thousand mile drive from Toronto. But instead of complaining or finding a venue closer to home, the band packed their gear and drove straight through. The show sparked a glut of touring, hundreds of long days on the road and late nights in cramped bars, which has lasted for almost ten years. “It was the start,

inevitable changes that come with the growth of a family. (All three band members have kids). Unlike its predecessors, which relied on acoustic instruments, Days Into Years was shaped by the thick sound of Laforet’s Fender Telecaster Deluxe. The electric guitar added a new dimension to the band, imbuing the most personal songs the group had ever written with additional depth and weight. Earlier this year, the record won the Juno Award for best roots and traditional Continued on next page »

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Photo: courtesy of vanessa heins

again by Alex J MacPherson album. But the band wasn’t in Regina to accept the trophy.

“It was our third nomination, so we didn’t really expect anything,” Laforet says with a laugh. “The first two times I think we were kind of excited. And then it didn’t happen — no big deal.

Then we were actually playing a show in Quebec City when we found out.”

Laforet is quick to point out that he sees the award as a tribute to everybody who has helped the band, from their earliest supporters to the people who continue to buy tickets today.

Photo: courtesy of Vanessa heins

“The word independent is used a lot, but obviously there’s a lot of people that help a band like ourselves get where we’re going,” he says.

Listening to Days Into Years, which includes the Crazy Horse-esque anthem “If I Get Old” and the gentle country weeper “Northern Air,” demonstrates how far the band has come since they recorded Tin Type. “You learn all these things over recording and playing all these different places, and I think the recordings reflect that

as well,” Laforet muses. “There’s a little bit more knowledge, and probably a little bit more money, involved. I mean, we did the first record for something like $700.” But Days Into Years is also a reminder that some things never change. The songs on Tin Type sound jagged and raw, but they remain a vital part of the band’s repertoire — mostly because tracks like the fractious “Oh, Alberta” and the menacing “Edge Of Town” are as good as anything the group has ever written.

This is important, because Elliott Brood are at their best on stage, under the lights. In the beginning, before Tin Type was recorded, nobody in the band expected to play to more than a few dozen people. Laforet realized the band was gathering momentum when strangers started showing up. “In the early days, we had a lot of fun,” he laughs. “We had a lot of whiskey and we played to our friends. Our friends just kept coming back, and then they brought other people. I don’t remember the exact moment, but I felt like, ‘wow, people are really into what we’re doing and they’re coming to see us over and over again.’” People were drawn to the band’s earliest shows for the same reason they keep coming back today: the members of Elliott Brood understand that making music is about more than just playing the notes.

Because Laforet is notorious for breaking guitar strings, and because Sasso’s first banjo refused to stay in tune for more than a few minutes,

the band was often confronted by dead air. They dealt with it by engaging with the crowd. From the very beginning, Elliott Brood shows have been characterized by a barrage of stories, jokes, and anecdotes coming from the stage. When they weren’t beating on their instruments and howling into their microphones, they did their best to break down the barrier between the stage and the crowd.

“We definitely focused on the fact that we want people to have an awesome time at our shows, and if that involves talking to them or whatever, that’s what we do,” Laforet laughs. “It might have come out of necessity in the early years of just having to fill in time for dead air — but it’s something we’ve crafted pretty well, I think.”

This summer, the band will embark on yet another tour of the country.

Laforet has lost count of just how many times he and his bandmates have driven from one end of Canada to the other, but estimates that the total number is close to forty. This time, they will

take the opportunity to play some of the clubs they played on their first tour.

“We’ve played a lot of these places many times,” he says, “but there are a few smaller ones we’ve obviously grown out of that we get to go back to this time. Those are the most fun shows.”

And while fans of the band have never yearned to hear the songs on Tin Type, mostly because they get played every single night, this tour promises to sum up a decade of music from one

of Canada’s hardest-working bands — and point inexorably toward another ten years on the road.

Elliott Brood July 19 @ Ness Creek Music Festival $60+ @ nesscreek.com Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon amacpherson@verbnews.com

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Anti-inflammatory menu is pro-taste buds Photos courtesy of Adam Hawboldt

New restaurant Leyda’s aims to make you healthy by adam hawboldt

L

et food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (yes, the same one they named the Hippocratic oath after) said those words thousands of years ago. Words that have stood the test of time and have been embraced, in modern-day Saskatoon, by a new restaurant called Leyda’s.

Located on 22nd Street, Leyda’s looks unassuming from the outside.

Just a little, rock-faced storefront with a couple of red tables on the sidewalk near the door. But once you walk inside, you realize Leyda’s isn’t little at all.

Once you pass through the stylish front dining area you snake behind the kitchen, through a quaint little room containing a chef’s table and a herb cultivator, and end up in a party room — which can be closed off from the rest of the establishment by sliding barn doors.

Leyda’s basement and a menu that is at once both utterly appealing, full of anti-inflammatory items, and healthy as all-get-out-of here.

The vision for this — to create a restaurant where medicine is your food and food is your medicine — comes from the owner, Dr. Shirley Maltman, who is committed to trying to make a difference in how people eat around these parts.

Everything in the place screams bistro chic: the decor, the ambience, and the menu.

Speaking of the menu, that’s where Leyda’s really sets itself apart. Remember the Hippocrates quote? Well, that is the essence of Leyda’s. This isn’t just a place that serves organic, locally-sourced food. No, Leyda’s takes things a step further. There’s no deep fryer in the

The gluten-free bread is … the best gluten-free bread I’ve ever eaten.

Adam Hawboldt

“People today do so much mindless eating,” says Dr. Maltman, sitting in the party room at the back of her restaurant.

“That’s something we want to change.”

And if the quality of food they serve at Leyda’s is any indication, change may very well be on the way.

The gluten-free bread is, hands down, the best gluten-free bread I’ve ever eaten. The juxtaposition between its moist middle and its crispy crust is as surprising as it is delicious. You have to try it to understand what I’m talking about.

Seriously. Try it!

As for the mussels in Mediterranean broth I ordered? Well, they were pretty darn good, too, and arrived with a side of the aforementioned bread along with a bed of veggies served atop freshly made hummus and tzatziki sauce.

restaurant, no nonstick chemicallined pans, no high-temperature pan cooking, or foods found on the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list.

What you will find, however, is a reverse osmosis water purifier in

let’s go drinkin’ Verb’s mixology guide MOUNTAIN BLUEBERRY

Ingredients

These days more and more people are trying to eat healthy, organic, locally sourced food.

But it doesn’t have to stop with your meal. Why not try adding this healthy drink to your meal (in moderation, of course).

3 oz vodka (organic, if possible) 2 oz organic blueberry nectar splash of organic balsamic vinegar 1 organic lime grind of black pepper

Directions

Muddle the blueberries. Fill the shaker with ice, then add the vodka, blueberry nectar, balsamic vinegar, a splash of lime and black pepper. Shake until the outside of shaker is frosty. Pour into a chilled martini glass and serve.

Medicine has never tasted so good.

Leyda’s Cafe 112 20th Street West | (306) 244 0707

Feedback? Text it! (306) 881 8372

@VerbSaskatoon ahawboldt@verbnews.com

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music

Next Week

coming up

Chilliwack

Sweatshop Union

Young Galaxy

@ Odeon Events Centre Friday, July 19th– $9.60

@ Amigos Cantina Wednesday, July 24th – $TBD

@ Amigos Cantina Friday, September 20th – $10

The year was 1981. The DeLorean DMC-12 (the same car as in Back to the Future) was rolling off the production line, Ronald Reagan was surviving an assassination attempt, Joseph GordonLevitt was busy being born, and Vancouver rock band, Chilliwack, was dominating the Canadian airwaves with their song “My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone).” You know the one: “Gone, gone, gone … she been gone so long … she been gone, gone, gone so long.”

That song, along with another hit single (“I Believe”) helped propel Chiliwack’s Wanna Be A Star album to platinum status. And while their platinum days are behind them, Chilliwack keeps doing their thing, bringing classic rock to the stage. They’ll be rolling into Saskatoon mid-July. Tickets for the show available at theodeon.ca

What do rap artists Dirty Circus, Pigeon Hole, Kyprios and Innocent Bystander have in common? Well, other than being Vancouver-based, all four are into politically minded and socially conscious rapping. So in 2000 they got together and formed the hip hop collective known as Sweatshop Union, and began rapping about everything from war to misogyny to the plight of the downtrodden. But it’s not all serious, high-minded political stuff with Sweatshop Union. Case in point: in 2011 they released an awardwinning album called The Bill Murray EP, featuring a song titled (yep, you guessed it!) “Bill Murray.” Other albums have received Juno and Western Canadian Music Award nominations.

Come check them out when they hit up Amigos next week.

It helps to know successful people.

Back in the day, Stephen Ramsay was a touring guitarist with Canadian indie pop band, Stars. Fast forward a few years, and when Ramsay and his girlfriend Catherine McCandless created an indie-pop/dream-pop band called Young Galaxy, it wasn’t long before they were brought aboard Stars’ label, Arts & Crafts. But it wasn’t just an act of one group of friends helping out another. With a space-like, ethereal sound and soaring vocals from both McCandless and Ramsay, Young Galaxy have the goods to go a long way in the music industry. The kind of goods that makes the likes of The Besnard Lakes and Patrick Watson what to contribute to their albums. Don’t miss ‘em when they come here in the fall.

Tickets at ticketedge.ca – By Adam Hawboldt

Photos courtesy of: the artist / transmitnow events / the artist

Sask music Preview SaskMusic is launching an exciting new program: Music2Media.

It will help artists and those in the industry distribute new music releases to media and industry personnel across Saskatchewan and beyond for review, airplay, licensing opportunities and more. For more information, call 1-800-347-0676 or visit www. saskmusic2media.com

Keep up with Saskatchewan music. saskmusic.org

17 July 12 – July 18 @verbsaskatoon

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July 12 » July 20 The most complete live music listings for Saskatoon.

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12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Friday 12

House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs liven it up. 9pm / No cover The New Jacobin Club / Amigos — A gothic shock rock outfit. 10pm / Cover TBD DJ Aash Money / Béily’s — DJ Aash Money throws it down. 9pm / $5 cover Seven Straight / Buds on Broadway — Hard rock the way it’s meant to be played.

10pm / $6 BPM / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin electro/ vocal house music. 10pm / $5 DJ Eclectic / The Hose — Local turntable whiz pumps snappy electronic beats. 8pm / No cover DJ Stikman / Jax — Kick off your weekend with all your favourite hits. 8pm / $5 Miss Quincy and the Showdown / Lydia’s Pub — Also featuring Hello, Lady.

10pm / $5

Andy Persian / Odeon — Also appearing is DJ Ammo. 6:30pm / $60+ DJ Big Ayyy & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws — Round up your friends. 8pm / $5 Undercover Pirates / Piggy’s — Playing hits from the 60s to today. 9pm / No cover Jenelle Orcherton Duo / Prairie Ink — A Montreal jazz duo. 8pm / No cover Dusty Tucker + more / Rock Bottom — A CD release party. 7:30pm / $10 Dislexik / Spadina Freehouse — Spinning tunes that’ll make you move. 9pm Black Ridge Country / Stan’s Place — A night of kicking country. 8pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — With Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King. 10pm / $5 Party Rock Fridays / Tequila — Featuring DJ Anchor. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Nick Ruston / Uncle Barley’s — Come and check him out! 9pm / Cover TBD Despistado w/ Spoils / Vangelis — Also featuring Myles and the Blanks. 10pm / $10

DJ Kade / The Hose — Saskatoon’s own DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover DJ Stikman / Jax — Ladies night with DJ Stikman and the Jax party crew. 9pm / $5 Anna Eileen / Little Stone Stage — Broadway’s Live at Lunch series by Victoria School. 11:30am / Free Fur Eel / Lydia’s Pub — A funk/soul/rock band out of Regina. 10pm / $5 DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman / Outlaws — Round up your friends! 8pm / $5 Undercover Pirates / Piggy’s — Playing hits from the 60s to today. 9pm / No cover Who Drew a Porno? / Rock Bottom — Progressive funk/punk country. 10pm / Cover TBD Poseidon / Saskatoon Academy of Music — Featuring Battlebots, Billy B, and more.

10pm / $15 (advance), $25 (door) Funktion Saturday / The Freehouse — Come out and join the party. 9pm / No cover Black Ridge Country / Stan’s Place — A night of kicking country. 8pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto — With Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King.

10pm / $5 DJ Anchor / Sutherland Bar — It’s a video mix show! 10pm / Cover TBD Sexy Saturdays / Tequila — Get your night started right! 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Thorpdeo / Uncle Barley’s — Spinning hot tunes all night. 10pm / Cover TBD The Treble, Bastard Poetry, Seat of Morphus / Vangelis — Three talented acts, one low price. 10pm / $8

Saturday 13

House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover Bob Log III / Amigos — An American oneman blues punk band. 10pm / $10 DJ Aash Money + DJ CTRL / Béily’s — These two DJs throw it down. 9pm / $5 Seven Straight / Buds — Hard rock the way it’s meant to be played. 10pm / $6 SaturGAY Night / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin exclusive dance remixes. 10pm / $5

Sunday 14

Industry Night / Béily’s UltraLounge — Hosted by DJ Sugar Daddy; this crowd favourite has always been known to break the latest and greatest tracks in multiple genres. 9pm / $4; no cover for industry staff Kiss / Credit Union Centre — These rock icons are still at it. 7:30pm / $28.25+ (ticketmaster.ca) DJ KADE / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover Blues Jam / Vangelis Tavern — The Vangelis Sunday Jam is an institution, offering great tunes from blues to rock and beyond.

7:30pm / No cover

Monday 15

Eddie Robertson and the Electric Blues Band / Buds on Broadway — Blues done right. 9pm / $5 DJ Audio / Dublins — Spinning dope beats.

9pm / Cover TBD Metal Mondays / Lydia’s Pub — If hard, heavy awesomeness is your thing, swing by, listen to some killer music and get in on some concert giveaways. 9pm

Tuesday 16

Eddie Robertson and the Electric Blues Band / Buds on Broadway — Blues done right. 9pm / $5 DJ SUGAR DADDY / The Double Deuce — Able to rock any party, this crowd favourite has always been known to break the latest and greatest tracks in multiple genres. 9:30pm / $4 cover DJ Nick Ruston / Dublins — Spinning dope beats. 9pm / Cover TBD VERB PRESENTS OPEN STAGE / Lydia’s Pub — The open stage at Lydia’s has hosted many of Saskatoon’s finest performers, and is a chance for bands, solo artists and even comedians to showcase original material.

9pm / No cover Open Mic / The Somewhere Else Pub — Come out to show your talent. 7pm / No cover Jack Miller + more / Taste of Saskatchewan — Great food and great tunes. 11:30am onwards

Wednesday 17

HUMP WEDNESDAYS / 302 Lounge & Discotheque — Resident DJ Chris Knorr will be spinning all of your favourite songs and requests, every Wednesday night. 9pm / No cover until 10pm; $3 thereafter Feeding Fiction / Buds — Hard rock meets metal when this local band takes the stage. 9pm / $5

DJ Memo / Dublins — Spinning dope beats. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Kade / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover Dr. J ‘Souled Out’ / Lydia’s Pub — Dr. J spins hot funk and soul every Wednesday night. 9pm / No cover WILD WEST WEDNESDAY / Outlaws Country Rock Bar — Hosted by DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman. Come out and ride the mechanical bull! 9pm / $4; no cover for industry staff The Avenue Recording Company presents Open Mic / Rock Bottom — Hosted

by Chad Reynolds. Sign up and play at this weekly event. 10pm / No cover CJWW Karaoke / Stan’s Place — Your talent, aired on the radio! 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests, from Sinatra to Lady Gaga. 10pm / No cover September Long + More / Taste of Saskatchewan — Great food and great tunes.

11:30am onwards

Thursday 18

Blue King Brown / Amigos — Urban roots music all the way from Australia.

10pm / $10 (ticketedge.ca) Stuck in the 80s / Buds on Broadway — In the mood for ‘80s songs? You’re in luck. 9pm / $5 Throwback Thursdays / Earls — Come experience the best in retro funk, soul, reggae and rock provided by Dr. J. 8pm / No cover DJ Kade / The Hose & Hydrant — Saskatoon DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover Nazareth / Odeon Events Centre — Love may hurt, but watching these classic rockers certainly doesn’t. 8pm / $34.50+ (theodeon.ca) Thunder Riot w/Conky Showpony / Rock Bottom — Come dance the night away as this local DJ plays the kind of music that’ll get your feet moving. 9pm / $5 Whiteboy Slim + more / Taste of Saskatchewan — Great food and great tunes.

11:30am onwards Triple Up Thursdays / Tequila — Featuring DJ Stikman. 9pm / Cover TBD

Friday 19

House DJs / 6Twelve Lounge — Funk, soul & lounge DJs liven up the atmosphere at 6Twelve. 9pm / No cover The Resignators / Amigos — Psychoska from the Land Down Under. 10pm / Cover TBD

18 July 12 – July 18 entertainment

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Kashmir / Buds — Western Canada’s premier Led Zeppelin tribute band.

9pm / $5 DJ Aash Money / Béily’s UltraLounge — DJ Aash Money throws down a high-energy top 40 dance party every Friday night.

9pm / $5 cover BPM / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin electro/ vocal house music. 10pm / $5 DJ Eclectic / The Hose & Hydrant — Local turntable whiz DJ Eclectic pumps snappy electronic beats. 8pm / No cover DJ Stikman / Jax Niteclub — Kick off your weekend with all your favourite party hits.. 9pm / $5 cover Kaitlin and the Strength / Lydia’s Pub — A night of sweet, catchy tunes. 10pm / $5 Cruz FM the 80’s / Odeon Events Centre — Featuring Chilliwack, The Odds and The Rebel O’s. 8pm / $9.60 (theodeon.ca) DJ Big Ayyy & DJ HENCHMAN / Outlaws Country Rock Bar — Round up your friends ‘cause there’s no better country rock party around. 8pm / $5; ladies in free before 11pm Where’s My Mullet / Piggy’s — Come and rock out! 9pm / No cover One More Troubadour / Prairie Ink — Instrumental acoustic music. 8pm / No cover Kroovy Rookers / Rock Bottom — Also featuring Zero Cool, Exoskeleton and Zombie Bouffant. 9pm / $10 Dislexik / Spadina Freehouse — Spinning tunes that’ll make you wanna move. 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad

King belt out classic tunes and audience requests. 10pm / $5 Ripper Train / Taste of Saskatchewan — Great food and great tunes.

11:30am onwards Party Rock Fridays / Tequila — Featuring DJ Anchor. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Nick Ruston / Uncle Barley’s — Come and check him out! 9pm / Cover TBD

Saturday 20

Jay Arner / Amigos — A psychadelic indie pop rocker from the West Coast. 10pm / Cover TBD House DJs / 6Twelve — Resident DJs spin deep and soulful tunes. 9pm / No cover DJ Aash Money + DJ CTRL / Béily’s — These two DJs throw down a high-energy top 40 dance party. 9pm / $5 cover Kashmir / Buds — Western Canada’s premier Led Zeppelin tribute band. 9pm / $5 SaturGAY Night / Diva’s — Resident DJs spin exclusive dance remixes every Saturday. 10pm / $5 DJ Kade / The Hose — Saskatoon’s own DJ lights it up with hot tunes. 8pm / No cover DJ Stikman / Jax Niteclub — Ladies night with DJ Stikman and the Jax party crew.

9pm / $5 cover The Empire Associates / Lydia’s Pub — A folk duo from Regina. 10pm / $5 Apathy, Celph Titled / Odeon Events Centre — Two talented hip-hop artists.

9pm / $30 (theodeon.ca) DJ Big Ayyy & DJ Henchman / Outlaws Country Rock Bar — Round up your

friends ‘cause there’s no better country rock party around. 8pm / $5 Where’s My Mullet / Piggy’s — Come and rock out! 9pm / No cover Wires n’ Wood / Prairie Ink — Local trio playing jazz, latin and gypsy music. 8pm / No cover Fuse Productions / Spadina Freehouse — Come check out this dope act. 9pm / No cover Dueling Pianos / Staqatto Piano Lounge — Terry Hoknes, Neil Currie and Brad King belt out classic tunes and audience requests, from Sinatra to Lady Gaga.

10pm / $5 DJ Anchor / Sutherland Bar — It’s the world famous video mix show! 10pm / Cover TBD Riff Raff + More / Taste of Saskatchewan — Great food and great tunes.

11:30am onwards Datsik / Tequila — A dub step producer and DJ from BC. 9pm / Cover TBD DJ Thorpdeo / Uncle Barley’s — Spinning hot tunes all night. 10pm / Cover TBD

By Divine Right, The Moas / Vangelis — A night of cool indie rock. 9pm / $10

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

19 July 12 – July 18 /verbsaskatoon

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A classic summer blockbuster?

Photo: Courtesy of warner bros. pictures

Pacific Rim a big summer movie with style by adam hawboldt

E

ver wonder when the concept of summer blockbusters began?

You know, all those movies that Hollywood rolls out in the summer months full of eye-catching explosions, cool special effects and mindless entertainment.

Well, I’m no authority on the subject, but to the best of my knowledge it all began in 1977 with this little movie called Star Wars.

Yes, that Star Wars.

Not only did this spectacular, new, effects-laden movie land the first death blow to ‘70s moviemaking (arguably the best era in history), but it also kicked off the genre of movie we now know as the summer blockbuster.

Thanks a lot, Star Wars!

But really, though, it hasn’t been all bad. There have been some excellent summer blockbusters over the years: Jaws, The Dark Knight, Inception — all terrific films.

But for every one of those, there have been dozens of terrible summer blockbusters: Battlefield Earth (arguably the worst movie of all time), Godzilla, Batman & Robin, Catwoman, Speed 2, Stealth … the list goes on.

But rest easy, movie fan.

Guillermo del Toro’s latest flick, the sci-fi action film Pacific Rim, isn’t one of the bad ones.

In fact, it’s rather good.

Sure, it’s mindless entertainment, sure, it borrows unabashedly from classic Japanese monster films of yore, and sure, all the archetypes from that genre are rehashed (nerdy scientist, unflinching leader, troubled hero, etc), but in del Toro’s capable hands, Pacific Rim is instilled with a certain panache, a certain

Pacific Rim Guillermo del Toro Starring Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day + Rinko Kikuchi Directed by

131 minutes | PG

Jaeger program is scrapped, and the Kaiju are free to stomp our earthly terra.

Fast forward five years. The Jaeger program has gone underground and the leader of the project, Stacker Pentecost (The Wire’s Idris Elba) recruits Raleigh to come back and fight the Kaiju one last time. A final battle for Mother Earth, if you will. Raleigh agrees, but under one condition. His partner has to be a pretty young lady named Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi).

This is when the movie really starts to rock and roll.

Without giving too much away, let’s just say that several major coastal cities are decimated, monsters are flung through buildings, boats are used as weapons, and battles rage on land, sky and sea.

And while Pacific Rim may not be for everybody (artsy, sophisticated movie-goers beware), there is enough eye-popping action, good acting, stylish set pieces, and interesting characters you will end up caring for to make this movie one of the better blockbusters you’ll see this year.

…in del Toro’s capable hands, Pacific Rim is instilled with a certain panache…

Adam Hawboldt

style and humanity, that allows it to rise above the diurnal scum of your everyday summer blockbuster.

The movie begins with a rumble between Kaiju (alien monsters that come to Earth via a portal at the bottom of the ocean) and Jaegers (huge robots operated by human warriors who are telepathically linked to the machines). At the forefront of this battle are brothers Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam of Sons of Anarchy fame) and Yancy (Diego Klattenhoff.)

Raleigh survives the battle, Yancy does not. Things happen, the

So take a seat, grab a bag of popcorn, and enjoy.

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Not just another marriage comedy

Love is All You Need takes a realistic approach to a nearly worn-out genre by adam hawboldt

H

aving a sympathetic character in your movie goes a long way towards keeping the audience interested.

And in Love is All You Need, the main character, Ida (Trine Dyrholm) is about as sympathetic as you’ll find in a romantic comedy.

Ida, a Danish hairdresser, is lovable, kind, sweet and caring.

She’s also kind of goofy and a tad awkward. When we first meet Ida, she’s returning home from a session of breast cancer treatment. She is feeling hopeful and is in decent spirits. Those spirits are crushed when she walks into her house and finds her husband Leif (Kim Bodnia) cheating on her with a pretty young woman named Thilde (Christiane Schaumburg-Müller).

[Bier] has a way of making the ridiculous look true-to-life. adam hawboldt

At this point, it being a romantic comedy and all, you expect Ida to pick up a vase and throw it at her husband or to say something cuttingly funny.

None of that happens.

Instead, Ida just stands there.

Staring. Crushed. Not saying a word.

And in that moment, the audience immediately and sympathetically connects with her.

It’s a connection that lasts throughout the rest of the movie.

After the cheating incident, Ida attempts to pull things together long enough to attend her daughter’s wedding in Italy.

Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

She heads to the airport and runs into the father of her future son-in-law, Philip (Pierce Brosnan). And when I say “runs into,” I mean literally. While in the parking lot she backs out and hits the side of Philip’s car.

Philip — a successful businessman who lost his wife a few years back — is a sour, curmudgeonly bastard who doesn’t take the accident too well.

He gets past it, though, and Ida and Philip head to Italy together for the wedding. Needless to say, the two don’t get along well in the beginning. Their relationship is marked by cutting barbs and funny verbal sparring.

Eventually, inevitably, the two reconcile their differences and begin to fall for each other as funny family chaos erupts around them.

If this sounds like nearly every other comedic family wedding movie you’ve ever seen, don’t worry. It’s not.

Yes, all the normal clichés and standard plot points are there, and yes, the outcome is entirely predictable. But what sets Love is All You Need apart from other family-chaos wedding movies like, say, Mamma Mia! or The Big Wedding, is its director — Susanne Bier.

In this Oscar-winner’s hand, Love is All You Need becomes more than just another silly, feel-good

Love Is All You Need Susanne Bier Starring Pierce Brosnan, Trine Dyrholm, Kim Bodnia + Paprika Steen Directed by

110 minutes | PG

marriage movie, mainly because she has a way of making the ridiculous look true-to-life. Of manipulating the story in such a way that it is forever taking subtle, naturalistic turns back to the core of each of the main characters. For instance, instead of having Philip fall for Ida after some slap-sticky incident, Bier lets this happen when Philip sees Ida at her most vulnerable. Naked, bald (she wears a wig because of the chemo), trying to hide her breasts.

That doesn’t mean Love Is All You Need is a special film that everyone must see. But it is a refreshing, realistic installment to the worn-nearly-thin marriage comedy genre.

Love is All You Need is currently being screened at Roxy Theatre.

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friday, July 5 @

Hudson’s

Hudson’s Canadian Tap House 401 21st Street East (306) 974 0944 Featured deals / Half-priced

wings and half-priced Pilsner Drink of Choice / Pints of Pilsner top eats / Wings something new / Proceeds from

the Stampede Hoagie go to help flood victims in Calgary, a new summer feature menu has just been launched, a new footballthemed shot ski, and a new DJ will be spinning the latest tunes

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Check out our Facebook page!

These photos will be uploaded to Facebook on Friday, July 19z. facebook.com/verbsaskatoon

Photography by Patrick Carley

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monday, july 8 @

Rook & raven

The Rook & Raven 154 2nd Avenue South (306) 665 2220 Music vibe / Relaxing Drink of Choice / Nice to Peacha Top eats / Mac ‘n’ cheese something new / Two new beers

on tap

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Photography by Cortez

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

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timeout

crossword canadian criss-cross

sudoku answer key

1. Scandinavian rugs 5. One’s own person 9. Velvety leather 10. States to be true 12. As a whole 13. One who makes an inappropriate display of learning 15. Cry out in pain 16. At most 18. Teen’s wish 19. Stretch, with ‘out’ 20. Covered with frost 21. Be fearless 22. Legislative meeting 24. Airplane seat choice

25. Units of a baseball game 27. Burn with hot water 30. Tall hairdo 34. Duck’s place 35. Piece of chewing tobacco 36. Extinct bird 37. Bristle-like appendage 38. Boot out 39. Roasting rod 40. Place to hide an ace 42. Monopoly purchases 44. Pitching stats 45. Don’t answer directly 46. Gave for a while 47. Still red, as a steak

. Red corundums 1 2. Loud communication 3. Bustle 4. Part of a newspaper 5. Overly sentimental 6. Former premier of Ontario 7. Called the shots 8. Noisy disturbance 9. Legless reptile 11. Angry growl 12. Rams’ mates 14. Arboreal animal’s home 17. Anthology 20. Orange cover

21. Antenna type 23. Young herring 24. Old-looking 26. Not any one 27. Health resorts 28. Hooded robes 29. Toughen glass 31. Interfere with 32. Curtain material 33. Snack food 35. Adventurous journey 38. Kitchen appliance 39. Part of a constellation 41. Adam’s wife 43. Eggs

A

B

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

DOWN

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

ACROSS

© walter D. Feener 2013

Horoscopes July 12 – July 18 Aries March 21–April 19

Leo July 23–August 22

Sagittarius November 23–December 21

Tensions may be running high this week, Aries. Don’t get caught up in the noise. It’ll only bring you down.

We know you love the spotlight, Leo. But for the next few days let other people stand in the limelight.

Put your reservations in your pocket, throw caution to the wind … all that kind of stuff, Sagittarius. The payback will be worth it.

Taurus April 20–May 20

Virgo August 23–September 22

Capricorn December 22–January 19

Take action! It’s as simple as that, Taurus. Don’t sit around being idle this week. It will come back to haunt you.

Oh, buddy! Someone close to you may try to pick a fight, Virgo. Try not to jump to conclusions. You may be at fault, so keep an open mind.

Changes are a’ comin’, Capricorn!

Don’t fear them, though. By embracing change you’ll set yourself up for something swell.

Gemini May 21–June 20

Libra September 23–October 23

Aquarius January 20–February 19

Get out and be seen this week, Gemini. Don’t hide away in your house and let some excellent opportunities slip away.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, Libra. Tread carefully in the days ahead.

Who knows what could happen!

Some bold and mighty forces may come to your aid this week, Aquarius. Even if this isn’t your nature, you’ll benefit from it.

Cancer June 21–July 22

Scorpio October 24–November 22

Pisces February 20–March 20

The fire within you has been simmering, Cancer. This week, though, it will burn white-hot. Make the most of it.

Some weeks are all about you, Scorpio. This isn’t one of them, though. Encourage others to do their best in the coming days.

Sometimes love is all you need, Pisces. This week is one of those times. Seek love in family, friends and “special” friends.

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

crossword answer key

A

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

B

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